Okay, I’ll be honest. When I saw the announcement about the Thunderbird 50K, I didn’t even consider attempting it. First, that’s a lot of miles (and a whole lot of climbing). Second, it was just two weeks after the St. George Marathon, and I knew I wanted to try for both a personal record (PR) and a Boston qualifying time (BQ). Even as an “old guy” runner, I tend to recover pretty quickly. But I knew St. George would take a lot out of me.

One Hurdle at a Time

In the weeks before St. George, I was beginning to worry that I might be developing a stress fracture in my left foot. It was the weirdest thing. It never hurt while I was running, but it would ache at odd times of the day, like when I was walking around or even while sitting. And I wasn’t just worried about St. George. I was also worried about the other races I had coming up, like the Snow Canyon Half Marathon and the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

A few days before the marathon, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to attempt the Thunderbird. One of my running friends was thinking about selling her registration, but decided not to. Mike’s Running had a drawing for some free registrations, but I didn’t get one. Then I got a text from one of the organizers saying he had a free spot for me if I wanted it. Who am I to turn down a free race?

Miraculously, the week of the St. George Marathon, my foot pain just went away. I ran my last taper miles pain-free, and didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary before, during or after the race. I finished with a 3:14:00, beating my previous PR by almost 3 minutes and qualifying for Boston 2020 by almost 11. So … yay!

Of course, since it rained during much of the race in St. George, my wet socks developed a blister about the size of a quarter on the bottom of my left foot. So … boo!

Hometown Ultra

I try to run my hometown races. I haven’t missed a Cedar City Half Marathon since I started running and racing. I think it’s important to support my local running community (and my local running store). It was this kind of thinking that tipped me over the edge.

Also, who doesn’t love running beautiful trails? Check out the gallery below and you’ll see what I mean. At no part during the entire race was I ever more than about eight miles away from my home. I’m lucky to live where I do! (Click any image for the larger gallery.)

Thunderbird 50K – First Half

The morning of the race, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about running it. The weather was supposed to be glorious, but my legs were still feeling a little heavy. I didn’t know whether I’d over-trained or under-trained. I wasn’t sure how to fuel. I wasn’t sure about running on a still-healing blister. I didn’t know anything, really. I just knew I was going to try to finish.

Still, I showed up ready to run. We set off while the sun was still under the horizon. The first several miles were in that murky nautical twilight. We went up a razorback ridge and then down into a gulch. By the time we hit the Thunderbird Gardens trailhead, the sun was up. It was cool and sunny and dry, near-perfect running weather.

The runners were still bunched up when we made our way up Lightning Switch and down Ghost Flats. The group’s pace was easy enough that we could talk, and I chatted about music with a British runner who’d come all the way from London to run the race. I ended up running behind a local runner named Emily and we talked our way over Thor’s Hideout and down Red Hollow to Highway 14. After all the ups and down of the trails, the paved track down Coal Creek to Canyon Park and then south toward the C-Trail seemed mild and super easy. We passed the finish line, but still had a whole lot of miles to run.

I shadowed Emily almost all the way up the C-Trail. The top was muddy, with some scattered snow, and she took that section much quicker than I did. (I was stupidly wearing road shoes.) I probably spent 10-15 minutes at the station at the top of the C, changing my shirt and socks, reapplying Body Glide (which is much easier when you’re wearing a kilt) and replenishing my water and fuel. As I set off down the hill, I ended up running with Kevin, a runner from Salt Lake City.

Thunderbird 50K – Second Half

Normally, I love being able to chat on long runs. It helps pass the time, and it’s fun to hear other runners’ stories. But running with Kevin wasn’t as fun as the others. He kept wanting to talk politics, and (believe it or not) I didn’t. Like so many Americans (hello, Colin Kaepernick!) I don’t like to mix politics with sport. So I kept steering the conversation toward safer topics, and he kept crashing it back to politics. The whole time, I kept thinking, “Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

Luckily (for me, not for him), Kevin had a hard time getting going again after the next aid station. I ended up catching up to a guy named Justin. He was going about the same pace as I was, so we ran together for pretty much the rest of the race.

I realized at one point that we were coming up on marathon distance (26.2 miles). Since I’ve never run further than a marathon before, I snapped a photo of my Garmin watch at precisely that point. It was kind of cool to think about how, from that point on, every step was the longest I’ve ever run.

We made it back back through Green Hollow and up to the C-Trail. From there it was a mad, exhausting dash down to the finish line. Justin’s family was there to meet him, so I kind of backed off and he finished ahead of me. I cruised under the balloon arch at 7:54:36, 20th out of 37 (including three runners who didn’t finish).

For some reason, my Garmin only registered 4,782 feet of elevation gain through the (long) 32.8-mile course. People with better watches say the actual amount of cumulative climb was right around 7,200 feet. Yikes.

Post-Race Wrap-up

It felt great to be done, and even better to sit and eat pizza and just hang out talking with running friends. I got to watch my CCRC buds Susan and Melchora finish, which was awesome. It was the first ultra for both of them. After congratulating Susan and Mel, I walked back to my car (it was a quarter mile away, at the starting line) and drove myself home. My legs started cramping during the drive, so the last mile or so was pretty painful. Later that evening, I got a Hot Shot from Mike, and my cramps went away almost instantly.

The blister on my foot didn’t get any better or any worse during the race, which was a blessing. I’m hoping it will be fully healed in time for my next couple of races.

I think I’ll definitely do another 50K. The mileage is close enough to marathon distance that it’s doable without a lot of additional training. I’m still not sure about longer distances, though. I’m putting a lot of hours into running as it is, and I have other things that are also a priority in my life (notably writing). Maybe eventually, but probably not right away.

The best part of the Thunderbird 50K experience was getting onto some trails that I’d never run before. I know it’s ridiculous, but Roxy and I mostly run our own trails north of town, so the majority of the Thunderbird course was brand new to me. Now that I know where some of them are, I’ll have to branch out more and get some good climbing in on those other trails.

Ultra number one, the Thunderbird 50K, is in the books! Next up, a half in two weeks and another full in three.