Jed smith 50 M Race

Jedediah smith 50 mile race
Feb 3rd, 2007
Sacramento, CA

When I was planning my races for 2007, Jed smith seemed like a good fit into my training schedule for TRT 100, we(myself and Rajeev) went ahead and registered for the race. Considering this was a flat course I was hoping it to be a relatively easy run, but running around a loop of 3.33 miles isn't easy.

Course:
There were three distances organized 30k, 50k and 50M and each had certain number of loops of Gibson ranch(about 3.33 miles).














Race day:
Since the race starts at 8am, myself and Rajeev had decided to start at 5am on race day and drive back the same day. Due to some work Rajeev had to fly to Bern the race weekend so I ended up driving alone in the morning. I started promptly at 5am and was hoping to reach by 7:30, but few exits before Gibson ranch Startbucks tempted me into a strong Latte, which turned out to be bad idea. I tried to get back to I-80 at the earliest in the process took wrong exit towards I-50 and lost 15 mins.. eventually I got back on track and reached Gibson ranch 5 mins before race.

I hurriedly prepared my drop bag, bibs etc and started to race right in time, I settled into a easy pace. ran most of the first half with Marianne Paulson who was training for WS 100 this year. The cutoff for the race is 10hrs and I knew its going to be a close call for my pace, my goal was to at least get 45 miles.

Initial miles passed by fine, at a steady rate of 40 mins per loop, I was concerned about not calling my wife so ended up searching my cell in the car in between the race, but couldn't find and after about 4 loops borrowed one of the aid station volunteer's cell and was relieved to do "I am ok" call.

Running around the loop wasnt monotounous for a while, till the time there were other runners (30k and 50k). As they faded away, some of 50 milers still had 6 more loops to complete. It was motivating to see Barbara Elia, Lisa, Linda McFadden hammering each loop at ease, they seemed at ease every loop. Eventually Linda finished in 8:32hr! and Barbara in 8:52 a course record for her age group! Mark Tanaka was doing a 50k and treated it as a 10k easy run.

I completed 50k(9 loops) in 5:57 and had to do another 19 in 4 hours, Miles 35-40 seems to be tough ones for me, In spite of what I do in terms of my energy management I hit the wall and bounce back in the last 10 miles.

During my 12 th loop I saw Barbara hammering the course with the same intensity and in spite of her nasty fall, she continued and set a course record. I decided to take this next leg as a mini challenge and finish the race within 10 hrs, after the 14 th loop I had 40 mins for last 3.33 miles and was definitely doable. During the last few miles I thought about Rajeev's night leg at RDL and his last 3 miles when he set into a zone and achieved his goals. (3 miles in 36 mins at end of 97 mile run!!!)

Till day I hav'nt been able to comprehend how he did it, but would like to do a run like that one of the days.

As I reached the finish line I saw the clock ticking towards 10 hours and I eventually made it to finish in 9:57:51 hrs, One satisfying run for me.

As I was getting ready to wrap up and drive back home, I borrowed one of the volunteer's cell to search my cell and eventually found that I left my cell at Starbucks :). Another reason for a coffee break. Drive back home was tiring but worthwhile day at Gibson ranch.

Marianne ended up running the entire 50 miles without walk break and finished strong in 9:44 hrs

Thanks to all volunteers who put up a great race. my gratitude to Scott who cheered all runners every loop for 10 straight hours.