2019 Worlds End 100k

Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It's just there, and you have to survive it. You have to endure it. You have to live through it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal.

— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Going into Worlds End (WE) 100k this year my head was not in a good place for both personal life reasons and running related reasons. Advanced warning before you get too far into reading this report, as I begin to write it I fear it will sound like I’m whining and will get into some nonrunning related issues in my life. If you want a more Worlds End running focused report check out my 2017 and 2018 reports. Otherwise if you’re somewhat intrigued with a poor mental state leading up to a race and a lesson learned from it, by all means continue reading. For multiple reasons to be explained, I was battling a lack of motivation, questioning my abilities, and suffering from an overall rather pessimistic outlook in general.

The day before at registration.

I’ll start with the running issues that contributed to me having a bit of lack of motivation and confidence leading up to WE. I was feeling pumped based on my two most recent races before WE. I ran my best time after three attempts at Hyner 50k and a week later I ran a road marathon PR at the NJ Marathon. With basically just a month between the NJ Marathon and WE I planned to do an easy recovery week, ramp up with a decent training week, get in a quality 20ish mile long run, then ease into a taper. Things went as planned up until that quality 20ish mile long run. I got in my 20 mile long run, but it by no means felt like a quality run. My legs felt heavy from the start, I felt tired and sluggish for the entire run, and I struggled to maintain what I felt like should have been an easy pace for flat, nontechnical trails. So I did the only logical thing I could do, I did a 20 mile road run the following weekend expecting it to be much faster and to feel much better about myself going into WE. That follow up long run did not go as planned either. I felt better and was slightly faster (20.08 miles in 2:49:41 versus 20.0 miles in 2:59:27), but the small pace improvement and still not feeling strong while achieving it did very little to improve my confidence.

      

With back to back weekends of disappointing long runs behind me, the next weekend I followed the most logical course of action: I asked for advice from a retired Olympic trampolinist (aka my brother in law). After talking about training cycles, building, peaking, and my lack of all of those things much less a training plan, he said I should just rest the last week before WE. I took that advice and did not run at all for an entire week before WE. I had never tapered that hard before, so I was extremely nervous not even having a couple easy paced short runs the week leading into WE. It also didn’t help improve my confidence at all, but as my brother in law was suggesting, the training and endurance are already there, my body just needs a break to recuperate before being pushed again.

Now to go over the non running issues that were contributing to my less than ideal mental state for the start of WE. I shouldn’t say issues, as it was more so a singular work related issue. For the most part I’m usually pretty good about not letting work frustrations bother me outside of work, but given this situation I could not let it not bother me. In an attempt to not make this a long, drawn out complaining post, I will try to sum up the main points of the situation quickly. Basically, I was offered a temporary detail promotion because the manager of our office had been reassigned to a one year detail. Not long after accepting I was told the position didn’t exist and so I could not have the promotion but I could still do the additional duties that came along with the promotion. Not such a good deal. Not long after that development the temporary detail position was advertised and two other employees from other offices were selected for the three and four month temporary acting manager details. The motivating factors that went into the decision making are still unknown to me. Being passed over for a temporary promotion that I was told doesn’t exist after I had unofficially been doing the additional duties of that position for four months was enough to make me update my resume and start job searching, but not do anything crazy like quit on the spot. Anyway, that’s enough non running stuff to explain why my head was out of sorts.

The view from my cozy car camping.

To add to my disappointment just before the race, my family had a last minute change of plans for the race weekend. We had planned to make an extended camping trip out of this race weekend with our neighbors who have kids that are friends with ours coming along for the trip. I had been telling my family and theirs about how great Worlds End State Park is and how nice the camp sites are for two years. I had finally convinced them to come along for a camping trip and 100k trail run. Unfortunately, the weather reports for extended thunderstorms and rain for the entire weekend caused our neighbors to fear that it would be a miserable weekend for camping so they bailed on us. I got the news Thursday afternoon when I arrived home from work. Making the blow sting even worse, my family decided to back out as well since their friends wouldn’t be coming along. In a flash my weekend went from running an awesome, scenic 100k with my friends and family there to cheer me on and celebrate with afterwards to just me taking off for the weekend.

Between the poor long training runs, last minute plan changes, and the professional life disappointments I was feeling confused, cynical, and worthless which is not a good way to start an ultra. Regardless of the outcome, I showed up even if my attitude about it was pretty crappy. I tried to convince myself that I was excited for it and that even if things weren’t going well in my professional life I at least still had ultramarathons as an escape, but when I woke up the morning of the race after a night of camping the initial thought I had was “time to get this over with.” Not the best mindset to start a gueling 15ish hour endeavor, but I had faith that once I became immersed in the trail running things would start to feel right. 

Just before the finish!

Makes it all worthwhile!

For the most part, that’s exactly what happened. I tried to turn on autopilot and just run the course basically the same way I did in 2018, going out at a comfortable pace while taking in plenty of calories and not blowing up. Pretty much everything fell into place. The course didn’t completely cooperate, but it didn’t bother me. It had been wet leading up to the race and the course had long stretches of extremely sloppy, swampy areas. It reminded me of the conditions from my first time at WE in 2017. That year it really got to me because every stretch of trail that looked runnable ended up being a sloppy mess and I was not able to get into any kind of rhythm. This year was different. Even though the conditions were similar, I managed to still move in a way that felt efficient and consistent. I felt strong on the climbs, my stomach never felt upset, and I was never completely exhausted. It was almost a perfect repeat of last year based on performance, only slightly faster as I finished in 14:11:21 compared to my 14:18:47 finish last year. 

I mentioned at the beginning that there was a lesson learned for me from this whole experience. It wasn’t about how important thinking positively going into an ultra is because I was pretty negative going into this one and still executed better than last year. The lesson for me was that ultramarathons or running in general can’t always be used as an escape from other issues in my life. Or maybe more accurately, ultras and this silly hobby of mine will not resolve other life challenges. I went into this race with a bad attitude. Then the race was going well and I had a great time. I felt even better when the outcome was an improvement over last year. But afterwards all of the circumstances that had caused my mental anguish had not changed. I had just lowered the amount of attention I allowed them for a few days. This may be kind of a sour note to end a report of a positive race on, but that is how this chapter of this ultra season ended for me.

At the finish celebration!

Scott Snell
August 14, 2019

Feel The Recovery With OOFOS

Disclaimer: I received a pair of OOFOS Men's OOriginal Sport Sandals to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!


I don’t like to improperly use or overuse the word “literally” like many of the YouTubers my children watch, but the first time I slid my feet into my new pair of OOFOS Men's OOriginal Sport Sandals I literally said “OOO!” I had heard the hype from other BibRave Pros and read the testimonials on the OOFOs website, but until actually feeling the OOfoam™ technology under my feet I couldn’t believe that any sandal could be that much superior to my normal rotation of sandal brands. I now very comfortably stand corrected on my OOFOs sandals. 

Perfect for fireworks on the beach too!

I sincerely believe that I cannot do these sandals justice by describing how great they feel on your feet whether it’s a day relaxing by the pool or after running a nearly 100 mile ultramarathon (both of which I did while testing these sandals out). In my humble opinion, the only way to truly appreciate and understand the difference that OOFOS offers is by experiencing it yourself. So by all means, do yourself a favor and go try a pair on using the OOFOS retail store locator.

Until then, here are just a few more reasons that may motivate you to go feel the OOfoam™ difference.

1. It’s Science Bro!
In a third party laboratory study (University of Virginia, 2018) OOFOS patented footbed was found to reduce energy exertion in the ankles by up to 20%. Additionally, OOfoam™ was found to absorb 37% more impact than competitors’ sandal foam material.

I can’t quantify the recovery benefits or the feeling I got when wearing OOFOS after a long run, but I can say that it felt like recovery for my poor, abused feet. I don’t know if it was the better fit with the arch support or the extra shock absorption of the OOfoam™, but one of those or the combination of both were more pampering than my feet have likely ever been treated to. This was especially nice after those long ultramarathons that were followed by a 5-6 hour drive home. If you don’t believe me when I say my feet need the recovery, just watch a few of my YouTube videos. 

2. Discounts for Joining the OOFamily
Who doesn’t want to save money? If you join the OOFamily you’ll immediately get $5 off your first order. Then earn points for additional savings every time you shop. Earn 200 points for each friend you refer while your friend gets 10% off of their first purchase. It’s a win-win!

3. Just Look At These!
I don’t have the greatest fashion sense,if any at all, but these sandals just look nice!

4. Latex Free and Non-Toxic
All OOFOS products are latex free so latex allergies are not an issue. They are painted with non-toxic paints and made from foam with non-toxic properties so you can feel safe wearing them.

5. Get Support While Supporting a Worthy Cause
A 3% donation for every pair of OOFOS that is sold on OOFOS.com goes directly to the Dana-Farber Breast Cancer Research team to support medical advancements in the battle against breast cancer. It is a cause that has a very personal connection to the OOFOS brand. In 2014 the Brand Leader and Marketing Director of OOFOS was diagnosed with “treatable, non-curable” stage four breast cancer. Here is Duncan’s story in her own words.

See What My Fellow BibRave Pros Had To Say About OOFOS:

Corey
Fun Size Athlete
My Feet In Motion
Wandering WonThanh

Putting Science In Sport Isotonic Energy Gels To The Test

It's a good day when you find this on your doorstep!

"Disclaimer: I received SiS isotonic gels to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!"

The winner's award from the 2019 Last Idiot Standing - Summer Edition.

What the hell does a totally badass wooden sword and an extremely attractive and unique plaque showing a topographic map of a 5k trail loop have to do with Science In Sport (SIS) Gels? For the majority of people, absolutely nothing. But for me, there is a significant connection as those were the winner’s awards for the last two (and only two) “last person standing” format races that I have run. And during those two races I depended heavily on SIS gels as a major constituent of my caloric intake. It may not be a cause and effect relationship, but SIS gels definitely contributed to my performance to earn those two awards.

The four flavors I tried, sorry, giveaway is over :(

Where to begin with SIS Gels? Well, when offered the opportunity to try out a new type of energy gel I was excited. As an ultrarunner, nutrition is a huge and one of the most important parts of my racing. Calorie intake and your stomach’s ability to handle your choice of calories can be the difference between completely killing a race or having your race end with a dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish). I’m basically a scavenger when it comes to gels, more or less just using whatever gels are offered at aid stations when they are offered. Because of this, I’ve never become brand loyal to any one type of gel. Some have stood out as better than others, some worse than others, but none so much so that I said to myself, “That’s my gel” or “I’m never eating one of those again.” With my history of a hunting and gathering gel practice, I felt blessed to be able to consistently use one brand of gel for the bulk of my training leading up to and during both Run Ragged and Last Idiot Standing (LIS) - Summer Edition.

At the finish of LIS!

For both races I brought four flavors of SIS gels: lemon & mint, salted strawberry, apple, and double espresso (150 mg caffeine). I wanted to have some variety of flavors for these races as I planned on eating 1-2 gels per hour and I did not want to get to the point where I was sick of the taste of a single gel flavor and I had to force myself to eat it. Thankfully, that never happened with the choice of flavors I had for the 32 and 14 hours that the two races lasted respectively. And for the most part, I totally avoided any total and complete bonks. I was starting to bonk pretty hard around the 25th hour of Run Ragged, but then I downed two apple SIS gels and was feeling better within about an hour. I believe that bonk was basically due to me not keeping up on my calorie intake. I had forgotten to eat a gel at several aid station stops and I had not eaten anything else to get any other replacement calories. I didn’t recognize it until the calorie deficit had already built up, but after the SIS gels and some bananas I returned to the best case scenario for someone who has not slept and has been running for over 25 hours.

Before and after pics of a one mile Fourth of July run; the caffeinated SIS got me moving!

The face of an ultrarunner after a 5:46 mile.

Of all the gels I’ve tried over the years, SIS gels are the most palatable. Most of the time after a long ultra I am almost sick to my stomach of forcing down gels. This didn’t happen even after 32 hours of eating them at Run Ragged. The flavors are not overly sweet or artificial tasting as I find most other gels to be. Additionally, the consistency is thinner than most other gels I’ve used. The lighter consistency makes them easier and faster to consume and negates the need to immediately wash them down. After hours of eating other brands thicker, almost syrupy, gels during ultras I will begin swigging water or whatever electrolyte drink I have in my bottle and swishing it around in a futile effort to rinse the taste out of my mouth and the sticky coating off of my teeth. With SIS gels I never felt the need to do this. The reason being that SIS gels are designed to be an isotonic formula, or the same concentration as in the body. The isotonic formula allows the SIS gels to be processed more efficiently by the stomach without additional fluids to dilute them. This in turn allows the stomach to process the gel more quickly and get the calories on their way to becoming energy for your muscles to burn. 

Packing for a last person standing race, one of the toughest things other than actually running it!

In addition to the better taste and consistency of SIS gels, the boost from the 150 mg of caffeine in the double espresso gels was also a huge help to me in reaching my goals at both races as both races each went from at least dusk to dawn and then some. I became pretty groggy at a few points during some of those early morning hours while I was anxiously waiting for the first signs of the sunrise to show. The kick from those double espresso gels helped me to get out of my chair and continue when a nap sounded pretty nice.

If you’re like me and you have never fallen in love with any one brand of gel, I highly recommend giving Science In Sport gels a try. I can’t and SIS can’t guarantee that you will win every last person standing event you enter if you use SIS gels, but that’s what they’ve done for me so far! If you do decide to give SIS gels a try, use code “TRYSIS25” for 25% off all products excluding sale items then comment on this post and let me know what your favorite flavor was!

Me with my awards and my two favorite boys!

Also, if you want to see what other BibRave Pros thought of their Science In Sport gels, follow the links below!


https://theaccidentalmarathoner.com/product-review-science-in-sport-sis-energy-gels/

https://runbigfootrun.blogspot.com/2019/07/science-in-sport-for-your-tummy.html

https://anotherhalfplease.com/2019/07/15/science-in-sport-sis-energy-gel-review/

http://www.scootadoot.org/2019/07/15/road-tested-science-in-sport-gels-and-giveaway/

https://runnerdgirl.blogspot.com/2019/07/for-gel-of-it-sis-gels-review-giveaway.html?m=1

https://alastairvance.com/2019/07/13/science-in-sport-isotonic-gels-review-giveaway/

http://themarathonlady.com/index.php/2019/07/09/science-in-sport-gel-product-review-and-giveaway/

http://www.andreaheser.com/blog/2019/7/9/hed3md20629owmmpbzwhch089fuj3l

https://funsizeathlete.com/2019/07/09/bibrave-product-review-and-giveaway-science-in-sport-isotonic-gels/

https://runcanvas.com/2019/07/08/science-in-sport-sis-energy-gels-product-review-and-giveaway/

http://ampdwellness.crazyhamster.run/sis-energy-pure-and-simple-fuel-and-you-can-get-yours-free/

https://runbeckyrun.wordpress.com/2019/07/08/giveaway-science-in-sport-isotonic-energy-gels-six-pack/

https://kenstandsonthings.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/product-giveaway-science-in-sport-gels/

http://fitnewtonblog.com/review-science-in-sport-isotonic-gels/

2019 Run Ragged Last Person Standing

At the finish!

“A lot of people decry competition as a negative thing. It’s not. You come to love your competitors because you’ve been through this hell together. You don’t want your competitors to quit, but you need them to quit. These things are going on in your head at the same time. That’s a little bit evil. A total mindfuck, runners say.”

-- Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake

Forty-two. It is the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", at least according to Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was also the number of runners that arrived to run the inaugural Run Ragged on June 13th in Berlin, CT at the Ragged Mountain Trailhead. Maybe it’s a bit of a coincidence in a sense because I’ve found that longer distance ultras are an excellent means for me to believe I’ve found the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", at least at the wee hours of the morning after exhaustion sets in and my fragile mind starts getting somewhat loopy.

The event was a slight twist on the last person standing race format made explosively popular recently by Courtney Dauwalter and Johan Steene’s amazing performances (279.168 and 283.335 miles respectively) at the 2018 Big Backyard Ultra hosted by the evil genius Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake. The race format requires runners to complete a 4.166667 mile loop in under an hour. The beauty of the rather seemingly random distance is that in exactly 24 hours you’ll have run exactly 100 miles. Sounds pretty easy so far, but every hour the race restarts and all runners must do it again and again and again until all but one runner remains. The last runner to finish one lap more than any other runner becomes the sole winner; all other runners receive a big fat DNF (Did Not Finish). Is it fair? Maybe not. Could it be soul crushing? Maybe so, but that is how the race format works. In fact, there could be no winner at all if a final group of runners goes out and none of them make it back before the one hour cut off.

The RDs of Run Ragged added a few twists to the format making it a bit unique amongst the abundant crop of so many new races that have popped up recently which are nearly exact replicas of the Big Backyard Ultra format. Where the traditional format uses a daylight trail loop and a night road course, Run Ragged used a single trail loop for its entirety. Most last person standing races use a relatively easy 4.166667-mile-long course. Run Ragged opted for a more challenging 5k loop. It was a shorter distance, but from what I’ve heard of other last person standing events the terrain and elevation gain (≈ 500’ per lap) made it a tougher course. While a good portion of the Run Ragged course was runnable, it was not easy or mindless running. The more runnable sections were broken up by technical stretches, short and steep climbs, and some tricky descents. 

Just before the start.

The Run Ragged course is made up entirely of the New England Trail (NET) and NET side/connector trails. The NET was designated a National Scenic Trail in March of 2009. The course starts at the Ragged Mountain Preserve trailhead following the red/blue Ragged Mountain Preserve trail for about 0.78 miles. Then just before turning onto the yellow/blue Ragged Mountain Preserve trail you are treated to a pretty welcome vista overlooking Lower Heart Pond. This stretch of trail is roughly about 0.85 miles and in my opinion seemed to be the most technical and unrunnable stretch of the course. After that you hop onto section 15 of the NET for about 1.52 miles. The course wraps up by following the orange/blue Ragged Mountain Preserve trail for the last 0.68 miles. Now I know what you’re probably thinking, “That equals a total of 3.83 miles! You said it was a 5k loop!” Let me explain. These distances are based on the trail map on the Ultrasignup registration page. The NET trail map itinerary page confirms the distances of the yellow/blue and orange/blue trails, but the course only uses short portions of the other two trails so their distances can not be confirmed there. My gps data was pretty close to what the RD had said, that it is a 5kish loop so rather than going round in circles indefinitely (pun intended) over this topic, I’ll leave the discussion of distances there. 

Map from the Run Ragged registration page.

First things first, let’s get the obvious on the table. A last person standing event is nothing like a normal race. In fact, after running this one as my first I even question calling it a race at all. I first became interested in the format when I listened Billy Yang’s interview of Guillaume Calmettes following his win at the 2017 Big Backyard Ultra. Then after following Courtney and Johan’s epic battle in 2018 I felt I needed some of that in my life. I applied for the 2019 Big Backyard Ultra and so did many other more qualified ultrarunners. I was disappointed to not even make the waitlist, but thankfully many last person standing events starting popping up all over. I figured that if I ever want to be selected to run at the Big Backyard Ultra inTN, the best way to do it is to earn a spot there by building my resume. So I jumped into the most local last person standing event I could find, Run Ragged with every intention of being the last person standing. I know I’m not the most talented runner out there and I don’t follow a strict training plan or specific diet. But I can be extremely rigid and single minded once I have my mind set to something and I hate the idea of giving up or quitting. The way I saw it, these qualities may give me a distinct advantage over far more talented and better trained runners than myself so why not just go all in?

Another finish to an early lap.

The start of the race was strange. The 5k loop was easy to do within the allotted hour at a relaxed pace even with the technical single track and the elevation change. I didn’t push myself to get it done faster than I had to and was getting it done comfortably in about 45-50 minutes during all of the daylight hours. My strategy was to do as little damage to my body as possible early on so I could last as long as possible. This meant not exerting myself if it wasn’t necessary. It meant being careful of foot placement with every step to minimize impact and avoid any unnecessary damage to my feet to curtail foot pain in the later stages. With this strategy in my head, my mind was on the long game. Mentally I was already wondering if this would go into a second overnight run and was telling myself to be ready for it if it did. With the 10 minutes or so that I had between laps I spent my time taking selfies, refueling, and rehydrating. I ate a mix of real food (whatever was available at the aid station: Doritos, pizza, rice soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheeses, oranges, etc.) and Science In Sport isotonic gels. For hydration, I mainly drank the Skratch that was provided at the aid station, but I also brought some iced coffees and coconut water to treat myself to a little variety of refreshments.

One of the earlier starts when it was done to just three.

I felt this early strategy served me well, but it was hard to reel myself in. A few laps I did run a bit faster, but when I got back and spent more time in my chair I didn’t like waiting around to go back out. So I decided then that I would move slowly and consistently rather than race around just to wait to race again. The race format was messing with me even early. It felt like a super mellow group run for the first 10 hours or so. You’d go out, run comfortably with a few people chatting it up then sit down and refresh for a few minutes before doing it all again. Often, it would be with an entirely new group or you’d have one or two new additions to your group. Rarely did I find myself alone or stressed before the sunset. Yet that overall mellow and carefree facade was just a cover that this relentless monster of a race format uses to lull you in to a serene mindset that will likely be your demise as it continues and ultimately reveals itself as the cruel beast it is. As a cynic, I knew this and never trusted this race format for what it appeared to be near the start. I checked my watch more often during this race than any other race I’ve ever run (other than the 2017 Batona 50 where my watch crapped out on me). I decided early that I would not get sucked into its false sense of security.

The "Three Amigos", me with my bananas.

And that’s basically how day one went, from 9 AM until sundown. The only other stand out moment I feel I should mention happened during one of the midday starts. As everyone was heading out after the whistle blew we were passing by a family that had been out for a trail walk and stuck around to watch the start of a “race”. A young rather perplexed looking girl in the family watched all the runners shuffle by, many with either an Icee pop or slice of pizza in their hands. “This is a race?!” she exclaimed in a baffled tone as we passed. That single phrase and how she said it had me laughing for a good part of the next lap.

Heading out again.

Then it became dusk, headlamps came out, and soon after we were into the night running portion of this competition. My pace and strategy didn’t really change much over night. I was kinda looking forward to the night portion of the race because I hadn’t run through the night since my last 100 miler (Mines of Spain) back in October. There’s something about running through the night on trails with nothing but your headlamp to light your way that I love. I love how it is a release from all of my normal day to day worries. When I’m trail running through the night all that matters is forward motion and getting to where I’m going. My entire universe reaches only as far as the light from my headlamp. The other reason that I was looking forward to the night was because I assumed that’s when more runners would start dropping and I’d be able to edge closer to a win. This turned out to be true and I found myself alone on the trail more and more often as the night went on.

The aid station at the start of the event.

For the first mile on one lap overnight I decided I would keep pace with the dwindling lead pack as they went out from the start. After that mile, I said to myself “No more of that. My strategy seems to be serving me well, why change it now?” Not that I knew if my strategy was better, but I wanted to find out how long I could last without risking blowing myself up. The only other highlight from overnight that I want to point out was the volunteer that was stationed as the overlook cliff guard from about 8 PM to 4 AM. This dude was full of energy and had Coke and Mountain Dew shots lined up for us every time we passed. He had a cowbell to ring leading up to his station and a cymbal to hit as you were exiting. He was an aid station hype man and just what ultrarunners need during those low points at the wee hours of the morning. He even hyped up a midnight drink special he had planned for us. It turned out to be apple cider vinegar with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, I think? It doesn’t sound good, but it was oddly refreshing at the time.

Preparing to head out again.

After 52.7 miles and 17 hours we were down to four runners by the early hours of the morning. As daylight broke I realized how many runners we had lost overnight and how few runners remained. Then three laps later after the sun had risen we lost one more. It was now down to the final three. The three of us would continue to battle mentally and physically with ourselves and with one another for nearly another 50k before anyone finally gave in. During those nine laps the three of us all went out together. I can’t speak for where the other two were mentally, but I was feeling isolated for a good part of those laps. The other two runners were more local, had a girlfriend/wife with them (at some point), and seemed to at least be running friends with some of the volunteers. I went solo to this race and it was my first race in CT so I was meeting all of these people for the first time. In my mind at the time that seemed like a huge advantage for the other two runners. Especially when a volunteer started reading Facebook posts from their trail running group rooting for the two of them. It was hard not to feel like an outsider in that moment. But a few people that I had just met less than 24 hours earlier stepped up and gave me encouragement. One person in particular who I had only chatted with online a few times previously went out of their way after their final lap to let me know they were betting on me to win this thing. It may have not seemed like much to that person at the time, but at some of my lowest, loneliest moments it helped keep me going.

Brushing my teeth has never felt better.

My absolute lowest point of the race was the 25th lap. After 24 hours of running without sleep and not having a finish line in sight, it all started to catch up with me. The other two guys were both consistently finishing their laps faster than me and had more time to regroup between laps where as my pace had slowed and I was typically coming in with about five minutes to spare. Mentally it was wearing on me and I began to think it was only a matter of time until I didn’t make a cut off. Before the one mile mark of that lap I almost turned around and walked back to the start to quit. But I didn’t. I figured I’m almost a mile out, I might as well finish this lap before I quit. As I passed the new cliff guard volunteer I announced that this would likely be my last lap. She tried to encourage me, but I didn’t pay it much attention. I decided to call my wife to tell her I was ready to take my first DNF. After a short conversation with her I agreed to finish this lap and to keep finishing laps until I got timed out. Talking to her and my two sons lit a bit of a fire in me for the remainder of that lap and I moved well until I got back to the restart. Then it was mostly lows again. At one point I actually sat down on a log that was across the trail and told myself that if I sat there long enough I wouldn’t be able to make it back in time and I would be able to quit without saying I quit. But I got off of that log and ran it in before the cut off. Some of this mental anguish may have been due to nutrition as none of the aid station food was sounding good anymore and I hadn’t eaten much real food since the soup in the early hours of the morning. Thankfully I guess I started to recognize this and fixed it by devouring bananas, leaving every start with a banana in my hand and sometimes with one in my water bottle pocket as well.

And again...

At every break between laps I would try to size up the other two guys. They were both getting more recovery time between laps and neither were showing any signs of quitting as hard as I looked for them. Which is why it was so unexpected when one of them (Joseph Nuara) finally threw in the towel after 29 hours and 89.9 miles. It nearly brought me to tears when he said he was done, but once I started running the next lap it gave me a spark. It was now down to two. As we headed out for or first lap as the final two I told the other runner (Matt Pedersen) that however this thing ends, it’s been real. I wasn’t sure if we were playing mind games with one another or just chatting anymore, but Matt and I were talking about this race continuing into another night and whether we would be able to continue to do the loop in under an hour after dark. I wanted to show him it wouldn’t be a problem for me so I picked up the pace on that lap and came in with over 10 minutes to spare. It began to rain again as we went back out for our next lap and then it rained heavier. I continued my faster pace wanting to convince him that the last faster lap wasn’t just a fluke. Surprisingly, he slowed way down for this lap and I finished before him for the first time. I was convinced he did it just to mess with my head and was going to come in just a minute or two before the cut off to make me think it was nearly over when it wasn’t.

An early photo of the overlook at Lower Heart Pond.

He came in with about eight minutes to spare then sat down in his chair like normal. I was going through my normal routine of drinking water and taking in calories when Matt came over from his chair and said the words "take your victory lap". Without thinking, I immediately got up and gave him a hug. I could try to express the emotions I felt right then in my own words, but I believe Cantrell said it best already: “A lot of people decry competition as a negative thing. It’s not. You come to love your competitors because you’ve been through this hell together. You don’t want your competitors to quit, but you need them to quit. These things are going on in your head at the same time. That’s a little bit evil. A total mindfuck, runners say.” The relief and strangely the disappointment when I finally knew there was an end in sight was a surprisingly emotional experience and overwhelming; I couldn't hold back tears and had to wipe my eyes a few times and recompose myself before heading out for my final lap. A few minutes later when Matt counted me down to go out for my final lap I was all smiles. I recall excitedly telling everyone how I was finally going to run this course. Knowing that the finish line was there gave me a burst of energy that I had no idea was still available to me. That last lap (39 min.) was my fastest of the 32 laps (99.2 miles) that I ran during the entire event.

This was the start of the first lap with only two left, just after Joe counted us down and sent us on our way.

I’ve probably gone on longer than I should have already for this race report, but I like to close all of my race reports with some kind of take home message or a lesson learned. Here are the words I wrote just before 6 AM Monday morning after the race when I arrived home with only four hours of sleep since the finish. After rereading this post, I still feel like this sums the event up pretty well.

“After a four hour drive broken up by a four hour nap in the car at a rest area parking lot on the garden state parkway all following a 32ish hour "running" competition, I brought this baby home. A beautifully crafted momento of an event that will be hard to recap into words. But now, while they are fresh and raw I have the main takeaways from this race: 1 - it was the first race that I have ever had to deal with the pressure of chasing cut offs, which is a completely different feeling than failing to meet your self imposed time goals; 2 - it was the first race during which I seriously contemplated dropping for extended periods and was on the verge of dropping on several occasions; 3 - it was the first race that has ever brought me to tears. I was close to tears when Joe dropped, but the relief when Matt said the words "take your victory lap" and I finally knew there was an end in sight was overwhelming and I couldn't hold them back. So many thanks to the RDs, race organizers, the CT Trailmixers, emergency personnel, and all the volunteers that made this an amazing experience for so many. All of us runners are in your debt. Now it is time for a long overdue shower beer!”

A beautiful award. 

Scott Snell
June 22, 2019

2019 Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k

Third Time Is the Charm, 

Even If It Takes a Month to Realize It

I’m just getting around to writing this race report after over a month has passed since running the 2019 Hyner 50k and less than a week until I will be running the Worlds End 100k. This is less of a traditional race report in the sense of an overall course description and background information on the race, but more of a reflective piece on my expectations and reactions to how the race went for me. The reason being that much of the race is not fresh in my mind at this point and I’m more focused on mentally preparing for WE 100k. An additional reason is that I have written race reports on the past two years of the Hyner 50k and feel like I would just be rehashing the same info. If that’s what you’re looking for, my reports on 2017 and 2018 Hyner 50k are still available. However, this is the story of the 2019 Hyner 50K.

The Hyner course had a very slight course change this year.

I went into the race with the exact same goal as last year, however with one added caveat: to not destroy myself to the point that I thought a marathon PR would be unachievable the following weekend. My goal last year was just to get close to my 2017 Hyner time (5:36:36) in order to be able to better my cumulative 2017 Pennsylvania Triple Crown time (47:47:36). Since in 2017 my Hyner performance was probably my best of all three races that make up the series, I thought just getting close to it would make my season’s goal of improving my cumulative 2017 Pennsylvania Triple Crown time achievable. Since Eastern States 100 was cancelled last year, I was not able to find out if that held true. So, I’m giving it another shot this year with a few additional goals added. One of those additional goals was to improve my marathon PR and the marathon I chose to make that attempt at happened to be the weekend after Hyner. With all this in mind and knowing how last year’s Hyner 50k went where I felt like I gave it my all and was still somehow slower than the previous year, I wasn’t sure if both of these goals could be achieved within the time frame I had set. But I wanted to give it a go anyway.

Strava data for the three years I've run Hyner 50k.

I went into it with the same plan as last year as well, attack the climbs and hammer the downhills harder than 2017, only this time try not to feel like crap around the 20 mile point like I did in 2018. Without doing a lot of homework and studying my splits, it felt like I was accomplishing this even with less than ideal conditions to start the race. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms were forecasted leading up to race day, but come race weekend, all the rainfall passed through the night before the race. This made a course that is well known for its many stream crossings (or using creek beds as the trail) a bit more daunting. How deep would all the water crossings be? How sloppy would the trails be? Thankfully, other than the first stretch of trail following the initial road section near the start, the trails were in surprisingly great condition. Given the few mini landslides that caused minor bottlenecks and more than one runner’s shoe to be lost in the muck, the great condition of the rest of the course was shocking.

All packed, ready to go!

I tried to be even more focused on efficiency at aid stations this year than last, spending little more time at each one than it took to have a water bottle refilled, grab a couple energy gels (Carb Boom, not my favorite, but what the aid stations offered), and throw out my mess of sticky gel wrappers if I remembered. I also forewent my beet juice plan (chugging some beet juice just before the start and then starting the race with a water bottle filled with mostly beet juice) that I tried to employ last year and apparently didn’t do much good. I used my standard fueling plan that has worked pretty well for me for anything up to a 50k. I ate a gel just before the start and then another basically every half hour. Thankfully, it worked well for me this year and I never had any signs of bonking or just feeling completely depleted.

I ran the early road section harder than I ever have in three years of partaking in the Hyner 50k festivities. I also attacked the climbs in what felt like it may be a risky pace for a tough 31 mile trail run, but I put a lot of faith in the extra gym training I had started at the end of 2018. I really was banking on all of those stair stepper and inclined treadmill sessions paying off on this day. Since this is the first time in years I had incorporated any kind of gym workouts into my training, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but was hoping to see some benefits. The last secret to improving my time was to run the downhills faster. It sounds simple, but a lot of people struggle with downhill and worry (with good reason) about blowing out their quads due to hammering the descents to hard. For me, downhill running has always seemed to come pretty naturally and I’ve never been too afraid of a nasty fall to try to make up some time by hitting the downhills hard. As tough as I find the climbs at Hyner, the descents are the opposite for me. In my opinion, nearly all of the downhills at Hyner are nontechnical and super runnable, which is perfect for me. The real blessing about the whole situation is that with the race being only a 50k, who cares if you blow your quads up. It will be over before blown quads really matter that much.

The muddy parking lot the morning of the race.

With that philosophy and planning, I cranked the miles out on race day feeling good physically and mentally all day. Hyner is always fun as it is the first race of the year where I see and get to catch up with many of the other trail ultrarunners I have gotten to know over the past few years and haven’t seen or talked to (outside of Facebook) since the previous season. Since I was feeling so good and enjoying the trails so much while racing, I really didn’t look at my watch too often to check on my pace. I checked often enough to know I was close to my 2017 pace, but that was about all. My final race goal before the finish was to run, not hike, the final, steep ascent just before the finish line is in sight after the road section. I was pulling it off until I was about halfway up it and hit a slick spot where my foot flew out from under me and I had to throw my hands out to avoid face planting into the trail. Undeterred, I attempted to continue running it, but my other foot slipped as well. This happened for at least a full three strides where it would have appeared to an onlooker that I was doing mountain climbers in the middle of the trail. After exhausting the last of my efforts with muddy mountain climbers I gave up trying to still run it and got myself some secure footing. Once past that steep, slick patch I hiked a few steps disappointed with the outcome and then switched back to the fastest trot I could manage after giving it all I had to get nowhere just before the finish.

Sloppy the night before the race.

After finishing I learned my official time was 5:32:31. At the time I knew it was faster than my 2018 time which I was happy about, but for some reason I thought I had run it faster in 2017. I continued to believe this untruth all the way up until I was putting together the data for my split times for Table 2. I was comparing the cumulative times from 2017 to 2019 trying to see where I was faster each year. While doing this I finally realized that my total time in 2019 was less than in 2017. Thinking I made a mistake somewhere in my data entry into Excel, I checked my results on Ultrasignup. Sure enough, plain as day, I was about four minutes faster in 2019 than in 2017. It only took me about a month and a half and examining a spreadsheet to realize it, but when I did it sure was an awesome finding. The real beauty of it is that it sets me up so nicely to accomplish my overall PA Triple Crown Series cumulative time goal (see Table 1) for my 2019 season! Additionally, I found out the weekend after Hyner that I had achieved my other goal for the race when I was able to get a new road marathon PR at the New Jersey Marathon! I’m super proud of how those back to back weekends of racing turned out. They both felt like real successes to me and an excellent start to my race season!


Scott Snell

June 6, 2019


Table 1 shows my finishing times for all of the Pennsylvania Triple Crown Series races I have finished as of the publishing of this report.

Table 2 shows my splits and cumulative time for the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k for 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Mile	Hyner '17	Hyner '18	Hyner '19	cumulative '17	cumulative '18	cumulative '19
1	7:38:00	7:00:00	6:51:00	07:37.6	6:59	6:51:00
2	9:16:00	8:13:00	9:05:00	16:54	15:12	15:56:00
3	15:32:00	13:58:00	14:52:00	32:26:00	29:11:00	30:48:00
4	17:49:00	17:27:00	17:53:00	50:14:00	46:37:00	48:41:00
5	8:23:00	7:56:00	8:04:00	58:37:00	54:33:00	56:45:00
6	13:34:00	12:56:00	13:10:00	1:12:11	1:07:29	1:09:55
7	17:14:00	16:49:00	15:08:00	1:29:26	1:24:19	1:25:03
8	12:47:00	14:14:00	14:49:00	1:42:13	1:38:33	1:39:52
9	9:19:00	9:26:00	9:38:00	1:51:32	1:47:59	1:49:30
10	9:21:00	9:10:00	10:10:00	2:00:53	1:57:09	1:59:40
11	9:15:00	10:29:00	10:26:00	2:10:08	2:07:38	2:10:06
12	8:16:00	8:54:00	9:13:00	2:18:24	2:16:32	2:19:19
13	9:10:00	8:45:00	7:46:00	2:27:34	2:25:17	2:27:05
14	12:15:00	12:36:00	11:41:00	2:39:49	2:37:53	2:38:46
15	16:32:00	19:06:00	20:59:00	2:56:21	2:56:58	2:59:45
16	14:28:00	15:22:00	10:40:00	3:10:49	3:12:20	3:10:25
17	8:35:00	9:30:00	9:35:00	3:19:24	3:21:50	3:20:00
18	8:48:00	10:02:00	9:35:00	3:28:13	3:31:53	3:29:35
19	9:44:00	11:08:00	9:22:00	3:37:56	3:43:01	3:38:57
20	9:54:00	10:46:00	11:45:00	3:47:50	3:53:47	3:50:42
21	19:01:00	19:39:00	19:04:00	4:06:51	4:13:26	4:09:46
22	13:23:00	13:18:00	11:42:00	4:20:14	4:26:44	4:21:28
23	9:02:00	8:46:00	8:29:00	4:29:17	4:35:30	4:29:57
24	23:39:00	24:00:00	21:18:00	4:52:56	4:59:30	4:51:15
25	9:31:00	10:04:00	9:37:00	5:02:27	5:09:34	5:00:52
26	10:16:00	10:13:00	9:34:00	5:12:43	5:19:47	5:10:26
27	10:08:00	8:49:00	7:44:00	5:22:51	5:28:37	5:18:10
28	8:46:00	8:22:00	7:53:00	5:31:37	5:36:58	5:26:03
29	9:28:00	9:45:00	9:34:00	5:37:11	5:42:17	5:32:47

Figure 1 shows my pace (min./mile) for the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50k from 2017, 2018, and 2019.