Waterville, OH

50s for Yo Momma 50K Trail Race

I headed out to Circleville, OH Friday night before the Saturday race after work. It had been hot most of the week (and humid), with the same weather predicted during race day. It’s pretty unusual for the temperature to be in the high 80s and low 90s in Northwester Ohio in the beginning of May, and it reminded me of the hot temps during last year’s Woodstock 100 (in which the heat index reached over 100!). I’m not a fan of hot and humid weather so I knew it was going to be challenging, especially with these temps so soon in the year. Most of the training for races in the beginning of spring is done in the winter months, so there is obviously no chance to acclimate to very high temperatures during this time.

The ride down to Circleville was pleasant enough through flat state roads that traversed wide open farm land. The single lane roads were slow which made the trip longer than expected, but I arrived around 8:00 PM with some day light to spare to set up my tent in the A.W. Marion State Park campground.

It wasn’t the best campground in the world, especially for the price, but cheaper than a hotel so I can’t complain too much. There was an obnoxious family around 200 yards away who had a small child who kept crying which kept me up later than I wanted to. I forgot to pack earplugs, a big mistake! Luckily around 11:00 I heard fighting and who I expect was the mom told her husband she was leaving with the kid. She drove off soon after and the noise was a lot better, letting me sleep for 6 hours before waking up at 5:00 AM.

It was humid when I woke up – a bad sign. I ate some breakfast, 2 bananas, an orange, and a protein bar, and packed up my things. The starting/parking area was only a 5 minute drive from the campground, on the opposite side of Hargus Lake. Hargus Lake is the central attraction of the park, and there is a trail system that travels around its circumference. The race course follows most of this trail and has a few detours to make it 8.2 miles for one loop. 4 loops get you to 50 kilometers (~33 miles). 

50K Course

I arrived at the start/finish area and picked up my race bib and packet. There were a few odds and ends in the packet, including a nice shirt which was unfortunately a little too large for me. After pinning my bib to my shorts I sat down on a bench looking over the lake and waited for the 6:15 AM pre-race meeting as the sun slowly rose over tranquil waters. 

Hargus Lake & Dam

The pre-race meeting was held with enthusiastic participants huddled around. There were maybe only a 100 or so people at the race, giving it a nice, small intimate feel. This is much different than the Glass City Marathon in Toledo I ran in two weeks prior, which had thousands of runners. I much prefer this small feel.

We all lined up soon after the meeting, toeing the starting line. We were off running at the sound of the horn and first ran over the dam on the west side of the Lake. The trail soon dipped down into the woods on single track trail where we remained for the entire loop.

The first miles went easy, up and down gentle hills, and I was feeling pretty good. There is a water stop at 4.8 miles and an aid station at 5.8 miles at the Campground on the other side of the lake. I reached the aid station after an hour of running and continued on to the beginning of the loop. I reached the starting area in 1:20, and was feeling pretty good after grabbing a gel and some ice water. I headed out on the second loop feeling pretty strong. The second loop was a little slower, with the heat and humidity steadily increasing. I got to the campground aid station and ate some pineapple and grapes, grabbed a gel, and filled my water. I reached the start/finish aid station soon after at around 3 hours. After passing through the aid station I started to feel very nauseous. Nothing I ate or drank seemed to settle well in my stomach. I got rid of my shirt, soaked in sweat, before starting the 3^rd loop. I tried to run but was soon defeated to a brisk walk because of my stomach. If I ran I would have thrown up. The heat and humidity had bested me.

I walked almost the entire third loop, waiting for the nausea to go away. I grabbed a salt tab at the campground aid station and ate some more fruit. By the time I walked back to the start/finish line, it was 5 hours and 30 minutes; the third loop took me a pitiful 2 and half hours to complete! I ate a gel and another salt tab and filled up on water. I instantly felt better and began running the final loop. I felt great for the first time until I tripped on a root and fell head first into some mud. I got up and brushed myself off – I was by myself so no one saw what I just did!

I reached the finish line in 7:36 – much longer than I anticipated, but at least I finished. After having to drop out of the Woodstock 100 last year I knew the feeling of not finishing and did not want to repeat that. Even though it took me longer, I’m glad a saw it through.

Overall the course was a lot hillier than I thought it was going to be. It had a lot of sharp inclines at around 30% or more, which wore me down over time.  The best part was being able to select the finisher’s medal. This is the fifth year this race has been put on, so they offered a choice of getting a medal from the first few years, which were really nice hand-crafted medals. I picked the one from the first year – it’s really neat!

Finisher's Medal

Overall it was a fun little course that challenged me harder than I thought it would. It’s a great course for the spring as a training race or a first Ultra and I would definitely recommend it to anyone living in the area. Again, many thanks to the volunteers that spend a lot of time supporting and putting on events like these. They wouldn’t happen without everyone’s generosity!