Bear Chase 50k Race Report

Wanted to get something up about the great event I did on Sunday.  The Bear Chase trail event was pretty much nailed by Race Director, David Manthey and his terrific staff.  There was a small emergency when the Fort Collins Brewery ran out of beer but David and gang saved the day by going out and purchasing like 20 cases (seriously) of beer and filled kiddie pools of ice with it.  whew.

I started out a little hard for the first two miles and a small group of 4 was already way out in front, including the eventual winner, a 1:03 half marathoner (that's a 4:51 per mile average pace…for 13 miles).  He went on to crush the course record with a 3:24 in the 50k.  Sick.

My legs turned to stiffening cement at about mile 22 and I had to coast on peg legs for the last hour, finishing in 4:18, 9th place and 1st masters.  I was hoping to feel sharp enough to run close to 4:05ish but it was nice once I backed off and could enjoy the cool course of six decent sized water crossings and rolling single track.  Thanks to Vi for the constant and tasty gels!

Afterwards, I fished and soaked up some sun by the lake with Lucho (Tim Waggoner) and his boys for a while.

Here's some picks courtesy of runningguru.com: