Mt. Taylor 50k 2022
Overview
The Mt. Taylor 50k is an awesome race. No matter how much time I put into this race report, I simply will not be able to do it justice. Ken, Margaret and Kurt succinctly summarize it as
One year they had Jim Wamsley and Betsy Kalmayer running sweep and rather than boast about them, their presence wasn't even mentioned. Oh, and Betsy was ran sweep this year, too.
History of the Mt. Taylor 50k
In 1983, Mark Lautman and Klaus Weber came up with the idea of the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon and by 1984 it was a reality. It's been drawing athletes to Grants ever since.
Kurt, one of the original co-founders of the Albuquerque Road Runners, Ken and Margaret liked the area and wanted to introduce it to Albuquerque's trail runners. They came up with an awesome course and the inaugural running even included Klaus. The winner was Shaun Martin, (Racing the Rez and 3100: Run and Become).
Shaun was also the guest speaker at that inaugural run. He mentioned "Greeting the Sunrise": running toward the east early in the morning. The Race Directors were already aware of that practice and deliberately chose the starting time to be just before daybreak so the participants could all be running toward the east as the sun rises.
Tenth (quasi eleventh) Running
This was the tenth edition. Other than 2020, it's been an annual event. There was no formal Mt. Taylor 50k in 2020 due to covid, but the first dozen or so miles of the course were marked with flour so that people who wanted to could come out and run the course on their own if they so chose.
Six lucky runners, myself included, have been able to finish all ten.
My Race
My goal was to experience beauty, have fun, finish and watch others finish. I was successful.
This write-up is primarily to remind me of what I did and what worked and what failed. It does not go into the beauty of the course or even discuss any of the terrain or features. There are excellent race reports for this race out there (and maybe I'll take the time to dig up some links after I finish my memory dump).
Camping
There are plenty of good places to camp before the race. Jeff, my brother-in-law, and I have been camping in the same place for the last few years. Were it not for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, I'd have camped at least two nights and probably three. However, I've been crewing for the same balloon pilot for far longer than I've been a runner, so Friday morning I helped with the balloon before driving over to Grants. Saturday, after helping tear-down, I drove home so I could get up Sunday and run down to the field.
I got to Grants before packet-pickup opened, so I asked if there were any chores I could do. Kim suggested I help unpack the shirts. I did so, but very inefficiently. I wasn't even a quarter of the way done with the men's shirts by the time Kim was done with the women's and she started much later than I did.
It was good to see Lynette and Kathy who were doing serious volunteering. I hung around a little longer and saw some of the early packet picker-uppers, then drove to my campsite, set my tent up and walked up to the start/finish area to see if the permanent toilet had been decorated yet (it hadn't). I meandered through another set of campsites on my way back down to my tent.
Jeff had arrived. After he set up his tent, he shared two very nice beers with me and let me help myself to the homemade hummus my sister Marcia had made. I kept going back for more, each time using a single small slice of pita to scoop up a huge glob of hummus.
We were bedazzled by some lights strung on the other side of the dirt road. Upon investigation, it was Elisha and his support group. He was going to accompany his wife in the race the following day. I met Elisha through Spencer and would see Spencer the following day since he was doing quite a bit of volunteering.
Pre-race
I slept reasonably well in my tent. My sleeping pad had a seam come loose which create an awkward bump, but that only woke me up a few times. I also woke up a few times to empty my bladder. Sometime between 4am and 5am I got up and used the Luggable Loo I had brought.
At 4:30 I had a single serving of my fortified (with hemp, chia, Udo's oil and soy milk) oatmeal. At 5:15 I had my "wake-up" double espresso and at 5:30 I had a large cup of cold coffee I had brought from Michael Thomas.
I made my way to the start line wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I got a chance to chat briefly with a ton of people. Around 6:30 I took off my sweats. I was wearing a headlamp, sunglasses on my head, some running shorts, my GPS watch, socks, shoes and custom orthotics. I did not wear a shirt, vest or carry a water bottle, but I did have a collapsible cup and some gels in the zippered compartment in my shorts.
First Loop
I remembered to drop my headlamp when I got to the collection bin. I had labeled it with my bib number back in Albuquerque. Yay! I've forgotten to drop it off previously and also remembered to drop it off but forgotten to label it previously.
Somewhere there was a chance for me to get water, and I did so using my collapsible cup. Before getting to Spud Patch I ate four (100 calorie) gels.
Spud Patch
There was frost on the ground at spud patch. I was still plenty warm without my shirt. I believe I ate two Oreos, an oatmeal cookie (which may not have been vegan) and some pretzels and drank a cupful of Tailwind and two cupfuls of water.
I almost made it back to Rock Tank without tripping. I was so close that I had already patted myself on the back for doing so when ... I caught my foot and hit the ground. Luckily, it was my right knee, because my left knee was still tender (and still scabbed over) from my fall at the Big Cotton Marathon.
Rock Tank
I had planned on wearing my ultra vest at Rock Tank, but I also had two handhelds in my drop bag "just in case". I chose to just take one handheld with me.
I ate a handful of gummy candies, and maybe a banana. I took a handful of pretzels with me. This may have been the fastest I've gotten out of Rock Tank and it would have been ever so slightly faster if my handheld had been pre-filled with water.
Second Loop
I did fall enough for my hand to hit the ground once or twice after Rock Tank and before Gooseberry, but neither knee hit.
At one point a silver haired man started running next to me and I guessed it was Senovio. He's nine years older than me but plenty faster. I jokingly like to "beat the old people", meaning finish faster than anyone my age or older, but that doesn't happen when Senovio is entered.
I chatted with Senovio a bit and brought up his daughter, because I knew he was proud that she finally beat him. Eventually, everyone slows down as they age, so a parent who has a running child will eventually be overtaken. It's a day I look forward to. Unfortunately, his daughter had some surgery that prevented her from being at Mt. Taylor.
Senovio was already running faster than I wanted to run, so after paying my respects, I slowed down and he ran out of earshot.
Gooseberry
When I got to the Gooseberry aid station, Senovio was just about to leave. At that point I knew I was running too quickly and I also didn't want my competitive nature kicking in, because Senovio would be me regardless and I'd simply beat myself up trying to keep up with him, so I had a beer and a shot instead. Sure enough, that tamped my competitive spirit.
During the ascent to the peak, I looked at my heart-rate and saw that it was around 120. In general, 130 or below I label as "leisurely", because I can run at that heart rate for hours and hours and not get beaten up too badly. As such, I felt a little bad that I wasn't moving quickly enough to be at 130, but I had a pretty good buzz and figured I had run my heart a bit faster on the first loop, so I continued my upward plod.
On my descent from the peak I slipped on a tuft of grass and slid downhill a little bit. I don't think it was from the drinking, seeing how I had fallen and hit the ground a couple times earlier when I was sober.
Water Canyon
I got into the Water Canyon aid station and asked how far Barry was in front of me. "What's his number?" "I don't know" "We can't look him up without his number" "OK". Of the six people who had run the previous nine Mt. Taylor 50ks, Barry is the fastest. I was curious as to whether he was an hour ahead of me or just a few minutes.
I chose not to have any more alcohol, because I was still buzzed. I saw some small tubs of guacamole and ate two before I saw that there was half an avocado available, so I ate that too, grabbed a handful of peanut butter pretzels and headed down.
Water Canyon Again
The hike back out of Water Canyon was sobering. Literally. so, when I got back to the Water Canyon aid station for the second time, I did have another beer. This time I only had half so someone else could have the other half.
Fairly close to the finish I asked Jeanne if she knew where Barry was "He's in back of you?" "Are you sure?" that was a foolish question, but I didn't know that he too had chosen to run this event much slower than he could.
Finish
As I approached the finish, I remembered the year when I tripped and fell with less than a quarter of a mile to go. I remembered the first year when the finish line seemed to never come. I remembered the time Jeff and I trained on Mt. Taylor and ran the second lap in reverse. I was excited to finish for the tenth time. I briefly wondered where the years went, but soon I was with fellow finishers, the organizers and volunteers. I was home.
Post Race
As always, the post-race celebration was festive. There were many stories to hear and people to cheer on. I had initially planned on heading home early since I had balloon crewing the following day, but that would have meant not seeing Crystal finish. In retrospect, I can't even believe I had even thought about leaving before helping tear down.
I drove back to Albuquerque with the bed of my truck filled with garbage bags and my head filled with inspiration.
The Future
The Mt. Taylor 50k will cease to exist if substantial volunteers don't step up. I am hoping I can do more for the race in the future, but it will be a relatively insignificant role. Between Craft Poker Co. and search-and-rescue (from which I'm currently on hiatus until craftpoker.com launches) I will not have time to do any serious organization, planning or management. Trail Marking and/or volunteering are more likely.