Red Rock 50k - Jan. 3, Fat Ass run

The leaders 1 mile from the start heading up the Calico Hills trail.

A bunch of us got together again this year on the first Saturday of January to run the Red Rock 50 K Fat Ass. The fat ass means that it was just a bunch of people, whoever wanted to, showing up for the run and running it.  It is not technically an organized run so there was no entry fee and very little support. We were fortunate again this year to have the father of one the runners go out with a truck and some water to the White Rock loop where we were able to fill our water bottles each time we passed.

It turned out to be a great day for a run with no wind and clear blue sunny skies over the gorgeous Red Rock scenery we were about to run through and enjoy that day.  Temperatures at the 8 AM start were in the mid 30s and it warmed up to the mid 50s. There were about 20 of us who started that morning and of those about a half dozen finished the entire 50 K. I was the last one to finish the 50 K in seven hours 32 minutes.  The race started at the entry gate and headed up the Calico Hills trail until we reached the White Rock loop where we then made two loops, one clockwise and one counterclockwise; then, finally returning down the same trails. It's a very challenging demanding course because there is a total of 5600 feet of elevation gain and loss and many of the trails are very rocky and technical. 

I felt exhilarated after this run as I manage all the race elements very well and I could've kept running quite a bit more that day if I had or wanted to. Even though it was a fairly chilly day, I drank twice as much as I normally do on a run and still I felt I was  barely hydrated.  I fueled primarily on dried bananas and figs again and this time whenever my stomach felt a little bloated I slowed the pace to allow my system to absorb the nutrients and water. I had strained my psosas, groin and hip flexor muscles on my left side badly during the Zion 100 last April and they flared up again after the Javelina 100 last November.  They didn't bother me before or after this run however, indicating that the physical therapy that I've been doing  for the past two month have been effective. I'll have to post some video of the eccentric hip flexor/psosas muscle exercises that I've been doing.

Feeling ready for a great running and racing season in 2015!