Stone Cat 50 Mile Race Report - by Ben Nephew

Stone Cat 50 Mile
11/6/2010
After a poor race at the Pisgah 50k, I was looking forward to one more ultra for the fall to end things on a better note. I knew Dave Herr and Brian Rusiecki were running, and another reason for doing Stone Cat was to actually do a long run with someone besides myself. I don’t mind solo training most of the time, but it’s nice to run with people once in a while. Dave was coming off of course records at the Wapack 18 mile trail race and Pisgah, as well as a solo 2:32 road marathon, and Brian had won the Pineland, Peak, and VT 50 milers, another 50k in CT, and a fast 2nd place at Pisgah. I also finally met Josh Katzman at the start, who is a very fast local ultra runner who rarely races.



We had a solid group of 5-6 guys at the start, which was good for me. I forgot to bring a headlamp, so it was nice to have several lights to follow. I tried to stay in the middle of pack for the best visibility. Stone Cat has a reputation for slowly beating you up as the race covers four 12.5 mile loops of runable trails, and everyone seemed content with an easy pace. Dave and Brian seemed pretty ready to be done with the racing season.

The lead marathon runners came flying by shortly after it got light, with Paul Young passing at what looked like 5 minute pace. I picked up the pace to catch up with Keith Schmitt as he went by to ask about how his brother Leigh was doing out in Sonoma Valley. We talked for a few minutes, and then I dropped back to the lead ultra pack. Running with Keith had felt pretty comfortable, so after a while, I took the lead and started to pick up the pace a little. Brian asked me if I was trying to chase down the marathon runners. I didn’t think I was running fast enough to catch them, but I soon ran past Leigh, and then Paul.

Andrew King was leading the marathon, and he stayed a few seconds ahead of me for a few miles. I eventually caught up to him, and he apologized for not being able to help out with the pace much. He seemed to be doing fine, but I guess I didn’t realize how hard he was working, as he fell back pretty quickly after I passed him the last time. Dave had broken away from the chase pack, and slowly reeled me in. I thought he might just blow past me, but he settled in at my pace, and we both wondered if Brian would be coming along.

We completed the first 12.5 mile loop in about 1:38. This seemed slow to me, but considering the darkness and a pretty long water crossing, it wasn’t a surprise. I slowed to wait for Dave, and we continued with the pace we had been running towards the end of the first loop. At that point, we had a 1-2 minute lead on Josh Katzman, and a few more minutes on Brian.

Right as I was thinking we were running a bit too fast, Dave went by me and picked up the pace. I knew I was probably not going to get any help from Josh or Brian, so I tried to maintain contact with Dave without pushing too hard. Steve Pero was running backwards on the course, and yelled at me to keep Dave in sight. I didn’t think that was going to be possible at that point, as Dave kept putting 5 seconds on me each mile. Just as I was losing sight of him, he stopped at an aid station for a drink. I pulled up in back of him, and was able to stick with him for the rest of that second loop. I was guessing we had run a 1:30 loop. I was wrong, it was a 1:28:30, which is faster than the old marathon course record pace. The crowd at the finish thought we were battling for the marathon win as we came in to start our third loop. I once again slowed and let Dave catch up as we started out third loop. I noted that the last loop was a little quick, and we were both content to back off on the third lap after seeing that we had a sizable lead on Josh and Brian.

My legs still felt good, but I was definitely worried about the effect of the second loop towards the end of the race. Dave led most of the third loop, but he had a couple rough spots where I took the lead when he slowed. Just as he seemed to be rolling towards the end of the loop, he suddenly slowed in the last mile. I went by, and thought about really picking up the pace, but decided it was too early for that. I couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but I was clearly pulling away by just maintaining our pace.

I came into the finish after building a minute lead over a mile. I had covered the third loop in about 1:33, which was a more realistic pace than that second loop. Although Dave was clearly having some trouble, I thought he might be able to recover and run me down. As I had feared, my legs started to fade soon after the starting the last loop. I knew everyone else was probably hurting as well, but I was still looking around on the hairpin turns to see if Alex or Dave were coming.

In my 40 mile delusion, I was thinking I was running 1:40 pace for that last lap. It ended up being over 1:44, but I was still able to cut over 3 minutes from Brian’s course record with a 6:24:47. Josh hung tough to run a 6:40, with Sam Jurek moving up into third with his 7:01. Dave and Brian both struggled over the final miles and ran 7:06. Both have run much faster at Stone Cat, and I was lucky that neither had the kind of performance that they are capable of. With a dry course and a daylight start, I think a 6:10-6:15 is possible, but all the turns certainly wear you down towards the end. During the race, I yelled at Keith Schmitt as he was chasing Andrew King at the end of the marathon. With only a couple of minutes left, I didn’t think Keith was close enough to catch him, but he did catch him, and won by 7 seconds! I’m just glad I wasn’t in a similar situation at the end of the 50 mile! Amy just missed breaking 8 hours with her win in the 50 mile, so it was a good day for Inov-8.

I went with my trusty Roclite 315’s for the wet, leafy trails, which worked great. My sock choice was much too thick considering the fact that we soaked our shoes each loop, but despite running for hours with wet socks, I only had a couple of small blisters that didn’t bother me during the race.

The race workers and aid station staff were great throughout the day, and the post race feed is fantastic. Stone Cat is a perfect first time ultra, but is also deceptively challenging for a course without much climbing. If you find the trails too easy, just run really hard early in the race, and you will get all the challenge you want by the last five miles!