Buckeye Woods 50K, November 26, 2017

At the start

The Buckeye Woods 50K (BW50K) is known as a Fat Ass run. Fat Ass runs are usually held around the holidays in order to provide ultra runners a way to burn off some of the extra weight they've been putting on. They don't have to be 50K (there's a 25K option at Buckeye Woods), but they're often 50 of something. I know there are some 50-mile ones, and there could conceivably be others of 50 feet or 50 parsecs. But 50 kilometers is probably the most common.

A couple other things about Fat Ass runs: they are friendly and easy-going; lack of support is typical (runners usually have to support themselves), and most importantly, there is usually no fee. In fact, the motto for all Fat Ass runs is, 'No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps'.

That said, BW50K now has awards (Alyssa Osborne makes beach-glass necklaces for finishers), and there is even some limited support, this year by our Great Race Directors Harold Dravenstott and Michelle Wolff.

And the lack of fees? BW50K is one of the truly great benefits of membership in the Medina County Road Runners club; you do have to be a member in order to run, but it's otherwise completely free. What a bargain. The friendliness and easy-going-ness are a huge part of the bargain as well.

I absolutely love this race. So much so, that I've done each one since its inception in 2010. Maybe I'll even get good at it one of these years. But probably not.

Perhaps it wasn't really all that bad this time around. Maybe I'm being a little tough on myself. Many runners would be happy with my time and my overall place today. Conceivably, I could be very happy with today's run... Nah.

What exactly was my time and place today, you ask? Although I ran alone most of the day (no one seemed to run my pace - most were either faster or slower), it was still good to see everyone coming and going. And to come 'home' at the end of each 5-mile loop was wonderful.

Going in, I'd thought that I ought to be able to run faster than six hours, perhaps even five and a half. A sub-five hour run would be hitting it out of the park for me this day. But for a while, sub-five actually seemed like a possibility. But then the miles began to take their terrible toll, and my lap times began to slow little by little.

My laps. the first one includes an extra mile

My overall time was 5:11:28. This was good for second place overall. If some fast guy (his name is Frank Dwyer) hadn't showed up, I may, just may, have placed better than second. I should mention that there were a lot of excellent runners out there today, but lots of them chose to call it quits at 25K.

Okay, it was great fun. Did I mention that I love this race?

Oh, just one more thing. Here's my BW50K history. The unlabeled column is my age. As I said, maybe I'll get good at it one of these years.

Hail yes, it hurt. ...or... Hail. Yes, it hurt.

The well-known Post Office creed goes, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".


The not so well-known Dan Horvath creed for this day goes, "Neither snow nor rain nor blustery wind nor sleet nor hail nor gloom of early morning stays this runner from the swift completion of his appointed round."


The hail hurt a bit, but luckily that part didn't last long. Oh, and the completion wasn't really all that swift either.

Time, Distance, Estimation and Honesty

For someone who measures and estimates for a living, the Garmin Forerunner 620 has been both a blessing and a curse. On the blessing side, it's just so cool to look at the data, including the map, after a run, or even much later. And it's also great to never have to measure or estimate time and distance again. Ever.


On the curse side, one never has to measure or estimate time and distance. That is, there's no opportunity to fudge, over-estimate or otherwise smooth out the data.


Not that this runner would do such a thing on purpose. Before the Garmin, he would do the best he could at measuring accurate distances, and to be precise with the timing. Even so, there may, just may, have been occasions where the estimation wasn't entirely accurate. And guess which way?


What happens, you ask, when such a guy stops using his Garmin? What happens when the battery dies after three years, and the thing has to be returned to Garmin International for a $99 battery replacement? For one thing, he goes a little crazy.


But only a little. He researches various training logs, since he absolutely hates the Garmin one anyway. (He's trying Running Ahead right now, instead.) And he buys a $9.99 Aldi's best "sportwatch", that includes - get this - a chronometer. This will, hopefully, get him by until the return of the Garmin.


Now he's back to estimating time and/or distance for the interim. And trying hard not to be dishonest.