Berryman Trail 50-mile Race by St. Louis Ultrarunner’s Group (5/15/10)

Berryman Trail 50m is a race that has intimidated me a bit since I learned about it. For one, it’s FIFTY miles – that’s intimidating enough! Secondly, it’s shares a portion of the Ozark Trail 100 course, so I’m pretty familiar with the terrain. It’s all technical single track and usually several creek crossings with major mud. Making matters for me even MORE anxious are the fact the Berryman 50 start & finish is the Berryman Campgrounds. In and of itself, not a scary place at all, but it happens to be the camp ground that I withdrew for a DNF at the Ozark Trail 100 mile race last November in my 1st ever attempt at a 100 miler. GULP!

Riding to the race with me was Seth Kelly, my friend from Ghisallo Running in University City, MO. Seth was a good college runner, and he’s not long out of college, so he’s still FAST. He had never raced farther than a ½ marathon and decided he’d sign up for the Berryman 50-miler. Yeah, why not!?!? As Seth and I made our way down on the 1.5 hour drive from St. Louis to Berryman Camp Grounds the weather turned BAD. Like, lightening storm and voracious winds BAD. Seth, understandably so, was already a little concerned because he doesn’t really run trails and certainly doesn’t run 50 miles! However, his attitude was positive and he decided no matter what happened he was going to make the most of the day. I adopted the same attitude and we did our best to keep dry & reasonably warm before the race started at 6:30am.

This race was stacked with local talent. The pre-race favorite, by quite a lot, was Ben Creehan, fresh off his course record 3:37 at Double Chubb 50k only a month or so ago. Also running were strong runners Tommy Doias, Kyle Gibbs, John Cash, David Stores and many, many other very experienced and talented runners. Kansas City’s “Trail Nerds” ultra running club had several entrants (Including Ben Creehan) who are all very good runners. The competition was out there and the conditions were going to make it a little tough for all of us.

Out of the gate it was pouring buckets of rain. That lasted for about 2.5 hours of the 1st of our 25-mile loops. I settled in to a nice pace for the first couple of miles with John Cash – a great guy and fun to talk running with. However, I needed a quick bathroom break and John was going strong, so we parted ways and on he went. I spent the next 18 miles all alone, which actually was really nice. At the last aid station from the start finish, about 2 miles from the campgrounds, I just barely caught back up with John and we crossed the ½ way mark together and both tended to our feet. It was so soaking wet we both thought it wise to make sure everything was cool. John was a bit faster than me through the aid station, so he headed out.

We made the first loop in about 3:45 or so and I got out of the start finish area for loop two at about 3:50. The trail was a messy mix of nasty mud, rushing water (rushing down the trail), major roots & rocks and some creek crossings. However, the one thing that surprised me was that the 25-mile loop really is a runnable course in terms of “hilliness”. It’s not flat, by any means, but it doesn’t have anything so crazy steep that you can’t run it if you put your mind to it. In fact, I ran the first 25-mile loop without walking a single step – a major rarity for me.

I knew loop two would include some walking, but I intended to minimize it. I wasn’t quite sure what position I was in as I rounded the 1st loop, but I knew I had to be within the top 10. Little did I realize it was a bit better than that because the race includes a marathon option as well. A couple of the runners ahead of me early turned out to be 26.2 vs. 50-mile participants. As I moved on through the second loop, I was a bit surprised to catch back up to John only a few miles in to the loop. He decided to take it easy on the loop, although running strong, so I moved on ahead.

As I spent the next 5 or so miles alone (again) I was surprised again to come upon Kyle Gibbs. Kyle wasn’t having his best day due to a respiratory ailment that was clearly wreaking havoc on his race. But Kyle is such a strong runner that passing him with 14 or 15 miles to go left me VERY nervous for the rest of the race. I figured he’d bounce back to life and hammer me in to the ground closer to the finish. As we I came through Brazille Creek, which left only about 9 miles to go in the race, I shot a glance back down the trail and saw Kyle coming up only a few hundred yards back – CRAP, time to go!

I don’t really consider myself a “racer”, but I learned yesterday that I DID NOT want to give up that spot back to Kyle or John, for that matter, because I figured John wasn’t too far behind either. Leaving Brazille Creek aid station with merely a 60 second advantage on Kyle - I ran the next 6 miles like my life depended on it! There are so many switchbacks & hills on Berryman Trail that I couldn’t tell where Kyle was as I moved through the course. I felt like the mud an inclines were SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME. I had to shuffle & hike a little, but nothing major and was able to maintain at least a jog most of the way to the last aid station, which leaves only about 2 miles to the finish. I DID NOT take my time there, and shuffled off with the aim to run my best until the finish.

It sure seemed like a LONG two miles with 48 miles on my legs through extra sloppy conditions, and Kyle presumably running me down. But as I really thought about it, I figured only 3 guys should be ahead of me: Ben Creehan, Seth Kelly (yep, the 1st timer!) and Tommy Doias. Candidly, I didn’t expect to be able to “run with” any of these guys, including the two I had managed to somehow pass on the second loop. It was a pretty crazy and GOOD feeling. I was really having quite the day out there!

With a quick hop across a dirt road I knew I was only about 200 yards from the finish - then I heard the cowbell. I NEEDED MORE COWBELL!!!! I glanced back with no one in sight to cross the finish line in 7hrs 47mins +some seconds. This blew me away because my only other 50-mile race I had run in 8:32! It really was a great day for me.

Ben Creehan had smoked the course in an amazingly swift 6:51! It was well off the 6:33 course record, but I think Ben had a legit shot at it if we hadn’t been running in torrential downpour. It turns out Seth Kelly, in his 1st ultra AND trail race, passed Tommy Doias to finish 2nd place in 7:34! Amazing job Seth – that’s really unbelievable! Tommy finished only 1 minute behind Seth in 7:35, CRUSHING his previous best effort at Berryman 50-mile by nearly 50 minutes! That’s quite a race at the finish!

John Cash improved on his previous 50-mile time by more than AN HOUR, finishing in 8:19. David Stores ran all 50 sloppy, rocky, rooty, muddy & messy miles in Vibram Five Fingers, breaking the 9-hour time mark – what a BEAST.

My 4th place finish felt pretty special. Not only due to the 45 minute 50-mile PR, but especially because I ran so well after running a 6hr ultra only 7 days prior in North Vancouver, B.C. Canada with Club Fat Ass – where I ran really well - happy birthday to me!

As always, David & Victoria White, Lee Hess and dozens of volunteers made it all happen seamlessly. Although not ideal conditions, it was still a great day on the trails thanks to the quality people that always surround and participate in S.L.U.G.’s events.

Photos, through the very generous courtesy of Shannon Drohan, are located at this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sdrohan13/Berryman2010#