3 Days at Syllamo 50k
Got to the race on Thursday to set up camp. Got situated and met my neighbors. A lot of the people at this race have been coming out and doing the race for 10+ years. When the race started Friday morning, the RD told us that the weather forecast was looking good and we didn't need to worry about rain anymore, but there was a red flag warning, so if any fires started up, we'd deal with that and do what the forest service said to do.
My strategy was to go pretty slow in the 50k to save energy for the next day. I did that pretty well, finishing about 30 minutes before cutoff. My garmin registered 5,000 feet of gain even though the map said 6200. It was a lot of climbing with mixed terrain. One section was on a fire road where they had just done a prescribed burn a few days prior. It was so smokey. We saw a couple of flames, but nobody seemed to think it was a big deal. I fell pretty hard on the fire road trying to make up some time and get out of the smoke. Bloody knee, skinned up hands. It was fine. I was due for a fall and out of all the places to fall, that was probably the best place.
Came into the finish line. The weather was great. Generally pretty clear skies. Didn't seem like anything to worry about. Got some food and drove over to the campsites with showers and cleaned up. Came back to my camp and started setting everything out for the 50 miler and started to get myself tucked in for the night. Then I started seeing flashes of lightening and the wind picked up. Nobody else around camp seemed too worried so I just hunkered down. The wind really picked up. Like a lot, and I started to get nervous. Then I heard it. I knew exactly what it was even though I was telling myself that can't be a tornado, they said the weather was going to be fine. Then my tent started moving a little too much. I grabbed my sleeping bag, phone, charging bank and got out of the tent just as it was collapsing. I threw everything in the car and got in right before it starting hailing. A couple other people jumped in their vehicles too. If I had known it was coming, I would have gone into the bathrooms, but we had no idea. There was no service so we didn't get any warnings and they didn't have any outdoor weather sirens.
After it passed and all the rain stopped I went to talk to some people I saw in the main parking lot. They said all the roads were blocked trees and it seemed like there was a lot of damage. There were large trucks coming and going. They were clearing the roads for medical to get someone out. A tree fell on his tent. That's the only major injury I know of. Some people in cabins were in the direct path, but they were still safe.
This morning everybody gathered at the pavilion to see what was going on at 6 when the race was supposed to start. They didn't have much to say except that it was canceled, trees are everywhere, but it seemed like everyone was safe. The forestry service stopped by and told us that they were working on clearing the road out, but they were shutting down the roads at 9am, so we needed to be out by then. Once you turned out of the campgrounds, you hit downed trees about 20 or 30 feet out. That's when I really realized how close it actually was.
The limited wifi at the campsites was gone. I had to use the satellite function on the iphone texts to get anything out to hbc. Luckily I was able to get some messages out. It seemed like not many people were able to get messages out, if they even tried.
Physically I actually felt a lot better this morning than I thought I would. My legs loosened up pretty quickly and I'm really not sore. I am completely exhausted from trying to sleep in a mini cooper, but had the weather not taken a turn, I think I would have been good to go this morning. I can usually function on little sleep, but I think the stress of everything took a toll. Hopefully I'll sleep pretty good tonight.
The venue itself was beautiful and the people at the race were great. I'm not sure I'd do this again, though unless I could guarantee good weather. I don't want to repeat that experience.
