Quad Rock recap

I was anticipating a good day at Quad Rock and instead I flopped. I finished in 8:14:46. 186th out of 209 finishers, my poorest place at this race by a big margin. And I'd expected to match, if not exceed, my previous best. What explains this fiasco? My major problem was acute leg muscle cramping, but there were some minor issues as well.

In the week before the race I did my mobility and core routine every day and ran 15-30 minutes per day. I ate and slept normally, which is to say, well. Instead of feeling fresher and fresher, I started to feel stiff and irritated all over. My right Tibalias Anterior and Peroneus Longus, the muscles on the shin and outside of the lower leg, were particularly tight and tender starting on the Thursday before the race and continuing into the eve of the race. I did a small set of 20 second hill sprints on the street around the corner from home on Thursday and felt okay. My shakeout run on Friday afternoon, however, sucked. I never got very comfortable and the strides I attempted were a chore. I was a little dismayed by this, but let that feeling go, figuring that I was likely to feel better on Saturday.

Saturday morning I ran the first mile very easy, then picked up the pace in the second to jump some places before we hit the first single track. In the first half mile of the single track I made about five short bursts to pass slow groups and find people who were running at my target pace. Soon after this, we started uphill and I started to get negative feedback from my legs. Not cramps yet, but a lack of energy, like I'd felt on Friday. I'd felt better on the same climb a week before in my last uphill workout.

I kept a steady enough pace up Towers, and wasn't passed by anyone, but began to go backwards on the first descent. My legs felt tight and fragile. I lost contact with the folks with whom I'd climbed Towers and a few places heading down to the 10-mile mark, Horsetooth Mountain Trailhead.

The next seven miles after the aid station were a complete disaster. I experienced calf cramps that stopped me cold, and shin and foot cramps that made it hard to stand at all. I was passed by 54 runners, about 2 runners per minute, before I reached the Towers aid station. I tried salt. I tried stretching. I had to lie on the dirt at Towers for 15 minutes before I could continue. 3:22 of that was spent listening to "Rock Me Amadeus" on the aid station's sound system, which gave me life and saved my race.

I fumbled my way down Mill Canyon to Arthur's Rock aid station at mile 17, three hours after leaving the Horsetooth aid station. I laid down in the shade to stretch and slowly put myself back together. After 15 minutes, I felt like I could continue, if not quickly. The cramps were fading, but my legs were shot from the involuntary contractions. As if I'd done squats and deadlifts to the point of muscle failure.

During the last seven miles of the race, I caught up with runners who were in their first Quad Rock, or first trail race of this distance, and it was fun to pre-celebrate with them, pump them up, share stories, and remind them that we were going to be finishers, if only because there was nowhere to drop out before the finish. I was feeling a lot better at this point. The last climb up Howard was hard but not the end of the world. I managed a good amount of easy running on the last descent to the finish.

The cramps reminded me of my experience at the Bear 100 in September 2025, except that they hit me sooner at Quad Rock, at 10 miles instead of 17 miles. I've been analyzing my data, memories, and notes to find things about the races that were common or different. And, now that I think about it, it was calf cramps that brought me down at mile 21 at Never Summer 100K in July 2023. I've got a problem with cramping that hasn't been solved by physical therapy or judicious amounts of hard running. It's going to be an interesting problem to work out.

In the end, I did finish, and feel pretty satisfied about that. I haven't crossed a race finish line since July of 2023, almost three years ago. Breaking a streak of three DNFs (2023 Bear 100, 2025 Never Summer 100K, 2025 Bear 100) felt good. The weather was good, the trails were fine. I ran with friends for a while and saw other friends at aid stations. It wasn't all torture. I smiled and laughed quite a bit.

Biggest thanks to Ruthie for driving me and Stefan to the start, taking our drop bags to Horsetooth, and for picking me up at the finish. Thank you, everyone who offered me help on the painful cramping trip. And thanks to Nick and Brad, and all you race volunteers. Everything about this race was top notch, except my legs.