My Zumbro 2016 Experience

I had to refer to this post as an "experience" rather than a "race report" for reasons that will become obvious. I'll keep it short, like my race!

The week of the race was tough. I just wanted to get started! But thankfully, before I knew it, Friday was here and after double (and triple) checking my drop bags, gear bag and a few other things I was ready to roll. My buddy Stu and family picked me up around midday and we headed down to Zumbro. Stu went to Zumbro last year to pace another friend in the 100 mile distance who ended up dropping early due to knee problems, so he never got out on the course. The Zumbro 50 would be the first 50 mile attempt for both of us.

I'll cut to the chase, my race didn't turn out the way I planned. About 1.5 miles in, after just settling into a groove and catching my breath from the first uphill, I rolled my ankle hard and heard a popping sound. I belted out a couple creative phrases and kept moving to see how it felt. I found I was able to move ok and alternated between running and walking. Five minutes later, I did it again! It popped the second time too and now it began to cause me some pain. Stu stuck with me to the first aid station and we talked about options. First off, I told him to go on ahead and I would have to figure things out on my own. He told me to grab his ankle brace at AS 2 and use that if I wanted. I told him I'd get myself to AS 2 and evaluate. I had 4.5 miles to go between the two aid stations. About halfway between them, I knew my race was over. I could no longer run and the pain was hitting me in waves. It took me 25 minutes to cover the last mile to AS 2. I went directly to the race official there and surrendered my bib. After a quick ride, I was back at Zumbro headquarters much to the surprise of our crew. I took about an hour to warm up and then spent the rest of the night doing my best to pitch in and help the rest of our crew as they continued running.

At this point, I was focused more on making sure Stu finished his race (which he did) and didn't think too much about my ankle. I wasn't able to get to a clinic until Sunday evening and had x-rays taken of my ankle. It turns out that I had a slight fracture in the distal end of my fibula. Imagine where the ligament from your foot attaches to the side of the fibula. When the ankle sprain happened, the ligament pulled hard enough on the bone to crack it slightly.