A follow-up 7 years later.
After finishing the 50 miler in my original post, I ended up entering the MDH100 three times. Twice I was timed out around the 75 mile mark (you only get so much time to make it to each check point). While I thought I had trained enough, both times I ended up walking too many of the climbs. I enjoyed every minute of the challenge, but I just didn't have enough in the tank. The 3rd time the race was shortened to 50 miles due to rain. When the clay gets rained on it becomes completely un-ridable, with your tires looking like big gray donuts. The north half of the trail got the rain, so we started at the 50 mile mark which made the race exactly the same as my very first 50 mile effort. I finished roughly 2 hours quicker than my first effort, so it was good to see that I had made some good progress physically. I got a 100 mile finishers medal, but it isn't really legit. Now I'm 58, do I have another one in me?
Pic for enjoyment, I'm #39.
MDH 100