Arrghh! Too much running. I shouldn’t complain, I knew it going into this race. In fact I set a goal to run to whole course, with the exception of one short climb at about mile 44, but the monotony of running a long, flat out and back of almost 20 miles after already running over 20 miles nearly broke this trail jogger.
Race morning found me out of bed at 3:30 in the morning, which I almost hate to admit is 3 hours earlier than I have been out of bed in a long time. My penchant for sleep has been even more exaggerated over the last week as I was crashing for 10 plus hours most nights trying to get through a slight cold that had set in.
Shower, breakfast, final race prep and I was out the door a little before 5:00, depositing me on the island a comfortable 20 minutes before the race start, which is 15 minutes earlier than I usually seem to show up for races.
Made my way over to the start just a RD Jim called out 2 minutes to go. I walked into the tent to put my drop bag in the pile just as everyone else was trying to get out. Hopped into the start crowd right with fellow O-town runners, Cory, Matt and BJ. Seconds later we were off down the dirt road into the dark.
I bolted past a few folks in front of me a settled into a small group just behind the front two guys. I wasn’t a strategic move, just wanted to avoid the inevitable dust cloud that would envelope me if I was any further back in the pack. As luck would have it, my little group was moving at a perfect clip and we started to open up a gap from the main pack and the front couple of runners moved farther ahead.
One of my favorite parts of this race is the first couple of miles in the dark. The unique, wide open nature of the terrain that is Antelope Island makes for a dramatic scene to look back down toward the start and watch the huge trail of runner’s lights behind snaking up the trail. The first year it took me a few minutes to realize I wasn’t looking at an airport runway or some huge industrial complex.
I was running with my headphones in at this point, but could tell from the head turning and body language that I was missing some conversation. I popped on ear bud out and listened as one of the runners, a girl, asked the guy next to me if he had run the race before. He said he had twice, she asked me the same, same answer for me. The guy next to me asked the girl the same question. She said no she hadn’t run the race before and that this was her first 50 miler. He made some comment about how she was pretty brave to be running up front in her first 50. I smiled at that, knowing the girl we were running with was Bethany Lewis, Current record holder for the fastest double crossing of the Grand Canyon, winner of almost every race she enters, and wife of the guy in the lead way out in front of us.
The four of us stayed in a pretty tight pack all the way through the first 17 miles or so then Bethany took the brakes off was gone, going on to finish second place overall, behind her husband Ben and taking more than an hour off the old course record.
My buddy BJ caught up just before the Start/finish as we rolled into a tide of 25k runners who had just started their race. We hit the start/finish, just over 19 miles in 2:38, about an 8:12 pace. I turned the corner at the gate, skipping the aid station in order to keep some momentum going into the hill past the start finish. Everyone else stopped, so it was just me getting passed by Chris, the eventual 3rd place finisher.
Up and over to the Mountain View trail. I hit the turnaround at 3:03 and headed 11 miles south into the sun and building heat. BJ was right on my heels and the other two guys I had been running with were dropping back.
About a mile into the long out and back BJ went by. I had three goals going in to the race. One was to run under 8 hours, two was to run the whole course with the exception of the one hike-a-hill at mile 44, and three to finish within 10 minutes of BJ. So even though he was in front and pulling away, I just tried to keep the gap to less than a couple of minutes. I think it was around this time that I passed MattVh and Scott finishing up Matt’s 100 miler. They looked good and smiling.
We crossed the marathon distance at around 3:45 and approached the Frary Aid Station and a much anticipated temporary halt in the monotony of running on the seemingly endless wide open prairie and a chance to catch up to BJ. So I thought, I watched as he turned the corner and ran right past the aid station! Dagger! I had to stop. Not only was out of water in the now hot mid morning sun, I couldn’t have willed myself to keep going without a break in the drudgery.
Back on the trial out of Frary aid and BJ was a small dot in the distance and no one was in sight behind. Just miles of open trail and a few 100 mile runners spread out along the trail, running well into 24 hour day. Surprising how many of them cheered as I came through and moved off the trail for me. It should have been the other way around. Those guys and gals had to have been hurting pretty bad at that point.
Right before the ranch a guy came motoring by, I recognized him as one of the guys who was running at the front with Ben in the first 13 miles. Not sure what happened there, but he was moving well when he came by.
I caught BJ at the Ranch, mile 33 with 17 to go, my split from Frary was 53 minutes, not fast, and I hit the Ranch at 4:53, I knew I had to be there under 5 hours to have a good chance at sub 8, so I was happy about that. It was getting really hot and the only relief had been a mild south breeze that would now be a slight tail wind, good for the push, but bad for any cooling effect. BJ and I left the ranch together and he pulled slowly ahead. I just didn’t have any go in my legs. A couple of minutes out Wade passed going the other way. He’s a fast marathon guy and I knew with only a couple minutes gap, he would catch us. At this point I knew I was the first old-guy (masters) runner, but would be second when Wade went by. Which he did before we got back to Frary. He and BJ ran close together a minute or so in front of me. There are a few mild hills getting back to the Frary aid which BJ and Wade were walking. At this point everything hurt and I wanted to walk badly, but knowing once I started any walk breaks they would become more and more frequent, I kept up at least a slow jog through all of it.
The three of us basically came into Frary aid station together, running about a 50 minute split on the way back. We left together as well, but not before some first class treatment from the Black Diamond volunteers that included a much needed over the head dousing of cold water. Again, Wade and BJ pulled ahead and I sat about a minute back, gaining a little when they would take walk breaks and getting dusted out by several horse and riders that kept leap forging me along the trail, saying “we just need to get in front of these runners” hated to break it to them that there are about 200 of us.
Everything hurt at this point. Legs were screaming, I felt overheated, wanted to stop and sit in the shade. Just as I was feeling lowest, Seth, one of the guys I was running with early in the race, came motoring by out of nowhere. It took me a second to process it, but rather than let it get me further into my low, it actually pulled me out of the bad patch. My pace picked up and I felt more energy. I watch as Seth passed BJ and Wade and found myself closing in on them as well, going past them just before the second to last aid at mile 44.
Jay Aldous is an aid station hero. He was working at 44, and would run out a half mile, take your order, take your bottle and have everything waiting ready to go by the time you got in! What a great guy! With that service I was quickly on my way blissfully hiking my ¼ mile of the course that I had given myself permission to walk before the start.
I had just over an hour to get through the last six miles and it was a knock down brawl. I absolutely left all of it out there that last bit. I really almost sat down on the trail with a mile and a half to go. My legs were in searing pain and by breathing was wheezy and labored ever since getting dusted out by 7-8 horses multiple times around mile 39 or so. I wanted to be done even more so when I realized the last ¼ mile was going to be uphill. I held off BJ and Wade and got in at 7:47. First In my age, seventh overall, and first old guy.
I spent the next 10 minutes limping to my truck, and the next 45 minutes sipping water and trying not to vomit all over my shoes. I swore off racing again forever in those minutes, at least running that hard again. Funny how it changes, an hour later sitting in the shade with a cold Coke, talking race plans for the summer.
Going into the race I knew there weren’t a lot of known really fast guys registered and in fact made cracks about it being a battle of the mid pack with my buddy BJ. That is pretty much how it turned out. It absolutely felt like hard racing from start to finish. Never did it feel relaxed or easy. I was always pushing to catch, stay with or hold someone off. My legs felt pretty good most of the way thorugh, especially with my lower miles and injury recovery. I met every goal I had, even finishing on the right side of 10 minutes of a good running buddy who I generally consider a faster/better runner than myself. Even if I miss my race goals, I always feel good about a race if I know I left it all out there, that I pushed myself deep into my capacity on the day. I know I did that today as well….couldn’t have asked for a better race, and the good ones always hurt.
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