What’s another 45 minutes of pain?
Pre Race
After running Old Fort Strong, I took some down time and got training again right around Christmas, just in time to get sick for a week. Throw in a vacation to Florida over new years and my training (especially elevation) was a bit behind. My goal for the spring was the Promise Land 50k++ but I wanted to get in a tune up race. Enter Perennial. I first encountered the race directors; Human Powered Movement, when I started running with the Mattie’s Diner Run Club (Tuesdays at 6:30 pm, swing by sometime). I ran their premier event, Psychoactive, in September and loved the atmosphere and good vibes of their races so it was with little hesitation that I signed up for their fixed time event in early March.
I focused more on speed than hills early on since the race would be fairly flat. I put in two marathons on the greenway a week apart but struggled a bit with consistency throughout January and February. My weekly mileage hovered around the high 40’s and for the month prior my longest run was only 22 miles. I felt a bit undertrained but fairly rested so I felt a good day could have me reach 40 miles which would require 13 of the 5k laps. First place would take home a free pair of Hokas so that was my main goal. Every 4 laps had escalating prizes such as a coffee travel mug and a hoodie so at the very least I wanted 12 laps. I felt like this was all achievable.
I arrived to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden about 45 minutes or so before the start. I found the Mattie’s Diner Run Club tent and my friends John and Jesus who would be running the 6 and 3 hours respectively. I checked in, pinned on my bib and got ready. The 10 hour race had already started and I cheered on my friends Jeremy and Jessica as they passed by. Soon enough it was go time. We gathered on a porch for a photo, counted down from 10 and we were off.
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| Start Line of the 6 HR race, courtesy of Debra Dandro |
Hours 1-2
To start things off we ran two quarter mile loops around the pond to thin us out before starting on the proper 5k loop. I felt like I was taking it fairly easy but my watch said I was sub-7. I looked around and a tenth of a mile in, I was already way out front. I ended up lapping someone on my second loop around the lake and could tell by time I hit the single track, I had a good 30 second lead or more. This was my first time running here and I didn’t really know what to expect with the course so I decided to dial it back just a bit for the first lap. The first mile or so was fairly rooty and technical with a few small climbs but generally downhill as it approached the lake. The second mile followed the lake shoreline with some decent views, a small climb or two and a few twisty parts for good measure. The third mile turned away from the lake and climbed uphill on a smooth crushed gravel path. Easily the quickest surface but the slowest elevation-wise. Before long I was cruising through the start/finish line on to lap two as my friends Jason and Rachel who would be doing the 3 hour cheered me on.
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| Off to a blazing start, courtesy of Debra Dandro |
Since I was out front and figured I might be running solo all day, I wanted to throw in some up tempo sections just to keep me engaged, but I wanted to wait for this until lap three once I was fully warmed up. Lap two had me feeling great and moving really well and halfway through the lake section I caught up to Jeremy who was leading the 10 hour race. We ran together for a few minutes and chatted but once we hit the gravel climb, I left him behind.
As I started lap three, I decided to start pushing a bit every other mile just to keep from getting bored with it. This really went well allowing me to focus and push the descent, recover a bit along the lake, and push the climb.
By lap four I was able to switch it up and take the descent and climb a bit easier while pushing the lake section. When you’re trying to put in over 12 laps of a 5k course, you gotta do what it takes to stay focused on the task at hand and alternating miles like this, only pushing a particular section every other lap made things go by faster.
Through the first five laps I felt really strong and finished each of them around 25 minutes or so. My goal from the start was to swap out my water bottles every 2 hours so just after 2 hours I cruised into the aid station with empties in hand, dropped them on my chair while grabbing the fresh ones in one motion, and was off to down the trail on lap six.
Hours 3-4
I started doing the math in my head. five laps in the first two hours had me on 15 lap pace which would mean I'd get over 45 miles. I knew that was a tall task but I was feeling really good and figured 40 miles was in the bag. I kept up the mile intervals but my average pace was starting to slip just a bit. I still felt relatively good, but my sixth lap was about a minute or so slower than the previous few.
The seventh lap was where things started to get a bit tougher. I crossed over the 20 mile mark and could really start to tell that my legs weren't as accustomed to this kind of distance as I would like. I'll blame it on my lack of really long runs since I'd only crossed the 20 mile mark three times since early December. I was still running every step as the course wasn't forcing me to hike but it was starting to hurt a bit.
My eighth lap was probably the last one where I felt like I was still on pace for my early goals and that I was racing. I believe it was the last lap where I was still doing intervals, after a while they would become too much work. My legs were getting heavier but my overall pace was still pretty strong. I finished lap eight covering 25 miles at an 8:22 pace in three and a half hours. I still had plenty of time on the clock.
I started lap nine running with John for a bit, I asked him how his race was going and he said pretty well, he’s just finished a tempo section as he was using this as a training run for Mt Mitchell Heartbreaker 50 (Which he crushed by the way). I remember telling him all I needed was to run 30 minute laps to hit 40 miles and I remember thinking that would be very doable. I had been averaging under 27 minute laps to this point so 30 should be no problem, right? Right?
For the past two hours at this point I was sharing the course with not only 10 hour runners but 3 hour runners as well. The previous lap had me get passed by someone for the first time all day, it was a 3 hour runner that I had previously passed but it told me that I was slowing down. Midway through lap nine I heard footsteps gaining on me fast. I looked over my shoulder to see Rachel absolutely crushing the 3 hour race. I tried to hang with her for a bit and chat but she was cruising and would go on to win the 3 hour race outright.
I finally was forced to hike on the climb and finished lap nine in around 33 minutes and took my time swapping out my bottles before heading back out for the final two miles feeling like I’d be lucky to finish three more laps.
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| Determination or Delirium? Courtesy of Ruben Felix Cosme |
Hours 5-6
As the clock ticked over to hour five I was starting to feel over it all. Just completing three laps in two hours seemed like a tall task. Everything was hurting, I was moving slow and the nature of a fixed time event is you can quit anytime. The alure of calling it a day and hanging out at the finish line with a beer was strong. I resorted to telling myself I didn't even need to go three more, I felt like I was pretty far ahead and assumed that 11 laps (35.8 Miles) would be enough to guarantee a win. If things didn't get too much worse I could scrape out 12 for the additional tiered prize. "Two for the shoes, three for the hoodie" was what I told myself. It was starting to feel hot and I was fully in survival mode. I finished lap 10 in 37 minutes. 82 minutes left in the race meant two more laps were possible, like it or not.
Lap 11 was probably the lowest point of the day. I really didn't want to be there but I knew I couldn't stop. The lone highlight was when I passed the lead female runner who I had a feeling could be second overall (she wasn't) and I figured if I was a lap ahead (turns out it was two) then I could breathe a sigh of relief. As I made my way up the climb at the end of the lap it was clear to me I'd finish the lap with about 45 minutes left. I had just enough time to get another lap in, just like at Old Fort a few months prior. Another 45 minutes of pain wasn't gonna make me feel any worse afterwards and I knew I'd regret it if I stopped. I made the decision before finishing the lap that it wouldn't be my last, that way I wouldn't waste any time at the aid station and be tempted to quit. As I ran past the timing tent I yelled to the RD "I wear a size medium" referencing the hoodie I was about to earn with my 12th lap, which got a good chuckle from him. I stopped at the Mattie's tent to refill my water as I had run out. Rachel and Jason, fresh off their respective 3 Hour victories helped me out and I told them not to let me linger so they pushed me back out onto the course for one more lap.
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| Shuffling along the lake one final time, Courtesy of Ruben Felix Cosme |
Just like at Old Fort Strong, I let it rip on my final lap. No point in holding anything back, just go for broke and don't get timed out. Everything still hurt, I was still moving slow, but this was my last trip through the technical descent. Last time running along the lake. Last time over the bridges and my last right turn onto the crushed gravel hill with way more switchbacks than were necessary. I crossed the line in 5:52:32, less than eight minutes to spare. You could say it was good pacing if you overlooked the fact that I ran two more laps in my first two hours than my last two. I was happy not only to be done but to win just my second ultra ever. I hobbled back to the Mattie’s Diner Run Club tent and collapsed into my chair.
Post Race
The finish line party was going strong by time the 6 hour race wrapped up, there was even live music at the botanical garden completely unaffiliated with the race which made for some confused people who showed up for music only to be in the middle of a race. One man asked how long the race was and stared in disbelief when I said the people still out there were going for 10 hours. The RD waited for a song break and then announced the men’s and women’s podium. The winning woman finished with only 10 laps, which meant I had lapped her much earlier in the race without realizing it. The real surprise came when he announced the second place guy had run 12 laps. I thought there was a mistake. Turns out I won the race by only three minutes. At one point I was probably within a half mile of lapping him only to nearly blow it. Good thing I went out for the final lap to get the hoodie. Nothing is ever guaranteed in ultra running, so many races I enter thinking I’ll win and very seldom do I actually pull it off. Three minutes was my margin of defeat at Masochist, seems like some poetic justice.
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| L to R Paul Geist (3rd), Chris Hardin (2nd) and Me (1st) |
Some final stats:
- 40 oz Skratch
- 48 oz PH 1500
- 44 oz Water
- 100 calories of gels or chews every 25 minutes (14 total)
- Song that was playing as I finished: Honkey Tonk Flame - Tyler Childers
- 37.48 Miles
- 2,103 ft elevation gain
- 9:24 per mile
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| My haul from the race: Bamboo cutlery (4 laps), travel coffee mug (8 laps), lightweight hoodie (12 laps) and Hoka shoes (1st place) |
