Getting There
On Wednesday morning the van was packed and ready to go. It was a short and uneventful 8 hour drive down to Philly to meet up with my brothers who would be joining me on this venture. My oldest brother, Kris, would be running the 3 hour event and Ian, my middle brother, was going to be crewing and taking pictures. Ian had never been to an ultra event, so I was excited for him to experience this part of my life. Kris and I had a little 2 mile run around Fishtown and everything felt great!
On Thursday morning we left Philly and headed towards Durham, North Carolina. I researched a nice rail trail (Eagle Spur Trail) that was a couple of miles long and ended up jutting out into Jordan Lake. It was a beautiful run and I even let the legs fly for a mile or so. We then met up with my friend Courtney and her fiance who live right outside durham in Apex. We did some much needed catching up and was a good way to relax before the race.
On Friday we finished the drive and ended up at the Dairy Farm in Savannah. Boy, was it hot! And buggy! The last real long runs were both had a reel feel that only got as high as the teens. I was now in the South with a real feel of 70+! Things were going to be interesting. On top of that, I learned I really did not like sand gnats! They must of heard that there were going to be a few dozen people all within close proximity this weekend, AKA a feast for them, because they were everywhere!
We ended up setting up camp next to two runners, Soleil and Jason (more about them later), and took a preview of the course. For only being a 2.02 mile loop, there was a ton of variety. The course starts off in a meadow that turns into a utility road through trees then turning into a sand marsh with plenty of wet marsh in the middle. It then loops back onto wide trail with a giant sycamore tree back into the meadow. It then ducks into a single track trail through the woods. This section was hard to get a rhythm with. There wasn't much as far as elevation change, but had plenty of tight winding turns, make-shift bridges, and small sand/dirt mounds. It then opened up into more sand marsh then shortly back into the woods before opening back up into prairie then by a horse barn, back into the meadow. Right before you past the aid station and finish your lap, there was the nicest outhouse I've ever seen in my life. The building had 2 restrooms with stone countertops and running water. This would mean more to me than I would thought as I spent almost an hour in here during the race (more on that later).
We mingled with our campsite friends and learned their stories. We actually relocated to their campsite since they had tiki torches and spray to keep the bugs away. I learned the Soleil was a badass and had been running and doing awesome things of the like for awhile. She brought a whole crew to help her through the 24 hour race. I also learned about Jason and that he was wanting to reach 100km for the first time during his 24 hour race the next day and that he came without a crew. After a night of joking and enjoying each others company, we decided it was time to get some shut eye. We had a big day ahead of us.
The Big Day!
It was wonderful waking up in the van and not being covered by bugs! For those that don't know, I have a futon in the back of my van and it has been nothing but clutch. I had all this space to spread out while Kris and Ian shared a small tent. I wasn't mad about it.
I ran through my nutrition plan with Ian and double checked I had all the things I needed. Kris had agreed to stay with my pace for the first 3 hours of the race aka his whole race. I wanted to start at 12ish min pace for the first few hours and then start speeding up. It was a warm morning, but I knew it would only get warmer. I started the race with a long sleeve shirt, but as the sun came out, it was quickly ditched. I decided I was going to run most of the race with a handheld water bottle and just swap them out every lap. I knew I wanted hydration on me, but knew i definitely didn't need a pack.
The first 2 hours went off without a problem. Kris and I were pounding out 11:15ish miles. At this point I was getting frustrated with the painfully slow pace and sped up a bit. This ended up costing my. About 2.5-3 hours in I started having stomach issues. My stomach was knotting up, bad, and I started to spend more and more time in the bathroom. After a lap or two in pain, I took some pepto and tried to keep chugging along. It was also at this time I hid the darkest part of the race. My knee started hurting bad and my head went to a bad spot. I started thinking about how my goals aren't going to be achieved today. I had doubts I would even be able to continue and fight through. I decided to do a full change: shoes, socks, shirt. I got another couple of laps done and got out of that funk! My stomach was feeling a bit better. I threw a compression sleeve on my knee and reminded myself I was out here to have fun and not have a pity party for myself. I took the time to readjust my goals and come to peace with not meeting my "A" goal of 70 miles and instead be happy with hitting 50 miles. I kept that positive attitude the rest of the race and so, in a way, I was happy I hit the dark patch early, because it was smooth sailing from then on.
Since my race plan got thrown out the window, I wanted to make sure I didn't take myself to seriously for the rest of the race. That's when I found out my brother, Kris, won the 3 hour race I knew we needed to celebrate. So, after I completed my 16th lap (32 miles) I took the opportunity to have a celebratory beer with my brother as I changed shoes and socks again. It was a nice break to the monotony. I kept cranking out the laps and at about 9 hours in I was at about 44 miles into the race. My core was the sorest it's ever been, but my legs felt great! I did the math in my head and decided to push it again! That push only lasted one lap before I decided it was not in my best interest to keep pushing since I was starting to have problems regulating my body temp. The clouds had been hiding the sun now for awhile and I wasn't moving fast enough to keep my heat up. I jumped in the van for 3 minutes as I blasted the heat and layered up. I was out on another loop!
It was around this time I really started to think about why I was doing this damn thing. It wasn't in a negative why, but in a wondering what the root was for this thing? Why did I want to push my body to these extremes? The answer was simple: why not? This body is the only known in this life. If I go through life not knowing what it is capable, what conditions it can withstand, then what is the point? I wanted to keep cranking out these loops.
After I hit 50 miles I was in pretty rough shape. My core was on fire, I felt weak, and I couldn't regulate my temperature. I took a long break and ate two bowls of chicken pho and got back on the course. I was struggling, but felt so much better after eating a bunch of food and sitting for a minute. I walked in miles 50-52 and when I came back through the aid station I was jogging. I finished the last two miles at a slow jog and could not be convinced to do another loop.
I completed 54.54 miles in less than 12 hours and walked away as the first place finisher, despite nutrition, hydration, and thermal regulation issues. For my efforts I was awarded a hand painted flower pot and parsley along with a wood carved medal.
The race directors were fantastic and I am so indebted to all the volunteers, other runners, and strangers that helped me through.
All in all, I would definitely run this race again, but maybe do a bit more heat training beforehand. It was a great race to start the season and I'm ready to take on the next challenge.
Run Wild and Adapt!
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