It's been almost two weeks now since my 50k. What an experience it was.
Sara and I drove down to Tyler State Park, which is about an hour and a half southeast of Dallas, after work on Friday afternoon. We reserved a spot in the campground so that we could wake up and go straight to the starting line for the 6:30AM start. When we got to Tyler, we set up camp, made some pasta and chicken, and hit the tent as soon as the sun went down. It was very hot and humid so falling asleep was a bit of a struggle.
The alarm clock went off at 5:30...got up, ate a bagel and some peanut butter and headed for the start. The sun was just coming up as we got to the starting line. The weather was very comfortable but warming up fast. There were about 250 people running...about 85 of those were running the 50k. There was also a 20 mile and 10 mile race. The course was set up as three 10.4 mile laps. At exactly 6:30, we took off into the woods.
Lap 1:
I settled in at the beginning somewhere around 5th place. I went out pretty quick because I didn't want to get stuck behind a bunch of people on the single track. From very early on I knew I wouldn't be catching any of the people that were in front of me. They clearly had a lot of experience and were moving at a pace that I could not keep up with. I ran with a pack of three or four people up until the first aid station at mile 3 and then we spread out. I didn't run with anybody the rest of the day. I didn't even see many people the entire race which makes trail running almost completely different from road races. There were aid stations at mile 3 and mile 7.4. I reloaded with water and gels at both stations during lap one. My plan was to take a gel every thirty minutes. I stuck to this plan until the last lap. The first lap went very smoothly. I ran at a very comfortable pace. There were a handful of hills that I knew were going to hurt bad later in the day.
Lap 2:
I entered the start/finish line aid station feeling good. I finished the first lap so quick that Sara didn't even make it back to the start line in time to see me come through. At this point, the Texas heat was starting to creep in as the sun got higher and higher. I refilled with some HEED electrolyte drink and got a new gel and got out as quick as I could. There were a couple climbs at the beginning of the course and after hitting these the second time I knew the second lap was going to be much tougher. As the miles added up I started to break the race down into smaller segments mentally by making each aid station a goal. When there are 15 miles to go after you have already run 15, the mental game becomes just as difficult as the physical. After hitting the second aid station for the second time (mile 18ish) things started to hurt. It was about about 10am by this point and it was starting to get hot and I could feel it.
Lap 3:
At the end of lap 2, I knew lap 3 was going to be a real struggle. I got some Coke, pretzels, water and gel at the aid station, said hello to Sara, and then took off for lap 3. At this point I still had not passed or been passed by anyone. Two miles into lap 3 I got passed for the first time. There was a lot of walking/hiking going on at this point. After the aid station at mile 23, I would say that I walked about 80% of the rest of the race. The heat and humid just sucked all the energy out of me. I ate and drank what I could but never caught a second wind. The last 7 miles were slow moving and I ended up getting passed by 3 more people. After an incredibly slow third lap, I made it to the finish line in 6 hours and 8 minutes. I finished in 10th place out of the 85 or so people. Only around 50 people ended up finishing the race. The heat and humidity caused a lot of people to drop out.
I really enjoyed my first trail ultra running experience. It was much, much harder than I thought it would be. I learned a couple things from my first race...I will be incorporating a lot more trails into my training and many more hill workouts. Although painful, I loved the experience. I will be doing another and will be shooting for a much better time.
