Loop 2
Back to Aid Station 1
Tenth place? How can I be in tenth place? I’ve never been that high in any race unless you count starting at the front of a church 5K. This is BAD news. I either ran way too fast on the first loop, she was mistaken on my overall placement, or everyone else in this race is really slow. I’m pretty confident that I didn’t take 10 years off from ultras and become a superstar. I wonder if I can get a top 10 finish. I must be pretty high up in my age group.
Of course all kinds of crazy nonsense comes over you when you hear things like you’re in tenth place halfway through the race. So now I’m running all the time scenarios in my head. Sub six hours, maybe even sub 5:30? I’m not sure why things like this come over you during a race. My experience is you get what you get on race day, planning and training be damned.
With the possibilities running through my head it takes my mind
off the fact my legs are done for. It’s
not a matter of IF but of WHEN my legs start cramping. BAM! Wipeout 4! (Or is it 5, I’ve lost count) I didn’t know you had muscles on top of your
shins, but evidently you do, as these muscles cramp up in my left leg. I give the “my legs are cramping” scream and
I’m pretty sure the guy hot on my heels thought I broke my ankle. He helps me back to my feet, checks I’m ok,
and head off. It takes a bit of
stretching and walking a couple hundred yards before I can resume running. Hey this must be about where I wiped out the
first time.
I make it to the start of the out and back section to aid
station 1 without incident. I notice as
soon as I hit the sandy parts of the trail my legs start to cramp. Anytime my foot lands less than perfectly my
legs twinge in near cramps. This section
is at a slight incline and with the cramping I run/walk it telling myself the
aid station is just past where I can’t see.
Where the heck is the aid station?
I don’t remember it being this far.
Then I see a couple people I recognize from earlier heading towards me,
and I pass a couple people walking now.
Ah it must be close now. I see
the guy who helped me up. He comments
that my ankle and form look good. I go
to respond and BAM! Wipeout! Every
muscle below my knee in both legs cramp up.
It was a two foot toe curler and not in anything resembling a good
way. If it wasn’t for a couple people
helping me up I’m not sure I could have physically pulled myself off the
ground. I’m pretty dejected with all the
face planting, but the word that the aid station is just out of eyesight is
good news. I walk it into the aid
station.
I spend a fair bit of time in the aid station. I down a couple Hammer gels. These aren’t too bad. The raspberry taste good, but it is pretty
gritty. Maybe it tastes that way because
I’m covered head to toe in dirt. I
honestly can’t tell if I'm eating dirt or not, and I really don't care either. I joke around with
the race volunteers for a bit before I head back out.
Back to Aid Station 2
Heading out of aid station 1 I decide to walk a bit, but I get bored of the slow pace so I start to run. As before whenever my right foot lands less than ideally I can feel the outside of my ankle cramp. I push it as far as I feel I can go then walk for a few minutes. Then I start walking more and running less. With all the walking I realize all those pseudo goals from being in tenth place are done for. A couple people pass me, but it appears the heat is taking its toll on everyone. For some reason the wise words of Victor come back to me and from here on out my motto becomes “Embrace the pain”. I get passed again. Dang she has nice legs. At least I know I’m mentally still with it and it is just physical problems I’m dealing with. I bet I can catch her. Kind of like a dog chasing a car, I’m not sure what I’d do if I did catch her. I’m gaining ground, but then I cramp up and am forced to walk a bit more. Rinse and repeat with several other people and I make it to aid station 2. This section I mainly power walk with a bit of running. At this point I’m searching for positives. The good news is my mind really wants to run, but the cramping is preventing me from running. When I do run I’m gaining on the people who passed me until I cramp again. I’m having zero stomach issues now. Pop a salt tablet from the aid station and head back out.
Back to Aid Station 3
There were a couple of us that left the aid station at about the same time. All of us start off walking. I start to realize my legs are feeling much better now that I’ve walked quite a bit. I run a fair bit and I’m still cramping but it is becoming less frequent. Now I’m mainly just hot and exhausted. In retrospect it probably was the heat that was the biggest issue for me during this stage of the race. On a couple of the flatter, less technical trail sections I’m able to run at what feels like a pretty good pace. Ah it feels good to stretch my legs out a bit. When I hit the Boardwalks sections I’m feeling really good. This section I mainly run with frequent, but short, walking breaks on the more technical parts. I come into HTREx aid station 3 to the news the Aggies scored on their first two drives and are leading 14-0. Whoop!
Knowing there are only 2.8 miles left is invigorating. I down some bananas and M&M’s. I’ve avoided the candies up to this point
fearing the post sugar rush crash I tend to get. Now it’s time to celebrate. Stephanie finds me and tells me she won the
female division. I’m sure from here
perspective it didn’t seem I cared, but in actuality I found it pretty
exciting. Like I said trail runners are
a different breed. It’s not often someone
seeks a complete stranger out to share their race experience just because you
ran with them for few miles. Cool.
On to the Finish
I continue with my mostly running, walking the technical sections strategy. I’m ready for this to be over with. About a mile outside of aid station 3 I realize I probably didn’t give Stephanie the reaction she was looking for when she told me of her win. I was generally excited for her, but I was exhausted and just wanted this run to be over with. This is when I know I’m mentally done. Generally I'll stay in the aid stations way longer than I should simply to keep talking with people. I figure I’ll see her at the end and give her the props she deserves and chat with the other HTREx people. Of course it doesn’t occur to me until I'm driving home that they are all at aid station 3 and I won’t see them again today.
I’m able to run it into the finish. I don’t get passed
in the final mile stretch, and I actually pass a few people. I cross the finish banner with all the usual fanfare
of an ultra. “Your finishers medal is
over there, and don’t forget to turn in your chip.” I finish in 6:20:34, only 7 minutes off my
time 10 years ago. Not bad for a hot
day, and not nearly enough training. I
start cramping again. I walk around a
bit, grab a couple of handfuls of various foods, refill my handheld, and tell Paul (the race director) thanks for putting on a great race. Off to find some shade. I sit around chatting with various people for
about half an hour and head to my car to find the showers. Turns out Victor parked right next to
me. So I sit down and talk with him and
his buddy for a bit. Time to hit the shower. When I get out there really isn’t anyone
around anymore and the race tables are being packed up. Time to head to back to Houston.
Final Thoughts
Despite all the face plants, I think running a week in
mountains this summer helped with my footing.
I haven’t trained much on trails or in the dark recently. I’ll need to work on both going forward. I’m baffled by the stomach issues. Maybe I was simply that nervous going
in. I don’t recall eating anything out
of the ordinary in the week leading up to the race.
I’m glad I didn’t drop out, even though battling cramps is
never fun. Cramping is something I need
to figure out. I seem to cramp in any
race taking longer than three and half hours.
It doesn’t seem to matter the distance, the pace, the sport, or the weather
conditions. I’ve tried all the
electrolyte supplements in various quantities.
Maybe I simply need more “time on my feet” runs to get my muscles used
to it.
First half of the race was 2:37:29 (~10:10 pace), and the
second half was 3:43:04 (~14:23 pace). I’m
not too happy about such uneven splits. However,
I don’t think you can ever be disappointed in finishing an ultra. Sure I didn’t meet my time goals, but
realistically with the limited training I put in for this race it doesn’t come
as a surprise. Also, I’ve learned over
the years my performance is dramatically affected as the temperature rises. This was the first race I didn’t run with
some sort of timing device. In some ways
it was liberating, but on the flip side it drove the analytical part of me crazy.
Despite the negative tone of this race report I had a great
time running this race. It felt good to
challenge myself and plunge into the unknown again. There were a lot of
positives. Mentally I was upbeat most of
the race. “Embrace the pain” seemed to
work well for me. I had no blister or
chafing issues. Even with the cramping
when someone passed me, when I could run, I was gaining on them until I cramped
again. Despite all the falls I had little
road rash and no true injuries. This was
my first long run with the handheld and it worked out great. Hammer
gel worked out great and it was my first time trying it. It took a while but my stomach issues
completely went away. Even the cramping
somewhat subsided. That knowledge will
help in the tough times in future races.
I was walking around like Frankenstein with Tourette’s on Sunday but the
stiffness was mostly gone by Monday.
I need to make it to some training runs with HTREx. I’m
soooo not a morning person. Running through the woods is so much more enjoyable than anywhere else. I’m planning
on volunteering at the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler and I look forward to the Hogs
Hunt 50K in April. Next up. The Color Run 5K, team "Coloring Outside the Lines"
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