The basic strategy was to run as much of the course as I
could in the daylight and once it became dark walk anywhere I thought I could
trip and fall. Carrying two
water bottles and a two liter CamelBak I planned on skipping every other aid
stations to minimize time wasted. Hopefully finishing near my Pedernales Falls time of around 3 hours. Like
most race plans once you start, the plan goes out the window. This race would prove to as varied mentally as the terrain of the course.
As Joe ushered us off the plan was to take it easy to the first aid station, running at whatever pace felt comfortable. It seemed much cooler than the previous two Captain Karl's races, yet a mile and a half in and I was seriously considered walking back to the start and calling it a day. Deep breaths felt like I had a respiratory infection or something. It hurt to breath deep and I kept checking that the race vest wasn't too tight. This has happened a few times to me in the last couple months and just mysteriously disappears during the run. Seeing a tiny baby snake cross the path was the highlight of this section. The first aid station is roughly three miles in so I didn’t need much. I grabbed gel and headed back out.
There must be magic in Hammer Gel, because maybe a half mile out of the aid station I’m feeling great and running very well. The course is pretty technical yet quite runnable in the daylight. At this point I'm quite annoyed with the course. There are runnable section but only for what seems like a hundred yards at a time. The second aid station comes up quicker than I expected. I hadn't realize how overheated I was until I emptied an entire water bottle over my head coming into the aid station. At the aid station I refill everything with as much ice as they could hold, and put on my headlamp.
It is truly amazing how an ice filled CamelBak feels when you are overheating. Equally amazing is how fast everything melted and was back to “room” temperature. Luckily the third aid station was less than 3 miles away. Now that it is totally dark the near falls are happening more frequently and I’m forced to walk many of the rocky uphill and downhill sections.With not much of a moon the stars were amazing. It was hard to not just stare upwards. Pulling into the third aid station I’m back on the downward slope mentally. Physically things are as good as can be expected, it is a race after all so the muscle tiredness is starting. At this point I’m just really tired of being overheated. I stick with my plan of skipping every other aid station and simply grab a gel and move on. In retrospect I should have done more for my heat management.
Running in the dark is quite interesting. During the day I always feel the course is over marked. Then the darkness comes and everything either looks like the right way to go or nowhere looks like the right way to go. I'm standing at a course marking and can't find the next one. Everywhere appears to be a dead end. Luckily a woman comes from behind and points out that the branch just about head level isn't blocking the path like I thought. We play leap frog for the next several miles and take the skunk crossing our path as a good omen. Eventually we catch a group of five or so runners running just slightly slower than the pace we wanted to run. There was not enough room to pass them most of the time and when there was room it was always on a section I didn't feel comfortable running in the dark. So I waited until the aid station refiling only one of my water bottles and getting out in front of the group.
The last three miles is the reverse of the first three miles. A few minutes outside the aid station I wipe out. I really didn't want to get behind the group again and I also didn't want to risk injuring myself so close to the TransRockies race. I made the decision to power walk the rest of the course. At one point the 5th or 6th placed women in the 60K passed me. She is walking the technical sections and running where she can. My power walking pace is just faster than her walking pace and we keep getting close enough to talk then far enough away that I'm back on my own. We yo yo back and forth like this for a bit when finally the course flattens out enough that I'm confident in my ability to run with her. We're chatting along when I need to jump over an enormous black snake that comes out of nowhere with a matching expletive. I turn around and realize either I was hallucinating the snake or it was a shadow of some sort because there's nothing there but dirt trail. I finish right at 4 hours ( a solid hour longer than Pedernales Falls) good enough for 26th place overall. According to the big screen at the end of the race I was 15th in my division, looking at the results I'm not sure I believe that.
 |
| The car after the drive in |
As Joe ushered us off the plan was to take it easy to the first aid station, running at whatever pace felt comfortable. It seemed much cooler than the previous two Captain Karl's races, yet a mile and a half in and I was seriously considered walking back to the start and calling it a day. Deep breaths felt like I had a respiratory infection or something. It hurt to breath deep and I kept checking that the race vest wasn't too tight. This has happened a few times to me in the last couple months and just mysteriously disappears during the run. Seeing a tiny baby snake cross the path was the highlight of this section. The first aid station is roughly three miles in so I didn’t need much. I grabbed gel and headed back out.
There must be magic in Hammer Gel, because maybe a half mile out of the aid station I’m feeling great and running very well. The course is pretty technical yet quite runnable in the daylight. At this point I'm quite annoyed with the course. There are runnable section but only for what seems like a hundred yards at a time. The second aid station comes up quicker than I expected. I hadn't realize how overheated I was until I emptied an entire water bottle over my head coming into the aid station. At the aid station I refill everything with as much ice as they could hold, and put on my headlamp.
It is truly amazing how an ice filled CamelBak feels when you are overheating. Equally amazing is how fast everything melted and was back to “room” temperature. Luckily the third aid station was less than 3 miles away. Now that it is totally dark the near falls are happening more frequently and I’m forced to walk many of the rocky uphill and downhill sections.With not much of a moon the stars were amazing. It was hard to not just stare upwards. Pulling into the third aid station I’m back on the downward slope mentally. Physically things are as good as can be expected, it is a race after all so the muscle tiredness is starting. At this point I’m just really tired of being overheated. I stick with my plan of skipping every other aid station and simply grab a gel and move on. In retrospect I should have done more for my heat management.
Running in the dark is quite interesting. During the day I always feel the course is over marked. Then the darkness comes and everything either looks like the right way to go or nowhere looks like the right way to go. I'm standing at a course marking and can't find the next one. Everywhere appears to be a dead end. Luckily a woman comes from behind and points out that the branch just about head level isn't blocking the path like I thought. We play leap frog for the next several miles and take the skunk crossing our path as a good omen. Eventually we catch a group of five or so runners running just slightly slower than the pace we wanted to run. There was not enough room to pass them most of the time and when there was room it was always on a section I didn't feel comfortable running in the dark. So I waited until the aid station refiling only one of my water bottles and getting out in front of the group.
The last three miles is the reverse of the first three miles. A few minutes outside the aid station I wipe out. I really didn't want to get behind the group again and I also didn't want to risk injuring myself so close to the TransRockies race. I made the decision to power walk the rest of the course. At one point the 5th or 6th placed women in the 60K passed me. She is walking the technical sections and running where she can. My power walking pace is just faster than her walking pace and we keep getting close enough to talk then far enough away that I'm back on my own. We yo yo back and forth like this for a bit when finally the course flattens out enough that I'm confident in my ability to run with her. We're chatting along when I need to jump over an enormous black snake that comes out of nowhere with a matching expletive. I turn around and realize either I was hallucinating the snake or it was a shadow of some sort because there's nothing there but dirt trail. I finish right at 4 hours ( a solid hour longer than Pedernales Falls) good enough for 26th place overall. According to the big screen at the end of the race I was 15th in my division, looking at the results I'm not sure I believe that.
Notes:
- One of these days I'll learn to not go out drinking with my coworkers the night before these night races.
- If it wasn’t for the CamelBak filled with ice I’m pretty sure I would have red lined.
- I noticed I didn’t drink as often as I usually do with the CamelBak.
- Skipping aid stations probably didn't save any actual time as I was forced to walk much more of this course than the previous two.
- Another 3+ hour race with no leg cramping issues. Have I finally moved past them or the fact I walked at least 50% of the last 5 miles prevent them?
- Gear seems to be dialed in for TransRockies. Now the big race nerves are in full effect.
- While I'm signed up for Reveille Ranch it's the weekend I get back from TransRockies, so I'm not sure if I really am going to run it. Although I do want to be able to say I completed the Captain Karl's series.
- Freebirds waiting in the car is heaven after the race.
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