Thursday, June 27, 2013

Capt'n Karl's : Pedernales Falls 30K Race Report



I pull into Pedernales Falls State Park around 5:30, park in the open field and step out into the furnace that is a Texas summer.  Temperature is 98 degrees with a heat index of 112.  Yet somehow it seems sane to be about to embark on 30K run after a night of drinking, little sleep, and eating a gas station pulled pork sandwich on the drive up.  The goal was only to get the trail miles in and start dialing in gear and nutrition.  At this point all roads lead to the TransRockies race.

The race started promptly at 7:15 and we’re off like a herd of turtles with me in the back of the pack.  I usually run after work so I’m somewhat used to the heat at this time.  I go out at what I think is an easy pace, passing several people early on, usually on the “uphills”.  This course is surprisingly flat and my goal was to run the whole thing.  The Colorado flat sections will more than likely be steeper than the hilly sections of this course.  The first section is very open so you are running in full sun and I’m starting to feel the effects of the heat.  “Fence” aid station is at the 5 mile mark and I already can’t drink water fast enough.  I say hi to Olga King as she fills my water bottle with ice and head back out. 

Coming into the Fence Aid Station
At some point I can hear a couple behind me having a conversation.  They are close enough I can clearly hear what they are saying yet far enough away I can’t really engage in the conversation.  At some point they pass me and a latch on behind them.  We pull into “Windmill” aid station and refill our bottles.  I take a little longer at this aid station and they take off.  Now I have a decision to make, try and catch them, or continue at my easy pace by myself.  It’s starting to get dark and everyone is beginning to turn on their headlamps.  Feeling good I decide to try to catch them.  Plus if I get lost in the woods I’d rather be with a couple other people.  This turned out to be a pretty good decision.  I catch Chet and Hannah, who as luck would have it, live about 2 miles from me and are undergrads at Rice University.  We’re chatting away passing runners at a pretty good clip.  I think we all could have run faster had it been daylight.  Around the same time we all noticed we’ve passed quite a few women.  It’s hard to tell which runners are running the 60K and which are running the 30K.  It’s a pretty good bet Hanna can place.  We pass a woman trying to find the trail and Rene joins our ragtag bunch.  Turns out she is also from Houston and runs with Brian O’Neil’s in Rice Village.  Had the “unmanned” aid station not been manned with two great volunteers we would have gone off course as the wrong way / caution tape was down.  With just about 2.4 miles left we all seem to be doing pretty well and pick up the pace to what the terrain will allow.  At some point we pass another group of 3 or 4 runners and Rene drops back with them.   Since she has another group to run with we don’t feel too guilty for dropping her.  The ending was mentally tricky as you can hear the post race celebration and it feels like you are running away from it.  Definitely makes you wonder if you didn’t get off course somehow.  We round the final bend and finish in 3:18.  Hanna takes 3rd place in the female division and Rene finishes a minute or two behind us taking 4th place.    I finish in 27th place in the male division (38th overall). 

The Houston contingency finishing up

I had plenty left in the tank and felt great afterwards.  Although it did take about 45 minutes before any food looked good. 

Lessons Leaned
  •  Forget the sunglasses.  Even though they were nice to have the first hour, it was annoying to keep up with them the second two hours.
  • Need to carry a second water bottle.  I felt I was rationing my water the entire race. 
  • No more going out the night before a race. 
  • Hammer Gel seems to be the perfect race gel for me.  I’ll have to buy a couple boxes.
  • Don’t think you’re going to run a night race, sleep a couple hours in your car and then head home.  Get a hotel or bring the tent.
  • If you ever lose faith in humanity come to trail race or ultra event.  It clearly attracts the nicest people on earth.