5:30:53
9 of 51 (1st in A.G.)
Well, its been a month now since running my first 50K at Fall Creek Falls. After a lot of procrastinating and trying to catch up a few other "Bib Reports", Im finally getting around to the one that Ive been waiting for a few years to get to write.
The story of this race actually starts a little before we checked in at the Fall Creek Falls Inn on Saturday night. The race fell on the first weekend of Spring Break and we had a trip planned with the kids to Washington D.C. My wife, who was thinking a little ahead for me, pushed back our hotel reservations in Washington until Tuesday in hopes that I would have time to recover somewhat before driving several hours. It made for a shorter vacation but was a good idea in the long run.
The week leading up to the race I was probably more obsessive about watching the weather than I had ever been. Rain was being predicted early in the week, but I figured it would change drastically by the time race day arrived. It did, but not until the very last minute. It was raining pretty much all day Saturday at the house and it continued to rain the entire drive down. I admit, this started to concern me, especially since they had been calling for clearing skies all day. A friend of mine and his wife had ran this race the previous year and it was a downpour the entire time for them. I was hoping it wouldnt be the same story for me. As we went to dinner at the Inn that night, still raining. When we went to packet pick-up, still raining. When we got back to the room, still raining. At one point, fairly late, I remember hearing a loud roar of a noise outside. Just before I started to ask my wife "what is that?", I realized it was rain. Hard rain. My hopes for the predicted sunny race day were pretty much gone by now.
After a sleepless night, I got up early to a misty foggy morning. My first thought was, "at least it quit raining". After heading down to the restaurant at the Inn for breakfast, which I kept very light, I noticed that the fog had started to clear and reveal clear blue skies just in time. Headed to the race start right after breakfast and milled around for a little while with my wife and daughter. After I changed shoes I decided to do a couple of laps around the parking lot. I didnt plan on warming up at all before the race, but I couldnt stand the nervous energy I had and decided I would just do a quick "body" check to "just make sure".
I felt great that morning overall. The only thing that was bothering me slightly was my lower back. I have a compressed L-1 disc and I slept on a hotel bed the night before the race. Not the best combination, but I didnt figure it was going to be an issue once I got started. After milling around a bit longer, the crowd suddenly began to move at once to the starting line. I kissed my wife and started finding my spot in the crowd. No sooner had I gotten to a comfortable spot, the gun went off. It kind of caught me by surprise it was so quick.
The race started on a slight uphill on a paved road for about 3/4 of a mile. The uphill start was actually something I was glad to see as it helped me keep my pace intentionally slow although I did have to remind myself several times to "back off". After we reached the turnoff onto the Fire Road the surface immediately took a serious turn for the worse. The day long rain the day before had turned the dirt road we were on into a rutted sloppy muddy mess. Some just toughed it out and ran in the mud. Most, including myself, tried to run on the edges of the road where the leaves had gathered and made it somewhat more runnable. A little shy of three miles and we were hitting the first aid station. I decided to skip it and continue on as the course took a right and began its first true "trail" section.
After the turn, the crowd thinned out quite a bit more. Thats the nature of single track I suppose. I found myself running second in a small group of five or so folks from what I could gather by the voices behind me. The guy in front wasnt doing any talking, just trying to concentrate and keep a nice steady pace, just like myself. The same cant be said for the two guys immediately behind us in line though. For mile four thru eight they talked. A lot. First it was about the course. Apparently the guy fourth in line was only running the half marathon distance. Once everybody became familiar with who was running what distance, the conversation turned to what they had each ran before and then what their friends had ran and biked before. Turns out the guy immediately behind me had ran Leadville, which he proceeded to tell the guy behind him about in detail. Then, somewhere in there the conversation turned to heating and cooling as the guy behind me who had ran Leadville was apparently also an HVAC contractor. As luck would have it, the guy behind him was also a contractor who built homes. Everyone in our little pace group endured approximately two to three miles of HVAC talk. No one else ever chimed in at all mind you, but by the volume the "Leadville" guy was talking, he wanted to make sure everybody heard everything he was saying. Thankfully, around mile eight the trail widened for a bit as we came to a wooden bridge. Leadville and his buddy both took off around us and set a faster pace. The remainder of us had a little chuckle to ourselves but kept our own pace.
At some point between mile eight and the second aid station at mile nine(ish), I lost track of the guy I had been following for the first part of the race. I stopped briefly at the aid station though and tried to eat as much as I could as quickly as I could. Fig Newtons were a welcome sight and I remember eating three or four of them and drinking water from my Camelbak. I still felt good and was keeping a decent pace to this point. It was only three miles or so to the next aid station, and I figured I would stop for a bit longer there and fuel a little better before I started the second loop of the course.
Once I got within sight of the mile twelve aid station, I saw my wife and daughter waiting there for me. That was a nice surprise and actually helped me to relax some more. I ate several more Fig Newtons and took a Hammer Gel. I drank several cups of water that were lined up on the table as well to try and preserve what I had in my Camelbak for a little longer. After a quick hug and kiss from my wife and daughter, I was off onto my second loop.
The second loop started after crossing the paved road we had began on and went straight onto the rutted up fire road. Fortunately though, by now it had began to dry out and was a little easier to run this time through. About half way down the fire road I began to catch up with another runner. Turns out it was the same guy that I had ran the majority of the first loop with. I didnt push it to try and pass him. It was actually nice to have someone to help meter my pace off of. I was probably running too hard while I was by myself as it was. We ran together for the next several miles but still had not spoken a word to each other. About halfway through the second loop we encountered a hilly section and this time he slowed to a walk. I did likewise. I had been running, with the exception of the aid stations, for a little better than three hours by now so I welcomed a walk break. We did talk briefly at this point. He said that this was also his first Ultra, and that he had come down from Kentucky to run it. Not much was said, we were both too tired to carry on a long conversation. It was a little after this point that he pulled out and let me pass him. I got the impression I was pushing him too much. As I passed him, a female runner had caught up to us and passed both of us. I tried to keep her in sight for a while, that was a mistake, I didnt have the legs for it.
I ran by myself for the remainder of the second loop until I reached the aid station back on the lead in road at around mile 25. After a few more Fig Newtons, another Hammer Gel and several cups of water I grabbed a bag of regular Lays potato chips because I was craving salt. At this point I was just shy of 4 1/2 hours on the trail. This was also the beginning of what turned out to be the toughest part of the race for me. From aid station 3 at mile 25 we had to double back to aid station number 2 for the third time and then return again to aid station 3 which added the extra 6 miles required making the total 31. The back and forth between these aid stations felt relentless. I had now covered this section of trail four times before getting back to the lead in road for the final time. Just as I was starting the final three mile segment to the final aid station I caught back up to "Leadville". My first thought was that I was going to have to endure this guy again all the way to the finish. Thankfully though, as soon as I caught him, he pulled off the trail and let me pass.
After a final aid station stop, one final left turn and a 3/4 asphalt run was all that I had left. Thankfully, it was all down hill. If you had told me three years ago that I would be competing in an Ultra Marathon just three years after taking up running I would have thought you were crazy, but there I was, finishing in a time I couldnt believe I just ran.
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