2011 Arkansas Traveler
-The Race-
My first 100-mile race
(Left to Right: Dad, Alex, Matt, Myself.)
The Traveler starts with a 17-mile figure eight shaped loop
where the first 8 miles follow along a typical dirt/rocky road. Then the last section of the loop (7
miles-ish) connects to the spectacular Ouachita trail. Of course that short portion on the Ouachita
trail was the highlight of the race for me.
The trail ends when it comes out to Lake Sylvia around mile 16.4 where
the 42-mile out-and-back (84-miles) portion of the race begins.
From the Traveler website, this
is the terrain legend:
|
Surface
Legend:
|
|
|
1.
Pavement
|
4.
Unmaintained Gravel Road
|
|
2.
Best Gravel Road (smooth)
|
5.
Old Road (4-wheeler trail)
|
|
3.
Maintained Gravel Road
|
6.
Ouachita Trail
|
Of course the soft trail portion is over with, so what I got to
look forward to were rocks of all shapes and sizes to guide my feet for the
remaining 83 miles. The whole portion leading
to pumpkin patch I remember thinking how uneven and scary this section would be
at night time, considering I could barely run it in the day time.
As an Ultra marathon
progresses, there are Aid Stations, which are refueling points stocked with
drinks (Gatorade, heed, water, sodas) and food (potatoes, sandwiches, chips,
cookies.) Pumpkin Patch was the 4th
or 5th station of the race, about 22 miles in. At this point in the race, I’m mentally
siked, I’ve almost completed a marathon, and then the reality kicks in, hey guy
you are tired, now do what you just did over three more times (ugh.)
Trust me there are so many people in a lot better shape then
me, so those people may not get tired until mile 60, but as for me, I lost and
gained energy on and off throughout this entire race starting early. There
are a total of 25 aid station points, half you experience one way, and then you
see them again on the way back to the finish.
You have to be careful when you reach an aid station though because if
you do the calculations and stay at each one for 2 minutes (which can be easy to
do), then you can waste almost an hour of time throughout the race just eating
and drinking.
The goal of an ultra race is continuous forward
progression. Even if you are eating or
drinking, just try to move forward, and for the sake of your mental sanity,
don’t make a habit of sitting in a chair at the aid stations, you are setting
your self up for failure if you do that.
Since this was my rookie 100-miler, I started at a 24-hour
race pace, which really is not a bad thing to do. I stayed this pace until around mile 30-ish
and then I started really getting bogged down.
I started feeling a twinge in my left big toe, which forced me to start
landing a little differently on my foot in order to push away the painful/more
nagging feeling. Somewhere in the next 5
miles, I exploded with energy. This is
the ridiculous thing of a race, you lose all hope at some points, and then you
become the king of the world the next. I
felt amazing, and just minutes ago I was bonking and had a daunted realization
that my body was thrashed.
I know now that I should have held back and saved that
energy for the latter miles to come, of course I was a rookie so I just ran
really fast!
We could run with a pacer at mile 48 (power line aid
station), so my family and crew prepared to be there with me arriving at a 24
hour pace. This would put me there in 12
hours roughly, give or take some time.
Well, I arrived there in 10:10.
This was a 20+ hour pace, someone needed to slap me and tell me to chill
out, but none of my crew was there.
Power line aid station is a medical checkpoint where they
weigh and analyze you and you’re health.
When I started the race I weighed 190lbs, at power line I weighed 184, I
had lost 6 pounds, which is not bad, but losing weight in an ultra can be scary
if you lose control and start dropping to much. My focus for the
next 14 miles was to hydrate as much as possible, and force food down to gain
that weight back.
My family met me at the next aid station (Copperhead
Crossing) and I picked up my brother Matt to pace with me. He ran the next 10 miles with me (5 to the
turnaround, and 5 back to copperhead crossing.)
During this portion I began to lose a sense of my motor controls. Since I had been eating and drinking so much,
my stomach began to lose its pleasantness too, and my mind started thinking about
sitting and relaxing at some point. The
sad thing is, my mind was thinking how excited it was to have completed 50
miles at the turn around aid station, and then my mind sunk once it realized
that I was only halfway done.
This is the point where you learn. This is the point where you find out what you
are all about. Your training is
complete; your life back home does not matter.
All that matters, at this point is, can you go farther then you have gone
before!? 50 miles was my first ultra -race-,
and farthest I have ever ran! I have
walked 200+ miles in California but that involved many nights of sleep, food,
and recovery. This was one straight push
for 100 miles, and my first time at that.
After some delicious grilled cheese and ice-cold water, Matt
and I made our way back to copperhead crossing.
Once we arrived there, Matt stopped pacing and my brother Alex joined me
to take me back to Power line. This was
a short 4-mile trek and at this point I had bounced back from my negative
mental place and was motivated again.
When I got back to power line I was weighed again and this
time I had gained my 6 pounds back to my normal weight. I was hydrated and healthy. Alex was done pacing, and from here on out I
had 32 miles left to go. Almost three
marathons down and a 32-mile run left.
Seeing my family was amazing at this point. It is so nice to see people you love when you
are in such a low state of mind. What I didn’t
realize was that the whole reason I was staying so strong and motivated was because
I had the sun and my family on my side.
I only had 32-miles left.
My brother-in-law Johnny (for some odd reason) decided to run the last
two long 16-mile sections with me. By
this time, it was late, the sun was leaving me, and my family (along with my pregnant sister) had to go
to town to eat and go to bed. Oh how
mentally great that thought made me feel (sarcasm of course.)
(From left to right: Sister, Dad, Myself, Matt, Ted-who is also running the race)
I left power line aid station with Johnny. I felt great for a few miles, and then it hit
me. I was tired, my foot hurt, I wouldn’t
see the rest of my family again until I was done, it was getting cold, and I
went out way to hard the first half of the race.
This is where a 100-mile race actually begins…at mile 70…
No comments:
Post a Comment