Well, here it is my first ultra experience.
I woke to a cool drizzly day the morning of the race, meet up with DF and
company and walked over to a
local diner for some breakfast. I consumed three large pancakes with
Blueberry goop.
We then piled into Stewarts car and made the short trip to the start. Having
to negotiate the mud puddles in the open field gave us a clue as to what we
were about to experience. The pavilion was standing room only by the time
we got there but getting our packets was fast and efficient. The packets
were first class, the bag was a nice cloth bag with a draw string, In the
packet were a short sleeve Brooks technical shirt and a hat of course!
I proceeded to fill my 6 bottles with E-fuel and before I knew it we were
off to the start. The rain had pretty much subsided by then and the weather
was cool and overcast but not cold. I lined up back behind Doug and
Stewart to use them as a gauge as to whether I was starting out too fast. We
started in an open field and then onto the road for a bit. Before we entered
the trails, I backed off a little and allowed some people to get in between
me and my "rabbits". Before I knew it they were way ahead of me.
There was some major excitement very soon after the race entered the trails,
I heard yelling from behind and turned my head just in time to see two good
size whitetail deer run right across the trail a 100 feet or so behind me.
Luckily it appeared that everyone in that part of the trail saw
them or was warned in time to get out of their way.
I found that most people were far more conservative on the downhills then I
and was forced to walk down a lot of hills or to start and stop
constantly if I tried to run. The course was definitely slick and in some
places just down right muddy but not ridiculous. It was no Hairy Gorilla
Half. One thing I didn't
expect was that somewhere after the second aid station (9+ miles) we were
routed on the road for a couple of miles or so. Doug knows more than I of
the
details but a last minute change was made by order of a new park director to
cut out some of the apparently really wet trails. I assume this was due to
concern for damage to the trails rather than for the well being of the
participants. I felt that I managed my energy well and felt ok upon
returning to the pavilion which is apparently the 16 mile mark. I had even
passed the infamous Nick (infamous
due to an appearance in a BadWater film, ask Doug) in that section. There
were no thoughts of "I can't believe I have to do that
again" or anything like that. Well, Nick had the last laugh.
I entered the pavilion at 3:10 and changed my shoes and socks, grabbed a
brownie and cookie and refilled my bottles.
I knew any chance for 6 hours was seriously in doubt at that point but still
had hopes
of 6:30. My pit stop cost me 6 minutes.
I felt refreshed going back out into the field back to the trails and passed
quite a few people on the way. I ran into a group of 4 friendly young women,
young being a relative term (as I turn middle aged a year from tomorrow) who
all were wearing the same orange shirts on the trails in the second
half. I thought they were shirts from another race but it turned out they
just trained together and one of them had designed shirts for the group. I
had some good conversation with them for a couple of miles. The were from
Annapolis and one of them was a yoga teacher and we discussed that for quite
a
bit, positions and all that, err.. I mean asanas I took off and passed them
on a down hill soon before the 25 mile aid station. What was I thinking!
At the aid station I got a good laugh from the crew when I looked at my
watch (5:10) and said "just got to do 9s to get under 6 hours".
After the aid station I came across a young couple from Connecticut that
said they were doing their first "ultra". After they found out I was from
NY the husband said "Do you do the Escarpment Trail run?" I said no and that
it didn't look like I was going to qualify today.
They replied "We love the Escarpment Trail". Apparently they don't consider
it to be an ultra! They must of thought I was serious and tried to encourage
me to try to get in anyway. Gee, too bad I don't know anyone with
connections.
After the road sections back on the trails was when I started to get cramps
in both calves. I'm not sure what point that was , 27 or 28 miles? That
pretty much turned most of the remainder of the event into a power hike. It
was somewhat frustrating in that I wasn't spent. I just couldn't run without
going into spasm. At one point in the rootiest, muddiest and rockiest three
miles I stepped off to let someone by and he said "Oh no, go ahead I
couldn't pass you if I wanted".
Anyway finally I was out of the last trail section and headed back to the
barn. I tried to break into a trot at that point and my calves replied "I
don't think so!". Right before the finish there is a small hill you must
overcome with a crowd of spectators urging you to run it. My first attempt
came up short after a few strides but after more encouragement I was able to
overcome the cramps and finish the hill and the race running.
What did I miss? Well there was some great scenery when you dared to take
your attention off the piece of trail directly in front of you. The company
I came with was great as were the people I met along the way on the trail.
The race was well organized, well marked trails, good aid stations and a
great race package including a nice single strap pack for finishers.
Lessons learned? I jumped into Doug's training runs in the middle which
probably would have been ok if I didn't succumb to having to be macho and
try keep up with the boys, especially on the downhills.Doing the 3rd loop
the second time I went down was probably a bit too much also. I had to cut
my mileage way back too soon as a result to have any hope of finishing the
race.
Thoughts?
1. There's always next year.
2. What's another 19 miles?
And lastly much thanks to Doug for a great time and especially for arranging
a chauffer for me and everything else.
I knew things were going to click when we were packing our stuff in
Stewart's car and all three of us had brought along a six pack of various
brands of India Pale Ale 🙂
Sorry this was so long, especially considering I left a lot out!
Parker