Ice, snow, mud and muck...



Melissa & I - pre-50k

A journey that began with the question "What's 5 more miles?" has evolved into the question of what else can I do, where else can this take me?  It seemed fitting to start another year of ultra running at the same place it all began, Hawkeye 50k in Solon, Iowa.

Leading up to race day, there were many updates from the RD.  Course conditions were questionable, the course itself was questionable and what would Mother Nature bring for race day?  The Thursday evening message even included a suggestion to think about bringing traction devices for your shoes because there was still ice on much of the course.  Justin, Melissa and I headed out on Friday knowing we'd just take Saturday one step at a time.

Saturday morning started off good, caught a hot breakfast at the hotel before heading to the race start.  Picked up bibs and took a look at the course.  The course order was going to be changed for the race because the Park officials had laid down the law about runners crossing the spillway. Instead of 2 loops (kind of a big/little figure 8 style loop), the course would be run as a long out-and-back to the spillway (22 miles total), then another short out-and-back to the spillway (about 3 miles), then two loops over the last 3 mile section (6 miles total).  This would make for an interesting run as we would be running parts of the course in the opposite direction then what was normal.  Would some of the hills be worse from the other direction?  I guess we were going to find out!  After the normal RD announcements, we were off.  Instead of running the entire first loop with the 25k group, we would only be running about the first 3 miles.  This meant that the field thinned out quickly.  Melissa and I had decided on Friday that we were running together.  I thought that company for the 7 to 8 hours the race was going to take was important.  We planned to work hard with the hope of finishing easily under the 8 hour cutoff.

The first part was pretty uneventful other than stepping in a nice little water puddle about 5 miles in, it wasn't horrible, just meant the feet were a bit colder than they should have been.  Once we were a few miles from the turn-around, we started to see the lead runners on the way back.  We made it to the turnaround and as an 'add on' for having to change the course; we got to climb up this little 'mound' (see the picture Melissa took with the Lake in the background).  We didn't hang around too long, just headed back out.  We completed the first 25k in 3:19 which I think was a 25k PR for both of us.  That worked to fuel us to keep moving as we made quick work of getting almost all the way back to the main aid station (start/finish line).  I say almost, the last half mile or so before getting back was single-track trail.  What was firm at 11am was now at almost 4pm a mushy, sloppy, standing water trail!  It was horrible!  Really cut into our spirits.  We slopped up to the aid station, checked in and refueled and started out to the second, shorter, out-and-back to finish the big loop portion of the race.  We headed into this section at 4:49 and I had hoped prior to race start that we would be starting this section by about 4:45 into the race, so we really weren't off pace for making a sub-8 hour 50k (this was a big goal for Melissa because her 50k PR was 8:30 and she knew going in a race with an 8 hour cutoff was a risk and a challenge).  The downside, everything left for the last 9 miles was single-track trail!

Melissa really took off as we headed into this section of the course.  She was mad because the trail conditions really felt like our sub-8 hour goal was not even going to be possible.  She used that anger to keep us moving strong through the major elevation change in this part of the trail.  I'll admit it, from last year, I didn't remember this part being so steep, or maybe it was just that I attributed my difficulties to the 6 inches of snow, not the steepness of the course.  I don't know, but it was tough. When Melissa's steam finally wore off a bit, I took over the lead.  We met a couple others on their way back and they let us know approximately how far we were from the turn around, this really helped to keep us moving as quickly as possible.  We finished out this loop to one of the volunteers telling us the 'really steep' parts were done and just two loops to go. When we stopped to refill hydration packs and grab some grub, one of the aid station workers asked if anything was cramping.  Melissa mentioned her calves and he promptly kneeled down and started working on them…hmmm…I think I'll take advantage of that too, even if I'm not having any cramping problems.  The volunteer was more than happy to oblige and we both left the aid station for the first of two 3 mile loops with our legs feeling much better.  I checked my watch, 5:39, right on track.

The loop starts out going up a decent stretch in muddy slop then kind of leveled out.  We followed along some wider trail for a bit, but it was snow covered and slushy.  Around a bend, and then it dipped down into a very technical trail section.  There were parts of this that it was all we could do to keep on our feet.  We were sliding down from tree to tree in an attempt to not fall flat, then back up required pulling ourselves from tree to tree on the other side.  There were a few downed trees that we had to climb over.  This doesn't sound that hard, but try picking your feet up very high after 26 or so miles!  In and out through the trees we went, finally, I see the parked cars that tell me we're just around the bend from the start/finish and the completion of our first loop.  On the way there, we run past the Jeep, Justin sticks his hand out the door to hand Melissa some ibuprofen and I dig in the back for a gel.  We grab our stuff and head down to check in for starting our last loop…what!!!  There was no food at the aid station, they'd basically broken it down and just left a few cups of the different drinks at the table!  We asked the volunteer (the same guy that provided the calf massage) and he yells up to some others standing around that they needed some food down there.  Luckily, one of the people hanging around was a friend and 50k finisher, Wendy Foote, and upon hearing that we were needing something, she scrambled to grab some food and get it down to us…thanks so much Wendy!  Melissa got her leg worked on a bit more and off we went…just 3 miles to go!  We left the aid station at 6:39.

Much of the same for the second loop, but we were invigorated knowing we had only 3 miles to go.  As we were climbing up the first section and getting close to the bend to go back into the hilly section, we saw a runner in front of us.  Our goal became catching and passing the runner, which we accomplished by the time we reached the section with all the downed trees.  No looking back, we kept pushing the pace whenever we could.  Getting close to the end of the race, we saw another runner in front of us and started working on trying to catch him as well, we didn't quite make if before we ran out of race, but we were closing in.  Finish time, 7:29:25, we cut 10 minutes off our second loop and were just short of Melissa's secondary finish goal, not bad for what seemed to be impossible 2 ½ hours earlier! 

So what have I learned in this rookie year of ultra running?  I've learned that the ultra community is an amazing thing.  So many amazing people always there to cheer you on while at the same time they're working for their own goals.  I think just about every runner we met on the first out-and-back responded to our cheers of good job with a good job, looking great of their own.  I've learned it takes a lot of people to pull off an
ultra and the volunteers that come out to help are truly amazing in their own right.  They start work while we're still having coffee prior to race start and many are out there until the last runner crosses the finish line. They're willing to dig into their personal goods to find that 'one thing' someone may be looking for, they're seeing people tired and hurting, that may not always remember to thank them, even though each and every runner appreciates their help so much.  They're willing to massage muddy legs to help get that runner through 3 more miles.  They truly do so much and more!

I've learned I love the differing course conditions you have to handle running an ultra.  What could start the day as wonderful, can end the day as a challenge to just get through.  Ask me the day before what the course will be like and I'll tell you honestly that you just don't know until you get there.

So what's up next…you'll just have to wait and see…I'll tell you when I get there.