You must do a lot of running

Saturday I participated in the USO Mud Run. It is a 5K cross country obstacle course race. I’ve never done an obstacle course race before, but I’ve run plenty of muddy trail races. I thought, I can run a good 5K, I love cross country, I love muddy races. The obstacles were the unknown here for me, but I figured I could probably do them as well as anybody else.

Making the event even more interesting was the heavy rainfall on Friday night, and continuing rainfall during the race. Without the rain the course probably would have been pretty dry except for the mud mountains. With the rain the entire course (except a gravel road section) was wet and muddy, and there were a few sections of deep water.

The ~900 participants started in three different waves. I was in the first wave with all other individuals. The other categories of participants were female teams, male teams, and co-ed teams. Each team had five members and they had to finish together.

As was typical in a road race, a handful of slower runners sprinted off the starting line to get a big lead for about 200 meters before slowing drastically. After working my way through them I was alone at the front with a high school aged boy.

We stayed together for the first half mile through the wet and muddy grass until we reached the first series of obstacles, about six mud mountains in a row. Each one started with about 20 meters of thigh-deep water, followed by a steep pile of dirt/mud we had to climb over and down, followed by another 20 meters of thigh-deep water. It was impossible to run through the water, we just had to walk quickly and hope our shoes didn’t get sucked off our feet by the mud at the bottom.

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Photo from here

Next there was a runnable section of shin-deep water for about 100 meters. After that was the easy section of the course, which was a long straight gravel road. I had a small gap on the other guy after the obstacles and I tried to open it up on this fast part of the course.

At the end of the road we had to make a sharp left turn and go down into a big steep ditch filled with water and back up the other side. I had to laugh. I was the first person of the day to reach this part of the course and as I made the turn one of the volunteers said to me, “Be careful. We actually have no idea how deep the water is.” So I used a bit more caution. It up to my chest and wide enough that I could have swam across.

Once up the hill there was a mud crawl where (I think) we were supposed to go under the flags strung across the mud pit. I don’t know for sure because nobody explained it before or during the race and I didn’t have anyone in front of me to watch.

The final mile had some more muddy cross country, a few more ditch/water crossings, and one more mud mountain. The final obstacle was a huge plastic tarp slip-n-slide. Which was great.

I finished 1st. It was a super fun race. I was done before the 2nd and 3rd waves even started, so I was able to go back out to watch (and film) a lot of the team participants, which was just as fun as running the race myself. The vast majority of the people there weren’t really competing, they were just there to have fun. And I can see the appeal of that. This was not the typical crowd you see at a road race. There were a lot more smiles here.

I ran another 5-6 miles after my race. After the Nth time I passed one of the race volunteers (before, during, and after the race), he says to me:

You must do a lot of running.

He had me pegged.

Spectating at the USA Cross Country Championships

The 2012 & 2013 USA Cross Country Championships took place in Forest Park, about 2.5 miles from my home. I knew about the 2012 race months in advance before completely forgetting to go. For 2013 I briefly entertained the notion of running the community (i.e. non-elite) race, but given the extremely short distance (4K) and my recent training (for a 50K), it wasn’t a great fit. Instead I walked over there today to watch the elite races.

Women

The elite women ran 8K (5 miles), and multiple olympians were in the field.

Elite women start
The women start

Elite women
The leaders pulled away quickly

Shalane Flanagan leads Kim Conley
Shalane Flanagan and Kim Conley lead for the entire race

Deena Kastor
Deena Kastor in 3rd

Chase group
The chase pack

Shalane wins
Shalane wins

The race results are here.

Men

The elite men ran 12K (7.46 miles). The announcers made sure to mention repeatedly there were 10 guys who had run a sub-28:00 10,000 meter race. A huge lead pack of about 30-40 runners stayed together through the first 4 laps of 6.

Elite men start
The men start

Elite men large lead pack
Big lead pack

Dathan Ritzenhein, Chris Derrick, and Matt Tegenkamp pull away
Dathan Ritzenhein, Chris Derrick, and Matt Tegenkamp pull away with 4K to go

Chris Derrick, Matt Tegenkamp, Dathan Ritzenhein lead on the last lap
Chris Derrick, Matt Tegenkamp, Dathan Ritzenhein lead on the last lap

Second Wind runner Jeff Kelly
Second Wind runner Jeff Kelly running with the elites

Derrick won, Ritzenhein took second, Tegenkamp took third. The race results are here.

SHivering Icy Trail Run

And here’s another entry from the better late than never category.

In the month before Fuego y Agua I wanted to do a tune-up race in the ballpark of 10-15 miles. On January 12 there was a large, well organized 20K (12.4 mile) race in Forest Park on pavement. It was a beautiful sunny 50˚F morning. I chose a different option. At 5pm that night I ran the SHivering Icy Trail Run (let that name sink in a minute), a trail half marathon in the dark in 33˚F rainy weather.

I chose wisely.

This wasn’t an actual race, more of a fat-ass event. There was no official entry forms or fees. But a surprisingly large group of 40-ish people showed up in just awful weather for a good time out in the woods. And several people showed up to run hard.

A group of five or six of us went off the front early. Two of us pulled away just before the first section of single track. By the end of the first section I was by myself. Back onto a gravel road a couple miles into the run I had to take off my glasses because they were fogging up. And my vision is the worst in the dark. Then I hit a new section of single track that had been added since the last time I had been to this particular trail last spring. It was very muddy and entirely off camber, so my progress slowed significantly.

Then there was the extra credit. At some point (I had no idea where) along the trail there was a cemetery. We were supposed to find the cemetery and read the name on the largest tombstone there for bonus points or something. I noticed the cemetery and found the tombstone. As I made my way back out to the trail Travis Redden caught up to me and we ran the next several miles of single track together. In all honesty, he was flying and I struggled to keep up on the technical sections in the dark.

Once we made it back out to the gravel road with about three miles to go I dropped the hammer a bit (less because I wanted to win the fat-ass event, but more because I was freezing cold). I finished in 1h43m, a few minutes ahead of Travis. As the first finisher I received a major award.

Fastest SHITR

I was cold and wet while running. The instant I stopped I got really cold… which prompted me to get straight to my car to warm up. So I didn’t stick around long. Of course, in my haste I neglected to mention the extra credit (was it Caroline?), so I guess I’ll never know what that would have been good for.

IMG 2365
Rob at the finish line (photo from Rock Racing)

The event was super fun. I got the hard run I wanted, along with practice running in the dark, practice running on a fairly unfamiliar trail, and practice running in shitty weather. Mission accomplished.

You can read the event organizer’s report here.

Running in the Smokies

For the past few months I’ve been training my ass off for the Fuego y Agua 50K on February 16. Last year I handled the distance fine, I handled the heat fine, but I completely fell apart on the long, steep ascent of Volcan Maderas.

Maderas
I have a score to settle with Maderas

Just as last year I’ve done lots of distance training and as much heat training as I can (in a sauna). But this year I’ve focused much more on hill training. I run as many hills as I can find. I spend a few hours a week on a stair master. I run hill repeats. But I had a feeling that might not be quite enough. The Saint Louis area is quite hilly (particularly in comparison to central Illinois), but the biggest hills we have here are around 400 ft, whereas Maderas is 4,000 ft.

Gatlinburg and Mount Le Conte
Gatlinburg with Mount Le Conte in the background

So I took a little vacation. Last weekend I drove to the Smoky Mountains, the nearest place with 4,000 ft climbs. I drove all day Friday, and got a good night’s sleep in Gatlinburg, TN. The next morning I went for an epic (by my standards) mountain run. Starting around 1,300 ft elevation I ran uphill for 3 hours to the peak of Mount Le Conte at 6,593 ft, just over 1 mile vertical ascent. The trail was around 11 miles. So I ran 5300 ft ascent in 11 miles in the same time (actually, slightly less) as it took me to race 4000 ft in 4 miles up Maderas during the race last year.

Steamy stream

Bull Head
Bull Head trail

Smokies
View from the top

It was very cold at the top, with deep snow in places, so I didn’t stick around too long. The 11 mile return trip downhill was easier physically, but it was much harder on my body. My knees were aching pretty bad by the end. There was a lot of ice-covered rock at the top which made for slow going at times. The rest was muddy.

Trail
Muddy trail

Rob
Rob ready for Maderas?

I planned to go hiking on Sunday morning before returning home, but my knees were still too sore, so I did a bit of automobile tourism. On the way home I drove one stretch of 7.5 hours, which is by far the longest I’ve ever driven non-stop. So that was something.

October, November, December 2012

Well, it’s been a while. November and December were a little bit crazy for me on account of a project I was working on in my spare time.

Running

I haven’t raced since October, but I’ve been doing a lot of high quality training in my build up for the Fuego y Agua 50K in February. As you can see from the chart below, I ran farther in 2012 than any of the past 11 years. This is also the longest I’ve gone without a sidelining injury during that time. June of 2012 was the only month with low mileage, and that was when I intentionally took a break to recover from my spring races.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 78.06 Mile 9 8.67333 Mile
February 75.2586 Mile 9 8.36206 Mile
March 126.15 Mile 14 9.01071 Mile
April 146.28 Mile 16 9.1425 Mile
May 166.75 Mile 18 9.26389 Mile
June 54.83 Mile 7 7.83286 Mile
July 115.76 Mile 9 12.8622 Mile
August 91.81 Mile 9 10.2011 Mile
September 123.61 Mile 15 8.24067 Mile
October 115.4 Mile 12 9.61667 Mile
November 118.23 Mile 13 9.09462 Mile
December 129.98 Mile 14 9.28429 Mile
Total 1342.12 Mile 145 9.25599 Mile

Running 2012 12


Cycling

Concordia Cross

Some other guy (not me)

Cycling was virtually non-existent for me the past few months. I did one cyclocross race in November on no training and somehow still wound up with a good result. The lack of bike miles towards the end of the year almost allowed my modest running mileage to catch up.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 25.33 Mile 2 12.665 Mile
February 40.08 Mile 3 13.36 Mile
March 213.43 Mile 20 10.6715 Mile
April 253.27 Mile 23 11.0117 Mile
May 322.147 Mile 24 13.4228 Mile
June 282.57 Mile 13 21.7362 Mile
July 260.12 Mile 16 16.2575 Mile
August 81.87 Mile 8 10.2338 Mile
September 45.46 Mile 8 5.6825 Mile
October 35.37 Mile 8 4.42125 Mile
November 10.58 Mile 1 10.58 Mile
December 22.7 Mile 6 3.78333 Mile
Total 1592.93 Mile 132 12.0676 Mile

Cycling 2012 12


Walking & Hiking

Babler hike

There was a big drop off here as well, mostly because I needed the extra hours to work on my project.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 51.53 Mile 16 3.22063 Mile
February 42.92 Mile 18 2.38444 Mile
March 41.15 Mile 14 2.93929 Mile
April 31.89 Mile 12 2.6575 Mile
May 37.5107 Mile 13 2.88544 Mile
June 39.4 Mile 18 2.18889 Mile
July 2 Mile 2 Mile
August 64.99 Mile 25 2.5996 Mile
September 85.88 Mile 25 3.4352 Mile
October 32.34 Mile 10 3.234 Mile
November 16. Mile 5 3.2 Mile
December 15.22 Mile 4 3.805 Mile
Total 460.831 Mile 162 2.84463 Mile

Walking 2012 12


Stairmaster

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 0 0 0
May 0 0 0
June 0 0 0
July 0 0 0
August 0 0 0
September 13.85 Mile 4 3.4625 Mile
October 12.87 Mile 3 4.29 Mile
November 0 0 0
December 9.34 Mile 2 4.67 Mile
Total 36.06 Mile 9 4.00667 Mile

Stairmaster 2012 12


Swimming

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 1750. Yard 2 875. Yard
May 8050. Yard 7 1150. Yard
June 4100. Yard 3 1366.67 Yard
July 2993.61 Yard 3 997.871 Yard
August 2150. Yard 3 716.667 Yard
September 0 0 0
October 0 0 0
November 0 0 0
December 0 0 0
Total 19043.6 Yard 18 1057.98 Yard

Swimming 2012 12

Farmdale Trail Run

Melissa and I ran the 30 mile Farmdale Trail Run on Saturday near East Peoria, IL. We heard about this race just a couple weeks ago from our friend Chris, and since Melissa’s parents live nearby they were able to watch Will while she and I spent hours in the woods.

All the pieces had fallen into place for me. My training in the weeks leading up to the race was top notch. I had run personal best times on two of my favorite trails in the Saint Louis area without trying very hard. My heart rate was lower than ever for the pace I was running. I was running up hills with ease, thanks to the time spent on the Stairmaster. I was finally fully recovered from Howl at the Moon and I felt my fitness had even improved since then.

I had never run the trail before, so I didn’t know exactly how fast I would be able to go, but I made some educated guesses. As long as the trail wasn’t too hilly or technical I thought I had a realistic chance to average 8 minute miles to finish in 4 hours. And based on previous results, that should put me near the top of the field. It was a bit of an audacious goal for me, but, for the first time ever in a race of this distance on this sort of terrain, I felt I could back it up.

Farmdale

The rain began to fall lightly just minutes before the start of the race. The 30 mile race and the 10 mile race started together, while the 50 mile race had started 3 hours earlier. With the faster 10 mile runners and the slower 50 mile runners all on the trail together there was a bit of confusion as to what my place was at any given time. I started with a pack of 10 milers and by 4 miles in I had passed and left them all behind. The early miles were effortless. Despite the light rain the trail was in terrific condition. I finished the first 10 mile loop in 1:20, exactly on my desired 8 minute pace. Only 3 of the 113 10-mile runners were ahead of me. Old Rob (which was actually the young Rob) would have crashed and burned late in the race after pulling a stunt like this. But not today, I felt great.

I picked up some food and water and set back out. The rain was picking up and the trail was getting a bit muddy. Now that the 10 milers were off the course I asked a few 50 milers as I passed them if there were any 30 milers ahead of me. Most of them were just as confused as I was, but I had a strong suspicion there weren’t. I just hoped/assumed I was in the lead, but pretended I wasn’t.

Around 14 miles in I had to take off my (prescription) sunglasses because the sky was so dark. I simply wasn’t able to see the trail. And without my glasses everything was blurry, but this effect wore off a bit as I continued on. By this point it was absolutely pouring. I had to slow down around all the (numerous) turns to avoid sliding right off the trail. Then on the second half of the loop there were about 3 miles of trail that were covered in standing water, which slowed me down even more. I still felt great, but it was obvious I had no chance of making my time goal. With the trail in this condition I couldn’t have run a lap at that pace if it was the only lap I had to run all day.

I completed the second lap in 1:28, almost a full minute per mile slower than the first lap. And the trail kept getting worse from there. I picked up my headphones and listened to music for the third lap to try to keep me motivated. I started to get a little tired, but I still had plenty left in the tank. It was just all I could do to keep from falling over on the turns, or sliding on my ass down the frequent ravine traversals. I had slowed down a lot by now. With 2-3 miles left I picked up the pace and finished really strong.

I had been passing 50 milers the whole race and on my third lap I was passing 30 milers as well. I hadn’t seen Melissa yet, but I thought she probably wasn’t too far ahead. She’s not a highly experienced trail runner and she picked a hell of a day to gain experience. I exited the woods into the open field to head to the finish line and I saw her just ahead. I caught up and finished my third lap at the exact same moment she finished her second lap, 4 hours and 27 minutes after we began. She was in good spirits and was preparing to gut out one more lap on the trail in horrendous conditions (it just kept getting worse and worse all day).

A major award

As I was chatting with Melissa the race timer informed me I was the first 30 mile finisher. Huzzah. It was a long, hard, nasty (at times) race, but I felt really great and I ran well. Melissa went back out and did what needed to be done. It was not pleasant for her, but she showed some serious guts. In the meantime I changed into dry clothes and ate and drank everything in sight. I chatted for a while with a few old friends and made some new ones. Melissa finished a few hours later, happy the race was finally over.

Melissa finishes

She was worried that she would finish dead last, but she was right in the middle, 24th of 47 overall and 4th female. Pretty good for her first trail ultra.

September 2012

Running

Forest Park XC Festival

I continued doing a lot of shorter runs throughout September (if 8+ miles per run can be considered short). More importantly I got back on track of running 3-4 times per week. I raced the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, my first race after the epic Howl. Later in the month I gradually started ramping my mileage up in preparation for The Next Ultra in October.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 78.06 Mile 9 8.67333 Mile
February 75.2586 Mile 9 8.36206 Mile
March 126.15 Mile 14 9.01071 Mile
April 146.28 Mile 16 9.1425 Mile
May 166.75 Mile 18 9.26389 Mile
June 54.83 Mile 7 7.83286 Mile
July 115.76 Mile 9 12.8622 Mile
August 91.81 Mile 9 10.2011 Mile
September 123.61 Mile 15 8.24067 Mile
Total 978.509 Mile 106 9.23121 Mile

Running 2012 9


Cycling

MVI_1289

Unfortunately, I missed out on Gateway Cup this year. My knee just wasn’t ready for bike racing yet. I took a few more weeks off before starting to get back into the swing of bike racing at Gateway Cross Cup.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 16.65 Mile 2 8.325 Mile
Pocket Rocket 17.2 Mile 5 3.44 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 11.61 Mile 1 11.61 Mile
Total 45.46 Mile 8 5.6825 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 25.33 Mile 2 12.665 Mile
February 40.08 Mile 3 13.36 Mile
March 213.43 Mile 20 10.6715 Mile
April 253.27 Mile 23 11.0117 Mile
May 322.147 Mile 24 13.4228 Mile
June 282.57 Mile 13 21.7362 Mile
July 260.12 Mile 16 16.2575 Mile
August 81.87 Mile 8 10.2338 Mile
September 45.46 Mile 8 5.6825 Mile
Total 1524.28 Mile 117 13.028 Mile

Cycling 2012 9


Walking/Hiking

Walking home

I found walking and hiking to be the best thing for helping my knee recover. I could stretch out my legs and get blood flowing to the problem areas with no impact and little risk of further injury.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 51.53 Mile 16 3.22063 Mile
February 42.92 Mile 18 2.38444 Mile
March 41.15 Mile 14 2.93929 Mile
April 31.89 Mile 12 2.6575 Mile
May 37.5107 Mile 13 2.88544 Mile
June 39.4 Mile 18 2.18889 Mile
July 2 Mile 2 Mile
August 64.99 Mile 25 2.5996 Mile
September 85.88 Mile 25 3.4352 Mile
Total 397.271 Mile 143 2.77812 Mile

Walking 2012 9


Stairmaster

And now for something completely different. I found a reasonably priced, high quality, used StairMaster stepper machine on Craigslist and bought it. I have wanted one of these for years. I first started using a machine nearly identical to this during the winters at the UIUC gyms a few years back. I wanted to do it more, but going to the gym was a bit of a hassle. Here in STL I don’t have a gym to go to, and going would still be a hassle. With this machine at home I can use it whenever I want. I’ve mentioned repeatedly how I don’t run on consecutive days as a rule. With this stepper I can get a comparable workout with zero impact on my knees. As a side effect, I’ve already noticed (after less than 20 miles of stepping) that my hill running has dramatically improved. I might just have a chance on the slopes of Volcan Maderas next year…

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 0 0 0
May 0 0 0
June 0 0 0
July 0 0 0
August 0 0 0
September 13.85 Mile 4 3.4625 Mile
Total 13.85 Mile 4 3.4625 Mile

Stairmaster 2012 9

Forest Park Cross Country Festival

Back on September 8 I ran the Forest Park XC festival open race for the 3rd year in a row. This was the first race I ran after we moved to St. Louis. I improved a little bit over my first outing last year and I was hoping to improve a little bit more this year.

Forest Park XC Festival

The race is short and fast. It’s 4km in length (about 2.5 miles). This was the first race I ran after Howl at the Moon and it was quite a shock to the system to go from racing 8 hours to racing 14 minutes. I was totally unprepared. I took it easy for 3 weeks following Howl, then I did one moderately hard training run before this race. Somehow my Howl fitness carried me through. I finished in 6th place, but I ran the same course 17 seconds faster than last year (when I felt better prepared).

I’ll take it.

August 2012

Running

Howl at the Moon

August was consumed by tapering for Howl at the Moon, running Howl at the Moon, and recovering from Howl at the Moon. Over half of my miles in August came in that one day. The rest of my runs were very short, but the average distance per run was heavily skewed by Howl. My knees took a real beating during the last 10 miles of that race, so I’ve been super cautious with my recovery to ensure I don’t have any long-lasting injuries as a result.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 78.06 Mile 9 8.67333 Mile
February 75.2586 Mile 9 8.36206 Mile
March 126.15 Mile 14 9.01071 Mile
April 146.28 Mile 16 9.1425 Mile
May 166.75 Mile 18 9.26389 Mile
June 54.83 Mile 7 7.83286 Mile
July 115.76 Mile 9 12.8622 Mile
August 91.81 Mile 9 10.2011 Mile
Total 854.899 Mile 91 9.39449 Mile

Running 2012 8


Cycling

Team & race volunteers

The weird thing about my knee pains is that while I have recovered reasonably well with respect to running, I can’t say the same about cycling. 10 days after Howl I went to my regular Tuesday night practice race and by the end my knee was killing me. I took another week off of cycling. The next week I intended to go back but I didn’t make it 2 miles from home before my knee started to hurt. I took 2 more weeks off of cycling. At this point I’ve only done one serious ride in the past 6 weeks, and that one didn’t go well at all. Now that road racing season is over I can just wait this thing out and make sure it’s gone before starting up in earnest again. I’d like to do some cyclocross racing this fall, so hopefully I’m back to 100% soon.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Pocket Rocket 18.7 Mile 5 3.74 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 63.17 Mile 3 21.0567 Mile
Total 81.87 Mile 8 10.2338 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 25.33 Mile 2 12.665 Mile
February 40.08 Mile 3 13.36 Mile
March 213.43 Mile 20 10.6715 Mile
April 253.27 Mile 23 11.0117 Mile
May 322.147 Mile 24 13.4228 Mile
June 282.57 Mile 13 21.7362 Mile
July 260.12 Mile 16 16.2575 Mile
August 81.87 Mile 8 10.2338 Mile
Total 1478.82 Mile 109 13.5671 Mile

Cycling 2012 8


Walking/Hiking

In the pack

I made up for the lack of cycling with a bunch of walking and hiking. This doesn’t hurt my knee at all, and I’m more convinced than ever that walking/hiking is actually remarkable effective training for long/ultra distance running. It allows you to put in a lot of time on your feet, working your legs, without the impact of running.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 51.53 Mile 16 3.22063 Mile
February 42.92 Mile 18 2.38444 Mile
March 41.15 Mile 14 2.93929 Mile
April 31.89 Mile 12 2.6575 Mile
May 37.5107 Mile 13 2.88544 Mile
June 39.4 Mile 18 2.18889 Mile
July 2 Mile 2 Mile
August 64.99 Mile 25 2.5996 Mile
Total 311.391 Mile 118 2.6389 Mile

Walking 2012 8


Swimming

It’s both fortunate and unfortunate that I don’t have to swim much to maintain my fitness for swimming. I just have little motivation to spend time in the pool, when I could be doing any number of things that are even more enjoyable. There’s a chance I might to one more triathlon this year, but that depends on whether my knee feels well enough to bike.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 1750. Yard 2 875. Yard
May 8050. Yard 7 1150. Yard
June 4100. Yard 3 1366.67 Yard
July 2993.61 Yard 3 997.871 Yard
August 2150. Yard 3 716.667 Yard
Total 19043.6 Yard 18 1057.98 Yard

Swimming 2012 8

Digging Deep

Saturday was the big day. My “A” race for the summer, Howl at the Moon, an 8 Hour ultramarathon, took place just outside of my hometown of Danville, IL. Most races have a fixed distance and the fastest competitor wins. This is a timed race with a fixed duration and the competitor who covers the greatest distance wins. My wife Melissa and I registered for Howl immediately after the University City 10K and we’ve both been looking forward to it for months.

Bags packed

My training went well. I knew full well that temperatures regularly soared into the 90’s at Howl. So I trained for hours in the 100’s. I acclimated to the heat so much better than any previous summer it was almost a shame we had unseasonably cool weather on race day (60˚F at the start, low 80’s at the end). Almost a shame.

I didn’t sleep the night before the race. And by that I don’t mean “I didn’t sleep well,” I mean “I didn’t sleep at all.” The combination of a crying and kicking toddler, frequent trips to the bathroom, and good old fashioned nerves really did a number on me. My alarm went off before I had fallen asleep. Fuck it, let’s go run for 8 hours.

The course is a 3.29 mile loop with 3 aid stations. Each loop was about 40% grass trail, 40% gravel road, and 20% asphalt road. There was no rugged single-track trail. It was so cool and I was so fresh I opted to run the first lap without my water bottle… or food… or anything else. I wore shoes, socks, shorts, visor and carried nothing. After numerous long training runs carrying my phone, headphones, and all the food and water I could ingest, it was incredibly liberating to start the race with the bare essentials on a cool breezy morning.

I started very easy and just concentrated on relaxing into a comfortable pace. I’m going to be out here all day, I would think to myself. 8:30 for the first mile. Not absolutely fast, though perhaps a bit on the fast side for such a long run. Soon after the first mile I caught up with Don & Tim, two friends I used to run with in Champaign-Urbana. They’re both highly experienced, each a perennial top finisher in this race. I decided to stick with them for a while. Towards the end of the first lap we reached a short, somewhat steep hill (the only uphill section on the course). Many ultrarunners swear by walking up hills. I had been debating what to do about this, but since I was with two very experienced runners I decided to cue off them. They both walked, and therefore so did I.

At the end of the first lap I stopped at my tent to pick up my water bottle and take an electrolyte pill. I checked in at the scorer’s table and set off on lap number two. Don took a bit more time between laps than me and Tim took a bit less. I caught back up with Tim and ran the second lap with him before becoming separated again. Around this time I also met Travis Redden from the STL area. We recognized each other’s names from the SLUG email list, but we’d never met before. It was good to chat with him, but before long I was alone again, just enjoying the run.

5 laps in I saw Melissa for the first time. She was running with Eric, a friend we used to run with in Champaign-Urbana. They were just finishing their 4th lap.

I felt fantastic for the first 25 miles. Running was easy. I was probably still going a bit too fast, but the way I felt I’m not sure I would have saved any energy by slowing. I strolled past the marathon mark at 3h45m, the fastest marathon split I’ve ever had in an ultra, and this was to be my longest race yet. Just after the marathon point I caught up with two more friends from Champaign-Urbana. This was strange, I hadn’t seen them yet. And with good reason. They decided to sleep in and they were on their first lap. I was starting to labor a bit, but I kept the pace high for a little while longer while I chatted with them. I passed the 50K point around 4h25m. To put that in perspective, my last 50K race (on an admittedly much more difficult course) took 7h55m.

After 10 laps I knew something had to change. I wasn’t dead yet, but I was going downhill rapidly. My pace was just too fast and I still had too much time to go. I stopped at my tent for a full 5-6 minutes. I applied a fresh coat of sunscreen, I drank, I ate, I grabbed an ice-filled bandana to put around my neck to help me cool down. Finally, I grabbed my phone and headphones and started listening to music (for the first time ever in a race). I was in race mode up until that point, but if I was going to survive I needed to completely reset. The music (Jonathan Coulton) kept me relaxed and put a smile on my face. I slowed way down from 8:30 pace to 9:45 pace. I started over and pretended I was just stepping out the door to do a long training run.

Howl at the Moon

Coming into this race I had no idea how far I could go. I thought I would get 40 miles for sure and I would be quite happy to get 45 miles. My super secret goal was 50 miles. I knew that would be a tall order. 50 miles in 8 hours is one of those magic separating lines in running, like a 5 minute mile or a 3 hour marathon or a 24 hour 100 mile. Sure, elite runners will go much faster, but these lines separate great runners from good runners. I wasn’t cocky enough to count on accomplishing such an audacious goal on my first attempt, but I didn’t discount the possibility either.

The miles continued to pass. The running was no longer easy. I kept waiting to bonk or to cramp up, but those maladies never came. I was staying on top of my electrolyte pills to avoid the cramping and I was eating well at the aid stations to keep my energy up (surprisingly, grapes were my food of choice at the aid stations). Once I slowed down to my long training run pace I thought my chance to make it to 50 miles was gone. But I kept doing the math in my head and with each lap that passed it seemed more and more plausible. As long as I didn’t slow down. And that was the struggle. I was exhausted and the truly difficult part was was the mental aspect of forcing myself to keep running in that state. I could have stopped at any point. I could have walked. But the closer I got to my pie-in-the-sky goal of 50 miles, the more I wanted it… the more I could taste it… and the deeper I was able to dig to keep going.

After 12 laps I switched my playlist to something more uptempo (Less than Jake) and almost immediately I was back down to 8:30 miles. I didn’t want this to come down to the wire. Aside from the aid station breaks and walking up the hill, I was able to maintain that pace for three more laps. With one lap to go I didn’t even bother stopping at my tent to refuel. I was ready to get this over with. I finished 15 laps (49.35 miles) with 15 minutes to spare. Now it was time to run as many 0.5 mile out-and-backs as I could before the time ran out. I quickly added 0.75 miles, which put me over 50. After that I completely lost the will to keep going. And in the blink of an eye I was done. I walked the last 0.25 miles back to the finish line. I still had 5 minutes left, during which time I could have run another 0.5 miles, but I didn’t have it in me. It was over. 50.35 miles. Mission accomplished.

I sat on a park bench and guzzled water. Multiple people asked if I needed help, indicating to me I didn’t look so great. I walked back over to my tent and flopped onto the ground. Melissa (who finished with an amazing 40.48 miles in her first ultra) was there chatting with friends. Rather suddenly I started to get cold and shiver. Melissa said my face was pale and my lips were turning blue. Shit. They called the medics over to our tent and they started probing me while I laid down. I was actually feeling fine (well, aside from the shivering and being really damned tired). They covered me with some ice packs and strapped an oxygen mask onto my face for a few minutes. Meanwhile, people were started to gather around the tent to get a good look. They suggested IV fluids or maybe even a trip to the hospital. I really didn’t think that was necessary, I’ve been in much worse condition before. But I knew enough that if I was really as bad off as they seemed to think I was I probably didn’t have the best judgment. After a brief debate we decided against it and before long I was sitting up, shivers gone, crisis averted. I was back to normal within minutes.

My distance was good enough to tie for 9th place with… Tim. I hadn’t seen him since the first hour, but apparently he was clipping at my heals the entire race. And just as I was calling it quits I saw him go out for one more loop, which allowed him to match my distance. Ha!

Anyway, Melissa & I both had an incredible time at the race. I’m super glad we did it. This was my first timed race, and I have to say I liked the format. Knowing I was going to be out there running all day regardless of how fast I ran helped put me into the right frame of mind. I set a goal and pushed through previously-unimagined-to-me exhaustion to reach it (though, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think I would have reached 50 miles in significantly hotter weather). The only downside is now that it’s over I have to decide where to go from here.