Bartram Forest Winter Trail Run - 50K - RunUltra Marathon

The race director stood with us and the assistant RD took some pictures at the start line. The "go" was given and we all headed out onto the trail. I immediately took the lead.

Lap 1: An older guy, about 55 years old, hung with me a while. My starting pace was probably a bit too fast as we immediately just took off from the entire field of runners. I think I averaged around a flat 7 for the first two miles. On the first hill ascent, the older guy hung with me til the top, we crested and headed down the other side. But soon, he kinda fell off a bit. Only about 100 feet or so, but I was slowly pulling away. On the long downhill portion, on the fire roads in the back half of the trail, there was a "river" of sorts crossing the trail. A drainage pipe must have come loose and the trail was cut in half by a flowing waterway. It was only 6 inches or so deep, but it was in a foot-deep ravine. So I had to jump it. I knew that wouldn't be fun come lap 4. On the second half of lap 1, we climbed the long hill again. But this time, I pulled much further ahead. It made me confident that I could gain time on the hills, since it seems now that I'm a climber (CdA did this to me perhaps?). I powered up the hill and turned the corner towards the last mile of the loop. He was still hanging with me about 300 feet back. He seemed to gain a little ground on the downhills. So I needed to keep myself aware of that. I finished lap 1 about a minute in the lead, and as I grabbed a gel and water at the aid station, I saw second place finishing up. So I headed out.

Lap 2: The rain increased in intensity. Full-on downpour. The trails were getting muddy, but not yet river-like. The hill was still pretty easy, and second place was still about a football field behind me, not giving up his chase. I bounded over the "bridge out, please jump" river. The fire roads were now starting to fill with water. My feet, and the rest of me, were already soaked completely. I climbed the hill for the fourth time, looked behind, and I didn't see the second place guy at all. But I knew he had to be there somewhere. I came back into the start/finish area about 3 minutes into the lead. I took another gel and water and headed out on lap 3.

Laps 3 and 4: These were pretty much the same lap twice. Torrential rains, mud, river jumping, 4 more hill ascents (hill ascent number 8 made my heart rate jump so I decided I'd start taking a gel before each hill ascent for the last two laps). I started lapping people on lap 4. People started asking if I started early and I said no. Got the usual "wow" and "damn you're fast"...of course I thanked them, smiled, thumbs up, and all that. I always cheer for other runners as I run by in an ultra...the community is just that cool. Everyone's always looking out for ya. Ultrarunners are very different from marathoners or shorter distance runners. Anyway, I came in from lap 4 very cold and very tired from slogging thru mud at 8:30 pace. But I knew I had 2 more laps to go. I asked the assistant RD how far in the lead I was. He said "by alot". So I wasn't too worried. He said that some people started early though, so he wasn't totally sure, but he didn't think anyone was going that fast.

Lap 5: Before leaving the aid station at the start/finish area, I drank some cola and chicken broth. It started out just like the other 4, except that now, there were rivulets on the trail, rushing towards, across, and with the runners as we traversed the trail. I started to notice advanced fatigue in my quads. I tried to keep my heart rate low by not working too hard. I knew my pace was going to suffer, but I didn't want to completely tire myself out in case someone behind me was getting faster. When I got to the first hill ascent of Lap 5 (ascent 9), I ate a gel and started up. My pace was slow, but I was still passing people. Then, I came upon the guy who was in second place at the beginning of the race! I had lapped him! But he was all bloody on his face and hands...I slowed to ask if he was okay. He said "yeah I'm fine, go get that win!", so I headed off. At the top of the hill, I visited the aid station there, I hadn't before this point. I drank some HEED. I thought to myself...okay, he's not chasing me anymore...so WHO IS?!?! I started to get nervous. I decided I should start pushing myself for the last hour or so. I ate a gel at the bottom of the hill before ascent 10. At the top, more HEED. I was about 7 miles from finishing. The course was long, so I knew I needed to look at my Garmin before getting to the finish area. My marathon split was 3:33:41. Upon finishing the lap, at 27 miles, my time was 3:44. The marathon winning time turned out to be 3:47, so if I'd stopped there I'd have taken first place in that race.

Lap 6: Before starting lap 6, I drank a little more cola and some more chicken broth...this time it was heated, and from a cup that the aid station volunteers had prepped for me. I had a lot of time on my hands, I figured, so I didn't rush. I drank some HEED, as I had on the previous lap. I grabbed a gel to take with me for the bottom of the big hill. I was out of gels myself. I took off for one more lap, knowing I'd be done in about 45 to 50 minutes. The rain was still relentless, I was soaked, cold, my hands where white, almost transparent. My feet were wrinkled, cold, and in pain from the constant rubbing. When I got to the big hill this time, I felt like I was gonna die. I wanted to walk SOOO bad, but I thought...what if second place is gaining?! So I took the gel, and headed up. My pace was around 10:05...I felt like I was going much slower though. At the top, once again, more HEED. On this final time on the back trails, they were absolutely covered with water. It was like running thru a river, nevermind a trail. Mud sucked my feet in constantly, and the "jump me I'm a river" part...yeah, I had to stop and jump over it now as it was wider than ever. Missing that would have sent me 2 feet down into the ravine. I looked behind me a few times and I knew at that point that I had it in the bag. If someone was gonna catch me, they'd have to be running at least 2 minutes per mile faster, and I was still running 830 to 9 minute pace. On the last hill ascent I decided not to take the gel I had in my hand. My stomach wasn't having it, and I was so close to finishing that I'd have to simply die not to finish now. I was fully fatigued and working off of adrenaline and mental fortitude only, so the physical limitations were just NOT limitations now.

I knew I wasn't gonna beat the course record (4:10) because it had already passed, I knew I wasn't gonna PR (4:17) cuz it too had already passed, and I knew I wasn't gonna beat last year's time of 4:28. But I was at 31.1 miles and my Garmin said 4:24:41. Being that the course was long I knew I still had over a mile to go, so I just ran as well as I could to get to the finish. I was really glad to see the last little bit of trail leading to the finish line. I ran up the little hill and then down the other side toward the pavilion where the finish line was. I ran thru and stopped my watch. 4:32:31. I was pretty sure I'd taken first place but I wanted to be sure. I looked for the guy with the watch, and spent at least two minutes asking where he was. When I found him, they recorded me as the first finisher in the 50K. 4:37:00



Order up some better weather!!

The first thing I wanted to do was sit down. So I did. They recorded my time, the RD came over to give me my prizes (a free pair of Montrail shoes of my choice, a bottle of Endurolytes, a Montrail shirt, and a big ol' gingerbread man) and we took a picture. I relaxed for a while, had a hot chocolate, some more chicken soup, and some cola. I stretched a bit, went to the car to get some warm clothes, changed, and socialized a bit. Then I headed out, I had a six hour drive to do!


Weather and the condition of the course.


It's a small town race, it cost me 15 bux to do it. This year there were sponsors, hence the free pair of shoes and the bottle of Endurolytes. But it is such a great group of people, and the trail (when it's not raining) is quite fun and challenging to run. I've really enjoyed this race the past two years.