Hinson Lake 24 Hour Report

I have been putting off this report waiting for the official results, but I have some free time now so here it goes. I'll provide an update once the results are official.

This is the first year I ran at Hinson Lake and it quickly became one of my favorite events. (I am getting way too many favorite events on my list.) First of all, the entry fee is only TWENTY-FOUR dollars. For that $24 you get better swag than you get at a big city marathon.



Plus you get all the food you can eat, all the water and Gatorade you can drink, and all the ultra comraderie you could want for 24 hours. That's $1 an hour, I'd like to see a Competitor Group marathon with an entry fee of 3-5 dollars.

The course consisted of 1.52 mile loops around Hinson Lake. The path is sandy gravel with several wooden footbridges. There was one "hill" which was a couple of hundred yards long and maybe 15' gain in elevation. It was raining a bit at the start and as I was waiting in my car, I saw southeastern ultra good guy Bill Keane walking by. I lowered my window to say "hi" and he offered me one of his Pat Pending Green Powered Digital Lap Counters.



There is one drawback to the design, the operator needs to remember to move the ring from one finger to the next after each lap, which does become difficult around 2-4 AM.

The race started promptly at 8AM and although it was a bit crowded at the beginning, everyone quickly settled into place and we were on our way. There were a lot of GUTS and Darkside running cult members, so there were a lot of people lapping me that I knew.

The volunteers were all fantastic and the aid station was stocked with just about anything you might need. It seemed more like a picnic with some running.

That is not to say there weren't some incredible performances out there. Mike Morton put on a phenomenal display of athleticism. With the heat index approaching 90 degrees, Mike kept on pounding out the laps. Even with his superior effort, he took the time to encourage us plodders every time he passed us. One of the main reasons I wanted to wait for the official results is that I'm pretty sure he got within a couple of miles of Scott Jureck's American 24 Hour record. It was amazing to watch him run and I swear he picked up speed after 4 AM.

As I stated in my last post, I was going to attempt a PR. It was very humid so I started slower than normal, but I was able to maintain my pace for much longer. In my previous 24 Hour runs, I ended up walking most of the night, but this night I was able to run about 2 - 2.5 minutes out of every 5 minutes. I think this also helped reduce the severity of blisters. It took me 15 hours, but I did eventually make the leader board (I also had to stop and get my camera to take this picture).



At about 4 AM I asked the scoring table how many laps I needed to do to cover 85.5 miles (previous PR was 85.25 miles). I looked at the time remaining, my current pace, and how many laps I needed to do. Doing the math in my head, it was apparent that I would not make my PR. I decided to mosey along the next lap, change my socks one last time, then keep moving and get a nice 82-83 mile training run for the Javelina Jundred in November.

When will I ever learn...DO NOT DO MATH IN YOUR HEAD AT 4AM AFTER RUNNING 70ISH MILES!

As I passed the timing table again, I saw that I still had 4 hours to go. I had misread the time by an hour on the last lap. Well crap, (I mean yea!) I can still make that PR, but I have to pick up my pace back to where it was. So I put my big girl panties back on, maintained the pace I needed, and ended up with an unofficial 86.4ish miles, a new PR!

I'll update this with my final mileage and the amazing Mike Morton's mileage when the official results are published.

I had an awesome time, and I hope to return again and again.

An Update

At the risk of jinxing myself, I have to say that my running has been really coming together the last couple of weeks. Ever since I DNF'ed Rocky Raccoon back in February, my running and races have not been where they were last year. I had a couple of nagging injuries that didn't keep me from running, but that did keep me from performing to my (albeit mediocre) potential. The injuries also kept me from putting in the miles I was putting in last year.

Well for some reason or other, all that changed about three weeks ago. The last two weeks I racked up my highest two training weeks (without a "training" ultra) ever, 71 and 84.5 miles. I also picked up my speed. Yesterday I ran a tempo run that seemed way too easy, my heartrate was the same as my easy run heartrate was just a month ago. Today I ran a trail run 6 minutes faster than I did last week, even with the temperature the same and the dew point higher.

I was just about ready to attribute my slowing down earlier in the year to getting older (which I still am), but this is giving me hope that there may still be a PR or two in my future.

The Hinson Lake 24 Hour Run is in just nine short days and yes, I'm going to be shooting for a PR!

I'm In!

Remember last year when the Boston Qualifier whiners were complaining because it sold out in eight hours or so? Well I squeaked into Umstead this afternoon. It sold out in THREE MINUTES!

Darkside Labor Day 26.2 Mile Fun Run

The cult I belong to (Darkside Running Club) puts on three free marathons for members every year. They are held on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. The club supplies the water and Gatorade and the runners bring a box of cookies or bag of chips for the community aid station. Just as at previous events, I saw a lot of folks I knew and met a few folks I hadn't met yet.

The race started at 7 AM ish and fortunately the temperatures had cooled down quite a bit from earlier in the week. There was a bit of rain though, mostly in the form of drizzle, but the rain did get a little heavier for my last of five loops. There was a race for last place as a lot of runners were either doing this as #2 of a double marathon weekend or as part 2 of back to back long runs. One group of gals was doing a 30 second run, 30 second walk Galloway variation. That's a little too short for both the run and the walk for me. By the time you get to running speed its time to walk and vice versa. I used the Galloway method myself, but with 3.5 minutes running and 1.5 minutes walking. I managed to finish in a time with a 5 in front, 5:56. I took it slow and easy on purpose with the Hinson Lake 24 Hour Run coming up in three short weeks and was happy with how my legs treated me.

Final note to self: Never ever EVER run a marathon or greater without prepping with Desitin, especially if its raining.

That is all.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This week I had some vacation time and no race on the schedule so I went to one of my favorite places, Lake Tahoe. When I lived in Salt Lake City I went out there several times during the year, but I haven't been out there since I moved to Georgia about five years ago. Also, the last time I was there, I wasn't a trail or ultra runner and since I'm thinking about maybe throwing my hat in the Western States lottery ring, I thought I should try some higher altitude running and see how my lungs handle the lack of oxygen.

I got to Lake Tahoe late on the first day and it was getting dark, so my first run was on the hotel treadmill. Not too bad, I took it easy and ran three miles about 30-60 seconds slower than my normal pace.

The next day I headed out to the Spooner Summit trailhead of the Tahoe Rim Trail. It was only a 12 mile drive from the hotel. When I got there a cross-country team was just finishing up their training run and they all had smiles on their faces. I decided to take the trail north and immediately the trail started climbing.



The trail is very runnable and could be run in road shoes. There were a couple of places where I could see glimpses of Lake Tahoe. The altitude didn't bother me too much, but I was slower than I am at sea level. I was only out there for about two hours because all I had with me was a 20-oz handheld. Next time I do this, I'm packing my hydration vest because I would have loved to have been out there a lot longer.





After I finished I joked with my online running buddy that I hadn't been eaten by any bears or mountain lions. Little did I know how that would affect me the next day.

The next morning while getting ready for my run I read this race report. Then on the way to the trailhead, I saw this sign that I hadn't noticed the day before.



This day I ran the Tahoe Rim Trail from the same trailhead, but this time I headed south.



The initial climb was much steeper for the first mile, but then it undulated with rolling ups and downs. The views on this portion of trail were much more spectacular. Unfortunately I opted to bring a 12-oz plastic water bottle instead of my camera so I didn't get any photos, but I was able to stay out there longer. About two miles into the run I saw some tracks. My wildlife track identification skills aren't very good, so it was either a very large dog or a mountain lion. Needless to say, I kept my eyes on the surrounding terrain for any signs of carnivorous wildlife. Even with that, I still had a huge grin on my face the entire time. I swear that alpine pines give off some kind of mood-altering chemicals. Most of the time I like running, but during these two runs I LOVED running.

Hot 2 Trot Race Report

You know you are in for a hot day when you are sweating and the race hasn't even started yet.

The Hot 2 Trot is held at one of my favorite places to run, Sweetwater Creek State Park. The course consisted of 1.18 mile loops which included single track, jeep trail, a little bit of paved road, a lot of flat, some downhill, and a walking hill that the front runners ran. There were a few roots, but it was very runnable and trail shoes weren't a requirement. There was one aid station at the start/finish area that had everything you might need, including lots of ice.

The heat wasn't too bad at the beginning, there was some cloud cover and even a misting of light rain, but that just meant that the humidity was at 100%. It is definitely humid when your glasses fog up and the temperature is 80 degrees. I was making good time the first 3-4 hours and was realistically expecting to cover at least a 50K. There was one unexpected surprise at about the one hour mark. Jason was ahead of me on the hill when suddenly he stopped and yelled in pain. There was a yellow jacket nest near the trail and apparently they weren't happy with all the runners running through their neighborhood. I made it through this lap unscathed, but the next time up the hill I got zapped. I'd never been stung by a yellow jacket before. OMG they hurt! By the next lap RD Sarah and her sidekick were out there with some kind of bug bomb. Sarah made me RUN up the walking hill, though, so they could get some space between runners while they sprayed. I was afraid that the killer yellow jackets would just get pissed off, but I was unmolested for the next seven hours.

I stopped once to use the restroom (they had a port-pottie, but if you walked 5 yards off the course there was a restroom with flush toilets!) and once to change socks and shoes. At about the four hour mark the heat started getting to me and I slowed way down. At this point I knew I wouldn't be getting a 50K, but I kept on moving and wound up with 24 laps which is just over 28 miles.

After the race we had burgers and veggie-burgers and the awards were handed out. It was fun catching up with and congratulating everyone on their great efforts. There were some speedy folks out there. I really enjoy myself at GUTS events because I knew just about everyone who lapped me as well as all the volunteers.

Thanks Sarah and your crew, I had a fantastic time!

Getting My Act Together - Week 1

Just a quick note on my progress. Getting my act together has three parts:

1. Lose 10 pounds. This first week I lost 2.4 pounds, 7.6 to go.

2. Run 50 miles a week. I ran 54.6 miles.

3. Speed work once a week. I ran 12 x 1/4 mile intervals on the treadmill.

So far, so good :)

I may have a bit of a set back this week when I go to Vegas. We'll see.