Gate2Jacks - A Back-to-Back 50k Challenge

What: Gate2Gate 50k & Jack's Trail Race 50k
When: October 26 & 27, 2019
Where: Alachua & Palm Coast, Florida
Strava Activities -
Gate2Gate: https://www.strava.com/activities/2819040609
Jacks: https://www.strava.com/activities/2822289328

Gate2Jacks is a challenge that a few runners take on every year, and I decided I wanted to be one of those ridiculous people! It consists of two 50k races in one weekend - Gate2Gate Trail Run in Alachua, Florida on Saturday and then Jack’s Trail Race in Palm Coast, Florida on Sunday. I ran Gate2Gate last year as my very first 50k and already wrote up a race report for that, so I won’t go into as much detail as I will for Jack’s.


Training:

I did the Stewart Tunnel 50 miler at the beginning of August, so since then I pretty much maintained with 25-50 mile weeks with long runs ranging from 13 to 23 miles. During my taper I questioned if I had done long enough back-to-backs and if I should have been building mileage rather than maintaining, but it was too late by that point (I wish I had done at least one 20-20 or higher, my longest b2b runs were 18-10 and 13-18).


Weather:

Florida has decided not to participate in Fall this year. We got a day of Fall on the Wednesday before the race and it was glorious. The weather for the weekend would be gloriously hot. G2G weather wasn’t too bad, 70s in the early morning and mid-80s around 10am, I doubt the heat index got too far over the mid 90s. Sunday was a different matter. It was soul crushingly humid and hot from the moment I stepped out of the house before the sun came up. I believe it was a heat index of 97+ at the hottest part of the day, maybe hotter. Yes, we Floridians train in this weather, but it does slow you down and wear you out a lot. Plus the chafing due to the humidity, dear god the chafing. No company makes strong enough lube to last in Florida; if I had the luxury of time and patience I would re-lube certain spots every two miles. I reapply often, but I still always end up with some chafing somewhere. My body is super good at chafing.


Gate2Gate 50k Trail Run

This is my third year doing Gate2Gate, second year doing the 50k. It’s always a good time. The course is made up of two 15.5(ish) mile loops featuring three aid stations on course and aid/drop bag location at the start/finish/turnaround. I love the design of the medals/shirts/glasses and 50k finishers get a sweet hat! I tried to start slow and keep my effort pretty even throughout and not push myself since I knew the second day was going to be more difficult for a multitude of reasons. Even with that, I came in 4 minutes faster than the previous year and my last mile was my fastest mile; not fast by most running standards, I am fine being a back of the pack runner. I finished in 6:52:14, 50/77 overall and 13/24 for women.

One really amusing moment was around the mile 20 aid station, I had just passed a guy that seemed to be struggling a little and while I was filling up my bottles he came up to the aid. The aid station volunteer asked, “How are you doing,” He replied, “Ugh, awful,” and without missing a beat the volunteer asked, “Okay, is this expected or not?” I just loved that response and the troubleshooting that most likely started (which I missed because my water was filled and I was making my way down the trail).

The finish line had a nice party atmosphere even though a majority of the people that came to the race were gone by the time I got in. Music was playing, people were hanging out, pizzas had been delivered every hour, and the race had a couple of kegs from the beer sponsor. I had a beer, a slice of pizza, danced around to keep my legs moving, and then started the recovery.


Recovery

In the week leading up to the race, I researched ways people who do stage races recover between the days. My plan was thus: drink a Tailwind Recovery drink within 15 minutes of finishing, have an ice bath as soon as I got home, and get into bed no later than 7:30pm. I liked the recovery drink and even had one later that night because I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating a real dinner. I snacked on some chocolate hummus and animal shaped cookies and that was about all I wanted to eat. I did get an okay amount of sleep, 7 hours according to my fitbit. I had trouble falling asleep and woke up a lot during the night. It was a relief when my alarm finally went off at 4:30am so I could give up the idea of sleeping soundly.


Jack’s 50k Trail Race

A few days before the race, Dawn, the race director, announced that the course had changed from previous years. Rather than doing five 10k loops, it would be four 12k loops and utilize some double diamond mountain bike trails. But wait, four 12k loops is only 48k, does that mean it would be short? Nope! 50k racers had a starter loop that took us right on the beach! It was gorgeous and luckily only about a quarter mile of running through very soft sand before going back onto the trail to a turnaround point back to the start/finish area and then out onto our first real loop.

The race was comprised of a 12k, 24k, and 50k. The 12k started at 8am, 50k at 8:30am, and 10:30am for the 24k. Most of the people running the race did the 12k and the 24k and over 1/3rd of the 50k runners dropped down to the 24k during the day. Before the race I told my significant otter that I knew I was going to be slow and as long as I completed each loop in under 2 hours, then I would make it under the 8 hour time limit (which I believe is a slightly loose limit because the RD is very generous).

The loops each start with crushed limestone and a few boardwalks (about a half mile?) before you enter the mountain bike trail loop. A mile or so into the mountain bike trail, the real fun starts – the Cloud Nine section, the new addition to the race. It is a rough section that sometimes required me to brace my hands on nearby palm trees to ease my way down small drop offs or use small pines to help hoist myself up over rocks – no sustained hills, but lots of small up and downs and roots and rocks to navigate through. It was tough, but it was really cool. There was a water only aid station inside of the loop approximately 4.5 miles in and because the way the trails are I could hear the aid station about a mile before I actually encountered it on the trail.

About halfway through my second loop I heard a squishing sound and realized it was my socks inside of my shoes. They were soaked from a combination of sweat and humidity, so glamorous! Luckily, I always pack a spare pair of socks in my drop bag, so I knew it’d only be a few miles until I would be able to get my feet dry. Having the spare socks saved my day. If I had had squishy shoes and socks for the second half of the race my feet would have been destroyed. I had a couple blisters from the miles with wet feet, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened.

After that I just kept trucking on. No way out but through. I decided this weekend I would run without podcasts or music for as long as I could. I made it to about 22 miles the day before, but grabbed my headphones from my dropbag after my second loop because I was ready for a little bit of distraction from the heat of the day.

Before I headed out for my last loop, I stopped at my dropbag to change my bandana and noticed that a tent with massage tables had set up! I was pumped and hoped they would still be there when I finished (spoiler alert: they weren’t, womp womp). I almost wish I hadn’t seen them set up, haha. The other race amenities were freaking amazing though. The aid station volunteers are experienced folk and so, so helpful. It’s always nice seeing their smiling faces! There was also a photographer that seemed to be everywhere. I saw her at least twice every loop and it felt like having my own personal photographer! I was too tired to think of any cool or interesting poses, so I’m sure all of my photos look like a goofier, more tired, and sweatier version of myself, but I’m good that that!

Many times throughout the day I felt like I was flying and making good time, but then I would look down at my watch and see a pace at least two minutes slower than it felt like I was going. The joy of running on tired legs, haha. At mile 25-26ish I did start to have some negative thoughts and flipped off many of the tough mountain bike features in the Cloud Nine Section of the trail as I passed them. Since I was on my last loop, I knew I wouldn’t have to look at the dang things ever again (unless I go back next year). I got back into a good headspace by the time I got to the aid station though.

As expected, I took up nearly every minute of the time allotted and crossed the finish line with a time of 7:47:15. My slowest 50k finish, but also my hardest! I was 19/23 overall and 7/11 in women. I believe there were three people other than me doing Gate2Jacks full (plus one other doing 50k+12k and one doing 50k+24k) and I’m so proud of all of us for taking on the challenge! It was a beast!!!

What’s next for me? More training! More fun! More everything! Hopefully finding my lowest lows, highest highs, and accomplishing big scary goals!

 

 

 

Photos of me by Kylie Rhodes (at Jacks)

Stewart Tunnel 50 Mile Race Report

What: Stewart Tunnel 50mi, a part of the Ten Junk Miles Badger Trail Races
Where: Badger State Trail from Belleville, WI to 5mi outside of Monroe, WI and back
When: Aug 4, 2019 with a 6am start time
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2591504498

Goals:
Finish under the 12 hour cutoff ✔
Finish under 11 hours ✔
Have fun ✔✔✔

Results:
Finished in 10:08:58, taking 2nd place female, 8th overall. I think this was the smallest field of all 6 races occurring.


Training:

I've done three 50ks using the plan from Krissy Moehl's book and they worked wonderfully, so I decided to use her 50m plan. I think the mileage may have been a tad bit too high for me. I followed it pretty closely but did end up completely missing one back to back weekend and had a lot lower mileage on a second. One was due to the flu (missed a 20-22 and 9-11 weekend) and the other one I tried a new trail and made the mistake of only bringing a gallon and a half of water on a 105°+ heat index day on a more exposed trail than I expected (should have been a 25-28mi run, but I ran out of water around 16 miles), I missed the next day completely (14 miles). There were also maybe 4 or 5 weekday runs missed due to work or life over the 3ish months.


Travel & Packet Pickup:

My dad came with me to serve as my crew and travel buddy. We flew out of Orlando to Chicago-Midway because it was not hugely expensive like closer airports. Next year I will look for a deal flying into Madison or Rockford or really anywhere but Chicago, because that drive sucked.

After way too many hours of travel, we made it to the adorable town of Belleville. We got there around 4:30 or 5 and waited in line for maybe 15 minutes or so. They were very organized with the pickup including distributing advanced orders from the TJM store. Swag bags included: a trail toes sample, Arteryx koozie, TJM Racing B(L)uff, a tshirt, a pair of Fitsoks, an ornery mule racing pin, and of course a nice drawstring backpack it all came in. I was surprised there was so much stuff in there!

Since I am a TJM superfan, I was super nervous to meet the cast, but I shouldn't have been. They're such nice, genuine people and I was just happy to be there and see the love they put into this race. Holly was also awesome enough to introduce me to so many guests I recognized from the show. It was amazing seeing so many of my "running friends" that I trained with, lol.


Pre-Race Volunteering:

Since I wasn't running until Sunday, I decided to go volunteer at one of the aid stations for a few hours. I was there during the late afternoon and it was really great to cheer on and help out the 100m and 100k folk. Oddly enough, I would see about 10 of those people the next morning during my 10ish miles of running as they were nearing the finish of their race over 12 hours later.


Race day:

Everyone had to check in for a timing anklet since the race would be chipped timed that way (100m and 100k were hand timed). Scotty gave a pre-race briefing about how they wanted to show everyone the really nice trail that was here and WWTD (What Would a Train Do?). Soon after Dusty blew an airhorn and we were off!

Because I had been training through the brutally hot Florida summer, I did not have any temperature issues like many other runners did. The hottest the temperatures got both Saturday and Sunday was essentially what it feels like by 8am at home, but less humidity than I'm used to (I think the high was in the mid-to-upper eighties each day). Because of that, I ran a lot faster than I expected to. Many times I had to purposefully slow myself down because I felt I was going too fast. Pretty early on I noticed my HR was reading incorrectly. I was barely breathing hard and my watch listed my HR as 235+. I fiddled with the strap on and off, but finally gave up and removed it around mile 3 and threw it in the back pocket of my vest.

One aspect I enjoyed was seeing other people going the opposite way on the course on the way to the finish line. Some in good spirits, some death marching, some puking. I will be like one or all of those people in the race next year, lol.

The trail was great, just a nice well kept trail that was a joy to run on. The tunnel was amaaaazing. If anything, the RDs undersold the greatness of the tunnel (also, there is graffiti in the tunnel that is super hilarious). The aid station folks were so helpful, I know most of them barely slept all weekend and I so appreciate everything they put into this race.


Food & Aid Stations:

I brought so.much.stuff. Lots of GUs, clif blocks, clif bars, body armors, and a can of pringles. Literally the only thing I had of my own were the pringles and a few swigs of coconut body armor. I have a full list of what I ate, but it amounts to about 4 pb&j sandwiches, 1/2 grilled cheese, a can of ginger ale, 6 bottle refills of tailwind of varying concentration, 2 refills gatorade, 5 pizza rolls, 1/3rd can pringles, 1 shot of fireball, and 1 shot of blackberry brandy. The aid stations had tons of food both hot and not, but I love pb&j during races.

My dad was top notch as a crew person, especially considering it was his first time. If you've crewed someone, you know how frantic things feel when you've been waiting for 2-4 hours, your runner comes in for a very quick stop, and then poof, they're gone and you're back to playing the waiting game. He handled it so well and I hope I was a good runner, lol.


When the Going Got Tough:

I had a great steady run, no walk breaks expect for eating when I left aid stations until about mile 30, which is when I told myself I would start a walk/run pattern. The ratio changed around, sometimes it was 8/2, 6/2, 5/1 and around mile 40 it was 5/1 then turned into 4/1 through mile 45 where I was convinced I would be walking it in because I somehow couldn't run anymore.

After two miles of power walking I asked myself why I thought I couldn't run anymore and couldn't find an actual answer, just that walking was easier to do. So I started some walk/run intervals again and finally decided to listen to something other than my own thoughts. Normally on runs I listen to podcasts or audiobooks, but I wanted to be fully present for this race. I didnt want to wear headphones, so I did the douche move and turned on a playlist through my phone's speakers, I did turn it down as I passed other people on the trail. Ozzy's Crazy Train came on as I was coming into Belleville and it had me damn near sprinting (or whatever sprinting is at mile 49.75, lol). I came into the finish, Adam gave me my medal and told me I was 2nd female. I had several delicious beers (the RD's purchased 3 kegs of New Glaurus' Spotted Cow) and watched many inspirational finishes happen in the last hours of the race. What an absolutely amazing time and race!


Misc Notes:

• Several of the aid stations ran out of tailwind in the afternoon, which was a bummer, but understandable since it was near the end of the long race weekend. - My dad heard a woman complaining about how there were cyclists on the trail and how it upset her. I don't get that at all, it's a public trail and most of the bikers were so encouraging. I loved it.
• I had trouble deciding which shoes to wear, but I settled on my Cliftons. Trail shoes were not needed, my Bondis may have been a good choice, too; I may use those next year if trail conditions are the same.
• My dad and I stayed at the finish line until the very end. There was a large group of people acting as cheering squad and crew for a 50 mile runner and they were extremely negative. They were mad that the cutoff was only 12 hours and that other distances had such large amounts of time and how the RDs better not remove any of the finish line stuff. I really hope they didn't confront the TJM Racing folks about it. From what I can tell from the timing spreadsheets posted online, people came in until about 1 hour after cutoff. This was one of only two negative people out of the 100+ we interacted with during the weekend.
• Part of the trail was closed for an unknown reason, so there was a road section shortly before the Ornery Mule Aid Station in Monroe (miles 20 and 30). Weirdly, I really liked that detour since it changed things up.
• The aid stations were super easy to get to for crew members. I saw some people being crewed/assisted at random road crossings later in the race, so the race is super easy to manage as a crew person.
• Speaking of road crossings, I think there were at least 10(?) throughout the whole race, but I only had to stop for cars at two of them, both times for maybe 10-30 seconds?
• One disappointing, but understandable, thing was how much trash I picked up. 2 energy bar wrappers, 2 gu wrappers, three stickers from a local tavern (required to pick up to prove you made it to the checkpoint), aid station cups .5mi from the garbage, and various candy wrappers. I imagine a lot of them got accidentally dropped overnight while people were struggling

 

 

 

Sweat, Swat, N' Swear 50k

What: 50k trail race
Where: Inverness, Florida
When: May 26, 2019
Finish Time: 6:29:44
Place: 19/40, 8/19F
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2399970311


After doing the 25k last August, I was excited to sign up for the 50k edition of this race and see the parts of the trail that I didn't get to run on. I like that they moved it from August to May, not sure the reasoning behind it, but it worked well.

Not too much to say about this one other than HOLY CRAP IT WAS HOT. Record heat (hence and sweating and the swearing) so I ended up walking quite a lot during the race. More than I should have honestly, but the heat index was over 100, so I was fine with it. There was also a section that was a destroyed, smoldering wasteland. Apparently, there had been a controlled burn in the area that week and there were a couple logs that were still smoldering and smoking. That was an interesting section for sure.

I barely ran with anyone during this race and oftentimes felt like I had the woods all to myself. By the last few miles I came across a lot people, so I put on my tunes and passed at least 10 people (I imagine some were walking the 25k since they started an hour after us, but whatevs). As always, aid stations and finishers awards are A+ at A1 Ultra Events Races. I love their events so much.

  

Tomoka Marathon Race Report

What: 26.2 miles
Where: Ormond Beach, Florida
When: March 23, 2019
Finish Time: 4:46:25
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2234447525


Pre-Race: 

In my mind, I was sure I was never, ever, ever going to do a road marathon. I liked the trail. Nice, soft comfy trail and running on the road was not my style. Road running was too stuffy and times were too important, so I couldn't possibly want to do a road marathon. But then I read Marathon Whisperer Denise Sauriol's Book, "Me, You, and 26.2" and I warmed up to the idea. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Also, Tom was told that if he got a qualifying marathon time he would be invited to the Lincoln Marathon as part of the Florida National Guard Marathon Team. So we found Tomoka and it seemed like a great fit since it was scenic and only an hour and a half from home.

We had done Long Play 33 1/3 Trail Race just two weeks before and I had done the Santos Epic 50mi bike ride the week before, so I had a lot of confidence going into the race - no matter how hard it was, there was no way I wasn't going to finish. We arrived at the race and I naturally got a bit stressed about the parking. It was hugely crowded and we ended up parking quite a ways from the race start. We did make our way to the start area, did the standard portapotty waiting, kissed each other goodbye to find our pace groups.


Race:

Tom went up to the 3:30 group and I went back to the 4:45 group. My last experience with a pace group was at a beach half-marathon where the pacer went much faster than her pacing time, so I wasn't too bothered if I fell behind or didn't stick with them the whole time. After the race Tom told me the story of the 3:30 pacer - he was a minimalist runner in sandals and the "fwip fwip" sound got to Tom after the first mile or two, so he went on ahead of them because he could not imagine listening to that sound for hours on end, lol.

The pace group was really nice. I think there were about 20 of us together and the miles flew by with everyone happily chatting and running. About 3 miles in, I realized I had to pee. So I started keeping an eye out for unoccupied portapotties at every aid station. I finally realized I couldn't take it anymore around mile 8 and spent several minutes waiting at an aid station for one. I didn't catch back up to the pacing group and that was fine.

The aid stations were really great, every 1.5-2 miles, water and gatorade; a couple had orange slices and gels. I elected not to carry a handheld, so I just stopped at each one and drank a cup of both drinks and went along my way. I did bring headphones, but didn't start using music until I was about 20ish miles in. I didn't necessarily need it, so I listened with one ear bud so I could still chat to people around me in between bopping around to the music.

I felt great the entire race! My fastest mile was actually mile 23 because once I realized we only had 5k to go, I got a huge rush of energy and excitement. The course was absolutely gorgeous and very flat except for one part - the bridge. In the last mile of the race there is a bridge, and right before the bridge there was an officially aid station with beer! I had a beer from some lovely folk and then tackled the bridge.

Once I crossed the finish line, there was post-race beer and pizza! Also, Tom killed it and got 2nd place male in his age group. We lucked out by having great weather - cool with very low humidity. I read a couple other race reports where it was brutal heat and humidity, so I'm unsure if I would do the race again unless I was purposefully running it with someone else for funsies. I had a ton of fun during my race and if I had been focused on getting a good time I think this would have been the day to kick butt!

 

Santos Fat Tire Festival - 50mi Epic Ride

Where: Ocala, FL (Santos MTB Trails)
Date: March 9, 2019
Distance: 50 miles (but GPS had me right around 46)
Finish Time: Approx 6.5 hrs moving time, total time probably closer to 8hrs
Place: n/a
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2202638356

So…this was a drunk decision. After Tom and I ran the Long Play 33 1/3 Trail Run, we had BoneSaw & Jamie over to drink bees and play games. After talking about their upcoming Epic, I stupidly agreed to do it with them. I don’t even own a mountain bike and had never been mountain biking before. The longest I’d ever ridden on a road bike was 30 miles and that was damn near torture by the end. At that point, I had maybe ridden about 10 miles over the previous 6 months.

BUT – I had signed up, so I rented a mountain bike from the lovely folks at the Santos Bike Shop (I picked it up the day before since we would be starting before the shop opened) and met Bone and Jamie at the trail head bright and early on Saturday. The event wasn’t any type of a race, so people could start whenever they wanted. The only time constraint I had was that I had to have my rental back by 4:30pm.

The event would have three sag stops (which is what they call aid stations in biking?), two with aid station fare and the third in the middle would have a full lunch provided, so 5 stops in total for fueling. They were great! Very enthusiastic volunteers, lots of good food, and my favorite thing was the oreo topped with peanut butter and a banana slice I had at the first stop.

But before I could get there, I had to learn how a mountain bike worked and how to navigate the trails. I will say straight up that I was petrified and was worried I wasn’t going to make it. I also did not shift gears the entire ride because I had a death grip on the handlebars and my hands ended up being so, so sore from squeezing them so tight the entire time.

About 3 miles into the ride, I full on hit a tree. My body slammed into it with such for that for a moment I thought I was wrecked and would have to end my ride right there. After dusting myself off, I realized I was fine, my helmet saved me from damage, but I would have a huge bruise on my thigh (and as of the day of writing almost a year later, I still have a slight indentation from the bruise)

Besides that big scary moment, the rest was fine (minus 4 other times my handlebars clipped trees and I fell). It was a nice ride because my endurance was so high from running. There were challenging parts past the Landbridge section and I didn’t know how to handle myself on the various hills and dips, so there were some places where I had to walk the bike up over those areas rather than ride. I also made sure to avoid any of the “features” because I did not have the experience to take them on.

I stayed with Bone the entire time and both of us got a little frustrated by how many times we had to pull over for faster folk on the trail. Because people could start whenever they wanted, many people started mid-morning and were passing us due to them being faster.

Around mile 40ish I was ready to be done, and kept repeating to myself that I just had to keep going and I could have my beer that was in the cooler in the truck. We eventually finished and I checked out that absolute stunner of a bruise that had developed.

I definitely want to do it again next year and would have done the October 50 mile epic ride had it not been on the same day as Gate2Gate. I know I can shave off at least an hour or so off my time, so I look forward to doing that if the dates work out!

  

 

Long Play Trail Run 33 1/3 Race Report

Where: Ridge Manor, Florida
When: March 2, 2019
What: 33 1/3 mile trail race (half marathon and 10k also offered)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2187012372/overview

Goals:
Finish (under time limit) – YES
Finish under 7 hours – NO
Have Fun – HELL YES


Training

After my 50k in October, I took a little break and had planned a different race for the spring, but life happened, so I decided to do this race rather than something a little more ambitious. I convinced my boyfriend to sign up too, so we got our training plans squared away and mostly followed them.


Pre-Race

A couple days before the race, the aid & hydration station locations were announced and it also included the drop bag locations; the drop bag locations were announced as being at mile 9 and mile 25 – to me that seemed a little too early and a little too late to make any type of a difference (spoiler – they were actually at mile 8 and 28 and I didn’t touch my drop bag the whole race). I diligently checked the weather reports 10x a day and as it got closer, realized that we were looking at highs in the mid-eighties and high humidity as well, yowzers.

We woke up bright and early at 3:45, drank some coffee, ate breakfast (toast and tempeh), and headed to the race. Bib pickup started at 5:45, but two ladies were taking advantage of the early start (to allow them an extra hour on the course) and left at 6am.

During the pre-race announcements, we learned that since trails are tricky and never measure up exactly how you want them to, we would be starting the race with a 2 mile out and back on the paved Withlacoochie Trail before returning to the trailhead and jumping onto the single track.


Miles 1-8

I made my way to the back of the 70ish people there and my boyfriend made his way closer to the front of the group. At 7am sharp the race started and we took off on the pavement. I really liked the way the race started with all the room there because it allowed people to naturally spread out over the miles and find their place before we got into the single track trails.

First couple miles I had nice little bits of convo with fellow runners, commiserated with a couple ladies during the section of awful, deep sand horse trail. Around mile 6, I passed Terri Hayes, one of the ladies that had the early start; she’s a beast - 75 years old and does tons of races every year, I first met her when I volunteered for the 11pm-7am aid station shift at a 100 miler back in January.

Around 7.5 miles, a guy came up to me asking where the aid station was and that he swore it was supposed to be at mile 6. I was feeling really great then and said, “I’m not sure, it’s a ~mystery~!” and he replied that, “At a race this long, there shouldn’t be any mysteries.” I thought I was very amusing but commented that probably due to the 2 miles of pavement at the start, it likely meant that the aid station was 6 miles into the trail, not the race. He sped up (to get away from me?) and the aid station was about a half a mile later. That station was run by a lovely couple who brings homemade goodies to races, they had brought them to that 100 miler and I knew I had to snag some cookies. I grabbed a couple cookies, a handful of chips, a pb&j quarter, refilled my tailwind bottle and headed out.


Miles 9-18

Nothing really remarkable for the first 2ish miles after the aid station until I heard a, “YEAAAAHHHH!” from far away. I had heard that sound once before and it was when volunteering for another race in the Croom tract last October. I had never met him, but I knew it was a guy who yelled every time a runner came to the aid station and that it was known to bring runners back to life just hearing it. For a mile I heard, “YEAAAAAAAAAHH!” or “GOOOOOO!” and I knew I’d be coming up to the aid station. Gave a huge thanks to guy when I got my yell, grabbed some chips and trotted away.

Mile 15 was absolutely gorgeous. By far one of the most gorgeous parts of the entire course; beautiful ferns and palms and trees and roots. I actually maybe teared up a little bit because I was so thankful to be feeling so good and have a chance to be out in these awesome woods!

By the way, I am a ridiculous sweater. I sweat a lot and I have tried all the things to keep me from chafing, but my body is constantly finding new and interesting ways to chafe. I use both 2Toms and SNB, but neither of them stand up to the test of long runs without reapplication and my body chooses new spots to chafe in nearly every time. I felt the telltale sign that one of my normal chafe spots was about to start going off, but luckily I was close to the mile 18 aid station and got some lube on it. They had trail toes and I didn’t have issues the rest of the race, so I may experiment with using that for my worst chafe spots. I still chafed on my neck, lower back, underarms, upper shoulders, and sides, but it was all mild.

After applying the trail toes, I grabbed some chips, swigged some gingerale, refilled my tailwind and water, grabbed a rice krispie treat, and gave the run bum a little bit of shit about being a snowbird before I continued on my way.


Miles 19-25

The heat and the hills started to get to me so there was quite a bit of power hiking during this section. Also, I say hills, but I’m Floridian and it needs to be taken with a grain of salt since the total elevation gain for the whole race was around 1500’. I decided it was time to get some electronic distraction going, so I got my headphones and listened to a couple podcasts. As I got closer to mi 25, I heard the, “YEAAAAAAAAAH,” and started to get pumped. Went into that aid station where I was offered a fireball shot. At first I said no, but I really love peer pressure, so I ended up doing a shot with one other runner and the three people working the aid station. Grabbed a pb&j quarter, some chips and happily went on.


Miles 26-33 1/3

Kept on going, walk breaks where needed. Thought about the road marathon I’m doing in a couple weeks and how different it would be from this race. Got to mile 28 and the premium homemade goodies at the aid station, so I grabbed a cookie and a brownie and felt so, so grateful that these amazing people exist and give up their time to volunteer and make races like this happen. Switched from a podcast I couldn’t concentrate on to music after the aid station – should have switched to it sooner, tbh. Did some more walking because there was a bunch of awful sugar sand and I was tired, but shortly after the sugar sand I was revived by the views since the end of the race is where the most gorgeous part of the trail is as it winds along the Withlacoochie River.

Got to the last hydration station at mile 31 (there were 4 or 5 of these along the course, no food, just water and tailwind jugs on a table) and turned my phone out of airplane mode to text my dad and my boyfriend about how I was about 2 miles away. My dad texted back that my BF had said it was more like 3+ miles and I got BIG MAD. Luckily the anger and frustration passed quickly since ‘Til I Collapse by Eminem came on and that was exactly what I needed. And it was 2.5ish until the finish, not 3+.

Kept pushing through and finally saw the trailhead! Ran in and finished at 7:07:21; I got 31st overall and 11th lady. Didn’t quite meet my goal of under 7, but I was okay with that because it was a blast. Got my awesome wooden record finisher’s award and a Neil Diamond LP (they gave records to all finishers, my BF got a record of 50s love songs, lol). I parked my butt in a chair, drank a tasty beer, and discussed the race with my dad and BF. My BF ended up finishing 8th overall, 6th dude, at 5:37:32.

Huge, HUGE thanks to A-1 Ultra Events. I’ve now done two of their races (this and Sweat, Swat, N’ Swear 25k last August) and volunteered at two (Long Haul 100 and the John Holmes Trail Run, which they co-direct) and they’ve been absolutely wonderful. Definitely going to do more of their races!