This was the first test on my way back to running ultras. After 3 years of battling nagging injuries, I was again going to try the world beyond the marathon and this was the first step. I already have a few 50K’s under my belt, but realized I went about training for them the wrong way – too much, too quick. So, this time around I plan on doing a slow build to see where it takes me.

Living only an hour from Huntsville State Park, the plan is to drive down the morning of the race. Bennet Fauber is also running the 25K, so the plan is to carpool to the park from Bryan/College Station with a departure time of 5:00 AM. I’m up by 3:30 AM, drink a couple of Boost drinks, and eat a piece of toast. I stop by to pick up Bennet and we’re on our way a few minutes after 5:00 AM. The drive down is pretty uneventful and we arrive at the park around 6:00 AM. We head into the lodge for packet pick-up. I see Henry, Joyce, and Paul Stone (race director). We all chat a bit and then I head off back to the truck to get ready for the start of the race.

Since this was my first run at this distance in close to three years, the plan is to take it easy and use it as a long training run. But there was a part of me that wanted to go out and run it as fast as I could. “Hmm… am I falling back into the same old pattern?” I’ll have to work hard during the race to keep myself from heading out too fast. Starting at the back will help to ensure a slow start. Bennet, Henry, and Joyce join me as they also plan on starting slow.

The weather was perfect at the start – high 40’s and clear. I wore a short-sleeved shirt over a long-sleeved shirt knowing that if I heated up I could drop the long-sleeve at Aid 1. Paul gives his little speech before the start and then we’re off. The four of us stick together as we head up the park road to the Interpretive Center, where we’ll pick up the trail that takes us to the jeep road. We start easy and slowly pick up the pace and get into a groove. We are passing people and catch up to Lynne Harkey, another B/CS trail runner. We say our hello’s and keep on motoring. As we hit the trail at the Interpretive Center, the four of us are still together. This section of trail is single-track trail and is mostly downhill and littered with roots. It also has a tendency to be a bit muddy. Since we started in the back, there are still quite a few runners in front of us. Henry takes the lead of our little group followed by Joyce, me, and Bennet. We start picking or way through the runners passing four, five, six at a time. I end up passing Joyce on a section when she got stuck behind some runners trying to pick their way through the mud. Henry and I keep moving and passing runners. I’m thinking to myself, “stick with Henry”. Then we start hitting some of the short ups on this section and I slow my pace while Henry keeps charging. I could see him slowly pulling away. My thoughts then changed to, “just keep Henry in sight”. I couldn’t see Joyce or Bennet behind me, but knew they weren’t far behind.

We get to the jeep road and I see Ken Johnson directing the runners towards Aid 1. I say hi and keep on moving. This part is an out-and-back that seems to go on forever. By now I’ve warmed up and slow to a walk to take off the long-sleeved shirt. I can still see Henry up in front of me, but he is getting smaller every second. I was thinking he would slow the pace a bit since he was running the 50K, but he kept pulling away. A little before I come rolling into Aid 1, Henry is going out and yells at me to catch him. I give him a little, “yeah, right”! Moogy is at Aid 1 along with Joe, and Robert Melendez. I throw Joe my shirt and head right back out. As I’m heading out of Aid 1, I see Bennet coming in and then I start looking for Joyce, but never see her. Maybe I just missed her at the turnaround.

The run back down the jeep road is tough for me. I’m leap-frogging with a couple of other runners and starting to tire. I just want off this damn jeep road! I’m asking myself, “did I go out too fast?” As I come to Amy’s Crossing, Ken is still directing runners. I hear another runner behind me ask him if this was Aid 2. Ken says no. Right before we head off the jeep road onto the inner loop, the runner passes me and asks if this is the right way. I say, “yes”. He then says, “I took a wrong turn and got lost”. I say, “bummer”, as he takes off through the woods. Now that I’m back on the rougher single-track trail I start to feel better. I now start walking the short ups to conserve a little energy. I’m also in pain management mode. The upper part of my left hamstring and piriformis is starting to talk to me. I can usually keep the pain to a minimum by paying attention to my stride length and overall speed. I’m running by myself and rocked along like this to Aid 2.

I was carrying one bottle with Hammer Perpeteum mixed in it. The mixture was at a concentration to last two hours and the plan was to drink every 15 minutes. So, I had my watch set to beep every 15 minutes as a reminder. I also planned to supplement this with a little Hammer Gel that I was carrying and extra water at the aid stations. Now you notice I said “planned”. Well, I didn’t stick to the plan. I did drink every 15 minutes and take the Hammer Gel, but I never finished the bottle of Perpeteum and only drank two small cups of water. The first cup of water came at Aid 2. A little after this my stomach started to act up a bit. It wasn’t bad, just a little queasy. The legs were also starting to tire. I knew from here to the finish was going to be mostly mental. There were runners in front and behind me, so I set a goal for myself; catch the runners in front of me. I slowly started to gain on them and was able to pass three of them on a downhill section. One of the guys motored by me on an uphill section though, but it was still a small victory for me. Before I hit the boardwalks, I see two other runners in front of me. “Ok, catch these guys”. I slowly gain on them and am pretty close as we cross the first boardwalk, but I start to give out again and they pull away. After crossing the last of the three boardwalks, I start doing the run/walk thing.

I finally make it to Aid 3, which is at Camp Site 174. There are a few runners mingling around eating and drinking. I grab a cup of water and head out. The first section out of this aid station is uphill and I walk it. There are a few runners in front of me and behind me. A couple passes me up the hill. After I get to the top, I start to run again. Oddly, my hamstring is feeling much better, but the legs are still tired. I rock along passing some runners and get passed by others. We finally get to the Interpretive Center and I know it’s all downhill from here, so I pick up the pace. I walk the one little uphill on this section and run the rest of it. Starting at Aid 2, I started to keep an eye on my watch trying to figure out what my finish time was going to be. Well, when I rolled by the Interpretive Center I knew 2:15 wasn’t going to happen. Now if I could just get in before 2:30. I crossed the line at 2:22 and felt good. Henry yells at me from his drop bag. He came in a few minutes before me and was getting ready to head back out. Two minutes behind me, Bennet comes rolling in with a time of 2:24. Joyce was a couple of minutes behind him. Bennet and I help Joyce with a few things at her drop bag and she heads back out.

This was a great run for me. It was a PR and I finished feeling good. This was a good test for me and I did find out a few things I need to work on as I start to increase the mileage. I want to thank all the volunteers and Paul for putting on a terrific race!