November
9
 |
| Final approach into Fayetteville |
I enticed Martha to join me for another ultra marathon adventure. We flew to Fayetteville, Arkansas yesterday
afternoon and had a nice Italian dinner in town before driving to the bed and
breakfast in Winslow. This in the
inaugural event for this race, and the race director lives in Colorado where he
directs several other races. The course
is an out and back with a lollipop loop at the far end. Also, since the course is so remote, crews
are not allowed to visit any of the aid stations. So, Martha drives me the 10 minutes to the
start and snaps my picture before I am off in the pre-dawn twilight with 36 of
my fellow runners. The temperature is in
the low 30s, but is supposed to rise into the high 50s. I start the race with shorts, long and short
sleeve shirts, stocking hat, and gloves.
Mile
8.7 2:11:54 (15:10 avg./mile) Old
Locke #1
 |
| Darin before the start |
I
run very carefully for the first couple of miles while the daylight is making
its full presence in this beautiful fall day.
About three miles into the race, we have our first river crossing. This one is pretty wide and then within a
quarter mile there is another (but less wide) river crossing. The water is swiftly moving, but only a
little over knee deep. I am chatting
with JP and Matt as we arrive at the first aid station. My first thought is that this is 10 miles,
but then I recall that it is 8 something.
By rough calculation, I figure I have run right around 15 minutes per
mile. All of us share a common goal it
seems—finish before dark, which would be less than 12 hours. This translates into faster than 15 minutes
per mile. I guess I will have to pick up
the pace if I am going to finish before dark.
This first section was rather technical with plenty of rocks and
such. And, the first two miles were run
in the dark, so I figure I can make better time now as I hope the trail will
become smoother, and I am not warmed up.
At the aid station, I grab several quesadilla wedges to eat on the way.
Mile
16.3 2:09:55 (17:06 avg./mile) White
Rock #1
I
make my way to the White Rock aid station feeling good and thinking that my
position is solid. However, the cut-off
for this aid station is 4.5 hours, and I am at 4:20, which means I only have 10
minutes on the cut-off at this point. I
grab some more quesadilla wedges while chatting with the nice aid station
workers. They say the next aid station
is not far—only 3.5 miles. JP and I
change our shoes at this point, and I take off my long-sleeve shirt. I trade my hat for a buff, and I am ready to
roll.
 |
| Sunrise in the Ozarks |
Mile
19.8 1:13:11 (20:55 avg./mile) Potato
Knob
The
“short 3.5 miles” is nearly all uphill, and I think it might be a tad farther
than the advertised distance. The last
mile up to the knob is a good steep climb.
I am working hard, but as can be seen, I have not been able to pick up
the pace yet. At the aid station, I grab
a healthy handful of potato chips and eat a pickle before heading down the
trail. I have some time to make up, and
I plan to push the next section reasonably hard. I had refilled my Camelbak at White Rock so I
didn’t figure I needed to do that again so soon.
Mile
27.3 2:11:58 (17:36 avg./mile) Shores
Lake
The steep downhill coming out of Potato Knob doesn’t
allow for striding out due to the steepness and the technical trail. I am running mostly with Matt and doing well,
except I run out of water about 45 minutes before I get to the aid
station. These 7.5 miles seem like a forever
section as the aid station just will not get here. As hard as I am pushing it, I am sure that
there is an extra mile in this section.
This is later confirmed by other runners with GPS as well as the race
director himself. At the aid station, I
eat a few PB&J sandwich quarters before drinking a cup of Coke. Matt and I are right on the cut-off, and we
have 1:15 to get back to White Rock to meet the final hard cut-off before the
finish. The Coke should help me run
faster at this point in the race.
Mile
32.4 1:49:50 (21:32 avg./mile) White
Rock #2
Matt
and I run almost the whole section up and down along the stream that we get to
cross twice. The second time we cross
the stream, we catch up to Steve, who Matt knows from the area. As we begin the uphill climb heading towards
White Rock, the realization that we will get timed out sets into our
minds. We start seeing runners coming
back down from the aid station, and the first ones say they were the last
runner to make it out under the cut-off.
Then we see a few more runners, and they say they are the last runners
that were let to slide out of the aid station a few minutes past the
cut-off. We finally make our way back
our way into the aid station a mere 36 minutes over the cut-off.
Official
Finishing Time DNF – Timed Out
36 starters,
18 finishers
At the aid
station after we each grab a bite or two, the 10 or so timed out runners ask
the aid station captain what the plan is for getting us back to the
start/finish line. The answer is that
they have a couple of seats for two or three of us. Then he asks if we have a buddy we can call. I borrow a cell phone and call Martha. She says she will be there in an hour as that
is how long it will take on the back-road, dirt-roads in the Ozarks. In the meantime, we all hang out catching up
on the college football games while we try to keep from getting too cold. These 32+ miles were a good tune up for my
next race regardless of the fact that the race director (or anyone else
apparently) did not actually run the course to see how challenging and slow it
would be. The race director quickly
announces that the cut-off next year will be two hours longer. This is the first time in my 83 ultra-race
career that I have actually been timed out at an aid station. My next race is the 17th running
of the Hellgate 100k on December 14 in southwestern Virginia. Until then…
Never stop
running,
Darin
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