April 17
What is that? It sounds like my
phone just said, “Off course, please check the map.” Oh crap!
I must have taken the wrong fork in the trail about 200 yards back. Now I have to back track and lose the
momentum I had going for this last section!
 |
| Ready to begin |
The day prior, Tim Harwick and I flew down to Charleston for the
inaugural running of this race. The
weather for the flight was perfect, but there is rain in the forecast for
tomorrow. I wake up Saturday morning,
and the rain is going to stay south of us.
It is supposed to be cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon
with a high in the mid-70s. The
temperature at the start is in the mid-50s.
Mile
7.0 1:15:56 (10:51 avg./mile) Cane
Gully Road
The race begins and nobody wants to lead out of the gate, so I surge to the lead of the 27 runners in the race. At first, I am deluded to thinking that maybe there aren’t any fast runners in this race. Then 2.5 minutes into the race, as I am running about a 10-minute mile pace, the first runner passes me. Then a few more runners—well actually several runners pass me over the rest of this first section. I think I was about 12th coming into this aid station. All is going well except I realized that I failed to apply any Body Glide before the race. Tim fetches the Body Glide, and all is good now. It is still overcast and nicely cool. I drink over half of the pint of chocolate milk and take half of a bagel to eat on the run.
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| Darin takes the lead at the start |
Mile
12.0 58:33 (11:43 avg./mile) Witherbee
Road
A
couple of more runners pass me, but I am quite content to let them get out in
front of me. I am feeling good and
making good time so far. The course is
nearly completely flat with the trail being very runnable with only the
occasional root to miss (or trip over).
Apparently coastal SC has been a little on the dry side, so the normal
muddy sections are not on this day.
Thank goodness the rain is staying south of us. Around two hours into the race, the cloud
cover clears off. Here comes the
sun! At the aid station, I drink several
chugs of my personal beverage mix from Infinit.
I call it CR01 for Conquest Replacement, formula 1. I also take another half bagel to eat on the
trail.
Mile
17.0 59:09 (11:50 avg./mile) Witherbee
Ranger Station
Some
point during this section, Kyle and I start to leap frog each other. During one of these passing events, we
introduce ourselves. Kyle is a fast
runner, but seems to be taking a lot of walk breaks. I am on a run 13 minutes, walk 2 minutes
rhythm. It appears to me that Kyle is on
a run for a minute, walk for 10 seconds rhythm.
At the aid station, Tim is ready with my chocolate milk and another half
bagel. My time so far is really quick,
but I figure I will have to slow down as it warms up.
Coming into mile 17 aid station
Mile
25.0 1:39:19 (12:25 avg./mile)
Irishtown Road
Kyle and I stay in range of each other, and then at one point there is a female runner that comes up behind us, but never passes us. I ask Kyle if he has seen her as he is passing me. He says he has not. Near the end of this section, I pass Kyle again and come into the aid station ahead of him. I drink more chocolate milk and grab a stack of Pringles to eat on the run. I have looked at my phone a couple of times, but mostly I have just kept it in one of the side waist pockets on my Camelbak. Of course, I have to ensure I move it when I get a newly filled Camelbak from Tim.
Mile
32.0 1:34:40 (13:31 avg./mile) Dog
Swamp Road
This
section is the hardest yet in the race. The
course is somewhat muddy with plenty of roots.
The trail is tight with many turns.
The easy running has ended for now.
The good news is that there is decent shade. But, when the technical trail ends, so does
the shade. Now it is very warm with no
shade, but fortunately, there is a breeze.
My watch passes 1.5 hours since the last aid station, and I wonder how
much further I have when it appears right around the next corner. Tim tells me that I have gained on the people
in front of me, and that everyone had a tough time with this section. I drink a decent amount of CR01 and grab half
a bagel for the trail.
Mile
37.0 1:14:48 (14:58 avg./mile) Halfway
Creek Road
Leaving
Dog Swamp Road, the course has a couple of long straight trail sections. I keep thinking that I can see other runners
well down the trail. I actually catch
one of them, but then a runner with trekking poles comes by me. At some point in this section Kyle flies by
me, and I never see him again. It is
very warm, and I have changed my rhythm to run 10 minutes and walk 5
minutes. I figure this should keep me
under 15-minute miles and, most importantly, keep me from overheating. I drink some more chocolate milk and take yet
another half bagel for the trail.
Mile
43.0 1:27:43 (14:37 avg./mile) Willow
Hall Road
I
stay focused on making steady forward progress.
There is a runner in front of me, but I just can’t seem to catch up to
him. I have been tracking him for the
last two sections. I feel like if I put
a good surge in that I should be able to catch him, but there are plenty of
miles left to catch him so I stay on my pace.
I come into this aid station ready to get this thing to the finish. I finish off the CR01 and take another half
bagel.
Mile
46.0 35:33 (11:51 avg./mile) Whilden
Road
Leaving
the last aid station, it feels like the high temperature for the day has
passed. I increase my rhythm by running
for 12 minutes and walking only 3 minutes.
I finally catch Carl about a mile from the aid station. I am feeling good, and Tim comments that I “crushed
this section.” I drink a majority of the
small bottle of Coke to keep me on this surge to the finish.
Mile
52.0 1:40:23 (16:44 avg./mile) FINISH
Less
than a half mile out of the last aid station, I come to a fork in the
trail. The Palmetto trail appears to go
to the right, and I can see a blaze for the Palmetto trail. There is a lone streamer that seems to
indicate left, but I go with the blaze.
200 yards later, I hear my phone for the first time today, “Off course,
please check the map.” Shoot! Obviously, I chose the wrong fork to
take. I retrace my route back to the
fork. When I get to the fork, here comes
Carl. I make the turn on the left fork
and put a little surge in as I don’t want Carl to get any ideas on passing
me. I was hoping I could maintain my
faster rhythm to the finish, but after 30 minutes, I revert back to running 10
and walking 5. The trail is full of
roots and is winding in and out along this never ending marsh. Eventually, I give up running and just walk
until one of two things happens, 1) I see the finish is near, or 2) Carl comes
up behind me. Actually neither
happens. My ideas on a sub-11-hour
finish come and go. Finally, the finish
is near, and I run to the finish.
Finish!
Official
Finishing Time 11:26:04
14th
out of 27 starters (21 finishers under the 14-hour cut-off)
Carl finishes
18 minutes after me. Apparently, I wasn’t
the only one that had a tough time with this last, never ending section! Tim tells me that the aid station worker at
mile 46 told everyone except me to stay left at the fork. Of course, Tim didn’t tell me either. I don’t think that ended up costing me more
than a couple of minutes, but I used up my last bit of motivation backtracking. I eat a hot dog and drink a Coke at the
finish before Tim and I head to the hotel.
For the inaugural event for this race, it went very well. Chad is a quality race director, who has
plenty of experience with other races.
My next race
is the Kettle Moraine 100 miler in June.
Until then…
Never stop
running,
Darin
