Cooter Creek 50 Miler - The Inaugural Event

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

This race course was on the TerraQuest app, and the race director required all runners to have the app on their phone.  My phone is a little long in the tooth so I wasn’t sure if its battery charge would last the whole race.  I downloaded the course, hit start just before the race, and ensured my phone was in airplane mode.

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 12^th 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.

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

Coming into mile 17 aid 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.

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

14^th 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

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