Twisted Branch 100k 2022 - Warm and Dry

Flying up to New York

This is a new race for me, but one that has been running since 2015.  James, Peter, and I fly up to Penn Yan, New York on Friday morning at the aid stations.  We made it a non-stop flight as we had a nice 10-knot tailwind.  When we arrive at Penn Yan airport, they have our Hertz rental car waiting for us, but the nice lady wants to confirm my license.  After looking at my license, she says, “sir, your license expires tomorrow, and I can’t rent you this car.”  So, James pulls out his license, but he looks at it, laughs a little, and says that his license expired four days ago.  So, now I cross my fingers as Peter pulls out his license.  It is still valid and unexpired, so we are able to get our rental car!  We grab lunch at a local grill, and then check in to our VRBO before heading to the start area to pick up our numbers.  Dinner is at one of only two pizza joints in Naples. 

August 20

Before the start

I fall asleep around 8:30pm and sleep soundly until 1:05am when I have to get up to use the
bathroom.  I then lay in bed, mostly awake until 1:50am when my alarm goes off.  My first bathroom visit is successful, and then I eat a bowl of granola and heavy cream.  James is not successful on his first bathroom attempt and begins to pace around the house.  After eating breakfast, I finish my race preparation, and then use the bathroom one last time before we head to the start.  At the start, James is still trying to get his internal body moving and is unsuccessful.  The temperature at the start is 64 degrees, which is a few degrees warmer than forecasted.  I have a thin short-sleeve shirt on along with my buff, shorts, shoes, and Camelbak.  There are 169 official starters in the race.  The race starts promptly at 4am.

Mile 6.0      1:26:36 (14:26 avg./mile) Cutler, 116^th place

James and I start the race together and actually run together for about a quarter of a mile.  At that point, some eager runner paces me and gets in between us.  I am trying to start conservatively so I let a few other runners pass me as James pulls ahead.  The trail is a single-track trail for most of this first section.  It is not warm yet, but it isn’t as cool as I would have hoped.  There are brief pockets of cool air, but they are few.  I settle into a good rhythm and make it to this first aid station with only one trip and fall.  Crew is not allowed at this first aid station so I pass right on through without taking any food.

Here comes the sun!

Mile 12.5    1:27:41 (13:29 avg./mile) Naples Creek, 121^st place

This section starts with a bit of road.  I try to set a good pace on while I am on the road since the trail section is a little slow in the dark.  The horizon is starting to glow, but it will be most of this section before I turn my headlamp off.  The wooded sections are still quite dim in the twilight.  Two issues occur on this section.  First, I trip and fall again.  And then I miss a turn.  Before my missed turn, I was chatting with a couple of runners that were right behind me.  When I missed the turn, I realize that there are about 20 runners stacked up behind me.  I get shuffled back to the middle of this pack where I stay until we emerge from the woods and run through the town of Naples to a nice park on the other side of town.  Peter is eagerly waiting for me when I arrive.  I drink about a cup of chocolate milk and trade out my Camelbak for a full one.  Then I take half of a bagel with me for the trail.  Peter tells me that James is about 40 minutes ahead of me, so it seems like he is feeling good and off to a great start.

Taking off the headlamp

Mile 18.2    1:17:1 (13:33 avg./mile) The Sneaker, 119^th place

Leaving the nice park, we are greeted by one of the toughest climbs of the race.  It starts out with a few switchbacks, but then it just ascends directly up the side of the hill for about a mile.  The grade is so steep that taking a full stride is out of the question.  In fact, I think my “stride” is about a foot at best during the steepest portions of the climb.  After surviving the climb, there is then a steep little downhill section followed by a short, steep uphill section, which is then followed by a steep downhill section for about a mile.  Needless to say, I can now feel my quads complaining!  Somewhere in here, I take my first salt tablet of the day.  I have been totally soaked in sweat almost from the beginning of the race, so I need to keep the electrolytes in check.  Finally, the section comes to an end with a “gradual” (read normal) uphill climb to the aid station.  During the climb, I meet John Rynders and Marie Davis.  They are both in their 50s and are native to NY.  While they have not finished this race before, they are well familiar with the course.  At the aid station, I eat a handful of potato chips.

Mile 22.6    1:02:31 (14:12 avg./mile) Italy Valley, 123^rd place

After the Sneaker aid station, there is a fairly long stretch of dirt road to start this section.  John, Marie, and I chat while we jog and hike the road.  After a while, Marie drops back, and John and I press forward.  Both John and Marie state that their goal is just to finish.  I, conservatively, say that I am hoping to finish in less than 19 hours.  However, my original goal, which I quickly am revising was to finish in 17 hours.  After the first three sections, I realized this is not realistic for me on this day, but I am still thinking that I might be able to hit 18 hours.  This aid station has an Italy theme, but I don’t find any pasta.  Instead, I eat more potato chips as it is another aid station where crews are not allowed.

Fed and ready for more

Mile 29.3    1:55:11 (17:11 avg./mile) The Lab, 122^nd place

This section doesn’t have any long, steep portions, but it is mostly in the woods with many small up and downs.  Some are rather steep, but overall, it is kind of nice in the woods.  However, since it is past mid-morning, the temperature is definitely climbing.  The relative coolness of the early morning is long gone, and now the only time I feel cool is when we get the occasional nice breeze through the trees.  I take my second salt tablet of the day and am trying to drink as much water as I possibly can.  This section ends with a downhill road section followed by a short wooded, trail section to the aid station.  Peter is ready for me and has a grilled bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that he says is about 30 minutes old.  He is busy making a fresh one, but I opt for the nicely lukewarm sandwich.  I eat about three-quarters of the sandwich while drinking over a cup of water.  I then decide that I will drink a little Long Haul beverage to see what effect that has on my stomach.  One of my objectives today is to determine the best stuff for my belly, so here we go.  After eating my “breakfast,” I visit the port-a-john where there is no toilet paper.  Fortunately, I have some in my Camelbak pack, so all is well.  While I was doing all of this John left me behind.  I leave the aid station feeling good, but wondering how warm it is going to get today.

Mile 35.6    1:51:43 (17:44 avg./mile) Patch, 119^th place

It takes about 10 minutes after drinking the Long Haul to determine that it was not for me.  The drink feels like a slug in my stomach—hopefully, it will pass through within the hour and won’t cause any long-term issues for me on this day.  This section is mostly all wooded, single-track trail. Initially, I was hoping to catch up to John, but I don’t see him at all on this section.  That being said, I don’t see much of anyone on this section.  Obviously, I passed a couple of runners, but otherwise, I am just making my way at my own pace.  I consume my third salt tablet on this section in my attempt to keep my stomach from getting any worse.  This aid station at Patch is another non-crewed aid station.  I grab a handful of potato chips and a pickle, and then wash it down with a couple swallows of Coke.  I am hoping that the little bit of Coke will turn my stomach around.

Mile 39.8    1:31:10 (21:42 avg./mile) Bud Valley, 117^th place

Initially, the Coke gives me a little pep in my step, and somehow I manage to pass a few runners on this section according to the website.  However, my stomach continues to go in the wrong direction.  At some point on this section Marie catches back up to me.  I tell her that I haven’t seen John since mile 29, and she says he is a very strong runner that under estimates his ability.  Marie leaves me behind before too long.  I walk most of the half mile road section leading into this aid station, even though I should have been running the majority of it.  About 30 minutes before the aid station, I consume my fourth salt tablet.  In my younger running career I would consume these things every hour in hot weather, but now I only take one every couple of hours as more often than that will give me heartburn.  My pace has definitely slowed down, but I guess I am slowing down with everyone else.  At the aid station, Peter is ready for me with a chair, bagel, and bottle of water.  I sit down and choke down half of the bagel while drinking over a pint of water.  Meanwhile, a guy about 10 yards to my right is puking his guts out into the weeds.  He has several full-throated heaves with all of the sound effects while I sit here with a queasy stomach trying to consume a few calories.  I trade out my Camelbak and decide to continue down the course, hoping my stomach will get better at some point.

Mile 46.2    2:13:24 (20:51 avg./mile) Glenbrook, 117^th place

I keep pressing forward while trying not to push my pace much at all because of my upset stomach.  I haven’t thrown up myself, but I know the edge is just in front of me if I push the pace at this point.  Somehow, Marie ends up behind me again.  I think she took longer at the last aid station than I did.  This section has a decent early climb that several people catch up to me.  There are about half a dozen of us struggling along, but then here comes Bill Sergison from Virginia.  He has a VHTRC hat on so I strike up a conversation.  He knows some of the older runners in the club that I know very well.  Of course, he leaves me behind as we finish the climb.  When I make it into the aid station, John is sitting there with his shoes off.  I ask him how he is doing, and he says he is struggling.  Well, I guess I am struggling too, but I might be better off than John?  I am still surprised to see him as I didn’t expect to again.  Peter is all prepared with a nice grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  I choke about half of it down while drinking more water.  I yell over at John that it is about time to go.  He doesn’t look like he is getting ready, but his pacer (his daughter) is tending to his feet.  I trade out my Camelbak and tell Peter to stuff my good headlamp into the main pocket.  It will be a couple more hours until I need it, and I will dig it out at that time.  When I leave the aid station, John is still sitting there with his shoes off.

Mile 50.6    1:57:00 (26:35 avg./mile) Lake David, 118^th place

I passed six runners while I was in the Glenbrook aid station as I was 111^th place when I left.  I make my way through a half mile of a wooded section, and as the course emerges from the woods onto a dirt road, John and his daughter catch up to me.  It is good to see him, but I am trying to figure out how he got his shoes on so quickly and then caught up to me.  I stay with John and his daughter Lindsey for the road section, and even some of the next wooded trail section.  Eventually, I can no longer stay with them as they walk away from me.  As they are pulling away from me, I take my fifth salt tablet of the race.  I feel like I am still doing okay, and when two other runners come by me, I ask if they think we are close to the next aid station.  Their response is yes, we just have to continue down this current downhill and then up a hill.  All goes well until I reach the hill.  It is steep and long enough to just about kill me.  I stop about two-thirds the way up to sit down on a log and try not to die.  Then when I get to the top of the hill it is still another quarter of a mile around Lake David to the aid station.  Somewhere up the climb, I make the decision that it is best that I DNF (i.e., do nothing fatal or a.k.a., do not finish).

119 out of the 169 starters finish under the 20-hour cut-off.

James finishes in 12th place!

Basically, only two runners that arrived at Lake David after me end up finishing.  I sit at the aid station sipping some ginger ale for about 20 minutes before I decide to make it official.  The aid station worker has to send a message to the next aid station so they can tell Peter to come get me.  I enjoy the evening sitting in the chair and chatting with other runners coming and going.  There is another runner dropping at the same time I am.  His name is JT, and he says he has no balance left.  He fell and broke one of his hiking poles on the last
section.

When Peter arrives at the aid station, I am thrilled to see that he has James with him.  After I left mile 46, Peter drove to the finish line and was able to see James finish and get his picture.  We drive back to the house, and I manage to take a shower before lying down for the night.  I sleep decently and in the morning, I am able to eat some.  My next race (which is also James’ next race) is The Stump Jump 50k in Chattanooga on October 1.  Until then…

Never stop running,

Darin

Last at the Lake - Last Man (or Woman) Standing 2022

July 23

It is the latter half of July, and I am in LaGrange, Georgia to run an ultra.  Unsurprisingly, the temperature is warm and the air is thick with humidity.  For weather aficionados, the temperature at the start is 75 degrees, and the dew point is 73 degrees.  It is supposed to warm up to 90 or so, but for the first couple of hours, it is supposed to stay overcast thus limiting the temperatures for the morning.  What am I thinking?  Well, this is a little different race.  This race is a race with no definitive ending; the race continues until all but one runner has called it quits.  The rules are simple:  we run a 5k loop each hour.  The loop must be completed within the hour so that at the top of the next hour, all remaining runners start the next 5k loop.  Under ideal conditions, I can run a 5k in a little over 20 minutes or so.  But, for this event, speed is not the goal; avoiding attrition is the goal.  My goal is to walk as much of the first few loops as I can stand.  There are 13 of us in the Last Man Standing event, but we start with the 17 runners attempting the 50k.

Lap 1:        54:06

The race director says go, and all of the 50k runners and about half of us last runners start running.  James and I and a few other last runners start walking.  The first couple hundred yards is a flat, wide grassy road and could be easily run.  However, we want to find out how slow we can go.  After the grassy road, there is about a mile of single-track trail before a road crossing and then another section of single-track trail to the halfway point.  Then we loop around on a road section before rejoining the first mile section of single-track trail.  James and I jog the road section, but walked all of the trail section on this first lap.  Before getting all the way back to the grassy road section, the course makes a hard left turn that takes us up a hill, through a parking lot, around the corner on a road and back to the start/finish pavilion.  This time might be a little slower than I wanted, but we definitely didn’t go out too fast.  I sit down in my bag chair, pour myself a cup of water, and fill up my handheld bottle.  I decide not to eat anything this first lap.  Before getting up to walk down the steps to the starting line for the second loop, I take my shirt off.  It feels almost cool when I do as it is still overcast.

Lap 2:        52:21

The start of lap number two has still 13 of us ready to go.  The race director says go, and we start off.  For this lap there are more walkers with me and James.  There is the guy in the yellow shirt and the older guy in a gray shirt.  There is also the lady in the jean tights that is in the vicinity.  We continue to walk the first half under the paved road that marks the halfway point of the loop.  We learn along the way that the guy in the yellow shirt is a scout in the Army.  He mentions that he will have to call his unit if he is still in the race when we get to Sunday evening.  He doesn’t look like he is quite that fit, but I have learned not to judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to ultramarathon runners.  We made a little better time on this loop by running sooner over the last quarter of a mile on pavement.  I sit down, refill my water bottle, pour a cup of water, and eat a couple of small blueberry muffins.  I also drink a little bit of chocolate milk.

Lap 3:        51:58

We start lap number three with 13 runners again.  The number of walkers with us stays about the same at five or so.  The other half of the runners look like they are running easy, but they are definitely running more than us.  A few of our fellow walkers have already talked so much that James and I look forward to the paved road portion when we will run a little and get ahead of the rest of the walkers.  I have my split times marked in my mind already.  It is 25 minutes to the halfway point.  Enter back on the single-track trail at 30 minutes.  Emerge from the woods after the sharp left-hand turn at 45 minutes.  We stroll into the finish feeling good, but the clouds are leaving us, and it is warming up quickly now.  I stick with my routine of refilling my water bottle, pouring a cup of water, and putting an ice towel around the back of my neck.  I have decided I will try to only eat every other lap so that I don’t eat too much.

Lap 4:        48:56

Thirteen runners begin the fourth lap.  James is calling that the start of lap five will see the first runner drop.  I think it will be lap six before we see our first runner drop.  We are starting to trot a little on the downhill portions of the single-track trail.  And, when James and I enter the trail again after the road portion, he is in the lead and is walking and shuffling quickly.  I note this to James at one point, but he doesn’t slow down until we emerge from the trail after the hard left-hand turn.  We reach this point in less than 42 minutes, so James says, “well we can just walk through the parking lot.”  So we do, managing to coast into the finish area not as quickly as we would have otherwise.  Halfway through this loop, I consume my first salt tablet.  It stirs my hunger so I am ready to eat when we get to the finish.  I refill my bottle, pour a cup of water, and then make a PB&J sandwich.  I thought I would just eat half of a sandwich, but without thinking about it, I made a whole sandwich.  So, then I think, I will just eat half of it.  As I am about three-quarters of the way through the sandwich, I realize this and decide to eat the whole thing because it tastes pretty good.

Lap 5:        50:31

Surprisingly to James, all 13 runners line up for the start of the fifth lap—well sort of.  One runner is hurrying down the steps as the race director is counting down the last few seconds before the top of the hour.  For this lap, James concedes that it might be better for me to lead and set the pace.  When we hit halfway right at 25 minutes, he says that I am the pace master.  We emerge from the woods at 44 minutes and then shuffle into the finish line six minutes later.  I refill my bottle, pour a cup of water, and relax with an ice towel around my neck. 

Lap 6:        49:25

All 13 runners are lined up and ready to go this time.  James and I continue our very conservative pace by walking most of the trail sections.  On this lap, we notice that one of the older runners is looking rather haggard.  James and I both figure that he can’t last too many more laps.  We pass him, along with a few other runners, after the halfway point as we are running the road.  The heat of the day is now upon us, and it is critical that we maintain an even pace so that we don’t get too hot.  At the aid station, I drink another cup of water, refill my water bottle, and then grab a hot dog from the aid station.  They had them out last lap, but I decided to stick to my plan and only eat substantial food after the even laps.

Lap 7:        50:09

The older gentlemen that looked poor last lap is right with us for the first half of this lap.  James is wearing a blue and yellow cap, and the guy asks if that is for Ukraine.  Apparently, the guy is Ukrainian, but he lives in Marietta, Georgia.  He seems to be doing well despite the fact that he is bent over quite a bit.  I continue to set a steady pace so James is mostly content to let me lead the way.

Lap 8:        49:07

This lap finally finds the first drop.  The rest of us line up and head out for our 8^th lap.  The interesting thing is that James and I were both off by several laps on our prediction for the first drop.  It seems like everyone is ready for the challenge, but there are definitely signs that some runners are starting to hurt a little.  One Army guy, who has been running out of the gate, decides to walk with us for the start of this lap.  We learn that he ran a 50k about 10 years ago and decided to train for this race to lose some weight and get back into shape.  His patience doesn’t last long as about 10 minutes into the lap he starts running on the trail and leaves us behind.  We continue our consistent pace with me leading most of the way.  I follow my usual routine of drinking water and refilling my water bottle.  I probably should have made myself another PB&J, but instead, I eat a small blueberry muffin and four chocolate chip cookies.

Lap 9:        48:24

Another runner drops out, so we are down to 11 now.  The rest is rather monotonous at this point.  I lead a pack of walkers that includes me and James and only one or two others.  The Army guy that annoyed us early on has dropped out and the rest of the runners are not annoying.  I am a little quicker on this lap, but still about where we want to be.  I pour myself a cup of water, refill my water bottle, and proceed with eating potato chips.

Lap 10:      50:54

Two more runners drop out, and the field is now down to nine.  I am able to scale back the pace a little to keep us from going too fast at this point.  I continue to set the pace for me and James, and I think we have it dialed in pretty well.  The decrease in the field of runners is interesting.  We waited all that time for the first runner to drop and now they are dropping steadily.  It seems weird to me as this lap feels the same as the last few.  I am on autopilot, and I think James is as well.  The one difference this lap is that I consume my second salt tablet.  This only my second of the race, and I probably should have taken my second one sooner.  We stroll into the aid station, sit down, pour a cup of water, refill the water bottle, and then I go to the aid station to see if they have any more hot dogs.  They do, so I fix one with some mustard and suck it down before I get back to sit down for a few minutes before it is time to get up, walk down the steps, and start the next lap.

Lap 11:      49:55

Another runner bites the dust, I mean drops out, and we are only eight runners left.  About this time, we learn that the winner of the 50k finished in 6:23.  Both James and I have the same thought:  we could have run the 50k that quickly!  Actually, James could have run it a lot faster than that, and I probably could have gone a little faster.  The pace is dialed in and on autopilot, so the routine continues.  Jog into the aid station, sit down, pour a cup of water, refill the water bottle, drape the ice towel over the back of my neck (I did this every lap, even if I didn’t mention it every time), and then decide what (if anything) I want to eat.  For this lap, I take in another blueberry muffin and some potato chips.

Lap 12:      50:45

The runners are falling steady now as two more toss in the towel to put us at six.  One of the six stays with me the whole lap.  This is his first ultra-event, and he is well pleased with his effort.  However, he tells me this will be his last lap.  James is pushing ahead a little, but is running with the lady in the orange shorts.  It is nice relating to this new ultra-runner some of my experiences.  I hope he finds them interesting and maybe even motivating.  I stay on my set pace, but James is getting a little quick.  As I approach the halfway mark for this loop, I see James on the road heading back, several minutes ahead of me.  I yell at him to tell him that he is going too fast.  I stay with the other runner on my set pace assuming that I won’t see James until the aid station, but then just before the hard left turn there is James.  He says he didn’t realize he was going so fast until I yelled at him, so then he slowed way down.

Lap 13:      51:28

We are down to just five runners—me, James, Andrew, the lady in orange shorts, and John.  It is now twilight, but not dark yet, so we press on without headlamps.  I consume another salt tablet to make it three so far in the race.  Too many salt tablets will give me heartburn, but so far that is not a problem.  With the longer shadows, I think my perfect pace slowed slightly.  Regardless, the pace is still solid, and we jog into the aid station having hit our marks within a minute on each one.  I pour another cup of water, refill my water bottle, and then contemplate what I should eat.  At this point, I should probably eat something, but I am not sure what.  So, I grab some chips and eat a couple of cookies.

Lap 14:      52:08

Night is now upon us, and all of us have our headlamps ready for this 14^th lap.  There are still five of us for this lap, but John is indicating that this might be his last lap.  The lady with the orange shorts apparently didn’t hear this, but I will talk about this more next lap.  With the darkness, I let James take the lead on the trail portion.  He is walking very quickly, but I am figuring that we need to pick up the effort in order to maintain the same pace in the darkness.  We hit halfway in 26 minutes, which tells me we aren’t going too fast and need to maintain our effort.  I stick with James through this lap, and we make it into the aid station in good shape, albeit a minute or two slower than we have been averaging.  James’ dad is now keeping the generator running all of the time to keep the lights on for the pop-up tent.  I pour a cup of water, refill my water bottle, and eat another muffin and some potato chips.

Lap 15:      52:38

John decides to call it quits after 14 laps, so there are only four of us that start lap 15.  The lady in the orange shorts is very disappointed that John is quitting.  She says something about him running one more with her and then they can both drop out tied for 4^th place.  Well, that isn’t going to happen, and I tell her that she can have 4^th place all to herself.  At the same time I am telling her this, I am thinking that tied for 3^rd with her wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.  I mean how many more of these laps do I care to do given it has been a long, hot day?  James and the lady press on ahead of me at the start of the trail section.  It isn’t that they are running; it is just that I am not walking as fast as they are.  After a few minutes of deciding how motivated I really want to be, I decide that I want to definitely finish this last lap in less than 60 minutes, so I start running.  I quickly pass the lady, but never catch up with James.  When I get to the parking lot, I run hard enough while trying to see if the lady is going to put any push in to try to catch me.  She doesn’t, so I am able to finish this 15^th lap jogging comfortably into the aid station.

3^rd out of 13 starters

This was an interesting race format, and one that I had not done before.  Now that I have done it, I am not sure I need to do it again.  I wasn’t trying to see how far I could go, and I wasn’t really out to win it.  And, I think this would be true if I did a race like this in the future.

I am slightly nauseous when I am done running.  James’ dad helps me pack up my stuff in my car, and then I drive back to my hotel room for a quick shower and a long night’s sleep.  I now have four weeks until the Twisted Branch 100k on August 20^th.  James ended up running 18 laps, and he will be joining me for the Twisted Branch race.  This will be another new race for me, and it is in the finger lake area of New York.  Until then…

Never stop running,

Darin