Lynch's Woods 50K Ultra

Lynch's Woods 50K (31.5 miles) Ultra
Newberry, SC
Finish Time: 7 hours 53 minutes
Place - Who cares. It was my first.

6:30 AM - The RD, Terri Hayes, checked me in. Great to finally meet her, and I can see why so many people have a lot of respect for Terri.
She was running that day, pacing a young girl who had bone cancer. One of the girl's life goals was to complete an ultra - Terri was going to
make sure that happened. And it did. Way to go Angela!

Standing in line for the toilet (a fancy out-house really) I ran into a guy that I hadn't seen in about 15 years, a guy I had served with in the National Guard. Mike, if you're out there reading this, greating seeing/running with you again and "Hoooo-Ahhhh!"

The course consisted of a dirt road loop around Lynch's Woods, and then 4 loops of ~6.8 miles of single track inside the loop. Terri's races are
so awesome. Don't want to go in the same direction for each loop? No problem, go in the reverse direction if you want. The trail was well marked
and I only "almost" took a wrong turn once.

7:30 AM - Go time. We started out by running a moderately hilly dirt road loop ~4.3 miles. It looked and felt like a big group run, rather than a race, which made the atmosphere relaxed and fun. I recall one guy yelling "Run like you stole something!" and ensuing laughter from the group. Along the dirt road loop I met and fell into conversation with Aaron, Cheri, and Mike (among others) - laughing and cracking jokes to get things warmed up.

The dirt road loop brought us back to the start and site of the main aid station. Each inner loop would come back to this station where runners would check in with Mr. Clipboard (or Senor Clipboard as Aaron named him). Senor Clipboard, as it tuned out (and with my being a native of the town) was the father of a high school friend of mine. He and I chatted at the finish for a bit - he had recognized my last name...it's a small town.

The aid station was laid out like a Thanksgiving buffet. PB&J on sub rolls, chocholate covered pretzels, gum drops, potato chips, Cheeze-It's, boiled potatoes and kosher salt, coffee cake squares, cool crisp grapes, watermelon, regular pretzels, S! Caps, tums, Ultra-Fuel, Powerade, water, mini cliff bars, etc, etc, etc. The variety would later haunt me but after the dirt road loop, I just took in some Powerade and a few grapes, and headed off with Mike and Aaron.

The first inner loop was a blast - Mike and I tossing around funny stories from our Army days, Aaron's quick wit and fast humor, and hearing "hoots" and "whoops" through the woods from excited runners. First loop down, and we had arrived back at the aid station. Being a little hungry now, the Thanksgiving spread was calling my name. I started out with just a little PB&J, but before I knew it, I was shoving in a little coffee cake, and few grapes, potato chips, Cheeze-It's, pretzels, 20 oz of Powerade, okay, one more PB&J square, and a cookie. I took my time, chewed my food, refilled my Camelbak with water, and the 3 of us headed back out again. Within a 1/2 mile, the side cramps started. I pushed through the side stiches until I started feeling a little, well, nauseous.

Okay - so, new strategy: don't eat so damn much and limit your time at the aid station. I had to walk for several miles until my stomach settled, which was a big time killer. The times at the aid station didn't help me against the clock either. This could have been a disaster - with a full stomach, I hydration would be slower and if I lost my "cookies," I'd be way behind in hydration and fuel in what would eventually become a 90 degree day. So, the 2nd loop was slow. Really slow. But Aaron and Mike stuck it out right there with me.

Back at the aid station after the 2nd loop, I ignored the smorgasbord of everything imaginable, took and S! Cap, topped off my camelbak, and filled a hand held with Ultra-Fuel, did just a little stretching, changed socks, and off we went. After a few miles into the 3rd loop, I started to feel fatige set in but my spirits were high. It was getting pretty hot at this point and I had to walk more of the inclines than before to control HR. And then...

"Man Down!" Mike was the first to go, tripping on a rock or a root down a decline. Being about 6'4", when he trips, you know it. But I have to hand it to him, he did a perfect airborne landing, collapsing on all 4 points of contact followed by a shoulder roll and sprang back up. Aside from a dirty spot on his shoulder and back, he emerged unscathed. Not long after that, Mike started to fall back more and more and he encouraged us to go on. Eventually, Aaron, being a stronger runner but also running low on fluid, needed to leave me as well to make sure he minimized time in the heat to refuel.

As I finished the 3rd loop and headed back to the aid station, Aaron was heading in to start his 4th and final. A quick "high five" in passing, an exchange of "go get 'em" and he was off. Having learned from aid station stop #2, I took in only a couple grapes, some Powerade, a few some pretzels, grabbed another S! Cap, refilled my camelbak, and drank some coke. My blood sugar had dipped pretty low at this point so I put the Coke in my hand held so I could "sip it."

4th and final loop - My blood sugar started to come back after a couple miles, I had no idea how far I had gone or how much was left. My Garmin, which was fully charged at the start, had run out. In the first mile of the final loop, a runner passed me on a down hill and I started to feel defeated. The heat, tired, feet hurting from the terrain, shoulders sore from the camelbak, and all I could of was "this is going to be a long ass loop." And so they had arrived, those demons that find you late in a race or deep into a tough run. The one's that tell you you're tired and and that you should just take a little rest, or stop, or quit. Low blood sugar, heat, miles, and hills summon them - but as Aaron and I had discussed before, we knew they would come. And then I saw the runner who had passed me, a lady in bright pink, she had turned the corner on the trail where the two passes run parallel to each other. So I reached down deep and started to jog again. The Coke started to filter into my blood stream, or the pretzels, or the grapes, and just like that, I slayed the demons and chased the pink rabbit. I caught her at the mini-aid station somewhere around mile 2 or 3 on the loop. She had stopped to get water and by the time I had srrived she was heading off again. I slammed 8 oz of ice cold, but severly diluted, powerade and got right back to it. She was running from me, I knew it as she would turn to look back down the trail on the hills. At one point, she looked back and I waved with a big smile. I heard her laugh and she took off again. I eventually caught her again and we ran/walked the rest of the loop together. In the process, I had passed 3 others on the final leg and even in a state of exhaustion, pain, fatige, and dehydration, those people were encouraging and optimistic - saying "Looking good" - "go get 'em" - "you're not far now!" - "Hang tough" - "finish strong!"

I really didn't care what my finish time was but I did want to run a strong race. I think I did. I made a few mistakes on fueling and eating, I wasted too much time at the main aid station, but I kept going. During the 4th loop, I recalled someone telling me to make a list of the things that would keep me from finishing an ultra. Among those items were "bone sticking through skin, being chased by zombies, tornado, freak catastrophic metor shower." And if those items on the list hadn't occured ...then keep going.

And I did.

I'm already looking for my next Ultra. The Ultra commnity are the finest people I've ever met. I'm proud to be among their fold. Hope to see you all at an ultra soon.