Midnight Madness 50 Miler (OUCH!)

Well, I have had some time to think back about my race last weekend. I had fun. I finished. My time was a little slower than I thought, but I finished. My back has been out of whack ever since, but I finished. My feet sustained the worst blisters I have ever had, but I finished. Nuff said.

But you know me....I am long winded and fancy myself as a storyteller and photographer--very amateurish, I might add. The Midnight Madness was the brainchildof Brian and Kathy Hoover from Runners- World, the BEST running store in Tulsa. Brian really promoted this race, not knowing if we would have even 30 runners. He encouraged anyone who had ran a marathon and wondered if they could go farther to "Kick it up a Notch". There were LOTS of runners entered in this 51.5 mile race who had never run a step beyond 26.2, and some who had not even done that. But hey, it was around the Arkansas River on nice flat paved bike trails--how hard could that be?? (In July? In the heat and humidity? Plenty hard, if you ask me!)
180 runners signed up for this race in it's inaugural year, and I am sure it will be an even that will grow.Good friends running, good friends helping at the aid stations, good friends cooking great food, good friends timing the race. How could I be anywhere else?Mitch gets his instructions for the night. He helped for hours with the timing, went home just before daybreak, and then came back out to work some more.Caroline is prepared to run her 2nd 50 miler. Susan, in the salmon top, ran the whole way with Caroline, and also recorded her second 50 mile finish. The lanky dude on the left who resembles a pale Kenyon, is Glen, who was trying his first 50 miler this night. His big sister Cassy to his left, was his pacer in the later miles. Suffice to say that Glen aced his first 50 mile test.The awesome yellow tech shirt I had on was furnished by my friend Ken aka K2. I think he could have marketed them, as a lot of participants were fascinated by them.Charis ran all the long night training runs with us, and was pumped to get the race underway. She also gets an A for her great finish.Lyle also ran several of our runs to NSU with us, and he ran the entire way with Charis. Kind of like having a pacer for the whole distance! Great job, my friends!
My ace-up-my-sleeve was my crew babe Dana, who stayed up all night and well into the next day tending to my needs. In fact, I rarely even needed the aid stations. It almost seems like cheating. Love ya Babe!!!! Thanks to Susan Westmoreland for taking this pic.
Janet is all smiles before the run. And every time I saw her after that on the out-and-backs, she was still smiling. This was her first 50 miler, and first ultra. She took 2nd in her age group.Roman prepares to drink wasp extract. Vespa. I actually think this is a good race strategy, and have used Vespa at times with good results. I would love to get a hookup with Vespa as a sponsor. HINT HINT!
Roman finished his 3rd 50 miler in less than 9 months. Roman fought blister isues--a common theme in this race, and really gritted out a finish. Just the thing it takes to finish a 100, which is in Roman's very near future at Lean Horse.
I don't have a lot of pictures during the race, as I left my camera with Dana. Figured it would have been sweaty and even thought it is waterproof, a sweaty camera takes foggy pix. Dana took this picture of David Wood, one of the OTRA guys who along with Brett Sholar and a few other friends, manned the other major aid station on Turkey Mountain. Many many thanks, guys!!!

Just before midnight, Brian made a few announcements. He had our attention, as well as the attention of the media.

And then at the stroke of midnight, we were off.I really felt like everyone was going out too fast. I usually think that--like in every race!! Maybe, just maybe, it's just that I am slow. Ya think? I ran the first lap at a steady pace, even a little spirited at times. I was still near the back of the pack, but maintained a 11 minute mile pace, and finished my first 10.3 mile loop in just under 2 hours. I knew I probably would slow down a little on the second lap, and I was very correct in that assumption. My next lap was in 2:35, some 35 minutes slower. That's a good 3:30 per mile slower for you non-math majors. I was in trouble. Considering it was likely that I might slow even more as the race wore on, not only was my lofty sub 10 hour goal out the window, but the possible PR, the sub 12, and even a finish within the 14 hour time limit was in question.

But, I had arranged pacers for the last 3 laps, as was allowed--and what a difference they made!!!Great friends Arena and Tom paced me on the 3rd and 4th laps. When I left out on lap 3 with Arena, I thought I would have to walk a lot as I did during lap 2. But in less than 100 yards, I initiated a shuffle that turned into a jog. Arena and I settled in on about a 13 minute per mile average for 6.5miles, and then picked it up after the Turkey Mountain aid station. From there, it was a mile long downhill, and then a flat 3 miles to the start finish. We managed to pick off a few runners along the way, and I was very pleased that we got in under the 2:35 mile time that I spent on lap 2. Then, Tom took over. We headed back the opposite direction, heading back to 71st Street, and up the mile long hill to Turkey Mountain. Tom and I run together a lot during the week, and we always push each other. He did a lot more pushing from miles 31-41 as he had much fresher legs, but the last mile of his loop was out Tuesday/Thursday race track, and we caught a lot of people. Another loop under 2:30. I did stop and sit down and ate a bit of breakfast casserole made by Sandra!
OMG, it was so delicious!!! Sandra had made 6 or 7 pans of all different kinds of breakfast casseroles, and the one I had was heavenly!!I know I should have never posted this picture. It is one of a slobbering old man who smells bad and chews with his mouth open. But it brings back such fond memories of this food, which actually gave me an out-of-body experience.(Or possibly a too-much-in-my-body experience?)

Well after I got through grazing, Tom passed me off to my nephew Jeff. Jeff and I took off, and after we crossed the pedestrian bridge, and headed south, the rain set in and rained hard off and on for the rest of the race. We fought a fairly stiff headwind and stinging rain, and yet still caught a few people on the way back to the Turkey aid station. There, I hooked up with my crew babe, and laid down on the concrete and stretched my back. My feet were hurting, and what were once hot spots were now full blown blisters on the arches of my feet. I never blister there. I had the usual pinky toe blisters that I usually deal with, and blisters on both heels that felt like bruises. But, running/jogging/shuffling felt way better than walking, and it got us to the finish quicker--a good thing. We headed out to knock the final 4.5 miles out, and once we were running downhill, we passed about 4 more runners. One runner--Bill (I don't know his last name) passed me back, and used this to burst of energy to sprint to the finish. But all the other people we passed we kept at bay. (I am not at all competitive, but I was glad to not be DFL, but in the mid-to-back-closer-to-back-of-the-pack.) I finished in 12:35. And I am very happy with that. Just think, if I could go out and do it again, I might flirt with a 25 hour 100 mile time--that's good any day for me. Makes me think I might have another 100 in me.

More thanks are due. Earl stayed the whole race, and even helped pack everything up.Earl made the timing a lot less work by his hours of volunteering.

Jason and Lisa had intended to work maybe 6-8 hours, but instead stayed all night and clear until the race was over at 2:00. They manned the start/finish area, and were worth their weight in sac-so-soft.

Kristin and Susan helped serve breakfast, and cooked all sorts of breakfast goodies. They had help from Laurie and Derek, the other Laurie, and I am sure I am forgetting about someone else. Please send me a comment or email and I want to heap praise on all who helped.


You all know I love blister pix. I had some doozies. Today--Tuesday night, they are a lot better, but I am still limping around--but I am itching to get out to run.

My blisters were nothing compared to my friend Kirk's. He fought a nasty blister for much of the race, and ended up finishing his first 50 miler.He fought disorientation, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, and with the help of great pacers, he kept at it and got his finish. Congrats.
My friend Ken aka K2 also finished strong, and that rascal had NO BLISTERS!! What a freak!
Finally, I think this will become a pretty significant race in the ultra world. There are not as many 50 milers as there are 50Ks, especially in this area. This one IS a good PR course if you don't mind some pavement. It's definitely one to put on your list.

in 24 hours....

In 24 hours from now, I'll hopefully be close to finishing the first lap of the Midnight Madness 50 Mile Race. I am under-trained but well rested....and I need to get some shut-eye. Wish ms luck, and if you're running at the river Saturday morning, slap me a high five. I hope to be through by 10:00 but as late as 12:00 noon is not out of the question.

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

Barkley Book Fair 2010

Last Saturday night was the fifth running of the Barkley Book Fair. This race is fashioned after the Barkley Marathon, a race in Tennessee which is actually much more than a mere marathon--100 miles with over 52,000 feet of elevation change--6 miles of climbing?!?!? Well, my little event has some nice vertical sections, but probably has only 1,200 feet of elevation change at most.
12 runners toed the line for the day run. The early version of the BBF took off just after 7:00 pm. There were a quite a few first-timers in this event, including Arena, Kirk, Ben, Cory, and a couple of others whose names I will insert later when I find my book of entries that was misplaced when we were picking things up.
Five books were placed on the day course over the 4.5 miles. Some of the titles were Dead Mans' Walk, Journey to Forever, Dead I well May Be, Vertical Run. Four book titles you may ask?? Well, there were five books on the course but not one runner found all five. My first thought was that one of the books had been swiped, but at least one page was torn form all five of the books. So, there were no official finishers. Nikki, Cory, Ben, and runner 4028 came across the line first with pages from four of the five, so they were the unnofficial winners.

The night run has to start--well, at night. So, with the day runners finishing by 8:30, we had some time to kill between the races.So, we hung out and caught up on all the running stuff.Tom, RockStar, and Kate rehydrate after a sweatfest of a run.

Brian spends his time between the races deciding whether or not he is gonna do the night run. He decided he was under-hydrated and spent the next few hours addressing that problem.

Kirk took a spill and got his pretty new MM50 race shirt dirty. Kirk debated the to-run-or-not-to-run dilemma for the night run, and finally decided to go for it.
Who says trail running is not a spectator sport? We had more fans for the day race than we had runners.

Finally, the daylight began to wane, and I made the announcements, passed out maps and directions, and sang the Star Spangled Banner. (J/K about the singing, although next year.....) I did pass out spiderweb sticks for the fast runners and for those who thought they might get lost.19 runners went out on the night run in search of 13 books. I would have liked to have ran with them, but felt the need to get to the bluffs to help with a dangerous ascent up the face. Last year, I heard that a particular runner felt the night run bad become too easy, since it was so well marked. This year, there were very few course markings, and I supplied maps and written course directions (in ridiculously small font.) This years course got ugly in a hurry, with 1 quarter mile of creek scrambling over slick boulders and briers to get to book one (Journey Into Danger.) Half a mile into the race, the runners had to use rope to climb up a steep bank into a weedy field and then into a jungle-like area to a newly barley cut trail to a tree that had been split by lightening where book two (Trail of Blood) was placed. Then, after a quarter mile of mosquito and tick infested thicket, the runners were treated to 150 yards of paved trail before heading up the steepest of the climbs for the night. From the lowest point on Turkey Mountain to the highest--a climb of 300+ feet in .15 of a mile. Along the way, book 3 was waiting (Dead Runner.)

Then, the whipped souls got a half mile of easy dirt trail straight north on the Ridge Trail. About half way down this well traveled trail, they took a right turn down a long bunch of switchbacks. Down down, to the very bottom, collecting book 4 (The Worst Way To Die) just before the steepest decline. I had asked before the race started if anyone had ever run track. There were a few hands raised. Good, I told them, because there was gonna be some track to run tonight--railroad track. They took the tracks, which ran right along the base of a long series of high bluffs, north about a half mile. There is a small cave along the way that if you know where to look, can be seen from the RR tracks. I had placed book 5 (Glimpse Into Terror) in the cave beside a Tiki candle. Then, the runners had to go back south about 1/4 mile, and enter a narrow inlet into a wall of vines which led right up to a series of caves. I was waiting for them here, along with a good friend Glen. In the first cave, book 6 (On the Edge) was placed, which involved scrambling up an incline and dealing with a lot of spider webs.From there, they inched around some huge boulders to another small cave, and then climbed a series of makeshift ladders to a ledge where Glen and I were waiting to assist anyone who was nervous about the next climb.Kathy was the first through this section. She was up the ladder and scaled the next ledge and was off like a shot.Cory was not far behind her.
Chris gets ready to make the necessary jump to get his footing for the steep climb.And Chris' buddy, also named Chris (I think) makes the ascent as well.
Glen and I waited for the next group of runners, and as we waited, I got a call that Kirk had sprained an ankle but was hobbling back in to the starting line. Barkley claimed it's first victim of the night. Turns out it was a minor thing, and after icing it and putting peppermint oil?? on it, he feels as good as new.
The Hauge family was the next group, and Bob decided to stay on the ledge with Glen and I to recollect his energy. There was only one more group--the OKC boys, and we waited a while for them and finally saw them pass below us on the way to the first cave. We decided that Bob and I would go on and he would finish the run, while Glen waited to help the OKC gang with the cliff scaling. So, Bob and I were off and up. We collected the next book (Cliffhanger) from the Time Portal cave above (where I got my hand caught last month) and then popped out onto the Yellow Trail (Ho-Chi) and headed north. We reached the Sitting Rock, and crossed over to the west side, and went down down down all the way to Mooser Creek where a book was placed in the sink hole. (Darker Than Night) Bob was at a major advantage from this point on, because I had placed the books--no danger of missing one, or getting lost. Looking back, I should have deliberately got lost. Then we climbed back out of Mooser Creek, and and picked up book 9 (In The Deep Woods) in another small cave that someone was camping in not too long ago. Then, we went back down Then it was over to Pepsi Pond, and then made a hairpin turn and crossed over Mooser Creek on the concrete bridge where I had 2 cooler stashed. I guess most of the runners did not make it to this cache, because very little of the drinks were gone. From there, we crossed another dry creek bed and climbed a steep bank and hill over to the bicycle graveyard, an area where years ago some of the BMX guys had built some ramps and bridges that looked like Dr Suess contraptions to ride over. Most of these wooded structures have rotted out and fallen, and you get the idea you might see some bones laying around. I had another short out-and-back to Mooser Creek to get book 10 (The Turnaround) appropriately placed.
Well, at this point, we were 2 solid miles away, and while the trails back are good trails, and most of them were ones that the runners seldom used, there were no killer climbs, no caves, bluffs, water crossings--it was just a put-your-head-down-and-run sort of trail--and dodge the spider webs.Each year, I try to pull some sort of trick on the runners, and this year, I had bought 3 IDENTICAL books, and placed them along this trail, and called them all book 11. My thoughts were that it might make them think for a second they were going in circles. (I actually did make one group run incircles last year.) I think it caused a couple of them to briefly wonder if they were lost, but I think mostly they thought I was weird. Book 12 was (Blood Run) and book 13 was (Journey Into Darkness.)

Scott Herbst and everyone who stayed with him made it back and found all the books. Scott is a master of orienteering and adventure racing. He used the printed directions and found all the books fairly easily. A few of the next bunch made it back and missed only a book or two. The Hauge family got off course, and found only 10 or so of the books. The OKC boys overshot the first cave and reportedly looked into a guard shack somewhere and saw a guy that they thought was dead?!?!?They got to the cliffs where Glen was waiting much much later, and eventually called me because they were lost and out of water (missed the water cache.) I ran out and met them and brought them water, and we all made it back. Bret, one of the OKC guys, did not want the directions, and actually scribbled through them. I think they enjoyed getting lost as much as they would have enjoyed finding all the books.

Curfew at Turkey Mountain is 11:00 PM, but we were still out there until 3:00 AM before we packed it up and headed home. Hanging around and visiting with running friends is one of the finer things in life.

Big-time thanks to Dana who single-handedly marked the day course (and also pulled the markings) and brought all of the water/Gatorade. Thanks to Brian who set up the Tatur tents and brought a lot of the food stuff. And also thanks to those who pitched in a few bucks to offset some of the cost. This race has no sponsors and no entry fee. Possibly in the coming years, there may be a fee to do it and maybe t-shirts or something. Next year, I am thinking something will be different for the BBF. I may move it to another location. I may let someone else take the reins and give it a go....any takers? It's a fun event, and I don't want to let it go, but there are not many more surprises on the mountain. Unless Eldridge comes up with something.

Saturday June 26th 6:30 PM at Turkey Mountain

It's only 3 more sleeps until the Barkley Book Fair. I have collected 15-20 books for your searching and reading pleasure. This year, people will get to see both sides of my SPL IT personality. The day run is a neatly groomed trail, one that you have fond dreams of....strolling along on a spring day with the birds singing, a babbling brook at your side, bright wispy coulds drifting by.You might stop to talk to a bunny, or eat your fill from the ample fruit trees along the way. Heaven, no doubt, has trails like these.

But the night run, is a darker more sinsiter side from the depths of my twisted and usually concealed mind. It is one that lures you in, and seems to be more exciting and adventurous, but quickly ensnares you and swallows you alive. Many have finished the night run yet were unable to recall the horror. It is not uncommon for their minds to develope a defense mechanism that blocks memories of the more evil sections of the trails so as not not to keep them awake at night for fear of ever finding themselves in such a predicament again.One person had such mental damage last year that she made a comment as to how easy the night course was! LIES! You must lie to yourself to yourself to help deal with the anguish of the journey. I am not satisfied with my construction of the night course until I know that it will drain you from all the sweat you have in your laboring bodies--leaving just enough for a few tears. Somewhere in the night, you will hear a voice crying--calling out: "Help me! I want my Mommy!!!" And that voice will be your own!

Ok, I'm the nice guy again now. I am almost through working out the logistics of the night course. I have spent house clipping out some of the torturous saw briars that draw more blood than OBI and the Red Cross combined.I have put up hand rails and almost have it all handicap accesible. (not really!) The day run will be a blast--it always is. The night run will be fun too, but hard. The night run will be sparcely marked, so stay in groups and make sure someone has a cell phone. Come out at 6:30-11:00 and join in on the fun.