Not sure where to start on this one, so apologies if I bounce around a little, the night was a blur! First, big thanks to my friends Adam and Tara who acted as my crew for the race, unfortunately my wife was out of town so Adam and Tara volunteered to sit through the night while I went for a little run. And they did an amazing job for being thrown into the world of late night ultramarathons, performing like seasoned pros! Every time I came around the loop to our makeshift aid station just past the start/finish line, they were extremely alert and catered to my needs/complaints in a timely manner, so I am extremely grateful for how they handled all the chaos a 50k can (and will) bring, especially one in the middle of the night in a Texas Summer.
This race was NOT on my radar, just for the record! I had signed up for the Big Cedar 50 mile race, which isn't util October 31, and after I hired a coach to help me train for that race he suggested I just dive headfirst into a 50k called El Scorcho here in Fort Worth. The furthest I've ran in the last 4 months was the Tangle 30k, so jumping straight to a 50k seemed a little crazy, but then again, so is signing up for a 50 miler. Nonetheless, I contacted the El Scorcho website and got put on a waitlist since they were sold out, but a week later was informed I had been 'selected' to partake in this wonderful event...in Summer...in Texas...in the middle of the night. So here we go.
We parked about a half mile from the start/finish area, but I was wise enough to bring a wagon for my ice chest and gear (well, it was my wife's idea...I'm the idiot running 31 miles at night, so wise isn't the word I would use to describe myself). My crew, however, failed to bring a wagon, so the 1/2 mi journey was quite the trek, but we made it eventually to a nice spot after the finish line and set up camp. My coach had instructed me to eat whole food and ditch the gels I'm accustomed to using on long runs, and to drink gatorade, lots of gatorade, like 30 oz per hour, so I had an ice chest packed to the brim with all kinds of crap like sandwiches, fruit cups, cookies, gatorade, water, Boost (it's like Ensure), gummi bears and of course beer for afterwards (although on my last lap I could've used one!). I started off lap 1 (its 10 laps of a 3.1 mile loop) with my Salomon hydration vest with a single flask of gatorade, about 17 ozs worth and the first lap flew by quite easily. I had to make myself slow down to about a 9:30 min/mi pace so that I wouldn't blow up later on....which may or may not have happened, keep reading. At my aid station, we'll call it "Camp Night Racer" or CNR, due to my online supporters who made signs at home and posted them to Facebook since they couldn't make the race (love you Bobby and Krishna!), I switched out my Gatorade flask for a water, grabbed some gummi bears and headed out. Still felt great, and made the second loop just as quickly as the first. Back at CNR for the start of lap 3, I decided to drop the vest and go with a handheld bottle, put on a hat with some ice in it and was off again. Lap 3 was still going pretty good, but I could tell my stomach might not like me drinking so much Gatorade along with the gummi bears. For the start of lap 4 I decided to grab a Boost and headed out of CNR on a fast walk so that I could finish the drink before I started to run again. I forgot to mention I have also been consuming 3 salt capsules every hour, along with the 30 ozs. Lap 4 was when I started to realize how hot it was going to be throughout the night, and that my stomach didn't like what was going on. I started lap 5 with a sandwich, watermelon, and some water, still able to run just fine...until I got back to CNR for what would end up being the longest next 16 miles of my life, and by far the hardest.
My crew could sense I wasn't feeling too great, and it took me a little longer to get back from that 5th loop. This is when the race gets a little foggy, but I will try to remember as much as I can! At CNR I decided to change my shoes and socks, being that the heat index was still close to 90 at 2 in the morning I was drenched from head to toe. I thought the change would do me some good to have dry feet for the rest of the race…this would totally blow up in my face as the insoles in my Altra Olympus started folding like an accordion underneath my feet, causing some major hot spots and foot pain. The only reason I never switched back to my other shoes (Altra Instinct 3) was because we had to move the timing chip from my laces and it took too long. I don’t remember, but I think I opened up a fruit cup and ate some fruit hoping the sugar would give me a boost…but all it did was make my stomach cramp even worse. With the stomach cramps came muscle cramps, and for the remainder of the race I battled the worse cramps of my life. It was like a vice grip on my quads and calves, making it impossible to run at a steady pace. This was going to make for a long night.
Laps 6 and 7 were a real low point for me, I can remember fighting back thoughts of quitting during each of those laps. I found myself repeating the mantra, ‘relentless forward progress’ in my head, as each painful step got me that much closer to the end of each loop. I also found myself thinking of people that aren’t physically capable of running a 50k and that I should be thankful that I am strong enough to put myself through the agony in order to achieve such a goal. It’s not fair for me to complain about muscle cramps while I have friends and family that, due to medical reasons or physical limitations, are not able to know what it’s like to finish a race like this. It’s a powerful thing to go through so much adversity on one given night and come through the other side knowing you had the mental strength to make it, even though your body is screaming at me to stop. I think that’s why we do it, to have such a great feeling of accomplishment knowing that you were tough enough to claw your way to the finish, even on nights (like this one) when stuff just isn’t going your way.
So there I was, back at CNR after lap 7, looking at my crews faces trying to think how in the world I was going to tell them I had to quit…all this work, all this time, I didn’t think my body was going to allow me to keep going. I was frustrated, and they could tell, so they each said that I should take my time and just keep going, that I would find a way to finish. I said I was done with that Gatorade and food bullshit, just feed me water, ice, and give me a gel. I also grabbed my ipod, and took off for lap 8, the lap I will call ‘redemption’.
I learned a few things during lap 8, first was that I had some resolve deep inside that was going to make me finish this damn race. They were gonna have to pick me up off the ground before I quit. I knew I was a determined individual, but I didn’t know how far it went until that 8th lap. The second thing I learned was that I may be a water and gel kinda guy. By now I had shed my headlamp and hat, and was running with just one handeld bottle of water, and one gel in my pocket. No more Gatorade or food, and no salt tablets, I was done with all that. Something told me that my sodium balance was off, and that was making my stomach feel bloated and cramped, and as soon as I just started drinking water (and less of it) I started to feel better. I found myself running again! And running at a pretty decent pace too, the only problem is that once muscle cramps set in, they don’t go away, so as soon as they would come back I would just start walking with a purpose, not slowing down that much really, just unable to run. As soon as I thought the cramps were at bay, I’d take off again, and I would do this until I finished. Mile 26 was actually my fastest since mile 12! With my stomach finally at ease I felt great, and if I didn’t have the cramps in my legs I would’ve been able to run the rest of the way at a pretty decent clip, I would notice when I was actually running, my pace was as fast as when I started the race, and that made me feel unstoppable! I finished lap 8 and was back at CNR with an extremely determined look on my face, and basically just said GIVE ME A WATER AND A GEL SO I CAN GET THIS OVER WITH! I even surprised the crew with how fast the loop was, Adam said, “Dude, you’re killin it!” It was nice to see the look on their faces knowing that I had overcome adversity and was going to be able to finish before the cutoff of 7 hours. So off I went, for loops 9 and 10, and it was great! I still had to run/walk due to cramps but I had figured out how to manage them. Seeing the finish line was an unbelievable experience, and an overwhelming sense of pride came over me like no other race I’ve ever done. That one was tough, but I finished what I started.
I’m not sure how many people quit that race, but the rumors were that over half that started the 50k bowed out at some point in the night. Having friends like Adam and Tara there helped me a ton, I didn’t want to let them down after coming to help me on an all-nighter, and plus, it’s just embarrassing to quit. Sometimes it takes more mental than physical strength to run a race, and this night was all about the mental game. The physical aspect for me was over at mile 15, so that meant to finish I would have to basically limp for the next 16 miles, and in order to do something like that you have to have a STRONG mental game, which was the main thing I took from this race. I may not be physically ready to run 50 miles, but come October 31st, I will at least know that I have the mental strength to get through just about anything I put my mind to.
Couple things real quick about El Scorcho the race…it is an extremely well put on race with some amazing volunteers. In just a 3.1 mile loop there were a total of 5 aid stations! I’ve never seen that in any other race, so for them to stay up all night for the runners is pretty cool, so I commend their efforts to help us run such a tough race like this. My favorite was the cold blue towel station, extremely refreshing to get that ice cold wet towel every 3.1 miles! The race scene itself is really cool, pretty much like a giant campsite with people wearing glow sticks, playing music, and just hanging out. It was like an all-night tailgaiter for the spectators, which looked like a lot of fun as I would run by with a jealous look on my face seeing all the beer bottles glisten with sweat and smiles on everyone’s faces! The post-race Shiner Prickly Pear was one of the single best beers I’ve had in my life! Trinity Park is such a great place to run in Fort Worth, there’s a good mix of surfaces to run on, and even at night it’s a pretty place with all the trees and the river flowing by. Not gonna lie, I was pointing my headlamp towards the river early on in the race for alligators, since they recently caught and released a 10 footer just steps from the course we were running!(on laps 6 and 7 I was looking for one to bite me so I could claim injury and get the hell outta there!) Overall, this was a great experience, I learned a lot about myself and what I can eat/drink while running, that I need to rethink my long distance shoe choice, and that the ‘relentless forward progress’ mantra is a good one to live by, because eventually, you’ll get where you want to go, as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other. Thanks for reading, see you on the trails!
This race was NOT on my radar, just for the record! I had signed up for the Big Cedar 50 mile race, which isn't util October 31, and after I hired a coach to help me train for that race he suggested I just dive headfirst into a 50k called El Scorcho here in Fort Worth. The furthest I've ran in the last 4 months was the Tangle 30k, so jumping straight to a 50k seemed a little crazy, but then again, so is signing up for a 50 miler. Nonetheless, I contacted the El Scorcho website and got put on a waitlist since they were sold out, but a week later was informed I had been 'selected' to partake in this wonderful event...in Summer...in Texas...in the middle of the night. So here we go.
We parked about a half mile from the start/finish area, but I was wise enough to bring a wagon for my ice chest and gear (well, it was my wife's idea...I'm the idiot running 31 miles at night, so wise isn't the word I would use to describe myself). My crew, however, failed to bring a wagon, so the 1/2 mi journey was quite the trek, but we made it eventually to a nice spot after the finish line and set up camp. My coach had instructed me to eat whole food and ditch the gels I'm accustomed to using on long runs, and to drink gatorade, lots of gatorade, like 30 oz per hour, so I had an ice chest packed to the brim with all kinds of crap like sandwiches, fruit cups, cookies, gatorade, water, Boost (it's like Ensure), gummi bears and of course beer for afterwards (although on my last lap I could've used one!). I started off lap 1 (its 10 laps of a 3.1 mile loop) with my Salomon hydration vest with a single flask of gatorade, about 17 ozs worth and the first lap flew by quite easily. I had to make myself slow down to about a 9:30 min/mi pace so that I wouldn't blow up later on....which may or may not have happened, keep reading. At my aid station, we'll call it "Camp Night Racer" or CNR, due to my online supporters who made signs at home and posted them to Facebook since they couldn't make the race (love you Bobby and Krishna!), I switched out my Gatorade flask for a water, grabbed some gummi bears and headed out. Still felt great, and made the second loop just as quickly as the first. Back at CNR for the start of lap 3, I decided to drop the vest and go with a handheld bottle, put on a hat with some ice in it and was off again. Lap 3 was still going pretty good, but I could tell my stomach might not like me drinking so much Gatorade along with the gummi bears. For the start of lap 4 I decided to grab a Boost and headed out of CNR on a fast walk so that I could finish the drink before I started to run again. I forgot to mention I have also been consuming 3 salt capsules every hour, along with the 30 ozs. Lap 4 was when I started to realize how hot it was going to be throughout the night, and that my stomach didn't like what was going on. I started lap 5 with a sandwich, watermelon, and some water, still able to run just fine...until I got back to CNR for what would end up being the longest next 16 miles of my life, and by far the hardest.
My crew could sense I wasn't feeling too great, and it took me a little longer to get back from that 5th loop. This is when the race gets a little foggy, but I will try to remember as much as I can! At CNR I decided to change my shoes and socks, being that the heat index was still close to 90 at 2 in the morning I was drenched from head to toe. I thought the change would do me some good to have dry feet for the rest of the race…this would totally blow up in my face as the insoles in my Altra Olympus started folding like an accordion underneath my feet, causing some major hot spots and foot pain. The only reason I never switched back to my other shoes (Altra Instinct 3) was because we had to move the timing chip from my laces and it took too long. I don’t remember, but I think I opened up a fruit cup and ate some fruit hoping the sugar would give me a boost…but all it did was make my stomach cramp even worse. With the stomach cramps came muscle cramps, and for the remainder of the race I battled the worse cramps of my life. It was like a vice grip on my quads and calves, making it impossible to run at a steady pace. This was going to make for a long night.
Laps 6 and 7 were a real low point for me, I can remember fighting back thoughts of quitting during each of those laps. I found myself repeating the mantra, ‘relentless forward progress’ in my head, as each painful step got me that much closer to the end of each loop. I also found myself thinking of people that aren’t physically capable of running a 50k and that I should be thankful that I am strong enough to put myself through the agony in order to achieve such a goal. It’s not fair for me to complain about muscle cramps while I have friends and family that, due to medical reasons or physical limitations, are not able to know what it’s like to finish a race like this. It’s a powerful thing to go through so much adversity on one given night and come through the other side knowing you had the mental strength to make it, even though your body is screaming at me to stop. I think that’s why we do it, to have such a great feeling of accomplishment knowing that you were tough enough to claw your way to the finish, even on nights (like this one) when stuff just isn’t going your way.
So there I was, back at CNR after lap 7, looking at my crews faces trying to think how in the world I was going to tell them I had to quit…all this work, all this time, I didn’t think my body was going to allow me to keep going. I was frustrated, and they could tell, so they each said that I should take my time and just keep going, that I would find a way to finish. I said I was done with that Gatorade and food bullshit, just feed me water, ice, and give me a gel. I also grabbed my ipod, and took off for lap 8, the lap I will call ‘redemption’.
I learned a few things during lap 8, first was that I had some resolve deep inside that was going to make me finish this damn race. They were gonna have to pick me up off the ground before I quit. I knew I was a determined individual, but I didn’t know how far it went until that 8th lap. The second thing I learned was that I may be a water and gel kinda guy. By now I had shed my headlamp and hat, and was running with just one handeld bottle of water, and one gel in my pocket. No more Gatorade or food, and no salt tablets, I was done with all that. Something told me that my sodium balance was off, and that was making my stomach feel bloated and cramped, and as soon as I just started drinking water (and less of it) I started to feel better. I found myself running again! And running at a pretty decent pace too, the only problem is that once muscle cramps set in, they don’t go away, so as soon as they would come back I would just start walking with a purpose, not slowing down that much really, just unable to run. As soon as I thought the cramps were at bay, I’d take off again, and I would do this until I finished. Mile 26 was actually my fastest since mile 12! With my stomach finally at ease I felt great, and if I didn’t have the cramps in my legs I would’ve been able to run the rest of the way at a pretty decent clip, I would notice when I was actually running, my pace was as fast as when I started the race, and that made me feel unstoppable! I finished lap 8 and was back at CNR with an extremely determined look on my face, and basically just said GIVE ME A WATER AND A GEL SO I CAN GET THIS OVER WITH! I even surprised the crew with how fast the loop was, Adam said, “Dude, you’re killin it!” It was nice to see the look on their faces knowing that I had overcome adversity and was going to be able to finish before the cutoff of 7 hours. So off I went, for loops 9 and 10, and it was great! I still had to run/walk due to cramps but I had figured out how to manage them. Seeing the finish line was an unbelievable experience, and an overwhelming sense of pride came over me like no other race I’ve ever done. That one was tough, but I finished what I started.
I’m not sure how many people quit that race, but the rumors were that over half that started the 50k bowed out at some point in the night. Having friends like Adam and Tara there helped me a ton, I didn’t want to let them down after coming to help me on an all-nighter, and plus, it’s just embarrassing to quit. Sometimes it takes more mental than physical strength to run a race, and this night was all about the mental game. The physical aspect for me was over at mile 15, so that meant to finish I would have to basically limp for the next 16 miles, and in order to do something like that you have to have a STRONG mental game, which was the main thing I took from this race. I may not be physically ready to run 50 miles, but come October 31st, I will at least know that I have the mental strength to get through just about anything I put my mind to.
Couple things real quick about El Scorcho the race…it is an extremely well put on race with some amazing volunteers. In just a 3.1 mile loop there were a total of 5 aid stations! I’ve never seen that in any other race, so for them to stay up all night for the runners is pretty cool, so I commend their efforts to help us run such a tough race like this. My favorite was the cold blue towel station, extremely refreshing to get that ice cold wet towel every 3.1 miles! The race scene itself is really cool, pretty much like a giant campsite with people wearing glow sticks, playing music, and just hanging out. It was like an all-night tailgaiter for the spectators, which looked like a lot of fun as I would run by with a jealous look on my face seeing all the beer bottles glisten with sweat and smiles on everyone’s faces! The post-race Shiner Prickly Pear was one of the single best beers I’ve had in my life! Trinity Park is such a great place to run in Fort Worth, there’s a good mix of surfaces to run on, and even at night it’s a pretty place with all the trees and the river flowing by. Not gonna lie, I was pointing my headlamp towards the river early on in the race for alligators, since they recently caught and released a 10 footer just steps from the course we were running!(on laps 6 and 7 I was looking for one to bite me so I could claim injury and get the hell outta there!) Overall, this was a great experience, I learned a lot about myself and what I can eat/drink while running, that I need to rethink my long distance shoe choice, and that the ‘relentless forward progress’ mantra is a good one to live by, because eventually, you’ll get where you want to go, as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other. Thanks for reading, see you on the trails!
