Brr... It's cold. Am I tall... or did some 'shrinkage' occur?
For those of you who were members of AREC last year, you may remember that I attempted (and completed) a 50 mile trail race on a Saturday and a road marathon the next day, Sunday.
Last month, I ventured back to Houston, Texas, to try and run the 50 mile trail run again (with a day of rest the day, and weeks afterward).
I had almost convinced a couple of people to come down and run with me. Besides the 50-miler, there is also a 50K, with a very generous time-limit of 11 hours, 15 minutes. (Imagine that as running your absolute worst marathon, in say, 7 hours… and then having 4 hours and 15 minutes to run 5 more miles!)
I came back to the Sunmart Ultra because it is one of the few races I have done that is all about the runners. A reverse example of this is LA Marathon: You don’t get much for your entrance fee, and the planners pick the date and the start time based upon the convenience of others, rather than the runners.
Sunmart is ALL about the runners. First, there is the host hotel, a Sheraton, which is 4 miles from the airport. The race rate is $55/night for a Queen bed or two Twins.
I arrived somewhat early to the hotel – registration was not supposed to start for another 2 hours, but they were already there and said I could “beat the rush.” The volunteers efficiently found my race number and directed me to my goodie bag and racing chip.
This year, the goodie bag was a goodie duffel bag, with the logo on the side. A really really nice duffel bag (a bag that US Air sent to Toronto, Canada for Xmas for 5 days – it’s that nice a bag!).
Brr... It's cold. Am I tall... or did some 'shrinkage' occur?
Then you move through the line and get your goodies: a packet of Hammer gel, a string backpack, a disposable camera, sunglasses, a lined notebook (Trapper Keeper), a stuffed elephant toy, a nail kit, a poncho, a polo shirt, a long-sleeved technical shirt, and a technical hat. There were multiple colors and choices of almost all of these items. My only complaint is that they are undated. However, this also means that you can get new and old items every year you participate, and you can get whatever size you want.
I lugged everything up to my room and then came down leisurely to dinner. The pasta feed, included in the $75 registration fee, included make-your-own-salad, vegetarian lasagna, cheese ravioli, roasted potatoes, sauteed vegetables, pasta with meat sauce, apples, oranges, bananas, brownies, cookies, strudel, coffee and tea. Some instruction about the course was made, plus introductions of some invited participants, and then the guest speaker.
I sat down at a table with other 2 guys and we compared bibs. They were both doing the 50 miler and both were attempting their first 50 miler. We talked about other races we had done and our respective running clubs, but before we could get too far, the evening festivities began.
The guest speaker was Bob Kennedy, the only non-white runner to go under 13 minutes in a 5K (how many of you can go under 13 minutes at mile 2 of a 5K?). It was an interesting talk, because it wasn’t just about all of his accomplishments, but a lot about the mentality of running, and how to reach your goals.
Bob Kennedy is just a year older than me, but totally retired from running. Not totally retired from elite running, but TOTALLY RETIRED FROM RUNNING. He doesn’t run. Well… he runs… a running shoe store. I had the opportunity afterwards to go and talk to him and he is a really down-to-earth person.
So, I did my best to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Understand that the shuttle to the start (an additional $20 – worth every penny) was leaving at 4:45am, which translates to 2:45am California time, not including what time I have to wake up! Let’s just say I got 3-4 hours of sleep.
In the morning, I found the two guys I met the night before and we ended up in the same shuttle van. I didn’t have a particular running plan, but I filled them in on a few key spots of the course that I could remember.
As compared to last year, the start was a bit different, because the temperature was 35 degrees, rather than 75 degrees. EVERYONE was huddled in the food tent around propane heaters. It was COLD!
I struck up a few more conversations – a black lady who was doing her 2nd 50K; a hispanic gentleman who was doing his 10th 50K and had run all the Marine Corps Marathons. I left them eating their breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, etc.) because I was off at 7am, and they had another 45 minutes. I placed my drop bag at the start and tried to acclimatize myself to the cold. I didn’t see Jerry or Dave (my dinner compatriots), but figured I’d see them soon enough. After a taped National Anthem, we were off. It was cold, so I moved a little quicker than I had planned. I felt really good, and I tucked in behind a number of different people and participated in a few random conversations. Unless I had a banner day, these would not be people I would be running with for long.
The cold made for an interesting feeling. Anywhere that I had minor pain issues (knee, back, neck) were magnified by the cold. I thought something was really wrong, until I warmed up.
The Sunmart course, unlike all other ultras I have run, is a loop course, meaning you run the same 12.5 mile loop 4 times. This may sound boring, in theory, but in reality, you are only coming back to the same location every couple of hours, and being familiar with the course helps to tell you when you are near an aid station or near the end of the loop.
There are also two sections on the course that you spend a majority of time on. Miles 2 to 4 are out and back, as well as Mile 0-1, and 11.5-12.5. In the case of 0-1/11.5-12.5, the course is pretty narrow, so you have close contact with everybody. The rest of the course, people are just running one-way. The 50K and 50M share Miles 1-4, and 9-12.5, and are on separate (somewhat parallel) trails for Miles 4-9. The out-and-back sections of the course were the best, because you could see how you were doing in the race, and also how everyone around you was doing.
By the 3rd lap, I recognized some of the people around me (“red shirt guy,” yellow tank top girl,” “bearded Indian guy,” etc.). If you were finishing a lap, and they were setting out, you might hear “see you on the hill” (Mile 2-4), or if they were finishing and you were heading out, you might say “Good job, see you in 3 hours!”
Occasionally, I was also hearing my name. A few times, spectators were pulling my name out of the program (numbers listed) and other times it was Dave or Darcie Olk-Mueller (former AREC member running the 50K). Mostly, it was “Tall Green Shirt Guy.”
Towards the end of my 3rd lap, Dave ran with me for a while, then passed me. I had not seen Jerry the entire race. Dave said we’d probably see him on the out-and-backs.
I finished my 3rd lap about 45 minutes faster than the previous year (in 2007, I did 8:23, and the cutoff was 8:30) and was pondering which of my goals I might reach: 1. Beat my 2007 time (11:51); 2. Break 11 hours; 3. Beat my PR (10:34); 4. Break 10 hours.
My impossible goal(#4) was pretty much impossible, unless I could run my last lap at the same pace as my first lap – yeah, right! I really just wanted to finish, and I had about 4 hours to do that.
The runners on the out-and-backs were a lot more sparse. At one point, on the one-ways, I timed out 50 minutes consecutively that I ran by myself. I began singing musical and movie soundtracks and every art song I knew (Handel’s Messiah even) to keep me inspired.
On a section that I ran in the dark last year (literally – I didn’t have a flashlight), I passed a 50K runner who was struggling – it was the Hispanic Marine Corps legacy runner I met at breakfast. He was determined to finish.
I got to the last aid station as it was getting dark and put my headlamp on. I thought I had about 3 miles to go (I’m told it was 2.5.), so I figured I had 42 minutes to break 11 hours (I know that sounds reasonable, but I wasn’t running, just walking fast.). I was inspired to move quickly both by people smoking at the aid station (blech!) and by my singing patriotic songs at high volume and geared to a rapid rhythm (America the Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, etc.). A number of people thought they were hallucinating when they started to hear me singing. When I finally spotted the finish line, I tried to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and time it out to finish at the finish line. I must have been mightily inspired, since I was only on “O’er the ramparts…”
The clock read “10:51-”something, a full hour faster than last year, and under 11 hours. The significance of sub-11 hours is that that is a qualifying time for the Western States 100 (the ‘Boston Marathon’ of ultras), a race that I have no desire (yet) to run, but now I can say I qualified.
I went and got my medal, plus my finisher’s jacket, and then went to get something to eat (brisket, hamburgers, corn on the cob, mac’n’cheese, chili, chicken patties, turkey leg,…) and look around for my buddies.
Dave finished around 5 minutes faster than I did, and Jerry (who I never saw on the course) had finished the 3rd leg a couple minutes over the time limit, and so couldn’t finish. I’m sure he will be more inspired to best his effort next year!
Once we were sated, we looked for the shuttle van. I knew that we were definitely the last group to be taken back, so we had to wait for everyone to finish. Basically, we were waiting for Miguel, who finished in 11:14 (just about a minute from the cutoff). He was ailing pretty bad, so we had to lift him into the van, and someone made him a plate of food to eat on the road.
The occupants of the van were Dave, Jerry, Miguel, a 52-year old 50K finisher Meg, and me. Jerry placed a call to his wife, to tell her about his race, while Meg (one of the people I made delirious through my singing) and I talked about every ultra we had done. Meg finished about a minute behind me (which translates into 45 minutes fewer, and 19 miles fewer).
When the van arrived back at the hotel, I said my goodbyes to everyone (“No goodbyes, we’ll all come down for a beer later.”) and went to shower and make my various phone calls. Afterward, on a whim, I went down to see who actually had the energy for a beer – Dave, Jerry AND Miguel!
We spent a couple of hours talking about the race and our lives, and then I said that I would probably be having breakfast at 9am; they said they would probably be asleep until checkout time.
Of course, when I came down for breakfast, the three of them were already sitting together at the table. I half expected to see them at the airport, even though Dave and Jerry were DRIVING home!
Even a month after the race, I am still e-mailing with these guys. It seems similar to the experience many of you have at your first marathon or half marathon after training with the same people for 5 months –the people you run with makes the race into a great experience.
My experience at Sunmart is not just unique to Sunmart. Time and time again, I have done local and destination trail runs, and I almost always make a special connection with someone before, during and after the race. I think it is the beauty of the trail that lures us and the great type of people that run trail races that makes it extra special.
So, here is your advance notice for Sunmart 2009 – it’s just a marathon, plus 5 miles, and an awesome time!
Emmett crossing the finish line at Sunmart 50