By: Mark Barnhart
Friday March 8th
Michelle L., Phil W., and I set off after work to head to LBL. After a pit stop
for our traditional pre-race Subway we arrived, at the awesome condo secured by
Wayne. After getting everything laid out, several s‘mores made off of the oven
burner, and a friendly game of rummy it was time to call it a night.
4 a.m. arrived quickly and it was
finally race morning. After pre race rituals, and breakfast it was time to head
to the start. After a quick stop at the welcome center to drop off our drop
bags and one final restroom break we had about a 5 minute walk to the start
line at Light House Landing. With a
quick group photo and prayer it was just about start time. The race director
gave some final instructions, yelled GO and just like that the approximately
900 runners took off.
The first couple of miles of the
race were on the road heading toward the trail where I would spend the next 45
miles of my run. The first loop of the
course was a little slow going and over all uneventful. Michelle, Phil and I
made our way along the trail making conversation as we went. I had never run
these trails until the day of the race so I was glad to see how run able they
really were. When we came into the second aid station on the trail we saw Leah,
Wayne and Tom. After some words of encouragement and some pretzels we headed
back out.
Going into the race Michelle, Phil
and I had decided that if one of us had to stop to use the restroom the rest
would continue walking until the other caught up. By the end of the first loop
Phil and I needed to stop. To my surprise Michelle can walk really fast! Phil
and I had to run some pretty quick miles to catch up to Michelle who was
running with some new friends that she had made. When we finally caught up we
all fell into conversation and after some comment from our new “friends”
Michelle said “We have a Mark in our group too!” To which one of the guys
replied “Well my name’s Tom, that do anything for ya?” Without missing a beat
she simply responded “Nope!” I don’t think Tom found it as funny as we did.
We soon arrived back at the first
aid station out on the trail where I began my ritual of asking if they had Mt.
Dew. I asked that question at every aid station every time I went through, and
every time I asked the answer was always the same. “No, but we have Coke.”
After a hand full of pretzels and a quick drink of water we headed out again
leaving our new found friends and a disappointed Tom behind.
At this point we were around 16
miles in and I was still feeling pretty good. I kept thinking back to Tecumseh
and at mile 16 there I was pretty well done. It was around mile 20 that I could
hear footsteps fast approaching from behind. No sooner had I told Michelle and
Phil that there was someone coming on our left he passed. I yelled out asking
what mile he was on and he said 30! Dang, already getting lapped! It turned out
this was the overall winner of the 60K Scott Breeden. He set a new 60K course
record with a blazing fast 4:07:05 that day too!
I believe it was the next aid
station that we arrived at the Leah was helping break up cookies and granola
bars for the incoming runners. Honestly all the aid stations kind of blurred
together. The one thing I do know is I again asked for Mt. Dew and again I left
the aid station settling for Powerade and cookies.
Before I knew it we were arriving
at the trail head again finishing or second loop. To my surprise I was feeling
good for being roughly 24 miles in. At this point I was starting to realize I
was ahead of the schedule that I had told my parents. I had originally told my
parents to go straight to the trail head when they arrived in Green Rivers and
they would see me going back out for my fourth and final loop. By now the trail
had really thinned out and there weren’t too many other people in sight except
for Michelle and Phil.
As we came into the third aid
station out on the trail we were passed by the guy who ended up being the
overall winner of the 50 miler, Matt Urbanski. He was at mile 42 and we were
only at mile 30! Leah, Tom, and Jeff H. were at the aid station cheering us on
again and I asked Jeff to call my parents and tell them I was already at mile
30 and they needed to go straight to the welcome center aid station when they
got there. An aid station volunteer took my mom’s number down for me and the
three of us walked out of the aid station snacking on whatever food we had
grabbed.
Shortly after leaving that aid
station the three of us started spreading out a bit and I turned to Michelle
and asked if she was doing ok, she responded with “Yeah, Just feel like I’m
going to pass out or throw up.” Being the great friend that I am I said “OK”
and ran on. Roughly two miles later as I’m thinking man that wasn’t a very nice
response to Michelle, I catch my toe on a rock and slam into the trail. As she
passes me she asks if I’m ok and I say “Yeah just hit the ground pretty hard!”
Her response? “Ok”, and she runs on.
Karma, it gets you every time!
Before I knew it we were at the end
of the third loop roughly 36 miles into the race, 10 miles farther than I had
ever ran before! Michelle and Phil had decided to drop down to the 60K, so
after telling them bye, grabbing a drink and getting an update on how Dave
Nichols was doing I was off to start the fourth and final lap by myself.
I didn’t see anyone else out on the
trail until I came into the first aid station. That’s where I met Eric. After
spending a little more time than I would have preferred in the aid station
Eric, and I set off together. We started talking like we were long lost friends,
that’s one of the great things about the running community, you never meet a
stranger. Eric had run several 50’s before and ran Leadville 100 last year.
After talking a little more I found out he wasn’t having such a great day. So
not wanting to look like a wimp I used him to push me through some of the
harder sections of the trail and he used me to pull himself along.
Around mile 40 I was starting to
getting pretty excited knowing I had only 10 miles to go and in 2 short miles I
would be seeing my parents for the first time that day. My pace quickened as
much as it could after 40 miles on trails and Eric told me to go on without
him. After convincing him to run to the next aid station with me because it was
just over the hill, I heard someone yell “Go Jr.!”, my dad calls me Jr. I
looked up and realized the aid station was right there and there were my
parents cheering me in. Pushing back some emotions I ran up the embankment gave
them both a hug and started talking to them while shoving food in my mouth. I
was excited, my energy levels were high and I’m sure I sounded crazy to them when
they asked how I was feeling and I responded with GREAT!
With only 8 more miles to go I
convinced Eric to at least run with me as long as he could. So we walked out of
the aid station knowing the biggest hills of the loop were ahead of us, but as
soon as we got to the tower it was all downhill from there. After walking the
big uphill’s and at times feeling like my heart was going to beat out of my
chest I finally saw the cell tower! Only 2 more miles of trail to go!
About a mile later I round the
corner and see Wayne walking out to meet me. With a quick fist bump he fell
into step with me and off we went. At this point Eric told us to go and he
would see us at the finish line. Since Wayne was supposed to be pacing Cathy
and Kendra on their last lap I asked him what he was doing out there with me.
He filled me in on every ones progress and let me know they were doing fine and
had made the cutoff and that my parents along with everyone else were waiting
on me to come through the trail head.
Before I knew it we were at the
trail head where I grabbed a quick drink and headed left for my out and back
section before heading into town. My mom was there taking pictures, Phil was
waiting on me to run my last 4ish miles with me and everyone else was there
cheering. Needless to say I had to push back a few emotions there as well.
The next 1.6 miles where the
toughest miles of the entire race, up until that point my feet hadn’t been
hurting but when you have been on the trails for 46 miles and you start running
on the roads in trail shoes it become a bit uncomfortable. Phil, Wayne and I
joked around to pass the time on the hilly out and back that seemed like it
would never end. After making the turn around the sign that was cruelly put at
the top of a hill I saw Eric running up the hill. I let him know it was his
buddy who won the race high fived him and told him I’d see him at the finish.
As we were coming back by the trail
head I asked Wayne and Phil if one of them would give my drop bag to my parents
so I wouldn’t have to wait for it at the end. Wayne stayed back to wait for
Dave to come through and Phil told me he would be running all the way to the
finish with me. I was pretty stoked to know I was going to have some company
for the last two miles! My mom was so excited to see me come through that she
ran beside me for a few yards and told me that I was doing great and was almost
done!
We hit
the main road back to town where I quickly got over onto the grass shoulder to
give my feet some relief. I could see Michelle’s bright pink shirt about a half
mile ahead of us and two people running between her and I. I looked at Phil and
said “Let’s turn this thing into a race! I want to pass those two people!” So
we turned it into a race, well as much of one as you can at mile 48! Soon I had
passed the two runners and we were approaching Michelle and my parents on the
side of the road taking pictures. They told me good job and drove on in to the
finish line to wait for me to finish.
At this
point I had about one mile left to go and knew I was going to be really close
to breaking 9 hours so I tried to up the pace a bit but I don’t think I was to
successful. Phil was telling me that we had one more turn left and then I would
be able to see the finish line which was at the bottom of a hill. As we made
that last turn I could see the blue timer’s tent and knew the end was close. So
it turned to Phil and said, “Let’s do this thing!” Here I was able to pick up
the pace quite a bit, it felt like I was running a 5 minute mile but I knew it
had to have been much slower!
As I
crossed the finish line I saw my time was 9 hrs and 22 seconds, so close to
breaking hrs! I ran right through the finish line over to where everyone was
waiting for me and started giving high fives to everyone I saw. I was so
excited to be done that I had forgot to grab my buckle when I finished, so a
race volunteer ran over with it and asked, “Do you want your buckle?” After
getting my buckle and a few more high fives, Michelle walked over with the Dt.
Mt. Dew that I had been asking for, for the last 9 hours!
It was
great having as much support there as I did from the BOR and from my parents,
even though my mom asked me to run across the finish line again because she
missed the picture! We settled on me standing beneath the finisher’s line
banner instead! All in all it was a great day and I loved every mile of it. I
was lucky that I never had a low point and my energy levels stayed consistent
throughout the day. It won’t be my last Ultra and I’ll definitely be back next
year!
