Saturday, March 23, 2013

Land Between The Lakes 50 Miler


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!

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