2015 Everglades Ultra: 50 miles

Saturday February 21st. It was 3:30am and the alarm had just gone off. The day before I had gone to bed at 3am after finishing work. Needless to say, I was pretty tired. I had registered for the Everglades Ultra (50m) fairly recently and all the hotels close to the race site were full. I was staying in Naples: 45 minutes away. It was wonderfully cold (46) at the start and that only made my excitement more intense. The heat would not be an issue, at least for a few hours. Milling around the start line I heard a guy talking about how he was going to win and set a new course record. I found that confidence intimidating! I wanted to win and set a new course record! My desire, however, was based on nothing! No experience at the distance, no experience with eating while I ran, no experience with the extreme fatigue that awaited me.

The race started on time. It was dark and this was also my first time running with a headlamp (something I was irrationally exited about)! I took off near the front of the pack. There were a few guys ahead of me and the lead guy was WAY ahead (he finished 1:21:02 in front of me). I ran with one guy for a few miles but I stopped at the first aid station and he continued. Of the 50 miles I covered, I'd say I covered 46 alone.

I was in 7th place for the first half of the race. The terrain was flat and reasonably dry with wood plank bridges crossing the wet spots. There were a lot of Cypress knees (roots that grow up out of the ground). They were a major trip hazard! Another terrain trip hazard was the exposed limestone. The potential to break an ankle or hurt yourself falling seemed pretty high. I went down hard twice in the first half but, amazingly, was fine. Only a few small scrapes!

The aid stations were amazing. I ate a banana and PB & J at most of them and refilled my bottle. Oh yeah, this was also my first race carrying a water bottle! I ate a lot during the race and even started to feel a little full. The good news is that I didn't bonk. I had no energy issues.

Around mile 26 or so I passed another runner and then another one soon after that. That was a confidence booster! At about mile 35 I passed another runner which put me in 4th place. I held 4th place to the finish! By the time I passed those three runners it was getting pretty warm (it was 77 at the finish) and crossing the prairies with no shade was pretty intense. Although the aid stations were pretty close, I found myself running low on water a few times during the hot stretches. Two of the guys I passed were from much colder climates so I'm sure the heat was affecting them a lot. The third guy had run a 110 mile race the weekend before so I really couldn't give myself too much credit for passing him! LOL. Mile 30 is where the race started for me; I started getting tired although, surprisingly, I was happy to "only" have 20 miles to go! How often does one think that?! If the race started at mile 30, mile 40 was the beginning of the end. Wooo, those last 10 miles were the hardest I've ever run. There were a lot of walk breaks! I would tell myself to run until my Garmin gave me my mile split and then I could walk for a minute or two. I fell two more times between miles 40-42. I was having trouble just picking up my feet! The last 8 miles were on a dusty road. I had thoughts of picking up the pace and flying into the finish, passing loads of people as I did. Sadly, and probably expectedly, that did not happen. I continued my slow shuffle towards the finish, trying desperately to maintain a quick turnover. All of a sudden the finish was upon me. there was no sprint over the line. I was cashed! What an experience! Although my quads were screaming and I felt that if I sat down I may never get up again, I was elated!

I didn't feel hungry but I knew I needed to keep eating. Funnily, the more I ate, the hungrier I became! Luckily, the finish line grill was fired up and they had veggie burgers and tons of other runner junk food!

The worst part of the day was getting out of the car after my 3 hour drive home. Not a pretty sight!

The whole race was a great experience. I am one happy plant fed ultra runner!