Tunnel Hill 100 Miler Race Recap – Part #1
For months, I agonized over running this race. One hundred
miles was fifty miles further than I have ever run, and the thought of the
suffering that this might entail gave me much to ponder. Would I totally
shut down? Would I be a like an engine down a cylinder walking more than running
to the finish? Would I be strong enough to run the distance? The thoughts
weighed so much on my mind that I developed a few ulcers.
On Thursday, I drove up to Lexington, KY. My daughter was
crewing me for race, and we were driving over to Vienna, IL on Friday. It is
roughly about 4ish hours from Lexington to Vienna.
We arrived a couple of hours early in Vienna, so we recon
the course. My daughter would be driving between aid stations solo so I wanted
to her to have some idea of what to expect. She dropped “pins” on our iPhone at
each location to help her with the race day navigation. Note to other, this is
a huge help for those crewing. Tunnel Hill is a two loop course so she would be
driving it once in the day light and once at night. The race provides good directions, and the course is pretty easy to navigate for a driver. Still, having GPS makes like even simpler.
We finish our little recon trip just in time to arrive at
the local school for packet pickup. I do not know why, but the 100 mile line
was much longer than the 50 mile line. They gave away some nice swag: race hat, race belt, a nice race shirt, a branded race towel, and two branded race bags. Before leaving we
looked through the race branded gear and bought a few other pieces of clothing.
Then, we were off to the hotel and a pasta dinner. I crawled
in to bed around 9 PM CST. Surprisingly, I slept better than I expected.
Race morning, I rose at 4 AM. I packed my nutrition and made
up the two Camel Baks. I then reviewed all of the logistic with daughter. From how
to mix up the Tailwind so I liked it to what shold be packed at each aid station.
Then, I picked out what I was going to wear. Race morning,
the temperature was around 23 degrees. The temperature would then rise in
to the mid to upper 40s by midday. I needed to think about what would keep me
warm during the early miles, but also would be easy to strip off later in the
day.
We arrived around 5:45 at the start finish just ahead of the
rush of runners. I delayed heading to the start until 6:45. I wanted to stay as
warm as possible as long as possible. Easing the cold conditions, there was no
wind.
My race plan was to go out slow and then slow down. I did
not want my first 100 mile experience to be a struggle. I wanted to enjoy the
experience.
They played our National Anthem, and we got a few race
instructions. I placed myself well back in the pack. I took my “newbie” status
seriously, and I did not to screw up someone else race. I certainly did not
want to be pulled out too fast.
I never heard the gun sound. I just saw the group of runners
in front of me begin to move.
We rounded the parking lot, and we headed south west (I
guess) on the Tunnel Hill State Trail. The runners streamed out in front of me.
I chatted with a few of the runners around me. The first 5 miles seem to fly by
as we passed the first aid station. At Karnak which is at 10 miles, I saw my daughter for the first time.
She was there (iPhone pin mapping worked), and she was
waving at me. I exchanged Camel Baks and headed out 3 miles to the wetlands
turn around.
I started counting the runners on their return, and there were
68 runners in front of me. At this point, I did not know if this was a good thing
or a bad thing. I felt like I was running well within myself. Still, this was 100
miles. I had no idea what within myself really meant at this distance.
At 16 miles, my daughter had my Camel Bak ready, and I
grabbed a bagel for some extra calories. I also dropped my running tights,
gloves, and heavy shirt in favor of a short sleeve running shirt.
Loaded up with fuel and having dropped my extra clothes, I
was now headed back to Vienna where I would cross the marathon point.
The 6 miles to the wetlands turnaround is pretty much flat.
However, the 10 miles between Karnak and Vienna has some long gradual climbs
and descent. Exactly the type of thing, I expected for a rails to trails
course.
I passed the 5 mile aid station. I was down 21 miles with 79
miles to go. I kept reminding myself to run slow. Keep the pace easy.
Coming in to Vienna, we crossed the only major road. We do
cross several roads over the 50 mile course, but only this one had any amount
of traffic. Fortunately, there was a gentlemen controlling the traffic, and
making sure we crossed safely.
Here is the only snafu that my daughter and I had. She had
setup just off the course, and I didn’t see her, and she didn’t see me. At the
time, I hoped nothing was wrong. We had talked about if this happened, and she would
just move on to the next aid station. She knew when I passed through because
the race was running live race tracking so she could monitor my progress along
the course.
Since I missed her at the Vienna, and I also missed seeing
my marathon time looking for her, I was running in the unknown at this point.
At the 29 mile aid station, I snagged a chocolate chip cookie from their food
spread. I thought that I was good on the Tailwind since the temperature was
barely in the mid 40s until my daughter and I met up again at the Tunnel Hill aid station.
I passed the 31 miles point where they had a full stock of
water for runners that needed it.
When I looked at the race map, I realized that there was
about 400 ft of climb over 10 miles to Tunnel Hill. The first couple of miles
are relatively flat. However, then it starts a steady climb all the way to the
Tunnel. While I was climbing it, I thought it would never end. Plus as I rose
in elevation, the wind picked up and temperature seemed to drop.
I was super happy to finally see the Tunnel. The Tunnel
itself is pretty long, and I found it a bit disorientating to look at the end
of the tunnel and see just the light of the sun. I was better off staring at what I
could see of the ground around me. It was dark inside the tunnel.
On the far side of the tunnel, I noticed the icicles hanging
from the rocks. Then, I was in to the Tunnel Hill aid station. I was happy to
see my daughter with a full load of fuel for me. She walked with me for a bit
while I ate something.
Then, I was off to do the 2 miles out and 2 miles back on the far
side of Tunnel Hill. This section is basically 2 miles of a slight down grade followed
by a 2 mile climb back to the Tunnel Hill aid station.
I grabbed my Camel Bak, and I updated my daughter on what I
wanted in my pack at the Vienna Aid station. My daughter offered me my head lamp
but I waved it off. The sun was still overhead so I would not need it for
several more hours.
Going back to Vienna was a combination of letting it roll
downhill and not pounding my legs in to the point that they would not carry me.
I passed through the 2nd of two tunnels on this
section of the course, and I went through the aid station at 47 miles
I still felt like I was running with something in reserve
but I was also starting to feel the miles. I wore my Hoka Carbon X, and I was
realizing that I needed to switch shoes. I was already making plans for what I
wanted at Karnak aid station so I could update my daughter at the Vienna Aid
Station. At Karnak, I would switch over to my Hoka Clayton, and I would put my
tights back on it. The Clayton’s have a wider toe box, and my feet were
starting to feel pretty snug in my Carbons. I went back to my running tight because
the temperature was starting to drop. Not enough to warrant wearing tights but
somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew putting on the tights would keep my
legs warm as they continue to fatigue.
I came in Vienna, and I crossed under the 50 mile banner in
7 hours and 48 minutes. This was 4 hours and 12 minutes ahead of where I thought
that I would be. It was also nearly 2 hours ahead of my two WWC 50 milers. I tried to push aside the anxiety that I gone out too fast
after all. I also focused on the fact that if I totally melted down and had to walk most of the last 50 miles; I had over 22 hours to do it.
More to follow in Part 2.
The Cool Down Runner
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