Cooter Creek 50 Mile Trail Race

This past Saturday, I checked off  my ultra point to point trail race bucket list item. I couldn't be more happy with the result. 

I ran across the Francis Marion National Forest. It was an interesting experience so I will waste no more of your time and get right in to it. 

The race headquarters and finish were at Buck Hall Recreation area which is just a stones throw from the Atlantic ocean. 

I picked up my race packet and settled in for a night of camping. 

My alarm rudely awakened me at 5:01 AM. The buses were to arrive at 5:30 and depart at 6 AM to take us to the starting some 50+ miles away.

I quickly got ready and headed up to where the buses were located only find a bunch of runners standing around. I guess with Covid; they didn't want us just setting on the buses so instead we all stood around waiting to get on. 

There was some idle chatter scattered among us. I got asked a couple of times if I had a target time in mind. My honest answer was no. Knowing nothing about this trail and the potential for getting lost along the way, how could I estimate a time goal. One guy standing next to me told me about all the roots along the course. Two guys standing off to side were discussing the distance. The race was advertised as 50 miles but the mapped course said 51.67. I guess that these two guys had run the course before because they were saying that it ran closer to 55 miles. Listening quietly and saying nothing, I was really hoping for something closer to 50 than 55 miles. Ultra running is not a buffet where more is better. 

A little after 6 AM, we boarded and were soon off for the 50 minute drive to the start. Our driver was an older southernly gentlemen and his southern accent carried with every word. He asked about the distance and how long it would take us to get done. He then went on to say that we should look out for rattle snakes and coyotes. I was like "wait what did he just say". Up until this time, I was mostly worried about falling and getting lost. He just reminded me that getting snake bitten and or eaten were also a possibility on my little adventure. 

The latter part of the ride things quieted down. Night time shifted to day light, and I was alone with my thoughts. 

The starting area was a tiny parking with no banners, no timing clock, no nothing. We must have looked lost or would soon will be. 

Chad gave us some instructions, talked about the race sponsors, and showed us some orange ribbon that he had used to mark the course. He also reminded us to start our TerraQuest app which I did. I also shifted my phone in to air plane mode and crossed fingers. I was hoped this little piece of software would guide me along the course. 

Chad told us two minutes to start. I reached up and pulled the straps on my CamelBak tight. It was going to be hanging my back for a while. 

Chad said "go", and we slowly moved in to trail. Roots seemed to be sticking up everywhere. I wondered if it would be like this the entire course, and I wondered again why I signed up. 

Everyone has plenty of bounce in their legs at the start. I slowly moved up to 2nd by two miles. The lead guy had long since disappeared down the trail. I wanted no part of an early fast pace. I needed to find my rhythm, and it was going to be a long day. 

Other than occasional chime from my Garmin, the woods were super quiet. I crossed numerous short foot bridges, and the split log paths which parallel the muddier sections. At first, I tried running along these but I quickly realized that this wasn't a good idea. they were old and uneven. They shifted with the weight of running and off dropped me off of them. I found that it was better to walk along them. 

The race had 8 aid stations. Four had just water, and four were staffed by volunteers with plenty of food and drink. 

Chad had told us that we had to check off our names at the water stations on a clipboard. However, when I passed through this first station, there was no clipboard. I wasn't even sure that this was the water station. There was just a few cases of water setting along the trail. There was no sign - nothing. 

At 12 miles, I paused for just a second at the first staffed aid station before heading off down the trail. Clouds were still overhead and the temperature was hovering around 60 degrees. I had my head down and was loving the pine needles that covered this section. 

I guess that I was complete lost in thought when I heard a voice from behind me. It took me a second to realize "Siri was talking to me". She was telling me that I was off course. I didn't recall seeing a turn. 

I reached in to my CamelBak pocket and pulled out my phone. I looked the app and sure enough, I had missed a turn. 

As I back tracked up the trail,  I saw another runner veering off in another direction. I looked my phone and sure enough, it showed that I needed to turn right here. 

I stuffed my phone back in my CamelBak pocket and headed off down the trail. 

In the distance, I could see this runner. I had to keep myself from charging off after him and trying to make up for my mistake. 

About a mile or so later, I pulled in behind him. Ludovic was an interesting person, and for the 7 or 8 miles I got to know him. He started off by saying that this is along story to which I responded that I have the time or in this case the miles. 

During our conversations we rounded a turn and found the race leader moving along in front of us. He had slowed quite a long from those early miles. 

About 24 or so miles, Ludovic pulled the plug on our conversations when he said that he needed to slow down a bit. 

Around 25 or so miles, I passed through the 2nd manned aid station. I wanted to be gone before Ludovic arrived so I grabbed what I needed and headed down the trail.

I had gone a little more than a mile when found my self facing another of the muddy sections. Rather than using the foot bridge, I opted to slide through it. I did but not my left shoe. It was stuck, and I pulled my foot right out of the shoe. 

I only had this happen to me one other time. I did what any runner would do. I walked back, pulled out my shoe, brushed off my sock, pulled on the shoe, and continued on down the trail. 

I glanced at my Garmin. I had been running about 4 hours now. The clouds had burned off, and the sun was out. 

I never thought about this before this day, but pine trees and their pine needles seem to radiate heat. I was starting to feel warm.

Where I could I pulled off my hat. Occasionally, I would turn on to a stretch of trail where a cool breeze blew in to my face. I cannot tell how good that it felt. 

I passed through the 3 manned aid station. I gulped down the water. After drinking Tailwind for hours, I really needed some cool clean water. I even poured it over my head. 

I glanced at my Garmin to see I was now past 40 miles. I could really feel the heat now. I knew that I had somewhere between 12 and 15 miles left to run. Still, I was really hot and really tired so in my mind it seemed like infinity. 

At the next water station, I drained two bottles of water. One went inside, and one went over my head and back. 

At the last manned aid station, I remember the woman telling that I only had 6 miles left to run. I was kind of in a daze but I think that I rolled my eyes at her comment. I took at much water as I thought that I could stomach and left. 

I really don't remember much about the trail until I crossed  highway17. Crossing 17 which is a 4 lane highway is an interesting experience. As far as I could tell, there are no markings to let drivers know about trail crossing.

To the drivers, I must a looked like an deer coming out wood and crossing the road. First, I checked left, and I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to cross the near side. There was no sprinting in these legs now. Safely over the first half, I dropped down in to the median and prepared to cross the other half 

I could see the cars in the distance, but I had momentum on my side to carry me across other two lanes. 

I was about to reach for my phone and trusty TerraQuest app when I spotted one of Chad's orange ribbons. 

From Highway 17 to finish seemed to take forever. We veered out toward the bog. The roots were everywhere. The trail seemed to just twist and turn the entire way. I kept thinking that I would be able to see the boat landing. However, I didn't realize until afterward that from the direction that I was running, I would never see it. We were following a side bog toward the main section. 

My Garmin clicked over 51 miles so I knew that I had to be close. 

I rounding this one rather root covered section. There was  couple coming up the trail toward me, and I took my eyes off the roots for just a second to see them. Boom, down I sent. It wasn't the hardest that I have ever hit the ground. The soft and sandy dirt soften the blow. 

But I just laid there for a second looking up at the leaves on the trees. Thinking about it now, I wonder that couple thought. 

Finally, I mustered up the energy to roll over and push myself back to my feet. This was a feat unto itself. I was really hot and tired and my legs were hurting. I took a few steps to shake off the fall, and I went back to running. 

I looked at my Garmin. The screen said 52.54 miles. I thought maybe that I had missed a turn or perhaps the TerraQuest was lost too. 

I pulled out my phone, thumbed over to the TerraQuest app, and I zoomed in on the course. The little blue was flashing up at me, and I was right on the trail. 

Another .60 of a mile later, I saw Chad's sign for the finish. I crossed through the two cones, stopped running, and put my hands on my knees. 

That's when the thought hit me that I am clearly getting too old to do these things. 

I walked over and took a seat. Stopping may have been worse than running. My legs were cramping all the way down to me feet. I poured in two bottles of water and after about 20 minutes, I felt good enough to walk back to my car. 

Over the next hour, I drank 3 more bottles of water, and I started feel much better. 

According to my Garmin, I ran 53.12 miles. Based on my experience of my Garmin being roughly 3/4 mile short on 20 miles, I'd say those two guys were right in estimating the distance at being closer to 55 miles. 

As for elevation gain, there wasn't much of it. I had roughly 308 feet of gain over the entire 53 miles. 

Thinking about the course, the first 25 miles are harder than the 2nd 25 miles. There are more roots and muddy sections along the 1st half of the course. There are so many bridges that I lost count of the total. Some sections have a nice well beaten path. Others, it is hard to tell where the path is. There are sections where it just grassy for miles but ground is uneven and hard to tell if I am setting my foot on solid ground or a grass covered hole. There were numerous road crossings, and most of the time the trail goes directly across the road. However, there are a few times that it just ends on a dirt road. If Chad hadn't put out the orange ribbons, I would have no idea which way to turn. The 2nd half has a lot of long straight sections which seem to go on forever. 

I never saw any coyotes. I did see 4 snakes but no poisonous ones. 

We were really lucky. The days leading up to the race had been dry so the muddy sections were pretty easy to navigate. I can only imagine how the mud and water would have changed this race. 

This ends a 4 week training plan where I did a 100k, a marathon, and 50 miler. The fact that I fell, got lost, and lost my shoe, and I still ran 8 hours, 13 minutes and 39 seconds is remarkable to me. 

Kudos to Chad and all the volunteers for their efforts in putting on this race. Kudos to the runners who braved a warmer than expected day to enjoy running through a beautiful forest. It was definitely worth the trip.

Cool Down Runner Adventures