Rare Perfection - Oak Island

 I'm not perfect. OK, who is? But, can we be perfect in certain circumstances, situations, or activities? Yes. It has been a long time; many, many years since I can say that I ran a perfect race. It's not even about the time but more about the flow, the joy, and the effort. The Oak Island road half-marathon and the WTF (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) trail half-marathon was run one week apart resulting in perfect performances. Oak Island was run in perfect conditions - flat, 45 degrees, beautiful blue sky with sun cascading down upon the runners, one block away from the calm Atlantic Ocean. WTF was run in quite the opposite conditions - trail, hilly, cold rain, shoe-sucking mud, with a thigh-deep stream crossing. Both were awesome.

Both Cindy and I did Oak Island which is always a joy, to have her on the same course with me. We spent the weekend in Southport and had a relaxed, long weekend. The race is comprised of a marathon, two half-marathons, and a 5K. We chose the West course because it gave Cindy additional time although she would have been under the cut-off on the East course as well. The west course is pancake flat until mile 8 where runners traverse the Intracoastal waterway over a bridge. It is the only hill on the course and it is an out and back so the net elevation gain and the time should be zeroed out by the elevation loss. I found this to be true running 8:43 on the way out and 8:13 on the way back over the bridge.

We picked up our packets on Friday and the Moose Lodge. We also drove the course to know what to expect. Since last August I have not had the best of runs but have been consistent. My goal was to go sub-2:00. Cindy was going to walk the course but I thought that she could go sub-3:30 although I didn't tell her.

Morning came early at 4:45 AM. The logistics (i.e. parking) for this race are the best. We parked right beside the start/finish line and a stone's throw from the potties. The race started at 7:00 AM for us and 6:45 for the marathoners and the east half-marathoners. We cheered them on for their journey and then got ready to run. I warmed up a bit with some strides, a jog, and some stretching. I thought that I would run with the 2-hour pace group and then try for a negative split to go under 2 hours.

When the gun sounded, I ran 10 meters with the pace group and it felt slow so I just left and thought, "I'm going to run my own race and see where it goes." The brilliant sun was rising right in front of us but soon we would be turning to the west for a long straight-away, 6 miles to the turn to run back east on the next road over. The first mile came in at 8:36. I felt comfortable but thought that this might be too fast for the first mile. But, for the next 8 miles, I stayed around this pace give or take a few seconds here and there. At mile 9 going over the bridge, I ran 8:37 so one second more than my first mile. I knew at this point that a negative split was within reach and I was way under my 2-hour goal. The next four miles were a blur running 8:13 back over the bridge and then averaging 7:58 for the last 5K. Not only did I run a negative split but I ran a sub-8 minute 5K in the last 5K of the race. I thought that I had a chance at 1st in my age group but settled for 2nd, my highest age-group award. Yes, this was a perfect race. I never felt fatigued, ran a negative split and a negative last quarter split won an age group award, and had two beers afterward.

After I finished I got on some dry clothes and called Cindy to see where she was. She just passed mile 8 which was farther along than I had thought she was going to be. She was just starting to make her way over the bridge. So, I started walking out to find her and pace her in. When I met up with her, it was around mile 11 and she was still doing well, even mixing in some running. I cheered on the marathoners as they passed. She got in under the goal time that I had for her in 3:28. It was a really good race for her.

We had some BBQ at the finish and beers. I picked up my age group award which was a nice hand-painted coaster and cheered on other marathon finishers. We then ventured back to Southport for brunch at Cafe Koa and a couple of mimosas. The race and the weekend were truly memorable.

The Least Fun - Night Train 50K (Catching up)

 One of my Strava friends posted that the Night Train Half Marathon was the least fun you can have in a half-marathon. I told her to multiply that by 2.5 and you would get the least fun you can have in a 50K. This isn't a race-bashing post. Although I can be critical of races I know how hard it can be to organize, direct and time a race. The "least fun" label actually relates to the course, not the race organization.

Just two weeks after running the Windsor Castle 10 Hour, Cindy and I ventured to Farmville, VA to do the half-marathon and 50K respectively. I wanted to get a long run in at night for training and Cindy, at the last moment, said that she would do the half-marathon.

Farmville is a quaint university town in Virginia, home of Longwood University and  Hamden-Sydney University. The 31 mile High Bridge trail runs through the town, the site of the races. Greenfront Furniture and Rugs was born in Farmville and is the center of commerce in the town beside the universities.

Night train means that most of the 50K runners would run the latter part of the race and finish at night. This meant that the race would start in the evening, specifically at 5:30. Except for a few 5K's I had not run a race that started in the evening, especially an ultra. I have run an ultra into and through the night but had not had to wait around all day to start a race. Waiting around was a challenge. We didn't want to go out and hike around or be too active all day but sitting around would make us a bit more anxious. It was also a challenge related to eating. After having run hundreds of morning races at all distances, I had the morning eating routine down to a science. But, with an evening start, I needed to determine breakfast, then lunch, and even a light afternoon snack.

Now let's get to the weather. It was early summer in the middle of Virginia with a start time of 5:30. So, it was the hottest time of the day with the temperature being 90 degrees.  OK, so this is expected. I chose to run this race during this time knowing darn well it was going to be hot. Of course, being the highest temperature of the day meant that it was going to get cooler, relatively speaking. When I finished after midnight it was around 72.

The least fun part comes with the course. Running over one of the longest, highest bridges in the country was appealing and it was beautiful, although the only thing you could see were trees. Due to Covid, the start was moved to a section of the course called Camp Paradise which was just a half-mile or so from the bridge. We would cross it early and then cross it just before the finish. The high bridge trail is 31 miles long. For most of the trail, trees and bushes enclose the trail so there are no views of anything. However, the trees provided shade and protection from the piercing sun.  Five miles from the start and five miles from the finish, we would run through the heart of Farmville and past Three Roads Brewery. How I wanted to stop there and join the patrons cheering us on and having a nice cold one. We did have a cold one there the evening before and it was quite tasty.

Aid stations were between 5-6 miles apart, nice volunteers, well-stocked, had popsicles and ice, watermelon, and coke. I love coke in an ultra! I am not sure why but this course was measured to be 16 miles out and 16 miles back for 32 miles. I am not sure if the RD didn't know that a 50K is 31 miles or not or why it was measured that way. It was a straight, flat out and back course. It doesn't matter in the long run since we all had to run the same distance. The course was monotonous, straight, flat, encompassing trees around the trail. It was like running with blinders on.

"I will tell you when it happened in the race but to be honest it happened before the race." This was a quote from someone on a podcast and after my epic equipment failure in this race, it was all that I could think about. I decided to use a minimalist pack to carry a few items. For water, I carried a handheld but wanted something to carry a buff, collapsable cup, gu, and lights. The pack had an issue with the clasp which I thought that I fixed a week before the race with duct tape. Hey, duct tape fixes everything, doesn't it? Well, later in that week the tape was not working so I decided to try velcro. That seemed to do the trick as long as I opened it gently.

So, a mile into the race, the velcro came undone and the small pack was hanging loose on my shoulders. Cindy mentioned using a safety pin to try and pin it. I tried, and it worked for a little bit but in the process of trying to pin, I dropped my buff and later found out my collapsable cup. Then I had to try and find a way to tie it but still allow access to and use of the pockets which had my gu and lights in. It worked but when it got dark I tried to get my handheld flashlight and I had tied one of the strings through the string of my flashlight and could not get it out of the pocket. I also could not untie what I had tied because I had tied everything in knots. So then I tried to get my headlamp out and again it was in a pocket that was tied shut but with enough opening to struggle and retrieve it. Finally, I get it onto my head and can see where I am going although I only needed to go straight. The last miles, maybe even 10 miles, were miserable. I usually feel decent after completing a marathon or ultra but with this one, I was just glad it was over and I could go back to the hotel and sleep. It was not fun. It wasn't fun at any point.

Cindy met up with a family of raccoons on her journey. I don't think she had much fun either but it was a weekend away in a new town and we did something active. So, from that perspective, it was a good weekend, but just not a good race.

The organization and the volunteers were great and I am not complaining about any of that. For me starting a race at 5 PM with 92 degrees didn't agree with me. I am a morning runner and the later it gets in the day to start running, the worse it gets. For you evening runners, this race might be right up your alley (or your trail). There is also the Freight Train Ultra 50K and 100K on the same trail. Just know what you are getting into, straight out and straight back, flat course. It might sound good. It's not!