Winter time is quickly becoming a less hated season than it used to be. In my head at least! The cooler weather means I get to run earlier in the day. My endurance seems to skyrocket. I rarely feel slow or sluggish. Perhaps this is just the perks of living in Texas in the winter. And thanks to Joe Prusaitus(sp?) There are Ultra Races aplenty across the state.
Now here I sit at 8:35 in the morning at work, with less work to do than usual and finally getting a chance to review the Hunstville Rocky Raccoon that I ran 3 weeks ago. I won’t apologize for the length of time it has taken me to review this race. Mostly because I am quite sure no one is reading these.
So it is Feb 5th and I cruise into Huntsville, pick up my packet, and locate our campsite. Once again we are camping less than 5 minutes from the starting line. Beat that at a hotel! To top it off it was around $12 for 2 nights and I was able to bring the dogs. I won’t go into too much detail but I slept horrible. Four guys and three dogs in a four-man tent was ridiculous. Next time people are bringing their own tents and no sharing. Possibly no dogs either, although my two were angels, as always! Probably a total of 3-4 hours of sleep the night before my first hundred miler…I was concerned.
Race morning it is 5:30 I am already awake. I have been for about an hour, begging my mind to sleep just a little bit longer. It was a useless effort so I get up change into race gear and slap on the sweats over top of everything. It is a brisk thirty-something, but not too cold. Quickly gear up and care for the dogs and I am heading for the s
tarting line. I get checked in in the dark, fill up on water, and try to ignore the twins who are rushing around near panic like it is their first run. I make a mad dash for the porta-toilets with ten minutes until race start (nothing unusual here, just nervous). I come back and don’t see the twins. I happen onto my friend Brian, my Mom, Grandma, and little brother. I am expecting good lucks and I know you can do its. Instead I get
a “don’t be afraid to quit” from my mother. Hmm thanks for that…I cut everyone short and try not to show my frustration and building anger. I pick my way about mid way throught the largest crowd of runners I have ever seen at an Ultra-Marathon starting line. It turned out to be about 350 runners just for the 100 miler.
The Race: 5 twenty mile loops. 5
aid stations. 30 hour time limit.
The course was marked fantastically. The course was beautiful. Trees, nice dirt trails, a lake in the mix every once in a while, and just a nice wooded trail run. The 20 mile loop seemed to drag at a few points but otherwise it was a very runnable 20 miles. A bit crowded on the trails with 750 runners (100 and 50 milers) for the first lap or two.Very flat terrain with a few rolling hills that required minimal effort to climb. Now here is where I noticed most people making the mistake. They ran too much, too fast, too early. I kept a slow steady pace for the first 40, and was passed quite often. After 40 I realized I could pick up my pace because I still had plenty left in the tank. I think my fastest loop was the 60-80
mile loop, or it was very close to being my fastest. This is also where I passed the majority of the runners walking along. At this point the elite runners were finished, showered, rested, and on their way to being recoevered. Me, I had another loop to go. 1:30am to 7:30am. This lap went much smoother than expected. I stayed awake fairly well, with minimal hallucinations in the middle of the night. I also only saw a handful of ot
her runners. The hardest part now was staying awake and staying warm. I ran as much I could bcause that was the only way I could stay warm. Temperatures dropped to about 35 and I only had shorts on, and I kept sweating through my gloves and spilling soup on them at every aid station. Wet gloves made things a bit cooler. My biggest difficulty was avoiding mud puddles. The course had a few large sloppy muddy, steal you
shoes, mud puddles. After dark I hit every single one of them ankle deep with both feet. I finished the race strong (family said I looked like I could run another 100) at 25:31:26. My first buckle, I could not be prouder, it is beautiful.
I probably could have pushed a sub-24 finish, but for my first hundred I still wasn’t sure what my body could handle and my main focus was a finish. Now back to the race. The aid stations were the best ever. This was my first hundred to race in, but not my first to be at. I have crewed for the brothers for about a year and have seen some dismal looking food at aid stations after dark. Every aid station had hot food, cold food, anything you could possibly want, and then some! The staff and volunteers were awesome, and very helpful to those that needed it. Except for one guy who assured me he filled my camelbak to the top, but when I checked it was still just a light as when I ran into the station, everyone was beyond expectation. After the race we went to the awards ceremony, which we never do, and Joe awarded some really nice awards to accomplished runners. The event was catered with some delicious looking food. Unfotunately this was $12 dollars a plate and I am a budget runner. Overall a very well organized race and race director. I will definatly look for Joe and his wife’s names when I sign up for races throughout Texas. As far as Rocky Raccoon and Hunstville, it was a great course to run. Fun, fast, and scenic.
Thanks for a great experience Joe!
Jeremy E. Elwell
