Long Play Trail Run 33 1/3 Race Report
Where: Ridge Manor, Florida
When: March 2, 2019
What: 33 1/3 mile trail race (half marathon and 10k also offered)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2187012372/overview
Goals:
Finish (under time limit) – YES
Finish under 7 hours – NO
Have Fun – HELL YES
Training
After my 50k in October, I took a little break and had planned a different race for the spring, but life happened, so I decided to do this race rather than something a little more ambitious. I convinced my boyfriend to sign up too, so we got our training plans squared away and mostly followed them.
Pre-Race
A couple days before the race, the aid & hydration station locations were announced and it also included the drop bag locations; the drop bag locations were announced as being at mile 9 and mile 25 – to me that seemed a little too early and a little too late to make any type of a difference (spoiler – they were actually at mile 8 and 28 and I didn’t touch my drop bag the whole race). I diligently checked the weather reports 10x a day and as it got closer, realized that we were looking at highs in the mid-eighties and high humidity as well, yowzers.
We woke up bright and early at 3:45, drank some coffee, ate breakfast (toast and tempeh), and headed to the race. Bib pickup started at 5:45, but two ladies were taking advantage of the early start (to allow them an extra hour on the course) and left at 6am.
During the pre-race announcements, we learned that since trails are tricky and never measure up exactly how you want them to, we would be starting the race with a 2 mile out and back on the paved Withlacoochie Trail before returning to the trailhead and jumping onto the single track.
Miles 1-8
I made my way to the back of the 70ish people there and my boyfriend made his way closer to the front of the group. At 7am sharp the race started and we took off on the pavement. I really liked the way the race started with all the room there because it allowed people to naturally spread out over the miles and find their place before we got into the single track trails.
First couple miles I had nice little bits of convo with fellow runners, commiserated with a couple ladies during the section of awful, deep sand horse trail. Around mile 6, I passed Terri Hayes, one of the ladies that had the early start; she’s a beast - 75 years old and does tons of races every year, I first met her when I volunteered for the 11pm-7am aid station shift at a 100 miler back in January.
Around 7.5 miles, a guy came up to me asking where the aid station was and that he swore it was supposed to be at mile 6. I was feeling really great then and said, “I’m not sure, it’s a ~mystery~!” and he replied that, “At a race this long, there shouldn’t be any mysteries.” I thought I was very amusing but commented that probably due to the 2 miles of pavement at the start, it likely meant that the aid station was 6 miles into the trail, not the race. He sped up (to get away from me?) and the aid station was about a half a mile later. That station was run by a lovely couple who brings homemade goodies to races, they had brought them to that 100 miler and I knew I had to snag some cookies. I grabbed a couple cookies, a handful of chips, a pb&j quarter, refilled my tailwind bottle and headed out.
Miles 9-18
Nothing really remarkable for the first 2ish miles after the aid station until I heard a, “YEAAAAHHHH!” from far away. I had heard that sound once before and it was when volunteering for another race in the Croom tract last October. I had never met him, but I knew it was a guy who yelled every time a runner came to the aid station and that it was known to bring runners back to life just hearing it. For a mile I heard, “YEAAAAAAAAAHH!” or “GOOOOOO!” and I knew I’d be coming up to the aid station. Gave a huge thanks to guy when I got my yell, grabbed some chips and trotted away.
Mile 15 was absolutely gorgeous. By far one of the most gorgeous parts of the entire course; beautiful ferns and palms and trees and roots. I actually maybe teared up a little bit because I was so thankful to be feeling so good and have a chance to be out in these awesome woods!
By the way, I am a ridiculous sweater. I sweat a lot and I have tried all the things to keep me from chafing, but my body is constantly finding new and interesting ways to chafe. I use both 2Toms and SNB, but neither of them stand up to the test of long runs without reapplication and my body chooses new spots to chafe in nearly every time. I felt the telltale sign that one of my normal chafe spots was about to start going off, but luckily I was close to the mile 18 aid station and got some lube on it. They had trail toes and I didn’t have issues the rest of the race, so I may experiment with using that for my worst chafe spots. I still chafed on my neck, lower back, underarms, upper shoulders, and sides, but it was all mild.
After applying the trail toes, I grabbed some chips, swigged some gingerale, refilled my tailwind and water, grabbed a rice krispie treat, and gave the run bum a little bit of shit about being a snowbird before I continued on my way.
Miles 19-25
The heat and the hills started to get to me so there was quite a bit of power hiking during this section. Also, I say hills, but I’m Floridian and it needs to be taken with a grain of salt since the total elevation gain for the whole race was around 1500’. I decided it was time to get some electronic distraction going, so I got my headphones and listened to a couple podcasts. As I got closer to mi 25, I heard the, “YEAAAAAAAAAH,” and started to get pumped. Went into that aid station where I was offered a fireball shot. At first I said no, but I really love peer pressure, so I ended up doing a shot with one other runner and the three people working the aid station. Grabbed a pb&j quarter, some chips and happily went on.
Miles 26-33 1/3
Kept on going, walk breaks where needed. Thought about the road marathon I’m doing in a couple weeks and how different it would be from this race. Got to mile 28 and the premium homemade goodies at the aid station, so I grabbed a cookie and a brownie and felt so, so grateful that these amazing people exist and give up their time to volunteer and make races like this happen. Switched from a podcast I couldn’t concentrate on to music after the aid station – should have switched to it sooner, tbh. Did some more walking because there was a bunch of awful sugar sand and I was tired, but shortly after the sugar sand I was revived by the views since the end of the race is where the most gorgeous part of the trail is as it winds along the Withlacoochie River.
Got to the last hydration station at mile 31 (there were 4 or 5 of these along the course, no food, just water and tailwind jugs on a table) and turned my phone out of airplane mode to text my dad and my boyfriend about how I was about 2 miles away. My dad texted back that my BF had said it was more like 3+ miles and I got BIG MAD. Luckily the anger and frustration passed quickly since ‘Til I Collapse by Eminem came on and that was exactly what I needed. And it was 2.5ish until the finish, not 3+.
Kept pushing through and finally saw the trailhead! Ran in and finished at 7:07:21; I got 31st overall and 11th lady. Didn’t quite meet my goal of under 7, but I was okay with that because it was a blast. Got my awesome wooden record finisher’s award and a Neil Diamond LP (they gave records to all finishers, my BF got a record of 50s love songs, lol). I parked my butt in a chair, drank a tasty beer, and discussed the race with my dad and BF. My BF ended up finishing 8th overall, 6th dude, at 5:37:32.
Huge, HUGE thanks to A-1 Ultra Events. I’ve now done two of their races (this and Sweat, Swat, N’ Swear 25k last August) and volunteered at two (Long Haul 100 and the John Holmes Trail Run, which they co-direct) and they’ve been absolutely wonderful. Definitely going to do more of their races!
When: March 2, 2019
What: 33 1/3 mile trail race (half marathon and 10k also offered)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2187012372/overview
Goals:
Finish (under time limit) – YES
Finish under 7 hours – NO
Have Fun – HELL YES
Training
After my 50k in October, I took a little break and had planned a different race for the spring, but life happened, so I decided to do this race rather than something a little more ambitious. I convinced my boyfriend to sign up too, so we got our training plans squared away and mostly followed them.
Pre-Race
A couple days before the race, the aid & hydration station locations were announced and it also included the drop bag locations; the drop bag locations were announced as being at mile 9 and mile 25 – to me that seemed a little too early and a little too late to make any type of a difference (spoiler – they were actually at mile 8 and 28 and I didn’t touch my drop bag the whole race). I diligently checked the weather reports 10x a day and as it got closer, realized that we were looking at highs in the mid-eighties and high humidity as well, yowzers.
We woke up bright and early at 3:45, drank some coffee, ate breakfast (toast and tempeh), and headed to the race. Bib pickup started at 5:45, but two ladies were taking advantage of the early start (to allow them an extra hour on the course) and left at 6am.
During the pre-race announcements, we learned that since trails are tricky and never measure up exactly how you want them to, we would be starting the race with a 2 mile out and back on the paved Withlacoochie Trail before returning to the trailhead and jumping onto the single track.
Miles 1-8
I made my way to the back of the 70ish people there and my boyfriend made his way closer to the front of the group. At 7am sharp the race started and we took off on the pavement. I really liked the way the race started with all the room there because it allowed people to naturally spread out over the miles and find their place before we got into the single track trails.
First couple miles I had nice little bits of convo with fellow runners, commiserated with a couple ladies during the section of awful, deep sand horse trail. Around mile 6, I passed Terri Hayes, one of the ladies that had the early start; she’s a beast - 75 years old and does tons of races every year, I first met her when I volunteered for the 11pm-7am aid station shift at a 100 miler back in January.
Around 7.5 miles, a guy came up to me asking where the aid station was and that he swore it was supposed to be at mile 6. I was feeling really great then and said, “I’m not sure, it’s a ~mystery~!” and he replied that, “At a race this long, there shouldn’t be any mysteries.” I thought I was very amusing but commented that probably due to the 2 miles of pavement at the start, it likely meant that the aid station was 6 miles into the trail, not the race. He sped up (to get away from me?) and the aid station was about a half a mile later. That station was run by a lovely couple who brings homemade goodies to races, they had brought them to that 100 miler and I knew I had to snag some cookies. I grabbed a couple cookies, a handful of chips, a pb&j quarter, refilled my tailwind bottle and headed out.
Miles 9-18
Nothing really remarkable for the first 2ish miles after the aid station until I heard a, “YEAAAAHHHH!” from far away. I had heard that sound once before and it was when volunteering for another race in the Croom tract last October. I had never met him, but I knew it was a guy who yelled every time a runner came to the aid station and that it was known to bring runners back to life just hearing it. For a mile I heard, “YEAAAAAAAAAHH!” or “GOOOOOO!” and I knew I’d be coming up to the aid station. Gave a huge thanks to guy when I got my yell, grabbed some chips and trotted away.
Mile 15 was absolutely gorgeous. By far one of the most gorgeous parts of the entire course; beautiful ferns and palms and trees and roots. I actually maybe teared up a little bit because I was so thankful to be feeling so good and have a chance to be out in these awesome woods!
By the way, I am a ridiculous sweater. I sweat a lot and I have tried all the things to keep me from chafing, but my body is constantly finding new and interesting ways to chafe. I use both 2Toms and SNB, but neither of them stand up to the test of long runs without reapplication and my body chooses new spots to chafe in nearly every time. I felt the telltale sign that one of my normal chafe spots was about to start going off, but luckily I was close to the mile 18 aid station and got some lube on it. They had trail toes and I didn’t have issues the rest of the race, so I may experiment with using that for my worst chafe spots. I still chafed on my neck, lower back, underarms, upper shoulders, and sides, but it was all mild.
After applying the trail toes, I grabbed some chips, swigged some gingerale, refilled my tailwind and water, grabbed a rice krispie treat, and gave the run bum a little bit of shit about being a snowbird before I continued on my way.
Miles 19-25
The heat and the hills started to get to me so there was quite a bit of power hiking during this section. Also, I say hills, but I’m Floridian and it needs to be taken with a grain of salt since the total elevation gain for the whole race was around 1500’. I decided it was time to get some electronic distraction going, so I got my headphones and listened to a couple podcasts. As I got closer to mi 25, I heard the, “YEAAAAAAAAAH,” and started to get pumped. Went into that aid station where I was offered a fireball shot. At first I said no, but I really love peer pressure, so I ended up doing a shot with one other runner and the three people working the aid station. Grabbed a pb&j quarter, some chips and happily went on.
Miles 26-33 1/3
Kept on going, walk breaks where needed. Thought about the road marathon I’m doing in a couple weeks and how different it would be from this race. Got to mile 28 and the premium homemade goodies at the aid station, so I grabbed a cookie and a brownie and felt so, so grateful that these amazing people exist and give up their time to volunteer and make races like this happen. Switched from a podcast I couldn’t concentrate on to music after the aid station – should have switched to it sooner, tbh. Did some more walking because there was a bunch of awful sugar sand and I was tired, but shortly after the sugar sand I was revived by the views since the end of the race is where the most gorgeous part of the trail is as it winds along the Withlacoochie River.
Got to the last hydration station at mile 31 (there were 4 or 5 of these along the course, no food, just water and tailwind jugs on a table) and turned my phone out of airplane mode to text my dad and my boyfriend about how I was about 2 miles away. My dad texted back that my BF had said it was more like 3+ miles and I got BIG MAD. Luckily the anger and frustration passed quickly since ‘Til I Collapse by Eminem came on and that was exactly what I needed. And it was 2.5ish until the finish, not 3+.
Kept pushing through and finally saw the trailhead! Ran in and finished at 7:07:21; I got 31st overall and 11th lady. Didn’t quite meet my goal of under 7, but I was okay with that because it was a blast. Got my awesome wooden record finisher’s award and a Neil Diamond LP (they gave records to all finishers, my BF got a record of 50s love songs, lol). I parked my butt in a chair, drank a tasty beer, and discussed the race with my dad and BF. My BF ended up finishing 8th overall, 6th dude, at 5:37:32.
Huge, HUGE thanks to A-1 Ultra Events. I’ve now done two of their races (this and Sweat, Swat, N’ Swear 25k last August) and volunteered at two (Long Haul 100 and the John Holmes Trail Run, which they co-direct) and they’ve been absolutely wonderful. Definitely going to do more of their races!