Freedom Park New Year's Eve 24-Hour Ultra -- 2010-2011

Although I’m not crazy about the idea of running around a 1-mile loop for 24 straight hours, I thought running the Freedom Park New Year’s Eve 24-Hour Ultra would be a good way to see out 2010 and ring in 2011.  (For all my Charlotte friends, that’s Freedom Park in Morganton, NC - not in Charlotte.)  My approach to this race was as a “fun” run.  Fun in the sense that you can run as much or as little as you want.  The race Directors, David and Rhonda Lee, who also put on the Ridge to Bridge Marathon, are fantastic people and I knew their ultra would be well staged and a lot of fun.  Plus, it’s close to home and I had some friends who would be running there, as well.

My paltry set-up paled in comparison to Anji & Tracy's General Store

I drove up early on 12/31 and arrived about 6:45 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. start.  My plan was to pitch a tent near the start line which would serve as my aid station/sleeping area.  Not many people were there yet, so I got a good location.  I set up camp next to 2 friends, Anji Paumier-Nussbaumer and Tracy Sproule, who were in the process of erecting something akin to a general store!  I warned them that other runners would probably mistake their set-up for the race’s aid station.  Clearly, I was in a very desirable location.  I also met Bruce Wagoner, a friend of Tracy’s - and now mine - who would run with us for many miles.  I met up with Jonathan Savage, a frequent sight on the ultra circuit, who I had pegged to easily win this race (which he did).

Anji and Tracy's General Store

A note about Jonathan: he is a running machine.  I first met him at the Umstead 100 in 2007 where he finished about 15 minutes ahead of me.  In the ensuing years, he has just taken off and left me in the dust (literally and figuratively).  In addition to winning this year’s race, he won the Keys 100 in May (running from Key Largo to Key West in the FL heat and sun) and the Bethel Hill Moonlight Boogie 50-miler in Ellerbe, NC where the heat index at the starting line was 106 degrees.  He and I were both pacers for the Thunder Road Marathon in December and he had told me then his goal for this race was to break 150 miles.  I had no doubt he could that.  However, when speaking with him on race day, he said he was having some foot problems and wasn’t sure how that would affect him.  More on his finish later.

Anji & Tracy

So Anji, Tracy, Bruce and I toed the line at 8:00 a.m. and we were off.  Each lap is .98 miles and the entire surface is asphalt.  There are 3 risers or small inclines on the loop.  As this was just a go-out-and-have-fun race, my plan was to run a loop and walk a loop, trying to average 12:00 pace, which would include about a 5 minute aid station break every hour.  In theory, that would give me 120 miles for 24 hours, although I knew I would probably be sleeping some during the night and taking longer breaks as the day/night wore on.  My running partners' strategy was to run 4 loops and walk one, which was also fine with me as our pace would still keep us at 12-minute miles.  The temperature was a chilly 30 degrees with cloud cover.  The forecast would be for a high of 58 degrees and sunny and a low of 41 degrees by the next morning.  I was wearing shorts, shirt, long-sleeve Hincapie full-zip cycling jersey (my most versatile and valued article of clothing for this run - thanks for the suggestion, Beacham!), beanie and my trusty Injini gloves.  I only brought my road shoes, Mizuno Wave Runner 13, of which I had 2 pairs. 

We pretty much stuck to our pacing strategy for the first 5 hours and were around 25 miles by that time.  I was carrying an insulated Ultimate Direction Fastdraw handheld and drinking water with Elixir (Camelback’s new electrolyte tablet).  About every 1 1/2 hours I would try to take a Salt Stick tablet.  I was peeing after almost every lap for the 1st 4 hours, which was a little disconcerting.  It was a reminder for me to make sure I kept my electrolytes and sodium levels up.  Even though you don’t need to carry anything with you since the aid station comes up every mile, I did because, not only am I very used to it, it’s a good reminder for me to be continually drinking.

Bruce, Scott (friend of Tracy's), Anji, Tracy, John (Anji's husband)

I went into this race having battled some tendinitis in my right foot for the past month.  I felt the swollen-foot feeling in my arch and the pain on the outer ridge of my foot almost immediately and it really never left for the entire run.  But it never really got worse either, so, like so much of distance running, it was just pain management.  Plus, because it was only tendinitis, I knew the likelihood of doing harm was slim.

As is usually the case in the ultra-running community, the company was delightful.  Particularly so with Anji, Tracy and Bruce.  I had run for awhile with Anji and Tracy at the New River 50K in October and knew I was fortunate to have all 3 of them with me.  (This was Anji’s first distance over 50K and Bruce’s first ultra; Tracy is an experienced endurance athlete and retired professional cyclist.)  We would leap-frog each other more as the day and night progressed, but we were never far apart, one of the benefits of a loop course.  The camaraderie of races like these is another reason I love running ultras.

The weather tended to be cooler than forecast with more cloud cover than anticipated.  I was seduced by a Chamber of Commerce forecast of 58 and sunny - which we may have seen for all of 30 minutes.  Otherwise, it was a damp hi-40’s/lo 50’s during the day and a damper hi-30’s/lo-40’s at night with a freshening wind.  Mid-day, I switched from my bike jersey to just a shirt and North Face sleeves, still wearing gloves.  As the sun set, I was back to the jersey.  By midnight, I had also put on my Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover (I absolutely LOVE this pullover) and long pants and wore that for the remainder of the time.

I think I ate more during this race than ever before.  At various times, I ate: potato chips, cooked potatoes with salt, homemade pecan bars and raisin bars (delicious - I had too many of those), chicken soup with potatoes, cookies, a hamburger (at 4 a.m. - I think that was one of the best burgers I ever had), a cheeseburger, 3 slices of pizza, salted peanuts, PB&J and a few other snacks I’m sure I’m forgetting.  I burned a little over 12,000 calories during the 24-hours, but only lost 1 pound.  Not bad.  David & Rhonda always put on a great spread.  The BBQ and peach cobbler after their Ridge to Bridge Marathon is some of the best.

An early morning recovery break for Anji & Tracy

After the first 25 miles or so, my feet were beginning to hurt.  Of all the problems I have encountered running races, I seldom have had any foot issues.  But today would be different.  In addition to the tendinitis, general foot fatigue began to set in and evolved into throbbing feet after midnight.  It seemed I was not alone: most everyone appeared to experience some type foot problems at various times; few were immune.  There’s always a lot of hobbling going on at ultras, but more so here.  In talking with others, the consensus was that running that many miles on asphalt, combined with the camber or slant of the track, conspired to produce a number of foot issues.  By late afternoon, I switched shoes - which had different orthotics in them - and that spelled some relief.  Later on in the evening, I switched from my Injini toe socks to a more padded Zulu seamless sock, and that also helped.  But it never eliminated the problem - it just gave me temporary relief and delayed the onset of more pain.  Around 1:00 a.m., I was concerned about pushing on.  You reach a point when you’re performing a mental risk/reward analysis and assessing whether the prospect of possibly physically trashing yourself for a week or two after the race is worth the increased performance and/or mileage during a race.  This race also had a 6 and 12-hour options, which both started at 8 p.m.  The 6-hour starters would finish at 2 a.m.  I knew a horn would sound to signal the end of the 6-hour option.  So, at 1:15 a.m., I decided to take a nap in my tent and let the 2 a.m. horn wake me up.  That worked well, as my feet recovered a little and I was a feeling refreshed.  Anji, Tracy and Bruce had also been taking a break, so we all started back up a little after 2:00.

Endurance events usually degenerate into a gut check at some point, but on this day it was more so for Tracy.  We were all having varying degrees of foot problems, but she was also suffering through G.I. issues, some serious blistering (think blood), and nausea.  We all have those kind of races, but I give her tremendous credit; she endured when most others would not have and was completing her last lap right along with us.  A true testament to her grit and spirit.  And both Anji and Bruce weathered the inevitable low points of an endurance race like seasoned veterans.

An additional problem I encountered was around mile 38 when I felt a tweak in the top of my left calf (soleus?)  I didn’t think too much about it, but eventually it made it extremely painful to run.  Had I not had the foot problems, the calf may have prevented me from doing much night-time running anyway.  And around 3 a.m. I felt my first blister forming.  I stopped and put on a blister pad, but it didn’t really help.  I ended up running the last 4 hours or so on the outside ridge of my right foot to reduce the blister pain.  The good news was I hadn’t thought about my tendinitis for quite some time!

The 3 of us just before crossing the finish line for the last time. YAY!

I went into this race with no real mileage expectation, truly just wanting to have fun (which I did) and play it by ear.  I was thinking 100 miles was not unrealistic, but knew after 12 hours that would not happen.  I then set my sights on somewhere between 80-89 miles, but knew that may be aggressive given how I was feeling physically - and how that was trending.  By 6 a.m., I decided just to kick back, relax, and enjoy the last couple of hours.  I broke down my tent, packed up and got ready for a victory lap with Anji, Tracy and Bruce.  I ended up completing 80 laps, which equaled 78.4 miles.  I missed a top-10 finish by 3 miles, but I have absolutely no regrets; I did what I could on this day.

At the finish line; 24-hour clock finally showing "0"

Jonathan won the race with 118 laps or 116 miles.  He had an insurmountable lead by around 5:30 a.m., so, realizing he would not hit 150 miles this time, he shut it down early and got some well-deserved rest.  Fabian Pleasant, a 22 year-old recent Naval Academy graduate stationed at VA Beach, gave Jonathan some early competition, even pulling even with him at one point.  Fabian finished with 100 miles.  Fabian hopes to become a Navy SEAL soon and follow in the footsteps of David Goggins, with whom he has run.  I wouldn’t bet against him.  Sarah Llaguno from Cary, NC was the top female runner, easily surpassing the 100-mile mark.  During the entire race, other than stopping at aid stations, I only saw her walk once.  Incredible!

So, congratulations to Anji on by far her longest run ever; to Tracy on an impressive and gutsy performance in the midst of much adversity (they both ran 100K+!) and to Bruce on his first-ever ultra (he, too, was hobbled by foot problems).  And last, but certainly not least, a big thanks to David & Rhonda and all the volunteers who made this race possible.  The person who grilled my burger at 4 a.m. was no less than an angel of mercy to me!  David & Rhonda not only put on quality, runner-focused events, they are two of the nicest people you will ever meet.  If you see a race they are organizing, or being timed by Lee Timing, you know it will be a well-run race.  And, as always, a big thanks to my coach, Nicole Gross, from One2Tri Multisport Coaching.  Thanks for always challenging me and putting up with my craziness.  I couldn't do it without you - nor would I want to!

Until next time.

POST MORTEM: One day later, my blisters are not as bad as feared, hips are stiff, soleus is VERY sore and feet are swollen (toes look like little Vienna sausages!)  The only potential concern is the soleus.

"Now you're so fat your shoes don't fit on your feat
You got trouble."
- Little Feat

Would I run this race again?  The only reason I would hesitate is because of the surface.  On all other fronts, I would not hesitate.