We Are Officially One Week Out from Race Week!
The time has flown by. Thinking back to the start of all this, it’s been almost a year since Chris first brought up the idea of doing a 100k and then a 100-mile ultramarathon. It hasn’t really started to feel like it’s actually happening. With the race right around the corner, the past two weeks I’ve been tapering my miles and focusing on maintaining everything I’ve built over the past year without getting sick. So far, every time I’ve done a taper, it feels as if you’re losing the endurance you’ve built up, but trusting the process is part of the game. This week, I will only run around 20-ish miles, and then the week of the race, Hannah and I will head over to Arkansas a few days early to get in a few more miles on the trail. We’ll explore the starting portion of the race trails and then focus on making sure we have all our ducks in a row for the Friday morning start.
Last weekend, Hannah, some friends, and I were able to go camping over in Arkansas at a campground that is one of the locations for an aid station we will be stopping at during the race. While we were there, we checked out a few parts of the trail after mile 50 and after mile 67. The trails are definitely going to be a lot more technical than what we’ve been able to run on here in Oklahoma, with lots of trees and debris blocking portions of the course. It’s nothing we won’t be able to work around, but we are in for an adventure, to say the least.
Our goal is to finish the race around the 30-hour mark, which will require an average pace of around 15-16 minute miles. The biggest climbs will be between the mile 50 and mile 61 aid stations. The challenging part about this section of the race will be doing it in the dark and having to push our legs up the switchbacks and hike over large rocks after having already run 50 miles and climbed 10,000+ feet in elevation by that point. Thankfully, at this point in the race, we will get to pick up a pacer to run with us into the night. The pacers for the race will consist of my cousins Carly and Jake, and then Hannah and Devon. Jake will pace us starting at mile 50 for 11 miles, Hannah at mile 61 for 6 miles, Carly at mile 67 for 17 miles, and Devon for 11 miles at mile 84.
In addition to the elevation gain/loss throughout the course, there are a few other challenges we might have to encounter. Apart from navigating unclear trails, we may have to cross upwards of 28 water crossings, which brings with it the joy and challenge of running with wet feet and shoes. However, when Hannah and I were on the trail, every water crossing we encountered was completely dried up, which would be great if that were the case on race day. The forecast currently shows rain for the two days leading up to the race, with Friday being partially cloudy and more rain on Saturday and Sunday. Keeping our feet dry and free from blisters will be crucial in a race like this. Thankfully, temperatures are expected to have highs in the low 70s and lows in the mid-50s overnight, so they shouldn’t be too extreme.
My game plan is to split the race into three sections: the first section being “the warm-up” (Miles 0-50), the second section “into the darkness” (Miles 50-80), and the final section “the final push” (Miles 80-101). The first 50 miles will involve a lot of power hiking on inclines and just enjoying the miles. We won’t be pushing too hard but will focus on finding a rhythm, hopefully reaching the 50-mile marker right around dusk or after. At the 50-mile aid station, we will make a quick change into dry clothes and reset for the night. The first 11 miles after mile 50 will involve narrow trails along switchbacks, hiking over large rocks and downed trees. During this section, the priority will be staying awake, keeping the mind active with conversations with pacers, and eating as much as my body will allow. During “the final push” (the last 20 miles), the sun should start to come up about halfway through. My pacing goal is to run the last 20 miles, which will hopefully make this section go fairly fast. The challenge will be conserving enough energy and muscle strength for that final push at the end.
There are currently 13 runners for the 100-mile race, with a wide range of experience. Some runners, like Chris and me, have never run a 100-mile race before, while others have placed in the top 100 of races like the Western States 100, one of the oldest and most competitive 100-mile races in the country. Our primary goal is simply to finish the race within the 38-hour time limit, but if we are close to the end and have a chance to place, we will go out hunting. If we stick to our plan and the day turns in our favor while others’ plans fall apart, we might just have a chance at being the first people ever to finish the Hare Mountain 100 Ultramarathon.
f you want to follow along on race day, I’ll have a tracker on me that updates our position every 10 minutes. The link to that is: https://maps.findmespot.com/s/5NCZ
The countdown has begun; it’s time to start the adventure into the unknown.
-T
