1998 3-14 Holiday Lake 50K

When I first started running ultras 50 miles was the standard course distance. Of course, there weren’t nearly so many races back then and you had to take whatever distance was offered. My first three ultras (twice at Deadwood and once at Mtn Masochist) ended up being 50 milers, and it wasn’t until 1998 that I would try a 50K. My recent racing had been sporadic, I had run a road marathon in 1995, but didn’t do a big race at all in the preceding two years. My only ultra since moving to Knoxville had been Mtn Masochist, but since David Horton directed both Holiday and Mtn Masochist I expected a fun time. This would be the third edition of Holiday lake, which had finally settled in to both its permanent race day date and ultimate course arrangement. My training for the race was unfortunately relatively modest. I started with several 12 milers at Knoxville’s Lakeshore Greenway, but didn’t do too many big weekend runs early on. After the New Year I was finally able to get in some Smokies runs, mostly on the West Prong and related trails near the Townsend “Y”. But still I managed only two 17 milers and a single 21 miler. Jean offered to join me for the trip up to the race. She drove to Jefferson City and left her car at my work, and we both drove north in my car at 330PM. We made a stop for dinner in Wytheville, VA and got to the Super 8 in Appomattox at 930. Back then the race started at 530AM, so we were up at 330 and on the road by 415. With the early start I had a light breakfast cereal with donuts and danish washed down with coffee and juice. The course then was similar to today’s; basically, the Lakeshore Trail in the Holiday Lake 4H Camp to start, and then the majority of the race on the Carter-Taylor Trail in Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest. The race was an out and back run on a loop course, what some folks call a “washing machine.” We started in the dark, but under a full moon. I began with a group of 4 running with flashlights along the lakeshore, probably the most scenic part of the course. Jean would later comment on how pretty it was to watch the string of lights move around the lake. As we moved into the state forest there was an ugly clear cut and some running on a reclaimed logging road. There was a recently cleared section of trail alongside a paved road that had plenty of low stubs from cut off saplings. I stubbed my toes, and stumbled trying to navigate the obstacles in the dark. I got to Aid Station 1 in 40 minutes and was feeling good. The running in the state forest was mostly on old roads with a minor amount of pavement and a pair of easy stream crossings. The terrain was gently rolling, with only a few hills on the order of 100 yards long, nothing like some of Horton’s other courses! The only tough stretch was from Aid #4 to the turnaround. Horton had recently added that section to the course and, not surprisingly the change added some bonus distance as well. Temperatures would stay in the 35-40F range, ideal for fast running. I met Jean at the turnaround and gave her my fanny pack. With the aid stations only ~3 miles apart, there was no reason to carry anything extra. I ran essentially all the first loop and pulled into the turnaround in 2:58, and in ~40th place. Just beyond the turnaround my lack of training began to catch up to me. The outer sides of both knees began to hurt, probably because of inflammation in my IT bands. I was forced to run in short segments, 1/4 to ½ mile at first, but sometimes only a few hundred yards before I needed to walk a hundred yards or so to let the pain subside. I had a running partner between aid 6 and 7, but otherwise ran solo. Later on, my hip flexors also got sore, another symptom from my lack of conditioning. Ironically though I was never low on energy, and felt I could have run the whole course if my knees had held up. I finished the race in 6:22, 47th out of 71 finishers. Despite the amount of walking needed to finish, the time remains my official PR for 50K. We left about an hour after I finished, and again stopped to eat at the Country Kitchen in Wytheville. I drove for an hour after lunch, but otherwise slept for much of the drive. We got home at 8:15 and I promptly slept for 13 hours and was barely able to walk a mile and a half in the neighborhood the next day. Longer term, my recovery was good, we were able to go backpacking on most weekends after the race and I had no issues on our long awaited ranger-led backpack trip to AZ’s Wupatki National Monument in April. I learned the hard lesson that I really needed some longer training runs in my pre-race preparations. I would fair well the next year running the Mt. Mitchell Marathon, but suffered from extremely painful IT bands when I twice tried the longer Black Mountain Challenge 40-miler. IT band issues and tendonitis would continue to flare up through about 2014 before a combination of added strength/stretching work and the ability to maintain a higher base level of fitness seemed to address the problem.