I signed up for this race as a mini dress rehearsal for Hennepin Hundred as well as a long (very long) training day. Two weeks prior to this race I had also run a 6 hour race for a long training day and to practice nutrition. Due to the heat, I failed at trying anything other than gels and did a lousy job at taking in enough of them. So I really needed another shot at a race simulation to practice that important piece of the race. I had also gotten a new vest in June as the straps were starting to fray on my previous one and also the bottles were impossible to get in and out, so I was wanting to try a different brand/model. However the straps on this new (12 liter) vest were rubbing my neck during the two trial runs, which was frustrating and had me stressed about how that would work for 24+ hours of running. After talking to a friend who had the same issue, she had switched to the 5 liter version of the vest with no issues, so I quickly ordered one which arrived Thursday before the race. I tried it on and the straps did not come in so close and rub my neck, hooray and phew! However I was trying this out without any practice runs, so I was still a little nervous about chafing.

The race started at 8p (finishing at 8a) and was located about 4.5 hours away in Garnett, Kansas. It is on the same trail I had run my 50 miler in 2020 and 100k in 2023, so I was pretty familiar with the surrounding areas. I booked hotel about 30 minutes away (not many places to stay in the actual town of Garnett), so I would have a place to hang out and relax before the race, and then also could shower/nap post race before driving back home. I checked into the hotel around 3p, plenty of time to relax and rest up before the race, however my nerves were rattled! I kept trying to use logic to get myself to calm down, knowing this wasn’t really a ‘race’ for me, it was a long training day (well night!) and it was a very small race, so super duper low key. However, fear of all of the unknowns had me feeling out of control and anxious. This is something I’m trying to work on, remembering there are many things I cannot control, control what I can and what will happen will happen, but my brain doesn’t like that answer.

I headed to the race site around 6p, stopping for more bags of ice for my coolers. After having issues with figuring out where to enter the park (there was a tractor pull event going on in the original entrance we were supposed to use, I still need to google what that is, lol), I finally found it. I quickly got my spot all set up with my chair, bag of supplies, 2 coolers (one with water and pre mixed Skratch, and another with an extra jug of water and more ice), and my chair. As people arrived and set up they were just hanging out in their chairs/areas so I tried to relax and do the same. I pulled up my phone to get my spotify playlists pulled up when I realized I hadn’t downloaded any I had wanted to listen to. I had them on my watch and also on my ipod, but this was the first time I was using my phone for music and totally forgot. Ugh. I had a few other playlists and podcasts downloaded, so I had some things to listen to if I needed the distraction or motivation but I was a little bummed. The reason for the change in electronics was that I wanted to wear my shokz headphones so I could hear what was going on around me (they are bone conducting so nothing goes into your ears), but bluetooth uses up the battery in my iPod and watch way too quickly, so using my phone in airplane mode was going to be the plan. I will be better prepared for race day for sure!

Soon it was time for the pre-race announcements and then we gathered at the starting area and after a little countdown, we were off! I tried to take the pace easy, but was feeling excited since I had fond memories of running on this trail and was happy to be running on it again, even if it was just a 2.5 mile stretch of it. I glanced at my watch and saw 9:45 pace and thought I needed to slow down a tad, but the first mile ended up being around that pace, however the next mile was a little slower. When we hit the turn around I saw 2.7 miles on my watch and made note since the loops were advertised as 5 miles, but would really be 5.4ish miles. As I made my way back to the start it was already getting dark, I had my headlamp on ready to go but didn’t need to use it just yet. Once I got back to the start/finish I grabbed my PB&J, refilled my bottles and was back on the trail. I was determined to practice eating real food, so after the gel I took at mile 4, I was team ‘real food’. I took my first quarter of my PB&J sandwich and happily ate it, feeling like a kid from the nostalgia. As I got near the turnaround the sun had set and it was finally getting dark so I turned on my headlamp and quickly noticed bugs and creatures I hadn’t seen in the daylight. What looked like diamonds on the trail were little spider eyes, and what concerned me more was how many of them there were, lol, all over! I made it to the turnaround and headed back eating more PB&J quarters and looking for the spiders.

Back at the start/finish, I grabbed another PB&J, a gel for backup, refilled bottles and started loop 3. I took a bite of my first quarter of the PB&J and suddenly it was not appealing at all, too much bread and it no longer sounded good. Oh boy. I had planned to eat them at least for 6 of the 12 hours, this was a plan change early into the race. I knew each quarter was about 50 calories, so if I could at least eat one plus a gel each loop, I would be getting close to my calorie goal for the hour, so that was the plan. I also decided to find something to listen to because my brain was struggling accepting that I still had over 10 hours of running ahead of me and that….well, it sounded long, very long. The one thing that was really keeping me going was that I drove 4+ hours to do this race, so only doing a 20 mile run was not going to cut it for such a long trip. Doing more math I thought even a 50k (31 miles) wasn’t really enough either. Ugh, ‘I just needed to focus on the loop I was on’ I told myself and just keep moving.

At the beginning of loop 4 I noticed I was starting to get tired since my usual bedtime is 9pm so being up past 11 felt late. I was worried how I would do as the night went on, but was hoping it was just a tired slump and I would get past it. I did have some mini cokes back in the cooler and decided maybe it was going to be time to open one before the next loop. I drank 1/2 of a mini can before loop 5 and definitely felt more alert. Loops 5 & 6 I followed the same strategy as loops 3 & 4 – taking a few walk breaks, and eating 1/4 of PB&J and a gel. I was getting excited to hit the six hour mark, which meant I was halfway through. I managed to hit 30 miles right at six hours. I knew I wouldn’t be able to double that as my pace had significantly slowed from my earlier loops pace, but thought 50 miles was definitely in reach, so that became my new mileage goal. My stomach was getting a little grumpy so at the end of the loop 6 I stopped by the bathroom before refilling bottles and opted for just gels on this loop in hopes that it would be easier on my stomach.

On loop 7 I could to hear coyotes howling back and forth and hoped they were not nearby. That was motivation to run the whole time! I also saw a possum scurry across the trail and little raccoon eyes in the bushes. These critters were fun to see, and I would be happy as long as I didn’t encounter a snake. They sleep during the night I told myself (I don’t think that’s really true). Another thing I didn’t expect were the amount of spider webs I kept running through. Those spiders were fast! The runners was pretty spread out running on the trail so I did not expect the spiders to get enough time in between runners to create a web, but they did. There were a couple of huge ones I had to veer to miss, scaring me every time in fear I’d run into it and take the spider with me! As I finished this loop, I decided I was going to walk the next one in hopes that I could eat more solid food and keep my stomach happy (it was getting angry), as I had enough time buffer to still finish 50 with a loop of all walking.

Back at the start/finish I refilled my bottles, grabbed peanut butter pretzel bites and a gel. I headed out for loop 8 and ate a couple of the pretzel which my taste buds seemed happy about and so far stomach felt better. I really tried to focus on walking fast/with a purpose as my usual every day pace is pretty slow. I had good practice during the month of light activity post-hernia repair and all I could do was walk, and by the end of the month was averaging a 16ish mile walking pace. I was listening to a Rich Roll podcast that had me entertained, however it probably didn’t help me with keeping up a good pace, so I was averaging closer to 18 minute miles, but I reassured myself that I still had plenty of time. More coyotes howling and many, many more spider webs.

As I came back to the start/finish area I had another quick dash to the bathroom and then I knew with it being close to 9.5 hours, this might be my last big loop before I started the mini 1 mile loops (during the last hour, we switch the running .5 mile out and back). I chatted with a guy who was also starting his next loop and he said this was probably his last loop too. I wished him luck and told him I was going to get back to running for ‘the final push’. I found my Moby playlist and was off! I felt a wave of motivation and also could see that the sun was beginning to rise. It was weird realizing it was 5:20a and I had been running since 8p, I couldn’t get my head around that. The rising sun gave me another wave of energy and gratitude to get to do experiences like this. As I neared the turnaround I turned off my headlamp and thought, ‘I think I have another big loop in me if I can run it the whole time’. I kept running at my ‘fast’ 11:30 min pace until suddenly my stomach had other plans. Maybe the pretzels made it mad (probably not though) or it was just tired of the jostling (most likely), but mission aborted with running. I almost ducked into the woods as it was still semi dark from the sun still rising and I would be slightly hidden, but I could see someone coming towards me in the distance and thought I might not have been fast enough before they came by. Ugh. Deep breathing exercises and no music to keep my mind chill and I tried to relax. Finally I was able to resume running, but had to keep staying calm to try to keep my stomach relaxed until I could get to the bathrooms. Those 2 miles felt like the longest 2 miles ever. Finally, *finally* I made it back to the start/finish and made a dash for the bathrooms. All I kept thinking was ‘I should have taken the Imodium!’. I tried it during the 6 hour race but had some nausea and thought it might have been from taking it, so I was opting out this race. Lesson learned.

Once I got back to my chair/coolers, I saw it was 6:35a, and if my stomach had been happy, I could have gutted out another loop despite my legs being tired. However, I didn’t want to risk it with my finicky stomach and decided to hang out at the start until 7a when we could start doing the 1 mile loops. I ate a banana, sat in the chair and texted updates to JMR and my coach letting them know I was almost done and probably finishing with 50+ miles. Once it was 7a, myself and another guy who was also waiting headed back out for our 1 mile loops, mine being just one to get myself to the 50 mile mark. Sitting in that chair and not stretching were terrible decisions as my left hip was so tight I couldn’t walk without limping. I ended up running a super slow pace (it would have made more sense to walk pace-wise) because it felt better than running. This was for sure the longest mile ever. I kept going though and made it to the turn around, very happy to almost be done but also a little sad that I still had so much time on the clock and was really going to just stop with 45ish minutes left. However I knew I didn’t want to risk injury or go that deep into the well for just a training run in case it really hindered my recovery for the final big training block.

Once I ran back to the start/finish, I officially stopped my watch at 11 hours 15 minutes and sat in my chair, phew. I sent out more texts with my final stats, and after more sitting I decided to start hauling my stuff to the car. At 6:50a the final female said she was finished doing her loops, and they tallied the women’s (of 5, lol) race. I managed to come in first female and got a cool wood plaque, which I thought would be a great addition to out little trophy shelves at home. I finished packing up the last of my gear, thanked the race directors and volunteers for putting on such a great race and headed back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel I showered, attempted a nap and just decided to hit the road. On the drive home I reflected on what a great race experience I had- from the cool sights and sounds during the night portion, to the recharging sunrise, chatting with runners from all over the midwest, and also testing out some new gear. Even if it wasn’t the mileage I had hoped to complete, it was still a definite win and a great experience. I kept thinking ‘I’m so lucky I get to do things like this!’

Now it’s the final big training block before the Hennepin Hundred, boy am I nervous!! I think this is the first race in a long time where I’m thinking… am I going to be able to finish this?! Which is scary but also extremely motivating!