Running with pure-flow is one of my absolute favorite things. Pure-flow is when the rhythm of my stride, my breathing, the momentum of the trail, and everything around me all comes in sync. I'm listening to my feet strike the ground, the air fill in to my lungs and then back out; the wind through the trees, the life all around us. Everything is synced up and propelling me through every step, every little moment is new, fresh and alive. The Hawk 100(k) of 2018 provided me with more great miles of this than any race I can remember.
The morning started out with the perfect temperature for a run. I remember thinking to myself in the pre-race start area; shouldn't you be nervous right now? Shouldn't you be feeling something? Those questions really define a lot of what running has become for me, moment based, mindful of what’s around me at that moment; not of what is in front of me the next minute, hour, or day. Its my mind escape, my vacation in the middle of a day; it's my way of leaving this world for a little while and going into my own. Nothing else has ever provided me that same feeling. Standing there in the dark in just my running shoes and shorts with a little waste pack and a handheld water bottle; I avoided the nerves because I wasn't thinking about everything that was about to unfold. I was in the moment, talking to friends, taking photos, being present. That would be the theme of the entire day, being present in every moment in nature.
"3, 2, 1.. and go" and we all started our 100-mile journey onto the North Shore Trails of Clinton Lake. Immediately into the tress and back on those trails I could feel what a connected day this was going to be. Everything was wet from the rainfall the night before and my headlamps would catch the fog when I looked up to check the rocks on the trail in front of me. I knew 60 seconds in to the day that I was back in my element, doing my thing, about to embark on one of those magical days. The sun coming up on Red Shore trail was about as breath-taking as any view I've ever seen anywhere in this country. The way the lake appeared to sit still and watch us roll by as the first signs of morning light appeared. If you are ever in the area, go hike the Red Shore Trail miles; you will not regret it.
I did a great job of staying mentally in each mile throughout the day. I did this because going into the race I had a good race strategy My goal was to run 75% of the miles out on these technical trails under 13 minutes each. The remaining miles; each under 20 minutes (mostly aid-station miles). This worked really well for me to stay in the flow, stay focused on the mile I was in, and keep me focused on one small goal that was always obtainable but having it a part of a bigger goal. I did the math and with this pacing strategy I'd be done around 22 hours. This worked well for me and I will keep it as a part of my ultra-strategy in races ahead.
On to the data of the race; the course is is 4-25mile loops. I came in loop 1 in 4:20. Which was perfect for me. Not too fast, 3:50 was my time last year coming in loop 1. It should be noted I was doing the 50 last year not the 100 in 2017. I felt terrific at the end of 25 miles and got great support at the Start Finish area. The volunteers at the Hawk are all simply amazing. I got such great support every time I came into any Aid Station. When I signed up for the Hawk100, I decided to tackle this challenge solo, so no crew or pacers. I've never really done that for a 100-miler and I wanted to really feel everything that doing it this way provided. I do not regret that decision one bit.
The 2nd loop took me right at 5 hours; putting me half way through the race in 9.5 hours. Which I felt great about, I had in my head to turnout this 3rd loop faster than the 2nd one. I headed out of 50 eating and hiking until I got all the food in my hands down then I started running again. I hit quite a few of my miles in under my goal time as I crushed the blue trail towards Cactus Ridge. Those ones up there though I struggled to keep the miles under 13 as they are a bit more technical with some climbs; so, I fought and worked through them and would make some and would miss some. That was the beauty of this strategy. Every mile was a new challenge, every mile effected the overall percent. On the day I was still averaging almost 80% of my miles under that 13min mark and none over 20min (including Aid Station miles). Which allowed me for some slower miles on loop 4 to still hit my 75% overall. I know; that is a lot of numbers and math.
That brings me to my other thought about ultra-distance running. Pure flow and mindful of the moment running works so great but without something like this race strategy; I can loose it too quick. The way these 2 things meshed together fueled one another. If all I had were the mile goals ; my demeanour could easily go to upset or bitter with the passing miles. Or if all I had was the mindful running skills; it's very easy to get nonchalant about the whole thing, those "Why am i even doing this" feelings can start to creep in. But with the 2 meshing together how they did; I never had any of that.
I hit the West Park Aid station at mile 60 and didn’t really grab anything as I would be hitting it again at 63. I went and got those 3 miles done, each one under goal. I got back into West Park Aid and got some food in me, got my headlamps on and filled up my bottles. I was feeling great leaving here. I wanted to see if I could get the last 10 miles of this loop done in 2 hours. I remember having this feeling here when I was on the blue trail sometime between mile 50 and; 60. This feels as if this Hawk 2018 run is going to be my masterpiece of ultra-running, my Jurek's AT run, my Kaci @ States, my best for a sustained period of time, uninterrupted by any of the forces around me.
I wasn't 5 minutes out of this Aid when a regular ole foot strike on the dirt path felt like fire on the middle of my right foot. I tried to come down on it again and the second strike hurt so bad I immediately went to just hopping on the one foot. I sat down in the grass, which got me some nasty oak mite bites, ripped off my shoe and sock and inspected it. There was nothing there, but if I touched it with my finger it felt like fire. I put by sock and shoe on and tried again; same damn thing. If anything touched this part of my foot; fire. I figured out how to walk on the heal of that foot and fought with that until the next AS, 5 miles away. I laughed at the ultra-god’s a bit during this. I'm like you're not going to get to me, this isn't going to be it for me. I'll get it back at Lands’ End. But after 3 phone calls and chatting it through with my people I made the decision to call it at mile 70. I don’t feel like this was a super hard decision as there wasn't really a feasible alternative. I've DNF'd some races in my time in this sport; and believe me they have stung. I even had one this past year that put me in a serious funk for quite a few months. This one is not doing that. I had quite possibly the best 60 miles of my trail running life. I don’t feel I’ve ever sustained pure flow for that long at a race before. Uninterrupted, mindful, 100% engaged with everything around me, trail-running for 12 hours and 65 miles is what I will remember. Over the next 6 months I am going to crave the way I felt during those 65 miles way more than I am going to woe calling it a day at mile 70. x
xx - happy trails
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jeff
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