The course was a 4.47 mile loop on mainly technical single track trails. Some of the terrain was easy on the foot pinestraw covered sand, but most of the loop was fairly root covered. Not much of it was flat.
Camp Jimbo
I arrived an hour before the start, had plenty of time for a coffee in the heated auditorium, and set up the car as my own mini-aid station, just over the way from "Mrs. Doom's all you can eat buffet"
I ran smartly, ate and drank regularly and took occasional sit down breaks (the longest was about 20 minutes when I had to "check-in" for my flight the next day at exactly at 2:25pm - if you have ever flown Southwest before, you will realize the importance of getting an "A" seat - I would not have enjoyed getting the middle seat to the west coast just a few hours after finishing a 100K run.... but still, that was what my Blackberry was designed for, and it was fairly painless, and I did enjoy the break).
My 50 mile split was about 12:30 - which was pretty good I think given the course.
Sometime on my 11th Lap, I caught up with Ray K, a veteran of several hundred Ultras over the last two or three decades, by then, I knew that I would enjoy the company, so I hung out with Ray, mainly walking, until the end of the race, listening to stories, and listening to him singing his Beatles repertoire! I thoroughly enjoyed those last few laps, Ray is a great character and terrific company. The only dampener was that it did start raining, and gradually got heavier and heavier over the last 3 laps, and it was quite a soaking rain towards the end and was pretty uncomfortable.
My finish time was 17:57, and being as it is my first 100K, that makes it a PR, and gives me a time to beat next year.
So, a heartfelt thanks to Marie Lewis, the RD for putting it all together. In addition, a big shout out to all of Marie's friends and family who all did an outstanding job volunteering - Mrs Doom's all you can eat buffet was brilliant, and the service was superb.
I'm looking forward to next year's race already.
Jimbo and Marie after my first lap
GREAT job on conquering a new distance.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE Weymouth Woods. There is plenty of distance out there and the terrain is just smooth enough for some tempo efforts with those gradual slopes and long flat areas. Also, the boggy sections can be quite amazing places to just sit and listen.
I believe I made a bad choice when I decided to miss this one! Was worried about the distance. Great job Jim! You've turned into one running fool!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteWhat you need for southwest is a "southwest buddy". I have my dad check me in when I am on travel and cannot check in online. He knows that in our family blood is not thicker than water:-)
By the way, the New River Trail 50 km is now open...you may want to sign up. I think it may be an ultra that catches on and at some point does fill up quickly. It was so well run and the cookies along the course were so YUMMY!
Take care,
Tammy
Sean - I can definitely see me visiting Weymouth Woods more often. It is just 30 mins or so from home, and I know the pups and I will love to do a few loops.
ReplyDeleteFrank - definitely a bad choice missing this one! The race is just terrific. Marie should be incredibly proud of the way it turned out. I can't recommend it highly enough. 100K is a nice distance - sure, it is tough, but with 20 hours to do it, plus an "all-you-can-eat-buffet", you should be fine next year :)
Tammy - I like the Southwest Buddy idea (I also like the idea of having a sit down break.......) - If I knew anything about computer programming, I would come up with an "app-for-that", which would mean that your phone checks you in automatically exactly 24 hours before the flight. Thanks for the reminder on New River Trail 50K, I am very interested. I need to ask you if you think it had any effect on your Javelina run last year? I'm planning on JJ100 - and am a little worried about doing this 2 weeks before.... let me know what you think if you have a moment.