HUFF (Huntington Ultra Frigid Fifty)
Some photos.
The good, the bad, and the ugly...
The good: I finished 5th overall and 2nd in the master's competition. The bad: The race was pulled as the National Championship by USATF in the 11th hour. The ugly: I aggravated a 'slight' injury to my hip and ended up in a wheelchair in Indianapolis Intl. Airport after passing out at the check-in counter.
The race took place on Dec. 18th just outside of Huntington IN around the scenic J. Edward Roush Lake. Huff is one of the largest Ultra races in the country with over 200 entrants in the 50K and another 300 in either the 3 X one loop relay or the "sampler" one lap runners.
I showed up in the pre-dawn darkness at the Kil-S0-Quah campground to find a very well organized race. That is somewhat unusual for an Ultra and especially so for a trail Ultra. After picking up my chip (yeah, chip timing!) and number I headed back to the warmth of the rental car. The campground came to life with folks going through pre-race rituals. It was weird having a mix of relay runners doing sprints and 50K runners just moving around trying to stay warm. I did a brisk 10 minute walk and an easy 5 minute jog to get the blood flowing before heading to the line.
The chatter at the starting line centered on the race not being a national championship. It seemed I wasn't the only one who had entered and booked a flight only to find out too late that the title was gone. One of the top runners noted that he didn't find out until the pre-race dinner.
At 8:00 the cannon fired and championship or not, the race was on. The conditions were pretty decent for a December race, 29 degrees at the start and about 39 at Noon. The one lappers started after us, however the relay teams were mixed in and it was pretty hard to tell who was who in the early going. I tucked in during the early going with Stephen Godale and he mentioned, "I'm only here because my brother convinced me to come" and went on to say "I'm hoping to beat him". The younger Godale was already behind us stylishly attired in baggy shorts, OxySox ®, and sunglasses (!).
I was pleasantly surprised that the race had mile markers, which makes it much easier to meet out energy over 32+ miles. I didn't realize that the first mile was short on the first loop, as we ran 1/2m on the road to spread things out prior to hitting the single track. I laughed when we hit the mile at 5:14, and mentioned that "I hope all of them are this short". I figured afterward that it was probably about 1:30 short.
The first 3 miles of the course were nice, a mix of footing (mostly very good), a bunch of twisting trails (good or spotting those in front) and a few ups/downs to use all of the leg muscles. I was just getting warm when we hit the road section, which got us across the dam on the western edge of the lake. This 1 mile stretch was into a very strong wind and I felt it really cut through me. We headed back into the woods and hit the first aid station. I took a gel from my pocket and was not happy when I realized that somehow I had dropped two of the four packets I had. This did not bode well as I like to take a gel every ½ hour for the first 2 hours of the race. I figured I'd just drink more coke to make up for it and hope for the best. I was running pretty even splits, in the 630 to 650 range depending on the terrain. Miles 4-8 had some longer up/down (nothing really big) and also some sections with ice and mud. I settled in and tried not to worry about place this early in the race. I did however try to keep Brandon Sybrowsky in sight, as he was easy to pick out with his dreadlocks flying behind him. It is tough to avoid the pull of racing in the early miles, but can really pay off in the long run.
My plantar fascia was taped and feeling okay and the hip was sore but not terrible. A little after 8 miles we crossed a bridge on the Eastern end of the lake and you could see the campground where the start/finish was despite being 2 miles away. The last couple of miles were typical of the course, lots of twist and turns and up/downs. Brandon, Ryne Melcher, Billy Jack and I all passed through the line within 30 seconds. I believe at the time I was in 8th or 9th place but it was very hard to tell with the relay runners. The first loop went by quickly and pretty painlessly. I hit the chip mats and promptly twisted my ankle! The best footing on the course and in front of all of the spectators, too funny. I grabbed some Gatorade and Coke and headed off on the "new" section of the loop.
The new section was a bit rutted and rolling and had a bunch of up/downs, not nearly as nice as the road. A spectator noted that I was in 11th and 5th in the 50k. It was nice to get an idea of where I stood, but I realized any information was suspect. Miles of 641 and 642 bridge the gap with Brandon and Billy as we hit the dam together. Brandon welcomed me back and after a mile together bolted at the 4m aid station. The relay runners were supposed to have green numbers and the 50k runners had red, however both Billy and Brandon had relay numbers. Any idea of what place I was in went out the window. Later in the race I heard anything from 3rd up to 9th. I kept Brandon in sight but didn't want to push too hard with 1 ½ loops to go. I hit the start finish dead even with Billy but could no longer see Brandon in front. I would later find out via the race splits that he must have stopped in the last mile of loop 2 and we had passed him. The splits had him twenty seconds behind at the end of lap 2.
The second loop had gone by very quickly and I was only about a minute slower than the first lap (if you factor in that lap one was 1:30 short). My first lap split was 7th fastest (of finishers in the top 20, there may have been a couple of DNF's ahead) and my 2nd split was 5th fastest. Derek Dippon was leading at the end of the second loop after a very fast opening salvo of 1:06 he came through in 2:21. Eric Grossman and Jamey Lobdell were a little over 1 minute and 2 minutes back respectively. It was nice to have people to catch throughout the race as they got lapped. They all had encouraging words and most yielded the trail. I did have something of a run-in with a group running 3 across with headphones on! They yelled at me for surprising them by passing on the left.
I had taken in a fair amount of Coke and Powerade on the 2nd loop but was feeling tired after the first 2m on the final round. I got to the dam and couldn't see many people in front. I believe that eventual race winner Cameron Stuber went by me just after we exited the 4m aid station. He looked very strong and I when I asked if he was in the 50k he gave a hearty "You bet". He blew by me despite my running a 644 mile. Looking over his splits he ran one heck of a race. He split the first loop in 1:15:53, more than 9 minutes behind the leader. He buried the competition with laps of 1:12 and 1:11. I can only wonder what happened to him in the first lap (missed the start?, ran really conservatively?). The next mile was my slowest of the race (727) as I had taken a good 20-30 seconds to drink down a couple of cokes. My leg was really starting to hurt and the finish was still a long way off. From miles 5-8 I began counting down the miles, saying to myself "Easy 6m trail run left", and "Lunch run 3, no problem". I kept chugging along and heard at the 8m aid station that I was in 5th or 6th but "only 2 minutes out of first". I really wasn't thinking about catching anyone, just keeping rolling along. A 706 mile 8 gave me hope that I was not going to get caught. The next two I covered in 1418 and was keeping a careful watch behind to see who was closing.
Stuber powered home with a 1:11 last lap passing Dippon somewhere in the last mile to snatch the victory. I limped the last .9 in 716, and somehow managed to run the 2nd fastest last lap and take 5th place overall and 2nd master.
Post race was pretty tough. I limped over to the warming tent and filled out my finishing card. My leg was killing me. I took a very cold parking lot shower (via my water bottle) and was in the car heading to Indianapolis within 15 minutes of finishing the race. The 2 hour drive to the airport went okay, but I found that getting out of the car was an experience. My hip had totally seized up and any movement was causing some pretty severe pain. I tried to gut it out and limped to the flight check in. My hands got all tingly and the next thing I knew I was looking up at the ceiling. I spent about ½ hour on the floor with medical personal checking me out. Eventually I got a wheelchair ride and was able to make the flight home. My hope that it would feel better on Sunday was hopelessly optimistic. I couldn't sleep Saturday as every time I moved the pain would bring me back to fully awake. I ended up going to the hospital on Sunday and picked up crutches along with a diagnosis of a possible fracture in my hip. Today I'm heading to Exeter for further tests....
Be careful out there!
dd
Full results at: http://www.huff50k.com/
1 Cameron Stuber IL 29 1:15:03 1:12:40 2:27:43 1:11:28 3:39:11
2 Derek Dippon MN 32 1:06:44 1:14:42 2:21:26 1:19:18 3:40:44
3 Eric Grossman KY 36 1:09:25 1:13:27 2:22:52 1:18:34 3:41:26
4 Jamey Lobdell Jr. MI 41 1:10:18 1:13:04 2:23:22 1:18:48 3:42:10
5 Dave Dunham MA 40 1:11:32 1:14:04 2:25:36 1:17:49 3:43:25
6 Brandon Sybrowsky WA 34 1:11:04 1:14:53 2:25:57 1:18:00 3:43:57
7 Thomas Dever IN 47 1:12:30 1:16:18 2:28:48 1:19:28 3:48:16
8 Billy Jack MI 26 1:11:12 1:14:24 2:25:36 1:24:08 3:49:44
9 Jason Newport OH 34 1:15:53 1:12:04 2:27:57 1:24:45 3:52:42
10 Stephen Godale OH 35 1:13:14 1:19:39 2:32:53 1:24:23 3:57:16
