The race was excellent and the venue was amazing. We actually just got back into town last night after hanging around the mountains a bit longer and avoiding our responsibilities as long as possible.
Mini Trip Report:
Thurs - Ditched work a bit early to pick up the in-laws Airstream and get it loaded up, continued carb consumption and hit the sack early-ish.
Fri - Woke up early and got on the road at 6:45 to get out of town before traffic. Dropped off the lab dog with my parents and headed West. Took the North route out of ATX and followed 29 to 377 to I-10 to 17. Landed in Ft. Davis midafternoon, set up camp, checked in with the Spectrum Crew and then headed South to Marfa for dinner with friends.
Sat - Got up early to shower (hate running dirty), get some fuel, walked 200 yards to the Start/Finish line and took off. Wrapped up 6:15 later and promptly laid down. Had some lunch in the trailer with friends, showered and headed down to Marfa again to meet up with AggieOO and watch the Ags btho auburn at Planet Marfa. Made it until t-sip halftime before I convinced the rib to drive us the 30 minutes back to Ft. Davis.
Sun - Slept in then back to Marfa to meet some people for breakfast and consolidation of vehicles before we turned around and headed past Ft. Davis to Balmorhea for a cold dip in the springs. Ventured out past Valentine to see the Prada installation then to Marfa to relax before dinner. Ate dinner at Cochineal (very meh), had some great drinks at Hotel Saint George and wrapped up at the Hotel Paisano and back to Ft. Davis.
Mon - Drug the rib out on the trails for a bit and took some photos. Headed to Alpine at her request, looked around for a bit, found nothing and drove back to Ft. Davis for the afternoon. Spent some time with the locals and then went back to Marfa for dinner. Ate at one of the three open restaurants (Monday is a bad day for tourism in West Texas) and then hung out at El Cosmico with some friends until dark. Back to Ft. Davis.
Tues - Packed up shop and headed back to Austin. Had a little scare with gas but luckily coasted into Junction. Picked up the fur baby and made it home without consequence.
Race - The race was more difficult than I had anticipated. This was my first ultra and only my second marathon or longer race. I've done several 30k's now and extrapolating on those, I was prepared for about an hour per 10k for 5 hours total. I finished in 6:15 in fourth place, well beyond my goal time but way above my expectations being so close to the podium. The general race route was a 7.5 mile loop followed by a 12 mile loop and a 3.5 mile loop back to the S/F for one more try at the initial 7.5 mile loop. I started, at what I thought, was about 1/3 of the way back in the pack and we set off. That initial 7.5 mile loop was fairly well maintained, had some solid sections that could be run at speed and provided some great views. It included a dip down into the historic Ft. Davis before heading back up over the top of the mountain. The aid station was in a good spot and AggieOO, his wife and dogs were there cheering the runners on. I passed a few runners early and then followed one for a bit before he took off and I spent most of this loop alone before I caught back up to the same guy again just before the second stop at the aid station. The 12 mile loop into the primitive area was a different animal. It started off OK, with a run along the paved park road to the entrance where my wife was manning the aid station before running 200 yards down along 118 to a culvert to cross under the road. The first 3/4 mile or so on the other side of 118 are fine with 3, thigh deep stream crossings to get your feet wet before a seemingly endless scramble up, down and across a lovely mix of gravel, scree and larger rip rap. The weather was heating up on this loop with very minimal shade and the rocks were punishing on my feet. I spent the first third of this loop within 100 yards of that other runner until he finally stopped to breath. The uphills led to walking and a good chunk of the downhill was across loose enough ground that I ended up walking a lot of that as well. The aid station staff 3 miles in and again at mile 9 of this loop were fantastically upbeat thankfully. I made it back up the side of 118 to see my wife again at the main entrance aid station along with another runner that had caught up with me on the downhills before embarking on a b**ch of a climb up the 3.5 mile loop. I let the other runner lead the way for a bit as he hiked this section of the trail on Thursday before he had to stop to catch his breath and I powered on, cursing every inch of elevation gain. Once I made it to the ridge and my legs regained composure, I was able to do a bit of running along the 3 "peaks" before descending back down to the back side of the Indian lodge on site at the State Park. Passing the swimming pool at the hotel was almost too tempting as I was getting damn close to quitting, but I made it along the park roads back to the S/F to begin the last 7.5 mile loop. The first section of this loop had me pretty down emotionally since I was out of gas, the stepped switchbacks were starting to send some cramp twitches through my thighs and calves and I had missed the hidden aid station at the S/F line and had run out of water and fuel, but I knew I was doing well and the next racer was only a few hundred yards behind me after spotting him on the park road at the S/F. I mustered some energy and managed to run the flats along the ridge to AggieOO's station again where I was able to fill up a bottle of Tailwind and one of water all while dreading the final steep climb that would follow the descent back to the historic site. Finally seeing other 25k runners kept me on track and I made it back to AggieOO one last time before the 1.5 mile, mostly runable, descent to the S/F line.
5,467' of climb per Garmin.
