Tortoise and the Hare 50k Race Recap

I don't exactly remember where I first saw The Tortoise and the Hare 50k advertised, but once I looked into the idea behind the race I knew that I wanted to be a part of it.  The goal of the race is that they want everyone to finish as close to 3pm as possible.  In order to do this everyone chooses a wave start time that will allow them to finish around 3pm.  This brings more excitement to the race as everyone (Tortoises and Hares) are all finishing close to the same time and everyone is there to celebrate your accomplishment.  There were three start times for the "tortoises" 6am, 7am, and 8am, and three start times for the "hares" 9am, 10am, 11am.  I had signed up to be a part of the first "hare" wave at 9am.

Early Saturday Morning
I was using this race as a training run as a part of my training for my first 50 miler in January, so I was relaxed as I drove the 2.5hrs to Blue Ridge, GA on that Saturday morning.  The start time that I had selected was 9am, so I wanted to try and get to the start around 8am to watch a wave of runners leave, get checked in, and have time to get everything ready before my start time.  I arrived a little later than expected and was greeted by many of the 8am wave runners coming down the dirt road from the starting line.

Check-in

When I arrived to the parking lot and didn't see a lot of people around, but went ahead to the start line to find packet pickup.  It was 21º that morning, so I was trying to figure out what I was going to wear for the race.  There weren't any other runners down at the packet pickup, so the process was really quick.  When I asked about the 9am wave start I was told me that there wouldn't be an "official" start and that I could just start whenever I wanted.  I decided to wait until 9am to head out with all the other 9am wave runners.

The Start

A little before 9am I emerged from my car and started walking down to the starting line.  I had seen a couple of other runners arrive and go ahead and start early (it was only 21º).  As I walked down to the starting line I notice that there are only three other runners gathering around the start.  One guy was standing by himself saying that he was waiting for his friend.  The other two guys were planning on running the race together.  At 9am one of the guys said, "we'll it's 9 so I guess we should go ahead and start."  Just like that we crossed the start line and headed out on the course.

The Course

The course was described in this way:

The course consists of mostly rolling hills with a few steep, intermediate inclines (intermediate is a matter of opinion – the toughest part of the course, the Stanley Gap trail, features uphill elevation gain of somewhere around 2500 ft in 3 miles – but it sure is fun going back down!).

I found out though that there seemed to be a lot of uphill along the way.  I was able to run around 80-85% of the course, and the rest was a lot of power hiking.  There were a lot of rocks and roots on the course too which usually isn't that big of a deal except that it was November and the trails were covered in leaves.  So, there were times where I couldn't see where I was putting my feet and I came close to rolling an ankle.

The course was marked well at every turn.  They didn't put out a lot of flagging, but at every intersection they had flags and signs to point you in the right direction.  I never really worried about getting off the trail.

The Race
Since the race was a wave start, and I only started with two other guys, I ran 90% of this race with no one else around.  Even from the very beginning I found myself alone on the trail.  I do a lot of my training alone, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  The only thing that I was worried about was getting lost, but as I said earlier the major intersections were marked very well.  It wasn't until around mile 9 or 10 that I started to see some other runners coming toward me on the trail that I was heading down.  I continued on with the race and passed a number of runners over the next 10 miles.

Then, around mile 20 I hit a low point.  I was just flat out tired of running, and knew that I still had a long way to go.  I kept moving forward, walking and pushing through.  I knew that it would get better at some point and around mile 21.5 I came into an aid station.  I refilled my water bottle, poured in some Tailwind, took some s-caps, and ate some food.  This was the first real food I had eaten the whole race.  I was using Tailwind for my nutrition in the race.  It was the first time that I have ever used tailwind and it worked great!  I felt energized the whole time, but I began to get hungry, so I ate a few PB&J's off the aid station table to take some of the edge off my hunger.

Once I left the aid station at mile 21.5 I felt reenergized, and ready to take on the rest of the course.  I continued to enjoy the day talking with some of the other runners on the course and having fun on the course.  I felt really strong when I got back on the gravel road that lead back to the finish line and pushed hard all the way to the finish (thanks Tailwind)!

As I approached the finish line there were a lot of people standing around cheering me on as I ran.  My official finish time was 6:33:14, and I was happy with the time for my 3rd 50k.  Since there were so many people at the finish line I wasn't sure where I actually finished, but I found out later that I had finished 12th overall and 1st in my age group!  

Final Thoughts:

I was extremely happy with the way this 50k went for me!  I am continuing to learn more about myself, this distance, and what it takes to run.  This was my third 50k and I was using this as a training run in a 50 mile training plan.  I am beginning to become more comfortable running the 50k distance, but still feel that I have plenty of room for improvement.