June 13, 2009

Bethel Hill Moonlight Boogie

50 Miler and Marathon

Race Report from Ricky Scott:

Flashback, June 14th, 2008. Amid monsoon rains and some guy talking about going to Waffle House, I quit (DNF) the 14th running of the Boogie 50 Miler. Just as Doug says in his pre-race briefing, “if you stop, you’ll probably be back….” He was right, I was back and this time with a bunch of support.

I entered the 2009 running of the Boogie 50 Miler early. I was approaching the training for this one different from last year. Mainly, I had to learn to walk and to be able to transition from run to walk and walk to run. Walk the hills and run the down hills and flats. I also did a training run that started at 6PM.

This year found a host of friends running the event. Sharon wanted to try the 50 miles as well. Johnny was going to hang with me and do the marathon. Tommy was coming to crew for us. Jason heard what we were doing and wanted to come and crew and another friend Aaron, thought, if these old people can do this, I can at least try. So he too entered the 50 miler.

The Boogie races are simple enough. A 10 mile loop made up of 2 sections, a 6 mile loop and a 2 mile out and 2 mile back. It’s held in the middle of June and starts at 6PM. It’s usually hot and humid with an occasional thunderstorm and hills. It has plenty of hills. Some ultra runners use this to train for other events such as Badwater.

This year we arrived at 4:30PM and started laying out all our coolers and chairs. We met up with Greg (50mi) and Joe (50mi) and Chuck (26.2mi). Said a few quick hellos with some other MTC members and before you know it we were ready to start.

Loop 1 (miles 0 to 10)

Since Johnny was doing the marathon, he had to go 1/10th mile in the other direction. I told him my plan was simple, run the down hills and flats and walk the hills, all of them. He’d catch me soon enough. Before reaching the first mile, I hooked up with Tony, a veteran Ultra runner who has done the Boogie 50 Miler many times. I figured it would be good for me to simply do what Tony did. Johnny caught up to us just before the first water station at about 3.5 miles. This first loop is usually the hottest of the evening. 90+ degrees, sun beating down, just take your time and survive it. Johnny and I were trying to follow a plan of drinking at least 20 oz of water an hour. Arriving back at the church, the 6 mile point, Tommy joined us for some running. So after some quick water refills, we headed down the Bethel Hill (2 mile out and 2 mile back) loop. This loop is nice in that you can see who is in front of you and who is behind you. It also has a killer hill about 1.4 miles long that allows you a nice long walk, up. It also enabled me to check on Sharon who was about a mile behind us and doing great. Johnny and I finished the first loop in just under 2 hours. Exactly were we wanted to be.

Loop 2 (10 to 20 miles)

This is were it starts to get interesting, the sun is starting to set, lots of shade and you can tell it’s cooler, except this year there was no air stirring. We were still rather hot. Still we were able to keep up our run/walk routine. Things were going good. We were basically just repeating the first loop. The bugs continued to be a bother, great big horsefly types and those pesky little gnats. We were getting tired of them, but there was nothing we could do. When we arrived back at Bethel Church, Tommy stopped. He had completed 10 miles with us and was ready to relax. Johnny and I got some thing to eat and refilled our water bottles. We also put our headlights on as it was starting to get dark. We were averaging 5 miles an hour. Could we continue at this pace? Down Bethel Hill we went and as we descended to the bottom, it got darker and seemingly hotter. The air was thick. No breeze and no temperature drop. We pressed on continuing to follow our run/walk routine. I got to check on Sharon again. She was about in the same place behind us which told me she was running the same pace that we were. Johnny and I arrived back at Bethel Church and mile 20 at 10:05PM. 20 miles in 4:05. Slightly above what we had targeted, but close enough. It was now dark and Tommy and Jason helped us with our liquids and food. As we left, I told Tommy to tell Sharon, I was going to run down the hill and then walk until Sharon caught us. Away we went.

Loop 3 (20 to 30 miles)

I once read that the difference in a marathon and an ultra (other than mileage) is you can tough out the marathon, but in an ultra, if you don’t have it, it isn’t going to happen. As Johnny and I walked waiting on Sharon, I found myself unable to run anymore. 29 miles to go and I was looking at the prospect of walking all of it. The prospect of doing 2 miles an hour for 29 miles would be almost 15 more hours. That was depressing! Sharon finally caught up to us and after about a half mile, I convinced her and Johnny to go on without me. As they disappeared into the darkness, my thoughts turned to exactly how I was going to do this. At 23 miles, all I wanted to do was get back to Bethel Church and stop. Everyone who passed me encouraged me to keep going. “It’s a long night don’t give up” two ladies told me. Somewhere around mile 24, Greg caught up to me. He was doing quite well. I told him I was done. 2 more miles, that’s all I wanted right now. Just like everyone else, he too disappeared into the darkness. Finally, I reached the church. It took me 2 hours to go 6 miles. Even if I could somehow increase my walking to 20 minute miles meant 8 more hours out here to finish the 50. The truth was I needed to get to 40 miles by 4AM. It was not looking good. It was midnight, I had 26 miles under my belt. I need 14 miles in 4 hours, I had to run faster than 20 minute miles to get to 40 by 4AM So what did I do? I sat down and looked into my cooler. Out I pulled a flat Dr Pepper and a sandwich. I drank some of the DP and ate some of the sandwich. Tommy said he’d do another 4 miles with me. Especially since I told the crew, I was doing 4 more to match last years 30 and stopping. Down the hill Tommy and I went and an amazing thing happened. I started to run again. Another thing, I was sweating as much now as I had went the sun was out and it was in the 90’s. That was unexpected and weird. I was still drinking 20 or more ounces an hour and sweating badly, but somehow my running was getting better. As we headed back up Bethel Hill, I again encountered Greg. He told me this was it, he was through. I thought about trying to talk him out of it, but I clearly remembered me at this same point last year. I had felt the same way. Last year I had learned a lot about myself and that was one of the reasons I found myself right where I was now. At the top, Greg said to the lap keepers, where’s the finish line, I’m through. I went over and sat down again. What to do? Sharon is still out there and doing well. It was 1:15AM, I felt pretty good, my feet hurt, I was chafing beyond belief but it appeared I was running enough to maybe beat the 4AM cutoff. I had to run the next loop in 2:45. So, that’s when I decided to change into some dry clothes. (second best decision of the night, DP was the first) I told the guys to give me the rest of my sandwich and my DP. I was going to shoot for 36 miles. Let’s see what happens.

Loop 4 (31 to 40 miles)

I felt strong heading down the first part of my 4th 6 mile loop. I was getting stronger, this is how I had wanted the 3rd loop to be. I ran the down hills and on the up hills I walked and drank my DP. No one passed me and I passed no one. It appeared I was either lost or the last one out here. Cars passed me headed out, which I assumed were people who had finished. I was running strong. Of course, it was dark and my GPS had died at mile 31. So, I really had no clue how I was doing, except to go by my regular watch. I knew I had to be back at Bethel Church and the end of 36 miles by 3AM to have a chance. Only one problem, I ran out of DP. I asked at the 3.5 mile aid station if they had any DP’s. They did not, but they had coke. I’ll take it. (Note: when you put a fresh soft drink in a bottle and run with it, it fizzes bad when you reopen it. Use FLAT). I got back to the church at 2:45AM. An hour and a half loop, slower than the first two, but faster than the third. More importantly, I now had 1:15 to do miles 36 to 40. Grabbing a fresh DP, I took off down Bethel Hill, flying. I reached the turnaround in 22 minutes. I knew I would have to walk back up to the church, but all I needed to do was get there by 4AM. I’d walk the last 10 and finish sometime after 7AM if I had to. I topped Bethel Hill at 3:40AM.

Loop 5 (41 to 50 miles)

Two and a half hours ago, I thought this was not doable, I was toast, I had a fork stuck in me, I was done. Yet here I was, getting more DP and heading out to finish a 50 miler! The guys told me Sharon was doing well and was staying about 30 minutes in front of me. We seemed to still be running at about the same pace, the exception being my struggles on that 3rd 6 mile loop. One last time, I headed down to begin the 6 mile loop. My plan was simpler this time, run what you can, walk as necessary, just finish. Then I got a real scare. Somewhere around mile 41, I got dizzy headed. I could not walk straight, and I could not run anymore. I thought I was going to pass out. Visions of passing out in the middle of the road flashed through my mind. Had the magic of the DP disappeared? For the first time all night, I wished I had someone with me. I slowed my walk down, I could not see anyone in front of me, nor behind me. I was alone. On the previous loop, I had easily run down these hills, now it was a struggle to walk down them. I drank the rest of my DP. Still being woozy, I looked up for the moon, it had disappeared behind some clouds and what had been a beautiful night, was growing worse. Finding myself at the top of a nice little hill, I decided to try running who knows I thought. To my surprise, that felt better. While it was not a very long run, it did have a benefit. I caught up to two other runners. It turned out to be the two ladies who had encouraged me to keep going way back on that bad 3rd lap I had. I stayed with them for a little bit. Then it hit me. This is the last nice flat, long stretch I know that I can run. So, I took off. A few minutes later, I found myself behind Tony and a friend he was looking after who was struggling. I soon found myself back at the 3.5 mile aid station, I got their last coke, and knowing I only had 6.5 miles to go, away I went. It was now after 5 AM. I noticed that the clouds had disappeared and the moon was back. I was once again alone. I knew I was going to finish. The moonlight was so bright I could see my shadow so I decided to turn my headlamp off and walked in the moonlight. It was amazing. I looked to the east to see if any hint of dawn was approaching, but it was not. This last section of the 6 mile loop my most enjoyable of the night. I thought a few years back when I had run my first Boogie Marathon with Frank and how much we had enjoyed it. As I made the turn to make my way back to up to the church, someone stepped out of the shadows. It was Tommy, he had a cup of ice and a cold DP for me. What a crew we had! He asked if he could do the last four miles with me and I said sure. Just then another person stepped out of the shadows and it was Jason, he went up the hill with me and even at the top the guys at the aid station, who had been there all night, asked me what I needed and how they could help. Water, I said, that’s all I want. He said to keep moving, he’d bring it to me. A minute or so later, there he was with my refilled water bottle. Tommy was still putting on his shoes, but I wanted to run and run I did. I ran hard down that last hill. Only problem was I could not sustain it long. I could hear Tommy huffing and puffing, trying to catch me and he eventually did. A few minutes later we found Sharon marching up the hill. She was about a mile and half ahead of me. She was going to finish, we were both going to finish. However, right now all I wanted to do was finish running down this hill, then I’d walk the rest of the way. Finishing by 6:30 AM was still possible. I made the turn at mile 48 at 5:50AM. Two more miles and most of that would be uphill. I had 40 minutes to beat 12:30. Pressing on as hard as I could, we finally found ourselves going up the last hill, really this time it was the last hill. I did not need my headlamp on anymore so I turned it off. The sun was not up yet, but you could see quite well. As we made our way up, I could see everyone who was still behind me. We walked and walked forever, but the church was not appearing. Where is it? Did this hill get longer? Then off in the distance, I could see two people standing. It was our crew. Then three, then four. As I approached the top, the sun rose directly above the road. A large red orange ball directly centered in the middle of the road. This is what I had been working all night to see. I finished the 50 miler running. 12:19. I was humbled, pleased and tickled to death. I had completed a 50 mile run.

Sharon ran 11:47. A great run, her first ultra. I only had a few bad blisters, they’ll heal in a few days. There will also be a few toenails that fall off, but they’ll grow back. However, these things pale in comparison to the night we all had just spent. These memories will last a long, long time.

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