A couple weekends ago I attempted the most ambitious race I have participated in yet. This was a 12 hour endurance race taking place at Turtle River State Park, which is about 20 minutes away from town. The race was officially called
Extreme North Dakota's Terrifying Run Amongst Innumerable Lost Souls, or END-TRAILS for short.
The goal is simple, run as many 6.1 mile/10k laps as you can in 12 hours. Take as short or long breaks as you desire in between laps. The most amount of miles I ran in a single day before was 14 and a half. I went in with the mindset that I could handle five laps for just over 30 miles for the day if I take 30-60 minute breaks between laps. I really wanted to do this race because I like running out at Turtle River. I only went there once earlier this year and had a blast, except it was muggy and humid, and swarms of mosquitoes devouring my friends and I as we ran through the woods. This time it was nice and cool and remained in the mid 40s for most of the day. This made for no bugs at all, and way better conditions compared to my last time out there.
Local coffee shop, Dakota Harvest Bakers furnished the event and provided plenty of snacks, soups and beverages for everyone at the race. I had no idea what they would have so I brought along a little running fuel of my own in the form of water, coffee, trail mix and granola bars. The beginning of the course was right by the parking lot, so it made getting to my vehicle really convenient to unwind at in between laps. There was a nice heated lodge there too for race HQ where I spent a decent amount of time at too, but of the 50 runners there that day, minus the coordinator I had a fun little chat with, none of the several I attempted to talk to were all that talkative that day, so I spent most of my breaks just relaxing in my car.
The first two laps of the race went great. Especially the first lap. I did not bust out headphones the first lap because it was mostly narrow trails and wanted to hear other runners coming and going as we passed each other so I just took in all the sights and sounds on the first lap. As I expected I ran this first lap strong and had a pretty good time out there, minus one part where in a part of the trail that wounded out in an open area around the woods I came within 10 yards of getting trampled by a deer that darted by me. I really liked the course, and it was well marked and easy to see where to make the turns. I had some fears it would not be going in because of my memories of running there in the summer where there were many trails that branched off from each other and it was easy to get lost in the woods there.
I finished the first lap in under an hour, and took a half hour break. I stretched out a bit coming in from the lap and before heading out for the second lap. The second lap went just as smooth as the first. In hindsight, I should have took it a lot easier and went with a more casual jog to preserve energy the second lap, but I was feeling good throughout it and kept thinking, I will just take slightly longer breaks throughout the day and I will have no problem hitting my five lap goal. I finished lap two, and took a 45 minute break this time. Since it was right around Halloween there of course was a costume contest, so if you ended up running one lap in costume you were entered in the contest. I busted out my classic Hulk Hogan tshirt, bandana, wig and foam championship belt and let Hulkamania run wild, literally, on lap three. I made the Hulkster proud that day!
Lap three actually was when I felt the day start to catch up with me. Even though I rested and stretched before lap three, within a minute of starting it my right knee immediately ached so I immediately slowed down to a casual jog for the entire third lap, and snuck in a little five minute walk break halfway through it. It was a chore to get that lap in but I was still hell bent on getting five laps in and I altered my plan to just finish the day with casual jogs and more walk breaks, and longer breaks between laps.
Eventually I finished lap three, and I was really sore by the end of it. I took an hour and a half break this time and got some of the provided soup for lunch and failed at trying to sneak a nap in as I tossed and turned in my truck. I started lap four convinced that I would just really slowly jog this lap through like the last one, but a minute in again my right knee was telling me to stop. It was really aching this time as I was pushing it like I never did before in terms of mileage and the type of terrain I was running on. There are plentiful amounts of inclines and declines on the twisty paths that dominate the woods and they undoubtedly took a toll on me. For the entire fourth lap both of my legs felt like Jello, scratch that, they felt more like Cream of Wheat mush.
About two minutes into the fourth lap with my knees already in pain and with the wind really picking up I debated on turning around and going back and withdrawing from the race, but I eventually convinced myself I was going to finish four laps, even if I spent half of the fourth lap walking it. That is exactly what I did. I ran for two miles, then walked for quite a bit, and was only able to run in little two to three minute intervals again before my legs kept giving out on me and I spent more and more time walking. I noticed the same thing happening with a lot of the field at this point, and kept running across more runners taking more walking breaks or getting passed by people running considerably slower than they were at the start.
I finally survived and finished the final lap at a little over seven hours into the day. I stretched out for a good long time after that lap while I briefly contemplated only walking a fifth lap before wisely deciding against it and went up to the time clock area and withdrew from the race. This race killed me and took a toll on me, I should have took off a day or two from work after the race to fully recover, as I felt like I was hobbling around the entire work week. As I type this I am coming off a four day break, and feel much better now 8 days after the race and am planning on going out on my first run since the race. I do not regret doing this race that kicked my ass, it was a challenging endeavor no doubt, but I went out there and gave it my best effort.
5K
UND Autism - 4/20/13 - 26:22 - 23rd out of 74
Arthritis Foundation Zombie Run - 10/12/13 - 29:06 - 1st Place Survivor, 2nd out of 67 overall
Uffda Mud Run - 9/7/13 - ??:?? - Finished
Color Run - 9/21/13 - ??:?? - Finished
10k
Hillsboro Run - 6/13/13 - 50:17 - 23rd out of 55
Dewey Memorial - 6/1/13 - 50:21 - 15th out of 56
Firecracker - 7/4/13 - 53:13 - 42nd out of 92
Frozen Feat - 2/16/13 - 53:57 - 50th out of 108
TRF Pioneer - 9/14/13 - Disqualified
Half Marathon
Fargo Mini - 10/19/13 - 1:52:11 - 162nd out of 528
Grand Forks Wild Hog - 9/28/13 - 1:53:25 - 184th out of 649
Fargo Rocks - 5/18/13 - 2:02:48 - 2062nd out of 5526
MISC
ENDTRAILS 12 Hour Endurance Race - 10/27/13 - Finished 4 6.1 mile laps in 7:13:00 - 23rd out of 36
