Hinson Lake 24 Hour Ultra Classic

I had no intention of running the full 24 hours. My initial goal was 50 miles but I bumped that down to a 50K when I saw the forecast temps for the day and a request from the family to be home for dinner that evening. It's all good. Maybe next year I can go for the full 24 hours!

I was very excited to be a part of the event. The atmosphere when I arrived was just so enthusiastic. I got up at 3:15 to make the 3.5 hour drive down from the mountains and arrived with plenty enough time to set up my little area, get checked in, and then wander about and chat to other runners. And what a group it was! Lots of familar ultra running faces, especially all the new friends I have made running ultras in the south. Some maniacs were present too.

Here's a scene of set-ups along the dam. You can see my little chair with it's orange towel in the bottom right.

The race started around 8AM. It was already in the 70's with high humidity. I think the RD said there were over 200 starters making this the largest 24 hour event in the US. I'm not sure how many actually ran the full 24 hours. I think the majority of runners were out there for lesser times and distances.

The course itself was a 1.52 mile loop around Hinson Lake. It was soft dirt, gravel, shifting sands, and lots of little wooden bridge thingys. There was also a wooden bridge across the lake at the farthest point where you could look back across the lake and see the lap counting area. It was not flat! There was a section after you ran over the lake that was an uphill climb. Not real steep but you had to run through pretty deep, loose sand. The first 12 laps I ran up the hill, after that I walked. It just wore you down. The rest of the course was very rolling. Fortunately it was mostly shaded so we didn't have to contend with the sun beating down on us too much.

When you completed your loop you ran across a little walkway and past the lap counter table. Each volunteer had a sheet of runners they kept track of. My counter was so nice. She would see me coming and yell out....I got you #70 or Lynne, that is lap # whatever it was. And then she would always say something encouraging. From what I could see, all the lap counters were the same way. It was awesome.

Once you passed the counter, there was an incredible array of food and drinks set up. I'll admit right now that I could have probably cut at least 30 minutes off my time if I hadn't stopped at the aid station every single lap and ate/drank something. Plus I would then run past my set-up and most times stop to take an s-cap or text home or put ice under my hat. It was always something. Way too much time wasted but I wasn't after any kind of record. Just out to enjoy the run.

The first lap was very slow and congested. 200+ runners trying to navigate a fairly narrow trail was quite comical really. I'll never understand the walkers who start at the front tho. That just bugs the crap out of me. And not just one walker, huge groups of walkers. I'm not fast but I was continually getting stuck behind groups of walkers as I tried to navigate that first loop. It eventually spread out and I had no problems the rest of the race but that was a very slow, frustrating first lap.

After that the rest of the race went very smoothly. I don't mind loop courses. After a couple laps I knew what to expect where and just got into a pretty comfortable pace. The lead men started lapping me quite quickly. The eventual winner...Mike Morton....was a machine. He ran 150+ miles in that heat. Got passed a bunch of times by Jonathon Savage too. What an incredibly nice guy. He always has something encouraging to say. I noticed that about him at Landsford Canal 50K in July. I really couldn't tell who the lead women were. There had to of been a couple lapping me but I never noticed one in particular. Did talk to Abi Meadows (of Vol State fame) a bit. She was there crewing for her 16 year old son who was attempting a 100K. (He did it). She ran some too but was saving her energy for Grindstone.

One of the more motivating sights was seeing LTC Fred Dummar guiding CAPT Ivan Castro around the course. I had seen them once before at Ellerbee Springs Marathon and they totally kicked my slow behind to the finish line. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be to guide a runner along a trail tho. They are both very inspirational. One time I ran by them and Ivan was cracking jokes with a woman runner about how she was looking good out there. She replied that she was running naked. HAHA.

The day went very smoothly. I changed my shoes around the 15 mile mark. Started out in trail shoes but didn't really need them so switched to my Gel Kayanos. Neither one helped with the sand, gravel, dirt mess that continually crept into my socks. Here is a picture of my feet when I was finished. The trail was extremely dusty. Everyone was covered with a layer of grit by the time they finished. I was in serious envy of those who had on gaiters. I don't know how many times I stopped to dump rocks and dirt out of my shoes.

I seemed to be hydrating fine. I know I was eating way too much. I'm sure if I had been going for longer mileage my pork fest would have eventually caught up with me. I was starting to get fat fingers by the time I finished so something was a little off in my water/sodium balance.

I ran 21 laps to get my 50 K in and then walked a final lap to take some pictures. So my total for the day was 22 laps and 33.44 miles. Surprisingly enough I was on the leader board when I called it a day. My lap counter was very excited the last couple times I went through as she called out the lap I was on and where I was in the standings. Too funny. When I went through the last time and told her I was done for the day she was like..."Are you sure? You're doing so great and up on the leader board." Made me feel pretty good :-)

Packed up all my stuff and hauled it back to the car. I immediately pulled on compression socks for the ride home. I had had major swelling in my ankles after Norris Dam 50K. Decided to try the socks this time and it really helped. I wore them the rest of the day and had no swelling at all. After I had gotten everything loaded and was heading out of Rockingham I happened to glance at my temperature screen. 96 degrees. Dang! you gotta love North Carolina in September.

Very few aches and pains the rest of the week. I hardly knew I had run a 50K. Looking forward to FATS 50K tomorrow. Cooler temps and another beautiful trail run.

This is the lap counting/aid station area we ran through at the end of each lap.

A picture of the trail.

My little set-up. Pretty pathetic compared to some of the crew areas.

Looking at the finish area from the trail.

One of the longer wooden bridges we ran across.

Going up the sandy incline.

Looking across the lake.

Lots of lily pads.

The wooden bridge across the lake. This was at about mile 1 I think.

Another shot of the lap counting area.

Going into the lap counting area.

Overall very pleased with my day. I tried to calculate where the actual 50K point was since lap 20 was 30.4 miles. I kinda took a guess and figured I was around 6:20 at that point. Much better than my previous 2 50K's. Probably could have set a 50K PR for myself if I hadn't been such a porker at the aid station and wasted so much time eating/drinking. Oh well, that wasn't my goal and 6:20 in that heat was pretty good for me!