Long Heartland 50 Report

earlblewett · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 96 Location: Tulsa, OK

Dear RunnerFolk,

I write these for myself, a year later I won't remember much at all about the run. Here's how Saturday went for me.

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Heartland 50 2009 Race Report by Earl Blewett

When the new Ozark Trail 100 race in Missouri was announced I went ahead and signed up for it (after asking my wife Jen’s permission). Then I looked around for good races as training runs. The T & T 50 km in September would give me similar trail conditions while the Heartland 50 miler would help my endurance and give me 4 weeks to recover before OT100. So I entered the Heartland race for the first time. The KUS folks put on good races but this one was started the year I was injured and I hadn’t had time to try it post injury.

Since there’s not a lot to do in Cassoday or the surrounding prairie except run or hunt prairie chicken Jennifer decided not to accompany me. That meant I’d be doing the race on the cheap, sleeping in back of the station wagon. Not a problem, as an air mattress and enough bedding make it very comfortable. There was even a town park to use with bathrooms. I figured the drive would be longer than it really was so I booked the dogs into the kennel for Friday and Saturday. Wanting to be away from all the dust while pregnant, Jen is waiting out our house addition in an apartment that doesn’t allow big dogs so she can’t really take them. I thought I’d have a shower, watch the other runners finish then sleep in the car Saturday night. Then I could drive home Sunday morning without having to worry about falling asleep at the wheel and still get there in time for brunch with Jen. As race day grew nearer the weather forecast got worse and worse. I tossed a bunch more blankets into the car, just in case, and included a toque to sleep in, as well as gloves and an earband to run in.

I got to Cassoday much earlier than planned, almost the entire trip from Tulsa was on turnpikes with a small stretch of I-35 thrown in. As I parked, a minivan pulled up and Randy Ellis, a nearby Sapulpan runner, friend and fellow TATUR, got out. We headed in and picked up our packets from Co-RD, Randy Albrecht. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in a long while, like Phil and Stacy Sheridan. The briefing and dinner wasn’t for a while so I headed back to the car to blow up the air mattress and get my sleeping accommodations ready for the night. I also attached my bib number and got everything ready for the next day. I’m not a morning person and don’t like to think or do more than necessary before the race.

Back in the Community Hall the main topic of conversation was the weather. I’d checked before I left and the forecast was 33 F at the start, a high of 42 F then the temperature would drop in the afternoon. The chance of rain was 30% but winds were expected from the north at 15 – 30 mph. Ken and Dana Childress, Ken Saveth, Kathy Hoover and several other people from Tulsa showed up before Randy began. In the pre-race talk, Randy gave a brief history of the race, warned about the cattle guards and the cattle and touched on the weather. Another KUS member reported that the morning low was supposed to be 30 F and the high 39 F., so the outlook was a bit worse. Dinner was great though. There was barbeque beef, chicken breasts, pasta salad, roast potatoes and several kinds of brownies for dessert. I couldn’t resist going back for a second brownie.

I drove to the town park where runners were allowed to camp for free. There was a pit toilet and portapotty so it had all the amenities. It was already getting dark when I drove there so I didn’t get a picture of the Prairie Chicken sign. I settled in very comfortably in the back of the wagon and read for a while. I’m pretty sure I was asleep by 8:00 pm. The train ran right by the park and for some reason the engine would blow the whistle about 11 times. This woke me a few times. My only real trouble was trying to decide whether to start in tights or shorts. I don’t have regular tights anymore but I had brought a pair of lined tights I used to wear at Ultras in Canada. I only wear them occasionally in the winter here in Oklahoma. I went back and forth on this quite a few times.

I got up a few minutes before the alarms and did the usual morning things then headed to the Community Hall. It’s a staging area for volunteers and I had asked if I could come in and tape up me feet pre-race. I have chronic plantar fasciitis and need to tape my arches for support before running. There were volunteers milling around and several other runners doing the same thing. On the way over, my car thermometer had the outside temperature at 35 F and that felt accurate. I got the feet taped and decided the tights were too much, especially since there was no wind. I took them off so I could start the race in shorts. Of course, I put on a heavy sweatshirt, jacket and sweatpants until the race started.

I drove out of Cassoday to the race start at the old school and parked where the marshal told me. The night sky was clear but it felt warm with the calm air. You could pick Orion, the Pleiades, Cassiopeia, the Big Dipper and more out of the sky. I was there early so I just sat in the car and made sure I had done all the things on my checklist. At 10 minutes to the start I got out and wandered over just in time to hear that the 50 milers started farther up the road. Saved myself some race distance that I would have run if I’d started with the crowd.

Heartland was a training run and I wanted to test the packs and equipment for the Ozark Trail. I had a large GoLite double bottle pack that I’d bought this year with two 20 ounce bottles. It has good side pockets for salt, my camera and my asthma inhaler. There is also a center pouch that I had stuffed gloves and a wool earband. This pack doesn’t dig into my stomach like a couple of Nathan packs I’ve tried. It will also easily hold 26 ounce bottles. I’d used it on a couple of unsupported 25 mile runs this summer. I also had my hydration vest minus the bladder. I had a jacket and a pair of Sporthill pants stuck inside along with an MP3 player. I’ve never listened to headphones in an ultra yet but I thought it might help on the 25 miles return. I have a holder for my eTrex Vista GPS unit on the vest and I brought it along. I have a trace of the whole Ozark Trail so I’m planning to use it there. I didn’t really expect to get lost at Heartland (it was very well marked) but I had the race course and aid stations on the unit. I was pretty sure that it would last 10 hours and I wanted to check. It’s also a great electronic security blanket. I had a topo map with the course on it and the aid station distances as well along with a compass. I like to be prepared. I had planned to start OT100 with a long sleeved dri-release shirt so I had it on and running shorts. If I was just running Heartland and the weather predictions weren’t so dire I would just wear a single bottle pack with pouches for camera, etc. The aid stations are so close together. They allow drop bags at all manned aid stations so you could go without carrying much. I had no drop bags this time.

I wished a few friends in the 100 mile race good luck (poor bastards) and walked to the 50 miler start line. No one seemed interested in actually going up to the line but why run 10 yards extra? I started about 15 people back and headed off into the night. The first section south is pavement and no problem even without a flashlight then you turn east onto the gravel roads. I had no light but even the gravel road was no problem. I had planned to run to Battle Creek (8.2 miles) at a decent pace, since it looked very flat on the map. The faster 50 milers went by then the faster 100 milers started to pass as well. I did my best to not get pulled along with them. I ran for a while with Scott, from nearby Augusta, KS, until it started to get light. I didn’t think I was going that fast and my splits later showed me at just under 10 minute per mile pace. I rolled up my long sleeves and was very glad not to be wearing lined tights. Like most people I went right by the first unmanned aid station at 4.6 M. The two 20 ounce bottles would do me the 8 miles between manned aid stations all day. The wind began to stir from the north as the dark faded and I had to roll my sleeves back down.

The course turns southeast and drops down into the valley before the Battle Creek Aid station. It was nice to see trees and the coulees. I refilled a bottle at the station and walked out with a handful of pretzels and crackers. I had my only fall of the day shortly after, catching my foot on an embedded rock. I managed to fall on the knee that had just healed. However it didn’t seem to be hurt, my right hand and wrist would be another matter. They barely hurt on race day but swelled up and were very sore on Sunday. I had been very apprehensive about starting this race with sore knees. I injured my left knee in a fall at the Turkey and TATUR 50 km in September. It healed enough for the Flat Rock 50 km in two weeks but I fell a few times and hurt both knees in that race. The left one really swelled up. I had no pain when I started the race but I wondered what miles 30 – 50 would bring.

The course heads up, out of the valley and due east across a series of hills. The wind really started to be bothersome in this stretch, probably only 10 – 15 mph but cold and out of the north. It was nice to hit the unmanned aid station and turn with the wind for a mile. People were getting spaced out over this stretch but I was walking the hills so those running the hills were catching me. After a couple of miles the course turns mostly north again but sheltered by hills and up to the manned Lapland Aid Station.

At the Lapland Station the wind was really blowing and I was feeling a bit cold. There were a lot of vehicles as this is the first crew access point. I saw Brian Hoover waiting for Kathy and Teresa Wheeler was working the station. I got some food, refilled my bottles and got out. I was trying to follow my old rule of aid station time “Spend less time in the station than 30 seconds per mile from the last aid station” (so 4 miles = 2 minutes).

From Lapland the course runs 4.3 miles due east to an unmanned station at Thrall then it turns north to Teterville. The wind was fierce during this stretch and my legs got very stiff. I slowed down to a crawl and it felt I was running on stumps. Now I’ve run a couple of 30 mile races recently and this is way too early for my legs to be tired but I just couldn’t lift my feet and go. I was pretty cold and my legs were apple red. I decided when I got to the unmanned station I’d sit on the cooler and put on the Sporthill pants. There was no way I was running north into the wind in shorts and maybe with the pants on I’d loosen up. Eddie Spencer caught up to me here as I changed (four minutes well spent). He was from Norman and doing his first ever ultramarathon.

Eddie and I headed north to the Teterville Aid Station and the turnaround together. There’s about ¾ of a mile before the course drops down to Thrall and in that short exposed period the clouds cover was really low and the wind blowing hard. I had to put gloves on as I couldn’t feel my fingers. It felt like my hat had frozen to my forehead. After ¾ mile the course curves down into a valley and the shelter of the hill was welcome but eventually we had to come back up to the prairie and the wind again. Yet again I was glad I wasn’t doing the 100 mile race. Somewhere along the way, the first two 50 milers went by us going the other way, Phil Sheridan and another guy. I told Eddie that believe it or not there was a time when Phil had a bad race and I had a great race and we finished in a tie for third place (10 years ago). Teterville was visible in the distance and Richard Oswalt, from Hutchinson, KS, who had done the race several times pointed it out as the turnaround. I thought the turn and aid station would be where the road reached the latitude of the town, as that is what the race map shows. Richard was running a bit faster than us and left us behind but he was right, we turned and ran west towards the town and a big aid station.

I refilled my bottles and was fortunate enough to get some coffee at the station. It was heaven. My legs had not warmed up on the run north, but hadn’t gotten worse. I scarfed some food down and headed back out of the station alone. Heading south the clouds broke and the sun came out. It was much nicer. I didn’t really run any faster, even with the tail wind. I did keep meeting friends doing the 100 or 50 mile race so I stopped a lot to take pictures. I could see Eddie and Richard slowly catching up to me. Kathy Hoover and Jason McGinnis looked very strong when they went by, as did Long Vu. I met Randy Ellis, Roman and Lisa McGinnis as I went down a long hill in the sun. I asked them if it was bad that I was running downhill with a tailwind the same speed as the flat. I got their picture and told them they could catch me (at my pace they could). Fortunately, sometime after this my legs came back to life, the sun, a tailwind and generally warming up did it, I’m sure. Somewhere in there I saw the two Kens, Childress and Saveth. I was scrounging some food from a container at the unmanned station (29 miles) when Eddie and Richard caught up to me.

The three of us left the unmanned Thrall station together and would run the rest of the race to finish together. I never used the MP3 player. We walked and ran west towards the manned Lapland Station doing a lot of talking. A couple just flew by us, looking very strong. We were doing a lot better than the “run like a duck” speed Eddie and I made heading north to Teterville. The miles literally flew by. At Lapland I finished reloading quickly but waited for them so we could start out together.

The stretch of 8.6 miles between manned aid stations went by much faster and it helped that we jogged south a mile so the wind wasn’t continually coming from the same direction. We all had Ramen noodle soup and spent >5 minutes in the Battle Creek aid station. I had several glasses of Coke, uhmmm, dragon’s blood. It didn’t look like we’d make it under ten hours (I was sure of it).

The Battle Creek valley is pretty to run through and I didn’t fall this time. The nice thing was we were getting faster and faster. I was feeling strong as the race went on which is great; have had the opposite experience, lots of times. We could see three other runners ahead and we were slowly running them down. Ten hours was still out of the picture although we were running well. We didn’t stop at all at the unmanned aid station but we needed nine minute miles to finish under ten. We just ran within our abilities and watched the water tower get closer. Richard promised we’d fly once we hit the pavement. Before we made the turn onto the pavement we caught one runner but the other two had sprinted off. The three of us ran hard down the road and finished at the same time, 10:04:59 for a tie in 17th place of 42 finisher and 43 starters. We were 45 and 25 seconds behind the two runners ahead of us. I figure we were the pack, six runners finishing within 2 minutes and 37 seconds of each other in a 50 mile race.

Randy and Jim Davis, the co-RD’s, congratulated us and gave us our awards. They were cooking burgers at the finish and they smelled good. I got a picture of the three of us thanks to Eddie’s wife. I had marginal cell service but managed to get a hold of Jen and tell her I hadn’t died or been injured. She said she’d call my mom to pass on the good news. I had thought you could shower in the old schoolhouse but that was only one year apparently; must have got that from an old race report. So I slipped into clean dry clothes and a warm jacket (well, two jackets) then had a couple of cheeseburgers. I talked to Eddie and other finishers as well as well as to Randy and the race workers then jumped in the car for the drive home. Despite extra glory earned by the 100 milers I was very glad to be a 50 mile finisher that day.

I had an uneventful drive back, stopping at McDonalds for coffee and a milkshake. I stopped to see Jen at the apartment before going home to a long hot shower and bed. Good thing I was used to being cold, the people working on the house had shut down the furnace and it got nippy. I didn’t really notice.

I heard that Kathy and Jason finished the 100 miler but Long Vu had stomach trouble and had to drop after starting strongly. The two Ken’s slowed down in the cold and missed cutoff times near 70 miles. In the 50 miler Randy, Lisa and Roman all finished.

See everyone in Missouri.

Happy trails,

Earl
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Earl L. Blewett Slow Swimmer
137 East 34 Street Slow Biker
Tulsa, OK 74105 Slow Runner
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