My Holiday Lake 50k++ Experience

I guess that I should start with a bit about myself.  My name is Steven White.  I am a senior Aerospace Engineering major at Virginia Tech, though I am originally from the Atlanta area.  I am a member of the Virginia Tech Triathlon Club and have been since the first semester of my freshmen year.  Without this club, I know that I would have certainly died of an engineering related complication. 

As with the majority of the other people who have contributed stories, the Holiday Lake 50k was my first ultra.  It is also the longest race that I have ever done, and the longest run that I have ever done (by about 15 miles). I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I don’t consider myself a runner; I would say that I am not a competitive runner.  I enjoy running and do it on my own accord and at my own pace.  So, enough background, on to the race: 

The morning of the race was cold, very cold.  I can’t honestly say I knew the exact temperature, but my guess was that it was in the low teens…definitely below freezing.  There was no snow on the ground or anywhere on the course and there was no precipitation in the forecast, so I was happy.  I had heard nightmares about the course conditions the previous year.  Snow, mud, slipping, sliding, freezing…not a pretty picture.  Decked out in my long sleeve winter Under Armour top and long Under Armour pants, I was hoping that I would be warm enough for the first loop.  I also had a black wool hat and some running gloves.  Nothing cotton, because as I was told by some veterans, “Cotton is rotten” in endurance races.  I even had on my newly purchased non-cotton moisture wicking socks that I hoped would keep my feet dry and warm during the entire race as well as during the dreaded stream crossings. 

Before I go any further, I should mention that I was at the race with about 17 or 18 other racers from or affiliated with Virginia Tech.  Some were first timers like me, but others were ultra veterans, actually trying to win the race.  Having others that I knew at the race made the experience all the more enjoyable and was one of the reasons I did the race this particular year.  I knew that I was going to be running with friendly, familiar faces who knew what I was going through and were supportive and encouraging.  Some were going to finish an hour before me and I was going to finish an hour before some others, but everyone was there to see you finish the race and to share in the experience.

I should also mention that I was talked into doing the race by Michael Stratton and Steven Baker, two of the craziest people I know.  Not only are these guys crazy (in a good way), but they are also two of the best ambassadors the sport of ultra running could have.  Two years prior, when Steven said he was going to do Holiday Lake (his first ultra), I told everyone I knew how insane he was for wanting to run 34 miles.  I can remember saying to myself, “I will never, ever do that in my lifetime, unless I absolutely have to.”  But I saw how much fun they were having and how much their passion for endurance sports was rubbing off on others, and I started to think, “Maybe this isn’t so crazy after all.”  But back to the race…

I pushed my way toward the starting line just as the gun sounded.  As I started running, I had to keep telling myself that, although it felt like a regular 10k right now, it really wasn’t.  I felt a sort of competitive streak that I hadn’t expected, because I was really just trying to finish.  Yet as we approached the first bridge, I was honestly trying to stay in front of people and trying not to let them catch me.  I had to keep telling myself, “Pace yourself, it is a long race”.  I needed to slow down because I didn’t want to feel exhausted before I made it through the first 17 miles.  I felt that if I started to waver physically before the half way point, it would affect me very much mentally. 

As I made it to the first aid station, I realized that no one from Virginia Tech was anywhere near me.  I guessed that I was somewhere in the middle of everyone, though I really had no idea where I stood in terms of the leaders.  I was running with a water bottle with a hand strap (that I highly recommend), so I asked one of the aid station workers to put half water/ half Conquest, the electrolyte replacement Gatorade type stuff.  I did half/half because that is what Steven Baker did.  Having never tried Conquest, I was worried about two things: 1) Would it taste horrible? And more importantly 2) How would it affect my stomach?  I was already worried about getting cramps and stomach aches at some point during the race and I didn’t want the Conquest to be the cause of it.  Luckily, 1) the conquest actually tasted good and 2) I didn’t have any stomach issues during the race.  How that happened, I will never know.  I also really didn’t know what to eat, so I grabbed a few cookies and went on my way.

The next two aid stations were the same; refill the water bottle, try and eat some food, but not too much food, because I really didn’t know how much was too much.  Usually, I just stuck to one or two tiny PB and Jelly sandwiches and a cookie or two at each station. Then I discovered the potatoes.  Ahh, the potatoes.  Dip them in salt and they are amazing. Those would be my staple food for the rest of the race.  And a few M&Ms here and there.  Physically, I was doing a lot better than expected.  I didn’t have anything hurting and my energy level was still very high.  I attribute that to running with the water bottle and drinking every few minutes.

I also wasn’t having any temperature issues, as it was a nice, sunny day.  I believe that when the sun came up, it eventually brought the temperature to near the freezing point.  Nor was it windy, which was really nice considering I was used to running in Blacksburg.

I remember that the final few miles of the first loop were the most technical of the race.  Hilly, lots of roots, and a good deal of very narrow, sometimes banked trails.  I slipped twice, but luckily, I didn’t pull or twist anything.  It was on this part of the course that I saw the leaders from Tech, namely Steven Baker, Jordan Chang, Dan Villareal, Justin Morrison, and Michael Stratton.  They were going the opposite way on the narrow single track, which was really too narrow for passing, so I kindly stepped out of the way and shout an encouraging word.  Finally, I reached the half way point in about two hours and 45 minutes, which I was very happy with.  I beat the cutoff time that I was only slight worried about and decided to take a little extra time and eat a little more than usual.  I took some aspirin and took a moment to take it all in.  Then I realized that no one else was really taking their time.  It was just another aid station to them, but come on, the halfway point? That has to have some significance.  I guess when it’s the half way point of a 34 mile race, it is not as mentally gratifying as the halfway point of a 10k.  Half of a lot is still a lot.

The next part of the race (from the halfway point to the next aid station) went by the fastest for me because of the number of people I saw as I passed them going in the opposite direction on the single track.  I saw that a good number of my fellow VT first timers were grouped at least 30-45 minutes behind me and it was at this point that I began to realize that I had gone all this way by myself, not really running or talking with anyone.  I had thought that I might need to run with someone and talk to them in order to finish, but now I felt that I would be able to do it all by myself.  I wasn’t lonely really; you see other people often enough that you don’t feel too isolated.  (As a recount this, I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking during the second loop.  I think I had some medley of old songs in my head, but which songs, I don’t recall.)

As a reached the first aid station of the second 17 miles, I started to feel tired for the first time.  I ate some food and one of my glucose tablets (four grams of sugar in a few seconds = awesome) and decided to try and run with these two women who looked pretty fresh.  This turned out to be a great decision.  I tried my best to say with them in a sort of pace line for as long as I could, hopefully until the next aid station.  They were probably running faster than my previous pace, but the whole time I just pushed myself to stay with them, for this was the longest distance between aid stations and a crucial point in the race, at least mentally.  I knew that if I could just make it to the next aid station without stopping, I could definitely finish the race.  And I did, just barely.

The last eight to ten miles were primarily a mix of walking anything with an incline and running the flats and declines.  I tried to walk as fast as I could (a.k.a powerwalk) up the inclines, because if I did a slower walk, I though I might want to stop all together.  Actually, my legs were so accustomed to moving at a faster pace, that it wasn’t hard to start running again.  I still had a lot of energy, but at the marathon point, my legs began to ache.  My muscles were tight and I was afraid that a wrong step would cause one of my leg muscles to seize up and I wouldn’t be able to run anymore.  It happened only once when I was about two miles from the finish, but it turned out to only be temporary.

From the last aid station to the finish, there was only one person in sight.  I still felt good, meaning that I wasn’t suicidal and I didn’t want to kill Baker or Stratton for talking me into doing the race.  I was still drinking water/Conquest every few minutes as I had been the entire race.  As I approached the bridge, I realized that it was possible for me to finish before my goal time of six hours.  So for the remainder of the race, when one mile lasts forever, I was focused on beating six hours. 

I finished the race in five hours and fifty minutes.  When I finished the race, I walked over to the dock where all the VT finishers were sitting and they all congratulated me.  I sat down, which was a bad idea in retrospect because it hurt so bad to stand up, and then went and put on dry clothes.  I went back down to the finish line and waited to cheer everyone else from VT as they finished the race. And it turns out that everyone from Virginia Tech who started the race, finished the race under the cut-off time.