Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.....Okla-homa, okla-homa...I don't know anything about the state other than they have a musical named after it. When I was looking for a 24-hour race to do this year there were multiple factors to consider. Time of year, Elevation of the city the race was held in, temperature, if the race is USATF certified, what the course is like, and if the race didn't get canceled. Like many others, I trained for races and they got canceled. When they got canceled, I would back off for a week and get back at it. Then start searching for another race to run. When I decided to do 24 the hard way in Oklahoma City it was my best option from what I could tell. The mission was set to launch and training picked up. Going into this race I feel I was in one of the best endurance shapes of my life. In a training run, I ran my second fastest 50k 5:15? and was able to run the next day.

My crew consisting of my road-tripping parents, amazingly hot wife, top notch photographer 14-year old son, enthusiastic talk to every stranger 8-year old son, and the best pacer/crew chief Eric. We arrived almost a day and a half before the race. What a great crew I had and couldn't have done the race without them. The day before the race Eric and I went out for an easy 4 miler to stretch the legs and get a feel for the humidity. All systems were a go and the pre-launch count down had started. The Family then went to the Oklahoma zoo. Lots of cool active animals to see. I took every chance I could to sit down to rest the legs. Later in the day we went to pick up our race packets. I had convinced Eric to run the 6-hour road/dirt race. He was already going to be there and then he could run with me. There were no pacers allowed at the race. Eric and I took a walk on both courses. He was doing 3 hours on the dirt loop and then 3 on the road. The dirt loop had a variety of conditions. Singletrack, grass, gravel, wide trail, twist and turns, grassy fields and some ups and downs. But I felt it could use more vert. The road course started a bit uphill and then rolled down. Then the hill that I would be the first strike against me for an amazing race. The backside of the course was mostly downhill and then a little up back to the start/finish. As we were walking the course there was one section of the backside that had some Bumps and cracks in the asphalt from tree roots growing under it. Eric said if I was going to Krash this is where I would do it. We had a laugh about it and planned as long as I stay to the inside of the course I could avoid a krash.

Race day

Krash to Houston...Over

Nutrition payload check

Race gear check

Bib # check

Mt. Dew check

Backup plan check

Collision prevention plan check

Glide check

Waist lamp check (minus extra battery. Won't need that right?)

Donut buff x2 check

Pace chart check

Ready for launch

5...4...3...2...1.... Go

The loop was a .96 mile on asphalt through Bluff creek park. We ran the clockwise the whole time. I have run 24 hour races where they would switch directions every 6 hours and I like that. There was no switching at this race. I led most first lap and took it a bit fast to stretch the legs. Camillo From NY lead after that and for most of the race. The race is far from over and had my own race to run. He took off at a fast pace and I let him go. My wife said he was a noisy runner. Funny, coming from the deaf lady…

All day there was south to a north headwind. Sometimes gust up to 25 mph. At first it was no big deal. But lap after lap I could fill the resistance against my body slowing me down. I felt the headwinds the most on the big hill and coming into the finish. Half the time the trees in the park protected me from the wind or pushed me from behind.

The miles started clicking off with no problems. Marathon 3:47, 50k 4:30, 50 miles 7:33, 100 K 9:?? and 12 hours 75 miles PR. Some were after 50 miles I noticed I was slowing and not able to keep the pace I wanted. That's when strike 3 came in to place. First the hills, wind, and then humidity. In Utah, we have dry heat and I have not run in much humidity. In OK the morning it was about 31% and then just kept rising from there. I never got cold at night or felt cooled off. I started using ice and wetting my buff in the afternoon. It would only feel good for a few minutes. I tried to drink more water but it didn't help. I was overheated and dehydrated. But despite my decline in pace my amazing crew kept me moving. I had big goals for this race and it wasn't happening. The best advice I have could receive came at the right time. Eric told me "C'est la vie. Play the cards you are dealt". I had to think about what he said for a moment and then the light came on. He was so right. All the negative self-talk, stress, and pressure I put on myself was gone. I was so much happier the rest of the race. I wasn't going to make my goal but I was going to make the best of my race and have fun.

At one point during the night I felt like I was sleepwalking. I have never felt like I need to take a nap during a race before. Eric hands me a cup, "Drink this and put your light back on". It wasn't Dew but could have been rocket fuel. Red bull and my light did the trick. Waist lamp lasted 5 hours into the night. Who would have guessed? Should have brought the extra batteries. We charged the battery and it was good to help finish the night. Most of the time I didn't need a light and enjoyed running in the dark. On the darkest part of the course they put up some Christmas lights. But they need to be 15 feet to the south over bumps and cracks in the asphalt where my possible crash location was at. Well, just before midnight I came around another runner and caught a toe on that bump. I tucked and rolled like I do most of the time. The running I came around grabbed me by my shoulders and helped me back on my feet. I was unhurt and walked it off. Also while I didn't have my light I saw a dark figure run across the path about 20 ft in front of me. It was to low to the ground to be a deer. I found out it was a coyote.

Nutrition

I went with the same plan as ATY 24. Morten 320 and 160 for the first 6-7 hours. Then switched to Morten Gels. Ate a grilled ham and cheese sandwich for dinner with some Mountain Dew. I ate a few mandarin oranges too. Sometimes Morten is a bit too sweet. During this race I had no problems with it. I felt most of the time I couldn’t drink enough. In the last few hours of the race I drank water and ate chunks of boiled potato. I found out that the first potato got burned while cooking. I guess water boils faster here. The crew called my dad to get another potato to cook.

Sometime in the night I passed Camillo and got a few laps upon him. Then didn't see him for a long time. I thought he had stopped sometime after 100 miles. Then with about 3 hours to go he comes rocketing past me. If he had gotten a 2nd wind I wasn't able to keep up. Sometime after hitting 100 miles in 17:08 my pace dropped off. If I was going to hold him off for the win, I would have to run more of the loop than I was at that time. Oh it hurt so bad to run. My legs felt like running on bricks. Well it didn't last long. 3 laps later I ran past him walking. I loved the last few hours of the race.  During the race I try to talk to everyone on the course but never for very long. I talked to Ray for many laps about this and that. I talked to Dana from Kansas off and on. I wanted to say to her “There’s no place like home”.

With Just over a hour to go I crossed the timing mat just behind Camillo. He turned around and we started chatting it up. Then met up with Rebecca from Texas. The 3 of us walked the last 2 laps together and had a blast. I really don’t remember what we talked about other than I was having fun. I said to them “We have 50 minutes left in the race if we walk slow enough we won't have to do more than 2 laps”.  After we finished a lap we still had 30 minutes. How did that not take longer? My son Loren joined us for the last lap. It didn’t go any slower. With just over .25 of a mile to go there was a park bench that I saw many racer stop and sit down on. I wanted to sit down many times but couldn’t let myself. I turn to Rebecca “I know how we can stretch out this lap. I always wanted to sit on that bench. Let's sit down and my boy can take our picture. Oh it was so funny watching the 3 of us trying to get up off the bench. It was one of those good ideas and bad ideas kind of things. Coming down the home stretch we walked even slower to wait up for some other runners. Then this idea came into my head to cross the finish line as slow as possible and everyone else followed my lead. What an amazing finish

Thanks for pointing out I didn't put my finishing miles in my report. I finished with 124 miles. I was trying to qualify for the US 24 hour team.

Nice one Krash and thanks for the write-up.

 

I have family from my wife's side in OK. Seems it's always windy there. I ran the Tulsa marathon once, the only race I did there. I wanted to run Lake Mcmurtry trail race but never did and was never there during the time the race was held.

 

Anyway, the one race I did run in Tulsa it was crazy windy, like 30-35mph. It was brutal, so well done dealing with the wind. So if I get this right, you finished first overall and had a great time at the end. What was your total miles? Seems you were on track to qualify for one of those US ultra teams? Congrats on your run. Good to see a race report.

Congratulations, Krash! And good work on the finish. Thanks for sharing.