2024 Istria 110K Race Report The Istria 110K race is a trail running race held in the Umag, Croatia area in early April. It features a few different distances, and I chose the 110K because it is not as long or hard as the 100 miler, but long enough to use as training for WS100 coming up 11 weeks later. It claims around 4,000 meters of elevation gain or just over 13,200 feet. Weather was perfect, if a bit warm. I believe it got over 77F during the day, but never lower than 56F in the morning or at night. Almost perfect, with cloudless sunny skies and not enough wind to matter. Shorts and short sleeve shirt weather. We traveled on a Wednesday overnight flight and arrived Thursday evening after two flights and about a 3 hour drive to Zagreb. Our first night we found a great pizza place and I had a beer and really good pizza. Friday we slept in as much as we could because neither of us slept much on the flight, and then went to packet pickup and walked around town a bit. Packet pickup was about what you’d expect from a trail race. UTMB races typically make you carry a lot more gear for safety than most trail races, but they never checked my gear at any time. After packet pickup we tried to eat dinner early in order to get to bed early and also facilitate pooping earlier in the morning as I had to get up at 3:50 am to walk a kilometer to catch a 4:45 am shuttle bus to take all of us to the start of the race. My race started 30 miles away in a town named Buzet and would run around that town in the mountains before making its way back to Umag. 110K is about 68.35 miles and my watch ended up at about 69.8 miles. The race start was uneventful except for the hour-long bus drive with no toilet on it, and then a one hour wait before the start of the race at 7:00 am. They did have a cafe open and you could buy coffee or croissants etc. and I did have an espresso before the start that another runner bought for me because I had no Euros with me. I honestly did not sleep a wink the night before the race. I went to bed thinking I’d get 6 ½ good hours in, but I was never able to fall asleep. That made me even more worried that I would feel like shit during the race because the overnight travel and 7 hour time difference surely didn’t help the mental and physical preparation either. I did not feel that bad at the start though, and once the gun went off I tried to start out mid-pack and at a conservative pace. I have been using a coach to guide me as I have 3 very hard races this year, and he told me to basically take it easy and not overdo it. The race went through town on paved roads for a bit, before transitioning to the dirt. The start had a pretty big climb, and I was surprised how rocky and rough the trail was. I carried running poles, and got them out on the first big climb, and never put them away after. Poles help you move over rough terrain with some added confidence, and they can help you use your upper body to take some of the work from your legs. As you can see the trail goes up rather quickly. Supposedly the first 30-ish mile loop around Buzet would be the hardest part, then the rockiness and climbing would ease up and it would become easier. I honestly never really felt that lol. I thought I was taking it conservatively and would be able to maintain that pace throughout the race. I remember trying to stay hydrated and fueled to keep energy levels up and for practice for the future. Somewhere around mile 33 I started to feel my energy waning, and I was conscious enough of it to look behind me on the trail and say to myself “if I fucking lose it the rest of the race right there is about where it happened” as I pointed at a particular spot in the dirt. It was early afternoon, what felt like hot out to me, and not even halfway through the race yet. There were 7 aid stations throughout the race, with me losing it was right after the 3rd.To try and recover I slowed down, drank a slug of water and had an energy gel etc. I also came upon one of those unique things in these mountain races in the form of a fresh water trough that almost every little mountain town has. It’s cold water runoff and it usually tastes great. I drank a bunch, and wet my hat and my buff in it and splashed a lot on me to cool off. It came at about the perfect time. Apparently the area had a lot of rain the week before, and there was quite a bit of mud in the low spots of the trail and along the mountain streams that wound down the slopes. I would stop a lot this day to dip my hands and hat in the streams. I swear some of the climbs during the latter part of the race were simply the dry areas of rocky gulches that water washes out downhill during intense rains. Loose, slippery rocks, uneven sized wobbly rocks to negotiate, etc. it was tough.You’d start a climb and it would be on a dirt trail for a bit, but then you’d see the washed out rocks again and say to yourself “really?!”. But what can you do, you just go up, then go down, and repeat. I stopped and took a short video at sunset. Sunset was in an orchard for me, with apple trees on one side, and olive trees and wine grape vines on the other. I went through a couple of very rustic and very scenic small towns. Usually they were on the side of the mountain after maybe a steep climb up a rough cobblestone road, and then out of town the trail would take over and maybe be agricultural until it got too steep. At one of the towns at dusk I went through there were people sitting at the cafe right next to the path eating and drinking and cheering a little bit. At no point did I want to quit and sit down and have a beer and a burger with them, nope. Some of the runnable sections at night were gravel roads, but had rather large gravel and two distinct ruts where wheels would create them. Staying in them and running was a chore, but doable. At one point I got distracted for just a second and I tripped and went sprawling face first. I skun up muh knee a little, but mainly I bent my right thumbnail back and also took a decent piece of meat out of that thumb, likely from digging into the sharp gravel to stop myself as I skidded to a stop. It bled some, and I squeezed it to let the blood clean it out, then it started to hurt. There was a flap of skin still hanging on with enough that when I tried to tear it off, it did not come off and just hurt more. That was before the 6th aid station. The problem with the fall was that I started to not want to run the gravel roads after that because falling again and using my hands and digging into the same spot just seemed gross. It was in a bad spot, right where you use your thumb for gripping. At the 6th aid station I asked the medical person there to put a bandaid on it, but all he had was gauze and tape, and I ended up ripping it off because then it just became a hindrance. I had been messaging with the wife a little bit during my race. She agreed to come pick me up with the car after the race rather than have me walk the 1.7 kilometers home at 3:00 am after the race. I was told to message her when I got to the last aid station. Arriving at the last aid station, there was 13.9 kilometers to go to the finish. IIRC my wife said it was easy and all downhill. It was not really easy, and it was not really runnable to a fat old man who had been out for 17 hours already. It was a lot of flat two track trails that you had to choose a rut to run in. I decided to hike in as fast as I could since I wasn’t exactly racing at that point. I was moving pretty well for a hike, but doing the math in my head I was still looking at over two hours at a 15 minute pace fast walk. Trotting a 12 minute pace would shorten that to 20 minutes less, but I was tired and didn’t care. The lack of sleep from the previous few days got the best of me finally, and I didn’t have much fight in me to try and salvage a 229th place finish, haha. It was now after 1:00 am and it got chilly and the ground was wet with dew. I put my jacket on and tried to still eat and drink regularly even though I did not want to. I like running at night. The birds were especially loud at night, I was listening as I hiked and I was thinking damn they are still going at it even at 2 am. I suppose they were enjoying the nice night and the early spring as well. With about 3 or so miles to go I started getting passed by other runners behind me wanting to be done, so I begrudgingly started to trot again myself. At that point in a race like this you feel like you are in last place, and it feels lonely, even though I could see other headlamps around me. With a couple miles to go we hit pavement, and you almost have to run on flat pavement no matter what. With about ½ mile to go I could see and hear other runners trying to pass me, but I did have enough left to say oh hell no, and stayed ahead of them. The finish was subdued as it was almost 3:00 am, but we wound our way through town and eventually got there. The wife was there, asking what took me so long. Trust me honey, I wanted to be done long ago lol. There was no food for those that finished so late, so after a couple of pictures we walked back to the car, and drove home. My official time was 19:54:19 or 234th out of 432 starters. My watch showed 69.80 miles with 13,209 feet of gain which is a respectable race in my humble opinion. I got a race medal, a decent backpack with the race logo, and a race tee shirt that fit a bit large. I also got a chunk out of my thumb, one slightly skinned knee, and the sorest thighs I’ve had since I can remember. I did a few things right during the race, which I am documenting for future reference. My feet were not sore, thanks to Altra Olympus 4 shoes and Darn Tough socks. I carried my phone in the thigh pocket of my shorts with the inner stretch liner, but took it out after the chafing became too painful. I wear a compression shirt so my running pack slides over the shirt, my shirt does not slide over my skin and make it chafe. My pack was pretty heavy, but I refilled my hydration bladder twice with no issues. Highlights of the race were the venue, the weather, the scenery, and the course. Umag is a cool little town right on the Adriatic sea, with lots of great places to eat, especially the fresh fish. It’s a cool town to walk around in, and it’s nice to watch the sunset over the sea. The weather while we were there was fantastic. We even just sat outside on the veranda of our airbnb and relaxed in the sunshine, something we rarely do as we are always so busy in life. Spring in Croatia is awesome, so many wildflowers and birds and people out and about gathering and hanging out like Europeans like to do. And the race course went through some really cool little towns with a very homey and Euro vibe with an eclectic air about them, almost like looking into the past. We did perform some other tourism whilst there. We went to Pula to see some Roman arena remains, the fabulous aquarium there, and the delightful olive oil museum where we learned lots. We went to Venice for about a half day, which was enough. Turns out Venice is mostly vendors trying to sell souvenirs amongst the religious attractions. We also spent our last two days in Zagreb. Wednesday we stopped at Plitvis Lakes park and hiked over 9 miles viewing all of the waterfalls. Thursday we took a walking tour of the downtown area, visited the Nikolai Tesla museum, and the chocolate museum. Overall I’d recommend the race and the area for tourism, it was really fun. The food we had was almost exclusively fantastic, except for one questionable dining choice that still had a good sea view.
2024 Istria 110K Race Report
The Istria 110K race is a trail running race held in the Umag, Croatia area in early April. It features a few different distances, and I chose the 110K because it is not as long or hard as the 100 miler, but long enough to use as training for WS100 coming up 11 weeks later. It claims around 4,000 meters of elevation gain or just over 13,200 feet. Weather was perfect, if a bit warm. I believe it got over 77F during the day, but never lower than 56F in the morning or at night. Almost perfect, with cloudless sunny skies and not enough wind to matter. Shorts and short sleeve shirt weather.
We traveled on a Wednesday overnight flight and arrived Thursday evening after two flights and about a 3 hour drive to Zagreb. Our first night we found a great pizza place and I had a beer and really good pizza. Friday we slept in as much as we could because neither of us slept much on the flight, and then went to packet pickup and walked around town a bit. Packet pickup was about what you’d expect from a trail race. UTMB races typically make you carry a lot more gear for safety than most trail races, but they never checked my gear at any time.
After packet pickup we tried to eat dinner early in order to get to bed early and also facilitate pooping earlier in the morning as I had to get up at 3:50 am to walk a kilometer to catch a 4:45 am shuttle bus to take all of us to the start of the race. My race started 30 miles away in a town named Buzet and would run around that town in the mountains before making its way back to Umag. 110K is about 68.35 miles and my watch ended up at about 69.8 miles.
The race start was uneventful except for the hour-long bus drive with no toilet on it, and then a one hour wait before the start of the race at 7:00 am. They did have a cafe open and you could buy coffee or croissants etc. and I did have an espresso before the start that another runner bought for me because I had no Euros with me. I honestly did not sleep a wink the night before the race. I went to bed thinking I’d get 6 ½ good hours in, but I was never able to fall asleep. That made me even more worried that I would feel like shit during the race because the overnight travel and 7 hour time difference surely didn’t help the mental and physical preparation either.
I did not feel that bad at the start though, and once the gun went off I tried to start out mid-pack and at a conservative pace. I have been using a coach to guide me as I have 3 very hard races this year, and he told me to basically take it easy and not overdo it. The race went through town on paved roads for a bit, before transitioning to the dirt. The start had a pretty big climb, and I was surprised how rocky and rough the trail was. I carried running poles, and got them out on the first big climb, and never put them away after. Poles help you move over rough terrain with some added confidence, and they can help you use your upper body to take some of the work from your legs. As you can see the trail goes up rather quickly.
Supposedly the first 30-ish mile loop around Buzet would be the hardest part, then the rockiness and climbing would ease up and it would become easier. I honestly never really felt that lol. I thought I was taking it conservatively and would be able to maintain that pace throughout the race. I remember trying to stay hydrated and fueled to keep energy levels up and for practice for the future. Somewhere around mile 33 I started to feel my energy waning, and I was conscious enough of it to look behind me on the trail and say to myself “if I fucking lose it the rest of the race right there is about where it happened” as I pointed at a particular spot in the dirt. It was early afternoon, what felt like hot out to me, and not even halfway through the race yet.
There were 7 aid stations throughout the race, with me losing it was right after the 3rd.To try and recover I slowed down, drank a slug of water and had an energy gel etc. I also came upon one of those unique things in these mountain races in the form of a fresh water trough that almost every little mountain town has. It’s cold water runoff and it usually tastes great. I drank a bunch, and wet my hat and my buff in it and splashed a lot on me to cool off. It came at about the perfect time. Apparently the area had a lot of rain the week before, and there was quite a bit of mud in the low spots of the trail and along the mountain streams that wound down the slopes. I would stop a lot this day to dip my hands and hat in the streams.
I swear some of the climbs during the latter part of the race were simply the dry areas of rocky gulches that water washes out downhill during intense rains. Loose, slippery rocks, uneven sized wobbly rocks to negotiate, etc. it was tough.You’d start a climb and it would be on a dirt trail for a bit, but then you’d see the washed out rocks again and say to yourself “really?!”. But what can you do, you just go up, then go down, and repeat.
I stopped and took a short video at sunset. Sunset was in an orchard for me, with apple trees on one side, and olive trees and wine grape vines on the other. I went through a couple of very rustic and very scenic small towns. Usually they were on the side of the mountain after maybe a steep climb up a rough cobblestone road, and then out of town the trail would take over and maybe be agricultural until it got too steep. At one of the towns at dusk I went through there were people sitting at the cafe right next to the path eating and drinking and cheering a little bit. At no point did I want to quit and sit down and have a beer and a burger with them, nope.
Some of the runnable sections at night were gravel roads, but had rather large gravel and two distinct ruts where wheels would create them. Staying in them and running was a chore, but doable. At one point I got distracted for just a second and I tripped and went sprawling face first. I skun up muh knee a little, but mainly I bent my right thumbnail back and also took a decent piece of meat out of that thumb, likely from digging into the sharp gravel to stop myself as I skidded to a stop. It bled some, and I squeezed it to let the blood clean it out, then it started to hurt. There was a flap of skin still hanging on with enough that when I tried to tear it off, it did not come off and just hurt more.
That was before the 6th aid station. The problem with the fall was that I started to not want to run the gravel roads after that because falling again and using my hands and digging into the same spot just seemed gross. It was in a bad spot, right where you use your thumb for gripping. At the 6th aid station I asked the medical person there to put a bandaid on it, but all he had was gauze and tape, and I ended up ripping it off because then it just became a hindrance. I had been messaging with the wife a little bit during my race. She agreed to come pick me up with the car after the race rather than have me walk the 1.7 kilometers home at 3:00 am after the race. I was told to message her when I got to the last aid station.
Arriving at the last aid station, there was 13.9 kilometers to go to the finish. IIRC my wife said it was easy and all downhill. It was not really easy, and it was not really runnable to a fat old man who had been out for 17 hours already. It was a lot of flat two track trails that you had to choose a rut to run in. I decided to hike in as fast as I could since I wasn’t exactly racing at that point. I was moving pretty well for a hike, but doing the math in my head I was still looking at over two hours at a 15 minute pace fast walk. Trotting a 12 minute pace would shorten that to 20 minutes less, but I was tired and didn’t care. The lack of sleep from the previous few days got the best of me finally, and I didn’t have much fight in me to try and salvage a 229th place finish, haha.
It was now after 1:00 am and it got chilly and the ground was wet with dew. I put my jacket on and tried to still eat and drink regularly even though I did not want to. I like running at night. The birds were especially loud at night, I was listening as I hiked and I was thinking damn they are still going at it even at 2 am. I suppose they were enjoying the nice night and the early spring as well.
With about 3 or so miles to go I started getting passed by other runners behind me wanting to be done, so I begrudgingly started to trot again myself. At that point in a race like this you feel like you are in last place, and it feels lonely, even though I could see other headlamps around me. With a couple miles to go we hit pavement, and you almost have to run on flat pavement no matter what. With about ½ mile to go I could see and hear other runners trying to pass me, but I did have enough left to say oh hell no, and stayed ahead of them. The finish was subdued as it was almost 3:00 am, but we wound our way through town and eventually got there. The wife was there, asking what took me so long. Trust me honey, I wanted to be done long ago lol.
There was no food for those that finished so late, so after a couple of pictures we walked back to the car, and drove home. My official time was 19:54:19 or 234th out of 432 starters. My watch showed 69.80 miles with 13,209 feet of gain which is a respectable race in my humble opinion. I got a race medal, a decent backpack with the race logo, and a race tee shirt that fit a bit large. I also got a chunk out of my thumb, one slightly skinned knee, and the sorest thighs I’ve had since I can remember.
I did a few things right during the race, which I am documenting for future reference. My feet were not sore, thanks to Altra Olympus 4 shoes and Darn Tough socks. I carried my phone in the thigh pocket of my shorts with the inner stretch liner, but took it out after the chafing became too painful. I wear a compression shirt so my running pack slides over the shirt, my shirt does not slide over my skin and make it chafe. My pack was pretty heavy, but I refilled my hydration bladder twice with no issues.
Highlights of the race were the venue, the weather, the scenery, and the course. Umag is a cool little town right on the Adriatic sea, with lots of great places to eat, especially the fresh fish. It’s a cool town to walk around in, and it’s nice to watch the sunset over the sea. The weather while we were there was fantastic. We even just sat outside on the veranda of our airbnb and relaxed in the sunshine, something we rarely do as we are always so busy in life. Spring in Croatia is awesome, so many wildflowers and birds and people out and about gathering and hanging out like Europeans like to do. And the race course went through some really cool little towns with a very homey and Euro vibe with an eclectic air about them, almost like looking into the past.
We did perform some other tourism whilst there. We went to Pula to see some Roman arena remains, the fabulous aquarium there, and the delightful olive oil museum where we learned lots. We went to Venice for about a half day, which was enough. Turns out Venice is mostly vendors trying to sell souvenirs amongst the religious attractions. We also spent our last two days in Zagreb. Wednesday we stopped at Plitvis Lakes park and hiked over 9 miles viewing all of the waterfalls. Thursday we took a walking tour of the downtown area, visited the Nikolai Tesla museum, and the chocolate museum. Overall I’d recommend the race and the area for tourism, it was really fun. The food we had was almost exclusively fantastic, except for one questionable dining choice that still had a good sea view.
Istria 110k 4-6-2024
WS100 6-29-2024
UTMB 171k 8-30-2024
MCM 10-27-2024
king of the non-sequitur
Jay, thanks for the RR. sounds like a great trip and congrats on finishing a tough race!
here's a mini report from the Cottontail 6-hour:
Matt and Keri from Mccall run this event twice a year here in my neighborhood in Seattle. Ive been running it as much as possible and it has become a great test and yardstick for my fitness. It's a 2 mile loop with about 400 feet of gain per loop so it's basically hills reps but on some super nice trails. i love training here but hold back some to save the specialness for the race days. They have a 6 hour and a 12 hour option. They used to have two 6's that split the 12 but now it's one 6 hour in the middle of the 12. People doing the 12 are usually training for cascade crest or some other tough 100 but I did meet someone in the 6 training for WS. The turnout this year was crazy! I think I ran in the 6 hour alone one year before they combined it. This time there were more than 40 people in the 6 and around 25 in the 12! I have run this thing so many times I tend to change tactics a little sometimes to see what effect it has (i never learned anything because i keep getting the same results). This time i decided to bomb the descents and climb easier and once again it's a wash. but i didnt fall so there is that Anyway nicest people esp the RDs. I ran 14 big loops and one mini loop for 28 miles and 5673' vert with a moving time of 5:38:28. i am pretty psyched about that. it shows that my fitness is still as good as it has been for at least 5 years. it doesn't sound like much on paper but the course is deceptive and with all the newbs there was a lot of attrition! even one guy who broke down on the trail with cramp. i told him to keep moving but nobody listens to me esp these youngsters. i heard a lot of excuse-making. one thing i hear a lot from other runners is how they are 'taking it easy' because 'it's just a training run'. not me. i am running my ass off and testing myself. I want to see what my body can still do. it's small, cheap, local and non elite but it's a race! ...and i guess it's my humble little WS. part of the no frills part is the hand counting of laps. i think they forgot one of mine but my watch is good on it. funny thing the coros app told me it was "excessive" lol
https://www.strava.com/activities/11175611546#kudos
just checked and they posted the results already. 27.56M 'official' ya they missed a mini lap but even with that 6/40 OA and 1/8 AG. i'll take it. i think the 80-90% low hr training is working well!
Bridle Trails 50k 1-13-24 5:39
Cottontail 6 Hour 4-13-24
Cougar Long Series (May,June,July,Aug 2024)
Carkeek 6 Hour 10-19-24
Great race reports, all!
I'm worn out after Napa Valley 50k yesterday. Stats by my watch: 32.25 miles, 7602' vert, 9:09 finish time. Fitness was good and I still had energy after I was done, but a lot of the trail was in bad shape and not run-able. I was expecting steep hills, technical stuff, mud, and rocks, but I also got bushwhacking, climbing over/under fallen trees, and miles of eroded trail that was more like a glorified goat path. It was like no one had been on that stretch since the race last year, plus it was a rough winter. Hurt my foot trying to avoid sliding off the trail and falling down the hillside. This was my third time doing this 50k, and every year it’s gotten more gnarly. I think maybe I’m done now.
Scenery was great, no doubt. Hills were green, there were waterfalls, plus lots of wildflowers.
Bushwacking was not so great. Yes, that's the trail.
Traces of snow at the summit of Mt. St. Helena. But the weather was good, although cloudy, so no views from the top.
5/11/24 Grizzly Peak Marathon, Berkeley, CA
7/20/24 Tahoe Rim Trail 56 miler, NV
9/21/24 Mountain Lakes 100, OR
Pain is my friend
a smith- great job on the loop race. You are not getting faster or getting slower. I will take that as a win. I need to do a 6 hour race and see how I do. I have done a 5 hour race on an indoor track. They say you can make up more time on the downhill than than pushing the uphill. I am on the fence. I thing its about being able to run the easy uphills instead of walking them.
GatsbyBird- Great job on the 50k. Love the pics.
nOOky- Wow. What a race. I would love to go do an ultra in another country.
"I carried my phone in the thigh pocket of my shorts with the inner stretch liner, but took it out after the chafing became too painful."
I have had the same problem.
I have a 55 mile training week. Did another 9k vert week. Most of it was in 2 runs. Friday was 3100 ft climb in 5 miles. Saturdays long run was 17.4 miles with 4100 ft of vert. Half of the vert was in the last 7 miles.
ATY 24 141.445 2019 1st
Bear 100 22:08 2021
Jackpot 100 Feb 14:59 - 5th
Pulse endurance 48 hr 175.3 miles
Bonnevile Backyard ultra
Ute 100 Aug
24 hour loop race?
a smith- They say you can make up more time on the downhill than than pushing the uphill. I am on the fence. I thing its about being able to run the easy uphills instead of walking them. "I carried my phone in the thigh pocket of my shorts with the inner stretch liner, but took it out after the chafing became too painful." I have had the same problem.
a smith- They say you can make up more time on the downhill than than pushing the uphill. I am on the fence. I thing its about being able to run the easy uphills instead of walking them.
I agree and do run the uphills but really easy keeping my cadence up. i find it keeps my HR lower than if I power-hike. For me the thing is: uphill you pay for it right away, bombing downhill you pay for it later (unless you crash)! I like the 6 hour. It feels like a marathon or 50k when i dont have to constantly worry about slowing down
I carry my phone in a side pocket of compression underwear but for long runs have another compression layer over that
Margaret, nice work finishing the course! idk but the bushwacking part sounds kinda fun as long as you can stay on course!
Alan, the abundance of poison oak made the bushwhacking less fun…
I’m much better at uphills than downhills.
Nice job on the 6 hour a smith and the 50k Gatsby!
I have been on cruise for the two weeks since my race. I contracted some sort of stomach flu a week ago, and it kicked my ass for the past week. 10 weeks until WS100, my coach says prepare for lots of hill work and heat training. I'll be wearing tights and long sleeve shirts no matter how warm it gets here I guess as the race gets closer.
45 miles this week including lots of walking. doms always sneaks up on me, in this case 5 days later! took a day off yesterday and had a long walk today. feel much better. getting psyched about the summer trail series. first one is a ten miler which is the toughest one! the others are long enough so i dont try to stay in a high HR zone the whole way
A couple official race photos from last weekend's Napa Valley 50k. Wisely, the photographer was positioned early in the course while the runners were still happy and energetic, and where there was no poison oak.
Easy week, some DOMS, some left ankle tendinitis. 25 miles.
nOOky, ugh on the stomach bug.
I got in 54 miles last week 4 k vert. This week is a back off week for me. I am running a backyard ultra Saturday. I am hoping it goes over 24 hours. If there is some tracking I will post it. Its the Bonneville backyard ultra. https://www.bonnevillebackyardultra.com/
I've done a race like that twice. Once it was hot with a dew point of 78F. The other time it was rainy and muddy. It seems easy, just under a 15 minute pace. But both times I died after around 5 laps. Us average runners don't get time to refuel between laps, because if you come in with a few minutes to spare those minutes go quickly when you stop to pee or fill your bottles etc.
Good luck!
This will be my 3 one. The last one I did got up to 92F. It was hot but I managed. I was able to get in 22 yards before the other guy quit. I have a few ultra friends running with me that could put the number of laps past 24. It does look like it will rain this weekend. I will take the heat over the rain any day.
I've done a race like that twice. Once it was hot with a dew point of 78F. The other time it was rainy and muddy. It seems easy, just under a 15 minute pace. But both times I died after around 5 laps. Us average runners don't get time to refuel between laps, because if you come in with a few minutes to spare those minutes go quickly when you stop to pee or fill your bottles etc. Good luck!