Notes
The Race started out with temps around around 70 degrees and a dew point of 65. Surveying the competition it was hard to tell who would take off fast, but secretly I had hopes of coming in top 5. The leaders took off fast right away, I think about a pack of 10 guys or so and right away I knew this race would be a lot faster than the last few years.
I saw DB about 10 yards in front of me and worked to catch up with him. We talked a little about the course while running the first half mile or so. We ran up a service road of the ski hill and then into the woods for some bushwacking, maybe another half mile or so. Somewhere in there DB said he was going to back off the pace but I wasn't quite ready to do that. I was okay with running a little faster than I should because sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and go for it. This of course may have bit me later.
The bushwacking through the trees wasn't really that bad, a lot of logs to jump over but really not a ton of thorns or other bushes in the way. It did back up pretty quick as runners tried to navigate obstacles though and I was powerwalking faster than people in front of me were running. We then continued to run around the ski hill area for a while until we headed down the ski slope. Lots of runners were braking down the ski hill but I let inertia carry me as fast as I could while still remaining in control. I had my arms out probably looking like a moron as I charged down the hill. As we left the area I was trying to think when we actually ran up the ski hill slope, but it seems like we just did the service roads.
After that we got down the hill we headed back to the start area and onto the ice age trail. The trail was pretty similar to by IAT 50 in technical difficulty only longer hills. The first 2-3 miles were a constant climb and after I realized I was sweating profusely and getting out of breath I decided to powerwalk for a while. I only got passed by one guy (who I eventually passed later because he faded really hard.) First bathroom stop was around mile 10, and apparently that wasn't enough because I had to stop a mile or so later.
I continued on IAT for a while then through some flat land and headed into devils lake state park for another long uphill climb. This was was longer and steeper than the first hill and I went back to power walking. Got to the top, ran down through the campgrounds then back up and along the ridge. This is where the view was spectacular. Devils lake has a ridge that forms a horseshoe around the lake and the ridge is 300+ feet over the lake with a straight vertical drop. You do not want to fall of while you are sightseeing. There are also lots of sudden 2-3 foot drops on the trail with sharp rocks as steps and just when you start picking up speed you run into another one. One of the aid stations is 3 feet from the edge of the cliff with a beautiful view and it was tempting to stay there and look for a while.
Then we headed down, down, down IAT into bug pit (I didn't realize I would be running up this later). Ran through the "bug pit", which was kind of a swampy area with tall grass/weeds, up to the hips at times. This may have been a little annoying but nothing that was a significant challenge or what I thought was really a DWD challenge. Ran through an aid station then about a mile further and hit the turnaround. On the way back I saw DB about a half mile from the turn around. When I hit the aid station I dumped my hydration pack and shirt. It was about mile 22 and I figured I could hit it hard all the way back. Things were going great until after running maybe a mile and leaving the bug pit it was all uphill for what seemed like two miles.
Finally we got back on the main devils lake trail and headed downhill (thank you) through grassy areas until we hit IAT again. IAT was pretty much downhill as well, but by then my calves had started to cramp up almost every step. I literally was kicking my leg out like I was doing some kind of dance at random intervals. I could not flex my right foot at all, much less actually land smoothly. Once we hit the really technical area my left outside muscle that controls foot motion started seizing up. It kept locking up and forcing my foot to bend to the outside. Trying to climb over rocks while my foot acted like a puppet to some insane master was not fun. Despite that, I was still passing half marathon runners while power wobbling. (By that point I had to take pleasure in something.)
The last stretch of approximately 2 miles would have been great trail to bring it home but unfortunately anytime I picked up pace the calves screamed at me. They locked up so hard twice that I could not bend my leg. The second time I literally fell over and rolled around on the ground until I could get it to unlock. (I was thinking good thing this wasn't a big city marathon or they would have yanked me from the race). I got back up and started hobbling again. About 1/2 mile from the finished I got passed twice, the first guy there was no way I could catch (he was practically sprinting) but the second guy I caught on in the last 1/4 mile going up a slight incline (he said he couldn't run it).
Overall I'm pretty happy with the race despite the cramping. I think part of the cramping stemmed from pushing to hard early on and maybe not enough water. Otherwise fueling was good (6 gels), hydration good (2 liters of heed plus H2O and gatoraide at water stops), and 5 salt tabs.