Keys Ultras Race Report

It is time for the long awaited Keys Ultra Marathon report. I hope that this report is not too long or boring and it gives you some perspective of what it is like to run 50 miles in the heat of the Keys.

The prospect of this race started back in March when I was looking for my next event after the Tampa Marathon - I have always wanted to try a 100 miler and figured I had a decent base from the marathon I could give it a try. I found the Keys Ultra that was scheduled to run in May and sent my coach a note to see if I could be ready to run 100 miles in 8 weeks. I could tell that Sean was not wild about the idea but he said I could complete it if I put some time in over the next couple of months. After thinking long and hard that evening I decided to try for a good performance in the 50 miler instead of just finishing the 100 miler. When I informed Sean of that decision he seemed very pleased.

Once we decided on the event and the distance it was time to start training. I put in a solid 8 weeks (you can see some of my training updates on previous posts on this blog). Once it was race week I was pretty darn tired - more from not sleeping well rather than being tired from training. I was also very excited and ready to get this thing on the road.

We arrived in Key Largo on Friday, May 16th and attended the pre race meeting and picked up all of our stuff for the race. My race was starting from Marathon on Saturday morning at 10:00a so I thought it would be fun to see the 100 milers off at 6:00a before we drove the 50 miles to the start of my race.

Race day started with me getting up at 5:30a and heading to Waffle House (only place open) to grab a pre race breakfast. I sat at the counter and order the egg, bacon and cheese sandwich with home fries, cup of coffee and glass of water - figure that would store up some much needed fuel. As I was sitting there enjoying the Waffle House crowd and reading the paper the 100 milers went by right outside - so i went out to cheer them on. After I explained to the WH crew what was happening they were pretty mystified why someone would run 100 or even 50 miles. They were ok with Gator Wrestling, Mug Bogging and Tracker Pulls but running the length of the Keys was down right crazy??? Any way, after breakfast number 1 I went back to the hotel to relax a tad and to start packing the car. I tried to be as quiet as possible so Beth the Crew Chief could get her sleep - it is a long day for her too.

Pre Race meal number 2 was peanut butter on Publix breakfast bread and a Plain PowerGel - along with some water and gatorade. I had this meal at the start line about 30 minutes before the race. I figure my race day weight (after a large dinner with apple pie and two pre race meals) to be about 152 or 153. When we got to the start point of the 50 mile race there was a lot of activity and a lot of runners milling around. We met some great folks from Orlando, one being a lady that lives on our same street - all of the people I met have run many of these Ultra things and seemed to take pity on me that I was a newbie.

At 9:50a (temperatures about 90 degrees and sunny) we were escorted to the start. It was kind of fun because all the racers were there with their crew (something else we have never really done - we always just show up to races and used aid stations) and it seemed like there was a lot of nervous energy at the start area - or it was just me being scared crapless. I did some strides trying to work the butterflies out but that was not good - I just lined up and stayed quite because I had no clue what you say to someone about to run to Key West. 10:00a and the gun was off. Most of the race would be on the shoulder of US 1 - with some being on a paved trail on the side of the roads. One big hurdle would be 7 mile bridge (so named for it's length) and the fact that there would be no refill of fluids or nutrition during that 7 miles. My plan was to meet Beth and the rest of the crew (Mike R, Zach and Sherri) on the other side of the bridge for my first pit stop.

As soon as the gun went off I tried the run the pace I had been trained to run but best laid plans did not work - I went through mile 1 in 7:30 (too fast) and mile 2 in 7:45 (little better). But, I struggled for the first 10 miles to slow down. It did not make it any easier that from the start gun there was not a single person around me - I was out in front and not liking being the lead dog. When I got to the bridge at mile 3 of the race my crew was there which was very cool and were all the other crews - that was kind of fun to see. The bridge was awful - terrible - brutal - stupid - whatever you want to say. The headwind was about 10 mph and we ran against traffic and traffic was bad so every truck just added that much more drag. One good thing - I found a dollar bill about half way (lucky dollar). Maybe the bill was lucky because about a mile later a car going south decided to pass so they were on the shoulder coming up behind me at a rapid rate of speed - I mean it was close - I could feel the breeze and was scared as bageezers. That would have ended my day early "runner hit by truck falls from 7 mile bridge, tries to swim to safety but a dolphin took him out to sea".

Any way - I am off the bridge at Mile 10 in 76 minutes (still too fast)and really starting to get tired of traffic, the sun beating on my back, and the heat. At mile 10 my crew gave me a new ice filled bandanna for my neck, I took some nutrition, got a new bottle and was off running again. At this point I was using Mike R as my pacer and the plan was to go 5 miles.

Bad news - this is where I started to break down (break down at mile 10 - 40 more to go - it is going to be a long ass day if this keeps up). After 3 miles of running at about a 9 minute pace Beth was waiting for us and thank goodness because I was heating up rapidly. Used a lot of ice and put ice in a lot of places to try and cool down. Mike and I were off again - this time it took us 28 minutes to go 3 miles. When we got to the crew car I was so soaked with sweat that I decided for a complete change of clothes - from hat to shoes and socks. I was thinking that this would really make me feel better.

The next 5 miles took about an hour and it was getting rough - my mind was playing tricks on me and it was tough to stay focused. The mental part of my race was falling apart rapidly. At this point I am in the lead but I am thinking about quitting because I do not want to put my crew through 28+ miles of walking - it will take forever. I was thinking about packing up and calling it a day. I asked my pacers to leave me a lone because I wanted to try some miles by myself. I figure the half way point was in 4 miles - lets give that a shot. Also, at this time I am going slow enough that the other runners are gaining on me and I can see their crew car stopping every place I stop.

At mile marker 26 I can not get anything in my stomach and I am really overheating but it is only one mile to the check point so lets give it a shot. I am first in the check point at MM 25 (only 24 miles left because we started at MM 51). It was a pretty cool feeling being first one there. There were lots of people asking me questions that I am not sure I answered - I think the race doctor was asking me stuff. I do remember saying that it must be 95 degrees and the race director was nice enough to tell me it was only about 93 (later to find out the heat index was about 96). I really did not want to go on - it took me about 4.5 hours to go 26 miles, I was walking a lot and still had about 24 miles to go. I soaked my feet in ice and put on new socks and shoes and figured I would give it a go (I still have not gone potty). At that point we decided the crew would meet me every two miles instead of the planned 5 - they could keep a better eye on my that way.

The next several miles I survived walking and running, eating oranges and drinking Coke. At MM21 (30 miles into the race)Crew Chief Beth was on the phone with Coach Sean reporting the gory details - he recommended some Alka Seltzer to try and clear the stomach up and to get some pain reliever in the body. It actually worked some. I started to run alone again to try to get my head on right and to see if I could run some - I was running about 9 minute miles in 2 mile bunches but I was still taking 5 minutes at every break because I had to cool down my body.

At about MM 19 I started to run with pacers again - I found that I could run 10 minutes, walk 2 minutes and then run about 5.5 minutes to the next rest stop. I could not get the rest stop times below about 4 minutes though because I could not cool down fast enough - I figured it was better to cool down than to pass out! Oh yeah - good news, I finally peed!

By MM 15 was able to eat oranges, drink water and Coke and run 2 miles in 17:30 - I was actually getting a little faster and feeling a tad bit better. My pacers were awesome - I kind of felt bad for them because I made them run so slow but they were good company and kept me moving forward. The best part about it was I had not seen another crew car for about 5-6 miles - I was getting stronger and starting to put a little gap on my competition?? Maybe!

MM8 - it is now 8 hours in to the race (I should have been done at this point) and I am starting to cramp up pretty bad. I know I have not eaten and drank enough to sustain me but I had no choice. It is still hot as crap out there and no relief in sight. I did get some Boost in me but I am not feeling too good now. Only 7 miles to go but I am not sure at this point if I can make it. I recovered well in the middle of the race and was able to put some distance on the other runners but if I am walking and they are running they will be gaining on me fast. At MM6 I cram some more Alka Seltzer in my and the crew works on my legs with the Stick. It just took my 27 minutes to go 2 miles and I am really unhappy.

With 7 miles to go I figure I will just try to gut out running and walking until someone catches up to me and goes by me - when they do I have decided in my mind I might just call it day. At this point I am running about 5 minutes and walking about 3. But low and behold we actually get a spot that is in the shade (I bet it has cooled off to 90 degrees by now) and it feel damn good. I make Mike stop so I can pee again then we are off - we cross the bridge on to Key West and there is the crew for the second to last stop. At this point I pick up Zach for 2 miles then the plan is to meet everyone at the finish line. The 2 miles was obviously short because we were through there in 10 minutes but I left the crew, shook their hands and thanked them for the effort, kissed my wife and was off for the last mile.

The last mile was fun, the sun was dropping a little and the course went right along the ocean (it was a long ass mile though). With about a 1/2 mile to go I saw another crew car pass me - figured the next runner was closing in on me and man it would suck to lose a 50 mile race in the last 1/2 mile. I kept trying to run but if I went too fast my hamstrings would put an end to the running for good so I tried to stay steady.

Finally, the finish line - I can see it - I looked back for the first time and no one was there - I was gong to finish and finish first. When I got to the finish chute I walked the last several steps and enjoyed the journey. After crossing the finish line Beth was right there and she deserved the finisher medal more than me because without her I never would have made it. The rest of the crew was there too.

All in all - I went through 2 complete change of clothes, 4 pair of Brooks shoes and socks, tons of ice and water and many miles in the grueling heat. The finish time was a slow 9:34:00 but for my first time at 50 I will take it.

30 minute later runner number 2 crossed the line. Scott lives in the Key West and actually ran negative splits for this race - he is a crazy man. After staying at the finish line and cheering for some of the runners we went to our hotel to get checked in and cleaned up - I weighted in at 138 (we think it the scale was off 4-5 pounds) so we will say 143 - total weight loss for the day 10 lbs - calories burned is estimated at 4500-5000 - blisters = ZERO

all in all I am very happy about the race - I am happy that I stuck with it and finished, happy that we learned some stuff about running these things and crewing these things and happy that I won. I will definitely do another one but probably not in the Keys in May - maybe somewhere cold. I will also definitely give the 100 mile a try at some point.

there is no way I would have finished without an awesome crew - they were there for me the whole way and did whatever I asked. They even put up with my miserable ranting along the way and supported all my decisions along the way too - they were awesome. It was their first time as a crew so we were all feeling our way through this one.

The first place relay team finished 100 miles in about 12 hours so i would like to assemble a relay team for next year and go out and bust up that course record of theirs. As for returning to run the 50 again and defend my title - I think i will retire it and go on from there :-)

team Hendryx will begin coaching Ultra Marathoners so if you have any interest let us know - JFK 50 is coming up!