Or:

I get by with a little help from my friends

I have recapped and covered and gone over the Heartland races again and again. Not to sound dramatic. I have been over these races before, though. The route hasn’t changed. The course hasn’t changed much. The hills are hillier. The rocks are rockier. So the technical, descriptive part of this recap ought to be brief.

The weather was perfect on May 3rd. A brisk, calm, and clear 48⁰ in Cassoday, Kansas. Sydney and I were well-rested and ready after a great night’s sleep in El Dorado. There was a little tension as we realized we left our drop bags in the hotel. PANIC! It was fine, though. Our friends Jennie and Dusty were there, and Dusty drove back to our hotel, grabbed our stuff, and drove back to have it all waiting for us at Lapland aid station. A real hero! HOORAY!!!

Sydney ran the 50k with a friend, Gay Ann. I wasn’t worried about her finishing at all. I hoped she would have a lot of fun, and she did.

I ran the 50

I found our friend Ben right away, at packet pick-up. We saw Ben doing a long run the week before and he told us his strategy for the race. He intended to run intervals of 3 minutes running and 1 minute walking. He even programmed his watch to alert with the tempo change. I thought that sounded like a good interval, so I copied it exactly. Still, I had every intention of hanging out with Ben the entire race. He’s a very strong runner. I hoped to pace off of him to a new personal record.

After about a mile of jogging along and chit-chatting we caught up to Jennie. We filled her in on the race plan and she loved the idea. We decided immediately to team up and run together. It was the best idea I’ve ever been a part of!

The team-up was especially helpful because I didn’t have any crew out there. I didn’t need one. The aid stations are few and far, but well managed. The food was top-notch. Hydration options were water and Gatorade. I opted to use just store-brand bottled water to start and reused the bottles all day. It worked okay. The bottles were crushed by the end. If I do that again I’ll use more bottles.

The three of us kept each other on track. Pushed, encouraged, and backed off the pace like professionals. Or enthusiastic amateurs. I brought up the idea of teaming up again for Badwater Salton Sea. Everyone was up for it at the time.

The real star of the race was the location. I finally got to see the Flint Hills in ideal weather. It is beautiful out there! Stunning! People compare it to a screen saver. Photos don’t do it justice. The majesty of it defies description. Even later in the race, when we were trying to keep it together, the magnificence of where we had been lingered.

There were laughs the entire time, which is another plus for running in a group. For example, we only had five miles to go for about eight miles. Lol! And every hill was the last hill. That’s never true!

The route is a bit over 50 miles, so “technically” we did 50 miles in under 10 hours. My actual finish time for the race is 10:08:25. I think that’s really good. We all crossed the finish line together, which is very special. And we had finish line beers, which is just the best!

Overall, I was very happy with the event. The intervals are the way to go. I can’t thank Ben, Jen, and Dusty enough for everything they did out there. I will run with them anytime!