Midnight Madness 50 Miler

The race was held in Tulsa, OK on a 10.3 mile loop surrounding a section of the river.  Temperature at the midnight start was 85.  At the time I finished it was 97.

Without exception, every person who heard I was running this event said I was crazy.  I laughed, but I didn't argue.  As I began the training, I quickly realized this was a much different event from a marathon.  It is an endurance event while a marathon is a running event.  I learned that running ultra-long distances is hard no matter how slow you go.  In the last few days before the race, I determined to focus on finishing, staying healthy, and recovering quickly.  I had been saying all along that I didn't care about my time, but finally it was true.  I really didn't care.  I decided to run during the hot night and walk during the even hotter day.

Photo album

I came prepared with 5 different pairs of shoes.  I found during training that I could only run in a pair of shoes for about 20 miles before they became soaking wet.  Since there were 5 loops, I allowed for the possibility of changing shoes for each.  Shelly kept them at our tent where she sat up all night.  The plan was for her to get some sleep while I ran.  Things didn't go according to plan though.  At one point in the night a sprinkler came on and soaked our camp site while she was in the bathroom.  She came back and found all our stuff was wet, including my last 3 pairs of shoes and the bathroom scale I used to monitor my hydration throughout the race.  The scale was electronic and did not survive.

The race started off very uneventful.  I settled in to a comfortable 9:30/mile pace.  We alternated clockwise and counter-CW loops.  I drank as much gatorade as I could stand.  I basically lost 1 lb of fluids per 10-mile lap.  That was pretty good, but to accomplish that I had to run feeling bloated with all the gatorade sloshing around.  In the days after the race, my ribs hurt more than anything else.

My experience was humbling.  It went pretty much like I planned, except it hurt a lot more than I visualized.  It was a good plan.  Finishing was never in doubt.  It was amazing how bad I felt though, even walking.  I probably ran too fast in the early race.  Others who started slower were able to continue that slower pace long into the hot daylight hours.  Kudos to them for knowing themselves better. 

I saw the young lady who won as she passed the 47 mile mark.  I moved off her line and told her to "bring it on in".  She smiled and told me I was looking good.  Ha ha.  Nothing impresses me more than someone with so much talent who is still willing to support others.  She was awesome.  She finished in 7:02!

I finished #64 out of 150 people who started.  Only 105 finished.  My time was 12:12.  You could have timed me with a calendar.