Lighthouse Hill Ranch 20 mile trail run race report.
I saw someone, probably on the Hill Country Trail Runners mailing list, mention this new event, the Lighthouse Hill Ranch 10/20 miler, and was intrigued. It fell two weeks before Palo Duro, and was probably just about what Jamie would have me do anyway, time/distance-wise. AND it was supported. I'm proud of myself for finally learning the Greenbelt well enough to be able to do a 4 hour run out there on my own, but I was really tired of doing long runs on the Greenbelt on my own. A supported long trail run sounded fantastic.
I headed out to Johnson City alone on Saturday, dark and early and not feeling great. I started getting a little cough the Saturday before. And it got worse. And worse. And didn't go away. I finally went to the doctor on Friday, the day before the race, and he said there was something going around, and the good news was, mine sounded like maybe it was on the way out. But he wrote me a prescription for a z-pack and said if I woke up and felt worse, to go ahead and get it filled and take it. Well, I didn't feel WORSE when I woke up, but I was still coughing. And now it had been a full week.
But it was just a cough, really. Otherwise I felt relatively okay. So I decided to run. Plus, it was my last big run before PD. Mentally I needed it.
After some antics trying to find the actual Lighthouse Ranch (I wasn't alone, and the race started late because of it), I finally found the Ranch, hiked a half mile to packet pickup, then back to the car, then back to the start line, and settled in to wait for the start. The Terranovas were there, alleviating any stress I might have had about being obligated to Win this race (ha) (and yes, they won), but otherwise I didn't know anybody out there. And this race was TINY. I had no idea at the time, other than "not many", but it looks like there were maybe 50-60 runners total.
They said go, and we were off. I don't usually wear my sunglasses on the Greenbelt, because the tree cover often means it's too dark for sunglasses. I had NO idea what this course was like, and so I figured I'd run one loop without sunglasses and assess, then grab them for the second loop if I deemed it necessary. Then right at the last minute, I decided to wear them from the beginning. And I quickly was really glad I did. It turns out, this course had no shade. Probably 0.02% of the course was shaded, and the rest was on jeep trail with no trees in sight. And even though it was blissfully and unseasonably (or maybe seasonably, but certainly atypical of the recent weather) cool (in the mid 50s), it was incredibly sunny, and that sun can wear you down.
Concentrating on not falling down in the start crowd
I went out with the pack, and pretty quickly, since there were so few people, things spread out and I was mostly alone. The whole first loop I generally had 1-2 other people in sight, but I wasn't near anyone. Once or twice someone passed me, and once or twice I passed someone, but I was pretty much alone.
The course was pretty nice. It was almost all jeep trail, but it wasn't easy. There were several pretty steep hills, and a lot of areas where the jeep trail was comprised of medium-sized, frustrating rocks. But it was pretty easy to get into a rhythm and zone out and just enjoy the views out there. Since there were so few trees, you could see for miles. (You could see the Lighthouse right after mile 2, which was sorta anti-climatic.)
There were three aid stations out there, but since I was wearing my Nathan pack, I didn't stop at any of them on the first loop. Right after I passed the third, a guy was passing me, and I was right on the verge of passing this girl in orange who I'd been leapfrogging with for a while. She blew by me authoritatively in the first mile, then was far ahead of me for a long time. Then I slowly caught up to her and passed her. Then she blew by me again. Then I passed her. This happened a few times. So as this guy was passing me, he asked what mile we were at, and I told him 8.1ish, and that if he was doing the 10 miler, he was practically done. He ran on, and the orange girl asked if I was doing the 20 miler, and it turns out she was too. It turns out, the longest run she'd ever done was a 5k. She thought she'd see what happened if she went out and ran 20. She asked if she could run with me, 'cause she wasn't very good at pacing. I told her I'd noticed, and we ran the rest of the loop together. It was nice to have someone to talk to.
Running with my orange friend
We got back to the start line, crossed it, and had no idea what to do. I asked if we just.. went back out again? And the volunteers confirmed. So I turned around and ran back out. I glanced behind me, expecting orange girl to be there, but she had stopped and was talking to someone. She was running carrying nothing (no water, no food), so I figured she'd probably need to stop at the aid station anyway, and I didn't need to stop, so I went on. If she was feeling good, she'd catch me. Otherwise, I was on my own again.
I managed to start the loop without thinking, "ugh, another loop", and then once I'd started, I had less than one loop left! At this point, there was nobody else out there. I knew I wasn't the last person to finish that first loop, but I had no idea if any of the people who'd been behind me were doing the 20 miler. Maybe they were all doing the 10 miler, and I was going to be the last one out there.
But I was still feeling pretty good and even though it was a little warm with the full sun, it was still only in the 70s or so, and it was beautiful, so life was good. Except the coughing. It had started creeping up on me during the first loop. A few coughs here and there. I actually really didn't even notice I was coughing much on the first loop, but orange girl mentioned in passing that she'd been sick, and said she'd heard me coughing earlier and figured I was sick, too. So I guess I was coughing some. It got worse on the second loop. And it was really uncomfortable to do full-body coughing while running. Very taxing on my core. I tried to minimize the coughing I had to do, simply because it was so tiring to deal with it. But the trail was pretty dusty, and that definitely wasn't helping.
As I approached the first aid station on the loop, I decided that would be where I stopped. Not too shabby.. one stop for 20 miles. It was right around the 3 mile mark, and as I saw the tent ahead of me, I saw some people running away from the tent. People! I wasn't alone out there! Yay! Though they were gone by the time I actually got up to the table.
I handed my backpack off to a nice volunteer and she refilled my water for me. I had a few minutes to kill while she did that, so I ate one frito. And then drank a cup of orange sports drink. Then another cup, because she still wasn't done, and that one frito had been salty. As I snacked and refilled, a guy with a clipboard casually mentioned, "You're fourth place female." UGH. Why do people insist on telling me things like that? 5 minutes ago I was pretty sure I was going to be the last finisher! I'm only out here for a supported long run! I've just been tooling along slowly and steadily this whole time! I don't want to have to care about what place I am! Then he also mentioned that third place had just left, and that she was running with a guy who was slowing her down (that must have been them I saw as I ran up).
So now my water was refilled, and I had a decision to make. Did I care? Would it matter if I did? Did I have anything more to give? Maybe I could just hope that someone in front of me fell apart dramatically some time before the end. And I'd just happen to pass them, and they either wouldn't care or wouldn't have anything left to fight it.
So I just struck out again on my own. Maybe possibly a little bit faster than I'd been going. Just in case.
But for several miles I couldn't see anyone in front of me. Even on the places where I could see way far down the trail ahead of me. No sign of people. I wasn't gaining any ground on 3rd. I resigned myself to 4th. 4th is a nice consolation prize when you're not racing, anyway.
I was coming up on one of the more technical parts of the loop. A second along a fenceline with a rocky uphill followed by a rocky downhill followed by a rocky uphill. It's a really long slog, and both up and down are treacherous and tough, and I figured if I had any chance of seeing the people in front of me, this would be it. I got to the fence, hooked a right, and took in the view.
There they were, down the fenceline ahead of me, not close but not prohibitively far.
And they were walking.
Ugh.
I had run this whole section the first time and had no plans to walk it the second, so I just kept my pace. They didn't know I was back there. I may have tried to run quietly. I slogged up the hill, them bombed the downhill, and as it began to climb again, I came up behind them. It was obvious she was staying back to walk with him, and he was having some sort of trouble. As I passed them, I heard him say something about maybe dehydration. I made some sort of small talk remark as I passed, maybe about wishing they would install some shade on the course, and then I was by them and presumably 3rd place female.
Right after I passed them, the trail kinda goes up in a couple switchbacks, and as I got to the top of those, there was a cow. A bull. A very large bull. Just standing there next to the trail. I pointed at the cow and said, "Cow!" loudly, for the benefit of the couple behind me. I wondered what to do. He didn't look like he planned to bumrush me, so I just said, "Hi. Uh... hi." and tried to run by as unmenacingly as possible. And he just stared at me. And then he was behind me. (I thought maybe I dreamed that part, but someone actually took a picture of said cow, so he really did exist.)
I passed by the second aid station, and as I did, I passed two women. One didn't look like she was actually racing.. I thought maybe she was a volunteer who happened to be wearing running clothes. The other, I had no idea. She was running, and she looked to have a number. But I passed her pretty decisively and quickly, so it didn't seem likely she was one of the 2 women ahead of me. Maybe she was a late-starting 10 miler? But I was pretty sure I was still in 3rd. Except then former-3rd fleeewwww by me like I was standing still, and now I was 4th again. Evidently her friend told her to go on, and go on she did.
So now I was pretty sure 4th was where I was gonna be, so I just settled in to finish up as strong as I could. I knew they were doing 10 year age group awards at least 1 deep, and if I was 4th overall, that SHOULD mean 1-3 get overall awards, and that would mean an age group award for me. I like age group awards!
I was fairly ready to be done at this point. It was warm. I was coughing. Various body parts that have been irritating me were irritating me (left glute, right hip). And I still had an hour drive to get home. And puppies were at home waiting for me.
Jazz hands, because.. why not?
So I just sang songs in my head and kept running, and eventually got back to the photographer (couldn't believe he was still out there, especially given how sparse the field was). Another turn and I was back to the start line, which was now the finish line! And as I stood there, a few more people came in behind me, so I wasn't last! (Including my orange friend, who did hit a wall at mile 17, but finished up her first 20 miler strong and happy, about 25 minutes behind me.)
I put a little catered bbq on a plate and ate a tiny portion of it, then drank two bottles of sports drink and half a bottle of water. And coughed. And coughed. And coughed. I couldn't stop coughing. Way worse than when I was running. I'm sure everyone thought I had ebola and was waiting for blood to start coming out my orifices. Orifii. I wanted to go home and cough in the privacy of my own home, and perhaps get that prescription filled, but I wanted to stay and see if I got an award! Finally I just asked a volunteer, and she said she'd look it up, and she came back to tell me I was fourth overall female, and second in my age group! I got a 2nd place medal, and.. I actually suspected perhaps I should get a 1st place in my AG medal (unless they were letting people double-dip and get both overall awards and AG awards), but hey, I had a medal, and I just wanted to get outta there. So I took my medal and drove my tired, coughing ass back home.
Sure enough, the results show I'm 1st in my age group (I'll just sharpie my medal), and I'm NOT the only person in my age group! There were 2 whole other people! My age group had the honor of being.. the only female age group with more than one person in it. And some age groups had no people in them. Yes, it turns out that of those 50-60 runners, most were doing the 10 miler. Only 18 people did the 20 miler (well, 18 people FINISHED the 20 miler.. maybe some dropped, I have no idea), and I was 10/18 of them. 4/7 for females. 4th overall isn't QUITE as impressive sounding when you know there's only 7 total. :)
But I got out of it exactly what I wanted, which was a supported long run. And it was good practice for Palo Duro, because it was dusty, it was exposed, and I had to spend a lot of time with only myself as company.
(For two days following the race, I felt like I'd done a super-intense ab workout. Or that someone had repeatedly punched me in the abdomen. That's.. a lot of coughing!)
Now bring on the 50 miler!
I headed out to Johnson City alone on Saturday, dark and early and not feeling great. I started getting a little cough the Saturday before. And it got worse. And worse. And didn't go away. I finally went to the doctor on Friday, the day before the race, and he said there was something going around, and the good news was, mine sounded like maybe it was on the way out. But he wrote me a prescription for a z-pack and said if I woke up and felt worse, to go ahead and get it filled and take it. Well, I didn't feel WORSE when I woke up, but I was still coughing. And now it had been a full week.
But it was just a cough, really. Otherwise I felt relatively okay. So I decided to run. Plus, it was my last big run before PD. Mentally I needed it.
After some antics trying to find the actual Lighthouse Ranch (I wasn't alone, and the race started late because of it), I finally found the Ranch, hiked a half mile to packet pickup, then back to the car, then back to the start line, and settled in to wait for the start. The Terranovas were there, alleviating any stress I might have had about being obligated to Win this race (ha) (and yes, they won), but otherwise I didn't know anybody out there. And this race was TINY. I had no idea at the time, other than "not many", but it looks like there were maybe 50-60 runners total.
They said go, and we were off. I don't usually wear my sunglasses on the Greenbelt, because the tree cover often means it's too dark for sunglasses. I had NO idea what this course was like, and so I figured I'd run one loop without sunglasses and assess, then grab them for the second loop if I deemed it necessary. Then right at the last minute, I decided to wear them from the beginning. And I quickly was really glad I did. It turns out, this course had no shade. Probably 0.02% of the course was shaded, and the rest was on jeep trail with no trees in sight. And even though it was blissfully and unseasonably (or maybe seasonably, but certainly atypical of the recent weather) cool (in the mid 50s), it was incredibly sunny, and that sun can wear you down.
Concentrating on not falling down in the start crowd
I went out with the pack, and pretty quickly, since there were so few people, things spread out and I was mostly alone. The whole first loop I generally had 1-2 other people in sight, but I wasn't near anyone. Once or twice someone passed me, and once or twice I passed someone, but I was pretty much alone.
The course was pretty nice. It was almost all jeep trail, but it wasn't easy. There were several pretty steep hills, and a lot of areas where the jeep trail was comprised of medium-sized, frustrating rocks. But it was pretty easy to get into a rhythm and zone out and just enjoy the views out there. Since there were so few trees, you could see for miles. (You could see the Lighthouse right after mile 2, which was sorta anti-climatic.)
There were three aid stations out there, but since I was wearing my Nathan pack, I didn't stop at any of them on the first loop. Right after I passed the third, a guy was passing me, and I was right on the verge of passing this girl in orange who I'd been leapfrogging with for a while. She blew by me authoritatively in the first mile, then was far ahead of me for a long time. Then I slowly caught up to her and passed her. Then she blew by me again. Then I passed her. This happened a few times. So as this guy was passing me, he asked what mile we were at, and I told him 8.1ish, and that if he was doing the 10 miler, he was practically done. He ran on, and the orange girl asked if I was doing the 20 miler, and it turns out she was too. It turns out, the longest run she'd ever done was a 5k. She thought she'd see what happened if she went out and ran 20. She asked if she could run with me, 'cause she wasn't very good at pacing. I told her I'd noticed, and we ran the rest of the loop together. It was nice to have someone to talk to.
Running with my orange friend
We got back to the start line, crossed it, and had no idea what to do. I asked if we just.. went back out again? And the volunteers confirmed. So I turned around and ran back out. I glanced behind me, expecting orange girl to be there, but she had stopped and was talking to someone. She was running carrying nothing (no water, no food), so I figured she'd probably need to stop at the aid station anyway, and I didn't need to stop, so I went on. If she was feeling good, she'd catch me. Otherwise, I was on my own again.
I managed to start the loop without thinking, "ugh, another loop", and then once I'd started, I had less than one loop left! At this point, there was nobody else out there. I knew I wasn't the last person to finish that first loop, but I had no idea if any of the people who'd been behind me were doing the 20 miler. Maybe they were all doing the 10 miler, and I was going to be the last one out there.
But I was still feeling pretty good and even though it was a little warm with the full sun, it was still only in the 70s or so, and it was beautiful, so life was good. Except the coughing. It had started creeping up on me during the first loop. A few coughs here and there. I actually really didn't even notice I was coughing much on the first loop, but orange girl mentioned in passing that she'd been sick, and said she'd heard me coughing earlier and figured I was sick, too. So I guess I was coughing some. It got worse on the second loop. And it was really uncomfortable to do full-body coughing while running. Very taxing on my core. I tried to minimize the coughing I had to do, simply because it was so tiring to deal with it. But the trail was pretty dusty, and that definitely wasn't helping.
As I approached the first aid station on the loop, I decided that would be where I stopped. Not too shabby.. one stop for 20 miles. It was right around the 3 mile mark, and as I saw the tent ahead of me, I saw some people running away from the tent. People! I wasn't alone out there! Yay! Though they were gone by the time I actually got up to the table.
I handed my backpack off to a nice volunteer and she refilled my water for me. I had a few minutes to kill while she did that, so I ate one frito. And then drank a cup of orange sports drink. Then another cup, because she still wasn't done, and that one frito had been salty. As I snacked and refilled, a guy with a clipboard casually mentioned, "You're fourth place female." UGH. Why do people insist on telling me things like that? 5 minutes ago I was pretty sure I was going to be the last finisher! I'm only out here for a supported long run! I've just been tooling along slowly and steadily this whole time! I don't want to have to care about what place I am! Then he also mentioned that third place had just left, and that she was running with a guy who was slowing her down (that must have been them I saw as I ran up).
So now my water was refilled, and I had a decision to make. Did I care? Would it matter if I did? Did I have anything more to give? Maybe I could just hope that someone in front of me fell apart dramatically some time before the end. And I'd just happen to pass them, and they either wouldn't care or wouldn't have anything left to fight it.
So I just struck out again on my own. Maybe possibly a little bit faster than I'd been going. Just in case.
But for several miles I couldn't see anyone in front of me. Even on the places where I could see way far down the trail ahead of me. No sign of people. I wasn't gaining any ground on 3rd. I resigned myself to 4th. 4th is a nice consolation prize when you're not racing, anyway.
I was coming up on one of the more technical parts of the loop. A second along a fenceline with a rocky uphill followed by a rocky downhill followed by a rocky uphill. It's a really long slog, and both up and down are treacherous and tough, and I figured if I had any chance of seeing the people in front of me, this would be it. I got to the fence, hooked a right, and took in the view.
There they were, down the fenceline ahead of me, not close but not prohibitively far.
And they were walking.
Ugh.
I had run this whole section the first time and had no plans to walk it the second, so I just kept my pace. They didn't know I was back there. I may have tried to run quietly. I slogged up the hill, them bombed the downhill, and as it began to climb again, I came up behind them. It was obvious she was staying back to walk with him, and he was having some sort of trouble. As I passed them, I heard him say something about maybe dehydration. I made some sort of small talk remark as I passed, maybe about wishing they would install some shade on the course, and then I was by them and presumably 3rd place female.
Right after I passed them, the trail kinda goes up in a couple switchbacks, and as I got to the top of those, there was a cow. A bull. A very large bull. Just standing there next to the trail. I pointed at the cow and said, "Cow!" loudly, for the benefit of the couple behind me. I wondered what to do. He didn't look like he planned to bumrush me, so I just said, "Hi. Uh... hi." and tried to run by as unmenacingly as possible. And he just stared at me. And then he was behind me. (I thought maybe I dreamed that part, but someone actually took a picture of said cow, so he really did exist.)
I passed by the second aid station, and as I did, I passed two women. One didn't look like she was actually racing.. I thought maybe she was a volunteer who happened to be wearing running clothes. The other, I had no idea. She was running, and she looked to have a number. But I passed her pretty decisively and quickly, so it didn't seem likely she was one of the 2 women ahead of me. Maybe she was a late-starting 10 miler? But I was pretty sure I was still in 3rd. Except then former-3rd fleeewwww by me like I was standing still, and now I was 4th again. Evidently her friend told her to go on, and go on she did.
So now I was pretty sure 4th was where I was gonna be, so I just settled in to finish up as strong as I could. I knew they were doing 10 year age group awards at least 1 deep, and if I was 4th overall, that SHOULD mean 1-3 get overall awards, and that would mean an age group award for me. I like age group awards!
I was fairly ready to be done at this point. It was warm. I was coughing. Various body parts that have been irritating me were irritating me (left glute, right hip). And I still had an hour drive to get home. And puppies were at home waiting for me.
Jazz hands, because.. why not?
So I just sang songs in my head and kept running, and eventually got back to the photographer (couldn't believe he was still out there, especially given how sparse the field was). Another turn and I was back to the start line, which was now the finish line! And as I stood there, a few more people came in behind me, so I wasn't last! (Including my orange friend, who did hit a wall at mile 17, but finished up her first 20 miler strong and happy, about 25 minutes behind me.)
I put a little catered bbq on a plate and ate a tiny portion of it, then drank two bottles of sports drink and half a bottle of water. And coughed. And coughed. And coughed. I couldn't stop coughing. Way worse than when I was running. I'm sure everyone thought I had ebola and was waiting for blood to start coming out my orifices. Orifii. I wanted to go home and cough in the privacy of my own home, and perhaps get that prescription filled, but I wanted to stay and see if I got an award! Finally I just asked a volunteer, and she said she'd look it up, and she came back to tell me I was fourth overall female, and second in my age group! I got a 2nd place medal, and.. I actually suspected perhaps I should get a 1st place in my AG medal (unless they were letting people double-dip and get both overall awards and AG awards), but hey, I had a medal, and I just wanted to get outta there. So I took my medal and drove my tired, coughing ass back home.
Sure enough, the results show I'm 1st in my age group (I'll just sharpie my medal), and I'm NOT the only person in my age group! There were 2 whole other people! My age group had the honor of being.. the only female age group with more than one person in it. And some age groups had no people in them. Yes, it turns out that of those 50-60 runners, most were doing the 10 miler. Only 18 people did the 20 miler (well, 18 people FINISHED the 20 miler.. maybe some dropped, I have no idea), and I was 10/18 of them. 4/7 for females. 4th overall isn't QUITE as impressive sounding when you know there's only 7 total. :)
But I got out of it exactly what I wanted, which was a supported long run. And it was good practice for Palo Duro, because it was dusty, it was exposed, and I had to spend a lot of time with only myself as company.
(For two days following the race, I felt like I'd done a super-intense ab workout. Or that someone had repeatedly punched me in the abdomen. That's.. a lot of coughing!)
Now bring on the 50 miler!