PART 1: SATURDAY DECEMBER 8, 2007 - THE SUNMART 50 MILE ENDURANCE RUN
I had to be in Texas for work this past week and it coincided with the Sunmart Endurance Runs - 50km and 50 miler. I decided to run the 50 mile race and see if I could get a new p.r. for that distance (needed to break 8 hours 31 minutes). The course was out in Huntsville State Park in Texas, site of the Rocky Raccoon 100 which I will run in February.
At SFO while waiting for my plane, a guy looks at me and asked if I ran the Ruth Anderson races. I mentioned I did and it turned out that he and I ran some of the race together. His name was Thomas Reiss and he won the Ruth Anderson 50 miler (sub 6 hours). He also won the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 miler (8:10:13) and the Quicksilver 50k (4:04:37) and was a past winner of the Tahoe Triple where he ran a sub 3 hour marathon each day for 3 straight days. He is a German national living in California and was selected to represent Germany at the Sunmart 50's international ultramarathon 50 mile trail championship. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly going to threaten him for the win at Sunmart :) Here is an advertisement in UltraRunning magazine profiling him:
It just so happened that the race headquarters was at the exact same hotel where I stay on all my Houston business trips. So Tom and I went there. The next morning I ran a nice 4 mile run on a nearby trail. Then I checked in. The amount of scwag that Sunmart 50 gives is amazing. You get a gym bag and then proceed down two tables to fill it with shirts, hats, pens, water bottles, stuffed bears, etc.
That night we met back at the hotel (I had to work that day) and there had a fantastic dinner put on by the race. I sat with Tom and his German team mate and coach.
Then the pre-race meeting started with guest speaker Peter Snell, the Olympic gold medal mile runner from Australia speaking to the runners (look closely, he's in this dark photo).
We were informed that the next day was expected to be hot, very humid and generally miserable.
The next morning when I went out to get my car it was hot, very humid and threatened to be miserable. The first 3 seconds outside the hotel, my glasses fogged up and my shirt started sticking to my skin. At 6:00 am it was already 75 degrees with 90% humidity. Fun times ahead!
It was about an hour drive to the race. I had my rental car, but there were shuttle buses too. The international teams were in their own shuttle.
Once at the Huntsville state park, I started to get ready. In addition to hidden roots, loose rocks, heat and humidity....certain signs warned of a possible new risk to the ultramarathoner who ventured off the path:
As I approached the start line I saw Vinod Viswanath who had paced Raj and Anil at Tahoe Rim trail and who had just completed the Cactus Rose 100 miler. He was helping pace a friend through his first 50km. With him was a group of Asha runners.
Then all the 50 mile runners got ready and lined up at the start line (the 50km runners were to start 30 minutes later).
Then we were off. 50 miles of trails, heat and humidity ahead.
The run started with some fun paths that would vary from nearly single track to wide open, often they were covered in leaves which hid roots quite well. In the first mile I saw 3 runners go down from the roots.
My goal at Sunmart was to break my previous 50 mile best time (8 hours 31 minutes) which was also coincidentally my first ever Ultra. I also wanted to go below 8 hours. However, as I approached the end of lap 1 the effects if the heat and humidity were telling me that my goals might be tough ones. According to weather sites, temps broke 84 degrees and humidity broke 95%. I was constantly pouring water on my head trying to stay cool (there was no ice at the aid stations as they did not expect the weather). Unfortunately, the water was soak my clothes and shoes. By the end of the race, I had 5 blisters on my left foot and 6 on my right. Chafing was horrible too...especially under my arms/sides of my torso and along my groin due to the wet liner of my shorts. Ouch.
I expected this race to be flat....after all it was in Texas. Well, it certainly wasn't the Tahoe Rim Trail, but I wouldn't call it flat. In fact, it was constant rolling hills. The trail went around the lake and was very pretty in most parts.
The trail also had these "bridges" that were fun to run on, often on the lake's edge.
At one point, the 50 mile runners converged with the 50km runners. It was here that I saw Vinod and a bunch of his friends.
By the third lap, I knew my goals were shot. But, I was still on pace to finish around 8:45 or so. But during the 4th lap my piriformis started acting up again. This has bothered me off and on during certain races. But this was the first time in a while. It was hobbling me and slowed my pace considerably. Oh well, during my last lap and a half, I met this runner named Larry from Texas. Like me, he will be back at Huntsville in February for the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler.
Soon, I finished the final climb and headed back down to the finish line. I saw Vinod and his friends (and Larry who finished ahead of me) cheering me on. I crossed in 9:06 and promptly fell to the ground. Ouch - that really hurt. My splits are below:
46 Alan Geraldi #82 M/43 AG finish 4 Time: 9:06:04.90 10:55
Lap 1 1:47:44.00 8:37/M 12.500
Lap 2 1:56:59.35 9:22/M 25.000
Lap 3 2:26:42.20 11:44/M 37.500
Lap 4 2:54:39.35 13:58/M 50.000 miles
After the race, I joined Vinod and his family and friends. They shared some awesome Indian food including the best lentil soup I have ever had. We cheered on his friends as they finished their 50km.
PART 2: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007 - THE DALLAS WHITE ROCK MARATHON
Since I had to be in Texas over the weekend and had meetings in Dallas on Monday, a friend of mine with whom I work suggested as a joke that I join him for the Dallas Marathon the day after my 50 miler. I laughed at first, but then thought "what the hell" - it would be good training for my 100 miler. So I agreed.
I drove up to Dallas from Huntsville after the race. It was a tough drive....I was very tired and the scenery got a bit boring. Finally I got to my friend John Beach's house around 8:30. There we carbo-loaded (beer and pasta). My plan was to hang with John as long as possible (he wanted to go sub-4 hours). But the next morning my piriformis was still aching. I stretched and stretched it and hoped for the best.
The day before I was dealing with 80's and high humidity. The morning of the marathon was 45 degrees and cold, windy and rainy. We hooked up with a couple of John's friends and drove to the start. I actually went back and grabbed some gloves and long sleeves. Then we waited for the start.
The first mile went by OK, my legs were stiff and sore. I stopped and stretched the piriformis and caught back up to Beach and snapped a blurry picture of him running.
I ended up stopping and stretching at least once or twice every mile. By mile 5, Beach was just a dot in the distance. I met up with one of his friends, but by mile 7 he too was gone. The run went through some nice neighborhoods and then out around a lake.
I was feeling OK at mile 9 and thought maybe I could try and catch Beach again, but by mile 10 I knew that was not going to happen. My leg was just hurting too much. I thought about dropping out at the half marathon. In fact, for the first time ever I decided to DNF a race. But, when I hit the half-marathon mark I decided to keep going.
Soon I was approaching mile 14 and there was Vinod and his friends! I stopped and chatted with them and they shared this great potato pancake with me. Yum! They always have such great food, I think I should hire them to crew for me in all my races. :)
After leaving Vinod and friends, I continued along the lake. Boy was it cold. The temperature had actually dropped since the race start and fell as low as 39 degrees.
Soon we exited the lake and the wind died down a bit.
At around mile 18 or so, there was an aid station sponsored by Hooters and run by Hooters girls.
Shortly after that was another aid station - with beer. Since I wasn't really "running" this marathon, I decided to grab one.
At mile 23 there was another beer station - and Vinod was helping out there. So he gave me a couple of brews before I headed on. Soon I approached the downtown area.
I crossed the finish line around 5 hours and 15 minutes.
I met Beach and found out he finished well under his goal of 4 hours.
Two days, two races, two very tired legs, 76.2 miles.
The Summit Loop goes from the park entrance up to the summit (creative name - uh?) at 1314 feet elevation. 
