Clinton Lake 30M

Clinton Lake, near DeWitt, IL, is kind-of a home course for me.  A lot of friends are either running it or volunteering, so I get to see many familiar faces.  This year it was on March 27, which gave us near-perfect conditions, with partly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 30s at the 7:30am start and low 50s by mid-afternoon.  The trail was in great shape with only a couple of muddy spots.  A perfect day for Chris's big finale.  We'll miss Chris as RD; he's done a lot of work getting and keeping this race going.  I'm sure his successors Bob and Mike will do a great job, too.

This year Chris decided to give awards to runners who would run the entire race either barefoot or in Vibram Five Finger shoes (so almost barefoot).  I'd been gradually migrating to VFFs, so when I first heard of this I tentatively planned to run the race in VFFs.  Then winter came.  It snowed.  It snowed again.  And again.  And it was cold.  VFFs are not the warmest of things to wear on your feet.  The point is they're pretty darn close to being barefoot -- well, barefoot is not really that comfy in the cold, snowy midwestern winter.  I trained mostly in Inov-8s and New Balance 790s over the winter and wondered whether I'd really be ready to run 30 miles "barefoot" in March.  Then I heard Tracy Thomas was making the prize for 1st barefoot runner.  That settled it for me since she makes such great pottery.  I'd run CL in VFFs and I'd run hard enough to bring home the trophy.  As soon as the temps started reaching highs in the mid-30s, I dug out the VFFs.  I was surprised at how well the KSO Treks handled in a foot of crusty refrozen snow.

The night before the race after packet pickup I dug out my bib and saw "Fastest in VFFs?" inked on it.  My wife looked at me and said "no pressure."  Heh.

The next morning Tracy hugged me and gave me words of encouragement that carried me through some tough times during the race.  As the race started, I headed out with the lead pack so as to avoid getting trapped behind too many people who I would then have to struggle to pass.  It's a trade-off between saving energy early by starting slow and starting fast enough so you don't waste energy passing people.  Also, I have a tendency to start over-conservatively.  I was sure I was the only one in the lead pack in VFFs.  During our 1/4 mile jog along the road, as we settled into our paces, I met John Cash.  He mentioned something about his feet being a little cold.  Curious.  Then we hit the single-track section and I let him go first.  I looked down and saw a pair of VFF KSOs on his feet.  As he picked up his pace a little I realized here was a guy I'd have to keep my sights on.  The dozen or so of us in front ran the first couple miles at 8 min/mi pace, which I knew was not sustainable for most of us.  I started to settle back a little, knowing that most of them would do the same, perhaps too late.  I tried to keep my pace up enough to just stay in the race for a while.  Now and then I glimpsed John's bright white shirt and hat.  I made sure he didn't get too far ahead.

By the end of the first lap I was settling into a comfortable pace.  Volunteers were there cheering the runners.  As the race enters the parking lot at the end of each lap one can get a view of runners that are within a minute or two ahead or behind.  In front of me I spotted Matt Condron and, just ahead of him, John Cash.  As I started the second lap on the short stretch of asphalt I stretched out my stride and picked up the pace, and from behind I heard Bob O'Brien, who was volunteering: "don't turn on the afterburners yet!"  Yeah, he's right.  Push a little, give it some gas, but not the afterburners.  I caught up with Matt and ran at his pace for a bit, which was -- as always -- strong and steady.  Eventually he said he was slowing down, so I should pass (he was fighting hamstring issues but still ran strong).  Now I had to chase down John.  I soon found out that would not be easy.  He was running strong and fast, and by all outward indication effortlessly -- just gliding along!  "Maybe he's just better than me," I thought, but kept chasing him.


I finally caught up to John and ran at his pace just behind him.  Eventually he let me pass, though I didn't feel up to running any faster.  We just traded positions.  Each time I walked a hill I worried that he would bolt on by.  Half way through lap 2 we passed Jeff Riddle and Tom Rice, who were walking the trail in the opposite direction.  Jeff commented that it's turning out to be quite a duel for 1st VFF runner.  Yeah, it was sure feeling like one!

At the midway aid station I checked in but didn't stop, and I noticed that John stopped; I thought maybe this was my opportunity to leave him behind.  Not so lucky as I soon heard him coming up from behind.  Jeez, I can't shake this guy -- he's relentless!  My mind see-sawed between thoughts: "I'm dead; he's gonna pass me any minute and bolt," coupled with the more existential "God is telling me not to be a runner."  These thoughts traded places with "never, never, never give up."  Thankfully, this last thought occurred with more frequency and power.  I realized the lesson I was learning: things worth having don't come easily.

I wanted to beat John Cash because I wanted to beat those thoughts telling me I couldn't, it was too hard, I should give up.  Opponents present wills against our own and bring us to face our desires.  They give us someone in flesh to compete against, but we truly compete with ourselves.  We continued this death struggle through the second lap and came into the start/finish essentially tied.


As I started the last lap I thought, "this is when the race begins."  Time to push harder and warm up the afterburners.  Then I started cramping.  First my calves, near the top and inside, then my lower quads.  Great.  Also odd because I had been careful at keeping my electrolytes in balance.  I had taken a Power Gel (200mg sodium) just 20 min into the race and took S-caps at 1, 2, and 3 hours, and then (after cramping) at about 3:30.  I also took either a GU or Clif Shot (40mg) at about 45-min intervals.  I cramped last year, too.  The hills always win.  They eat you and digest you slowly.  Chris claims there are 99 hills.  I don't know how he counts them, but GPS data indicate about a mile of elevation gain (and loss) over the 30 miles.

To ease the cramps I started to focus more on stretching out my stride, which seemed to help.  The cramps came back whenever I tried to thrust up hills, which pointed to the problem.  Too much from the legs, not enough from the core on the uphills.  Whenever I hit fairly flat stretches I really pushed (from the core) and stretched out.  As I walked the steep hills I massaged the areas that were cramping.

Over the last 10 miles I was able to put 7:37 between John and me.  I also passed a few people and finished 5th overall in 4:24:37, about 12 min. faster than last year.  I finished 1st in the barefoot/VFF division, which won me an awesome mug:

Logan Martin finished 1st overall, breaking his own course record in 3:42:47.  Matt Small, winner of this years Riddle Run, finished 2nd in 4:05:04.  1st female was Rachel Furman at 4:32:47, and 2nd was Christine Crawford in 5:00:54.  Christine was running her first ultra since last summer's series of injuries; it was great to see her back!  Other than John and I, Kevin Cox and Joshua Sun also ran in Vibrams.  There were 95 finishers and 9 DNFs.