Anyway, March 27th was the Gator Trail 50K in Lake Waccamaw, NC. This is a great race consisting of 6 laps through the Lake Waccamaw State Park. Most of the course is trails with just a few hundred yards here and there on pavement. The run is a pretty low key affair and has a real family / friendly feel to it.
This year, the weather was beautiful - 50-60deg and sunny. A real change from last year, which was probably 30 degrees warmer and humid.
The leaders came through the first lap at around 8:00 - 8:05 pace, which about a half dozen of us in the lead group (including my father in law). I loved this, as I had a deal with my coach (Paul DeWitt) that I owed him a dollar for every minute I slowed down on my last lap compared to the first.
Jim Dewitt Leading us across the boardwalk on Lap 1
As soon as we started lap 2 a few guys took off and starting running a more aggressive pace. I didn't want to let them get too far ahead and so went with them. After lap 2, there were 3 of us in the lead group.
Lap 3 and 4 were just more of the same, with the 3rd place runner falling off a bit and leaving 2 of us to go for the win. I was impressed that the leader was able to hold up as well as he did. His nutrition plan seemed to be water once every lap and that was about it. Didn't seem like a good way to fuel and ultra to me, but he was holding up pretty well.
Lap 5 I had to duck into an outhouse and had my slowest lap of the day. I came out not knowing if I had been passed or not, and just went back to work.
I came to the start of lap 6 hearing that I was in second, 3min down on the leader who was starting to slow. I had saved something for the last lap (forget the money, pride meant I didn't want to give my coach a single penny) and took off after the leader. I caught him probably 1.5 - 2 miles into the lap and didn't seem to get a response (maybe his nutrition plan finally caught up with him?). A few miles later I captured my second Gator Trail victory and running my last lap faster than my first!
Coming to the Finish
Thanks to Grant Egley for putting on another great race!
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