2021 Crooked Road 24
A New Age Group M75
It's been two years since my last 24 hour race, which was the 2019 Crooked Road 24 when I stopped after 12 hours in the cold rain. Hopefully it won't rain this year, but I'll be better prepared with more changes of clothing and warm shirts and jackets. Preparation and training has been erratic and limited by health issues. First there was the vertigo and balance issues after Hainesport 12-Hour, then getting sick and missing almost a week of training. While it's taken a while the last few weeks have been solid. I'd be very confident if this was a 50K or even a 12-Hour race, but I'm doubtful of how well prepared I am for 24 hours.
Getting ready for the trip was slightly more complex this year as I was extending it to include a vacation. As a result I had two bags to pack since I would need non-running clothes. After double checking everything, I don't think I forgot anything, though I did not pack any rain gear as the forecast showed no rain for the entire week. Aside from some traffic delays the drive went smoothly and I arrived in plenty of time for packet pickup, but with early darkness only shuffled through a mile to work out the stiffness from an all day drive.
With an 8:00 AM start I had time for a leisurely breakfast before driving to the race. Morning temperatures were around 28F, so the first few laps would be cold while I gradually warmed up. I greeted several friends and left my bags by the canopy where one of them was set up. That was at the far end of the field and I missed the announcement for the prerace instructions. This year they did change last lap procedures to include partial laps. I didn't discover that until I saw runners getting their markers in the last hour of the race.
My race plan was to alternate running one minute and walking one minute for as long as I could before reverting to walking. An average pace of 14:30 would be just over 17:00 per lap, so that would be a good gauge of my progress. In prior races when I wasn't too aggressive with my early pace I could hold that for 22-24 miles. At best I could hold that for 50K which I did at Delano Park 12-Hour, but I didn't think my fitness was that good. Early laps were sub-17:00. Except for a few laps for bathroom breaks or lingering a little too long at the aid station, I kept my laps times under 17:00 through 23 laps, 27.094 miles. Intermediate splits were 3:04:05 at the half marathon, 6:11:30 at the marathon, and 7:23:55 at 50K. My lap times started to creep up a little at that point, so after lap 27 being almost 18:00, I dropped to a walk. It wasn't until that point that I realized how much effort I had put into maintaining the run one minute, walk one minute schedule. My walking pace ballooned to over 20:00 and at times was slower than 23:00. Dusk had also settled on us and the temperature was rapidly dropping. After several laps of trudging around the course and not recovering at all, I became very disheartened. Coupled with the colder temperatures and not being able to generate enough body heat to stay warm (I already had on three layers), my heart simply wasn't in continuing. I stopped at 32 laps, 37.606 miles at 9:43:47. Two of my last three laps had taken me almost 28:00 each. I checked in with the timer to let them know I was stopping, but gave myself a little hedge and asked how to start again if I returned in the morning.
After heading back to the hotel I dozed off and on for the next 12 hours. I was also feeling, if not guilty, at least disappointed in myself. I finally got up, dressed for the early morning cold and drove back to the race getting there a little before 6:00 AM with about 2 hours left. I checked in with the timer, followed instructions, and figured I'd get in a couple laps to put me over 40 miles. Much to my surprise and delight my laps times were several minutes faster than my trudging mile pace when I stopped. Remember a lap is 1.178 miles, so I was moving much quicker, and each lap was faster than the preceding. So I kept going and even ran-walked my final full lap and recorded one of my fastest lap times. I had picked up my marker at the beginning of that lap in case I didn't make it all the way, but I still had a minute or two left to start another lap. Of course that gave me just enough time to get to the top of the only hill on the course. So I added another 7.213 miles to my total to give me 44.909 for the race. With the partial lap added that put me in 64th of 185 overall, 37th of 78 males, and 1st of 9 among men 70 and older.
I knew going into this race that 24 hours would be very difficult physically, but it was much harder mentally, something I've struggled with in almost every 24 hour race I've run. The only exception was one where I had planned to stop early and actually kept going a couple extra hours to reach 50 miles. I'm in the process of evaluating whether I really want to push myself to that extended time, and if so, what I need to get myself in the proper frame of mind. I'm perfectly happy running 50K and 12-hour races with an occasional 6 or 8 hour race in the mix.
