2020 Dark 2 Dawn

2020 Dark 2 Dawn 6 Hour Timed Ultra 

June 28, 2020 

40.2 miles total, 6 loops, (CR)

First Loop

    Really glad I was able to do this race. Such a unique race. Starting at 12:30 at night and finishing at 6:30 in the morning at dawn is really cool. I didn’t have the best build up for this race but I think everything worked out nicely in the end. I was able to grab a sixth loop for a course record. Fastest loop was a high 52:00 which was my first loop. I’ll have to see what the results has my mileage at, maybe 40.2 miles. Loops were advertised as 6.7 miles. My GPS had the loops around 6.25 miles. Which may not be accurate either because it was such a windy course under a canopy of trees which can affect it. I was averaging right around one hour loops each time which kept me on pace for six loops. Hit 20 miles right at 3:03:00. Hit the marathon at 4:04:00. Really focused on not looking at my watch a lot. Just zoned out and ran which made time go by much quicker. Conditions were not ideal but still doable. Temperatures were in the mid70s and the humidity was an upper 90s%. The fog was really thick in some areas which made it difficult to navigate with a headlamp bouncing off the fog. Trail conditions weren’t ideal either but it was a really cool course. It was a good mix of everything. Rain moved into the area earlier in the afternoon and made the trail muddy and tacky. The grassy sections were a muddy mess. The rocky section was probably my favorite part. Nutrition wise everything went really well. I pretty much stuck with a GU every 45 minutes, a salt tablet every hour, and 12 ounces of Heed every loop, sipped on a Redbull at the end of the last two loops, and also had a couple small handfuls of mixed fruit later on. My right calf was starting to cramp just 2 1/2 hours in. So I was glad I started on the salt tablets which I think corrected that. The later loops were nice running into people! It was really neat watching the sun slowly come up and being able to see the trail and what you’ve been going by all night. Such a neat concept of a race. Congrats to everybody who raced and battled the conditions through the night.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3682885991/overview

Results: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=88799