Getting Loopy
The Game Backyard Ultra
Ultra #038 | Trevor Meding
Originally posted on Facebook notes 2019-04-21.History
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| Official backyard ultra rules posted by Laz | Photo: Backyard Ultra Facebook page |
For 2019 Lazarus Lake had opened his registration for the Big's Backyard Ultra and got a lot of interest. He has a 2-part selection process to get the best field. Initially he selects everyone based on their prior achievements and successes (completed already), and then later this year is a lottery process for the remaining people who put in their entries (this has not happened yet for the 2019 race). This year due to the excessive interest and the pop up of all these “copycat” backyard ultras Laz decided to make a golden ticket way of entering his race to further enhance the depth of the field at his main event in Oct-2019. Laz announced in Dec-2018 that the winner of the 10 affiliated races around the world would all gain entries into 2019 Big’s. In addition to the international Last Men Standing, two more golden tickets will go to the winners with the greatest mileage from these affiliated North American Backyard Ultras. And this is where the Spectrum race fits in.
The Game
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| Pre race coffee stop: Buc-ee's |
03:00 wake up and time to gather my last items and get on the road. A relatively short 2.5 hour drive to the Ball Farm just south of Austin, TX. I arrived just before check-in at 06:00. The morning was still cloaked in darkness. There was rain in the forecast due to an incoming storm from the coast and so the humidity was high which kept the morning temperature warm. I found my way down the side entrance following the race signs and came through the trees to the parking which was adjacent to the large outdoor pavilion at the farm. Spectrum had lights strung up and the peacefulness of the morning was calming at this point. I parked and walked the 150 feet over to the start/finish area where a few tents were already set up for crewing purposes. I scouted out the area, and talked to Mallory Brooks, Spectrum Race Director, and then I picked out my spot and started lugging my gear over. Set up my tent and unpacked my Victory Sportdesign gear bags setting my supplies out in my tent strategically. Since I am always early and take pride in being ready on time I sat down in my chair in my tent setup and enjoyed the remainder of my coffee and delved into my kolaches I had purchased at Buc-ee’s on the way. People were now starting to file into the parking and setting up their tents and gear as the light was slowly creeping into the morning. Actual sunrise would occur until 07:06 when the race began.
My TROT teammate, Dena arrived and took a spot next to me. We were both excited to be able to push each other in this format and were scheming the prior few days of how we would do so. I met a couple other runners whom I had brief acquaintances with before and we chatted briefly as everyone was getting prepared.
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| Pre-race briefing | Photo: Spectrum Trail Racing |
After a briefing everyone grabbed last minute items and the chatter quieted down as the seriousness was turned up slightly. Being a different format, I got the sense of everyone’s excitement and as the countdown began….07:00 was here, and off we went. We took off into the trees and started winding around a jeep type road. This quickly thinned out into a mad up singletrack section that came upon a small lake the farm had on their land. The morning light was beautiful at this point and I was grateful to be out on my feet yet again. The course winded up a small hill and joined back onto an old overgrown jeep road that swung around the remainder of the lake. Then we disappeared back into the shaded section of some more trees. There was a nice small ditch section here that dropped about 20 feet and popped right back up. (Eventually this section would hold a nice puddle at the bottom and eventually become a nice up and down mini climb on the slick dirt). The course came up to the farm fence line and from there we turned and followed the perimeter of the land, where it transitioned into a gravel road for about 0.5mi portion. After this short gravel the route jumped back onto a jeep road and here was a uneven short stretch that was an ankle twisting nightmare (Later on, post-storm, this would be an obstacle course of dodging puddles for rest of race). The last portion of the loop winded around the open fields and shrubs of the farm, around the actual homestead at the farm and to a table near the start/finish. The table was a half way point where you grabbed a poker chip, as proof of getting there, and returned all the way to the finish arch where you returned the poker chip and ended the loop at the aid area. Spectrum made this slightly more interesting by writing short questions on each chip you would answer as you returned it to them crossing the finish line. Some of the questions were examples like:
• Favorite food?
• Cats or Dogs?
• Longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?
• Sing or Dance?
These simple little questions often kept my alert and made me focus as I did the last half of the loop before returning the chip in.
The loop overall was a great mix of singletrack, jeep road, a short gravel section, and some open meadow type fields that wound its way around the Ball farm property. I had envisioned a plainer and more boring route to be honest, and so I was pleasantly surprised.
My initial plan was to tick by 45 minutes loops and have 15 mins to rest and aid myself in between. Loop 2 provided slight excited as a group of 4 of us where we turned wrong at one point and didn’t realize it until we ended up having runner coming at us, because we were turned around and on the wrong direction. We added like 0.4 extra mileage on our 2nd loop, bad for being a looped course, but that is trail running. Loop 3 and 4 we started to get some minor rain and slight dampness. The storm that was predicted had seemed to be delayed or maybe miss us totally? After 4 hours we started our 5th loop in the rain and headed out, and it was at this point the sky opened up as well and a downpour ensued. About 1 mile into the outward section the thunder and lightning had begun, and it was quickly closing in. There was 3 strikes that were within mere miles of our proximity based on counting time between the flash and the loud boom. At this point it was like running in the shower. Everything was soaked, my rain jacket was rendered useless to the onslaught of mother nature. There was even a short bout of hail the size of peas or maybe slightly bigger. Jason Brooks, Spectrum Race Director, was out in the storm flagging everyone down and waved into the covered pavilion at the start/finish area. Here we stood as a collective group in a Texas storm and not knowing what this meant. Was the race over? Did mother nature just decide it for us? Were we allowed to keep running on the farm in these conditions? No one knew. The race directors were concerned for the runner’s safety due to proximity of these lightning strikes, and rightfully so. We performed a head count to ensure everyone was back since the lightning had been within 1 mile of the course.
Once everyone was gathered up Mallory announced that we would access the conditions every 15 minutes and once there was no lightning in the area anymore we would continue. As fast as this storm blew in, it was starting to leave us on the farm in the same fashion. Mallory & Jason then announced we would head back out on the course at the top of the hour. Since the course was so twisting and winding it was really easy to get back to where you left the route, and so they employed the honor system where we’d all head back out to where we stopped and continue on from there. In the end we had to shelter in place under the pavilion for what ended up being a 30 minute total delay overall, including the time in and back out onto the course. The remainder of loop 5 was finished and we were now starting & finishing the loops at the bottom of the hours, due to this Texas weather delay. Of course, being a farm and just natural land type route there was multiple ponds and new water holding areas out there. I later recall my shoes never fully dried out well into the dark hours of the night.
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| My oldest 3 daughters crewing. My shirts also hand drying now that sun was poking out a bit | Photo: Katie Meding |
My pace kept consistent as we slowly dwindled the field of competitors. I was waiting for the 12 hour (50 miles) and then again at 15 hour (100 km) mark since they we the nice round numbers. I expecting to see more people drop off at these typical ultra distance milestones. As the night hours crept in just after that 12th loop headlamps came out, feet were still wet, but the spirit was elevated of the remaining competitors.
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| My entire ultra family crew | Photo: Mallory Brooks, from Spectrum Trail Racing Facebook page |
14 runners started loop 14, then a couple more dropped. Sadly, my TROT teammate Dena fell off here after loop 15. I was hoping we’d be pushing till loop 30+ together.
12 souls started loop 16.
Can’t recall exactly what happened here but only 7 people headed out for loop 18. I believe this was the time in the night where the colder wind began to pick up and cool off significantly. Especially since most of us were damp and worn out from the day’s moisture.
6 started loop 19.
4 runners began loop 21.
And then just like that we were down to 2 people for loop 22. I was left standing with Joshua Houser. I knew the sunrise was just around the corner and was really looking forward to the warmth and the rejuvenation ultra runners often feel with the start of a new day that comes with the reset of natural circadian rhythms. Besides I had been receiving texts from my wife and she was about to pack up the kids again and head back out for the day, and that would be another big boost.
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| Facebook post updating the Big's Backyard Ultra group page |
Results
My STRAVA activity is posted here (https://www.strava.com/activities/2290039340). I had 23 loops of 4.166667 miles which came out to just shy of 100 miles. I totaled 3,967 ft of elevation gain. |
| Official results | Photo: taken from Spectrum Trail Racing website |
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| Pre-loop selfies. I though of this concept right before I started and kept it up throughout the race. |
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| The Game trophy. A very cool & unique gift well earned. |
My Gear Used
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Watch:
Garmin Fenix 3 HR
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Nutrition:
Tailwind Nutrition, fruit, coca-cola, and a
bunch of other random stuff.
Data
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| My own spreadsheet data post-race. Lap analysis. |
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| My own graphed version of the laps (running time vs inter loop time). |
Thank You
Spectrum Trail Racing for being gracious hosts and putting on a stellar event. Mallory & Jason Brooks for making the right call in the storm moments and managing through the conditions. The homemade pizza and burgers that Spectrum provided to the runners was amazing fuel during the day!
My wife, Katie, whom is always my biggest supporter and allows me to do these crazy adventures. I am so thankful when she is able to attend and be there. My 4 little one who inspire me as well.
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