Big Bend Ultra 25k

I wrote this very long race report for Gilbert's Gazelle's and figured I should go ahead and post here, too.

First, it's a long damn way to Big Bend no matter how you do it, but we knew that going in. You don't sign up for this race for the amenities, the crowds or the expo. You sign up to support a good cause (Friends of Big Bend) and a gorgeous view.

The race is held on MLK weekend each year to take advantage of the 3-day holiday, if you are lucky enough to have it. I was, but also took Friday to get ready for travel. Knowing we would be hoteling it for three days, I pre-cooked our Saturday dinner and backed lunch supplies for the road. Since we had to get our packet on Saturday (no race-day pickup,) we left Austin on Friday after school and drove to Ozona, about a four-hour drive. Stayed at Holiday Inn Express. Free breakfast and worth every penny. It is what it is.

Drove to Panther Junction for packet pickup and got there around 1 p.m Saturday. There is no expo ... we got a free Marmot shirt, though they didn't have normal Men's sizes, so my wife got a nice new tech shirt . The race T is a long sleeve technical shirt ... very nice, plenty of sizes and swapping was no issue. Other than that: chip clip, hand warmers, $10 at Whole Earth.

We didn't sign up early enough to get into Chisos Basin, and didn't want to risk January weather tent camping, so we opted for a hotel in Terlingua, which is about 75 mins from the race headquarters at Rio Grande Village. After our packet pickup, we went for a short hike at Santa Elena Canyon (out of the way) to our hotel, Big Bend Resorts (read motor lodge and RV park). No free breakfast. It is what it is. We heated up our spaghetti on our camp stove at the picnic tables in the parking lot. It was yummy .

OK .. finally to the race:

We (Brian, my 15-year-old son who also ran the race) woke up at 5:00a to leave at 5:30a to make it to Rio Grande Village by 6:45. You see, they bus all the runners from Rio Grande Village to the start at Glenn Springs Road about 15 miles away, and race officials said they wanted to start moving folks at 7:15. We got there early and hung out with the 50k runners in the only warm building, the laundry room, until they kicked everyone out at 7 a.m. for cleaning. (50k shuttles started leaving at 6:30a for 7:30a start) That was our cue to fill up water bottles and get on our shuttle. We arrived at the start about 8:10 for our 8:30 start. Luckily it was about 10 degrees warmer for a nice 45 degree start. We stripped off the sweats and put them in our drop bags, which were shuttled to the very remote finish line.

There’s no chip timing, so the nice park ranger had us lined up by 8:30 and we just started on his signal. We were warned that the first three miles were uphill and to save some for the rest of the course, which was generally downhill.

From a rise along the race route.

Indeed, the elevation climbs about 500 ft in 3 miles, then down 1500 ft to the finish at 15.7ish miles. My 15-year-old, who had planned to run with me for a while, left me about half way up that hill, which was fine with me. No need for me to hold him back. I chugged up the hill, telling myself this is what I’m made for … that I like uphill better than down. That was a premonition.

Everyone spread out on the uphill so once we crested I was running mostly alone or in a pair for short distances. Talked with the cross country coach from Presidio for a while, and leapfrogged with another runner who never stopped at the aid stations.

There were three aid stations every five miles or so. Water and HEED, along with Nutter Butters and pretzels for the first couple, and some kind of gels at the last stop. I brought my own (a Vespa pre-race, and a Clif Shot at the hour marks.) I carried a 20 oz water bottle in a old single-bottle belt, but drank rarely from it as the weather stayed cool and I utilized the aid stations when they were available.

The view was fantastic. Chisos Basin on the right and Chilicotal Mountain on the left. I really wanted to sight-see, but I had to concentrate on the jeep road. The road was not bad as far as double-track goes, but it still required concentration on foot placement. The elevation drop got me more and more as time went on and I got heavier on my feet, stopping my legs instead of gliding the grade. I’m not the only one to complain of very, very sore quads at the end of this one.

After the third aid station, the road leveled out and we could see the finish line almost two miles out. By this time, I was all by my lonesome, my son probably finished. Talking afterward, we agreed seeing the finish from so far out made those last miles that much harder.

The finish is very remote, at the confluence of Glenn Spring Road and River Road East. Spectators aren’t really allowed at the end (and not really the start either, as there is no place to park) so my cheering section stayed in Terlingua. The folks at the aid stations and at the finish were very cheerful and encouraging, but you aren’t feeding off the crowds because there aren’t any.

Once finished, you have your drop bag and can put on dry clothes, but there isn’t any food at the finish. You have to take a 45-minute van ride down a very, very bumpy road with 10 of your new closest friends in order to get to a very good closing meal, but if I do this again I’ll make sure to have food in my drop bag to have at the finish line. A changing tent would’ve been nice, too, to get out of wet clothes.

Once back at Rio Grande Village there was quite a feast, with jambalaya, grilled chicken, sweet potato fries, green beans, baklava, brownies and such. I saw beer, but it may have been BYOB.

How’d we do? My son Brian did great … 2:20 to take 20th place out of 148 and 8th among the 17 non-master non-senior men. That was his first distance over 10 miles, so I’m proud of his effort. But best of all, he said it was beautiful and he enjoyed the run. Mostly. He can’t walk today, either.

I finished in 2:38, which was 17th among the 31 masters men. I went into this thinking of my road time, and my ½ marathon split was WAY over my Decker time, so I was kinda sad, but everyone is telling me that the trail will add a minute a mile or more to road times, so maybe I did OK. In the end, I’m happy because it was a great place to run.

A couple of last words (why stop now!) The remote finish and the remote race location in general make it hard to take care of your body once you are done racing. The 45-minute van ride after the finish was not good. Nor was the hour or more back to the hotel. Nor was the next day with 8 hours driving back to Austin. I didn’t roll until Monday or ice bath until Tuesday, so I’ve torn up my quads on the worst possible week with the 22-miler on the Austin Marathon schedule for this weekend.

But damn it was fun and beautiful. Here are some photos from our mini vacation.