Little Woods Ultra (Last Man Standing)

10. Well, that's not so bad. I put the car in reverse and back out of the driveway. As I shift to 1st, I glance at the dash again. 6. Hmmm. By the time I get to the highway, my car is reporting 4. Apparently, the engineers at Hyundai enjoy throwing out some false hope. Well, it will probably warm up when the sun rises. It does, but as I cross the river to Edwardsville which, apparently, benefits less from St. Louis' prodigious carbon emissions, it begins to fall again. As I park, the reading is 2. That's 2F, as in Fahrenheit, So, assuming it rises to 3 in the 20 minutes between now and the start, this will tie for the third coldest start of my career. And, in case you're a new reader of these reports, that's 3rd out of a field of several thousand.

"Are you in it to win it?" asks Cheri Becker. As defending women's champ, she deserves an honest answer. Am I? I keep telling people that I not running these things to win, that I just enjoy being out there. For the most part, that's true, but this one is different. You simply could not come up with a format better suited to my strengths. Start a 4.1-mile trail lap at the top of each hour. If you present yourself at the next start, you go again. If not, you're out. When nobody else presents, you are the Last Standing and you've won. You don't have to run fast. You just have to refuse to quit. That's me in a nutshell. Still, I go with the truth: "That depends on how cold it gets tonight; I'm not looking to make this a tough guy competition." She accepts that. After all, this is supposed to be a "fun run" even though it will be longer than a marathon for most participants.

Last Man Pinning His Number On

Given the temperature and the fact that nobody has invested an entry fee in the event, it's a pretty good crew that shows up for the first start at 8AM (about 70 runners). Despite getting there in plenty of time, I've managed to not be ready for the gun. As I fumble with getting my number attached, the rest of the field heads out onto the trail. It occurs to me that I am Last and I'm Standing: I must be the winner!

Well, no. I soldier on. While the event is officially located at the cross country course at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, the actual course does not use the open grass trails of the cross country course. Instead, we are running on the single-track mountain bike trails that wind through the "Little Woods", the smaller of two wooded parcels on the SIUE campus. I'm fine with that, but it does mean that moving up from my dead last position will not be easy. Fortunately, the generous 1-hour limit means I don't really have to. Rather than expend energy passing, I simply run until I hit the back of the group ahead and then walk a bit until they get ahead and then run some more. I get back to the finish with five minutes to spare.

That's enough time to check out the pot-luck aid station. The closest thing this race has to an entry fee is a request that you bring something for the aid station table. As I'm pretty busy with studies, I took the easy route and just bought some Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies at the store. Others have invested more and brought home made cookies, muffins, and even some pancakes being kept warm in a crock pot.

Walking in with Bill & Carrie Sona on lap 2

While the first lap worked, I'd rather run for longer stretches and take walk breaks where it feels right rather than whenever I happen to encounter traffic. On lap 2, I run all of the first mile then walk the short climb starting mile two. I then run again until the next short climb, which comes a mile later. Running mile 3 puts me at the start of 4 with well over 20 minutes to go. Fortunately, Bill Langton is with me so I have company as I walk all the way back in. We make a point of noting our time; we can walk the whole mile back as long as we have at least 16 minutes left on the lap. That information my come in handy later.

That pattern repeats for the next few laps. The temperature is still pretty frosty, but it's comfortable running, thanks to a clear sky and very little wind. The volunteers at the start/finish have a decent shelter and a large fire, so everybody is in good spirits Bill and I stay together most of the time. The company is nice to have since the pace is not exacting a toll. At least, not yet.

We're finishing laps in around 52-53 minutes, even with walking the whole last mile. On lap 6, the field has thinned enough that I try walking some on the first mile to to put a few more minutes into the trail and less waiting for the start of the next lap. Unfortunately, that 55-57 minute range seems to be everybody else's target as well. Bill and I end up doing the yo-yo thing stuck between two groups for all of miles 2 and 3. We return to our former strategy on lap 7,

We did do some running

By the end of lap 8 (just over 50K, an official ultra now), it's obvious that this isn't going to be easy. First, the trail is slick enough that I'm putting more effort into staying upright than I'd like. It's not that the footing is bad, it's just not good. Also, the mandatory stops between laps are not the respite one might expect. It would be far easier to just keep going than to stand around for a few minutes tightening up waiting for the next start.

Mitigating that is the arrival of some pizza at the aid station. I have no idea how they kept it warm.

At the end of lap 9, Bill decides he's had enough. There are still five runners willing to take the start and he doesn't think it's worth hanging in just to get another place or two.

Hot potatoes are now available. It's like they're trying to bribe us to quit and eat the food instead.

Cheri Becker is the only woman to take the start, so finishing the lap will seal a repeat win for her. The other four are Travis Redden (who created this race five years ago, but has since passed on direction to Metro Tri Club), Steve Johnson, James Baca, and myself.

Cheri and James call it at the end of 10 (41 miles), while the final three dig our headlamps out of our gear bins. By the end of mile one, I've got mine turned on. Travis and Steve firm it up on the rest of the loop and finish a few minutes ahead of me.

Another pizza has arrived and they're passing out beers as well. Steve decides that sounds like more fun than another lap on a cold, dark trail.

The fact that it's come down to Travis and I generates some real excitement among the few folks who have stayed into the night. Unless there's a rules change (at no-entry-fee events, the Race Director has a pretty free hand) that forces an early completion, it's obvious that this could go on for quite some time.

On lap 12, Travis wastes no time in opening up a gap on me. There's no competitive reason to do this, so I'm left with four possibilities: 1) he's feeling really good, 2) he's counting on a rules change where fastest person in will get the win, 3) he's being an idiot, 4) he's trying to psych me out. We've run enough ultras together that I'm pretty sure he knows that (4) won't work. I figure that leaves me with a 1 in 3 shot (probably less, since Travis' recent successes would indicate that he's learned to keep his pace in check).

Eventual Winners Cheri and Travis

Unfortunately, I am running into real problems of my own. My back is starting to send the warning signs that all the little adjustments to slips on the trail have taken their toll. Before throwing in the towel, I want to make absolutely sure that Travis wasn't just running the last lap fast because he planned on bailing. I stroll in acting like I've still got all night to go. Travis doesn't bite; he's clearly going back out for at least one more. That means I need to do at least two more to win. That's possible, but it doesn't sound like much fun. I come clean and admit that I'm done.

If it was anyone else, I might have hung in there. But, I know how much Travis likes to beat me and I'm pretty sure he would have run through to morning to do it. That sort of epic battle of wills had real appeal a few years ago, but it's not what I came here for today. 50 miles at a super-easy pace is a perfectly fine long run for January; it's time to pack it in.

And, it really was a great day (and part of a night) on the tail with a large portion of the trail running community with which I have become so close. The conditions were quite fantastic as long as you didn't stand around for too long. I'm happy for Travis and I don't want to insinuate for a moment that I let him win. He came ready to play and deserved the win. For me, it was yet another step along the path to treating these things as events rather than races. A small step, but in the right direction and on the right trail.