Race report on the Heartland 100, October 9-10, 2010.
Kansas gets kind of a bad rap from a sightseeing standpoint. No oceans, no mountains, no forests. Instead, there’s the Barbed Wire Museum in Lacrosse. Truckhenge (yes, like Stonehenge) in Topeka. The World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine in Cawker City. But there is an area of natural beauty, at least in its own way: the Flint Hills. An area of natural prairie that once covered much of the Midwestern United States remains largely intact in this area. The Heartland 100, billed as the “Spirit of the Prairie,” begins and ends in Cassoday, KS in the heart of the Flint Hills.
OK, OK, I couldn't resist...it is the prairie chicken capital of the world, after all.
The race packet describes the area as follows:
Much of the race is run through Chase County. According to the latest census information 2,886 people live in the county, along with 66,000 head of cattle. To give you an idea of the remote country you will be running through, that comes to 4 people and 85 head of cattle per square mile and over ½ of the population, is located in two towns.
There were 98 runners signed up in the 100 and another 33 in the 50 mile run. Many were from the Midwest, but there were a handful from the coasts, including the California owners of this vehicle:
I like the vanity plates, but more impressive is that they would travel from San Jose in a near-vintage Z-28.
One of my partners in our Wichita, KS office (fifty miles or so from Cassoday) described the four seasons in this part of Kansas as, “hot, hotter, cold and colder. And always windy.” Last year’s Heartland featured high temperatures of about 39 degrees, with a cold wind. In contrast, my car thermometer indicated it was 89 degrees on Friday afternoon. Saturday was forecast to be only slightly cooler. I had run the Lean Horse 100 six weeks before Heartland, where it was also hot (temperatures into the 90s) and this was looking like a repeat.
Given the size of and lack of facilities in Cassoday, I stayed in Emporia 37 miles up the turnpike from the race start. With a 6 A.M. start, I was up shortly after 4 A.M. and on the road within the hour. As I got on the turnpike (there are no exits until Cassoday) it occurred to me that I’d left my bandanna / scarf in my suitcase. This was sort of important, in that it was designed with a chamois sewn in and also to hold ice. In previous warm weather events, I thought this was effective in keeping reasonably comfortable. Lacking this, I decided to wear a hat (which I never do in warm weather) and planned on keeping it wet and adding ice to it as available.
The second critical item of equipment was a dependable light source. There was literally no moonlight this weekend, and the prairie promised to be quite dark overnight. I had two Fenix flashlights, one with fresh batteries, a headlamp and spare batteries for the headlamp.
We were off promptly at 6 A.M., and it was gorgeous: a dark early morning sky, loaded with stars. My current theory on 100s starts with walking the first 10 minutes. There is absolutely no point in going out too fast in the early minutes of a 24 hour event. Plus, it presumably helps the muscles warm before starting to run. The early miles were cool, and I’d kept one of my Fenix lights for use in the first hour. I planned on securing in my waist pack as it became light. The first hour or so allowed us to watch for the sunrise over the prairie. I snapped a number of pictures of the horizon as the sky lightened. Unfortunately, my lack of photography skills botched virtually all of the photo-ops, including this one:
A windmill against the early morning prairie sky.....jeez, it could have been good.
I settled into my half-baked plan of a run / walk mix with a goal time of 12 minutes per mile. In the big picture, I would like to hit the turnaround somewhere around 10 – 10 1/2 hours, and then take 12 hours or so on the back half. Of course, 100 mile events have a way of making mincemeat of plans like this. But I settled in, chatting with other runners (college football is always a good topic) and snapping more pictures. A couple of the sunrise shots:
Sunrise on the Kansas prairie.
And another one.
The early miles of the race were great, but what would I expect? I’m a morning person / runner from many years of training. A major annoyance was the recognition I’d lost my flashlight. A tight-fisted accountant does not like losing a $60 light due to carelessness. I inwardly groused about this for miles.
I spent a few of the early miles with Jesse, who is in the Army stationed at Ft. Leavenworth. Jesse was making his 100 mile debut and had a goal of 20 hours. That was way faster than me, but he looked like he could do it. He pulled away from me around the 18 mile mark.
You know the saying, “unless you’re the lead dog, the scenery never changes”? Well, the scenery on this course varies very little. After all, it’s run on the prairie. A few shots as the day unfolded:
I like the sign, but this is actually on a road that is not part of the course.
An expanse of prairie, with a rarity: a sprinkling of trees!
At a recent spot price of $82/bbl, this seems like the best way to make money on the prairie.
As expected, the day began to warm up. I was right on goal pace, or slightly ahead at Teeterville (25 mile mark and turnaround point for the 50-milers), at Texaco Hill (31.3) and Ridgeline (36.5). But I was starting to get the sense of overheating. I left Ridgeline walking with a handful of fruit and my hat filled with ice. By mile 40 I began to think about going into survival mode….just slowing down and waiting for the cooler night hours. I eased into the 42 mile aid station, staffed by the KC Trail Nerds and “Bad Ben” Holmes. Ate some fruit, drank some soft drink, walked across the road and barfed up everything. As they say….deja vu all over again. Lean Horse revisited, except that it took 60 miles to get sick there.
The trip to the turnaround at Lone Tree was slow and uncomfortable. Just hot and not feeling well. The aid station workers at Lone Tree were great….cooking burgers and pasta, handing out drop bags, filling bottles. I nibbled on an apple from my drop bag and headed out. Rather than hitting the turnaround at 10 hours, the wheels had wobbled (a lot) and I was at about 10:50 starting back. I had a long sleeved shirt and lights at Lone Tree….a bit early since it was 4:50 PM, still warm and still light.
I slogged back to the 42/58 mile aid station, grabbed a piece of watermelon and a saltine cracker and…..barfed it up again. Jeez, I should be feeling better by now. I eased out of the aid station, the sun finally dropping low in the sky. It had to get better, didn’t it? I mean, it never always gets worse, does it?
Actually it did get better. The cooler temps were a relief. I started running with Dick, an attorney from Hutchinson, KS. We chatted about taxes (well, yes, that’s my profession), the government’s profligate spending, not spoiling your kids, etc. We hit the Ridgeline aid station together, the one famous for its beans. I heard the captain say that many runners were on the verge of dropping and the beans brought them back. I’m not sure I was quite that bad off, but the beans (vegetarian for me, vs the “beanie weenie” alternative) were tasty and the first food I’d been able to keep down for hours.
Dick and I headed out together towards Texaco Hill. We were just getting into a religious discussion (Dick was a solid Christian, I haven’t been in a church in years) as our paces began to differ. The Texaco Hill aid station featured hot potato soup, which along with the night air was invigorating. I left by myself, headed towards Teeterville and the 75 mile aid station.
By the time I got to Teeterville, both my headlamp and flashlight were weak. I replaced the batteries in the headlamp while a nice young aid station worker unscrambled my iPod headphones, which were a tangled mess. Some lentil soup and I headed off again, really enjoying the night miles and solitude. I did run into a couple of creatures…..
The glowing objects were nothing more than a startled black calf and a glowstick, marking yet another cattle grate crossing.
The remaining miles were pleasantly uneventful, with hot food at the aid stations and my energy levels remaining constant. I rambled into the finish in 23:09. There are few things in running as welcome as the finish line of a 100 miler. I finished in 16th place, out of 98 starters and 55 finishers.
A few parting shots…
Overall. Heartland 100 is a very nice event with wonderful volunteers. The surface ranges from a very smooth, almost crushed stone to some pretty good sized loose rocks, but it’s all runnable. It is not completely flat as one might think but there are no severe hills. The weather can be a factor, hot or cold….note this year’s DNF rate. My splits were 10:50 / 12:19.
Old guys rule. The top 10 finishers list is flush with 50 year-olds, including the overall winner. By my count, six of the top 10 men were 50-plus.
The ultra community is loaded with nice people. Curtis Scott, a 50-mile runner from Oklahoma, found my flashlight, tracked me down through the RD and shipped it back to me. Thanks Curtis!
Next up. A trip to Maryland for the JFK 50-miler, to visit my daughter, and to see Jerry Seinfeld. Now that’s a trifecta!
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