Wickham Park race

Race start, cool and beautiful

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see a little bit of Florida and do some running in the heat and humidity.  I drove from the west coast of Florida to the the east coast of Florida.  I did a Fat Ass race called Wickham Park.  It's a 50 mile race with a 12.5 hour cutoff.  I got to 33.75 miles (8 3.75 mile loops) before quitting because I wasn't going to make the cutoff and I'm lazy.  The guys at the clipboards where we were recording our times said, "You only have to run 12 minute miles for 16 miles."  I was like, "Yeah right, I can't do that usually let alone on sand!"  I quit, took a shower, went to dinner and then went to bed early at a really white trash campground complete with people with police ankle monitors and one front tooth.  I was only a little sore the days following.  On the third day after the race, I was really tired.

My Addison's strategy during the race was to drink about 20 oz of water per hour, 2 salt pills (not enough) and 5 mg of HC/hour.  The salt was not enough because I got cramping in my groin (fun!) and hamstrings.  For some reason, I rarely get hand or foot cramps, just hamstrings, glutes and quads.

This race made me see that:
1)  I need to lose a little weight.  Taking off my shirt in the Florida heat is inevitable.
2) I need to step up my running speed a little bit.
3)  I need to run mile after mile consistently (Ummmm, yeah, I sometimes forget what I'm doing and stop running).
4)  Vol State is in 38 days.  Just enough time to get in shape!
5)  I need to consume more salt during the race.  I got a little bit of a stomach ache during the race that was easily remedied with a couple of salt tabs.

Race start

Race Director Matt Mahoney with his fancy course marking materials (flour).    He ran at least a marathon wearing Vibrams

This sign says "Up"  there were two hills in each 3.75 mile loop, they were about 10 feet high.  Quite different than running in the Rockies!

This sign says "Sahara Street"

Sahara St

So many awesome Gopher tortoises on the course

For some reason, I was covered with black grime despite the white sand that was everywhere

Part of the amazing set up at the campground

I wasn't going to zip up the tent because I was going to run really quickly to the car.