Had the most fun this weekend, running the Fossil Valley 9 hour relay. Started at 10pm, so we ended up running through sunrise.
Endurance Buzz Adventures did an awesome job of organizing - well-marked trail, on-time start and delivering on every pre-race commitment (yes, the bamboo t-shirt is indeed the most comfy cotton I have ever worn :) ) I wonder if David makes money doing this or this is purely fuelled by passion? Inclined towards the latter.
IRC had 5 teams, so we were 15 of us and had a blast! We had lots of food to keep us going, plus a well-stocked aid station. Casey, Voon and Valerie had brought in tarpaulins,chairs and tables - so we were pretty well set up.
There were 3, 6 and 9 hour solo racers, plus the 9 hour relayers. My team was Vignesh, Raymond and I. Vignesh went first and kept up with Ben Callaway and Casey throughout - a 28 min loop! I went next, tried to keep with Ben Dsani and Tracy but could only manage halfway. Still managed a 28:44 loop and handed the timing chip to Raymond.
A little about the loop - this was at Cedar Ridge Preserve in South Dallas; 2.69 (though my Garmin only showed 2.55) miles of trail, lots of rocks and roots so had to look down throughout the run. I had to adjust my headlamps intermittently to ensure they're focusing on my next step rather than a few steps ahead. There were 2 steep downhills and uphills (Strava says 303 feet of elevation gain) - the two uphills were killing.
I did 2 laps of 28 mins and two laps of 30 min. Vignesh had one super lap of 26 and settled at 28, while Raymond was more or less my time. At the 3 hour mark, we had done 6 loops (2 each), so I expected we'd be slightly slower as time progresses and end with 5 loops. But at the 6 hour mark, we were consistent and had clocked 12 loops. Minor drama at the end of loop 10, when I bent to take the timing chip from Vignesh's ankle, we found there was no chip! He had lost it, presumably on one of his two falls. We lost a couple of minutes while we got a new chip.
I began cramping toward the end of my 5th and pulled in at 32 minutes. Raymond had a bad stomach since his 3rd. By then it was clear we are going to get 6 loops each, so I knew I had one more to go. Stretched, used a roller and two salt tablets from the aid station - hopefully I could get a strong last lap. Managed it pretty ok, started cramping at the slope towards the end but ran through and finished at 31 minutes - I averaged around 30 minutes for the 2.6 miles.
IRC Sleep Walkers (my team) finished 4th out of 7 (3rd of out 5 IRC teams) - pretty satisfying for me personally. We did 18 loops in 9:11:10 - totalling 48.42 miles.
Endurance Buzz Adventures did an awesome job of organizing - well-marked trail, on-time start and delivering on every pre-race commitment (yes, the bamboo t-shirt is indeed the most comfy cotton I have ever worn :) ) I wonder if David makes money doing this or this is purely fuelled by passion? Inclined towards the latter.
IRC had 5 teams, so we were 15 of us and had a blast! We had lots of food to keep us going, plus a well-stocked aid station. Casey, Voon and Valerie had brought in tarpaulins,chairs and tables - so we were pretty well set up.
There were 3, 6 and 9 hour solo racers, plus the 9 hour relayers. My team was Vignesh, Raymond and I. Vignesh went first and kept up with Ben Callaway and Casey throughout - a 28 min loop! I went next, tried to keep with Ben Dsani and Tracy but could only manage halfway. Still managed a 28:44 loop and handed the timing chip to Raymond.
A little about the loop - this was at Cedar Ridge Preserve in South Dallas; 2.69 (though my Garmin only showed 2.55) miles of trail, lots of rocks and roots so had to look down throughout the run. I had to adjust my headlamps intermittently to ensure they're focusing on my next step rather than a few steps ahead. There were 2 steep downhills and uphills (Strava says 303 feet of elevation gain) - the two uphills were killing.
I did 2 laps of 28 mins and two laps of 30 min. Vignesh had one super lap of 26 and settled at 28, while Raymond was more or less my time. At the 3 hour mark, we had done 6 loops (2 each), so I expected we'd be slightly slower as time progresses and end with 5 loops. But at the 6 hour mark, we were consistent and had clocked 12 loops. Minor drama at the end of loop 10, when I bent to take the timing chip from Vignesh's ankle, we found there was no chip! He had lost it, presumably on one of his two falls. We lost a couple of minutes while we got a new chip.
I began cramping toward the end of my 5th and pulled in at 32 minutes. Raymond had a bad stomach since his 3rd. By then it was clear we are going to get 6 loops each, so I knew I had one more to go. Stretched, used a roller and two salt tablets from the aid station - hopefully I could get a strong last lap. Managed it pretty ok, started cramping at the slope towards the end but ran through and finished at 31 minutes - I averaged around 30 minutes for the 2.6 miles.
IRC Sleep Walkers (my team) finished 4th out of 7 (3rd of out 5 IRC teams) - pretty satisfying for me personally. We did 18 loops in 9:11:10 - totalling 48.42 miles.
