Cap't Karl's The Shoe 60K Race Report

Pre-Race:

If you’ve read any of my other Capt Karl’s race reports you know my pre-race routine. I work the night before, go home and grab the wife, then head down to the in-laws in Marble Falls before I finally crash around 11:00am. I slept from 11am-5pm and hit the road for Muleshoe park around 5:30.

If you haven’t read my other reports, HERE’s the link to The Lake, and HERE’s the link to The Falls.

Coming into the race I was 3rd Overall in the series for the 60K, but only 20 minutes ahead of 4th place.

I pulled in around 6pm and was happy to see there wasn’t a 30 minute line to get in the park! I grabbed a great parking spot, picked up my packet and quickly set up a good spot next to the start/finish.

After getting my gear in order and making sure I was good on gels/waffles/Scaps for my first two laps I ventured around looking for people I knew. Ended up chatting with Malea, Larry, Olga, and my friend Manton who I hadn’t seen since Warda Hare last year!

After the pre-race meeting that I missed, we lined up and I snuck up right around the front, but not too close.

The race started with a quick O&B so we could get the grand total of 60K. As always
I’ll break this into laps since the course was four laps total.

Lap 1:

We headed off onto the course and I put myself right where I’d been for the other two races. About 14th-15th place. We were soon on the single track and it appeared I’d seeded myself just right. I had run this course before and remember it being really twisty with some rocks. These both held true.

Soon we were through the first aid station and I was feeling good overall. For some reason my legs seemed a bit heavy which I was afraid would probably get worse later. We passed through some dense woods, and soon came to a pretty technical rocky section which would get much more fun as the night progressed.

Once out of the technical section it was around a mile to the next aid station. Once there I refilled the bottles again, and noticed the darkness had really snuck up on me in the dense woods. I really couldn’t see much but did see enough that I could still run fairly confidently.

The legs were still feeling heavy, but everything else felt good. I kept glancing down at my watch here because I was expecting my lap time to be around 1:30 per lap.

Darkness was now upon us and I was probably still 5-10 minutes out from the start where my light was. My eyes had adjusted well but my footing was still iffy. Finally I caught up with a runner going my speed and used her light the rest of the way back to the start.

Finished that lap in 1:37 which was pretty disappointing. I knew it would only get slower from here because it would be dark. I was doing the math in my head and figured that the best I could hope for now would be a sub 7hr 60K.

I grabbed my headlamp and headed back out.

Lap 2:

This lap was fairly uneventful for the most park. I was passing a lot of slower 30K’ers and just focused on running all the flats and downhills, while power hiking the uphills.

I soon passed through the first aid station again and was heading towards the rocky technical section. Once there A LOT of peole were walking here. I love technical trail so I was still running and passing everyone. I didn’t know who was 60K and who was 30K.

I pushed the pace just a little through there and was quickly back at the 2nd aid station.

I refilled my bottles and jumped back on the trail. Everything was going well but again, the legs were just heavy and felt sluggish. No snap. I glanced down at my watch and this lap was looking close to 1:45ish. I pushed the pace a little towards the end and came in at 1:46:34 for lap 2.

I refilled my gels and waffles but TOTALLY forgot to refill S-Caps. Thankfully I took two while sitting there and still had two left on me.

Lap 3:

I was still feeling ok here and thought I’d try to push the pace when at all possible. My race at The Falls where I negative split really gave me some hope.
I was still running everything except the uphills. The beginning section before the first aid station went well and I was through the first aid station quickly after refilling my bottles.

At this point I wasn’t really looking forward to the technical section, but knew it was my strong point, so I was mentally prepared.

Right before I got there somehow I tripped up on a rock and totally did the duck, tuck, and roll. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt, but I was now a muddy mess. Lots of sweat + dirt = Muddy Jacob. My bottles were covered, but literally before I could complain
I was running and checking out the damage. All was good.

Through the technical section I went and was at the 2nd aid station before I knew it. Refill bottles, back on trail. I was feeling a little better here and again focused on maintaining the pace if not picking it up a bit.

Lap 3 came in at 1:44:58. About 1:36 faster than the 2nd lap.

Lap 4:

I headed back out on the course and was ready to rock and roll. When I was pulling into the aid station I saw someone pull out and his friend/wife/gf tell him he was in 6-7th.

My new goal was to find him and catch him. I headed back on the trail and kept glancing ahead to see if I could catch a glimpse of his headlamp. I kept seeing headlamps but they were all from 3rd lap 60Kers.

Soon I was at the 1st aid station again and after refilling continued my pursuit. I thought that I’d at least catch him in the technical section.

I pulled into the technical section and just didn’t have the umph that I’d had earlier. I was slowing and walking more of the technical parts than I had before. I was still moving well and power walking hard when I had to but I just wasn’t making up the ground I needed to.

Once out of the technical section I caught the shimmer of a headlamp behind me. It actually appeared that it was getting closer! I couldn’t believe it. I was getting caught 34 miles in?!

I pulled into the 2nd aid station and refilled quickly then walked out while waiting for the person behind me to catch me. I decided I’d let him/her catch me then run on their heels all the way to the finish.

Soon he caught up with me and I immediately jumped on his heels. He was moving REALLY well and I wanted on this train! I just put my head down and pushed on.
Soon we started talking and he informed me that he was 4th overall in the series for the 60K! He knew that I was 3rd. At this point I was REALLY determined to not get dropped. There was only a ~20 minute gap between us and a gap that small can EASILY disappear in trail racing.

I soon began feeling much stronger and realized the increase in pace was a good thing. As soon as I realized I wasn’t going to get dropped I started chatting with him a bit more. He turned out to be a really nice guy and we chatted about UTMB and racing in general a bit. We only had about 1-2 miles left and I was hoping we were in the top 4-5.

Since I was pretty much guaranteed 3rd overall at this point I told him that since he pulled me along the last 3-4 miles that I wanted him to cross the line first and I wouldn’t be racing him for it. Hopefully we’d be in the top 5 and he’d get some hardware.

We turned the last corner and pushed the pace to the finish line to try and break 7:05:00. Right before the line I backed off and we finished in 7:04:42 and 7:04:44!
Unfortunately we were 8th and 9th for the night.

Hilario, if you’re reading this, thanks for pushing me in! You were moving so well for the end of a 60K.

My final lap time was 1:45:14 which was 50 seconds faster than my 2nd lap and 16 seconds slower than my 3rd lap. All three of night laps were within 1:36 of each other! Talk about even pacing.

When I look back and reflect on this race I’m somewhat disappointed that I didn’t place and that I didn’t negative split more. On the other hand I really can’t complain! For having dead legs, I’m totally happy with maintaining an even pace. It’s good to see that I can push through and not let the dead legs mentally get to me.

After analyzing the results later it looks like 6th place was only 5 minutes ahead and a top 5 finish was less than 10 minutes ahead.

Again, Joe and Tejas Trails put on a great race. This series has been a fantastic experience and has been the PERFECT training tool for the Arkansas Traveller 100 on October 1st. Each race I’ve learned something and have applied it to the next race. Hopefully I can take everything I’ve learned here and apply that to the AT100 in 5 weeks.

For the series I did end up 3rd Overall! Going into the series my only real goal was to hopefully place for the series in the top 5 and I did that.

Below I’ve included a few photos of the hardware!

 This was for 3rd OA in the Series:

This was the buckle for completing the series:

And these are all three finishers medals:

 

Again, thanks to everyone for some great races! It's been a fun progression through all three races and an invaluable learning experience before my first shot at 100. 

-Jacob