Lake McMurty race report

Well today was a great day to run an ultra and none other than a low key Tatur 50k.  This was my first TATUR race and I had a blast.  I was expecting a mid sized ultra seeing as they had a 25 & 12k with the 50k.  However a total of 50 ish toed the starting line.  I love the feel of a small local ultra!

I left Lawton at 4am to drive up to Stillwater and get ready for the race.  I made it to Lake McMurty at 6:30 just as the registration table was being setup.  I picked up my packet and nervously awaited the start of the race.  At 7:50 Ken Childress performed his general RD duties and gave a quick course brief.  I'm always surprised how many people recognize me from Prairie Spirit last year.  At the starting line I was introduced to a half dozen people and then the gun went off.  I was planning on heading out at a 8:30 pace but unfortunately that did not work.  I meet and became very knowledgeable about Justin Franklin over the next 2 and a half hours.  Justin went out at a 7:45-8:15 and I decided to head with him cause why not.  50k is a long time to run alone and worst case I just blow up.  Justin and I had a great time chatting away on the Lake McMurty single track.

We finished the first 7.5 miles in 58 minutes and I was lucky to sneak a few salt tabs off Justin.  It was already approaching 75 degrees.  As we came out of the aid station we were greeted by the start of the 12k race on the beginning of the our South loop.  This was just cruel because the legs were still fresh enough to pick it up and do some damage and here come these fresh fast 12k runners whizzing by.  Still I resisted the urge and Justin and I settled into a comfortable pace.  We finished the 2nd loop at 1:55 for a 53 minute lap and later found out a time good enough for the 25k win.  At the start/finish again Justin gave me some salt tabs as the heat approached 85 degrees.

We headed out on loop 2 and got into that weird part in a race when both of us start to suffer and conversation drifts to almost non existent.  Justin started to drop back about 4 miles into the loop I assume the heat started to get to him.  I turned on my IPOD in search of motivation to push harder.  I finished the loop right at 2:58 running it 5 minutes slower than my opening lap.  Still 4 hours seemed within reach since the 2nd lap is a bit faster.  I really started to feel the first 15 miles when I headed out for this loop.  It doesn't help that there are trail markers every 1/4 mile which remind you just how far you have to go.  At the turn around I kept ticking off the miles reduced to a 8:30-9:00 min/mile.  I finished up pretty strong over the last 4 miles rallying a bit to finish in 4:04 still a pretty slow last lap.

For my first 50k I'll take a win and almost breaking 4 hours.  I didn't use a powder drink in my bottle this time I ran just off gels.  I took in 9 salted caramel Gu's during the race which seemed sufficient.  The heat did start to get to me a little but I think it was more the speed and heat that got to me.

The TATUR's put on a great finish line festival!  I didn't make it more than 10ft from the finish line to sat down on the concrete.  My medal was brought to me and someone handed me a cold drink.  Eventually I made it up for a BBQ pork sandwich and beer.  Justin came in just a few minutes behind me and looked good, 3rd went to Aaron.

Ken hooked it up with a great overall award.