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Holiday Lake 50K 1999 Report: Wesley Best

You asked for a race report from a first-timer, David, so here
goes--caffeine-fueled and pain inspired!

The Holiday Lake 50k was my first ultra. I ran my first marathon in January
and realized that ultras may be just my thing--long, and lots of dirt. I
trained well, and felt good going into the race, other than a little sinus
infection the week before. My goal time: 5 hours. I thought this would be
"slow" enough as to not be too abusive...

The start of the race was great. Lots of singletrack trail, and lots of
folks to enjoy  it with. Nice and easy at first. Of course, I really enjoy
running fast on singletrack, so I picked up the pace. Close to the top ten
runners, so the first time Horton saw me he warned me to slow down.
Scary...I felt great, what should I do? I decided to just run how I felt.
Live in the moment, as it were.

At the halfway point, I started counting the top runners as they passed  me
after the turn-around...1,2,3...up to 9. Holy cow, I'm in the top ten. Okay,
this is a race now. Turn-around at 2:19:40. I can do a 4:50!

As soon as I made the turn, the tinge of a blister I had felt earlier really
flared up. I slowed, a LOT. I complained to a co-conspirator, and he told me
"If you run through it, the pain will go away, and then after the race when
you take your shoe off..."  That was enough to get me going. Time to move
back into the top ten (about 4 people had passed me). Still feeling really
strong....and then came the rain and the dirt road.

I ran for quite a while with Rebekah Trittipoe, a heck of a runner and the
first place female. I thought following her pace would help me reach my 4:50
goal, but after several miles of dirt road running, my mind couldn't take it
(like I said, I love singletrack). I slowed to a walk several times. All
alone now, cold and wet....

Now I was running aid station to aid station. Luckily, the aid stations were
great, and my fiancée was waiting at each one. I'm pretty sure they moved
them farther apart for the second half of the race, though...
I'm seeing 4:50 slip away, and wondering if I can make 5 hours.

On the last section now. Past the last aid station and running on the
awesome singletrack around the Lake. I'm going back and forth about whether
the pain is worst it--does 5 hours really matter? 5:15 would be fine, right?
Then I get passed by a guy who's flying. He says that he's figured that if
he holds this pace, he can break 5 hours, so I try to follow. After about a
hundred yards, I have to back off. Back to the mental demons...

I'm close now. I can hear the people at the finish line, but I have no idea
how far it really is. My watch is at 4:55. We'll see.

Cross the line at 5:03. Darn close to that goal, and in 17th place overall,
out of 94 starters. I can live with that. And now, I think I'm hooked. Great
race, great people, great food, great pain...
Thanks to everyone who encouraged and helped, especially Rebekah (who ran a
course record!) and the guy who gave me blister advice. Now if I can learn
to walk again, I guess I'll start training for Mt Masochist.

Wesley Best