Race Recap: The Runner's Flat Fall Endurance Festival

The Runner's Flat Fall Endurance Festival 10/13/18 Cedar Falls, IA

Weather: 35-40 degrees and breezy
Terrain: (Mostly) gravel roads, rolling hills

Distance: 25K (also had 50K and 10K options)

I decided to finish my 2018 race season with a running event that was extremely local and low-pressure. I've been working on my trail running all year and figured, what a great opportunity to test myself! Unfortunately, Mother Nature has had a really bitchy month, and the regular route for this race was totally underwater. The show must go on, and the race director found a new route that took us well north of the super-high river on rural gravel roads. After some debate, I chose to wear my trail shoes instead of road shoes. Game on.

This race was teeny tiny and therefore the logistics were fairly easy. Parking was not a problem, with an easy 30-second walk to the start line from my vehicle. The way this worked was the 50K folks started at 7 AM, the 25K (including me) at 8 AM, and the 10K at 9 AM. We started right on time and ran out on concrete trails and roads for about 1.5 miles until the gravel started. I was immediately glad that I chose trail shoes, as the rocky gravel was a bit of an ankle-breaker. Throughout the race my knees and hip flexors would progressively start hurting more and more from all the uneven rocks. There were no mile markers and, it turns out, no bathrooms on the course. Thank goodness I was in dead-last place the entire time (spoiler alert? LOL) so I just went in the ditch when the time came.

The course was out and back and there were two aid stations that we passed a total of four times. These aid stations were the most freakin' stocked masterpieces I've ever seen in my days. There were no fewer than FOUR beverage options, and lots of different foods - sweet, salty, starchy, you name it. It was basically Ironman aid stations. So luxurious. If they'd stuck a port-a-john at each station I would have been in heaven. I was able to run the entire way out to the turnaround, then on the way back I hit the headwind. UFFDA. My knees were like "SEE YA" and just straight-up left the premises. I had to walk a lot of the second half, which was okay with me. I was pleased to see that despite having some lousy training in the past few weeks (my shoulder is injured still), and terrible pre-race nutrition (i.e. several pina coladas on vacation), my general fitness was still pretty strong, and my cardio was awesome.

A word about my fellow participants: they were GREAT. Almost everyone said "good job!" to my slow butt out on the course. Even the first-place 25K finisher, who was a lady (yay, girl power!) and the first-place 50K guy (who caught me on the way back, around my mile 8.5). Everyone was super nice and this race clearly attracts that "crazy trail runner" element that lends itself to a lot of camaraderie.

The volunteers at this race were all very friendly and encouraging, too. At mile 14.5 I was offered a fireball shot by the volunteer at the intersection, to which I said "REALLY?" and she said "REALLY!" So of course I did it. It made my belly a lot warmer. Rounded the final corner to cheers and finished in about 3:18, which was about 15 minutes slower than the second-to-last finisher. But we all know I am not a stranger to last place, and I really don't mind bringing up the rear, especially in an out-and-back. And there were fewer than 50 finishers, anyway, so being last place isn't as tragic as usual ;)

After the race we had to travel a bit to a local beer garden to get our finisher prize of a pint glass, which we could use to get a free beer (I had passionfruit, it was incredible). We were served a free lunch of chili and cheese bread, which was delicious. There were door prizes handed out after the awards ceremony as well. Doing this race basically requires you to commit to the post-race lunch to get your full finisher benefits, so keep that in mind if you sign up.

Pros:

-People. Everyone was so nice.
-Aid stations were totally pimped out.
-Pint glass instead of a medal. Practical and useful.

Cons:

-Needed bathrooms, for sure. The ditch worked in a pinch, but I do like a bathroom on occasion.
-No mile markers. It turned out okay, but I'd have liked them.
-Course wasn't super inspired, but they had to work with what was available and not 6 feet underwater at the time, so I'm not upset about it.

Race Grade: B. Food during and after the race is unrivaled, but a fairly minimalist event.