Night Hawk 2019

After being forced to an early exit (12 miles) at the 2018 Night Hawk 50k because of a torrential storm, a poor choice in footwear, debilitating cramps, and a famously weak constitution, I was more than ready for another crack at it. Race Directors Mary Ann and Shari have really built something special with this race. It continues to grow every year, and somehow manages to keep getting better and better. The volunteer support was outstanding as always, and many fine folks went waaaay above and beyond to find, map, clear (27 downed trees), reroute, and add safety ropes to this year's alternate 10 mile loop course. The alternate course was necessitated by the seemingly constant spring rains that had expanded Clinton Lake enough that most of the blue trail (and some of the white, below pic) was underwater.

Water Crossing (1st of 3), photo by Mile 90 Photography

As expected, the weather was hot and humid. I could add some capitalization and exclamation points to emphasize that, but really, it's late June in Kansas, that's what you get. Some welcome relief though, was that the heat warning for Douglas County expired at the exact same time that Shari counted down to zero at the start of the race (8 P.M.). :-)

With that, we were off. My race plan was to take it easy and sorta "float" (my term for not thinking about pace) early on and see what I had left during Loop 3. If anything was left in the tank, I would push the pace and go hard to the finish. If I was getting reacquainted with the cramp monster, I would just slow down, enjoy the fact that I was able to take part in this awesome event, and try not to trip and split open any body parts on the sharp rocks.

For Loop 1 I took it pretty easy on the initial road section (approx. 2 miles), gabbing with friends, then I just kinda lost myself in the joy of running trails again for the first time in a long time. 50k ninja Jay was with me throughout the 6 mile trail section and I had a blast hearing about some of his epic mountain adventures first hand. Jay and I separated somewhere on the final 2 mile road section of Loop 1*, and I stayed by myself (mostly) for the rest of the race.

Floating Along w/Jay on Loop 1 (photo by Mile 90 Photography)

*Side note: The bugs during the final road section of Loop 1 were insane. It looked like headlight beams when driving through a snow storm at night. My pace was dictated by how fast I could run while breathing only through my nose, everytime I opened my mouth, I got a taste of winged-protein. Loops 2 & 3 were just fine, presumably the runners had inhaled all of the bugs by then.

I was intentionally taking in lots of fluids. I started with my two handheld bottles filled with coconut water and chia seeds. I drained both bottles between aid stations (every 5-ish miles) throughout the race, refilling one bottle with plain water, and the other with Tailwind (Gatorade-type drink for ultrarunners). Also at each aid station, I washed down 4 salt stick caps. Well, at almost every aid station. I forgot the salt sticks at the end of Loop 1 and barely managed to keep the cramp monster at bay. I felt the pre-cramp twinges just after I reentered the trail section on Loop 2. Thankfully, it was just a warning and no full-on cramping ever happened (although I got a similar warning in the same place on the trail during Loop 3).

The highlight of the race was at the Lands End aid station on Loop 3. I had possibly the best aid station food that I've ever had. Caroline and/or Lori had made potato pancakes, I cannot possibly explain how delicious they were. They were simply the best food I could imagine at that time. To top it off, and to wash it down, Kim (as promised, thank you!) had an ice cold beer waiting for me. I meant to have just a small cup, but with some help from Josh, we drained the can down to a trail-safe level and I headed back into the woods carrying two water bottles and a half can of Kolsch (yes, I crumpled the empty can and stuck it in my pocket through the finish).

End of the Trail on Loop 3. Just 2 Miles of Roads To Go (photo by Mile 90 Photography)

At the end of the trail section, there was a group of runners that had recently passed me. They had gathered together at the beginning of the road section. Since I didn't know how long they would stand there, I started running around them. They took off running just as I was in the middle of them. A wiser man would've just moved back to my prior position behind them. Instead I opted to pass them. This added a little drama to my race. Shortly afterwards, I realized that they were pushing a pretty good pace. A combination of stubbornness and the fact that I was surprisingly still feeling pretty good, had me determined to outrun them the last 2 miles to the finish. I would push hard for a while and not hear anyone behind me, look over my shoulder and see that their headlamps were still right behind me. I even ran (instead of hiked) up the last two big hills in this section. It made no difference, they weren't falling back at all. I did manage to hang on in front of them through the finish (or maybe they just let the old man have his day), but I ran that last 2 miles harder than any of the prior 29 miles.

Aaaaand Done! (photo by Mile 90 Photography)

If you can't tell by now, I really love this race. It's been so awesome to see Mary Ann and Shari come up with a great idea and not only pull it off, but make it better every year. Thank you is not enough for everyone who put in countless hours pulling off this labor of love, but just the same, thank you!


WARNING, the below is unimportant rambling not relevant to anyone smart enough to wear shoes while running outdoors, but I'm hopelessly compelled to include it anyway. If you're familiar with the old TV show Cheers, the following paragraph is my version of "Clavining".

At last year's Night Hawk, I discovered that if you're barefoot, sandals are useless in deep squishy mud. Once the mud gets between the bottom of your bare foot and the footbed of the sandal, bad things happen. Your foot starts sliding sideways across the footbed and soon the wet muddy straps start to loosen. Before you know it, the sandals are hanging from the side of your ankle. I had run several races with water crossings and mud before in sandals, but they were all in winter, so I was also wearing heavy wool socks. So, knowing that there would be water crossings and mud, I wore socks with my sandals for this race. Unfortunately, I wore a pair of lightweight Injinji toe socks. They worked great for the first loop, but as the mud accumulated beneath my foot, the straps began to loosen. They did well enough that I was able to finish, but the loose straps made the rocky rooty trail sections difficult to run. Next time, in similar conditions, I will wear my heavy wool socks, and all should be well, except that wool socks are pretty damn hot in the summer (duh :-)).