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| Sunrise over Caesar Creek Lake |
Three weeks after Another Dam 50k, and just one week after
my first 50-miler at Mohican, I found myself at sunrise at the starting line of
the Dawg Gone Long 50k at Caesar Creek State Park: 3 ultras within one month.
Like me, several other runners showed up in their new
Mohican t-shirts. Some of them were running again, others were manning the aid
stations. The community of ultra-running
is as small as it is dedicated.
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| Less than 100 runners were at the start |
It was a muggy morning as the sun rose below a layer of
clouds over Caesar Creek Lake, painting the sky in shades of purple that soon
turned orange. The temperature was
already in the high 70s, the air was still, moist, and heavy. It seemed a difficult day lay ahead.
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| Purple skies just before sunrise |
The race consisted of 2 loops around the southern portion of
Caesar Creek Lake. I was still not fully
recovered from last week’s race and had no specific time goal in mind. I simply
wanted to know if I could complete two ultras on two consecutive weekends.
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| Reflection pond |
After the dam crossing, the trail led through the Caesar
Creek spillway where 450-500 million year old rocks had been exposed. These rocks contain a myriad of fossils,
mostly clam-like branchiopods, but also bryozoans, corals, and gastropods. I spotted quite a few fossils but a trail race
is not a fossil-hunt, so I did not pick anything up.
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| Some of the drainages have bridges over the creek beds |
After that the trail winds through thick woods, traces the
lakeshore in some places, and crosses a few drainages. About 5 miles into the
race, the trail led through Caesar Creek Pioneer Village, a collection of historic
houses from the 1800s maintained by a non-profit organization dedicated to
preserving knowledge about the lives of early settlers in the area.
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| Water lilies on the East shore of Caesar Creek Lake |
At mile 9 the route crossed Caesar Creek Lake on State Route
73 to the Western side, which was much hillier than the Eastern portion. Throughout the first loop the trail was in
fairly good conditions. There had been a
series of Thunderstorms in the past week, but Friday had been dry. The trail surface was soft and tacky with mud
in only a few places where the water had not been able to run off.
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| Ridge along the West shore of the lake |
I completed the first loop in 3:45 hours. I had paced myself well and thought that I
might be able to maintain the same pace throughout the second loop. How wrong that was!
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| After the rain the trail turned into a gooey mess |
A few miles into loop 2 it started to rain. Only slightly at first, it gradually
intensified. In most places, the soil
had already been moist, and was not able to absorb any additional water. Soon, many portions of trail turned into
little creek beds. Branches of shrubs
and trees were heavily leaden with water droplets and sank lower and lower
until the trail became a small and narrow tunnel. Up-right running was no
longer a possibility and many sections turned into constant ducking and
bush-whacking while stomping through a gooey mess as the soil
disintegrated. I was completely drenched
but the temperature was now very pleasant in the mid 70s and there was no
danger of getting cold.
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| The sun came out towards the end, illuminating the misty forest |
As I got back to the Western side the bushwhacking was
mostly over as the trees were taller, the trail was wider, and the undergrowth
was less dense. After a little while the
rain stopped and even the sun came out in a few spots. However, the gooey surface remained for the
remainder of the race. The trail was so
slippery that I had to walk most of the downhill sections. Fortunately I wore good trail shoes, which
provided more traction than those of a few other runners who I passed during
this last leg of the race. Finally, I
reached the finish line (at 53km) after 8 hours and 27 minutes – the slowest
time of my three 50ks.
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