Capt Karls All Nighter 2006

Cap't Karl's All Nighter 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Inks Lake State

From the very first moment I heard about Cap't Karl's All Nighter, I was intrigued with the concept of the race and knew that I was going to do it. In the past there have been plenty of 12, 24 or whatever number of hour races, but as far as I knew they were all running around a track. Now does that just sound horrible? But in the case of Cap't Karl's All Nighter, one would get to run a six-mile loop at Ink Lake State Park for twelve hours throughout the night. If you are familiar ILSP you already know that just what a challenge this could be.

So I registered for the race right away and the night before hand got my drop bag packed. But, I still had one big hurdle to over come as I had to work the day of the race. If you don't know, I carry mail in the UT area and I'm on my feet all day on concrete. I kept telling myself this is no big deal, heck I've run all day and then through the night.

Well it is now show time - the day of the race. I go to work as usual. After talking to the supervisor she says I can get off an hour earlier if I carry my whole route in seven hours. Sound good to me, so I give it a try (I'll bet this will come back to bite me on the butt - that just the way the PO is). Work is behind me and I'm on the road to Inks Lake feeling pretty hyped. Heck this all night thing is going to be a piece of cake.

I arrive at the Youth Camping area and find a parking spot right up front. This will be perfect for my drop bag and cooler - I can leave everything in the back of my truck. Apparently the Youth Camping area is brand new and just opened. There are few tents set up and I see others in the process. I see that there is a bathroom and in the center of the camping area a big fire ring - a real nice setup.

I met Brad, the RD, as he is busy putting last minute touches to things, and soon meet his wife. Nyla is checking runners in which amounts to writing your race number on the back of your calf and handing out a LED flashlight in lieu of a goodie bag filled with junk. Now I think that this is pretty cool.

It's now time to sit back, relax and talk with everyone gathering. I think around 6:30 p.m. Brad has the pre-race talk where he hands out little laminated race maps - another nice touch. Talks a bit about the course and the possibility of rattlesnakes and what to do if there is a problem. And so forth.

So at seven the race begins and right off the bat everyone missed the first right turn. We are all headed out going backwards. I started thinking and then saying, "I don't think we are going the right way." It wasn't until we got to the slit rock that Larry King agreed we messed up. So the group around me, and everyone behind us turned around and went back. Now the ones in the lead group were the smart ones. By the time they realized the error they decided to just keep going, figuring heck a loop is a loop no matter which direction. But then we got the bonus miles even though it really wasn't than much.

So the night begins. I am not going to report on who I was with on any particular loop, or what was said simply because my mind doesn't work that way. And there were a bunch of loops, and even if I tried, I would get it all mixed up. At beginning of the race (first couple of loops) I ran parts with Larry King, Steve Williams, Debra Sexton (from NTTR), Nathan Deckinga, Craig Gilchrist, and even Gabe Ayson showed up for one loop, but mostly when I saw someone they were looping me. Heck, before the race was over TJ Thompson looped me twice! For the most part I ran alone which was suiting me just fine, as I was having a difficult time. I guess the work thing did play a bigger role that I thought it would and I struggled most of the night. Now that is not to say I wasn't having fun, things just were more difficult that they should have been - my legs were just tired from the word go.

It rained on the first loop and that felt pretty good as it cooled us down - it had been hot. But the rain brought several unforeseen things. The first was the ants (fire ants?). It seemed that when it rained the ants went up the long shoots of the grass to get away from water on the ground and then when we ran by they got on our legs. By this time they must have been pretty pissed off because they would start biting. By Monday morning I could see the effects of their bites because of the collection of welts on my legs. The second problem was that my shoes were now wet. This usually isn't problem for me, but on the Inks Lake trail there is a new dimension: granite. When granite eventually breaks down or chips-off it is has very rough and sharp edges and is not at all like the smooth edges of sand.

So without gaiters, I struggled all night with these granite particles in my shoes that stuck quite well due to the wetness of the shoes. On one of loops, maybe around one or two in the morning, I had to keep sitting down and trying to clean out what was rubbing on the back of my heel. I could not get it to stop no matter what I did. I kept thinking if I ever get back dry socks are in order. Well I did make it back and when I was cleaning my feet I learned that the granite had worn a hole in a new pair of Injinji socks. My heel had been rubbing in the back of the shoe and oh, what a blister. Thanks to Nyla who was able to round up some duct tape and the night was saved - at least for that blister. As it turns out, I ended up with five blisters though out the night and they hurt I might add.

Well I have been going around and around on this loop all night, and it turned out to be five miles, not the six mentioned on their web site. Not a big deal, but I think I was memorizing everything on the loop much quicker - everything but this one rock that was hidden in the grass, which I managed to kick hard with my right foot on each passing. And I might add, it seemed to hurt more with each kick. Now on the sixth time I kicked this damn rock, I stopped, not because of the pain shooting up my leg, but because I wanted to come back someday with a sledgehammer and destroy it. And also, I knew that I would have at least one more loop and I was determined not to ever kick it again. Can't fool me forever.

As it turned out, I actually begin to feel better as the loops went on and by my seventh loop (35 miles) I realize if I pushed it I could go out for an eighth. The way I understood it was that cutoff for a last loop was at 6:30 a.m. So I pushed as hard I could given the fact that the bottom of my feet were blister city and I had been up all night. On this seventh loop it was starting to get light and I remember standing on one of the granite domes looking around at everything and actually feeling really good - such a pretty morning. The funny thing about running all night, no matter how difficult it was, when the sun comes up you have a new day and things feel good again - it's hard to explain but it really happens. So anyhow I roll into the start/finish area at 6:10 a.m. and was told that I missed the 6 am cutoff. I explain that I thought that it was 6:30, but just the same I was pulled. So I accepted my fate, a bit disappointed but that was the way it was going to be. As I sat in a chair visiting with the few around, there was this phone call. I could overhear "six", "six-thirty" "oh, only one". And them Mark came over to tell me that there was a mistake made and I still had nine minutes until cutoff, also asking if I wanted to drop or go back out. Well this wasn't a difficult decision, as I don't believe in dropping myself no matter how I feel. The only way I'll quit is that I have to be pulled. So can you guess what I did? I slammed down a cane sugar Dr Pepper and off I went. And what a lap it was! My feet hurt pretty badly because of the blistering, but I was out there and believe it or not I was having my best lap of the whole race. Oh, how sweet it was.

I finished the loop smelling the breakfast cooking and as I approached I heard some yell "Here he comes." As I crossed the finish I remember saying, "Okay I'm done now." And done I was, but what a good feeling. I may have been last on the trail, but I got my forty miles in and I was happy.

Brad and Nyla, with the help of few volunteers, put on a first class event paying particular attention to details. There may have been a couple of rough edges, but one would hardly notice. If there is Cap't Karl's All Nighter next year I'll be back, but I'll make a point of taking the day off from work!Finished in 32:37:35 by my watch.

Drank a beer, took a quick shower and hitched a ride with Donna and Linda to Equestrian to watch for Robert. He came in with about 15 minutes to spare and Linda went out with him for the last leg. Luckily I had grabbed a bottle of water and had enough sense left to give it to Linda as she left with him.