Badwater Cape Fear & Jason Bourne

Badwater Cape Fear is a 51.4 mile race at Bald Head Island, North Carolina.  Around 40 miles of this is on the beach, and it's truly a unique experience.

There are no motorized vehicles on the island (except for emergency, supplies, etc.), so the major mode of transportation is by golf carts.  You take a ferry from Southport, NC, at the top of every hour to the island.  And a ferry back at the bottom of the hour.  It is a 25 minute ferry ride.  The ride is pleasant and beautiful.  And of course, coming from a 30F Chicago to 75F North Carolina was a welcome change.  Runners can stay on the island (several houses are for rent) or at Southport or Wilmington.  Wilmington (ILM) is the nearest airport.

My logistics included: Flying from Chicago (ORD) to Wilmington (ILM) with a short layover at Charlotte (CLT).  Rented a car from the airport and stayed at a Marriott in Wilmington. Wilmington to Southport (for the ferry) is a 50-minutes drive, followed by a 25-minute ferry ride, and a quick 10-minute tram ride to the pre-race runner check-in on Friday (between 3 and 5 pm ET).

The same routine on Saturday early morning to the race start. Race start time is 7:45 am. I took the 6 am ferry, and had ample time before the race, which I spent at the Sandpiper Coffee shop on the island, who have opened early specially for the runners.

The race started at 7:45 am near the light house, which is like a 5 minute walk from where the ferry drops you, so it was very convenient.  After wishing Good Luck to friends, we start each of our own journey through this ultra. I was looking forward to seeing how it is to run on the beach.

I had neither experience running on sand, nor was I trained for a 50 miler.  But I have been running consistently and felt strong going into the race (except for a cold that started the day before, luckily it held off until after the race to become severe).

Met some old friends, made some new friends.  I ran the first 12 miles with folks from F3 Nation Charleston. I learned that F3 Nation is a nationwide running group, and these gentlemen were from Charleston chapter.  And also, this is a mens only running group - which was an interesting fact to learn. They mentioned, there is a women only group called Fia.  Super nice folks.  One of them, Tony, gave me a ride after I finished in his golf cart to the ferry, as I had just missed the tram to the ferry.  Two others, both named John, were good runners and fun to chat while many miles flew by.

Quote from our run: "I am not winning anything. I may as well make some friends".

I was all by myself when I hit the beach, around mile-12.  From here, it's a 20-mile out and back, twice.  There is an Aid Station at around 5.5 mile and another at around 4.5 where you turn around. The Aid Stations were well stocked, and more importantly the volunteers were cheerful and fun.  Someone recognized me as the person doing the 'ultra cup', and they cheered for that (i.e. doing all 3 Badwater races in one calendar year).

With my coach, Dave Krupski

I met my coach, Dave Krupski, during the pre-race runner check-in.  We met for the first time there, and he had mentioned just run near the water, if your feet gets wet during high tide, just run with wet feet, don't bother to move away from the water, as it could be loose sand and much difficult to run.

So, here's the kicker - I not only had no experience running by the beach, I fully didn't appreciate what effects low tide and high tide would have on my running.  Someone was talking that low tide was at 10:45 and high tide was at 2:45.  I had no idea that the beach will be taken over by tides during high tide.

The first 10-miles was on roads, no problem. Kept below a 10 mph pace.  Next couple miles was on trails, it was fun as the footing was easy.  Then the first 10 miles on the beach was super heavy head winds and it started to get hot.  It was cloudy at times, but when the clouds dissipated, the sun could be felt.  When I turned around at mile-22, there was tail wind, and my run was easier.  I kept wishing "good job" to runner that I passed, who passed me or those who were running in the opposite direction.  I got to mile 32, still feeling good.

Turned around to do the last 20 miles, again - the first 10 miles was head winds, but this time, the high tide had started.  I let my feet get wet at mile-24. But now, I was running in water, which slowed me down a bit.

This kid was only 15, first every race to take on a 50 miler

I ran the entire distance of the race, except for Aid Stations and during high tides.  While I was running on water, I started feeling like the tide was dragging me into the water.  Now, a thought hit me "there's no one ahead of me, no one behind me, and if the tide pulls me into the ocean, I CAN'T SWIM...!!!!!", for a couple miles I ran with mild fear of drowning and getting lost.  But that thought soon disappeared.

After fighting head winds, high sun and high tides, when I turned around for the final stretch of 9 or 10 miles, it felt nice that almost 40 miles is done and only 10+ to go.  The sky kept changing during the entire race, I took some pics of the beautiful beach.

Here's what I didn't expect: As I ran miles and miles on this beautiful, sunny, windy, blue sky beach, my thoughts wandered on many topics, and went deep on many topics, it almost felt like meditation.  Running on the beach, by the water and open sky, with no buildings or motor noise, it was a serene running experience.

I hit 50 miles at 10:25:55, which was almost a 1-hr PR for me.  Finished the race strong at 51.7 miles in my watch at 10:48:00, was happy with the way I felt and with the finish time.

With the RD Chris Kostman

Now, that was the race report. In case, you are wondering what Jason Bourne has to do with this race, you can continue to read.

I have enjoyed the Jason Bourne movies (well, except the legacy and the recent one, lets stick to the first 3 - The Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum). In those movies, there's one thing that is consistent: Jason Bourne is constantly on the move, on various different modes of transportation.. flight, train, scooter, car, etc.  My journey to Cape Fear felt that well, except I had paid for my modes of transportations and my trip was somewhat planned:

3:45 am - wake up alarm
4:00 am - First Uber driver cancelled the ride
4:05 am - Second Uber driver cancelled
4:20 am - successfully got on to an Uber
4:50 am - airport security
5:50 am - first flight take off to Charlotte
8:20 am - first flight landed (time zone change)
9:25 am - second flight take off to Wilmington
From here, its only the sequence -
Take the rental car from Wilmington Airport
Check-in at Fairfield Marriott
Go for a 3 mile run
Swing by Chick-Fil-A for lunch
Drive to Southport for ferry
Last person to board on the ferry to Bald Head Island
Take a tram
Packet pick-up

Now, all the above in reverse to get back to the hotel, eat, put the race stuff out (running clothes, hydration vest, food, etc.), go to sleep.

If you have reached this far, I hope you have enjoyed reading this race report, definitely recommend the race, if you are into long distance running and looking for an adventure.

These guys came all the way from Germany to run this race

Products used (everything worked well, not sponsored by any :-)

Squirrel's Nut Butter worked perfectly, zero blisters

PATH projects t-shirt

Nathan Hydration vest

Altra Running Paradigm shoes

Outdoor Research gaitors

Patagonia shorts