Hawk100 - Birthday run

I don't know what I was thinking, I chose to run a 100-miles on my Birthday this year!  Well, it sounded like a good idea when I signed up in January for a September race.  A lot had happened since  I signed up, including Badwater135.  This was my first race after Badwater135 at Death Valley in July.  I was still mentally and physically recovering from that humongous effort, and wanted to run the Hawk100 with my heart, enjoy the experience and most importantly, have fun.

Hawk100 in 3 words: community, trails, joy!

Pre-race: It was an easy flight to Kansas City, MO and a short drive to Lawrence, Kansas.  The preparation and days leading up to the race felt very relaxed.  I was not worried about the weather, flooding, trail conditions, my conditions, etc.. as I have been pondering, I like frequently do, on where life has brought me and what was ahead of me.  We had lunch with a colleague who retired in July and lives in KC.  It is always nice to catch up with out-of-town friends when you are in their town.

Once I reached Lawrence, we drove around to buy some last minute supplies at the local Walmart and visited the KU campus, which was very nice.  The KU campus was a combination of older historic buildings and new modern ones.

Nice and clean in the 2nd loop

The Race Directors, Sherri Klover and Ami Weidler-Hyten, have put so much heart into this race, it really shows.  The original course from the previous year has been impacted severely due to the flooding this year.  During the days leading up to the race, they kept us posted through the facebook group on the course preparation and readiness. They kept marking and re-marking the course, to ensure we stuck to the original course and aid stations as much as possible.  In many cases, the course runs right into a large flooding of water, then you know that it's time to turn.  

The course markings were EXCELLENT.  The race team had taken extra efforts to ensure runners of all distances had the correct directions in the course.

The course had some very scenic and beautiful sections

When I told people that I am running a race in Kansas, their unanimous comment was, "its all flat in Kansas, right?".  Well, this course was nothing but flat. It is a very enjoyable beautiful course, even with the alternate course route.  Huge rocks and roots makes it interesting to keep the runners busy. If you take your sight off the footing, the chances are, you may take a fall. 

Mud all over me from the few falls

I have been training on roads since the beginning of this year due to my other races being on roads. I wanted to test myself returning to the trails.  And this was a good one.

The course was a 25 mile loop, with 4 aid stations that were fully stocked with all kinds of hydration and nutrition one can ask for, along with a ton of super helpful volunteers.  The volunteers absolutely took care of me.  Whenever I ran into an aid station, one volunteer filled my hand held water bottles, and another one took care of me. A huge thanks to all the volunteers and supporters at the race.

Loop-1: Enjoyable, learning the course, and keeping good pace.  Met some wonderful folks.
Loop-2: It started getting hot, slowed down a bit, kept moving.
Loop-3: It started getting dark. Halfway through the loop, it started heavy rain.
Loop-4: Skating through the mud and trying not to fall. (spoiler alert: I took multiple falls and slips).

Seen on the course: hawk (of course), deer, snake, opossum, skunk, frogs, and heard sounds of other creatures that I couldn't recognize.

 The event also has 50-mile and marathon distances. On Saturday, we ran with more runners and it thinned out on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  For many hours, I hardly saw anyone.

The wonderful RDs: Ami and Sherri

The aid stations were placed in decent distance from each other, they had all the food and drinks one can ask for and some of the nicest folks one can meet.  At one point of the race, around the end of loop-3,  I got a second wind and started sprinting for a few miles.  

Like other ultras, I went through many thoughts including "this is fun", runner's high, chatting with fellow runners, suffering, thinking of losing weight, "should've done more cross training", nausea, "why am I not perfecting my hydration", etc.

At the end of the day, running a 100-miles is never easy, but like I say, "running is a state of mind" and its the human will that takes you to the finish line.

This race had everything it advertised and more.  I am looking forward for this race to grow over years and more and more people to enjoy this hidden gem of a trail in Kansas and to enjoy the love of the local community.