Labor Pain 12 Hour Endurance Trail Run

It’s taken me a few days to come down from my runner’s high after Sunday’s trail race, Labor Pain, in Reading. Those who participated in this event, either as runners or spectators/support teams, can appreciate the full extent of the experience but for many of you out there who were out partying elsewhere on Sunday and enjoying the day – it was quite an amazing day weather-wise, wasn’t it? – I wanted to try to relay my experience at this trail race as best I can.

To date, I have run exactly two trail races prior to Sunday’s event: Ron Horn’s Chilly Cheeks which scared me off the trails for nearly three years, and the XTERRA 21k XDURO race at Bear Creek this past July which brought me back around to the trails. I was asked to join a relay team and jumped at the chance. What a great introduction to ultra racing, something short which in my mind correlates to something relatively easy. I mean, it’s not like I am going to jump in head first and run 50 miles at my third trail race ever. 50 miles sounded cruel but some five mile laps with rests in between sounded do-able. Easy it was not.

2010 was the first year for this particular 12 hour foot race. For the bargain price of $65, runners were allowed to run any distance to their heart’s desire for up to 12 hours, after which time if you were stuck out in the woods, in the darkness, you were SOL. There was also a relay team option in which teams of up to 4 people could take turns running laps of the course. For me, this was the most feasible option since, as I’ve attested above, I am not much of a trail racer, or trail runner for the matter. This is something which will change for me in 2011 after the incredible experience I had at Labor Pain.

The day could not have started any better than it did. Clear skies and cool temperatures greeted me at 5:30 am when I stepped outside to gauge the weather. I was actually chilly as I watched the makeshift base camp beginning to take form at Leiderkranz. Canopies, tents, chairs, coolers were set up with care; race bibs were pinned to shirts and shorts; gels and drink concoctions were at the ready. Runners were ready to hit the trail.

Ron Horn started things off with a pre-race meeting in which he welcomed racers and went over the course. Starting at the Leiderkranz [in Reading] we ran down Spook Lane, up a driveway, across someones yard, through the woods, around Egelman Basin in Egelman Park, back into the woods where we remained with the exception of a couple road crossings, the last one of which had a conveniently placed step ladder for runners to use. No race starting and ending at the Leiderkranz would be complete without the final, rocky climb up an embankment which was the final punishment at the end of each lap.

Runners on this day would complete very respectable milestones of 50 kilometers up to 72.6 miles distance within the 12 hour time span. For the relay teams, anywhere between 40-85 miles were logged for the day. As a relay runner I thoroughly enjoyed the best of both worlds: participating in the event as a runner and sitting on the sidelines cheering on others who were attempting some pretty darn long runs. I watched friends and new acquaintances complete their longest ever distances and the look of accomplishment that washed over their faces was incredible to watch, especially after seeing them run lap after lap, pushing their bodies to endure the pain. Early morning smiles turned to smirks which later became looks of determination as they ran closer and closer to the goals they had set for themselves.

Timing the laps

From my perspective, as a relay team member whose team ran a total of 80 miles for the day, this event can be summed up as four separate 5 mile trail races with two hour rests between. The entire process was rather tricky as neither my teammates nor I had experience with this kind of racing. How should we refuel between laps? How should we rest, or should we? Should we be drinking gatorade, water or beer?

My personal recovery plan between laps (or races) was to grab a gatorade and then lounge on my camp cot for 20 minutes or so to completely rest my body. I would then start moving around, drink a little more, get some food in my body and then prepare for my next lap. Food consisted of snacking on trail mix (nuts, dried berries and chocolate chips), candy (Twizzler’s were doing the trick until I spotted the Creme Caramels at the aid station), soup or my secret power food I brought from home (farfel, tofu, sweet potatoes, onions, roasted pumpkin seeds and flax seeds. Yum!)

The day’s breeze seemed to have pushed the day right along with it because it seems like it was over so quickly. Too quickly. Base camp slowly dismantled and those still remaining cleaned up, grabbed a beer and hung out for the award ceremony.

Congratulations to all of the day’s racers who reached new milestones and new personal bests!

Race Results:
Combined Results
Individual Results
Team Results
Lap Splits