2025 Wildflower 50k

The Background

It had been 4 weeks since my last race. 2 weeks before Wildflower, I ran a 20-mile training run at Kleb Nature Preserve.  I increased the volume of 5-mile runs during the week.

Heading into the Wildflower 50k, my main goal was to see what kind of time cushion I could build by 50k at the Mohican 100 three weeks away. While Wildflower does not have as much elevation, there are some climbs and the trail twists and turns a bit,  so it is more similar to Mohican than Brazos Bend. 

I hoped to build around a 2-hour cushion by 50k.  I knew my main mistake at the 2024 Arkansas 100 was to try to replicate my pace of 2023, so I should not go out too fast.  But Mohican has 2 extra hours for the cutoff, so maybe I could build the  2-hour cushion and still slow down a bit at the start.

So, long story short, a sub-8-hour finish at Wildflower would give me a 2-hour cushion on the pace for Mohican.  Plus, I finished the marathon at Wildflower in 2024 in 7:34 last year.  If I improved my pace, that would be good.

The Race

The race would be two Big Lake Loops and one shorter Harmon Loop.  All of it is pretty much runnable except 3 or 4 short climbs.  There is a climb up to the look-out where you run through a little building about .5 miles from the finish.  I ran all of the first loop between 11- and 13- minute pace, finishing in 2:36.  The pace of the first loop was 12:45. My legs felt pretty strong, and I was glad I had run the 20-mile training run.

About 8 miles in at the lake.

The look-out, about 11 miles in.

At this point, I was 12.25 miles in.  I had to spend about maybe 5 to 8 minutes at the start before heading out again.  I made a goal to run at least halfway to 15.5.  I stretched the running to 17 miles before telling myself it was time to practice my hiking.  

By now it was only 80 degrees probably, but it felt hot. I got a bit woozy for a while. After a few miles I got that under control and was able to knock out 15-minute miles hiking.  I finished the second loop in 3:16.  The second loop was 16:00-minute pace, including that long break at the start.

I asked a lady at the start how long the last loop was.  She said 10k, but it turned out by my watch to be about a half mile longer than that.  Though I slowed a bit, I hiked as a aggressively as I could, still managing some 15-minute miles. It started raining. I ran most of the last mile, passing a couple of folks right before the end.  I finished the last loop in 1:50, 17:04 pace.  My final time was 7:44, 14:54 pace.  I finished 68th out of 93 finishers and 109 starters.

Reflections      

I am happy I increased my pace compared to last year at Wildflower.

To finish the Mohican 100, I need to run at 19:12 pace overall.  If I ran the first 50k the same time as Wildflower, I would have banked 2:11.  But I need to not run as hard as I did at Wildflower to avoid crashing.  Ultimately, I need to run how I feel and not push it.  If I only bank an hour and change by 50k and am still able to knock out 16-minute miles, that is better than banking 2 hours and crashing like I did at Arkansas.

Well, my plan is to run one more 20-mile training run next weekend before Mohican.  Thanks to God, Cal, the volunteers, Terri, James, Paloma, all my family, Jamie, Luke, and friends for the support!