Monday, July 17, 2017

Featured Running Event of the Week - Get Your Butt Kicked on 66


The Get Your Butt Kicked on 66 is, as the name implies, and event that takes place on Historic Route 66.  To be precise, it takes place at Route 66 State Park in Missouri, not far from St. Louis.  The park is the home of abandon portions of Route 66 as well as a now dismantled Route 66 bridge over the Meramac River.  The dismantled bridge is a harbinger of the tale of Route 66 State Park, which at one time was the populated town of Times Beach.  Quite the interesting, and sad, tale of Times Beach, which is best described by this Wikipedia article.   Now, this area is a picture perfect state park, with trees, and fields, and ponds, and walking and biking and equestrian paths.

So, that's the place, now here's the race.  The Get Your Butt Kicked on 66 is a 6-Hour Endurance Race.  The idea of an endurance race is to get as many miles in, during the 6 hour time period, as one can (or one wishes to attempt, as runners are free to stop at any time, they can also restarted at any time - within the 6 hour window).  Some people use this as a way to run a selected distance, some just want to stay "in motion" for the full 6 hours, some walk the entire time, some stop after a certain number of loops.  That's the beauty of Endurance Races - you can complete whatever you want (or try to accomplish whatever you want) as long as it is within the time window.

This particular race starts at 6:00pm and goes for 6 hours (catching a Route 66 theme here?).  The first 2.5 is in the sunlight.  Sunlight in Missouri in July is bad enough, however, the route sits in a valley near a river, so add humidity to the mixture.  This race is more about the conditions than the terrain.  The next 30 minutes is in the setting sun, and the remaining 3 hours is in the dark, requiring headlamps, flashlights, shoelights, or such other lighting concoctions.

The path itself is mostly flat, there is one rapid decline, a long nearly-flat incline, and some nearly-flat declines.  The track is about an even mixture of pavement, chip-n-seal, and crushed gravel.  The entire trail is plenty wide allowing for passing of quicker participants with ease, and no real choke points.  The final stretch gets a little narrow, especially during the final minutes when participants are on the short loop trying to get in those final miles - but it's not bad.

That short loop?  So, the main course is a 2.45 (ish) mile loop on the paths described above, which also includes the park streets.  Participants traverse this route for as long as they want.  But remember, in Endurance Racing, only completed laps count, so nobody wants to be caught out on the loop when time expires.  Thus, the "short loop".  Participants, during the final 60 minutes (some races it's final 30, 45, 15, depends) can run a "short loop".  In this case, it is a 1/3rd mile loop almost primarily on the streets and parking lots, and then on the same narrow final stretch.  Runners can apply strategy here, and decide how soon or how late to hit the short course.  Those final 15 minutes, the short loop is busy!!!

The course has a main aid station at the start/finish line, complete with water, sports drink, pretzels, pickles, M&Ms, fruits, and other assortments.  Mid-way (ish) through the course is a water & sports drink aid station.  Participants are actually able to park their vehicles right along the front stretch, and also right before the final stretch.  These can be used as personal aid stations, where participants can setup tents, drinks, food, chairs, etc etc.  The route makes this VERY easy to do - literally, cars are 2 feet from the running area.  Early arrivals get better spots.

A challenging race, the name sums it up!  The battle is with heat, humidity, nightfall, bugs, and one's inner strength.

Just for kicks - the photo below is a picture I took before the race of the dismantled Route 66 Bridge - from underneath.  (the course does not go under the bridge)


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