The Opposite of Orlando — Wild Florida 50K
I love Florida! Love visiting—have been since I was a teen growing up on the East Coast. But my trips to Florida don’t include Orlando and its alternative realty entertainment complexes. I don’t go to overdeveloped beaches lined with high rise condos either. And I don’t golf. I go to Florida to embrace its incredible biological diversity and some of the most beautiful (and threatened) ecosystems in North America. I go for the swamps, cypress and live oak forests, prairies, black water rivers, and incredible stretches of protected undeveloped coastline.
I go to Florida for its state parks, one of the finest park systems in the country. And I go for the wildlife—chances to see alligators, gopher tortoises, bears, bobcats, panthers, and incredible birds from wood storks to scarlet ibises. I go there to hike, paddle, and run! And it doesn’t hurt that I love the warmth and sunshine too. Okay—not so much the humidity. But Florida in November—especially the northern parts of the state is simply divine. Cool mornings, warm days, low humidity and touches of autumn colors. All the makings for a perfect day to do an ultra-run!
The Wild Florida 50K had me interested the minute I heard about it. Held in November on the Florida Trail in northern Florida along the Suwannee River, it would be wild indeed—and naturally beautiful. And it would be a perfect excuse for me to finally get some miles in on the 1500-mile Florida Trail—one of our country’s 11 national scenic trails. The race team works with the Florida Trail Association and has raised a significant amount of money for them.
Cool morning in the forest (Photo by Misty Dawn)
The race is staged from the beautiful Stephen Foster Folk Center State Park in the tiny historic resort town of White Springs (population 740). The park is named for the man that made the Suwannee River famous through his Old Folks at Home song—the state song of Florida. However the prolific mid-19th century composer never stepped foot in Florida, and never saw the river. And his composition written as a minstrel song has since had some of its original racist lyrics rewritten.
Needless to say, Way down upon the Suwannee River became an earworm as I worked my way over the 50 kilometer course. The race was a one way point to point that had us running on the Florida Trail along the beautiful black water river for a good stretch. The course also utilized trails in the Foster State Park and other state managed lands. Nearly the whole course was in protected natural lands—and mostly in a county of 14,000 residents. A far cry indeed from Orlando.
More than 210 of us began the race at daybreak with a temperature of just 38 degrees. I ran the first 10 miles with a jacket on. The scenery was gorgeous. Big live oaks and bald cypress trees lined the river which lazily cut through limestone bluffs. Dwarf palmettos and other thick vegetation crowded the forest floor. It was a predominantly green scene, but touches of red thanks to maples and sweet gums along with the cypresses’ rusty orange needles gave it an autumn touch. The cooler weather almost guaranteed that alligators and snakes would probably not be out and about. A few lizards and armadillos however occasionally scurried about.
Beautiful stretch of Florida Trail along the Suwannee River
Highlights along the way included the Suwannee Springs Bridge, dubbed the Bridge to Nowhere. This historic bridge over the river has been closed to vehicles for 50 years and has since sported colorful graffiti and public art. We crossed it right as the sun began shining through the palmettos, oaks, and cypresses. Other highlights included sandy stretches along the river (although they were challenging to run on) a deep limestone sink hole we ran around, and some actual hills—small bluffs along the river. The course surprisngly had a cumulative elevation gain of 1500 feet—so much for flat Florida! And some rooty sections made it challenging in spots. But overall it was very runnable and I enjoyed the course.
While this race was one of the easier ultra runs I ran this year, I had some foot problems that made it a little more challenging for me. I had a toenail that had recently fell off and I was running in a pair of shoes that were still a little stiff. The night before I flew out I noticed that my favorite trail shoes had split in a spot. I did not want to risk blowing them out in the race, so I took my backup pair which were a little stiffer. Between the shoe stiffness and my toe, I endured some pain when my foot rolled or hit an uneven object. Regardless, I was still able to have a decent run finishing in 6 hours and 51 minutes and placing 99th overall out of 213. And once again I was one of the oldest finishers. There were however 12 of us over 60 that completed this run, one of the higher amounts of older runs I have raced with. Not all the retirees in Florida are on the golf course!
Team Potato among the palmettos! (photo by Misty Dawn)
Race Director Sean Blanton was at the finish congratulating everyone coming over the line. Blanton who founded Run Bum Races, stages events all over the Southeast with many of his events having very generous cutoff times. Runners had 10.5 hours to complete this course making it a great one for a first 50K An accompanying 25k and 10K were quite popular too for trail runners not quite ready for the ultra-scene.
Upon crossing that line I was also greeted by friendly volunteers (as I had been the entire race); handed a very cool non-medal medal that had a pair of bears on it, hot pizza and a cold Gator Ale. Oh yeah, and since we were in Florida, the electrolyte drink on the course was Gatorade! Which is great because that stuff goes down easy when I’m running. And by race’s end it was in the high 70s making the Gatorade pretty refreshing too!
Food was great along the way too, and I was able to load up on my favorite race foods; bananas, oranges, peanut butter-and-jelly squares and potatoes! And they were salted too! This Team Potato Runner was quite ecstatic to be able to fuel on potatoes—literally walking (or running) the talk. This runner who hails from Potato Country (Washington ranks number two in the country for potato production) was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Florida is potato country too. While most folks equate Florida’s agriculture with oranges, tomatoes, watermelons, strawberries and bell peppers, the Sunshine state ranks 12th overall in potato production. And the Florida crop is quite valuable too as it’s a winter crop that hits the market in spring when Washington and other northern potato producing states haven’t yet harvested their bounties.
My first ultra-run in the South was a success and quite enjoyable. I was proud to represent Team Potato in the Sunshine State and look forward to signing up for my next event in this part of the country. And don’t count on me looking at races in Orlando. It’s places in Florida like way down upon the Suwannee River where I want to be at. There are still parts of this beautiful state in a natural state. And the Florida Trail laces them together for 1500 miles. I just may have to sample another section of this trail on an ultra-run!
Big Thanks to the Washington State Potato Commission for sponsoring me. I am proud to be a member of Team Potato and to showcase the nutritional value and performance enhancement of potatoes as I trained for and ran my first 100 mile run—and continue to run a marathon or ultra-marathon in all 50 states! Florida make state number 11. I’ve got many miles and place yet to go—and lots of potatoes to consume to power me along the way.
