2025 Tideland 24 Hour (Wes Claytor)
The Tideland 24 Hour course is a USATF-certified 1.37779-mile crushed gravel and dirt loop that snakes through the White Oak River marsh, crossing bridges of aluminum and wood. It’s the kind of course that tricks you into thinking it’s easy because it’s beautiful, mostly flat, and you have aid every 1.3 miles. But as the loops accumulate and the hours go on, you discover hills you didn’t notice before, and sections seem to grow in distance.
The goal was simple enough: get to 100 miles before the clock hit 24 hours. 2 weeks earlier, I’d finished the Uwharrie 100, and my legs hadn’t exactly forgiven me just yet. My coach—if I had one—wouldn’t have approved of me going after this with so little recovery post-Uwharrie. But my motivation was redemption: I’d dropped at 80 miles at the 2024 Tideland 24 Hour, and that buckle had been haunting me ever since.
The First 6 Hours
I was being ultra conservative, keeping my miles chill and eating so much food while staying on top of my hydration. Friend and fellow runner, Emily Lyons, shouted to me about how patient I was being. She’s a very experienced ultrarunner, and she’s seen me be my own worst enemy in previous races, so for her to recognize gave me confidence in my strategy.
I popped in to visit my wife, Christa, in our tent, just 50 yards from the start/finish area, every 3-4 loops for some food, drink, and a little encouragement. She was impressed that I was barely sweating, and she commented on how great I looked. I felt great, but I was a bit concerned by how tired my legs and lower back were starting to feel since it was so early in the race.
Hours 6-12
The next 6 hours were filled with mostly good running, lots of cheeseburgers and candy, and lots of little conversations with many of the talented and interesting runners on course, but I did fall into a mental low or 2. My back was getting really tight, and my feet were hurting way more than I expected them to be. Uwharrie really beat the hell out of me, and I was starting to pay for it here. I was also tapping into caffeine a little more heavily and earlier than I planned to, but I was adapting to the reality of my situation.
Around 6 pm, Christa joined me for a brisk loop around the course, and we watched the sun set from one of the bridges. It was a really special moment for me. I've always wanted her to share a mile with me in a race, and here we were. That instantly made this one of my favorite races I've run, and it lifted me out of my negative headspace.. at least for a little while. My good friend and Aid Station captain, Ryan Hampton, came up to congratulate me on reaching 50 miles in just over 11 hours. A few hours earlier, he had told me that this would be a target to shoot for, as it would set me up for success in the back half of my race. That felt good, too.
Hours 12-18
By 8 pm, the course was dark, and the temperatures started to drop. I layered up because I was getting cold really easily, and I turned up the caffeine consumption. I could feel myself getting progressively more tired. My tent visits were becoming more frequent, and the durations grew longer. I was beginning to feel nauseous around 11 pm and I kept sweating from the layers, but getting chilled as soon as I'd stop moving. I was feeling a bit miserable, but I turned up the headphones and focused on the music. I would find occasional spurts of energy, likely fueled by all the caffeine, but I'd use them to my advantage and run for as long as I could until I grew tired again.
I eventually rationalized to myself that I needed a 10-minute cot nap in our tent, so I made it back to Christa and told her to keep me honest to my plan. When she woke me, I didn't want to leave. It was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. But I forced myself to get up under the direction of my dedicated wife, and I shivered my way out of the tent and back out into the cold night. I became emotional on that loop. Partly because I was losing my mind to exhaustion, and partly because I knew I was going to reach my goal if I hadn't quit by this point.
Hours 18-24
Daylight Saving Time goes into effect during this portion of the night, and it can mess with your brain if you're focusing on what hour of the night it is. So I don't recommend it. Focus on duration and distance. I checked the duration, looked at my distance, and started doing some trail math. Things were starting to look a little questionable. I was slowing down as the dark, early morning hours went by, and I was stopping more often than I wanted to. But I kept plugging away. I tried to avoid going to the tent because Christa was trying to sleep, and every time I'd leave the tent, I'd have a shivering episode.
I went back once more around 3 am and told Christa that this would be the last time I'd be back and to meet me at the start/finish after 6 am for my final loop(s). And from there, I continued to put in work. I was delirious at times, wandering off the trail as I was falling asleep on my feet. Then, I'd get a burst of energy and run a mile or so. It went like this for what felt like many more hours than it actually was, but the goal continued to feel like it was slipping away. I was becoming very concerned.
With about 1.5 hours left on the clock, the gentleman managing the timing for the race came up to me and told me that if I wanted to get 100 miles, I needed to do 4.5 loops, and they needed to be just as fast as the one I had just completed, which felt incredibly hard and unsustainable. But I didn’t come this far to not make it, so I took off with purpose and determination. I blazed through those next 4.5 loops, some of the fastest ones I ran in over 60 miles, and made it back with 2 minutes to spare. I did it - I achieved redemption and earned my Tideland 24 Hour 100 Mile buckle, just 2 weeks after earning another Uwharrie 100 buckle.
Badass!
