Sombrero Sizzler 12 Hour Race Report

Before getting into the race report, a bit of background as it's likely relevant to anyone reading this and trying to take away any sort of advice. I have been running consistently for almost 10 years now. I always ran off and on as a hobby when I was younger, but not until I was in my 30s did I start to take it a bit more seriously and make it a constant part of my life, diving in to trail and ultrarunning specifically. Running has become a part of my identity.

From 2020 through 2023 I paid for coaching, and was constantly chasing mileage and, to a lesser extent, race success at local and regional trail and ultra events. After a pattern of getting at least one significant (~4-8 weeks time off required) injury each year, I even managed to get over that hump and began running almost totally injury free around 2022 or so. However all of this became a bit much - I was aware of this in the back of my mind, but my wife really helped drive it home that something needed to change - devoting so much time, energy, and focus towards running was not resulting in a healthy family life balance.

So beginning in 2024 I stepped back from serious training. I still ran some, but I put more focus on getting into the gym and weight room, spending less overall time each week training across all forms. The full story of what this looked like and what the effects were are better suited for another post - but suffice it to say that by July of 2026 it had been almost 3 years since I raced an ultra, and my mileage was less consistent, and probably 60% of what it was during my serious training days.

Choosing to race

We traveled to Europe for almost 3 weeks in June. Seeing so much natural beauty, and so many opportunities to hike and be outside, carried over when we returned. Having gotten to scratch but a bit of the itch hiking in the Bavarian Alps and Italian Dolomites, I decided that it was time for me to try something physically difficult. Difficult has different meanings to everyone, but for me it was framed in the backdrop of having previously run distances up to 100 miles and having put in 80 mile weeks leading up to those sorts of efforts.

My birthday is in July, so I knew there was an opportunity for me to cash in a bit of family/marital capital to do something selfish around that time. Originally I was searching for a way to do a long weekend with easy flight logistics: I would get into the mountains for several 6+ hour hikes, my wife and son would hang out at a resort/in some sort of mountain town, we would convene and hang out in the evenings. The challenges of trying to put something like this together eventually became clear, and I nixed the idea (still keeping it in the back of my head for another time, though). Instead, I went looking for an ultra to run.

This likely won't come as a surprise to folks, but ultras in the middle of summer in Florida are...rare. The high temps, and usually high humidity combine to take what is an already challenging endeavour and turn it up a notch - throwing in more variables to manage, more things to go wrong, and understandably sucking the fun out of it for many people, even those who otherwise enjoy ultras otherwise. Having lived in Florida for much of my life, I've done my best to accept this, and even embrace it. Most of the time I can be happy with the added challenge and demands of a hot race, and come to terms with what it means from a discomfort perspective.

The only race I knew would be going on in the summer nearby is the River to Sea 6/12 Hour. This is a great race, and I've done it a number of times (12 hour twice, 6 hour twice) - even winning a time or two. But this wasn't until August, and for whatever reason the trail portion of it wasn't calling me this year.

Heading over to Ultrasignup and using the event filter, I was surprised to find that Mike Martinez and Sombrero Running were putting on a 3/6/9/12 hour race just an hour away from me in Jacksonville: the Sombrero Sizzler. Mike really started ramping up in the local race scene as I was starting to disconnect from the community as I stepped back from serious running - so despite being new to me the race was already in its 3rd year. The course was a 1.25 mile paved loop, meaning self-crewing would be easy. The entrants list looked decently full for a summer ultra in Florida, and I knew Mike put on a good race.

I double-checked to get the ok from my wife, and signed up.

Training

As mentioned in the introduction, I have sort of abandoned planned/structured training over the past 2 and a half years. That being said, I have consistently continued to run workouts - more than anything it has been a decrease in long run and general aerobic volume that has fallen out of my training over the past few years. Speed-wise, it seems like I continue to slowly improve - I ran my 5k PR off of this largely unstructured-but-still-doing-workouts in November of 2025. And I believe I ran my 10k PR at some point during a workout in early 2026.

Looking back over my Strava data, I started trying to put in more 40 mile weeks around March of 2026, and I had a single 50 mile week in May. Throughout this, I continued to run workouts but still wasn't doing much in terms of long runs. At the time we got back from Europe and I decided to do this race, I hadn't been on my feet longer than 2 hours / 17 miles at all in 2026.

Once I signed up, I had only 3 weeks until race day. Based on past experience, I knew that long tapers were not my thing, and that I'm often at my peak when I'm coming off a bit of rest during decent training. For the first time ever, I sat down with AI (Claude, specifically) and after connecting the Strava MCP we brainstormed a bit on the best approach to the final 3 weeks before the race. The result was a rough guideline for what I should prioritize and what sort of volume to put in.

There was nothing groundbreaking in this, but a few of the highlights/important notes from these 3 weeks leading up to the race were:

• Finished a 54 mile week 2 weeks from race day.
• Did one 3 hour long run where I practiced:
  • Run/walk strategy
  • Hydration intake
  • Carb/calorie intake
• Intentionally did a number of mid-day/afternoon runs in the heat. Learned after the first to slow down to see what it took to keep heart rate down.
• Hopped into the hot tub for 20 minutes post-run on days I ran in the morning, all the way into the week of the race.
• Did a sweat test to determine the amount of fluid I lose in an hour
• Kept up a small amount of intensity (largely strides), albeit not workouts on the level I typically do.

Obviously, it's worth calling out here that the years of consistent running were and are a factor in any discussion about training. This (this probably being primarily a big aerobic base that is constantly maintained) is what allowed me in the first place to even consider putting my hat in the ring for a 12 hour race without any true training preparation.

All the above being said, this is likely the least prepared I've ever been training-wise going in to an ultra.

The plan (and some goals)

Having done timed ultras before, I knew the basic things that I needed to worry about:

• Nutrition (carbs and cals)
• Hydration (fluids and sodium)
• Cooling
• Pacing/effort

Nutrition and hydration aren't so much a "what" you need to do, as there are generally accepted guidelines, but more about "how" you get there. I knew I wanted to take in about 60g/hour of carbohydrates for this sort of effort. I planned to do this largely through engineered foods and gels: Maurten 100/160 (and caffeinated equivalent), Precision Hydration 30g (and caffeinated equivalent), Skratch Chews, Honey Stinger waffles. I threw in some pretzels, as those are a staple for me, and some Twizzlers, which were new to me this time but fit the bill at needing to eat only 3 to get half my hourly carbs. I figured I would supplement if needed with anything that looked good from the aid station table.

I planned a 3 cooler + 1 dry organizer setup, and kept all of these foods with the exception of the Twizzlers and pretzels in a cooler. The Twizzlers and pretzels went into the dry organizer.

Hydration was informed by the sweat test I did during training. I planned to try and get in about 1L of fluid each hour. This wasn't going to replace everything I lost, but I believed it was going to be enough to keep me in good shape. I was targeting 500-1,000mg of sodium for each liter of water (likely tapering off later in the race) - this is in line with a number of position statements/papers. I planned to get sodium via Precision Hydration electrolyte tabs in my water, or alternatively from Salt Stick electrolyte chews - whatever felt right. I have enough soft flasks that I planned to pre-fill the last ~3 hours worth - the less you have to worry about late in a race like this, the better.

I knew cooling was going to be a major factor with temps in the mid-90s and feels like temps above 100. Early in the race, I planned to go without a shirt and maximize sweat evaporation. Once the sun hit my face and body relatively consistently, my plan was to put on a shirt and hat, and then consistently keep an ice bandana on as well as adding ice to my hat. The drip from this was specifically meant to soak my shirt and stay there. This eliminates much of the evaporative cooling, but maximizes external cooling from the ice drip. I chose a Patagonia Capilene Daily shirt for this (in cream/white). My hat was white. My shorts were light green/teal. You don't want to be wearing black in conditions like this.

I focused a bit less on overall pacing when planning, instead trying to focus a bit more on effort as determined by heart rate + feel. In my head I had a goal of getting to at least 60 miles, which would put me at 5 miles/hour, which is an overall average of 12 minutes/mile. So I had numbers sort of swirling in my head, but not any firm pace targets of exactly how to get there. I knew generally that I needed to keep my heart rate low, not letting it get too far into the 160s for an extended period of time, and ideally sticking to something more like the low to mid 150s. My plan was to try and run as even a race as possible, understanding that I would inevitably slow as time went on.

Oh, and I mentioned it above - but I did all of this planning alongside Claude. This acted as a great sounding board as I kicked around ideas and approaches, validated plans, or wanted perspective on past races. Being completely honest - I have typically had a pretty predictable race arc in ultras longer than 50k: go out too fast even when I plan not to, and eventually pay for it and struggle through the back half. Only a handful of times have I put together a conservative plan and stuck to it. Lo and behold, I usually have good results when that happens. Claude was blunt in its assessment of this, which was a nice reminder of how reliably I messed up my plans.

So I had quite a few process goals, and at least a rough idea of an outcome goal. I knew that there would be at least 1 female runner there (Cason) who was certainly going to perform better than me - but I really tried not to think too much about where I might place in the race. Normally I'll go through competitor lists and sort of obsess over who has been training well, etc. - none of that this time.

The race

The good part about a race that is only an hour away is that you don't have to worry about travel and hotel logistics. The bad part about a race that is only an hour away is that it makes for an incredibly early start, especially when you include the time needed for a 12 hour prep and setup.

I had done as much day-before prep as possible: fully set out my dry storage, pre-filled all my flasks with water + electrolyte tabs, put gels and handhelds in the coolers (without ice) they were supposed to be in, packed a back with extra clothes, towels, etc. All I really had to do was wake up, take care of business in the bathroom, tape my toes, lube up and put on nipple guards and race shorts/shirt, and drive to the race - stopping along the way to fill all of the coolers with ice.

The race site was about an hour away, so I planned to leave the house by 4:30 AM. I got up a bit before 3AM and did all the things mentioned above. I had to buy way more ice than I realized - I think I ended up dumping 70+ pounds into the 3 coolers. I arrived at the race around 5:45. I parked my truck along the route, set out my camp chair + towel, setup my mini table and plopped my dry organizer on it, opened the tailgate and put the 3 coolers on it, and then popped up my 10x10 tent so that it straddled the back of my truck as well as shading the chair/table area. The goal was to try and keep everything, including the coolers, out of the sun as much as possible.

Packet pickup was smooth, and I grabbed one of the sombreros being offered up to take home to my son. Pinned the bib to my shorts, shed my shirt, filled a handheld, grabbed a gel, and then headed to the pre-race meeting at 6:45 AM. Timing-wise everything was just about right for this entire pre-race process - I never felt hectic or rushed, but I also didn't really have too much dead time before the race start to just sit and let anxiety build. With no intention of going out hot, I lined up at the start well back from the front group. A few minutes after 7 the gun went off (except I don't think there was any sort of gun/horn at this race) and we were on our way.

The course was a 1.25 mile loop. There was a bit of a grass section near the start/finish, along with a very small section of somewhat poorly-graded packed limestone leading to the actual start/finish arch. The rest was either asphalt or sidewalk. There was a bit of a snafu the first lap where they had the grass section mis-routed so people we almost running into each other, but that was settled by lap 2.

Given the variety of distances (3/6/9/12 hour) and general go-out-fast race tendencies, there were quite a few folks well out ahead of me from the get-go. For whatever reason, I didn't let this bother me or even worry too much about who might be in the 12 hour. I knew that one female runner was likely to be at the front and had a good shot of winning the race (she has won the race I direct at Fort Clinch every year and is a great runner) - but that was really the only person I could key off of for much of the race. And most of the race she was out of sight or 1+ laps ahead of me.

Things were cool enough for the first ~2-2.5 hours that I went without a shirt or hat. I kept my heart rate in check running generally in the low 9s, and stopped each loop to refill bottles, grab a gel, or generally "do something." Sometimes I'd walk a bit coming out of the stop, sometimes not.

Somewhere around 2.5 hours in things did seem to start warming up, and then sun exposure became obvious. As planned, when this happened I put on my shirt and hat. Around this time I also started noticing that my heart rate was drifting upwards on much of the loop. Nothing crazy, but it was getting into the 160s consistently, which was higher than I wanted it to be. I was calmed by the fact, though, that when I went through the start/finish area with the grass section it would drop down back into range (low 150s or sometimes even 140s) without any change in pace, or perhaps with even a bit of increase in pace. Why exactly this happened in this way I don't know, but it certainly helped from a mental perspective. Looking back, I believe this transition period is what I consider the "worst" part of the day - where the humidity of the morning has yet to burn off but the sun and heat has already ramped up.

I stuck to the plan, and at some point I began using my ice bandana and ice in my hat as well (don't remember the exact timing for this, but likely within an hour or so of putting my shirt on). I just kept focusing on getting in the amount of water, electrolytes and carbs I wanted while keeping effort in check and keeping ice on me or in my hat at all times. I even had an egg and chorizo burrito from the aid station late morning, as it just really appealed to me.

I felt good about the overall hydration and nutrition situation - I peed about 2 hours in, then again at 4 hours. This would continue throughout the entire race, with me needing to pee roughly every 2 hours all the way through. My stomach wasn't getting sloshy, wasn't getting tired of gels as long as I mixed in something different every once in a while - and generally I just felt "fine." My legs got a bit stiff stuck in the same repetitive motion, so I'd randomly throw in 15 seconds of high knees or kick-back style striding to loosen them up. I did this for the remainder of the race. I started listening to music around hour 4, and I also took a Tylenol at that point. There are likely mixed opinions on that - but Tylenol is not an NSAID and in addition to helping with the perception of discomfort it also should help lower core body temperature a bit. Or at least that's my understanding.

Run. Get to my truck. Electrolytes and fluids. Carbs. Ice. Get back on the road to run. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...

Somewhere around hour 6, despite my pace not really dropping, my heart rate began settling back out. This was quite interesting, and really helped me feel like I had truly settled in. I was certainly running a 12 hour, but I wasn't suffering. I was having to work, but I wasn't getting destroyed. Although I'm a week or so removed, I feel like I hit quite a zone of just doing the same thing. Keep moving, keep drinking, keep eating, repeat. I took a break from music then resumed once batteries in my headphones had charged. I took another tylenol at hour 9.

At some point, I realized that it felt better to run without carrying liquids, and that I was generally capable of taking in what I needed (~250ml of liquid with some amount of associated electrolytes) while stopped at my truck. This worked especially well once I swapped over to the pre-filled flasks near the last 3-4 hours of the race. I'd get to my truck, slug down what I needed, maybe shove in a gel or carry one with me, and refill ice if needed.

The field thinned as the day went on - many runners finished their distances and left. Others stopped. But those of us that remained kept moving - some slowly, some quickly, some in spurts. There was no screen showing who was in what position, so I didn't know at any point where I actually stood in the race. However, as the day went on I could make some decent assumptions based on what I saw around me. The female runner I expected to win the race was still moving well, but not nearly at the pace she was early. It felt like I was making up some ground on whatever gap was between us, but it was unclear how much. It didn't feel like a ton. It did seem like I was moving better than all of the other male runners, but I had no idea if some of those still moving ok had banked significant miles early. I didn't think so.

I just kept doing my thing, trying to see if I could hold steady. I never fell into any sort of rhythm with any other runners, so I largely kept to myself most of the race, aside from the occasional "good job" and "keep it up" as I went past folks. As long as I kept moving decently I started feeling confident I was going to have a really good day - perhaps a 12 hour PR. As the last hour arrived, I started doing the math based on my pace - if I stayed on track I should finish with just under 70 miles based on my watch (which I knew was longer than whatever the official race total was going to be). I finished what I had planned to be my second to last lap - there was not enough time to do 2 more at my current pace. I told myself if I got back to the line with around 12 minutes to spare I'd at least try for one more.

I arrived with somewhere around 12 minutes to spare, and told the people at the timing tent "one more, gotta at least try." I took off. I was able to run my last loop at ~7:15 pace and cross the line with a few minutes to spare before 12 hours was up. My watch said 71 miles - well over my "by-the-watch" 12 hour race PR of 68.7 miles. I had no idea what the official race distance was, or how I had placed. But I felt amazing about the effort.

Post-race

I slowly made my way back to my truck, as the post-race awards weren't for another 15 minutes. I began doing a bit of pack up/clean up just to get ahead of it. I chatted with a guy parked next to me who had reached 50 miles for the first time ever - it was a huge day for him and I love seeing people reach these milestones. I also took joy from seeing one of the other male competitors I had chatted with a bit do the last lap with his young child run alongside him. It made me think of my own son, and feel an unspoken bond of fatherhood with the runner.

I congratulated others around me, and then headed back towards the area where they would be doing awards.

I was not feeling great at this point. The worry and anxiety of perhaps throwing up or something like that during the awards portion made the whole thing a bit of a blur. I half-joked with others as I sat down that I was worried about doing so as I wasn't totally sure I'd get back up.

They handed out female awards first. I only really remember hearing that the second place female had 65 miles, which seemed incredibly competitive. The female runner I expected to win did indeed win, but I couldn't hear and/or didn't process whatever her total mileage was.

The male awards were next. Third place was called, and it wasn't me. The runner couldn't/wouldn't even get out of his car to come get his award. I could relate to the feeling. Second place was called and....it wasn't me! I now felt pretty confident I had won the male division, but still wasn't sure how far I went. My name was called as the first place male - with a total of 68.75 miles. I managed to make my way up for my award and to let them take a few photos. I considered that a major accomplishment given how bad I felt.

Later I would find out that the female winner had also gotten 68.75 miles - but that they had finished their last lap about 4 minutes ahead of me. I guess I had made up more ground than I thought. I would also find out that I had run an incredibly even race (at least for me) - 36.5 miles in the first 6 hours and 34.5 miles in the last 6. Unheard of for me in a distance this long.

I thanked the organizers (or I think/hope I did) and then stumbled my way back to my truck. I felt very not great at this point. I managed to get everything packed up in an orderly fashion, and didn't even have to ask for help getting the tent collapsed and stored. I chatted a bit more with the runner near me that crossed 50 miles on the day, and then decided it was time to make the trek home.

Did I mention I didn't feel great? Out of a paranoia of puking and/or shitting myself on the way home I laid out a towel on my seat, put multiple plastic bags in the passenger seat, and kept a travel toilet bag (puppy pad inside a plastic bag basically) on my lap. I rode the right lane as much as possible, so that if I did need to make some sort of emergency stop I wouldn't have to worry about getting through any traffic. I felt like death almost the entire ride home, but arrived back safely around 9PM.

I was able to shed my dirt running clothes before coming in the house, and even get the tape off my toes. My wife and son were still up, so I got to talk with them a bit. It was great to get to see them, and they were happy to hear about my performance. I took a shower, grabbed some water, and then headed to bed. There was food for me in the fridge - at this point I was feeling better but not well enough to eat. I knew that I would likely wake up in the night and be able to eat then. Which is exactly what happened - I slept in maybe 2 hour chunks, and after each one woke up to stumble out, get some food out of the fridge, eat at the counter, then go back to bed.

It was a good day.

Final words

It has been rare for me to have a race go this well. There are so many differing variables from the last time I ran an ultra, but a number of things keep kicking around in my mind as potential contributors to this success:

• Maybe 1.5 years of consistently getting in the gym and lifting (albeit skewed towards upper body) helped in some way.
• Maybe I have enough years under my legs that my maintenance volume is lower, and my focus on workouts was enough to keep me sharp.
• Maybe I have failed to sufficiently hydrate and maintain electrolytes in previous races. And maybe this was caused by effort levels being unrealistic.
• Not maybe, definitely, I have a habit of going out too hard and blowing up, and I avoided that trap this time.
• Maybe not running all the time/high mileage is a better norm for me.
• Maybe the up-to-race-week heat training including the hot tub paid off.
• Maybe not having the pressure of a big training build up helped ease self expectations.
• Maybe putting my ego aside and managing to focus on process vs. outcome worked wonders this time.
• Maybe managing effort based on heart rate is a must for me in longer races.

I'm 42 now. I may still be fast, but it's going to be increasingly rare that I'm the fastest. However, if I can race with a process-oriented mindset and have outcomes like this from time to time - that's still incredibly rewarding.