The Savage Seven Racing Series is a 7 day long event with the following races held each day: Half-Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra 50K. The races are held at the 5 … MORE
The Savage Seven Racing Series is a 7 day long event with the following races held each day: Half-Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra 50K. The races are held at the 5 mile loop at the Greenway Park Trails in Ocala, FL during the week between Christmas and New Years. The course is USATF-Certified with 5 laps around this loop being a marathon distance, and 6 laps being the 50K (approximately 31 miles) distance. It is actually rather peaceful as you spend the whole time running through the park amongst Florida greenery and palm trees (most of the course is shaded too!).
While vacationing in Florida with family, I decided to run the full marathon for fun on Friday, December 28 but had the last second thought of switching over to the 50K option. I sent a note to the race director JC Santa Teresa asking if possible to switch over and he immediately responded no problem at all…I would just have to pay the monetary difference. Right then I made the call to attempt my first ultra race.
The race start time for each day was 6 a.m., so it was still quite dark at 5:30 a.m. when I arrived at the park where the trail was located. I was glad I had brought my headlight (which I almost debated on leaving at home). A small gathering of runners was already present by the picnic area we were to meet at. As I walked up to get my racing bib I was immediately greeted by race director JC Santa Teresa. He was super friendly and got me transitioned over to the 50K race. There was no swag aside from a small t-shirt (they had run out of other sizes), but if you are running this series it is not about swag…but running!
Roughly 20-30 people attended the days’ racing series when I was there…mostly a small group of marathon and running veterans…many whom are part of Marathon Maniacs like myself.
The course was open to the public (as it is a public park trail) during the race, so there were other individuals out there walking or running on the trail. However us participating in the race series were the ones wearing racing bibs!
Both aid areas were manned by awesome volunteers. At the halfway station, the gentlemen labeled our plastic cups with our bib number so we could keep reusing it if we wanted to help out the environment (awesome). The aid area at the start / finish seemed to have new food options each time we passed…bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot egg breakfast biscuits, just to name a few.
Upon finishing, I was immediately congratulated by JC who gave me a really nice finishers medal and said “this medal is for bad a**es”. He also took a photo of me with the medal and one with my family. To top it off, he also gave me a helping of a type of chicken soup from his family’s own recipe (so good!).
I cannot say enough about how nice the organizers and runners of this race were. Everyone was so encouraging, friendly, and committed to seeing everyone finish no matter what their distance or goal that day. I’m really glad that this was my first-ever ultra race experience.
Perfect Small Race for My First Ultra
The Savage Seven Racing Series is a 7 day long event with the following races held each day: Half-Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra 50K. The races are held at the 5 … MORE
The Savage Seven Racing Series is a 7 day long event with the following races held each day: Half-Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra 50K. The races are held at the 5 mile loop at the Greenway Park Trails in Ocala, FL during the week between Christmas and New Years. The course is USATF-Certified with 5 laps around this loop being a marathon distance, and 6 laps being the 50K (approximately 31 miles) distance. It is actually rather peaceful as you spend the whole time running through the park amongst Florida greenery and palm trees (most of the course is shaded too!).
While vacationing in Florida with family, I decided to run the full marathon for fun on Friday, December 28 but had the last second thought of switching over to the 50K option. I sent a note to the race director JC Santa Teresa asking if possible to switch over and he immediately responded no problem at all…I would just have to pay the monetary difference. Right then I made the call to attempt my first ultra race.
The race start time for each day was 6 a.m., so it was still quite dark at 5:30 a.m. when I arrived at the park where the trail was located. I was glad I had brought my headlight (which I almost debated on leaving at home). A small gathering of runners was already present by the picnic area we were to meet at. As I walked up to get my racing bib I was immediately greeted by race director JC Santa Teresa. He was super friendly and got me transitioned over to the 50K race. There was no swag aside from a small t-shirt (they had run out of other sizes), but if you are running this series it is not about swag…but running!
Roughly 20-30 people attended the days’ racing series when I was there…mostly a small group of marathon and running veterans…many whom are part of Marathon Maniacs like myself.
The course was open to the public (as it is a public park trail) during the race, so there were other individuals out there walking or running on the trail. However us participating in the race series were the ones wearing racing bibs!
Both aid areas were manned by awesome volunteers. At the halfway station, the gentlemen labeled our plastic cups with our bib number so we could keep reusing it if we wanted to help out the environment (awesome). The aid area at the start / finish seemed to have new food options each time we passed…bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot egg breakfast biscuits, just to name a few.
Upon finishing, I was immediately congratulated by JC who gave me a really nice finishers medal and said “this medal is for bad a**es”. He also took a photo of me with the medal and one with my family. To top it off, he also gave me a helping of a type of chicken soup from his family’s own recipe (so good!).
I cannot say enough about how nice the organizers and runners of this race were. Everyone was so encouraging, friendly, and committed to seeing everyone finish no matter what their distance or goal that day. I’m really glad that this was my first-ever ultra race experience.