Big Scrub 150
When Joe announced the Big Scrub 150, I was more interested in crewing for people than running it myself. I had done the ACFL course and through running the FL trail over the years, there were only going to be five miles of trail I had never been on. BUT, when Kevin said he wanted to get buckle number one and we agreed to do it together, I was game!
Since Kevin wanted to get buckle number one and there was the possibility that several other people were going to be starting the first week of January, we decided to start at 12:01am – a perfect way to ring in the new year and get a head start ahead of the other people starting. It would also be a chance for me to redeem myself when it comes to night starts since I failed so hard at the BW135 night start.
Kevin recruited Kellie Jo (KJ) to serve as our crewperson and made a group chat for people who expressed interest in pacing and helping us out. Once we started, KJ was the point of contact for everyone and she coordinated it all amazingly.
I took the 31st off and began packing all of our things in totes – sweet food, savory food, meds, misc, electronics, clothing, etc. I wish I had taken a picture of everything because I was pretty proud of my packing. To prepare for the night start, I stayed up late on the 30th , I think I made it until 11:30pm before I crashed and then I slept in until 8ish. I napped for about three hours in the afternoon and then an hour and a half at 8pm. We would be leaving for the start at 10:30pm.
We did our final checks that we had everything and then headed out. We poured some flutes of champagne, counted down and headed out into the new year! First of all, it was COLD. As Floridians, 70 and under is typically considered sweater weather, so starting when it was 29 out was unheard of. A giant cold front had come in, so we wouldn’t see any actual warmth until Saturday. Thursday and Friday would be rough.
We started with a little bit of light jogging, but the risk of sweating too much and getting hypothermic had us walking instead. Not only were we trying to lessen sweating, we both have the issue of our muscles seizing up and bodies not working when it’s cold. I tend to heat up once I start moving and the second I stop I get unbearably cold. I was in a cycle of gloves on-gloves off and buff over my nose-buff around my neck. I also sweat a lot, so even just power hiking had me sweating and of course, underneath my vest. That adds to how cold I get when I stop.
Kevin and I walk at different paces and we knew that would also be one of our challenges for this event. He has much longer legs than I do, so we fell into a routine (that would last the entire time) of him walking in front until he was 15-30 feet in front of me and then I would jog to catch up.
Our first meetup with KJ was at mile 11. As we were coming up, we heard, “Let’s gooooo!” It was also Emily meeting us to give us encouragement and bring us some snacks. This was one of our quicker stops, teeth chattering as soon as I stopped, but we didn’t get in the car. We headed off into the night again and would see KJ and Emily at mile 19, which was Farles Lake. Still in pretty okay spirits, but of course, walking because running was a no go. Once we got to Farles, we were absolutely frigid as it was coming into the wee hours when it gets the coldest.
We probably spent about 40 minutes in the car trying to get warm. Despite all of our layers, we weren’t made for the cold. We headed out again knowing that at mile 28, Juniper Springs, we would be seeing our friend Judie who was going to make us a hot breakfast. We got into Juniper and were treated to an amazing spread. Of course, I had to get into the car again because I was shivering uncontrollably. Yet again, we heated up and then headed out!
The next section was the absolute worst of the entire journey. Joe, the RD for this, has a free race in this area. It starts at Pat’s Island, heads south to Juniper Springs, returns, heads north to Hopkins Prairie, and then back. I ran the 50k the first year it was held, but when I did my ACFL and the Two Prairies race, the sugar sand was not as bad. This time though? ROUGH. The sand shifted a lot under our feet and halfway through the Hopkins Prairie section we were wishing for death. Kevin stopped to dump sand from his shoe and my right knee was killing me. I couldn’t fathom doing another 100+ miles on this dang thing. Kevin gave me a massage and at the end made the motion of screwing my kneecap back on. I was then magically healed! No joke. My knee didn’t hurt once after he did that!
During that stretch, KJ met us and we had the only stop where we would be outside without shivering. I think it was in the 50s? Still cold, but we sat in the sun. The next stop with KJ was near Salt Springs at mile 48. Nicole and Jesse had stopped by to bring us chicken tendies and Nicole would be joining us until we got to Lake Delancey. The sun was still up, but going down and I went into another fit of shivering. Heat up and then head out again.
It was amazing to have Nicole with us! She told us all sorts of stories about her badassery and the miles went by so quickly! We were currently around 30+ hours of no sleep, and Kevin got a major case of the sleepies. I was somehow okay. She stayed with us until Lake Delancey. Our plan once we got there was to sleep 2 hours, push on to the turnaround at Rodman Dam, come back, and sleep 2-3 more hours. Of course, that didn’t happen. I am a lady with high sleep needs. So instead of two hours, we ended up there for 5 hours. I fell asleep fast. Kevin had some crazy night sweats and even ended up cooling himself down outside while I was conked out. We got up around 2am to head out.
The section to Rodman Dam was so cold. This was the second night of below freezing temperatures and we were struggling. We got to the dam and then got immediately into the car to warm up. This time was tougher we and opted to stay in the truck a little longer to let the worst of the cold pass and eat some hot noodles. I also fell asleep again.
We left before the sun came up – way, way, waaaaay behind our planned pace. On the way back to Lake Delancey were heard coyotes, saw some deer, and spoke with a few hunters. KJ had some oatmeal ready for us when we got there and Lucas had come out to pace us! It was great to have company again and we caught up with him on his post-surgery recovery. He still wasn’t back to running as normal, but he freaking rocked power hiking with us for 20 miles!
When we met KJ the next time, she was cooking up breakfast. She made English muffins, eggs, and sausages. I have never had a better English muffin in my entire life. We also shed our thermal layers because it was starting to feel nice out.
Once we were out on the trail, we got to the East-West split at mile 81. This is the start of the race The Itch, which goes 50k to the Baseline Trailhead. I had run the race back in 2021, so I knew that once we got to a certain point, things would get a bit tricky because there were so many intersecting forest roads that looked exactly like the wide, grassy trail. I got lost several times during that race.
Next our buddy Tyler showed up and he paced us for the next 10 miles. I was in my feels and Kevin was feeling great, so I hung back while the guys chatted. I listened to a couple podcasts and then eventually caught up to them when I was ready. When we met KJ next at 86, she, Lucas, and Tyler decided to have a rock throwing competition? It was hilarious that as Kevin and I were sitting in our chairs, they were chucking rocks trying to hit something. KJ was the only one that managed to hit the sign they were aiming for despite all of them being 10’ away from it.
Our next crew stop was Eaton Creek Trailhead at mile 92 and we would be met with chicken nuggets from McDonalds brought to us by Brandy and Bradley. After we ate our food, Tyler and Lucas headed out and Brandy geared up. We headed out into the sunset, where Brandy took one of my favorite photos from the trip. She and her husband are photographers (Inked Revenants), so they both have a keen eye and value their art. It soon got dark, so we headlamped up and went over what felt like a million boardwalks. Kevin would call out which was the weakest board, so we had a way to make sure we all stayed safe.
It got super dark and we got to the tricky section. We had to backtrack a few times, and then at one point I realized we had gotten super off course. We did a little bit of bushwhacking to find our way to the trail and were met about a quarter mile out by Bradley, who walked us all in to mile 97. Chris, Gregg, and Joe were there to give us a hand. Once again, I retreated to the car to warm up when the shivering started.
We got back out onto the trail and I was really feeling it. I was cranky, exhausted, and my feet hurt. The plan was to push on to Santos (mile 117), but I was not having it. We met up with KJ again 4 miles later (mile 101ish) to eat some more hot food and warm up. The next planned stop was mile 105 at the end of the road walk. I couldn’t fathom in my mind going another 12 miles after that before getting some sleep.
I, in my infinite wisdom, had not though about asking my brother if he would be willing to let us borrow or to bring us his motorhome to sleep in. Somehow, I had totally overlooked it despite sleeping in it on night one of my ACFL200 journey. Knowing that there was a possibility of a real bed, I had a bit more of a drive to keep going. It was almost 11pm and I knew my brother would still be awake, so I texted him and anxiously waited for his reply.
We got to the truck to warm up and I got the reply from my brother. He had staged his motorhome at his mother-in-law’s house for the holidays because they were having family over. If I really wanted him to, he would travel there and back and we could have the motorhome by about 2-3am. I did not want to inconvenience him, so I said it was okay and we would sleep in the truck.
But it was not okay. I ended up throwing the absolute worst tantrum that I have ever thrown during a race. I was crying, telling Kevin to go without me, shivering, I had kicky feet, and I was exhausted. He told me that if I quit, then he quit. Instead of pushing forward, we would get some sleep right then. Again, totally throwing a wrench in our pacing plan and where we wanted to be before sleeping, but it is what it is.
Next was the most glorious almost 7 hours of sleep. I really do require at least 6 hours a night when I’m doing multi-day events. Going without sleep is awful for me. At one point in the night, despite the heat in the truck being on, my teeth chattering woke KJ up. Or it could have been me getting out of the truck to go to the bathroom, but either way, she woke up not understanding what the sound was that she was hearing.
I woke up feeling like a new human. I was fully refreshed and ready to take on the last 45 miles! We ate some good good oatmeal and knew that we were just a couple miles from our home trails! I was so happy when we got to Marshall Swamp! And our first REAL bathroom of the journey! We started doing some running at this point. A few minutes here and there felt great. It was actually getting warm and I was on one of my very favorite sections of the trail.
I’ve run so many miles through this section; I live about 3 miles from there and I thought I would have an urge to go home, but my brain was fully locked in to completing the event. We met Susan at the Baseline Trailhead (mile 112) where Kevin asked if she would pace us all the way to Pruitt and she said yes! Pruitt was another 28 miles away, but she stuck with us for the whole time!
While we were on that section, KJ went to my house to get a shower, cuddle the cats, throw a load of laundry into the washer, and get us a couple of mochas since we had finally returned to civilization. After we left, she went back and dried the clothes and picked us up from subs from Publix. Again, I cannot express how absolutely incredible this woman is and how well she treated us. I do not have enough words in my vocabulary to express my thanks.
When we got to Santos (mile 117), we were met by Ron and Verity. Verity would be pacing us for the next section, but by the time we got to the Landbridge Trailhead (mile 124), we had talked her into going another few miles to 49 th Ave. My body had decided to start rebelling in this section and I had to stop several times to use the facili-trees. I texted KJ to ask if she could pick me up some immodium. I’d used it once before at the Torchy’s Taco Run (43mi) a few weeks before, and I figured it couldn’t hurt. It did the trick and I’m going to make sure I have it on hand in the future!
After 49th , our next stop was the SR-200 crossing at mile 133. We also maybe saw a bear during that section? We heard a huge crash and Kevin pointed out a black spot super far away. So it may have been a bear?
We came through the woods at 200 to see Chris and Laura with pizza!! We sat in our chairs, me with a blanket over me because I needed my fuzzy kitten blanket every time I sat down. We ate pizza and then went out once again. This would be one of the hardest sections with all of the Florida “hills.” We knew the rain would be coming in and the forecast said it would be starting right when we got to the Pruitt Trailhead. Unfortunately, that was not the case at all.
I think 2.5ish miles from the trailhead, it started to POUR. Just horrible dumping rain right on top of us soaking us to the bone and flooding the trail. When we finally got to the trailhead, we jumped into the truck and stripped off all of our clothes. We waited for the rain to stop and then put on wonderfully dry clothes! We had less than 10 miles left and Tyler had arrived to pace us into the finish!
The next three miles were another road walk section on Hwy 484. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy and since it was dark we could see cars coming from a long way away. We got to the next crew point at 143ish before going into a small bit of trail and then onto the paved path of the Withlacoochee trail. Joe and Stacey were there and Joe told us were 5ish miles of the finish. Knowing that my watch said 143ish, I didn’t believe him AT ALL and was very rude to him. I told him that he was unkind to lie to us.
During those last few miles, I sat on several benches; my dogs were BARKING. When we crossed the Ocklawaha River, we saw a gator! I had planned a crew stop at mile 146ish and Joe had parked there to walk up to us to chat, and I apologized profusely for being a butthead and not believing him. Now that we were about a mile from the finish, I was so ready to be done. Tyler and Kevin tried to get me to run, but my calves were not having it. He peeled off when we had about a 10th of a mile to go and we jogged it in for form’s sake.
My friend Stephanie, who lives close to the trailhead met us out there despite it being 1am! Stephanie, Jacqueline, Stacey, KJ, Tyler, and Joe welcomed us into the finish. He presented us with our buckles and we headed home to get some much-needed sleep.
I feel reinvigorated for my 2026 races and I’m so glad we started the year off with a bang!!
