In just under six hours, Aubrie Meadows won the DeClue Loop Trail 50K race, running more than 33 miles through Greensfelder County Park in Wildwood on Oct. 11.
Meadows, 39, of High Ridge, placed first of 14 participants in the ultramarathon, finishing with a time of 5:44:43. Heather Kohlmiller, 44, of St. Louis, placed second with a time of 6:03:11 and Adam Sohl, 32, of Florissant, placed third with a time of 6:21:27.
Meadows said she ran the race last year for the first time, placing second in the women’s category and fourth overall with a time of six hours and 45 minutes.
“I knew I wanted to race again this year simply to beat my time,” she said. “The race is awesome (and) the trail is beautiful.
“The changing leaves and cooler temps made for an awesome run. It is four loops, run counterclockwise. The loop is 8.2 miles, so running four loops comes to a little over 33 miles.”
Meadows’ father, Mike Baker, took her to the race and cheered her on. Her bib number was 1,000, which she considered good luck.
Meadows’ twin sister, Allie Oban, is an endurance runner who helped train her for the race from her home in Wyoming.
While Meadows said she ran track as a student at Northwest High School, her passion for running “fizzled out quickly” when she went to college and started a family.
However, Meadows said her twin sister inspired her to try ultramarathons, pushing herself to her limits.
In August, Meadows helped pace Oban, who was competing in the Bigfoot 200-mile race in Mount St. Helens, Wash., for 69 miles. She said pacing her sister gave her the confidence to run the physically demanding DeClue Loop Trail race on her own.
“I wouldn’t be doing any of this without (Oban) pushing me,” Meadows said. “She showed me the trail running community, and I fell in love with how awesome trail runners are and how they all support each other.
“I will say the trail running community, while it can be competitive, is more about seeing what we can do and how far we can go. It’s pretty amazing what our bodies are capable of.”
Meadows said she and Oban will be racing together in January at the Shippey Endurance Runs and Relays event at the Beaumont Scout Reservation in High Ridge, with Oban running the 100-mile race and Meadows running the 100K.
Strategy
To maintain her energy and pace for nearly six hours on the DeClue Loop Trail, Meadows and Oban developed a meticulous plan to fuel up at strategic times.
Meadows said she drank a nutritional drink called Tailwind that provided calories and carbohydrates at the beginning of the race, refilling her water bottle with the powder mix at certain water stations. She tried to avoid the main water station on the trail, instead opting for the smaller ones further along, knowing the main station would draw more runners and take more time out of her run.
“Heading out on the fourth loop, I stopped at the three-mile aid station one last time and then raced to the end,” Meadows said. “I also shoved a Honey Stinger Stroopwafel down on each loop.
“I knew that to keep pushing myself to the max I had to have my fueling down pat. I was actually very proud of my fueling and this plan. My stops at the aid stations were never over 1 1/2 minutes. This plan really helped me focus and keep my mind off the pain: I just had to get to the next aid station.”
Meadows said she would recommend this race to other runners.
“They have multiple race distances, like one loop, two loops, a marathon and the four-loop 50K,” she said. “The course is technical for sure, meaning footing is a big deal to avoid falls. This is pretty challenging, especially doing four of them, (but) Greensfelder Park is gorgeous with rolling hills and beautiful trees.”
Off the trail
Meadows said she has worked as a nurse for 16 years. Currently, she works in hospice care, which she said is “my true calling.”
“Helping our dying population in the community is a special thing,” she said. “I feel honored every day to be a small part of my patients’ final journeys.”
Meadows and her husband, Justin, have two children, Owen, 11, and Millie, 8.
“My husband is my biggest support,” she said. “He lets me be crazy and follow all my passions without any grief. (Owen and Millie) are currently very busy with school activities and taekwondo at the (High Ridge Civic Center).
“With all the hustle and bustle of life, I think running keeps me grounded. It’s hard to find the time to get my mileage in sometimes, but my family support has never wavered.”