Just Survive: 125 Miles in Two Days on Ocean to Lake

With my Florida Trail FKT attempt just over one month away now, I knew these last couple weeks would be peak training. 

In November I had signed up for a low key race called “Just Survive 125” which takes place on possibly one of my favorite segments of the Florida Trail: the 62 mile ocean to lake trail. Starting at Hobe Sound Beach in south Florida and taking the trail all the way to Lake Okeechobee, then turning around and coming back to the beach for a total of 125 miles. 

The concept of the race is simple. There are no aid stations, no crew allowed, no pacers allowed and no gps navigation allowed. It is fully self supported with four “drop buckets” (5 gallon Home Depot buckets you can fill with anything you want/need) located exactly 15 miles apart each. All you have to do is survive out there following the orange blaze. You are given 48 hours to complete the 125 miles. You’re completely on your own, minus any company you may choose to have with the other runners signed up. 

Historically I would say this is THE most challenging foot race in Florida with the lowest finisher rate. 25 or so people start every year and fewer than five or ten typically finish. It’s tough, it’s gritty, the trail can be gnarly and all while relying on what you pack yourself. Not to mention the trail conditions, the elements, all of it is meant to challenge you and test both your body and mind. 

Having gone on this trail from the lake to ocean as a point to point twice now, I know what the trail entails and am familiar enough to feel confident in doing this. I also am well experienced with following orange blaze not to get lost. 

I signed up back in November thinking it would be a perfect training for the Florida trail. My plan was to execute it at my Florida trail FKT pace. I even had planned to sleep at the halfway point (Lake Okeechobee) using almost all the space in my bucket for a tent and sleeping bag to pull it off. Then wake up as if I was doing the florida trail, and do another 62 miles. 

I had an unconventional race plan. However, it was perfect for me and for what I’m training. I had to go into this looking at the bigger picture, putting my ego aside and sticking purely to my own strategy.

Here was the plan: power hike most of the first 62 miles, sleep for 4-5 hours at the lake, get up and do another 62 back. My pace goal was to power hike 15 ish minute miles (some light jogging mixed in when going through the slow / wet sections ) and spend no more than 15 minutes at each bucket stop. My goal was to make it to the lake around 16 hours and have a similar if not identical split for coming back to the beach. 

I executed this race and my goals almost perfectly. Here’s how it went: 

16 hours 7 minutes to get to Lake Okeechobee. Most of the day was full sun exposure and pretty warm. I wore a UPF sun hoodie to protect my skin and had a face sun stick on my backpack. My legs got a lot of sun but they could handle it. 

The race started at 6:30 am. It was dark for about the first 20 minutes. I started in the back with only 5 people behind me, 20 or so in front of me. While most people took off too fast, I stayed focused on my turtle pace and staying consistent. Power hiking about 15 minute miles. By mile 35 I had caught up and passed everyone in the race except for 4 people in front of me. I was going the same pace the entire time. 

The most challenging segment of this race is between miles 32 and 47 ( then mile 77 to 93 on the way back) This segment is in JW Corbett wildlife management area. What makes it challenging is that it stays wet for most of the year. Even when it’s dry, it can still be thick mud. Two weeks before the race they had a couple major rain storms which basically filled it up with water and churning the mud up in other areas. There are also many turns and random offshoots leading you off the trail where you could easily get lost. Paying attention to the blaze is critical here. 

This segment SUCKED each time and was a time suck, however I pushed through. My pace varied from 16 to 22 minute miles in the wet sections. On day one I finished the last 2 miles of this in the dark (thankfully did most of it in daylight) Then on day 2 thankfully went through there in the beautiful morning hours. This section is challenging but it is the most beautiful in my opinion. You go through some cypress swamps with air plants that are unique to south Florida. It is truly outstanding. 

The last three miles to get to the lake are on hard packed dirt road. If you have the energy left in your legs it’s easy running or power walking. I was excited to get to my sleep spot since it was around 10:30pm. When I got there I quickly grabbed my personal items , sleeping bag and tent out of my bucket then hiked up closer to the lake. It was 47 degrees and windy, but my sleeping bag kept me toasty. I cleaned my feet , put on dry socks and new clothes for the next day, then passed out. I set my alarm for 4 am. I got a little over 5 hours of sleep. 

When I woke up I quickly ate some more, took vitamins and packed everything up to get out of there. I left at 4:30 am (the cutoff there was 5:30 am) I had asked the volunteers there if anyone else was left. They told me I was dead last and the last person left an hour and a half ago. 

I thought to myself “Sweet! Let’s get in the groove and get moving.” I jogged those 3 miles on dirt road back into the trail, then focused on power hiking. My legs were definitely stiff from the day before, but nothing was hurting other than just general tiredness. It was dark for 2 hours so I just focused on staying on the trail and not getting lost. 

After about 3 hours 20 minutes I had caught up to the person who left an hour and a half before me. It was my friend Jacob and he was in pretty rough shape, death marching and said he had thoughts of quitting because his quad was so tight that he couldn’t jog. I told him to not give up and just keep pushing (Spoiler alert - HE FINISHED!!)

I got to the first bucket drop in 3:35. I felt good and consistent! I got in and out of there quickly, knowing that Corbett was up next and would slow me down a lot , and also suck. I pushed through there and made it. That swamp water in the morning after a 47 degree night was COLD!

I kept going about my day with almost identical pace and splits to the day before. I slowly passed 11 people throughout the day, cheering them on and trying to be encouraging so that they would not quit. 

Everything felt fine up until those last 20 miles, where my power hiking pace started to slip into the 17 minute mile range. My jog pace had fallen into the 11-12 minute range. At this point I did not care because I knew I just needed to focus to finish and move, however I was getting pretty beat down physically. 

Once I got to those last ten minute miles I was on the struggle bus but still moving okay. I knew the split between day one and two would be off slightly but still something to be proud of.

I made it to the beach in 16:43 which is just 36 minutes slower than the first half from the day before, which I am still happy with considering how challenging this trail is.

All of the pain both mental and physical are challenges I will be both dealing with and having to push through on the Florida Trail. This gave me a small taste of what life is going to be like for 20 days straight and boy did I need that. 

I think what made this race so successful for me were a few factors. One, my training for the Florida Trail and specifically training to power hike for extremely long distances. And two, looking at the race as two back to back 100k’s rather than the 125 mile total. It seemed more digestible to me and getting to sleep in the middle was a game changer. It also very much is replicating what I will be doing on the Florida trail for 20 days straight (5 hours of sleep if I’m lucky!)

I am so happy  and proud of how I executed this training run. It gave me a confidence boost and also is just a testament to the training I have been putting in. I could not be more excited to continue training the next couple weeks now that I know what I need to work on, what I need to strengthen and prepare for. 

This highlighted some of my weak areas for me personally but really showed how well I can push mentally. This trail takes a lot of grit. You have wet feet almost the entire time and have to learn how to manage that. It gave me a taste of almost all the types of terrain I will experience on the Florida Trail: clumpy tall grass, road beds, sugar sand, swamp, mud, pavement. Almost all of it! 

What an adventure it was to experience this with friends! This year had the most finishers and the most women finishers which is incredible given the difficulty! I know it will not be my last time on this trail. I cannot wait to come back again! 

Tidbits : here’s what I ate out of my buckets for the 38 hours … 

5 bananas 

2 oranges

3 apples

3 avocados

10 apple sauce pouches

5 tortillas

1.5 pounds of baby potatoes

3 microwave barley/lentil pouches

8 fig bar packages

1.5 pounds of dates 

4 single serve packs of peanut butter

3 gomacro bars

2 peanut butter protein bars (home made)

1,000 calorie bag of coconut oil cookies

350 cal vegan Blondie

3 cans lentil soup

2 cans split pea soup

1 can black bean soup

1 can carrot ginger soup

6 cartons chocolate soymilk (8 oz each) 

5 cartons vanilla soymilk (8 oz each)

6 ginger chew candies 

I think that’s it ? I have no idea the total calorie intake or how much per hour, I just tried to eat constantly and cram as much in as I could. Tried being intuitive and stay ahead of it!