The race has qualifying standards and a lengthy qualifying process. It's billed as "For Mountain Goats Only." I'm not a mountain goat, but at least I try to train like one and get on the toughest terrain I can find. I knew there were some sections that were literally climbing to get through the rocks. I feared this course a lot because I knew I'd be slow in stuff like that.
I didn't get much sleep. It was pouring when I grabbed breakfast and left for the race. I was glad it was warm. The clouds parted, at least until I was finished. I met a bunch of fellow Trail WhippAss folks at the start and rode the bus over with Joe.
The race now goes off in wave starts. That allowed me some time to prepare and also watch some of the front runners. It turns out that the slowest predicted times were put in the middle, so that they could finish around the same time as some faster people. In order to get in in the future, you have to break 6 hours. That was my prediction and only goal, not knowing the course.I ran with a hydration vest because I was unsure. With climbing, I didn't want a handheld. The vest was nice, but then I had to wear a singlet and it was soaked a few hours in. That said, I never did overheat.
The trail starts off with some beautiful singletrack through evergreens. I hiked up to the top of Windham Peak yesterday and was surprised at how relatively runnable it was. It was a long and gradual climb. There were some steeper and technical parts, including some roots, but most of it wasn't too bad.
That said, this stretch was a big early mental challenge. I had to mix in running and hiking. Doing several miles seemed like it took forever. I couldn't wait for the top.
I had passed Kat (a friend who I started with) and another woman early on. Our group got split up into 2 packs I guess. I was sort of leading the second pack. I think the one guy did eventually pass me.
I wasn't doing bad when I got to Windham, but I did feel like I could be doing better. I looked forward to some downhill. What caught me off guard in the early going was some of the short, but steep climbs. They took their toll and my legs didn't feel great.I knew I had to stay focused and take it either each aid station at a time or each climb. The trail is remote and the aid stations had to hike everything in. They were great!
I was mixing running and hiking already at mile 7. That was frustrating. I expected some struggles, but I figured that that would be later in the race. I just wanted to get to the aid station at the bottom of Blackhead.
I finally did that and took a lot of time there. I refilled my Tailwind, but it took so long. Somehow, I need to find a better system.
I knew Blackhead would be the worst climb of the day. It is 1100 feet of gain in less than a mile. The beginning didn't seem too bad as I hiked up. It did go up and up and up. The toughest part was near the top. It was straight up climbing and a lot of work. To make it worse, it seemed like I'd go up a lot it was only about 50 feet or so.
That said, as tough as this climb was, it was still over quick and I was about halfway done. I was somewhere near 3 hours at that point and on pace for a sub 6 hour run. I had heard that this run was slightly faster in the second half.
Going down Blackhead was just as tough as up. First, my foot cramped. Then, my calf. Those muscles were overextended, so I was more careful the rest of the way. Going down, I often just slid on my butt from there on out.The cramping potential made me cautious and so did my shoes. With all the rain overnight, the rocks were wet. I slipped a couple times while hiking, so I couldn't run downhill like I'm used to. I'm also used to Tammany, which is a wide trail. Therefore, it has many options, so I don't have to take a direct line down. Here, it is a singletrack, so you have no choice.
As I headed toward the next aid station, I decided to take a gel. I wasn't doing too bad before that, but not great either. This gave me a huge boost and I started running pretty strong. I ran and chatted with a road runner for a bit, as we headed to the next aid station.
After the aid station, I now knew we were on to the final climb, to Stoppel Point. This was another gradual climb. I finally felt my climbing fitness kick in. I passed a bunch of people going uphill. When it got flat, part way through, I used the energy from the gel to run by some people.
I was thrilled when I finally got to the top. There's a cool plane that crashed in the woods there. I took a couple photos. There was a lot of fog today too and that made for some great photos as well.
After the plane, I still ran often, but did have to hike a bit too. Going downhill slowed me and some of the people that I passed earlier had now passed me back. I figured I'd still have enough time to get under 6 hours.
Then I was concerned. We got to the last aid station and I asked another runner if we were going to make the cutoff. We had about 2.5 miles and 50 minutes to go. I don't think he had a watch, because he said it was going to be tough and some of the worst miles ever.
The good thing is this scared the crap out of me. I ran super hard on this flat section. For awhile, the trail wasn't bad. It was flat and runnable and then it would go down some shitty rocks and then become flat and runnable, then more shitty rocks.
There was a half mile section in there that was just brutal and I was merely hiking. After we came to a photographer, there was a lot more runnable trail to the end. I ran a lot, but still got passed. I chatted with a woman from the Philadelphia area.
I opened it up and cruised into the finish. I was thrilled to do so with over 16 minutes to spare. I was beat, but happy with my run. It was a tough race for sure. I was surprised at how much runnable trail it had in between all the shit. At least I can come back in the future.
I do have to figure something out with my foot. It was killing me after I finished. Now, it is good, but it was sore on the ride home. Maybe I'll try running again tomorrow anyway. I doubt I'll run much this week with On the Rocks 45K coming up on Saturday.
18.6 miles - 5:43:09 (18:25 pace) 5119 feet of elevation gain
178th of 219 finishers
No comments:
Post a Comment