January
27
I am 49 years old today. It is a
great day to run in the woods and feel like I am young again. The only problem is that it is raining lightly
right now. It is supposed to stop soon,
but then start again sometime this afternoon.
When I left my house, the temperature was 53 degrees, so I decided I
only would need a short-sleeve shirt. As
I drove up to Monte Sano, the temperature was lower. I am sitting in my truck looking at 46
degrees. That is a bit cool for only a
short-sleeve shirt, but it is supposed to warm into the lower 50s. Hopefully, I won’t be too cold before that
happens.
Mile
6.7 1:10:54 (10:35 avg./mile)
O’Shaughnessy Point
For
the past month, I have been having nose bleeds every two days. My last one was two days ago, so right on
schedule, 15 minutes into the race, my nose starts dripping blood. Fortunately, I am prepared with a Kleenex all ready
to be stuffed into a stopper. I do have
to stop running, dig it out of my Camelbak, and jam it in. During this time, 25 runners pass me, and I
have lost about 5 minutes. However, I am
then able to run okay, and I meet up with Lanier, who I met at Hellgate last
month. When I get to this aid station, I
throw away the nose plug, and everything with my nose seems fine. I grab some potato chips to eat at this aid station
before continuing.
Mile
11.9 1:02:37 (12:02 avg./mile) Aid
Station #2
I
am setting a comfortable pace at this point and am not worrying about my overall
time—which is good. My energy level is
very good. The only concern is that my
lower legs have tired quickly, probably from the hard skating hockey game 5
days ago. I don’t think it will be an
issue though as other parts will begin to hurt more soon enough. I don’t get much to eat here.
Mile
17.3 1:10:45 (13:36 avg./mile) Fearn
Road
This
aid station marks the halfway mark for the race—not in distance but in effort
and typical times. The race time is
3:24, which is slower than I wanted at this point. My other finish at this race was 6:52, so if
I can run even splits (first and second halves) then I should beat that
time. My daughter, Amy, has driven up to
this aid station to meet me with some chocolate milk. I drink the majority of the pint before
thanking her and continuing the race.
Mile
21.0 51:51 (13:18 avg./mile) Old
Railroad Bed
I am making steady progress and trying to maintain a
good pace through the land trust section of the course. I am getting passed by a runner every so
often so it feels like I am slowing down, but I know that I want to save myself
for the last two sections. This part is
very rocky and technical, and I just want to get through it without twisting my
ankle. I grab some PB&J sandwich
quarters and some potato chips at this aid station.
Mile
25.1 1:08:57 (16:49 avg./mile) Hiker’s
Parking Lot
This
section is the most technical section in the race and ends with the climb up
the waterline trail. As I am climbing up
the waterfalls on the waterline trail, I pass a handful of runners. It is almost time to start the finishing
kick, and I am warming to the task. When
I get to the aid station, Travis Satterfield is here, waiting on his wife to
come through. Travis plays drums in our
church’s band, and it is great to see him.
He lies and says that I look great.
I stuff a couple of handfuls of potato chips into my mouth and wash it
down with a cup of Coke. Let’s see what
kind of kick I can deliver today!
Mile
29.5 1:06:03 (15:01 avg./mile) High
Bluff
I
leave the hiker’s parking lot and for the first mile, just maintain the pace I
had been keeping. But then, as I know a
technical downhill is coming up, I pick up the pace. I pass a few people before the downhill
section begins, and then pass a few more as we pick our way down, past the
natural well. When the trail bottoms
out, I feel good, and continue to push the pace, passing several more runners
before the last climb of the race begins.
On the climb, I am working hard, and manage to get around 4-5 more
runners. At the top of this climb is
this aid station. I grab another cup of
Coke, and then start final section.
Mile
31.1 14:19 (8:57 avg./mile) FINISH –
Lodge
My
legs are starting to tire, but there are runners ahead of me who are clearly
more tired than me. I pass two runners,
and then two more. Then I see Lanier up
ahead of me, and I pass him and another runner.
Lanier comments that I passed him on the last section at Hellgate as
well. After that, I spy Susan Donnelly
in front of me. She had passed me about
7 miles ago, but I quickly close the gap on her. I pass her and another runner before finally
crossing the finish line.
Official
Finishing Time 6:45:26
134th
out of 343 starters
A misty rain
starts right as I am coming into the finish.
I talk with Lanier and Susan and a couple of other runners in the lodge
after the race. I consider waiting for
Travis to get here, but then decide I am getting cold so I will get in my truck
and drive home. As I am leaving the
lodge, I bump into Caitlin Milford. She
is one of Amy’s former roommates, who I was able to hold off and finish ahead
of last year at Mt. Cheaha. This time,
she finished over 25 minutes ahead of me, and I never saw her. Although Amy did tell me at mile 17 that she
was about 15 minutes ahead of me.
Clearly, she had a great race today.
Maybe I can keep up with her again at Cheaha this year. The Cheaha 50k will be my next race on
February 24.
Never stop
running,
Darin
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