December 11
It is the second Saturday in December so for the 19th year
in a row, I find myself at the start line of the Hellgate 100k in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of Virginia alongside of 141 other runners on this seasonably
warm night. My crew for this year’s race
is Andrew, who is a fellow co-worker. He
has not crewed for me before, but he says he can make a good grilled cheese sandwich,
so he qualifies. We flew up yesterday
morning from Huntsville, Alabama to Roanoke, Virginia. It was a great flight with 30+ knot
tailwinds, although we were in the clouds most of the time.
Like most years, the focus is on the weather. Usually, the question is how cold is it going
to be and will there be any frozen precipitation. This year, it is warm with a couple of
chances of rain during the race. So, the
questions are: how warm will it get? (It
is forecasted to rise up to 70 degrees.)
And, how much rain will we have to deal with?
The temperature at the start is in the mid-40s, and I am wearing
shorts, a long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts, and a buff. I feel good and ready and hope I have enough
fitness to finish under 17 hours, which would be a Western States qualifier.
Mile
3.5 46:50 (13:23 avg./mile) FSR 35
It
feels like I ran this section well, but my time is my slowest ever. That being said, I am only a minute behind my
targeted pace for this section. The
course is pretty dry as I guess it is true that Virginia is behind on
rain. For only the second time ever, I
manage to rock hop across the stream around mile 3. Two things have to be true to even attempt
this—the water level must be low, and it cannot be below freezing as that would
make the rocks ice covered.
Mile
7.5 58:05 (14:31 avg./mile) Petites
Gap
Since
I have a couple of minutes to make up, I run about a third of this section. It is all uphill, but the gravel road is
smooth. I talk with Sheryl Mawn on this
section about our goal times for this year.
She isn’t sure she is ready to run the downhill sections with the
abandon it would take to go below 16.5 hours.
I disagree, but I don’t know if I can run downhill fast enough anymore
to qualify as “running downhill with abandon.”
At some point, Scott Lee passes me.
He and I ran together for several miles at Burning River in July. Scott completed the Grand Slam of 100-milers
this year and even ran Wasatch Crest and Grindstone on back-to-back
weekends! At the aid station, I drink
some chocolate milk and take a bagel with me to eat on the run. I am now right on my targeted pace for a
17-hour finish.
Mile
13.1 1:39:17 (17:44 avg./mile) Camping
Gap
Starting
down the first part of this section, I roll my chronic right ankle. I rolled it three weeks ago, so the pain isn’t
as intense as it was then given the proximity to the last event. I survive the rest of the rocky downhill
trail, traverse nicely through the rolling trail with a couple of small stream
crossing, which have virtually no water in them this year, and then begin the
3-mile climb up the jeep trail to the aid station. There were a few sprinkles of rain on this
section, but right now on this climb, the temperature is the most interesting
aspect. It has been in the mid-40s so
far, now it is alternating between warm and cool. I estimate it is a 15-degree swing with each
pocket of air that gets blown to us.
After several minutes of this, the temperature settles on the warm side
around 60 degrees. It is much warmer
than I would like, and I stay conservative for the rest of the climb to ensure
I don’t get too hot. However, when we
round the corner to the aid station, the wind is howling, and I take a small
cup of broth when it is offered to me. I
grab a couple of sandwich quarters and some potato chips. This section was slower than I wanted so I am
now four minutes behind my targeted pace.
Mile 21.9 2:31:22 (17:12 avg./mile) Headforemost Mountain
The first two-thirds of this section brought on another weather phenomenon that I had not experienced to this extreme—unbelievably dense fog! It is a struggle just to see my feet; there is no hope of seeing a few feet in front of them. This part of the trail is a rolling old grassy road. The downhill parts are usually when I can open up a good stride. That is not the case this year. I am just trying to stay on the mountain by not wandering off the side of the trail. Sheryl Mawn is again around me on this section along with Chelsie Viar (going for her 11th finish) and Amy Gordon from Arizona. Very fortunately for us, the fog clears just before we enter the Apple Orchard section that leads down to Overstreet Falls. I run this section really hard with Sheryl close behind. I tweak my right ankle at one point, but otherwise do really well getting down to Overstreet Falls and begin the short final climb up to Headforemost. I lose another minute, and I am disappointed as I thought I could really gain some ground on this section. The fog had other plans for me, though, and I will have to be content with getting to this point at 5:55am. Despite the fact that Sheryl has run this race seven times already, she asks me how I think we are doing. My reply is that given the fog, I think we are in great shape, and I am ready to run hard downhill for the next several miles, if the fog stays away.
Mile
27.6 1:38:59 (17:22 avg./mile) Jennings
CreekLeaving Jennings Creek
I
rarely feel like running hard on this section at first. The last section is the longest on the
course, and I need some time to relax.
But, I need to make up a little time, so down the hill I run. As I pound down the hill, my left shin starts
to talk to me. What is this? It takes me a minute, but then I recall that
this was hurting me after the Indiana Trail 100 in October. Hopefully, it doesn’t get to really
hurting! I make good time and manage to successfully
negotiate the one part of rocky technical trail on this section. During the last mile, I pass Bruce Tweedie
and Lanier Greenhaw. I stride into the
aid station in great shape having made up a couple minutes towards my targeted
pace. Andrew has also survived the night
driving around in the dense fog. At one
point, he says he had to just pull over for a couple of hours as he couldn’t
see the road in front of him.
Regardless, he is ready for me with a perfectly made grilled egg, bacon,
and cheese sandwich. I munch on that
while I change my shoes and socks. I
drink some chocolate milk and CR01 before heading up the next climb.
Mile
34.5 1:49:19 (15:51 avg./mile) Little
Cove Mountain
Leaving
Jennings Creek, I pass Kim Weatherford and Alissa Keith on the climb. On the downhill section, I catch up to Lanier
and Sheryl again—I think both of them passed me in the aid station when I was
changing my shoes. We stay mostly
together as we make our way to this aid station where crews are no longer
allowed to go. Just as I arrive at the
aid station, Martha Wright sneaks past me.
Martha is 60 this year and is trying to break the female record for 60+
set by Janice Heltibridle in 2018 at 17:06.
I grab a few French toast sticks made by Rossie at this aid station and
top off my Camelbak to ensure I have enough water to get to the next aid
station. The temperature has climbed
into the mid to high 60s, but it is nice and breezy. I gained almost six minutes on my targeted
pace and am now a little over a minute ahead of my 17-hour pace!
Mile
42.5 2:20:00 (17:30 avg./mile)
Bearwallow Gap
I
run with Martha briefly on this section (long enough to find out she has three
grandchildren) before she runs away from me.
Sheryl runs away with her as well, but I keep both of them in sight for
a couple of miles. Although it feels
like I am giving back time, in the end, I do decently well on this section. Bruce Tweedie catches up to me, and we run
the last few miles together into the aid station. The leaves on the course are not too deep
this year, and I manage the devil trail without any falls or ankle twists. At the aid station, Andrew has out done
himself in fixing as good of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich as I have ever
had at Hellgate. I eat the majority of
the sandwich washing it down with plenty of CR01 and a little chocolate
milk. I was spot on my targeted pace of
this section and thus am still over a minute ahead of pace.Coming into Bearwallow Gap
Mile
49.5 2:01:38 (17:23 avg./mile) Bobblets
GapComing into Bobblets Gap just behind Lanier
I leave Bearwallow Gap with Bruce just ahead of me. I plan to catch back up to him, but it seems
like my legs aren’t up to climbing as fast as he is. He pulls away from me, and I am left with
trying to stay focused, hoping that I can stay on pace. My stomach is plumb full; did I possibly eat
too much of the scrumptious grilled ham and cheese sandwich? After the climbing, I start trying to run the
flat and downhill sections. At one
point, I catch my toe and hit the dirt and rocks. I scrape up my right thigh quite nicely, but
not so good as to win best blood or anything.
Soon thereafter, Lanier catches back up to me. He said he went through quite a low on the
last section, but is now rebounding. At
one point, we are passed by Kim Weatherford again. She mentions that she has improved by five
minutes each year she has run this race and will run a Western States qualifier
in six more years. When I tell her she
still can go under 17 hours, she picks up the pace and leaves me and Lanier
behind. Lanier and I make it into the
aid station where Andrew has fixed my Ramen very nicely, but I don’t eat much
before drinking a small cup of Coke and leaving the aid station. I was 11 minutes behind goal pace on this
last section, so I am now 10 minutes behind my targeted pace. It seems like I didn’t quite have the closing
speed I needed, but we will see how this next section goes.
Mile 56.1 2:08:21 (19:27 avg./mile) Day Creek
Lanier
tells me to press on without him on this section, so I try to run the downhill
road as fast as I can. It is about 2.5
miles, and I make it in 28:34 as we enter the single-tracked trail again. Maybe I still have a chance at 17 hours? I attack the climb with gusto and have two
ladies ahead of me to try and catch. I
fail to catch up to them. About halfway
through this section, Jeff Aultice catches up to me and runs with me the rest
of the section. He is from Lynchburg and
is doing this race for the first time.
Surprisingly, my right ankle is doing really well the latter half of
this race and actually feels strong.
About a mile before the aid station, Lanier on yet another rebound,
catches up to us, and the three of us make our way into the aid station. Andrew is here with some potato chips and
another Coke. I leave the aid station at
15:53. If I match my fastest time ever
on this last section, I can still get in less than 17 hours. The problem is that my fastest time on this
last section was 11 years ago.Coming into Day Creek leading a train of runners
Mile
62.4 1:35:35 (15:10 avg./mile) FINISH
I
press the climb with purpose, but not all out recklessness. The odds of me going under 17 hours are very slim,
and it is more important to get the finish.
I get passed by one other runner on the way up to the Parkway. I make the climb in 48:49, which is rather
pedestrian. I start slowly running down
the other side and manage to re-pass the runner that passed me on the
climb. I don’t catch any other runners,
and one more passes me. In the last
mile, I can see and hear a few runners approaching from behind me. I pick up the pace, covering the last mile in
11:22, which is just enough to keep Tyler Upham from catching me.
 |
| Finish Line Congrats! |
Official
Finishing Time 17:29:26
109th
out of 142 starters (118 finishers under 18 hours)
At the
finish, Horton gives me a hug and says I am slowing down. I am actually over 10 minutes faster than
last year. Regardless, he enjoys
announcing to the finish line crowd that I am 19 of 19 at Hellgate and that all
five of the Fearsome Five are now finished.
I chat with Ryan Henry and his wife while I try to eat some chili. I also talk with Charlie and Doc
Wortley. I ask the good doctor about my
left shin, and he says I have tendonitis of the tendon that lifts the toes
up. He says it is quite common for ultra-runners.
Andrew and I
pick up a pizza on our way to the hotel room in Roanoke. Overall, I am happy with my effort and
results this year given the conditions, but I am still disappointed that I didn’t
finish in less than 17 hours. I thought
my three 100-mile attempts this year would give me the base endurance I needed,
but it wasn’t meant to be this year.
I have
already started planning my race calendar for 2022. I will run the Mountain Mist 50k in January and
probably Mount Cheaha 50k in February. I
am also going to go back to Virginia and the Bull Run Run 50-miler in April. Until then…
Never stop
running,
