October 7
This is my fourth time running this race. Last year in warm weather, I pushed really
hard, cramped severely in the last few miles, and finished in a respectable 7:52:20,
which was 10 seconds faster than my previous best time at this race. This year, my plan is to go out easy and try
to finish strongly. I am solo this year
with no friends or relatives running with me.
The weather is supposed to be absolutely perfect. There was some light rain yesterday, but that
has cleared out of the area. The
temperature at the start is a cool 47 degrees.
Mile
4.9 1:00:16 (12:18 avg./mile) Edwards
Point
I
get out of the starting line very well as there weren’t many people crowding to
be in the front. I settle in and allow
many runners to pass me in the first couple of miles. This first section is relatively flat with
only gentle rolling hills. I am taking
it easy, but am still surprised that I wasn’t a minute or two faster in the
cool weather. I pass right through the
aid station.
Mile
8.2 50:16 (15:14 avg./mile) Mushroom
Rock #1
After
Edward’s Point, I find myself leading a couple of other runners, who seem
content to pace off of me. They are
chatty, and I enjoy their conversation for this section. Their names are Madison and Nathan. They talk about the 15 chickens that Madison
owns and the layoffs at each of their companies. While I was enjoying the conversation, we
made okay, but not quick, time on this section.
I stop briefly at the aid station and grab a handful of potato
chips. When I begin to leave the aid
station, Nathan and Madison are nowhere to be seen. I guess they didn’t stop.
Mile
14.2 1:39:59 (16:40 avg./mile) Indian
Rock House
I
run down the trail, across the bridge and begin the climb up the other
side. After the initial climb, another
runner, Drew, starts up a conversation.
This is his first ultramarathon, and he is trying to find someone to
pace off. I am perfectly happy to have
another runner along. I learn that he
has a couple of middle school sons, but they aren’t into running. This section has plenty of sneaky tough
footing. Last year, I took a serious
fall and went quite a ways down the hillside, scraping up my arms and
cheek. This year, I make it through this
section comfortably and without a fall.
About a mile before the aid station, another runner joins us. His name is Steve, and he is another
inexperienced ultra-runner. He says this
is his fourth ultra. At the aid station,
I grab two PB&J uncrustables and head down the trail.
Mile
16.7 41:02 (16:25 avg./mile) Snoopers
Rock
It
takes Drew a couple of minutes to catch me after coming out of the aid station
as he took a little more time to eat.
Drew and I are making good time (I think) and get to this aid station in
good shape. Drew has never run this far
in before in a race, so I am waiting for him to begin to fade at some
point. At this aid station, I grab some more
potato chips and push on through, while Drew takes a minute longer to eat more.
Mile
19.4 59:15 (21:57 avg./mile) Haley Road
Drew
and I press forward after the Snoopers Rock aid station, but we are soon joined
by Darci. Darci has run several
ultra-races and is going to run the Tunnel 100 miler next month. Drew terms us the triple Ds when Steve
catches back up to us. He stopped at the
Indian Rock House aid station to attend to his scraped up hand, which is why he
hasn’t been up with us. All three of the
runners behind me seem perfectly happy to let me set the pace. We exit the single track trail onto a dirt
road that takes us up to the aid station.
While I am topping off my Camelbak, Darci and Drew head out of the aid
station.
Mile
22.8 51:36 (15:11 avg./mile) Mullins
Cove Parking
Steve
and I leave the Haley Road aid station together with Darci and Drew in view,
but well ahead of us. I figure we will
catch them soon enough, but I am wrong.
Steve and I will not see either of them until the finish line. Meanwhile, Steve continues to yammer away
while I set a smooth and steady pace. We
manage to navigate the rock garden section successfully and then it is not too
far to the aid station. Steve’s wife is
there, and I grab two cups of Coke and another uncrustable as I press on down
the trail.
Mile
29.3 2:01:30 (18:42 avg./mile) Mushroom
Rock #2
Feeling
good with a little Coke in my system, I think I have left Steve behind for
now. It won’t surprise me if I don’t see
him again. Within a mile, I catch up to
a lady who initially I think is Darci, but then realize it is a different
woman. This is Rebecca, and she lets me
go by. Then here comes Steve past
Rebecca and stays behind me for only a minute before pressing on ahead. He says something about getting in under 8
hours, which I realized at the last aid station was not very likely. Then Rebecca passes me back looking very
smooth and determined. I am running
decent, but obviously not as fast as Steve or Rebecca. I want to press the pace, but I am careful to
watch my footing on this tricky section of trail. I make my way across the paved road and then
across the two bridges before the climb up to the aid station. At the aid station, I grab another cup of
Coke leaving a few guys behind that I hadn’t seen all day.
Mile
31.2 19:41 (10:22 avg./mile) FINISH
I
leave the aid station thinking that I can run most of the way to the
finish. However, within a half mile, I
catch a toe on a root and hit the dirt.
No harm done, but I guess I will make sure it doesn’t happen again
today. As I am power hiking on an uphill
section, a guy with a friendly dog off-leash, comes my way. As I said the dog was friendly, but this
slowed me down for a minute. Then I am
crossing the last boardwalk, making the right turn out of the woods, and
running to the finish.
Official
Finishing Time 8:23:35
70th
out of 130 starters (4th out of M50-59)
This time is
slower than all but one of my previous times at this race. While I am disappointed in the time, I
executed my game plan almost exactly as I had intended. I wanted to stay conservative, run a clean race,
and finish with legs left for my hockey game tomorrow night. There are a few things I would have done
differently, and I will tweak some of them moving forward. One is that I don’t think I drank enough
water as I only had to stop to pee once during the race. The other thing is that I am going to try to
up the salt tablets more than I have in recent years. I am also going to switch back to S-Caps as I
have been using just buffered salt tablets.
The S-Caps are more durable in my pack during a race, and they contain
some potassium in addition to the sodium.
I believe that it is the magnesium that gives my stomach problems, and
the S-Caps don’t have any of that.
My next event
is now is Hellgate in December. I was
planning on pacing a friend at the Pinhoti 100 miler in November, but they
didn’t get in and now have a conflict.
So, instead I will head to Virginia in early November to train on Priest
and Three Ridges. This will be year 21
at Hellgate, and we are due for a cold year.
Until then…
Never stop
running,
Darin
