February 24
 |
| Ready to run! |
Mile
3.3 36:36 (11:05 avg./mile) Chandler
Springs
I
sprint up to the trailhead so that I am not stuck too far deep in the conga
line. I must be content to be where I
am. Only a couple of runners stop to
walk any of the initial hills. I run the
early hills so that I won’t lose my position in the line. It is only when there are steep climbs that
we all stop running to power hike. I
find myself behind a lady who has a nice stride. I match her stride all of the way into this
first aid station where the music is blaring, Sweet Home Alabama. Someone jokes that they need to make up for
the lack of music at the start. This
first aid station offers only water, and the lady runs right through passing
several other runners. I follow her
lead.
Mile
8.5 1:04:48 (12:28 avg./mile)
Clairmont Gap
The
lady and I start the first climb of this section, and she is following a guy
that she clearly knows. They chat back
and forth, and I just follow behind listening.
At some point we all introduce ourselves. The lady is Jessica, and she is running her
first ultra. The guy is Tony, and both
of them are from the Birmingham area. I
stay with them until the dirt road, and when they slow down, I press
forward. This section ends on a nice,
gradual downhill into the aid station, and I make the most of it. I grab half a sandwich of PB&J at the aid
station. So far I feel good, and I am
drinking a good amount of water. The
temperature has warmed into the 50s.
Mile
14.9 1:31:59 (14:22 avg./mile) Adams
Gap
This
section begins with a healthy climb—the toughest in the race so far. I am following two guys that are talking
about the number of times they have run the Pinhoti 100. The older of the two is Bob, and he says he
has run Pinhoti nine times. The younger
one, who is Kip, says he has run it 14 times—more than anyone else. Kip is a firefighter and worked a shift last
night. He got off at 5:00am, drove
straight to the race, and now is enjoying the challenge with the rest of
us. He says he got about four hours
total of naps through the night. I stay
with Kip for most of this section. The
latter two miles on this section are fairly technical. At some point, Kip slowed down so I push on
ahead. There is a short little trail
spur that goes into the aid station such that we all get to see who is a couple
of hundred yards ahead and behind us. I
grab two PB&J sandwich quarters, refill my Camelbak, and then I see Tony on
the trail spur. He is looking good, but
I am surprised he is this close behind me given how hard I have run to this
point.
Mile
18.9 55:55 (13:59 avg./mile) Hubbard
Creek
I leave Adams Gap with the goal of slow and steady for this section. It has now warmed up into the 60s. I have been drinking copious amounts of water, but I haven’t peed since the start of the race. My easy does it pace allows a handful of runners to get by me during this section. I feel fine, but it seems like my motivation to push hard has left me. I roll into this aid station thankful that I am over halfway to the finish. I grab two Fig Newton cookies to eat at this aid station.
Mile
25.8 1:40:58 (14:38 avg./mile) Silent
Trail
I
need to stay focused on the task in front of me—finish this section and then
the end will be in sight. Meanwhile,
more runners steadily come by me. One of
them is Tony. He barely has time to say
hi as he is moving well. I navigate the
two stream crossings just fine, but then in my attempts to hold off another
runner passing me, I catch my left big toe on a root and hit the dirt. Jimmy is the runner right behind me and asks
me a couple of times if I am okay before proceeding. I climb another hill and pass this building,
which I remember is less than a mile from the aid station. Sure enough, 10 minutes later I am into this
fluid only aid station. I get some water
added to my Camelbak and push up the gravel road.
Mile
28.5 34:23 (12:44 avg./mile) Lake
Cheaha
I
run and walk the gravel road up to the paved road and find myself beside Jimmy,
who helped me dust myself off on the last section after my fall. I eat an Access Bar since the last aid
station didn’t have any food. When we
make the turn on the paved road, I am feeling like I have more energy. Another runner, Tommy, has joined us. The three of us run into the State Park to
the last aid station. I walk right
through the aid station, only grabbing two cups of Coke and drinking them.
Mile
31.6 53:05 (17:07 avg./mile) FINISH –
Bald Rock
I
power hike the early part of the climb that they call, “Blue Hell.” There are blue blazes marking this part of
the trail, and this section climbs about 1,500 feet in less than a mile. When it starts getting steep, I am behind
Andrew Cotter. He is moving slow and
steady, and for a minute I think about going around him. However, I remain patient and keep my pace
slow and steady as well with relentless forward progress. As runners stop to take breaks, Andrew and I
keep moving forward. I think we passed 4
or 5 runners in this fashion. My legs
start talking to me as we near the top, but I manage to keep them from
cramping. Once the climb is over, we
still have a mile and a half or so to the finish. We are on the road for a bit and then turn
back onto a trail. In this part, a
recent fire has burnt much of the underbrush.
As a matter of fact, it is still smoldering in places. So, we get to run through a little
smoke. I managed to stay in front of
Andrew, but just behind Tommy, and have a decent kick for the downhill finish.
 |
| Nice finish! |
78th
out of 211 finishers (16th of M50-59)
This day was
beautiful without a cloud in the sky the whole time. The temperature could have been a little
cooler, but then there was a steady breeze all day. The only time I felt warm was in some of the
valleys where I was sheltered from the wind.
I always want to finish faster, but this is a nice time on this
course. I have run faster, but that was
seven years ago. My next race is going
to be the Bull Run Run 50 Miler on April 6th. My son, Nathan, is also running that race so
we will see if father time favors the young or the old. Until then…
Never stop
running,
No comments:
Post a Comment