Thursday, May 19, 2011

Twisted Ankle Marathon


This was only my second trail marathon and the first one I didn’t exactly love, because it was too runnable. That was not going to be the case with this one. Tallie and I drove up to Sloppy Floyd State Park the morning of the race. The park is in Summerville, GA and named after James “Sloppy” Floyd, who was a State Representative. I couldn’t find anything about why his nickname was “Sloppy”. The race was scheduled to start at 9am, but was postponed until 9:15 because of a road block that was keeping runners from arriving on time. Before the race we talked with Jenn Coker, the Co-Race Director, and she shared some of the details of the race route. I hadn’t studied the map or elevation charts very closely, but knew there was going to be some major climbs. Jenn explained what to expect at Becky’s Bluff, which you will hear about later. We also talked with Lara, Samantha and Candy (Windward Roadrunners) before the race as well as Jason and Pablo from GUTS. Lara gave me a good goal for the race, which I was pretty sure I was not going to be able to achieve.

 
Becky, the Race Director and namesake of Becky’s Bluff I assumed, and a few others made some comments before the start about how the proceeds had helped the park with new restrooms and a playground. Becky also explained the courses for the full and half marathon. During the first 3½ miles or so, we would all run the same route until we reached the top of the ridge. Then, the half marathoners would turn left and we would turn right. I walked over to give Tallie a quick kiss and then got back into the group. After explaining the course, Becky had us line up at the start and a Park Ranger started the race.

We ran around 2 small lakes before getting to a trail. There were 10 runners in front of me at that point. Once we hit the trail, there was a short climb leading to a campground. We followed the road through the campground and then back onto a jeep trail. This was a great section to pick up my speed until we reached the ridge climb. At that point, I started power walking the inclines because I knew it was going to be a long climb. At first it wasn’t too bad with a gradual incline leading to a nice waterfall. After the waterfall, I was on a single track trail and it started getting a little steeper and then it got really steep. Holy crap, this was Becky’s Bluff. It’s not the steepest hill I’ve climbed in a race, but it was longer than most steep climbs. I was able to get to the top of the ridge without stopping to catch my breath, which was hard. At the top, I turned right on the Pinhoti Trail and started down a short hill to the first aid station. The aid station was “manned” by a group of cheerleaders so I had to act a little cooler than normal. I refilled my bottle, grabbed a GU and then headed off down a gravel road.

This was a pretty fast section of the race with rolling hills and the gravel wasn’t too bad. I really dislike gravel roads if the size of the rocks is large. They cause my ankles to twist and hurt the bottom of my feet. At the end of the ridge, there was a single track trail back into the woods and I knew this was going to lead me back down to the bottom. This was a fun section and I ran it as fast as I safely could. I love running fast descents through the woods like this. I knew there would be a turn around at the bottom of the ridge so I was anticipating the leaders passing me soon heading the other direction. Three guys with black shorts and no shirts were leading the race. I looked at my watch so I could figure out how far ahead of me they were and I also counted the other runners as they passed me. When I got to the second aid station and turnaround, I figured I was 6 minutes behind the leaders and in 11th place. Not to bad for the first 8 miles. Now I needed to hold onto my place by keeping my pace up.

As I was running back up the ridge, I noticed there were quite a few people not far behind me so I picked up my pace a little more as I was climbing. I soon passed one guy that was struggling on the climbs. Near the top, I ran into Candy and soon after, Samantha and Jason. It’s always good to see people you know on the trail. Once I was back on the gravel road running back towards the cheerleaders, I started to get concerned that I missed a turn. I hadn’t seen anyone for a while and after my last race, I was second guessing myself. Luckily, I ran into the last place guy walking the other direction. I asked him if there were people in front of me and he smirked a bit and said “yeah”.  I guess he was thinking I thought I was in the lead. I was just glad to know I wasn’t lost again.

Soon, I was back at the cheerleader aid station filling up my bottle. I grabbed another GU and headed North on the Pinhoti Trail. This was a nice single track section with mainly rolling hills, but also some longer climbs and descents. Two guys passed me on this section as my knees started to hurt a little. This was the first time I could remember my knees hurting during a race. I stopped for a second to stretch, which helped a lot. The one thing I didn’t like about this section was all the half-marathon runners heading the opposite direction on the trail. Many of them were not good about giving me room to get by. I didn’t expect them to jump off the trail for me, but at least move over to the right a little. And that’s all I have to say about that. Before the next aid station, I ran into Lara and had to tell her I was not achieving the goal she had set for me, but I was still trying. The next aid station was the turnaround point for the half-marathon, but we kept going straight down the trail.

About a mile after the aid station, the trail opened up on a gravel road which immediately dropped down the ridge to another gravel road. The route turned right and followed the road for about 1½ miles to the next aid station and final turnaround. It was getting very hot and there was little protection from the sun while running on this road. I knew I was getting close to the aid station, but I hadn’t seen the leaders yet. Finally, the lead pack passed me heading the other direction and the 3 shirtless guys were not in the pack. In fact, they were not in front of me at all. I was in 11th place as I arrived at the aid station. There were 2 other runners standing around at the aid station eating watermelon. I grabbed a piece and we talked about how hot it was. I had watermelon all over my face and hands, but it was good. One guy took off running and the other was walking. I filled up my bottle and headed back to the finish line. Soon, I passed the guy walking and then the other runners behind me started passing me in the other direction on their way to the aid station. They were not far behind me at all and I didn’t want to get passed so I picked up my pace a little.

As I was running along the top of the ridge, I passed another runner just before the last aid station. There were about 3 miles left until the finish, but I still had to go down the ridge. The route did not go down Becky’s Bluff, which kind of surprised me. I passed another guy as I was running down the ridge and one more as I ran around the lake. I was getting close to the finish and knew I had moved into the top ten. At the finish of the race, you run across a bridge over a lake leading to the finish line. As soon as I hit that bridge, I started running as fast as I could for a 4:20 finish and 7th place.


Tallie and Lara (finished the half in 3:07) were at the finish with some chairs set up. It had turned into a beautiful day and I was very happy with my run. I found out that the 3 shirtless guys were told to keep running past the last turnaround, with the watermelon, by the aid station volunteers and ended up back at the cheerleader aid station. There were other runners that were told to keep going, but were turned around before the cheerleaders and able to finish the race. Lara, maybe not the way I would have liked to have done it, but mission accomplished! Candy came in next at 5:18 and then Samantha at 6:10. This is a great race on fun trails! Thanks Becky, Jenn and all the volunteers!


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Enoree Passage 40M (or 45M)



Tallie, Annie and I drove up the day before and camped at the Brickhouse Campground, which also happened to be the location of the start and finish of the race. The race took place on the Enoree Passage section of the Palmetto Trail in South Carolina. Terri Haynes, the Race Director, has hosted the South Carolina Ultra Trail Series for 4 years and the series consists of 5 ultra trail races. Terri actually does not charge an entry fee for her races and only asks for donations. The course is an out and back race on a very runnable trail. With no major climbs or descents and no technical sections, this is not my favorite type of course. But, I thought it would be a good training run and should be a fast finish for me. Boy, did I underestimate this race.


 We climbed out of the tent about 6:45am and I started getting ready for the 7:30am start. This was my first time camping the night before a race. I got cleaned up as well as possible and got suited up. It was easy to find the Start line with the Hammer Nutrition banner hung up at Terri’s campsite. The three of us headed over to the start and of course I gave them both a kiss. It was a very low key start. Terri started her stop watch and then said, “Go”.

The race started on a very short single track section and then opened up on a gravel road. Another guy and I took off at the start to lead the pack. After about ½ mile, we hit the single track trail again. He told me it was his first trail run and asked me how to know if he was on the trail. I told him to follow the surveyor tape and the yellow blazes, but he may have asked the wrong guy. He took off ahead of me and over the next 4 miles I would catch quick glimpses of him in the woods. I got to the first aid station at 5 miles in 38 minutes, which was a little fast for me, topped off my bottle and then headed out on a road section that lasted about a mile. Along the road, there was surveyor tape on the power poles which I thought was marking the route. I was still in second place at that point as the trail reentered the woods. At about the 6½ mile mark there was a road crossing. Instead of crossing the road, I turned right and headed down the road. I was listening to my iPod and not paying attention at all. I knew there were other road sections during the race and didn’t think anything about where I was going. Unfortunately, the power poles along the road had surveyor tape on them and I just kept on going. I did turn around and ran back a little bit until I saw another person running at me which confirmed I was heading the right way. So, I turned around and kept on going. I ran at least another mile and then turned around again and didn’t see anyone. I knew I was off route, but wanted to make sure before running all the way back. I even knocked on a fire station door to see if I was on the trail, but it was a volunteer fire station and no one was there. I started running back and noticed another runner heading back as well. As I got close to the road crossing, I noticed the red flags on the other side of the road leading into the woods. What a screw up! I had run an extra 4 to 5 miles and wasted 45 minutes figuring it out.

When I got back to the trail, I decided to go on to the next aid station at 10 miles and then head back to the finish. That way I would be able to complete at least a 20 mile training run. I knew I had to be in last place since it was so early in the race and I had just wasted so much time. I hit the trail fast and soon caught up with the other guy that made the wrong turn. I scared him a bit because he wasn’t expecting anyone behind him. It took a while for me to start catching up with other runners, because I was so far behind. Then, it was one after another which is atypical for me since I’m usually the one getting passed. I have to admit, it felt pretty good passing so many people and slowly moving up in the race order. I was no longer listening to my iPod and started thinking about why I was going to quit at the next aid station. I’m embarrassed to say the only reason I was considering quitting was that I was so far back from the front pack. I wasn’t hurt, sick or even tired at that point. I couldn’t believe I was thinking about settling on my first DNF because I wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped. By the time I reached the next aid station, I decided there was no way I was quitting and I kept on going.


Over the next 10 miles, the trail crossed the Enoree River, a swamp area and also by a few small lakes. About halfway between the 3rd and 4th (turnaround point) aid stations, the leader passed me heading back to the finish line. That would mean he was 5 or 6 miles ahead of me. As people passed by me, I tried to keep up with how many were in front of me. The 4th aid station, which was also the turnaround point, was set up on a pier at a small lake. It was really hot and sunny, so I made sure to drink a lot of fluids and started eating more knowing the heat was going to zap my energy. Using a cup, I poured lake water on the back of my neck and also washed off the salt deposits on my face and arms. Before heading back out, I grabbed a gel and planned to consume one every 30 minutes to keep my energy level up. There must have been about 35 people in front of me at that point. Shortly after leaving the aid station, I caught up to a girl that I would run behind the rest of the race. She was maintaining a steady pace and forced me to speed up. Knowing that Tallie would be worried, I asked a volunteer at the next aid station to text her since my finish time was going to be much later than expected. I know you’re not going to read this Mr. Volunteer, but thank you anyway.


Over the next 15 miles, people were dropping like flies because of the heat. 77 people started the race and only 61 finished, which is a high DNF rate for this kind of trail and when there are no cut-off times. My legs were actually feeling good and strong, but my energy level was extremely low and the aid stations were running out of gels so I had to start eating more solid foods. I just tried to stay close to the girl in front of me as we continued to pass runners. With about 2 miles to go, I ran up on a young girl running behind her Dad. She had to be no more than 12 years old and she was pacing her Dad the last 5 miles of the race. They were moving at a good pace as I passed them. I passed one more runner and asked him how he was doing and he said, “I’ll be doing much better in about 8/10th of a mile.” I picked up my pace since I knew I didn’t have much further to go and wanted to finish strong. Soon, the trail exited the woods and I was back on the gravel road that led to the finish line. I could see the girl I trailed for the last 20 miles ahead of me about 50 yards. There was no way I was going to catch her, but I was going to try anyway. I looked back to see if the guy I had just passed was behind me and he wasn’t, but the Dad and his young pacer were coming out of the woods. I picked up my speed a little bit and ran to the finish line in 8:16 (21st overall). Tallie and Annie were waiting at the finish with a chair ready for me to collapse into. The heat had done me in and I didn’t feel well at all. The heat had kicked my butt big time. Thank you Terri and all the volunteers for putting together a great race. I didn’t have the race I hoped for, but I finished!

A week before this race, I was at a birthday party and was asked 2 questions that completely stumped me.
- What drives you to run these long races?
- What has completing a 100 mile race done for me?
I honestly had no good answer to either question. I thought a lot about the questions during this race and I think I have answers to both.

What drives me to run is exactly what drove me to finish this race. When I run a race like this, I’m in complete control of the outcome. There will be contributing factors such as weather, trail conditions or aid issues, but ultimately the way I finish or not finish a race is completely up to me. When I went the wrong way on the road, I could have easily quit and I had every intention of doing so until I started thinking about why I run these races. It’s not that I expect to win or even place that high, but to finish each race as strong as I possibly can.

What has completing the GRR 100 mile race done for me? I don’t view it as a life changing event, but it did prove to me that even under the worst possible conditions, I will not quit as long as I’m safely able to go on. During the GRR 100, we had awful weather and trail conditions but I was going to finish that race come hell or high water. At some point, I’m sure I will have an injury or illness or will not be able to make a cut-off that will keep me from finishing a race but as long as I’m able to crawl to the finish, I will do so even if I’m in last place!