Anyway, leading up to the race, I've been training on the Falls Lake Trail near my house. It's part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail here in NC that, from what I have seen so far, is pretty damn awesome. Granted, I've only seen about ten miles of the trail! (My longest run to date has been 9 miles out, and 9 miles back - doing a 20-miler this weekend.) I don't have a lot of trail experience, but it's as technical as any of the trails in Umstead Park, so it's good practice for the trail marathon. It's also almost as hilly as Umstead. More experienced trail/ultra runners might look at the Falls Lake Trail and laugh about how easy it is - I don't know... I don't have anything (yet) to compare it to.
I've done enough skating endurance races that I feel I can usually just "wing it" the morning of, as far as breakfast goes. This was no exception. The drive to Harris Lake Park is about 40-45 minutes for me, so I stopped at McDonalds on the way and got 2 Egg McMuffin sandwiches. As far as fast food goes, they're actually not too bad nutrionally... I also drank two cans of Mello Yello Zero during the drive to get a nice caffeine boost going.
The parking area for the event was maybe a 5-minute walk from the check-in. I followed the other racers through the woods, found the picnic area, and picked up my bib and t-shirt. It was *cold* that morning (just about freezing), so I went back to my truck to put the bib on and drop off the t-shirt. Having done that, I ran into Mike and Steph from the Life Tim Run Club, and we got a quick picture.
I was layered-up - running tights, short-sleeved shirt, long sleeved jersey, short-sleeved jersey. (The jerseys had nice long zippers so I could unzip if I got too warm.) Ear warmer/heabdand, running hat, and gloves. I was a little cool, but not super uncomfortable.
We made our way to the start area. I stopped for a quick bathroom break on the way. We still had maybe 15-20 minutes before the start. I brought along a "king size" Reese's Crispy Crunchy candy bar, and ate about 2/3 of that for some extra calories. Quick note about me - I never want a lack of calories or a lack of water to be a factor in a race! I bonked *hard* once at A2A and vowed to never let that happen again. I also had gatorade in my waist-mounted water bottle, so that I didn't have to rely solely on the 2 water stations on the 5-mile loop.
I lined up maybe 6 feet back in the pack. The race director went through the normal instructions, played the national anthem, and then we were off! The course was briefly on the greenway, then widened out to the road - which helped spread the pack out. I'd say we were on an asphalt road, then gravel access road for maybe a mile before we hit the single track. By then everyone was single-file and spread out. I didn't care for the road part of the course, but at least it had that benefit.
The course itself was much easier than I expected. Compared to the Falls Lake Trail, it was significantly flatter and less "technical". (That is, less tree roots, rocks, etc, to trip over.) It was, however, much more zig-zaggy than what I typically run, so that was kinda fun and gave many opportunities to see who was behind me without having to turn my head much.
You can see the elevation profile (green line) in the chart above. I think my heart rate monitor was not correct in the beginning - I certainly didn't feel like it was *that* high.
On the first lap, I passed a few people but for the most part I was just maintaining my position. I did notice my split times were *fast*! On the trail, I'm usually running 10:30-11:00 per mile. On the road, I'm somewhere around 8:00-8:30. I was hitting 8:30 on the trail, which is completely unheard of. Again, this was easier than what I was used to. I also didn't trip a single time on the first lap. The race organizer did a great job of marking the course, and even spray-painted a bunch of the exposed roots/rocks/etc that were in the middle of the trail. That wouldn't be practical on the other trails I run - sections would just be solid orange... :-)
I didn't eat anything during the race, but I was drinking my gatorade. I try to take a sip every mile, and the mile alert on my watch is a good reminder to do that. I also grabbed cups of water at the two water stops - maybe getting half of it in my mouth and getting the rest all over my face. (Drinking water while running is hard...)
About 1.5 miles in, I was warm enough that I took off the ear warmer/headband. About 2.5 miles in, I took off my gloves and was completely comfortable. At other points in the race, I unzipped the outer and inner jerseys to cool off a little too. At no point did I feel too cold or too warm - I definitely got the clothing right.
Lap 2 was fairly uneventful, but I did get passed my several people. Not a big deal. But my split times were a bit slower on the second lap, and anyone running negative splits was catching me. I did notice, I think around mile 8, that my concentration was fading and I was getting a bit sloppy on my footwork. So I made more of an effort there, else I end up tripping. I made it to the finish line without incident.
My official finishing time was 1:24:41, with an average pace of 8:28 min/mile!
I helped myself to some hot chocolate at the finish line (we got a finisher mug too) and part of a muffin. I hung around watching some others finish, but I started to cool down quickly and, having layers of wet clothing in barely-above-freezing temperatures wasn't a good mix for sticking around. So I made my way back to the truck and headed home.
This was a fun little race. I think it was their third year. If scheduling allows, I'll probably run it again next year. I hope they add the option to do more laps. The loop is just shy of 5 miles, so 3 laps would be just over a half-marathon. That would be kinda cool. Or even a "20-mile" option. Or maybe they can incorporate some of the other trails in the park, instead of requiring multiple laps.
Next up is the Umstead Trail Marathon on March 4th - only 4 weeks away. I plan to run 20 miles this weekend in preparation for that. At some point I need to start tapering - I'll have to decide whether to do another 20-miler before the race or not. How I feel Saturday/Sunday will determine that.
After Umstead, I have the Wicked Root 50k 2 weeks later! So Umstead is basically a training run leading up to my first "ultra" race. Georgia Death Race is 2 weeks after that, which I'm not participating in - but I am going to be a "pacer" for someone else who is running it. (And volunteering at an aid station.) My plan is to build up my training so that I can do GDR next year.
In April, I have a road marathon, which should seem easy after the trail marathon & ultra. (Illinois Marathon - April 22nd.) And then the Grayson Highlands 50k on May 6th.
I'll be ready for a break after that, so not going to do much in the way of events for May. But I have 2 Tough Mudder events in June, and then the 8-hour "Toughest Mudder" event at the end of August. So lots of motivation to keep the training going.
Of course once the weather warms up, I'll add some skating into the mix too so that I'm ready for Athens to Atlanta, Carolina Century, and who knows what else in the fall.
Later!
