Race Report: Umstead Trail Marathon 2017

Well, I had been meaning to post a "training update" - but, for the most part, it was pretty uneventful.  Just the standard ramp-up of distance and then a taper before the race.  The only "interesting" thing that happened was me getting bit by a dog on one of my training runs!  I'll have a good scar from that one.  (It's still healing.)  But the training went well - my longest "long run" was 22 miles on the Falls Lake Trail, which is similarly hilly to Umstead Park.  So I felt I was pretty well-prepared going into the race today.

I slept pretty well last night, but woke up 45 minutes before my alarm this morning.  After trying to go back to sleep, I finally got out of bed at 5:15.  (Alarm was set for 5:45.)  I killed a little time at the house, but I needed to gas-up and planned on grabbing breakfast at McDonalds on the way, so I left around 6:20 I think.  We weren't supposed to arrive at the park before 7:30 (so volunteers could get settled in, etc).  So I had to park in a nearby shopping center for 15-20 minutes and kill some more time.  Once I finally parked at Umstead, it was maybe 7:45.  (It takes a long time to get from the park entrance to the race start.)  By the time I picked up my packet, it was still only 8:00 - the race starts at 9:00.  So I sat in the truck until 8:45 reading email, etc.

Between the two McMuffins I ate, some "stinger chews", gatorade, and a gel, I ate around 1000 calories before the race.  This was spread out over 90 minutes, so I didn't feel uncomfortably full or anything.  I planned on drinking gatorade and eating gels during the race.  The aid stations had water, gatorade, and "stinger" gels (not my favorite, but they'll do).  I was carrying maybe 5 of my preferred "Gu" vanilla gels, and a water bottle filled with gatorade.  It's a cup-less race, which I didn't know was a "thing" until recently.  I definitely approve, since I prefer to carry a water bottle anyway so I can drink between aid stations - and that ensures that it'll be easy to fill my bottle since everyone is in the same boat.

I lined up maybe 1/4 back from the head of the pack.  The race started, and we were off.  The first 2 miles were on "bridle trail" (gravel roads), and it allowed the pack to spread out nicely before we hit the "single track" (hiking trails) part of the course.  My gps/split data from the run is kinda screwey, since my watch was short-changing me on every mile.  (By mile 20, my watch was a full mile off, only showing 19 miles.)  But each split was off by the same percentage I think.  So it does show one of my "rookie mistakes" in that I started out waaaaaay too fast!  "But I felt great, coach!"  Yeah - so does everyone at the start line, and the adrenaline of starting the race certainly just feeds into that "irrational exuberance".  So keep in mind my splits were actually *faster* than what my data shows.  And for my training runs, I typically run about 10:30 min/mile.  Now, granted, those runs are 100% single-track, so they're definitely slower than running on the road.

So my first 2 splits were 8:18 and 7:53!  And it's not like I wasn't paying attention - I saw the alert on my watch.  I just couldn't help myself.  I kept thinking I needed to slow down, and I figured I would once we hit the single-track around mile 2.

Well, I slowed down a little - 8:40 and 9:33 for miles 3 & 4.  10:29 for mile 5 (that's more like it.)  Then 9:11 and 9:15 for the last 2 miles of single-track.  Still too fast.  It was fun, though.  I really like running on single-track, despite the constant danger of falling and potentially getting hurt.  I passed someone while flying down a particularly "technical" descent, which was really fun, but perhaps a little reckless.

Throughout the race, the times I passed people were almost exclusively on downhills.  Whether it single-track or the bridle trails, I almost never passed anyone on the flat or while climbing a hill.  I made up *lots* of time on the downhills though.  I try to just let gravity do its thing and not fight it.  I figure it's only a little more energy to run fast down a hill, as opposed to running slow (or "controlled") down a hill.  Your quads really get beat up from all the "braking" force if you try to control yourself too much on the downhills.  So that's where I tend to have a slight edge over others that are running a similar pace as me.

My nutrition/hydration plan is always to take a sip of water (or in this case gatorade) every mile, and eat a gel every 3 miles.  Another rookie mistake - I haven't been training with gatorade!  So my stomach did protest a little bit - although I think the "stinger" gels (which I also didn't train with) that I ate from the aid stations also contributed.  But I got through it, and I don't think it impacted my performance.

I did dress way too warm for the event.  The forecast said 35 degrees at the start, and 47 degrees at my anticipated finish time.  So I had running tights, running shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a long sleeved jersey, and a short-sleeved jersey on.  Running hat, ear warmers, and gloves too.  Ear warmers and gloves came off before I hit the single-track (~ mile 2).  I took off the short-sleeved jersey right after the single-track (~ mile 5).  I took off the long-sleeved jersey around mile 8 I think.  I was a little chilly, but I think that helped.

I ran most of the uphills, as long as the grade wasn't too steep.  I don't think it was until at least mile 11 or 12 that we had anything that I had to "power hike" up.  That was another place where I was able to pass a couple people - they were taking a much slower pace to walk up the hill. Of course, they got a little rest in the process while my heart rate was higher.  And I was still probably going harder than I should have for a 26-mile effort...

Around mile 11, it occurred to me that I was on pace for a sub-2-hour half marathon.  I don't have an exact half-marathon split, but I think it was around 1:55.  Then it occurred to me that I might be able to finish in under 4 hours, which was insane.  So I started doing the math on every mile after that and it definitely seemed within reach.

Everything was going great...  I felt great, my legs felt strong.  I had a smile on my face.  That all changed around mile 20.  By this time, we had climbed a lot of hills.  It could have been that, or going out too fast at the beginning, or both.  But my legs were definitely *tired*.  And my left calf started to spasm a lot - it felt like it really wanted to cramp up, but fortunately didn't.  It kept getting worse, too.  I'd go for stretches that lasted several minutes where it would spasm every time I landed on that foot.  Then it would stop for a few minutes, then start again.  I definitely was worried that it might force me to stop running at some point, but I kept going.

By this time, there wasn't a lot of passing happening.  I could only see a few runners (way) ahead of me, and I wasn't gaining any ground.  Around mile 22, I did catch someone, and we passed each other a couple times.  Approaching mile 25, there was a sign - "Welcome to Cemetery Hill".  Appropriately named, since I could definitely appreciate the sweet release of death about then.  It was steep enough that I decided to power-hike it, although I probably would have run it earlier in the race.  The guy that I had been passing (and passed by) did run up it, and put enough of a gap on me that I wasn't able to catch him the rest of the way.  He had also commented that "it was going to be close" - meaning he was also now looking for a sub-4-hour finish.  At this point, I needed to run 10-minute miles to finish under 4 hours, which would be tough in my tired state, but doable as long as my calf muscle didn't take me out.

I got passed by 3 more people in that last mile and a half, but I didn't mind too much.  Even if I didn't break 4 hours, I'd still set a new marathon PR (personal record).  My previous PR was set on a flat road course, and was 4:09.

Cemetery Hill was the last real hill before the finish, and was probably 1/4 mile long.  Shortly after cresting it, I hit mile 25.  At this point, I felt like I was just putting one foot in front of the other, but my pace did get a bit faster for that last mile.  I went from 10:30 splits to 8:55.  I made the final turn and still hadn't hit mile 26 yet.  It seemed to take forever until I saw it.  And I swear that last .2 miles was longer!  :-)  But eventually I rounded the corner and saw the finish line and clock, and the clock showed 3:58.  I kept going and crossed the line somewhere around 3:58:30.  (Results haven't been posted yet.)

I was exhausted, dizzy, and a little nauseated.  A volunteer handed me my finisher pint glass, which was already half-filled with water.  I drank that pretty quickly, and another volunteer refilled it for me.  I wandered inside the lodge (the start/finish was in the campground area of the park), still dazed, and sat down at a table for a few minutes, drinking some more water.  After maybe 5 minutes, I stretched for 15-20 minutes, paying attention to my calves too.  After that, I was feeling better and decided to grab a little food.  They had burritos from Moe's, so I grabbed a chicken burrito, took a bite, and suddenly felt like I was going to hurl.  Nothing against Moe's - I love that place.  :-)  But obviously my stomach wasn't ready for real food yet.

No beer was allowed in the park, but they did cut a deal with a microbrewery near the park - so we could go there for our "finisher beer".  I wasn't sure my stomach could handle it, but I earned that beer dammit!  So I grabbed my stuff, jumped in the truck, and wandered over there (with my mostly intact burrito).  I got a pint of Gizmo Arachibutyrophobia, which is a peanut butter brown ale.  Time & beer settled my stomach to the point where I could slowly eat the burrito too.

Results and pictures should be here eventually:  http://www.umsteadmarathon.com/

Now, time to rest & recover for the Wicked Root 50k in two weeks!  :-)