So I decided to get PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatment on it. Something new enough that insurance doesn't cover it yet. I got the treatment yesterday, which is certainly not pleasant. But also not terrible. (I've certainly had more painful stuff done to me.) The expectation is my elbow will feel worse for the next week or so, then start to improve. I'm signed up for an 8-hour "Toughest Mudder" event over Memorial Day weekened, so I'm hopeful I'll be able to return to some strength training in time to be ready for that. (If not, I'll transfer my registration to a later event.)
On to South Mountains Marathon (and run-specific training). I signed up for that a while ago, thinking it would motivate me to keep running over the holidays - maintaining my running fitness. Well, that didn't really work out. During the 3 weeks I was in Mexico (around Thanksgiving) I ran 2 times, an hour each time, on a treadmill. During the 2 weeks around Christmas I ran once on a treadmill. We were in Michigan and Illinois at that time, and it was just too brutally cold to be outside. Plus, I ended up getting a pretty bad cold that persisted for a couple weeks.
So, of course I had to cram in some last-minute training for SMM, which doesn't work. I got a 13-mile trail run in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and a 10-mile run in between New Years and SMM. And these are on "rolling" trails with about 100 ft/mile of climbing on average. SMM has 6000 ft of climbing over 26 miles. So over twice as much. And, as I would soon discover - it was even worse than that.
I did see the elevation profile of the course before the event, so I kinda knew what I was in for. One thing that definitely stood out was the first 8 miles. Basically, you climb continuously for the first 4 miles, then descend for the next 4 miles. That first climb was something I was particularly worried about.
It was cold at the start, but not too bad. Waiting at the start line was really the worst part. Once we got moving, I was comfortable. And I had enough layers to zip & unzip that it wasn't much of an issue. A lot of times it was right on the edge of being too warm for my gloves and ear warmer, but too cold if I took them off. (It put them on & off many times throughout the day.)
The first four miles were BRUTAL! Up and up and up and up. I definitely had not trained for that. But I kept moving. That was pretty much my mantra throughout the whole day - just keep moving. The trail itself was pretty non-technical for the most part. Even now and then there would be a little bit of technical stuff, but still easily runnable. I struggled on the climbs, and made up some time on the downhills. I spent minimal time at the aid stations, and just "kept moving".
Around mile 8 , we start climbing again, but it's broken up into a few separate climbs. But my legs are on fire. I'm watching my time and wondering if I have to start worrying about cutoffs (as it turned out, I didn't) or even finishing at all. But I kept slogging along. Most of the course was on double-track, and quite a bit of the remaining was single-track. Then there was a small amount of what I don't even know what to call it. I guess just footpaths that went straight up? Well - not quite. But any steeper would require you to be on all fours to climb it.
I finally got to to mile 15 and paused long enough to snap a photo. I had cell coverage there (it was very spotty, as you would expect) so I sent it to a few people to let them know I was still alive. (I was also sharing the Garmin LiveTrack with them, so they could presumably see I was still moving - or at least my watch was...)
Not far after that was the aid station. Did my usual routine: refill the water bottle, cram down some potato chips, grab a pb&j, and start walking (eating the pb&j while walking). This was a rare mile of paved road, also uphill, and crested at the point where it turned back onto singletrack.
The next 3 miles were my favorite part of the course (in retrospect). Nice, gradual downhill for almost the entire time. Nontechnical trail, even nicely padded with pine needles in places. Beautiful. Easy. However, I started worrying after a mile or so that I hadn't seen a course marker in a while. Could my tired brain have missed a turn? I hadn't seen another runner in a long time, either. I kept going. Another half mile... Shit, I must have made a wrong turn. No way in hell I'm going back uphill. Keep going. Another half mile - still no markers, still no other runners. Well, I guess I'm going to DNF. We'll see where this trail leads, and I'll use my handy dandy GPS watch to navigate back to the start. Another half mile - another runner ahead! (Still no markers.) A few minutes pass and I get a little closer - he has a race bib on! Okay, so I'm hopefully still on course. Or at least one other person made the same mistake. Another half mile goes by and I finally see a course marker, about the time that I passed the other runner. Phew...
The final aid station was around mile 20 - at the end of the long downhill. Took the usual short refuelling break, and headed back out. I had been warned by another runner earlier in the day to "save some energy" for the climb around mile 23. So that was in the back of my mind as I made my way to the finish. The remaining climbs weren't terrible, other than I was already tired, so they felt terrible. My legs were trashed to the point that I no longer trusted them to run any steep technical descent. So I lost a bit of time there. I got passed a few times in that final stretch, but I just cared about finishing. I knew now that I would come in far ahead of the 8-hour cutoff, and could "walk it in" if it came to that.
The rest was fairly uneventful. Around mile 15 (on my watch) I started seeing signs for the finish. So I was further along than what my watch indicated - which was good! I saw one of the guys that passed me walking toward me (so he had already finished), so I knew I was close. I picked up the pace a little bit for the final half mile or so, and crossed the line with a time of around 6:15. Not bad, considering the lack of training!
It was still pretty cold if you weren't running, so not many people were hanging around the finish line. So I changed out of my wet shoes, socks, and shirt and hit the road.
This was a great course, and a great challenge. The amount of climbing per mile is comparable to what I'll need to do in the Georgia Death Race in 2 months - so it's a good wake up call for that! I need to start hitting the stair climber a couple times a week and get my legs stronger, so that I can maintain the same effort of SMM for 18-20 hours instead of 6 hours.
This weekend, I have the UGTB Grind'n 10-mile trail race. Then Wicked Root 50k at the beginning of March. All training leading up to GDR. My goals are simple - stronger legs and lose some weight that I put on over the past 3-4 months. If I can do that, GDR should be within my grasp.
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