I was mentally prepared for the second day to really, really suck. But I woke up Sunday morning (minus 1 hour of sleep due to the time change) and felt semi-human. Not great by any means, but I could actually move without too much discomfort.
There were fewer runners on Sunday (23 instead of 36). Most of the runners (18) had run on Saturday. So the start was a bit slower than it was on Saturday. I was in the back third of the pack, and in no particular hurry. The first 30-40 minutes were fairly uneventful, and there were 3 of us running within sight of each other for most of it. Then we caught up to another group that was stopped on the trail. One of the runners had slipped and injured her ankle. There wasn't much we could do, other than help carry her to the next aid station. As we slowly made our way, other runners caught up and joined the procession. Of course, that's when we got the only rain of the day. It took about 30 minutes to get her to the aid station.
At that point, everyone took off again - kinda like a race restart after a NASCAR crash. The faster people soon were out of sight. I was going at a very conservative pace - walking the uphills and only running the flats and downhills. The course itself (as the injured woman could attest to) was very slippery in places. I was walking down some of the muddy downhills that I ran down on the first day. "Walking" being more of a controlled slide at times.
My right ankle had been bothering me right from the start, but that was the only thing hurting (so far). It was relatively uneventful getting to the next aid station. I caught up to a few runners there. I quickly refilled my water bottles and took off while they lingered at the aid station.
I don't remember seeing anyone else for the rest of lap 1. I finished the first lap around 2:28. Even with the injury delay, that wasn't bad. I was fully prepared to take 8-9 hours that day. I didn't stay too long at the start/finish line, but I did ditch my long-sleeved shirt. Then I started lap 2.
By this time, everyone was pretty spread out. Every now and then, I'd see someone on a switchback, but they were really far ahead or behind me. The sun was finally out and the temperature was perfect. The course seemed even more slippery. My ankle was even more sore, and I finally took a couple Tylenol. Most of lap 2 was fairly uneventful. About halfway through, I did get a "low battery" alert on my mp3 player - so I knew I'd need to swap it when I got back to my truck.
With around a mile left in the lap, another runner (Jon) caught up to me. We ran the rest of the lap together. I took a little extra time at my truck - I changed into a dry shirt, ditched my hat for a visor, and grabbed my spare mp3 player. Jon was probably 2-3 minutes ahead of me. When I started my lap, I saw a women (Elizabeth) arrive at the start/finish line, so I figured she'd end up being a couple minutes behind me.
From the start to AS1, I didn't see anyone ahead or behind me. My ankle was still bothering me, as was my right knee. It was too soon to take more Tylenol, but I thought about taking some Ibuprofen. I opted not to, since Ibuprofen isn't recommended during endurance events. When I got to the "Deja Vu" loop, I saw Jon and a couple other guys - they were still several minutes ahead of me. I kept watching for anyone behind me, and didn't see anyone until I was passing the "Deja Vu" loop on my way back to the finish - so it was very unlikely anyone behind me would catch me.
Shortly after that, I arrived at AS2 and did the usual quick refill routine. As I left, I saw Jon again - this time, maybe 45-60 seconds ahead of me. A couple minutes later, I got to a switchback and he saw me and said 'hi'. We're about 2 miles from the finish now. Jon is still moving pretty good, and I figured I probably couldn't catch him. But I could "keep him honest"... :-)
I would narrow the gap on the flats and the downhills, only to have Jon increase the gap on the uphills. With a mile left, I estimated that I was 30 seconds behind him. When I got to the gravel road, he was even closer and I actually caught up to him on the downhill part. We ran together briefly and then I passed, but I expected him to catch (and pass me) when the road turned uphill.
I saw 2 other guys at the far end of the gravel road, right before it turns into the woods. Again, they were probably 20-30 seconds ahead of me. Now we're 0.4 miles from the finish. Again, I didn't think I could catch them, but I'd try. Plus, I was very close to finishing under 7.5 hours - so I figured if I pushed a little bit I could still make that time goal.
I pushed on the flats and downhills, and even ran some of the gradual uphills. I got within maybe 10 yards of them before we hit a short but steep uphill. I walked up the hill, and they increased their lead again. They were too far to catch before the finish. There was no sign on Jon behind me, but I looked at my watch and saw it was going to be really close to 7.5 hours. I picked up the pace even more for the last tenth of a mile and got to the finish line just seconds under 7.5 hours.
RACE RESULTS:
On day 1, I finished 10th out of 36 starters. On day 2, I also finished 10th - but of course there were fewer (23) runners that day. My official times were 6:34:22 and 7:29:52.
The race director scores these as two separate events. To satisfy my own curiosity, I pulled the results into Excel to figure out combined times and placement for all the 2-day runners. (These are all unofficial of course.) My 2-day combined time was 14:04:14, and it was good enough for 5th place out of 18 runners!
So the 2 guys I was chasing at the end had combined times just a little slower than mine -- I apparently finished just ahead of them on the first day. Same with Jon...
Sorry there are no pictures this time. I had my phone in a ziploc bag the whole time just in case it rained or I wiped out in the mud. A couple people got some pictures of me (I think) but I haven't seen them posted online yet...
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. This is a great 50K whether you're a beginner or veteran trail runner. (Granted, the slippery conditions this year made it more challenging than usual.) The race director and volunteers are awesome.
Registration is already open for 2020. You can sign up here: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=66979 I'm sure I'll be back again... :-)
Next up is Umstead 100 in 4 weeks. That should be just enough time to recover and prepare for my first 100-mile event!
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