Race Report - South Mountains Marathon, and injury/training updates!

First, the injury update...  I've been dealing with an elbow issue for probably 6 months now that has put a bit of a cramp in my training routine.  It has been definitively (via MRI) diagnosed as golfer's elbow.  Ironic, since I don't golf...  :-)  Anyway, I haven't been doing any weight training for months, trying to get it to heal.

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.

DIY Energy Gel - Update

Okay, so I've gone through a couple batches of my homemade chocolate gel now, and tweaked the recipe slightly.  I scaled it up to make around 60oz in one batch - this uses an entire 16oz box of corn starch.  I use my KitchenAid stand mixer to blend it all, and everything fits well into the mixing bowl.  I show the calorie breakdown per ingredient, as well as an approximate cost.  For the "large batch", the cost comes out to around 37-cents per "gel" serving (100 calories).  If you want a lower-calorie version, you could try sweetening it with Stevia, like the original recipe called for.  (http://theplantedrunner.com/tag/cornstarch-endurance-fuel/).

Now you might be wondering what I use to carry this stuff in when I run...  I've got a couple 10oz (300ml) HydraPak "soft flasks":  https://smile.amazon.com/Hydrapak-Ultraflask-Flask-Malibu-300ml/dp/B01N7XLYE9/

I don't use the extension tubes (they're easily removable).  Also I've found that the "bite valve" that comes with the bottle is great for liquid, but not so great for gel.  (Takes a lot of effort to suck the gel through unless you water it down.)  But the other day I got an idea and grabbed a Camelbak bite valve.  It's a tight fit, and takes some "encouragement", but I managed to get it on there.  MUCH BETTER!  I wish I had thought of that sooner...

I found some replacement Camelbak bite valves on Amazon, so I'll be retrofitting my bottles.  And I'll probably carry an extra valve with me, just in case one break because it's stretched too much...  https://smile.amazon.com/CamelBak-Reservoir-Big-Bite-Valves/dp/B00NTXIQ3S/

Mark’s DIY GEL – Chocolate Fudge

Liquid starch-based fuel that is an alternative to gels or chews.  “Small batch” is roughly 16oz and is nutritionally the equivalent of around 10 gels.  “Large batch” is roughly 60oz and equivalent to 40 gels.  The amount of water can be adjusted to make the consistency thicker or thinner.  The large batch takes an entire box of corn starch, and mixes well in a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.  Caffeine content per ‘gel’ serving is comparable to the ‘extra caffeine’ Gu gels (espresso, etc).  Recipe isn’t vegan due to whey protein, but soy protein could be substituted to make it vegan friendly.  (Some research suggests soy protein is better anyway.)  The large batch comes out to around 36-cents per ‘gel’ serving.

Ingredients: 

Amount (small batch)	Amount (large batch)	Ingredient	Calories (large batch)	Cost (large batch)
1 ¼ cups	16oz box	Argo corn starch https://www.amazon.com/Argo-100-Pure-Corn-Starch/dp/B00JPT9BFW	1680	$7.09
2 scoops	6 scoops	Dymatize Chocolate Fudge Whey Protein https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/dym/elite.html	702	$5.49
3 tbsp	½ cup	Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate cocoa powder https://www.amazon.com/HERSHEYS-SPECIAL-DARK-Cocoa-Ounce/dp/B00J50PJUM	80	$0.20
3/16 tsp	½ tsp	Table Salt https://www.walmart.com/ip/Morton-Iodized-Salt-26-oz/10448936	0	$0.01
3/16 tsp	½ tsp	“No Salt” https://www.amazon.com/NoSalt-Sodium-Free-Salt-11-ounce/dp/B019G3FI7G https://www.walmart.com/ip/NoSalt-Original-Sodium-Free-Salt-Alternative-11-oz/37233033	0	$0.06
4 caps	11 caps	"Motivation" Herbal Caffeine capsule https://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Caffeine-Vitamin-Supplement-Capsules/dp/B00C5U96FI/	0	$1.55
¾ cup	2 cups	Granulated Sugar https://www.target.com/p/domino-174-premium-pure-cane-granulated-sugar-4-lb/-/A-13379072	1546	$0.51
¾ cup	2 ½ cups	Water – can adjust for desired thickness	0	$0.00
TOTALS:			4008	$14.91

Instructions:

·        Mix all dry ingredients except water in a small measuring cup with a spout.

·        Slowly add enough water to your desired thickness.

·        Stir thoroughly and pour into a small running bottle.

·        Shake before drinking.

Notes:

·        Small batch:  1056 calories, 204.4g carbs, 51g protein, 5.5g fat, 640mg sodium, 495mg potassium, 400mg caffeine

·        Large batch:  4008 calories, 831g carbs, 144g protein, 16g fat, 2070mg sodium, 1280mg potassium, 1100mg caffeine

·        Large batch:  611g glucose, 220g fructose (26%)

·        Based on absorbing 60g glucose/hr, entire amount could be consumed in 3 hours (small batch) or 10 hours (large batch).

·        About 25% of the energy comes from protein.  Research I found online seemed to indicate 15-33% was okay.

·        Ideally 33% of the carbs would be fructose.

Race Report: Dragon OCR and Tougher Mudder Carolinas

I've done 2 obstacle races this fall, in addition to Tougher Mudder Virginia that I did back in June.  These were my first obstacle races after having to postpone 2 Tough Mudders that I had signed up for over the summer.  With my sciatica issues now under control, I finally felt good enough to at least attempt the courses.

Dragon OCR is a local event here in Raleigh.  The race director is pretty new to the game, but has a decent event.  He's still building out his portfolio of obstacles to include in the race.  This particular event was Halloween themed, so a lot of people were running in costume.  It also was not timed, although the next occurrence will be timed, according to the RD.  The venue where the event is held does not allow for mud/water obstacles, so the next occurrence may move to a different location.

The event went pretty well.  Most of the obstacles were pretty easy.  There were two obstacles, though, that were very challenging.  The first was a horizontal "salmon ladder" that was much harder than I thought it would be.  The second was similar to American Ninja Warrior's "Rolling Thunder" obstacle, but much shorter and easier.  "Easier" being a relative term because it was quite challenging to get through.

The course could have been marked better, so hopefully the RD fixes that for next time.  It was only billed as a 5k, and my gps watch logged about 2 miles.  So either I took an accidental shortcut, or he overestimated the distance.  Either way, it was over pretty quickly.  (As contrasted with Tough Mudder, that has a 10+ mile course.)

Tougher Mudder Carolinas was just a week ago.  Late fall in NC is hit-or-miss on the weather.  On that day, it was sunny but quite chilly.  (~48 degrees at the start).  And you're pretty much guaranteed to get wet on the course.  Like many TMs that I've done, it started out with about a mile of running - which is good to spread everyone out before you hit any obstacles.  I may be running a little slower now than I was earlier in the year, but I think there were also faster people here.  TM started giving out prize money for the first wave (that I was running) and the fastest guy (and gal) would take home $2500 each.

So I was getting passed A LOT in that first mile.  But I was there to run my own race.  I settled into a rhythm and eventually got to the first obstacle - Kiss of Mud, where you crawl under barbwire through mud.  In this case, it was also about 1-foot-deep water.  So now we're all soaked head-to-toe.

In Virginia, the "tougher" wave had to to Kiss of Mud twice, and Mud Mile twice.  Not so in NC.  Other obstacles (Everest, Pyramid Scheme) were modified for the "tougher" wave and were similar to what they were in Virginia.

I made my way through the course without too much trouble.  Arctic Enema was *super cold*.  I mean, ridiculously cold.  Everest was more difficult than it was in Virginia.  For the tougher wave, there is a rope to help to climb up.  But it must have been positioned differently in NC.  In Virginia, it was super easy.  In NC, it was hard enough that I had to get help from someone at the top.

Going in to the last couple miles, I was trying to maintain my placement within the runners around me.  Still, I'd get passed every now and then.  But I was able to pass a few people at Funky Monkey.  

All of the obstacles in the "tougher" wave must be completed or else you get a DNF.  Two obstacles, though, Funky Monkey and Kong can be skipped if you fail to complete them.  But, you have to run a "penalty loop" if you can't complete the obstacle.

So I was able to complete Funky Monkey without much trouble.  Several people fell while I was on it, and I imagine there were other people that I didn't see running their penalty laps while I was on the obstacle as well.  I was able to complete Kong (the final obstacle) without incident as well - but they apparently weren't enforcing the penalty laps by then anyway.

I finished with a time of 2:25:24 - much slower than my Virginia time of 2:01:42.  Now, every course is different so it's hard to make direct comparisons.  My placement in Virginia was 42nd overall, and 5th in my division (Men 45-49).  Now in NC I was 75th overall, and 8th in my division.  So not bad, but definitely not as good of a performance as I had back in June.

I'm already signed up for Toughest Mudder Midwest for 2018.  I'll probably run Tougher Mudder Carolinas again next year too.  But most of my focus will be on trail running over obstacle racing.  I do have one more obstacle race this year - the Green Beret Challenge.  That's two weeks away, and looks a little different than the Tough Mudder races I've been doing.

After that, it's all trail running events on the calendar to start getting ready for.  So time to start ramping up the distance on the trail!

Race Report: Athens to Atlanta 2017

I've skated Athens to Atlanta every year since 2001, except for the one year that I broke my shoulder 2 weeks before the race.  That includes the "outlaw" year when the event was officially canceled, but many people showed up over the course of a few weekends to skate the route unsupported.

Anyway, in all the years I've done the event, this was the worst weather by far.  With the remnants of Tropical Storm Nate rolling through the state, many people either changed their registration from the full distance to the half distance - or just opted not to skate at all.   

It would take more than a little (actually a lot) of rain to stop me, though.  So Sunday morning I lined up at the start line with everyone else ready to brave the storm.

As luck would have it, the start was actually dry.  Or, rather, it wasn't raining.  The street was a little wet from overnight rain, so we would have to be careful from the beginning.  The race started and I kept up with the leaders for a much shorter time than in recent years.  I backed off almost immediately and watched the speedy guys drift away.  But before too long, someone caught me from behind - Jack from Canada.  So Jack and I skated together for a while.  He was skating pretty strong - maybe too strong.  It turns out this was his first time attempting A2A, so I gave him some advice about the course - the most important being not to push the pace too hard, since there was a lot of road to cover.

Maybe 20 minutes later, a group of 3 skaters caught us.  I immediately recognized Luke, who I've skated with in the past.  It turns out they were all skating the half distance (Luke switched the day before based on the weather forecast.)  But we would make good time with 5 skaters in the pack.  After another hour or so, we caught Sam - who was also skating a shorter distance than usual.  "Only" the full distance.  In recent years, Sam had skated from Atlanta to Athens overnight, rested maybe an hour, then turned around and skated from Athens to Atlanta with everyone else.  A2A2A...  The rain started maybe an hour into the race and wasn't too bad.  But it did reduce our grip on the road, so we had to be careful.  It also took more effort to climb the hills.

As we started the climb into Dacula (the half/38-mile finish), Jack started to struggle on the hills and eventually dropped.  So, when we finally reached Dacula, we bid farewell to 3 of our group and it was just Sam & I skating.  There were times the rain was practically horizontal, the wind was so bad.  It would sting my eyes, and felt like hail/sleet.  It was pretty miserable.  The temperature wasn't too bad, at least - so no worries about hypothermia or anything like that.

Around mile 50, I could definitely tell my legs were not going to be able to sustain the pace for the remainder of the race.  But it's definitely more efficient (and safer) to skate with another person, so I pushed myself a little harder than I probably should have.  Another 10 miles and we catch up to Herb (another Canuck) who had been skating by himself for hours.  About mile 65 is when we start getting into some more serious climbing again, and Herb and I are both struggling.  I tell Sam to just go on without me, since I plan to sit down at the next aid station anyway.

At this point, Herb and I were within sight of each other, but not skating together.  With the way were struggling, it wouldn't have made much distance.  I got to Silver Hill (~ 70 miles) and I notice by left skate is pronating to an extreme I've never seen before.  I thought maybe my frame had shifted, but I could still keep my wheels vertical with a lot of effort and concentration.  Still, I didn't feel very stable, so I ended up using my brake almost the whole way down Silver Hill.  I'm surprised I didn't burn through my whole brake pad.  After the long downhill, there is a long climb up to the aid station.  Once I got there, I did sit down as I planned on.

I checked my frame and it seemed to be in the right spot.  So that was good, but also meant that my ankle and the stabilizing muscles around it were completely fatigued.  I ate a PB&J and bag of chips.  I also drank half a beer while sitting down.  I poured the other half into one of my (empty) water bottles, and got back on the road.  I only sat down for maybe 5 minutes.  While I was sitting, Herb made a quick stop and got back on the road, encouraging me to catch him.

So, I set off the catch up with Herb, which probably took a good 30 minutes or more.  From there, we skated the rest of the way together, and scored it a tie as we crossed the finish line.

Herb and I finished in 7:11:17 - almost an hour slower than my time from last year.  I definitely did not think that the wet roads would impact my time that much, but it really does take a lot more energy to climb the hills.  I had special "rain wheels" on (MPC Storm Surge) but I honestly don't think they made any difference.

I placed 16th overall (tied with Herb) out of 26 finishers.  7 people DNF'd (including Jack) and another 7 people opted not to start at all.  In my division (Men 40-49), I finished 4th out of only 5 people.

Looking at the historical results, you have to go all the way back to 1990 to find a year with fewer people registered and fewer people that finished the 87 mile course.

I have already signed up for A2A 2018 - so I'll be back again next year, hopefully with a sub-6hr finishing time.  :-)

DIY energy drink/gels

So...  I've been curious about making my own energy gels for some time now.  There are numerous recipes on the interwebs to do it.  But I recently stumbled onto a product called UCAN that a lot of ultra runners use.  And then stumbled onto a great article and recipe here: http://theplantedrunner.com/tag/cornstarch-endurance-fuel/.  I recommend reading Claire's article on the background for using starch as an endurance fuel (scroll down the page to the oldest article.)  It's a quick read, and very interesting.

It took a couple tries to get my version of the recipe right, and I'm still working on it.  But I have my own "chocolate fudge" recipe that I tried this weekend.  It turned out pretty good!  My goal was to have something that was nutritionally similar to Vanilla Gu (which is what I usually have on long runs/skates).  I also wanted to add protein to it, and increase the caffeine.  Unlike Claire's version, I wanted to add sugar to mine (instead of Stevia) so that I could make it more calorie dense.

During the skate, it was a little tough to get it out of the bottle.  I had to squeeze & suck a lot harder than I wanted to.  (Insert dirty joke here you perverts!)  Halfway through my skate, I added a little more water to the bottle and the consistency was much better.  So the next batch I will probably use a full cup of water and see how that goes.  I'd also like to find some Morton's Lite Salt, so that I can just measure that instead of separately measuring table salt and 'NoSalt' for the sodium and potassium.  Anyway, here's the recipe if you want to try it!

Mark’s DIY UCAN – Chocolate Fudge

Liquid starch-based fuel that is an alternative to gels or chews.  Recipe makes roughly 16oz and is nutritionally the equivalent of around 10 gels.  The amount of water can be adjusted to make the consistency thicker or thinner.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups Argo corn starch (https://www.amazon.com/Argo-100-Pure-Corn-Starch/dp/B00JPT9BFW)
• 2 scoops Dymatize Chocolate Fudge Whey Protein (https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/dym/elite.html)
• 3 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate cocoa powder (https://www.amazon.com/HERSHEYS-SPECIAL-DARK-Cocoa-Ounce/dp/B00J50PJUM)
• 1 g (~ 3/16 tsp) table salt
• 1.3 g (~ 3/16 tsp) “No Salt” (https://www.amazon.com/NoSalt-Sodium-Free-Salt-11-ounce/dp/B019G3FI7G)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 4 "Motivation" Herbal Caffeine capsule (https://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Caffeine-Vitamin-Supplement-Capsules/dp/B00C5U96FI/)
• ¾ cup water – can adjust more or less, depending on preferred thickness

Instructions

• Mix all dry ingredients except water in a small measuring cup with a spout.
• Slowly add enough water to your desired thickness.
• Stir thoroughly and pour into a small running bottle.
• Shake before drinking.

Notes

• 1056 calories, 204.4g carbs, 51g protein, 5.5g fat, 640mg sodium, 495mg potassium, 400mg caffeine
• Based on absorbing 60g glucose/hr, entire amount could be consumed in 3 hours (or more)
• About 25% of the energy comes from protein.  Research I found online seemed to indicate 15-33% was okay.
• Most of the carbs are from glucose.  Only 12% are from glucose.  Ideally 33% of the carbs would be glucose.

I'd like to play with some more flavors - I may experiment a bit with a lemon flavor like Claire has on her page.  The chocolate tastes great, but I'm sure I would get sick of it after 7-8 hours.  I do plan on using this at Athens to Atlanta this year.

If you try it, or have ideas to change/improve it, please let me know!  :-)

Training Update!

Well, ideally I would have had some race reports over the summer...  But I unfortunately had another sciatica flare-up that knocked me back for a few months.  I had to cancel a 50k trail race (Wicked Grit) as well as a Toughest Mudder race that I had signed up for.  But I'm feeling better now, and gearing up for my fall events.  I'm slowing ramping up my trail miles (did 15 last week - next long run will be 18 miles).  I'm also ramping up my skating miles in preparation for Athens to Atlanta in a couple weeks.  (48 miles today!)

I started going to physical therapy to address the muscle imbalance that's contributing to the sciatica.  I'm going to do a running gait analysis this week (on my birthday) to see what I can do to correct any imbalance there.  The goal now is to reduce the chance for injury going forward.
Every time I've gotten injured in the past 10 years, my weight has gotten out of control.  Last year, I lost 40 pounds to finally get back into racing shape, only to get injured again.  You can see on the charts below, that my weight and body fat percentage started going up as soon as I had my flare-up back in May...


Unlike previous setbacks, I didn't let my weight get too far gone before I started exercising some discipline in my diet.  And it wasn't too long before I was maybe 90% better, so I could start running a little bit again.  So the weight is coming off again, and (more importantly) body fat % is going down.  And I'm doing it without obsessively tracking every calorie I eat - although I'm certain I'd get the weight off faster that way.  But I think I'll see if I can manage it this way a bit more first.

Upcoming events:  Dragon OCR (5k obstacle race) on Sept 30.  Athens to Atlanta (87 mile skate) October 8.  Tough Mudder Carolinas (10 mile obstacle race) on Oct 21.  Eno River Run (11 mile trail run) Oct 28.  Green Beret Challenge (5k obstacle race) Nov 11.  I'm also super-tempted to sign up for Frozen Rock 720 (12-hour trail run), but I'm not sure I'll be ready in time for that.  It might be a last-minute decision...  :-)

Further out, I have South Mountain Marathon (26-mile trail race) in January.  Umstead Marathon (26-mile trail race) at the beginning of March.  And of course Georgia Death Race (70ish mile trail race) at the end of March.  I want to get a 100-mile trail race in sometime in 2018, and eventually do the PR150 run in Puerto Rico.  (You have to have previously completed a 100-mile event to qualify.)

Race Report: Grayson Highlands 50k (May 6, 2017)

My first mountain race!

This is waaay overdue and may be shorter than other write-ups, just because the race isn't as fresh in my mind.  But what a great time!  The event was EPIC for a number of reasons:  the scenery was great, there were tons of friendly people, and barbecue at the finish.  What more can you ask for?

Anyway, I drove up to Virginia with my friend Terry the night before and stayed at an airbnb cabin about 20min from the park.  As it turns out, the cabin had no internet, and no cell phone signal.  I of course use my phone to navigate everywhere, and had neglected to download offline maps for the area ahead of time.  Terry and I left over an hour before the start of the race, to allow time for navigation mishaps - which of course we had.  Long story short - I arrived at the start line about 5 minutes before the start of the race.  We didn't even park.  I jumped out, Terry drove back to the cabin, and I made my way over to packet pick-up.

While waiting in line to grab my bib, it started snowing!  In May!  (We were pretty far up on the mountain - but still...)  I pinned my number on, and pulled out a windbreaker that was in my running pack.  By the time I got back to the start line, everyone was gone.  So I tore off down the road.  By now the wind had picked up and the icy snowing was pelting me in the face.  For a few minutes, it would have definitely been helpful to have goggles on.  Visibility was bad, but we were on a smooth, wide, paved road.  So no tripping hazards or anything like that.  The snow and wind decreased a bit as I made my way down the road and tried to catch up to the runners that had a 2-3 minute head start on me...

The first mile and a half (or so) was paved park road, and downhill.  I'm a pretty strong downhill runner (there is a technique to it) and probably passed at least 100 people before we turned onto the actual trail.  I wasn't running excessively hard, just my normal downhill gait.  At this point, people had spread out a bit, so it wasn't super crowded on the single track - but I still had to slow down a little while waiting for opportunities to pass other people in front of me.

Now that we were in the shelter of the trees (and had descended quite a bit), the temperature was noticeably warmer, so I unzipped a couple layers.  Throughout the race, I was frequently zipping or unzipping layers to adjust for the temperature changes.  In the trees, or at lower elevations, it was quite pleasant.  But if we got to an exposed area, or at higher altitudes, the temperature was quite a bit lower.  So having multiple layers I could unzip as needed turned out great.

The race director had emailed some updates leading up to the race, and one of them mentioned that there was been enough rain that we would definitely get wet on some creek crossings.  We'd also see a lot more little creeks and mud.  He wasn't joking.  The first major crossing, there was no way to avoid getting wet.  The water came up to mid-calf or so, if I remember correctly.  And it was COLD!  Like barely above freezing cold.  Like you have to watch where you're setting your feet because they've already gone numb cold.  There were several of those crossings during the race.

Of course, I started off trying to keep my feet as dry as possible.  But at a certain point you just say "screw it".  They'd dry out for a while, then get wet again.  I'm happy to say that I didn't have any blisters, though, thanks to another tip from the RD:  Two Toms Sport Shield.  It's a silicone-based lube to prevent chafing, etc.  I put a bunch of that on my toes.  I also had my trusty Ezeefit booties on to protect my heels & ankles.

Anyway, the course was mildly technical - nothing I wasn't prepared for.  VERY scenic.  The most technically challenging parts were several rocky downhills.  I made up a lot of time on those, but a misstep could have been disastrous.  But I still had fresh legs at those points, and you have to trust your training that you're not going to trip.

The RD was out running parts of the course and I actually got to run with him for a mile or two.  As luck would have it, we passed some of the famous Grayson Highlands Ponies  and he got a picture of me with them.  He wasn't actually running the race - just going from section to section checking the flagging and such.  So I wasn't with him for long.  He did mention that the first 20 miles are intended to be scenic and relatively easy, but the last 10 miles are tough.  So that was good to know.

Everything was fairly uneventful and I eventually made it to the mile 17 aid station, which is also the mile 25 aid station (with an out-and-back in between).  I quickly refilled my pack, grabbed some food, and got back on the course.

Now at the time, I couldn't remember how far out I had to go before I would reach the turnaround point.  I didn't think it was too far.  (It was *only* 4 miles.)  But of course fatigue is starting to set in, and the course is getting hillier, so it seemed a lot farther.  Anyway, at one point, I see someone coming the other way - the person in first place.  We waved to each other, and I wondered how many more people I'd see before I got to the turnaround.

Minutes passed.  Many minutes.  And I didn't see anyone else.  Again, I didn't know how far away the turnaround was.  And I wasn't sure where I was in terms of my placement.  I had passed a bunch of people.  Surely I wasn't in second place?  But more time passed and I didn't see anyone...  Finally, I *did* start to see other runners, but they were waaaay behind the front runner.  If he didn't make a mistake, he would win by a very comfortable margin.

Anyway, I started counting the people I saw coming the other way, so that I would know how many people were ahead of me.  There's a pretty long gradual climb on another park road to get to the turnaround.  It seemed to go on forever.  By the time I reached the turnaround, I think I had counted around 41-42 people ahead of me.  A couple more people passed me at the turnaround while I was refilling, but I got back out there as quickly as I could.

I re-passed a few people on the paved road descent.  One the trail section getting back to the final (mile 25) aid station, one woman and I passed each other a few times.  I'd pass on the downhills, she'd pass me on the climbs.  (She obviously had fresher legs than me at this point.)  But I had a pretty good lead on her when I got to the aid station.  Another quick refill, grabbed some food, and started on the final leg of the race.

There was a LOT of climbing in the final 5-6 miles.  A LOT.  I didn't see anyone else except for the same woman I saw before the last aid station.  We passed each other a couple times again, then she started increasing her lead on me.  (There weren't enough downhills for me to make up any ground - it was mostly climbing.)  She was in sight most of the time, but I couldn't close the gap.

I was running (slowly) at about mile 28-29 when I heard a bunch of noise.  I rounded a turn and saw the finish line clock!  I didn't think I was that close...  As it turns out, I wasn't.  As I got closer, a volunteer yelled "two more miles" and pointed me toward a turn that would take me out on a small loop before I'd get to the finish line.  Now that's just mean...  But I should have known.  This is the same RD that does Georgia Death Race and he has a similar "tease" at the end of that one too.


The last two miles were uneventful.  I got back and crossed the finish line - all smiles.  I survived my first mountain race, and actually felt pretty good.  I got some barbecue, but didn't stick around long because it started snowing again.  So it was back to the cabin to get warmed up and cleaned up!

My official time was 6:14:12.  39th place out of 177 finishers.  (189 started.)  33rd out of 133 men.  13th out of 40 for men 40-49.  Not bad!

Some pictures:
http://www.werunracephotos.com/Event-Favorites/2016-11/Run-Bum-Tour-Races/Mark-Siberts-Favorites/n-MD27Sg/

http://www.werunracephotos.com/Run-Bum-Tours-Races/2017-Races/2017-Grayson-Highlands-50k/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1541340556115474/permalink/1882676798648513/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1541340556115474/permalink/1883007635282096/

Video:
https://vimeo.com/217499157 (can see me for 1/2 second at 1:35)

https://quik.gopro.com/v/GjDxE1aZQL/

Event results:
https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=38827#id1171850

Route:
https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7028111/grayson-highlands-50k-trail-race