The morning started off way to early with me having to get up at 6 am (which is early for me, haha) to get ready to drive 40 minutes down the road to the beautiful rolling trails of the Overmountain Victory Trail along the banks of the Kerr Scott Reservoir in Wilkesboro, NC. This was the inaugural running of this race and it looked to be a great one! After reading the weather forecast for this morning, the temps looked like they would be perfect for shorts and a t-shirt. But once I got to the packet pick up at 7:20, it was still 32 degrees and I was freezing, just waiting to start the race and get my body warmed up.
After listening to the pre-race talk, informing us that the race would actually be 17.25 miles, not the 25K (15.53 m) advertised I couldn't wait to go. This didn't bother me, since I knew going into the run that this would be the correct distance. So, right before the start, I shed my fleece and toed the line ready to get going.
I probably took off a little to fast as I discovered that I was in first place after the first 3 miles, but I felt pretty comfortable and stayed in a comfortable, but still hard pace to the turn around in 2:06. I had one guy on my heels the whole way to the turn around which helped me give myself that push that I needed. We stayed close behind the lead group by about 30 seconds until the turnaround but I soon lost sight of them and the guy (Jose) following close by fell back and I was alone for the last 7 miles of the race. I asked him what happened after the race and he said his knees started to give out on him. He still ran a great race for him being a road runner at heart. So, I was in third place with no one around me and decided to run smart from there until the 2 miles left aid station to kick it in to high gear and try and catch the lead group. But, my legs just couldn't muster up the steam on what is probably the toughest part of the course. Oh well, I new I had 3rd place in the bag and was completely satisfied with my run in 2:16:47!
After the race I hung out and met some pretty cool people while waiting for the awards ceremony. This race was great, and I would definitely recommend it to anybody looking for a fast trail race or a beginner trail race. The course only had about 1,700 ft of gain over 17.25 miles, so not to hard. Just a lot of rolling hills! Check out the garmin report here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/56539787
Brandon
where was the main picture of this post taken?
ReplyDeleteMy picture for my blog was taken on the AT in the Grayson Highlands. This was not a view point in the OVT race.
ReplyDelete