Linville Gorge Madness Marathon Reflection

First off, I am still planning on running the New River Half Marathon in 2 weeks, but "training" has fallen off the back burner due to FUN!  This doesn't mean that I haven't been putting in good miles, it is just that those miles don't fit the specificity needed for a road half.  But who cares when you are having awesome experiences in the mountains!  Everything else is secondary.

The next two post will concentrate on two back-to-back weekends that were completely awesome in different ways.

Linville Gorge Madness Marathon

The time had finally come and my second favorite run ever was here.  I got off early from work to start ironing out some final logistics for the weekend and Hannah and I were on the road to Tablerock for a fun night of camping.  I had made all the necessary purchases, printing and laminated maps and directions, and packed up my order of shirts to commemorate the run.

Hannah and I made it up to a near empty parking lot at Tablerock around 5:45pm and began to set up camp, collect firewood, and take short hike over the Chimneys.  On our return from the stunning vistas and dramatic cliffs less than 1/3 of a mile away I spotted a hairy black and white creature with one blue and one brown eye starring right back at me.  The beauty of this animal had halted me in my tracks and I thought to myself, "It couldn't be?"  But I knew immediately who this creature was and cried out, "LUNA!!!!"  She ran to me and I to her and soon we were joined by her fellow companions Jon and Melissa.  I hadn't seen all three of them since this summer when Hannah and I had returned home from Leadville, CO.  We began to catch up on life while eating, collecting firewood, and waiting on our other friends to join us later that night.

Slowly, the others ( Mad A, 4trunks, Lauran) began to show up, even some previously unknowns from South Carolina (Brian and Dana), and we sat around the fire talking of past adventures and speculating on future ones.  Around 10pm, everyone began to retire to their tents, or bouldering crash pads, and waited for the sun to rise to start off another epic Pisgah Nation Adventure.

We woke to clear skies and cool temperatures after a windy night near the top of the mountain.  The forecast called for crystal clear skies, highs in the upper 60's, and a slight breeze.  We couldn't ask for better weather.  All others that decided not to camp the night before soon began to show up in the parking lot before our 8:40am summit push to the start, all except one, but more on that later.  Everyone settled into a nice conversational hike up to the summit of Tablerock that would mark the start of our run.  The views from the side of the trail we already stunning.  We soon made it to the summit, took a starters photo, and soon we were off!

I was bounding down the trail alongside Jon and Jeremy all the way to the Spence Ridge trail bridge that spanned the river about 2000ft down and 3 miles from we started.  As we turned onto the Linville Gorge trail, my main thought was to not slam my leg into a tree as I did on this section of trail last year, which eventually ended my day 10 miles from the the finish last year.  This roller coaster of a trail is definitely not my favorite, but it was nice sharing it with Jeremy again this year.  However, I didn't fully escape banging into a tree, but at least this time it was a branch that about punctured into my left arm.

It wasn't long before we started ascending the beautiful and more gentle Babel Tower Trail.  I was actually even able to break into a running stride a few times during the climb when the grade got to a more reasonable 10%.  Jeremy and I soon met back up with Jon at the road as he was waiting for us to give him directions.  We cruised down the road at a decent clip and arrived at our first aid station, giddy to take our first steps onto the Rock Jock Trail.  This trail is gorgeous!  The views that you get along the trail as you hug the edge of the cliffs almost makes you forget that you've been on a 3 mile steeplechase, almost.  I mean there were a ton of downed trees, like every 50 feet, but all the other runners and myself were just mesmerized by the beauty from the trail.  After completing the steeplechase, the trail decides to give you a nice easy break, for about a quarter mile, then rewards you with climb of 700ft straight up and completely exposed to the sun.  Here I bumped into some GorgeRats and then looked behind me to see a spry Mad A running up this 30%+ grade.  Dude is ridiculous!

To be honest, I was surprised I was still ahead of Mad A at this point into the run (~13 miles).  After restashing my pack with food and water for the remainder of the run, I tried to keep up with the pace Mad A and Jon were setting on the road to Pinnacle.  I did not succede in hanging with them, but only fell behind by a couple minutes once at the summit of Pinnacle.  Then came the drop straight down to the pits of hell on the MST.  I was alone, it was getting hot, and my knee was like "Slow Down Fool!" Soon the trail leveled out for awhile and I knew I was almost to the river, then BAM, lets go straight up hill over this knob instead of going around it to the river.  I had forgotten about this climb, but I will not again.  I found a stick to help me over the hill and intended to use to help cross the river and climb Shortoff as well.

By the time I reached the river crossing I had caught back up with Jon and Adam, as they were about half way across as I plunged in.  Surprisingly, the water never came above my waist considering the heavy amount of rain the area had just received the day before.  The stick definitely helped in the crossing though.  But before I got out of the river, I made sure to go for a full submerging before I began climbing the completely exposed ridgeline the lead to the top of Shortoff Mtn.  This section was stunning, with brown grass blowing in the breeze and coming up just under my arms.  By the time we had reached the spring at the top of Shortoff, we were joined by 4trunks and Action, and my cloths were completely dry.

After filling my bottles at the spring, I was soon dropped by our group as I tried to choke down some cheese crackers.  I was only about 6 miles from the finish, so I wasn't too worried and I hoped that I would catch back up after my snack.  While crossing Shortoff, which has had some amazing trail work done recently, I finally caught back up with Jon, who had fallen off the pace set by Adam as well.  We decided to stick to together to the end and soon were dropping down to Chimney Gap to face our final grueling ascent.  I picked up another stick and began pulling myself up the ridiculously steep trail.  Looking at my watch, it looked as if we could possibly finish in under 7 hours if we were able to get to the top of the climb in 20 minutes.  We succeeded and all we had to do was finish the last mile to the parking lot in about 15 minutes to finish under 7.  We did so in about 9 minutes, while crossing the magnificent views from the Chimneys, and back down the parking area where our crew was waiting.  My official time was 6:53:54!

After the run, we all hung out for a bit while waiting for most everyone to finish and I was informed that Abran had finally made it to the start about 2 hours behind schedule, but still managed to snag a copy of the map and directions from Hannah as they drove passed each other.  It turned out that Abran had used his Nav system and it took him to the middle of nowhere on an ATV trail.  He luckily got back to the main road and finally asked for directions at a local gas station.  What is even more awesome than that he actually made it out to run, is that he wasn't our last finisher even though he started 2 hours behind everyone else.  Dude is strong!  Of the 20 starters we only had 2 drop from the course.  That number was amazing and I was super proud of everyone who attempted this gnarly run.  It seemed like everyone had a comparable day out in the big ditch of the east.  This one was a huge success and one of the most beautiful loops out there.

Below is a slideshow of pics from various folks that ran out there.

Uwharrie Mountain Run Report!

Saturday started early at 5 AM for Hannah, my mother, and I to get ready to head down to the best organized and "fun" race I have ever run.   I took a quick shower, ate some breakfast, and then got antsy waiting on my crew to get ready.  I had a good night's rest the previous night, but I still kinda woke up in a bad mood, knowing that it would be raining at Uwharrie for the second straight year.

We left the house around 5:35 and I was trying to make it to the race as quickly as possible, but the rain just got heavier and heavier, keeping my speed to a bare minimum to avoid wrecking on the curvy back roads of Randolph County.  The forecast was for light rain in the morning, not for a torrential down pour with a few claps of thunder and lightening.  My mood was getting even worse.  As soon as we got to the shuttle area, I rushed out of the car to get to the bathroom.  My stomach was not going to cooperate with me for the second straight year it seemed.  After spending too much time in the pitch black porta-john, I had missed the shuttle and needed my crew to rush me to the start before check-in closed.  It was still pouring and my mood continued to get worse and worse.  What a "crappy" morning.  Upon arriving to the start, I was telling my crew "Let's just go home, I'm so upset right now," which Hannah responded to with a masterful tone "No we are not, your getting yourself out there right now!"  Needless to say, I got out of the car, signed in, and stood in pity under the drop bag tent with at least 20 other crazy people (not sure if they were standing in pity though).  A few of them I knew and some I knew of from WNC Trail Runner (Rick Gray, Brian Bedhun, Mike Mason, David Olsen, & Jason Smith).

About to start

At 7:00, the race director called us out from the safety of our tent to toe the line for the start.  She gave us some pre-run info, one of which was that the military was doing a training exercise and not to be alarmed by camoed soldiers carrying automatic rifles.  I finally laughed and felt my mood beginning to change a little.  On the count of "GO" we were off and on to the first big climb of the day.  I walked this hill last year, but managed to run up it quite comfortably this year, except for an extremely technical and steep 100 yard section that even the eventual winner was walking through.  At the end of the 1 mile 400ft ascent I found myself in 11th place and with only one person I could see behind me.  I thought to myself, "Not bad, your heart rate never even got close to 160 on that climb."

The first 11 miles were pretty much uneventful other than one bathroom break and a pull off to the side of the trail to empty my shoe of sand after a creek crossing (the creek crossings were deep this year, one was up to my waist).  I felt solid the whole time and was hitting my splits dead on, despite the two breaks which may have cost me a total of 5 minutes.  I mainly ran by myself from the 5 mile point to the 8 mile point and after the bathroom break at mile 8.5, I started to run with a pretty cool guy I met named Jonathan.  We were pretty much evenly paced so it worked out running together.

At the 11 mile aid station, I got caught up and he went on ahead and I couldn't catch back up with him until mile 16 on the toughest climb of the day.  The section between 11 and 15 looks pretty easy on the map, but it always kills me and I lose significant time on it every time.  Its a constant roller coaster of short ups and downs and you can never get into a rhythm.  On the climb at 16, a caught 2 more runners and found myself in 8th place.  At the 17.5 mile aid station, I passed Jonathan and was in 7th feeling strong heading into the turn around.

Coming into the turn around

Heading back out after taking care of business

 I reached the turnaround in 3:25:30 and immediately rushed to the porta-john to get rid of some more stomach issues.  I got a clif bar and a new full bottle from my crew and headed out right at 3:30, right behind Jonathan and right were I wanted to be to try and make it back in uder 7 hours.  Jonathan and I chatted some more and ran strong together until the climb again at mile 24.  He stayed close behind until the descent when I lost him.  At the base of the descent I heard someone coming up behind me and I thought it was him, but it was Anthony and he was looking strong!  The last time I had seen him was at mile 20.5 and he was heading towards the turnaround.  After he passed me, I was in 8th place and would never relinguish that spot for the rest of the day.

Coming into the 32 mile aid station.

By the time I had made it to the 32 mile aid station, my legs were feeling really heavy and I could tell I was getting noticeably weaker.  I had already dropped 7 minutes behind schedule to break the 7 hour mark.  The first 1.5 mile after the 32 mile aid station, I tried to push it to make up the time, but I was really just staying even at 7 minutes behind schedule.  At the 33.5 mile spot, I almost caught the 7th place person, but the ensuing climb that laid before us broke me and I never saw him again.  At the base of that climb, I was 10 yards away from him!  I was just completely gassed and decided that I would just try and hang on to 8th place.  My legs had no more speedy turnover in them to push the pace on the flats and definitely not enough to help me run up the hills.  I was reduced to a walk/stagger on those remaining sections.  On the final ascent 1.5 miles away from the finish, I saw the 9th place guy about 200 yards back.  I picked up the pace as much as I could tolerate and blazed down the backside to the finish in a super fast 9 minute pace (I am being totally sarcastic about the fast part).  I crossed the the line in 7:19:41 in 8th place!  Twenty minutes behind my goal, but I still placed in the top ten for my fourth straight race!  I feel pretty satisfied, and can attribute that weakness in my legs at the end to only being able to log one 30 mile long run this winter because of all the snow we've had.

Crossing the finish!

I had a great time again this year and the finisher award this year is just awesome.  Big thanks to Micahel Mahan and his son for making all of these for everyone!  I hung around after the race for about half an hour to talk to some friends and check on how they did.  I also talked to the race director about organizing a 100 miler in Uwharrie.  They said that they were really interested and for me to send them a proposed route and they would look into getting everything else together.  That would be sweet!  Thanks to all the volunteers who make this race possible, you do an outstanding job!  Also, HUGE thanks to my mother and Hannah for crewing for me for the second straight year!  They battled logistics and muddy roads to keep my bottles full and energy replenished.

Glad to be done

In parting, I really love this race,  but I think next year I might be running the Mitchell Challenge 40 instead of this one, but I will definitely at least be running the 20 next year.  This is one race that I just love being a part of, no matter what the conditions!

Check out the garmin info here: Uwharrie Mountain Run 40M

Stone Mountain State Park to Devil's Garden Overlook via MST

Wow! This week has been pretty intense for me even though my mileage and vertical gain was minuscule (50m & 7k ft). Lets just say that I want be doing 3 tempo runs in one week again. But the week did end really good even though my body wasn't feeling that great. I met up with some friends from Winston-Salem (everyone from the Hanging Rock snow run plus some new faces) and we headed up to Stone Mountain State Park to charge up the the Mountains-to-Sea trail (a.k.a. MST) from the park to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Devil's Garden Overlook and then hammer the trail back down to the cars. It would be 6 miles up and then 6 miles down.

After an hour drive and some good conversation with John, we arrived at the starting point for our 12 mile adventure. We all piled out of our cars and made final preparations with our gear and then took off. The first mile of the trail was a wide gravel road that criss-crossed a stream until you turned off the gravel and onto dirt double-track. This also marks the brutal climbing that lay before us and the first mile of it is the worse! Abran had told me last night that most of the climbing was around a 10% grade. He was right other than this first hill which was more like 25%!!! Needless to say, I was walking this section even though Abran and John kept pushing through it somehow. After the first initial climb though it was at or just above 10% the rest of the way and I was able to run the rest of the climb. I really enjoyed this climb because it was almost entirely soft double-track dirt. It helped cushion a lot of impact on the short down hill sections, which were hurting me less after Friday's blasting down Moore's Knob at Hanging Rock State Park. I could definitely tell after the first initial climb that my body still hadn't recovered from that day and it showed as Abran and John blazed by me. I was still having a great time though and the weather was perfect. After about each mile, Abran would wait up for me to catch up and then blaze on up the trail ahead of me again, which he pretty much repeated the entire day. It was fine with me because it helped me stay on the trail and have someone to run with for a little while, even if it was only about 30 seconds. Haha. With about a mile to go to the turn around, I finally mustered up enough strength to keep Abran behind and captured the moment with this picture to the left. This would be the only time today that I was taking the lead. After about two-thirds of a mile of gentle climbing we took a right onto the single-track trail that would lead us to Devil's Garden Overlook. We cruised down the trail and made it to the turn around in 1:11. But when we arrived there, we didn't see John who had been in front of us almost the entire climb. He must have missed the turn and went straight. On the way back up, we ran into the rest of the group and asked if they had seen John or Derrien. They said that they hadn't so Abran and I decided that we would make a short look for them. After about half a mile of going down the suspected trail they were on, we decided that we would go ahead and turn back to go to the car. We were sure that they would realize there mistake and would make it back ok.

The steep descent back to the car wasn't to bad because of the soft footing, but my body still did not want to respond to the demand I was placing on it so the going was quite slow. I passed a few hikers out on this beautiful day and said a quick "hello" and went on my way. All I could think about was that last hard descent down to the gravel road and how bad it was going to hurt. It didn't end up being that bad and I met Abran at the bottom and we both started waiting for everyone else to come in. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later John came cruising down the hill. We asked him what happened and sure enough he missed the turn, came back up, met Derrien, went back down the wrong trail, and then him and Derrien decided to turn around and take it home minus Devil's Garden Overlook. I think Abran's face in this picture says it all regarding our reaction to this quite humorous story.

Everyone eventually showed up and we took it back to the cars. Everyone's day was finished except mine and I contemplated not running any more. I wanted to try and get in around 22 miles today but I just didn't know if my body could take it. After about 20 minutes of eating and conversing in the parking lot I decided that I would at least go up to Wolf Rock and check it out. Apparently, Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock warranted pretty good views of the surrounding peaks and Stone Mountain. This would add about another 4.5 miles on the day for a total of 18.1. Definitely not 22 miles, but more than 13.1. So, I said my goodbye's to everyone and drove to the Wolf Rock trailhead, because it would have been another two miles of pavement otherwise.

My energy on the climb up to Wolf Rock was solid after eating quite a bit at the parking area, but the residual soreness in my legs was still there. So again, more slow going. As I reached Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock I was awarded with great views represented in these two pictures. I'm glad I decided to tack on these few extra miles. The views were worth it! Stone Mountain is so unique and the views of the Blue Ridge were outstanding.

Well, after dragging my body back to the car it was time to head back to Boone for the school year. But before school starts, I've got one more big run. The Tanawha Marathon, Half, & 50k! This is a fun run I am throwing with the WNC Trail Runner group, so if you haven't checked it out do so now and send me and RSVP if you want to join!