2013 Uwharrie 40 Report: How I Became an Organ Donor

Below I will lay out every pain staking detail of how I became an organ donor.....if you wish not to be bored for the next 10 minutes, just read the last paragraph.

After a whirlwind of crazy circumstances on Friday afternoon, I finally made it to my mothers house, a short drive from the start of tomorrow's Uwharrie Mountain Run.  We gathered everything we needed for tomorrow's race and settled on our plans for all the logistics for the following day.  By 9:00, I was in bed and fast asleep.

The morning came quickly, but I slept well.  I drank a cup of joe and started to consume 4 mini whole wheat bagels with cream cheese (yea that is right, 4 bagels!) to fuel up for the long day ahead.  The drive over to the check in was uneventful, but I was feeling calm and confident for the day ahead.  The weather was looking to be perfect, albeit a bit cold at the start.  I checked in, said hey to some familiar faces and hopped on the bus to be shuttled over to the start.  The bus ride was probably the worst part of the day actually, since buses always make me car sick, but the ride wasn't too long.  The starting area was filled with some more familiar faces and we chatted while waiting for the race to start.  Not 5 minutes after arriving we were told to make our way to the starting area.

A little pre-race talk from the RD and then we were off.  After a short section of paved road we hit the steep rutted out double track ascent to access the Uwharrie Trail.  At the junction though, the top 7 all kept following the double track.  Thoughts buzzed through my head that I should just let them go up the wrong path and take the lead, but then I realized I'm not a d-bag, so I yelled out that they had taken the wrong turn and enjoyed my 3 minutes of being the leader until they all caught back up and passed me.  Not 15 minutes later I was in 12th.  No worries though, because I had just hit my first split in under 7:00 hour pace.

While beginning the rocky and steep descent of Horse Mtn, I began to feel a strange pain in my hip.  A pain I had felt before on an attempt to set a PR at the Bent Creek Gobbler.  My good spirits began to fade after thinking back on how that all played out and I knew that I had to do something soon or risk not even finishing the race.  I thought it over, began to shorten my stride, increase my turnover, especially on the downhills, and tried not to create too much impact on the hip.  I concentrated on my form over the rocky terrain and hoped that my mother would have some Aleve at the 8 mile aid station.  I ended up making it to the 8 mile aid faster than I had ever before in 79 minutes.  I was still well under 7 hour pace.  Luckily my mother did have some Aleve, so after I restuffed my pockets with food and grabbed a new bottle, I downed the 2 Aleve and hoped for the best.  I don't like taking medicine on runs, or period for that matter, but I didn't pay $70 to go home halfway and after experiencing severe hip pain on an earlier run, I felt it was a necessity.

The next 6 miles were like they always were,  my least favorite section of the Uwharrie Trail.  No matter when I run that section, I lose time no matter how fast and how good I think I am feeling.  By the time I had gotten to the mile 14 aid station I had lost a couple of minutes and was now more on pace for a 3:24 out, than a 3:20 which was the plan.  And the next 3 miles are not easy.  I bombed down the first descent as best I could in a manageable,  you have to run another 24 miles pace, to the bottom of the first hill I planned to walk for the day.  If you have ran Uwharrie before, you know which one I am talking about.  Once I reached the hill, I trotted the first section of the climb until it got to a grade that I felt hiking would be the better choice.  I made it over, feeling good and headed down to another dreaded section.  This section is really tight, has a lot of twist and turns, and steep little ups and downs.  In other words, it is an energy drainer and a flow killer. This was when I began to come up with a mantra to get me through this section.  Mad A suggested that I do so when the going got rough, so I did.  I tried to downplay the ridiculousness of the trail by repeating, "This is nothing, Easy".  It really worked as I was soon off that section and blowing past the 17 mile aid station.  I had lost no more time, but I was still on pace for 3:24 out.

The trail gets much more runnable here though, and you can really open things up.  My energy levels were feeling good so I started to pick up the pace a bit.  I was soon crossing by the leaders and I knew I was getting close to the turnaround.  About a mile out, I looked down at my watch and it read 3:12.  I was making up time and I eventually cruised into the turnaround at 3:20:30.  I switched out my bottles, restuffed my pockets and was out of the aid station in 20 seconds!!! I came into the aid station 9th and left in 7th place.  I was feeling extremely confident at this point and knew that I could run relaxed on the return and just stay smooth.  I was on pace to run a 6:40 and had given myself a 20 minute cushion for breaking 7 hours.  I soon passed the 6th place guy after the turn around and even with relaxing a bit I had dipped under 6:40 pace by the time I reached the 23 mile aid.

But soon enough, It was time to face the tight, slow section again, so I began to repeat the mantra as I did before, but I got a little side tracked while passing all the rest of the 40 mile and 20 mile runners heading in.  I felt strong during this section, but it must have been all the people I had to go by that slowed me down as I came to the mile 26 aid and had lost about 6 minutes.  I was now on 6:44 pace, but I wasn't too concerned.  I still had a nice cushion.  But then came the section I always lose time on.  This section just seems to drag on and on and I soon found myself at 6:50 pace when I hit the 29 mile aid.  I was feeling alright so  I began to pick up the pace and was aided by a nice gradual downhill.  I felt like I was moving well and I really wanted to have at least the same 10 minute cushion when I got to the 32 mile aid.  But after the first nice and fast 1.5 mile of this section.  It begins to follow a creek bed closely, gets real tight and technical, and then turns up the steepest hill on the entire course.  A hill so steep, I had to walk.  I grunted my way up it, and began to push again to the 32 mile aid.  Food was becoming hard to get down as well at this point.

I crossed the road, looked down at my watch and saw that I had 89 minutes to get to the turn around.  I quickly switched out bottles, restuffed my pockets with food and left the aid station with 88 minutes to get to the finish in approximately 8.2 miles.  And the last 8 is much more difficult than the first 8.  I tried to get a stinger waffle down upon leaving the aid station, but I almost threw it up when I passed by the 6th place man.  I was really trying to push the pace and the dryness of the waffle did not want to dissolve in my mouth.  I ended up only eating about 3/4 of it.  I kept the pace moving steady until I reached another hill that is better to walk shortly after you cross a wooden bridge.  I took the opportunity to down one of my gels while walking, but knowing that the taste would probably send me puking up the trail, I decided to employ a tactic of eating gels I had tried at Tanawha.  What you do is only pour out about a pill sized dab on your tongue and then just swallow it down just like a pill.  You hardly taste the thing at all.  Keep repeating until you down the whole thing.

After I reached the top of the hill, I knew that I could not walk another one if I wanted to finish in sub 7.  I hit the next aid station, downed a cup of Coke, and then took off.  I soon caught the 5th place guy and he said that he was glad to see me so he could get some motivation back.  Passing him gave me some motivation as well.  He mentioned about the chance of still getting a sub 7 time and I replied with "We are going to have to run hard and it is going to hurt."  This was exactly what Matt Kirk had told me just one week ago and it was the truth.  After I said that, I think it fired us both up, because we both began to pick up the pace substantially.  I pumped my arms hard up the rocky climb of Horse Mtn., came into the 2 mile to go aid station, grabbed another cup of Coke, and then went into straight hauling mode.  I had 22 minutes to finish the last 2.2 miles to finish in under 7 hours and there was still one more 400ft climb in front of me.  I cranked down the trail, leaping over downed trees like I was fresh and then hit the bottom of the final climb.  I began to pump the arms again and really try to get up the climb as quickly as I could, I was beginning to feel that it was in the bag but I couldn't let myself let up just yet.

I reached the top of Dark Mtn with 1 mile to go and about 9 minutes to do it in.  I began to sprint.  I threw myself down the extremely rocky section of the final descent as fast as I could, looked at my watch when I hit the bottom of it and I had 5 minutes to finish in under 7 with little under half a mile to go. And then I ran down the trail faster than I had ever ran down it before.  I felt like I was flying, I felt connected with the ground, my breathing was calm, the sharp switchbacking turns didn't even seem to slow my pace.  I yelled out once I saw the finish line one more switchback below me and I cruised into the finish line in 6:57:24.  I slammed my water bottle down in celebration.   I had ran the last mile in about 6 minutes.    I had just accomplished a goal 3 years in the making.  I had become an Organ Donor.


Passing Thoughts

Everything during this run went off almost perfectly.   I nailed my nutrition, something I have never done before.  I never really felt like I was bonking and when I started to feel a little weak I would double up on calories.  I also really got my hydration and electrolyte replacement down pat, another thing that I usually do not do well.  I think that the longest time I spent in an aid station was 30 seconds and that was the first one due to finding the Aleve that definitely alleviated my hip pain.  My mother would have all the food I would need for the next section of trail laid out on a chair and I would empty the trash from my pockets and stuff them with the new food and a new full bottle of water was ready each time with 3 salt pills in the pocket.  The whole process was seamless.  I guess 3rd times a charm.

I would really like to thank all the people that helped get me to this point as well.  For the sake of your boredom, I will just list their names only and not tell you all that they have done for me.  These aren't in any specific order by the way:  My mother, Hannah, Mad A, Matt Kirk, all of my friends in the Pisgah Nation (that helps shorten the list, it could have gotten really long), my father, the Griffiths, DART, USFS, the RD's, and God's beautiful ever evolving creation, which without I would not be running at all.

On another note, Hannah was 6th place female in the 8-miler.  Her first ever trail race and she killed it!

About to start

And we are off

coming into mile 8 aid

20 second aid stop at the mile 20 aid station

nice medal hannah

8 miles to go!

Hannah is always rockin

trying not to throw up

elated and done!

that's a good looking couple right there

Was singing this song all day in my head!  Check it!

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

Uwharrie 50k - ish

The original plan this weekend was to go run ALTAR (Art Loeb Trail Adventure Run) with the WNC trail runner group, but after being stuck in Boone with snow everywhere for the past two weeks, I placed my money on some super deep snow and icy conditions on that beautiful trail. So, I backed out and retreated to the rolling hills of the piedmont. Huge mistake considering those that did brave the suspected conditions were met with only patches of ice and snow. Since I wouldn't be running one of the most memorable runs of my life, I decided that I could still get out in Uwharrie for a solid 30 mile training run on Saturday. This would be great training for the Uwharrie Mountain Run coming up in February and would give me an extra training run on the course. So, the weekend wasn't a total loss. Hannah said that she wanted to join me a for the last 10 miles and I was all for it, knowing that by the time I would meet up with her, I would be ready for some aid and emotional support she could bring.

Saturday morning, I made the long drive down to the 109 trailhead to stash a jug of water and a couple of gels for the 8 mile and 22 mile points of my run and then headed over to the Jumping Off Rock trail head to begin 30 grueling miles in the back country of Uwharrie. Right from the start, you tackle the longest climb and high point on the course to the top of Dark Mountain. This climbs get really rocky in some sections and you start to wonder if you are still in the Piedmont while you skirt by Mountain Laurel. After running across the ridge for about a third of a mile, you descend down the back of the mountain to the 2 mile point at Tower Rd. The ascent up Horse Mt. isn't a stuff as the first, mainly because it just skirts the side before descending down to the first creek crossing at Panther Branch. The next 4 miles to the 109 trail head are a rolling mix of short ascents and descents and seems to last forever.

After 8.4 miles and 85 minutes of running I made it to 109 and promptly refilled my water bottle and chomped down on my favorite lemon-lime flavored Clif Blocks. I lingered around a bit to talk to some hikers and then called Hannah to tell here that I was running on time. I then busted it down the trail for the next rolling 6.6 miles to the turn around at the base of Dennis Mt. During this section, it had began to sleet, snow, and rain on me all the way back to the 109 trailhead. This added slipperiness to the trail was not boding well for my ankle that has been bothering me for the past 3 weeks when I go longer than 15 miles. Actually, by the time I meet up with Hannah with 1 mile to go to the 109 trail head, I was fighting the pain. Once we reached her car (~22 miles in), I sat down and begged for some food and meds. I've been weary of taking ibuprofen on a run since I read what happened to Eric Skaggs, but my ankle was literally throbbing in pain and something had to be done. I will admit, at this point I was ready to throw in the towel. Hannah encouraged me to go on and said that if the ankle started to feel even worse we could always turn around and come back to the car and cut the run short, but at least we could get a few extra miles in even if it was only two. I agreed to this plan and we took off.

About a mile in, my ankle pain disappeared (thanks to the meds) and I knew that I would make it back to the Jumping Off Rock trail head. Hannah and I ran and were trying to beat night fall, considering our pace had fallen off quite a bit due to my ankle and her unfamiliarity with the trail. Shivering, wet, and cold we finally made it back to my car and totally skipped stretching and jumped right in to crank up the heat. We had made it. I ended up with 30.1 miles of running and covered all but 5 miles of the course. Next week, I'll be heading out to run the whole course one time through for a solid 20 miles. Here is the Garmin data for the run: Uwharrie 50k - ish

A Thanksgiving Journey to the Archaic Hills of Uwharrie

For the past few years, I've made it a tradition to head out to the Birkhead Mountain Wilderness Area in the Uwharrie National Forest for a Thanksgiving morning run on one of the more challenging 7 mile trail routes that the Piedmont has to offer. Today would be no different, even though it is the middle of hunting season and the Uwharrie's are the Mecca of deer hunting in North Carolina.

The Uwharrie's are a string of ancient and most definitely dormant volcanoes that stretch through most of Montgomery and Randolph counties. They are believed to be the oldest mountain range in North America and it shows, since they have been whittled down over millions of years to mere 700 - 1000' stumps. These "mountains" are still pretty darn steep and offer some climbs of 500' or more, so it is the closest thing to actual mountain running you are going to get in the Piedmont. Actually, there is an annual 40-mile ultra held in these "mountains" that boasts a good 7,000 ft of vertical gain! That is pretty impressive.

Well, lets get on to the run. I arrived at the Robins Branch Trailhead and there were already 5 cars and trucks there. Along with one of the trucks, was a freshly cleaned deer hanging on a tree! I had thought while driving out there, "there are probably going to be some hunters," but I would have never imagined this greeting. Undeterred by the sight that laid before me, I laced up my MT 101's and took of down Hannah's Creek Trail. Not even a minute into the run I heard two gun shots of in the distance. Thoughts went racing through my head; "Am I the one being hunted", "Should I run faster", "I'm wearing orange, that should keep me safe right?" Not but a few minutes after the gun shots, I saw some bright pink ribbon tied to a branch and immediately thought, "That must be the ribbon that the hunter is using to help him find his way back to the trail." I was right, because as soon as that thought left my head, I saw the camoed, orange caped hunter stepping out of the woods. I said a quick "How ya doin'", with a cold non-response from the hunter, and headed on my way. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, because that might have "scarred away" the deer?

Anyway, after the early barrage of all things hunting, things settled down and I felt that I was deep enough in the woods that no hunter would be out this far. My logic being that it must be pretty difficult to drag a deer 3 miles out of the woods. With this sudden feeling of safety, came the hills. On all of my previous runs on this loop, I had to walk up the two big climbs of about 300 ft each. This time that would not be the case, I mean I've been running up actual mountains this fall! These big hills are dwarfs in comparison. It paid off in my time as well. I had never ran this loop in under 1:05 before, but today I ran it in 56:36. I can definitely tell that my training is paying off. I'm becoming a much stronger runner. Not necessarily faster, but definitely stronger. Well, after passing by camp sites, old homesteads, and many minor creek crossings, I was finished. Here is the Garmin data: Birkhead Moutain Loop

I really cherish this loop, because it was the first serious hike that I ever went on and it paved the way to me doing what I do now. I'm glad that when I do return back to my hometown, that I have this rugged slice of North Carolina to keep me honest in my running. I really miss the mountains though, and I'm looking forward to frolicking around in the Bent Creek area this Saturday with the good people from WNC Trailrunner! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and lets remember to be thankful for places like Uwharrie and other nature playgrounds that we get to enjoy. Gobble, Gobble!!!