Lakeside 25k Race Report

This past Saturday, I headed back down to the Piedmont to run a tune-up race for Uwharrie in 3 weeks.  The race was the inaugural running of the Lakeside 25k in Greensboro on some of my favorite trails in NC.  The run benefited Greensboro Youth Soccer and the Greensboro Trails.  After some slow sign up rate preceding the run, people finally started to commit in the last week and registered runners went from around 60 to 110 at the race start.  A pretty good amount of folks for this inaugural run.

When I heard of this race back in November, I wasn't sure I was going to run it, but as the date grew closer I couldn't pass not running it.  I had ran the loop part of the course a few times over Christmas break and fell in love with it.  It is such a beautiful section of trail and super fast at that.  I knew that I could lay down a pretty stout time during this run.  But because of the recent wintry precipitation that swung through the area earlier in the week, the trail would not be ideal for laying down a super fast time, just an average time.  That is why I wouldn't be that upset with missing my goal of running the distance in under 2 hours.

After saying some hellos to a couple of friends that were there as well, I toed the line and was ready to go.  The pace out the gate was a bit too fast for me, so I just settled into a rhythm I was comfortable with and decided just to race my race (keeping an average of 7:30-8:00 min/miles).  The trail was a mix of hard pack snow/ice and crunchy snow with some mud/dirt in occasional sun soaked parts of the trail.  Grip was minimal and made it difficult to run fast around the many short turns in the trail.  I am almost completely sure that this lack of grip attributed to a loss of about 3-5 minutes on everyone's times and maybe even more.

Throughout the first half of the race, my legs weren't feeling that great and felt pretty heavy.  They finally started to feel like they should about 8 miles into the run and this is when I started to pass people again.  I'm not sure if I get stronger the longer I get into a run (doubt it) or if the rest of the competition just starts to break down more than me the longer into a race.  No matter which it is (probably the later), I tend to pass a lot of people toward the end of runs.  When I got to the last aid station (4 miles left) I had promptly 28ish minutes to make it to the finish in under 2 hours.  That meant that I would have to average just around a 7 min/mile for probably the toughest trail in the run.  In my attempt to push my pace, I promptly busted my butt two times by once slipping on the mud and falling on my hip at the last aid station and then again by slipping on some ice on the last bridge landing on the same hip on a harder surface a mile from the finish.  I think my pride was more hurt than my body from both falls, although I would have a bruised hip and little finger for the next few days. 

After falling at the bridge, I had about 5:30 minutes to get to the finish in under 2 hours.  My hopes for a sub 2 hour finish was gone (the fastest timed mile I have ever run was just under 6 minutes on a flat track), but I still pushed it hard to at least get near the 2 hour mark.  I crossed the line at exactly 2:02:00!  I still secured 2nd in my age group (20-29) and 9th overall.  I was pretty satisfied with my run although I didn't reach my goal, but I know that I would have if the trails were not covered in snow/ice. 

This was a great race that was well organized and I will definitely be running it again in the future.  It definitely filled my expectations of a good tune-up race for Uwharrie in 3 weeks.  I hope they add a 50k option next year, which would be an even better tune-up for Uwharrie.  The trails are all single track with just enough technicality with roots in sections to make a bit challenging, but not overly challenging.  Plus, the trails are so flat that you can just bust out a super fast PR effort.  Hope to see more people out for it next year!

Inaugural Tanawha Trail Run Report

Friday, I went out to the trail to shoot some footage for the final installment of my Tanawha trail updates to send to the WNC Trail Runner group.  Conditions didn't seem like they would be that bad if we would have ran that day.  Instead, after getting back to my place in Boone, the bottom fell out and we were covered in 3 inches of snow in less than an hour! And it was forecasted to continue dumping all the way through Saturday afternoon.  Things were not looking good for the inaugural running of the Tanawha Trail Marathon, Half, & 50k.  All Friday night I was getting emails informing me that those who planned to run were bailing.  By Saturday morning, the number of committed runners dropped from 20 to 6.   I cannot blame them either, the roads to the trail were super nasty and the conditions were burly.  Only Adam Hill, Doug Blackford, Dennis Norris, Scott Williams, Allen Meyer, and myself were crazy enough to go out and face these conditions head on. 

There was no way that I would be making it out to the trail in my car, so I walked over to the Sun Inn to meet Adam and wait for Scott to come pick us up in his girlfriends all-wheel drive Subaru.  I definitely will be investing in one of those in the future.  It was a beast in the snow.  The roads made for slow going but we eventually made it out to the trail by 9:30.  I had been debating on running in my jacket or not the whole drive to the trail and eventually I decided to wear it.  A decision I would regret the first 8 miles and one I would love the last 5-6. 

We actually started the run from Holloway Mt Rd. just under the parkway instead of the official start at Price Lake.  This really didn't make for much of a mile difference (only about half a mile less) and it would keep us off the unplowed parkway. After the first initial mile on the road, Adam, Scott, and I all began to separate once on the trail.  Obviously, I was the slow one in this group and quickly fell behind the others.  I started to get into a funk during this lonesome running period.  The snow was dumping like crazy, and I was getting no grip in the 6-8 inch powdery snow.  I thought that putting on my micro-spikes would afford me better traction, which it did, but they continued to slide off my shoe when catching a root or rock.  So I was constantly stopping to adjust my spikes, still slipping all over the trail, and when I went to get a sip of water from my camel pack, the bit valve was frozen over.  All of this, including me trying to catch up with everyone else (Doug, Dennis, & Allen who started ahead of us, but a bit slower) I was hating the world and the trail.  I knew that as soon as I would catch up with Doug, Dennis, & Allen I would be in a much better mood.

After about an hour of running, neglecting my needs for calories, I finally caught Doug & Dennis.  And sure enough, my mood completely changed and I was finally ready to run for an extended period of time.  They were having the same problems with traction as I was, so at least I wasn't the only one.  It was nice running with them, and considering the conditions weren't letting up, I decided that I would run with them the rest of the day.  Soon, we caught up with Adam who waiting for us ahead (Scott had fell behind looking for his lost water bootle). We all decided to stick to together and run the trail all the way to Raven Rocks (8.5 miles in) and then hit the parkway and run the 5-6 miles back to the cars.  Everyone was pretty satisfied with this decision.  The trail past Raven Rocks gets extremely technical and would have been very dangerous in these conditions.

Before we headed down the parkway, we all tried to rehydrate and fuel up for the return trip.  It started getting really cold, especially since we were now exposed to the vicious wind on parkway.  Something we had only heard while running on the trail, which sheltered us with the thick forest and rhododendron.  There was a good 8 inches of snow on the parkway all the way back to the cars.  But at least it was all down hill from Raven Rocks.  Being exposed to the wind made me appreciate my jacket and I was glad I was wearing it.  My legs began to feel very heavy on the way down the parkway, probably due to the extra weight of the spikes and snow accumulating around my ankles.  It was just hard for me to push though and run the whole section, but I did.

Upon arrival to the cars, we noticed that Scott wasn't there and we hoped that he would follow our tracks back down the parkway.  Adam and I decided to run down to the start with Doug, Dennis, and Allen and hoped that Scott would make it back to our car by the time we came back.  Adam chose to run back, I decided to hitch a ride with Doug. 

When we got back to the car, Scott was waiting for us.  He never found his bottle, but did follow our tracks back down the parkway and was thankful for this as the rest of us were.  We all ended up running for about 3.5 hours.  We only covered about 13-14 miles during that time.  That gives you an idea about how slow going it was out there.

We all meet at Canyon's afterward and enjoyed some tasty grub and brew before parting ways back to our warm homes.  This was by far the craziest, most extreme, and most epic run of my life.  Even though it was on a section of trail I have run numerous times.  The conditions were by far the most extreme I had ever ran in.  None of us ended up doing are respective distance for the inaugural running of the Tanawha Trail Runs but we had a great time still.  Hopefully the conditions next year will be better and everyone will be able to make it out to this amazing run!

Here is a vid I put together of the run:

A little video for your viewing pleasure

I had a really great week of running last week! I got to explore some more technical and tough singe-track in the Uwharrie Mountain region of the Piedmont and head out to some of the very places that got me loving trail running. One of these places is highlighted in this video I made. It is Southwest Park, the newest member of the Guilford County Park system that borders Randleman Lake. The trails aren't the greatest in the world, but it does have a lot of up and down and can be a bit of a challenge at times. Still nothing compared to the Boone area, but the Park has a nice, very natural vibe. Hope you enjoy the video!