I have been wanting to sign up for a 5k for the past few months so I could attempt to break 20 minutes, a goal I've had since last year. The Greensboro Gobbler presented itself so Hannah and I signed up the day before. Now I had done zero speed work since my marathon (didn't really do speed work for that either), so I was a little concerned about actually making it under 20 minutes. My plan was to go all out and just push the entire time and see what happens. I felt like the past 5k attempt almost a year ago was to planned out and my plan ended up backfiring on me.
The morning came with sub-freezing temps but some bright sun. I was decked out in tights, gloves, beanie, and two long sleeve shirts, which kept me comfortable in the 22 degree temperatures. Not really my ideal wardrobe for setting a PR. Hannah and I warmed up for the last 15 minutes before the run and my legs felt good. I took a spot at the front as to not get stuck in traffic and soon we were off. I put on the gas and by the first turn I was starting to feel like I may have gone out to fast as I was starting to get passed a bit more. I focused on the shoulders of the guy in front of me and just tried to hold on. I crossed the first mile marker in 5:58! This was obviously a bit too fast for me and I kept hoping I could at least use the fast start to my advantage and run a typical 6:30 for me to get to the 2nd mile marker by 12:30, a split I felt I must get to keep the goal alive. The course was a bit more uphill at this point and I made an effort to keep pushing. My breathing was heavy but my legs kept rolling and by the time I made it to the 2nd mile marker I split at 12:31. I knew the goal was in play still, but I could see that the course was about to go up some major hills. I hit the hill and pushed harder and passed 4 people on the first pitch. As the first hill flattened out I was passed back by two, but the last .3 miles were uphill as well and I made a push again. I was inhaling and exhaling on each step and just put my head down and pushed. I hit the 3 mile marker and I was at 19:04. I knew that I would get sub 20 now and I began to back off, but someone tried to pass me and I couldn't let that happened. I put the hammer down, passed 3 people in the last 100 meters and crossed the line in 19:42!
I had made my goal and came in 34th place overall and 4th in my age group. I was pumped, but I immediately headed back to the finish line to see Hannah come in who was also trying to PR. Her goal was to run 23 minutes flat, which would be a PR by 30 seconds. It happens though that she came in well before that and crossed the line 21:31 for an almost 2 minute PR at the 5k! She also ended up taking 1st in her age group! I've got one talented wife! She is hoping to take that speed into her half marathon next weekend for another PR.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Exploring the Creek.....area
Ever since Peak to Creek, I've been longing to get out and explore some more trails in the Wilson Creek Area and in Pisgah around Steels Creek. The past two weekends I got to do just that. I was thoroughly impressed with all the runs I had out there during the past two weekends and I'm looking forward to getting back out there to explore some more unkown trails, especially considering how close I live to there now (less than 50 min). Below are run reports from each trip.
Table Rock Scope Out Route
I met up with Den, Phyllis, and Mark to check out a potential course route for a future trail race coming up next year. Mark and I had talked it over and now was a chance to cover all of the course except the first 3 miles.
We started at the top of Craig Creek Rd and began our warmup jog of 4.5 miles to our first turn. This stretch on Craig Creek Rd was beautiful. Although just gravel, I really enjoyed it as it gently climbed alongside a small creek and then ramped up the grade the last mile or so to the turn off, weaving in and out of small drainages.
We then turned on FS 198, a less maintained gravel rd that one could consider a double track since most of it had a nice grass median up the middle. The views toward Brown Mountain and out onto the Catawba valley where very nice and the grade was gentle. We found ourselves running more of this road than we anticipated. After about 3 miles, we finally hit the Mountains-to-sea trail and would follow it for most of the remainder of our run. This section of the MST is one of my favorites! It is all runnable and follows and old road bed from years gone by. It bends and turns through coves and is a joy to run. But soon, you have to cross Upper Creek and then it gets real. The next 1.25 miles is about a 900' climb back up to NC 181. We all just settled into a hike and before we knew it, it was over.
After refilling our bottles from Den's water drop, it was time to tackle a brand new section of the MST for me, the Steels Creek Trail. I've heard a ton of good things about this trail from friends and I finally got to see it for myself. The trail starts off very similar to what you just got off of, with it following an old road bed. You cross a few cold streams, but it is nice to cool off the feet sometimes. Soon, it turns to a lush single track that hugs the cliff down to the creek and follows it for the rest of its journey. If you look over towards the creek you could catch a glimpse of numerous waterfalls trickling down the mountain. Some were quite large and I would have loved to get a closer view, but the big mileage of the day did not dictate it.
At the bottom of this trail, I rolled my ankle pretty good and the rest of the day became pretty painful. I still had about 15 miles to go as well and a huge climb up to the top of Table Rock. The climb went well with it being about third running, a third walking, and a third crawling. Man that mountain is steep! We took a few photos from the top and started our way back down the leaf strewn MST to cross back over Steels Creek and finish on a FS rd back to the car. I was running funny back down due to the ankle and was ready to get onto the gravel so I could start running normal again. Phyllis decided to get some actual running in once we hit the gravel road to get away from us smelly men and beat us all back to the car.
At the end of the day, we traveled 29 miles, climbed 8000ft and enjoyed the immense beauty of the creek and the gorge. On a sad note, just 3 days after our summit of Table Rock, some idiot let a camp fire get out of hand and today more than 2000 acres of the gorge, including the route we took to the top is burned and still burning.
Weekend of Waterfalls New and Old
Due to the gorge being on fire, I decided to explore some more trails I hadn't previously been on in the Wilson Creek area. One of those is called the Greentown Shortcut trail that apparently leads to a waterfall. I convinced Tom to join me on the exploration and we got started on a foggy Saturday afternoon.
We parked the car about a mile down Craig Creek Rd and began our ascent up FS 197 that was following Upper Creek for a 1.5 miles before it ends and the trail begins. The first mile of the trail was easy enough, but soon the trail got tighter, steeper, and more slippier. It had rained the night before and the leaf coverage was a ton, so grip was little to none. Oh, and this trail was on the side of a cliff. We got turned around a couple of times on this unmarked trail, but soon found our way after a lot of hard power hiking and sliding. Once you cross a small stream emptying into Upper Creek, you follow it up steam a couple hundred yards until you come to a massive mossy surine cliff with boulders strewn all around at its base. The water trickles over the cliff and dives about 40' onto the boulders below and then squeezes and drops it way through those. This waterfall, called Burnthouse Branch Falls had both Tom and I in awe. It was well worth the hard climb to get to.
From the waterfall, the trail ends (I think) and we just decided to bushwhack up the mountain about a quarter of a mile to intersect the MST, which we did after some more power hiking and sliding. Once on the trail, it was sweet relief to know that we could actually run almost the entire rest of our planned route. Because of the fog, I abandoned the idea of summiting Chestnut Mountain and decided to show Tom South Harper Creek Falls as well. We enjoyed our jog over to the view of the falls and then soaked in another amazing feature of the Wilson Creek area. Nothing quite like viewing a 200'+ sliding falls, from a perched up 300' cliff. Good times, good views.
We decided to take FS 198 back (same as week before) and I really enjoyed the views going down the road as to compared to going up it like last week. I really like this stretch and plan to implement it a lot into future runs. Still got to summit Chestnut Mountain that there is a clear trail to that isn't on the map. Love exploring unmapped trails and penciling them into the map.
The next day, since the church Hannah and visited was so close by, I made another trip into the Wilson Creek area. This time I check out the Pine Ridge Trail. This trail starts right behind the visitor center and it was a beauty. It climbs steadily for the first couple of miles on pristine and smooth single track. I imagine the views were nice from the trail, but the fog wasn't letting me see any of that. The trail soon begins to follow and old road bed similar to the MST between 181 and South Harper Creek Falls. It was a nice gentle descent as it was looping me back to the car. But soon, it falls off the face of the planet on a tight single track beside a small tributary stream and dumps you out onto the MST.
Since I was so close to Harper Creek Falls, I decided a nice side trip out to it was in order so headed on over. I wasn't expecting to see anyone there due to the crummy weather, but I guess some dare devil kayakers had the same thing in mind. As I arrived, two kayakers were climbing up the falls to attempt to head down them. I couldn't help but stay and watch and found a nice rock and waited for the kayaker to take his plunge. It took awhile, but the dude did it and it was awesome. I gave him a wheehewww!!!! before I took off and tried to warm myself back up. The rain was really picking up, but I enjoyed the cool feeling of the rain and it made me run faster.
After getting dumped back onto Brown Mountain Beach Rd, I high taled it the next 2 miles back to the car and my exploration weekend of the Creek was done. Looking forward to the next few weeks to get out there and do some more exploring.
Table Rock Scope Out Route
I met up with Den, Phyllis, and Mark to check out a potential course route for a future trail race coming up next year. Mark and I had talked it over and now was a chance to cover all of the course except the first 3 miles.
We started at the top of Craig Creek Rd and began our warmup jog of 4.5 miles to our first turn. This stretch on Craig Creek Rd was beautiful. Although just gravel, I really enjoyed it as it gently climbed alongside a small creek and then ramped up the grade the last mile or so to the turn off, weaving in and out of small drainages.
We then turned on FS 198, a less maintained gravel rd that one could consider a double track since most of it had a nice grass median up the middle. The views toward Brown Mountain and out onto the Catawba valley where very nice and the grade was gentle. We found ourselves running more of this road than we anticipated. After about 3 miles, we finally hit the Mountains-to-sea trail and would follow it for most of the remainder of our run. This section of the MST is one of my favorites! It is all runnable and follows and old road bed from years gone by. It bends and turns through coves and is a joy to run. But soon, you have to cross Upper Creek and then it gets real. The next 1.25 miles is about a 900' climb back up to NC 181. We all just settled into a hike and before we knew it, it was over.
After refilling our bottles from Den's water drop, it was time to tackle a brand new section of the MST for me, the Steels Creek Trail. I've heard a ton of good things about this trail from friends and I finally got to see it for myself. The trail starts off very similar to what you just got off of, with it following an old road bed. You cross a few cold streams, but it is nice to cool off the feet sometimes. Soon, it turns to a lush single track that hugs the cliff down to the creek and follows it for the rest of its journey. If you look over towards the creek you could catch a glimpse of numerous waterfalls trickling down the mountain. Some were quite large and I would have loved to get a closer view, but the big mileage of the day did not dictate it.
At the bottom of this trail, I rolled my ankle pretty good and the rest of the day became pretty painful. I still had about 15 miles to go as well and a huge climb up to the top of Table Rock. The climb went well with it being about third running, a third walking, and a third crawling. Man that mountain is steep! We took a few photos from the top and started our way back down the leaf strewn MST to cross back over Steels Creek and finish on a FS rd back to the car. I was running funny back down due to the ankle and was ready to get onto the gravel so I could start running normal again. Phyllis decided to get some actual running in once we hit the gravel road to get away from us smelly men and beat us all back to the car.
At the end of the day, we traveled 29 miles, climbed 8000ft and enjoyed the immense beauty of the creek and the gorge. On a sad note, just 3 days after our summit of Table Rock, some idiot let a camp fire get out of hand and today more than 2000 acres of the gorge, including the route we took to the top is burned and still burning.
Weekend of Waterfalls New and Old
Due to the gorge being on fire, I decided to explore some more trails I hadn't previously been on in the Wilson Creek area. One of those is called the Greentown Shortcut trail that apparently leads to a waterfall. I convinced Tom to join me on the exploration and we got started on a foggy Saturday afternoon.
We parked the car about a mile down Craig Creek Rd and began our ascent up FS 197 that was following Upper Creek for a 1.5 miles before it ends and the trail begins. The first mile of the trail was easy enough, but soon the trail got tighter, steeper, and more slippier. It had rained the night before and the leaf coverage was a ton, so grip was little to none. Oh, and this trail was on the side of a cliff. We got turned around a couple of times on this unmarked trail, but soon found our way after a lot of hard power hiking and sliding. Once you cross a small stream emptying into Upper Creek, you follow it up steam a couple hundred yards until you come to a massive mossy surine cliff with boulders strewn all around at its base. The water trickles over the cliff and dives about 40' onto the boulders below and then squeezes and drops it way through those. This waterfall, called Burnthouse Branch Falls had both Tom and I in awe. It was well worth the hard climb to get to.
From the waterfall, the trail ends (I think) and we just decided to bushwhack up the mountain about a quarter of a mile to intersect the MST, which we did after some more power hiking and sliding. Once on the trail, it was sweet relief to know that we could actually run almost the entire rest of our planned route. Because of the fog, I abandoned the idea of summiting Chestnut Mountain and decided to show Tom South Harper Creek Falls as well. We enjoyed our jog over to the view of the falls and then soaked in another amazing feature of the Wilson Creek area. Nothing quite like viewing a 200'+ sliding falls, from a perched up 300' cliff. Good times, good views.
We decided to take FS 198 back (same as week before) and I really enjoyed the views going down the road as to compared to going up it like last week. I really like this stretch and plan to implement it a lot into future runs. Still got to summit Chestnut Mountain that there is a clear trail to that isn't on the map. Love exploring unmapped trails and penciling them into the map.
The next day, since the church Hannah and visited was so close by, I made another trip into the Wilson Creek area. This time I check out the Pine Ridge Trail. This trail starts right behind the visitor center and it was a beauty. It climbs steadily for the first couple of miles on pristine and smooth single track. I imagine the views were nice from the trail, but the fog wasn't letting me see any of that. The trail soon begins to follow and old road bed similar to the MST between 181 and South Harper Creek Falls. It was a nice gentle descent as it was looping me back to the car. But soon, it falls off the face of the planet on a tight single track beside a small tributary stream and dumps you out onto the MST.
Since I was so close to Harper Creek Falls, I decided a nice side trip out to it was in order so headed on over. I wasn't expecting to see anyone there due to the crummy weather, but I guess some dare devil kayakers had the same thing in mind. As I arrived, two kayakers were climbing up the falls to attempt to head down them. I couldn't help but stay and watch and found a nice rock and waited for the kayaker to take his plunge. It took awhile, but the dude did it and it was awesome. I gave him a wheehewww!!!! before I took off and tried to warm myself back up. The rain was really picking up, but I enjoyed the cool feeling of the rain and it made me run faster.
After getting dumped back onto Brown Mountain Beach Rd, I high taled it the next 2 miles back to the car and my exploration weekend of the Creek was done. Looking forward to the next few weeks to get out there and do some more exploring.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Peak To Creek Marathon Report
It only took 6 years, but I finally ran my first "road" marathon. I couldn't think of a better marathon for me to run than Peak to Creek, a mostly gravel, scenic route through the Pisgah National Forest in the mountains of North Carolina. I've been eying this one for quite awhile and finally decided to attempt it this year. This would also be the first marathon for my brother in law, Tom.
The day came quickly and I was feeling a little nervous about achieving my original goal of sub 3:05, especially since training wasn't ideal. Therefore I made a secondary goal of at least running under 3:20, but would still make an effort for the 3:05, reassessing that goal during the run as to what felt comfortable.
Hannah dropped Tom and I off at the start to a clear, but extremely chilly morning. It wasn't long before we were off, everyone trying to warm up as we traveled the winding paved road through beautiful multicolored views of the high mountains and hills of western North Carolina. I bumped into a few friends and acquaintances while trying to hit the planned 7:25 pace on this first 6 mile section. There is a spot on this section that opens up to grand views of the Roan Highlands and I couldn't help but think that is where I should be, high up on the AT. I snapped back to the race at hand though and realized that at least I was on the most beautiful road marathon I could think of and was about to hit gravel for the most of the remaining 20 miles, just another reason why I chose this marathon over others.
I hit the gravel road at mile 6 right on pace schedule. I decided to try and stay relaxed for the first 2 miles down to the first aid station where I would drop my extra shirt and ear warmers, but hoped to stay on the targeted pace of 6:45 for this long 9 mile downhill section. I ended up hitting the aid station 1 minute behind, but wasn't too worried. I began to pick up the effort a little to try and sneak it in under the 7 minute mark. I felt like I was running fairly quickly, but by the time I hit the half marathon mark I was already 4 minutes behind planned pace. I don't really know how this happened, but my hamstrings were beginning to start feeling tight, so I decided to abandon the 3:05 goal and switched to trying to go under 3:15.
I made it the turnaround in Edgemont at the bottom of the hill with 10.5 miles to go and plenty of time to reach the goal 3:15 if I could average 7:30 for the last 10 miles of this flat section. I began picking off runners over the first 3 miles of this section and was hitting or going under 7:30 for each mile and it felt comfortable. But around mile 19 my stomach started to feel off and I believe that started my slow down in pace. I wasn't exactly sure of my splits during this section, but it felt very long between each mile marker. I tried to hold off the inevitable pit stop for as long as I could, but somewhere around mile 23 I could wait no longer.
The stop cost me about 3 minutes. As soon as I was back on course, I picked up the pace to try and make up some of the time and not having to worry about my stomach, it felt a lot easier to go faster. I started passing many of the runners that had gotten in front of me during my pit stop, but the miles were still seeming to come very slowly. Near the end the goal of 3:15 was looking unlikely, but I kept pushing to squeeze under the minimum goal of 3:20.
Soon the surface changed back to asphalt and I spotted Hannah and Michael cheering me on. I was near the finish and I picked it up some more. Then at the entrance of the campground loop I saw Mad A! That really got me pumped to bring it in strong as I was not expecting him to be there at all. I made it past the turn to head back to finish and saw someone in front of me and couldn't help but try and reel him in before the finish, so I picked it up even more. I got by him with about 100 yards to go and crossed the finish line in 3:18:35. I was spent and just stopped as I stepped down on the finish mat.
I am very happy with my time, although I still think of what could have been if training would have been better and if I could solve my stomach issues during runs. I gave it the best I had on the day though and still came in under my minimum goal. Tom really killed it as he ran his first marathon ever in 3:29:08!
I will say this as a final note. Road marathons freakin' hurt!
The day came quickly and I was feeling a little nervous about achieving my original goal of sub 3:05, especially since training wasn't ideal. Therefore I made a secondary goal of at least running under 3:20, but would still make an effort for the 3:05, reassessing that goal during the run as to what felt comfortable.
Hannah dropped Tom and I off at the start to a clear, but extremely chilly morning. It wasn't long before we were off, everyone trying to warm up as we traveled the winding paved road through beautiful multicolored views of the high mountains and hills of western North Carolina. I bumped into a few friends and acquaintances while trying to hit the planned 7:25 pace on this first 6 mile section. There is a spot on this section that opens up to grand views of the Roan Highlands and I couldn't help but think that is where I should be, high up on the AT. I snapped back to the race at hand though and realized that at least I was on the most beautiful road marathon I could think of and was about to hit gravel for the most of the remaining 20 miles, just another reason why I chose this marathon over others.
I hit the gravel road at mile 6 right on pace schedule. I decided to try and stay relaxed for the first 2 miles down to the first aid station where I would drop my extra shirt and ear warmers, but hoped to stay on the targeted pace of 6:45 for this long 9 mile downhill section. I ended up hitting the aid station 1 minute behind, but wasn't too worried. I began to pick up the effort a little to try and sneak it in under the 7 minute mark. I felt like I was running fairly quickly, but by the time I hit the half marathon mark I was already 4 minutes behind planned pace. I don't really know how this happened, but my hamstrings were beginning to start feeling tight, so I decided to abandon the 3:05 goal and switched to trying to go under 3:15.
I made it the turnaround in Edgemont at the bottom of the hill with 10.5 miles to go and plenty of time to reach the goal 3:15 if I could average 7:30 for the last 10 miles of this flat section. I began picking off runners over the first 3 miles of this section and was hitting or going under 7:30 for each mile and it felt comfortable. But around mile 19 my stomach started to feel off and I believe that started my slow down in pace. I wasn't exactly sure of my splits during this section, but it felt very long between each mile marker. I tried to hold off the inevitable pit stop for as long as I could, but somewhere around mile 23 I could wait no longer.
The stop cost me about 3 minutes. As soon as I was back on course, I picked up the pace to try and make up some of the time and not having to worry about my stomach, it felt a lot easier to go faster. I started passing many of the runners that had gotten in front of me during my pit stop, but the miles were still seeming to come very slowly. Near the end the goal of 3:15 was looking unlikely, but I kept pushing to squeeze under the minimum goal of 3:20.
Soon the surface changed back to asphalt and I spotted Hannah and Michael cheering me on. I was near the finish and I picked it up some more. Then at the entrance of the campground loop I saw Mad A! That really got me pumped to bring it in strong as I was not expecting him to be there at all. I made it past the turn to head back to finish and saw someone in front of me and couldn't help but try and reel him in before the finish, so I picked it up even more. I got by him with about 100 yards to go and crossed the finish line in 3:18:35. I was spent and just stopped as I stepped down on the finish mat.
I am very happy with my time, although I still think of what could have been if training would have been better and if I could solve my stomach issues during runs. I gave it the best I had on the day though and still came in under my minimum goal. Tom really killed it as he ran his first marathon ever in 3:29:08!
I will say this as a final note. Road marathons freakin' hurt!
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