Pre-Pre-Race Expectations and Plans
I knew little about this race other than it has a beautiful course and almost 8000' of elevation gain. The latter piece information stood out in my mind; I live in Washington, DC and my average 10 mile run in Rock Creek Park (the most "mountainous" terrain available) gains less than 1000'. Needless to say, I had no idea how my body would respond to this much climbing.
I went into this race exactly four weeks after the National Marathon, so I felt fully healed and fit. My ultimate goal was to pace myself well and to finish in a respectable time. Basically, I didn't want to blow up 15 miles into the race.
Pre-Race
I'll admit it - I get the pre-race jitters pretty badly. The anxiety set in on Friday morning, when I felt that it was necessary to pack more running clothing than I usually wear in a week. I also packed a ton of food.
Fortunately, I did not have to make the four-hour plus trip to Promise Land on my own as I was joined by well-established ultrarunners Keith Knipling, Ragan Petrie, and Amy Lane. Keith has run Promise Land a million times and he bestowed his wisdom on the rest of us.
We arrived at Promise Land at about 7PM on Friday night to find Dr. David Horton giving the pre-race speech. I quickly assembled my tent and hurried over to grab some pizza and listen to Dr. Horton. I got there just in time to have some schwag thrown my way including a book and a Montrail T-shirt.
The rest of the night was somewhat awkward because I didn't know anyone. I resigned to my tent around 9:30PM and settled in for a restless night.
Start to AS2
My iPhone read 4:00AM. Good enough for me - I wasn't going to sleep anymore. I felt bloated and somewhat flat. What a great way to start a race! But I drank some coffee, ate a bagel, and drank some more coffee. Finally, I filled up my handheld and added 1.5 Nuun tablets. I carried a small plastic bag with a few Nuun tabs to make ward off cramping and other potential mishaps (e.g. hyponatremia).
I hate standing around, but 5:30AM came around and we were off; it happened before I even had time to think about it. I simply ran up and into the darkness. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew one thing for certain: I wasn't going to stop. I quickly "relaxed" into a pace up the hill and found myself passing those who decided to hike a bit. I felt too good to stop running, though, so I kept going.
I hit AS1 at about 30 minutes and hit the singletrack (still uphill!). I paced off of Frank Gonzalez who ended up finishing 5th, about 10 min. ahead of me. He is strong on the uphills, but man does he kill it going downhill! He made me realize that I need to work on my turnover.
Anyways, AS2 came and I grabbed some more water and a small PBJ and booked it.
AS2 to Right before Apple Orchard Falls
We really cruised for a few miles on the fire road. I love fire road now! It's so forgiving - nothing like pounding on pavement. Frank and I cruised through Sunset Fields...and then he dropped me. Apparently I need to work on my technical descents. I swear he was gone in 5 seconds. I just thought, "Hey, I don't want to die going down here. I'd rather finish the race in one piece." So, I kept a comfortable pace and just cruised the downhill, past the next AS and onto the pavement. This section was odd because my legs were feeling alright but they didn't want to go very fast - I was only able to keep about a 7:00/mile pace for the 2 road miles. Some dude was on my tail here but I dropped him as soon as we hit the trail again.
This section was nice, I just took it easy on the uphills and cruised on the downhills. Again, I need to work on my downhill skills, because I know that if I were a better downhiller, I would have taken off at least 15 minutes overall.
I felt a bit crappy going into the AS before Apple Orchard Falls, so I grabbed a bunch of food: PBJ, pretzels and something else.
Apple Orchard Falls to the Finish
The Falls were pure torture. I was trading places with this one dude (who was a really nice guy, but it's still a race) and I just tried to run as much as possible. Which wasn't much. It hurt, I'm not gonna lie.
I think I dropped that dude right before the Sunset Fields AS where I proceeded to shove as much food in my mouth as possible. At this point, I felt home free. I was stoked and just cruised the fire road and singletrack past AS1 and onto the gravel road.
There is only one thing that I have to say about the gravel road: longest 3 miles EVER.
So, I finished 6th overall in 5:18:44. I was very happy with this performance and I learned a lot about what I am capable of. (1) I'm pretty good on the uphills.
(2) I'm not quite as good on the downhills. I need to work on this.
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