I often am asked why I run long trail races instead of road marathons. Although there are many answers to that question, one unique answer came to me during my run today, two days after running the Dupont Forest Trail Marathon. While I took Monday off, it wasn’t a physical necessity. As I started my run today, I immediately realized my legs felt fine. No stabbing pain in the quads, no tight calves, not even that heavy leg feeling. I ended up running about 7 miles at 6 minute pace, and it felt easy. To me, that is one very good reason for running on the trails.
During the week leading up to the race, I was a bit worried. I was fighting off a minor cold which was causing some congestion, and it took a while for my legs to feel fresh after the Monroe 10.5 mile trail race and a hike with Steph the day after. My legs finally felt good on the Friday I flew down to Hendersonville, NC and took my first run on the course. It was obvious that the access roads that make up most of the course were very runable, but it was equally obvious that the course was not flat. By the time I had gotten my Friday and Saturday runs in, I had been able to preview 14 miles of the course. I spoke with Greg Walker, the race director, on Saturday, and he mentioned that there were probably 7-8 guys that would be at the front of the race. The only person who I knew was Bryan Dayton, who has placed third at the past two 50k Trail Championships and had lived in NC prior to moving to California.
The morning of the race was pretty chilly, with a low of 37 F. As the 9:00 am start got closer, it warmed up to the upper 40’s, and I began the race with just my singlet. My hands were cold, but it was supposed to get up to 70, so I figured I would warm up as the race progressed. The first mile felt extremely slow, but I was pleased to see 5:45 as we passed the first mile marker. It was mostly downhill, so this didn’t seem too fast. A pack of 7 men formed with 3 in across the front and 4 behind. I was worried about inadvertently increasing the pace, so I stayed in the back row. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it would be a good day. I often have good days in cool, dry conditions, and I felt extremely comfortable with the pace through two miles in 11:22. It was perfect running weather, which makes me feel as if I have an extra lung.
Just after two miles, there is a moderately steep 400 meter hill. I floated up to the front without increasing my effort, and looked behind to see the pack beginning to string out a bit. I consciously gave up the lead and settled behind two other runners. Three miles passed in 17:00, and 4 in 22:30 as Scott Wolfe began to push the pace slightly for a couple miles. Around seven miles Scott had begun to fall back, and the lead group quickly was down to four of us, Chad Newton, Loic Laforet (last year’s winner), Thomas Cason, and myself. We all seemed content with the pace at 8 miles, and settled into a good rhythm. These first few miles consisted mostly of wide dirt access roads with pretty regular hills that were 400 to 800 meters long. With the exception of the first two mostly downhill miles, most miles had at least one hill. We actually ran up and down an old airstrip around the 8 mile point, which provided awesome views of the mountains.
Although my legs felt great, my stomach began to bother me as we ran around Fawn Lake at mile 10. I wanted to stop, but was annoyed that I would lose contact with the lead group. I told them that I was going to run ahead to male a pit stop, and I got about 10 seconds on them and jumped into the woods. By the time I got out, I had lost about 20 seconds to Chad and Thomas. Over the mile from 11 to 12, I reeled in them in, and it felt good to settle back into a slower race pace. Thirteen miles passed in 1:16:30 as we were hitting steady 6 minute miles over the consistently undulating terrain. Bryan Dayton, who had fallen off the pace around 8 miles, made a sudden move on a downhill in the thirteenth mile, but fell back again on the next uphill.
At this point in the race, everyone seemed to be pretty comfortable, especially Loic and Chad. The two miles from 14 to 16 consisted of climbing back up the first two miles of the race, and we would have to do this section once again from 24-26. About 1.5 miles of this section is a gradual uphill. Chad and I ran up front with Loic and Thomas right behind. I actually thanked everyone for a great run up to this point in the race, just in case we began to separate over the last few miles. I really enjoyed running with such a solid group for such an extended period. It had been so comfortable I had actually had time to enjoy the tremendous views on the course.
Soon after we passed 16 we began a slight uphill that separated Chad and I from Loic and Thomas. I was feeling good at this point, so I took the lead as we switched onto the singletrack trails. The last 10 miles of the race had some of the hardest miles on the course, with all the singletrack and a several substantial hills. As I began a half mile hill just past 18, Chad passed me and gapped me about 10 seconds. When I tried to go with him, my quads began to burn, and it was just two early in the race to be pushing that hard. I managed to keep the gap to 10 seconds as we past 19 and 20 miles, but the section from 20-22 had some sandy singletrack sections and about a mile of hills where Chad was able to increase his lead. To give you an idea of the relative difficulty of this section of the race, Chad almost caught the lead mountain biker on the hill at 18 miles, and passed him somewhere around 21. Typically, the lead biker was able to stay ahead with little effort. When the course opened up to field at 22 miles, I could see that Chad had about 30-40 seconds on me. I had to close the gap before we got to the last turn-around at 24 miles. I tried to pick up the pace as much as possible on the gradual downhill, but my legs were definitely beginning to go. When I saw Chad on his way back, it looked as though he had about a minute on me. Struggling over the mostly uphill last two miles seemed to be the theme of the day. My legs were so tired I had a hard time running the tangents and was weaving from side to side. I was surprised to see Scott Wolfe about to pass Thomas as I struggled back to the finish. He must have gone from 6th to 3rd over the last few miles.
As I stumbled across the finish in 2:36:08, I spotted Chad on the hill to my right. He looked spent, and while it would have been great to win, it pleased me to know that I had made him work for it. We spoke about the last 7 miles, and he said he didn’t want to have to run that hard for so long after he passed me, and really wanted to walk during the last two miles. I was impressed with the time he put on me over the last 4 miles, as I think we on pace for about 2:36:30 at 19.
At some point after most of my races, I wonder if I could have run faster; if I really ran as hard as I could have. After the Dupont race, I had a moment where is became clear that I had emptied the tanks during the run. As I was walking back to my car to change my shoes, I suddenly started to cry. I guess I would be embarrassed to admit this if it was some sort of emotional reaction to my race, but it wasn’t. I was neither incredibly happy nor incredibly sad about my race. I knew I was in decent shape, and it was clear over the last few miles that Chad was stronger, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was crying due to sheer exhaustion. I was relieved to be finished and my blood sugar was so low I couldn’t control my emotions. The race shirt has a biblical quote on the back:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
The shirt fits.
Ben
