Grindstone 100 - 2022 Race Report

 

Grindstone 100

        Where do I begin..... Lets start with the eloquent words describing the course from the Eco-x official website. "Grit, endurance, temporary loss of sanity. You might need all of these if you want to attempt Grindstone. If you want to finish, well, just keep in mind this is, without a doubt, the hardest 100 miler east of the 100th meridian". These words rang out so true during my first ever running of the Grindstone 100 in 2022.

Pre- Race

        My day began at 0800 on September 16th. This was race day, the day I had been preparing for for months. I had attempted to sleep in as much as physically possible because of the impending sleep deprivation that was going to be in my near future. I woke up in my comfy Marriott hotel bed, made my way downstairs to grab some breakfast then headed back up to my room. It was early in the day and the first mandatory event for the day was a 2:00 PM race briefing so I had time to kill. Wanting to be as rested as possible and staying off my feet I kicked back in the bed and watched some Netflix trying to pass the time without focusing or worrying about the pain in my near future.      

        I left my hotel around 12:00 to head to the Boy Scouts of America Camp Shenandoah campsite. This was to be the race headquarters and start line for the event. It was only about a 30 minute drive from my hotel and I grabbed a Subway sandwich on my way out there. When I arrived I started setting up my literal camp. Tents, RV's, camper vans, etc. littered the fields surrounding the camp site. I knew after the race I would crash out in my tent so I tired to prepare it the best I could. I laid everything out from food, hydration, and sleeping bag. I knew once I finished the race I would not have the energy to deal with any of this so while I had time to kill I tried to get it all set up. 

        When I made it to the 2:00 PM mandatory race briefing I realized it was not so mandatory. There was not any pertinent information put out at the meeting, very little referencing the course at all. It was mainly an event to just get everyone together and stoke the excitement in everyone about running. Some runners there had ran this race 4+ times already and at least 8+ people had ran 20 or more 100 mile races in their running careers. I always feel vastly under prepared and experienced when I am around such seasoned runners. The briefing was over by 2:30 PM and the race did not begin till 6:00 PM so I had several hours to kill. I went back to my tent to attempt to lay down and rest before the race but it was at least 85 degrees outside and in the tent with no airflow I was to hot. I was sweating a ton and not comfortable at all. I felt ridiculous sitting there sweating knowing I am about to start a 100 mile race. I gave up on the tent and just hopped into my car, cranked the A/C on and tried to get comfy. I had several hours to kill and my next time was 5:30 PM for a runner check in before the race. 

        At 5:15 PM I changed into my running shorts, shirt, shoes. I did some last minute gear checks to make sure I had everything I needed and walked over to the start line. Runner check in went quickly and there was a lot of energy in the air. There were around 300 runners, many had pacers and/or family and crews out to support them so there were several hundred people around all excited that the event was about to begin. 10 minutes before the race began we started to get corralled into the starting area. People were getting their watches ready, taking last minute pictures, and all about to undertake a massive challenge. The anticipation and energy in the air was electric. As the final seconds were counted down an adventure of lifetime was beginning. At 6:00 PM exactly we started the race. 

The Beginning 

        GO! And we were off! Except there were so many people it was a walk right off the bat as everyone got going. The walk turned into a very slow jog as we ran around the campsite headed towards the trails. The trail looped around the lake on the campsite and headed into the woods. It was immediately narrow single track trails that did not afford the option to pass anyone. At first this was a bit frustrating because we were going incredibly slow but it is a long race and I knew I should preserve my energy early on so I took the slow pace as a blessing. I knew it would not be long till it began to get dark and I would have to click on my headlamp. My goal was to take advantage of the last light as much as I could. The first aide station was around mile 5.4. I had not drank much of my water at this point and I do not think I had eaten anything either. I grabbed a quarter section of a PB&J sandwich and kept moving forward. This is where we hit a pretty steep incline. Luckily it was on a gravel road it was just extremely steep (over 15% incline) and it seemed like it went forever. It was still early on and things were going as smooth as I had hopped for. 

        It was legitimate 5 miles uphill from the first aide station to a tower on top of the mountain. In the past they had a hole punch of some sort at the mountain that you punched your bib with to prove you had peaked the mountain before turning back and heading down. This year there was no punch, or sign, or anything really. They had used pink steamers to mark the trail and the only indicator was a pink steamer tied to the fence. I was pretty confused and was looking around for the next steamer to see which way I was supposed to be running. As I wandered around confused another runner yelled out your good man, head back down the mountain. I guess that was it, just peak it and turn around and come back down. This was about 2 hours into the race and it had started getting dark and headlamps were on. From here the next 12 hours I would be running in the dark only able to see the little circle of light in front of my feet. 

        Because of it being night time and running in the dark the next 30 miles were relatively unremarkable. I could not see much around me, it was getting late and I just kept running. Coming down the mountain from the tower I do remember getting in with a line of runners (probably 10 of us) going pretty quick down the mountain. I remember thinking I was moving at an unsustainable pace and would need to drop out of this group when able but the track was so narrow it was hard to step out of the way so I just kept with them to the next aide station. This brings us to the aide station around mile 14 or so. It was a smaller aide station but I grabbed some more quick food and water and started the next climb. Like I said this was mostly a blur, I do not even recall this descent, the next big climb, or the following descent. It was just a matter of moving forward regardless of pace, time, elevation, terrain etc. Just putting one foot in front of the other in the dark going up in down mountains through the forest. Not that I remember it but I know from the map that this is the section that connects to what is called The Wild Oak Trail ( the same section of trail I had ran previously during the Martha Moats Baker 60k). I did recognize a few sections of it, specifically a turn that I had never taken before that led up the mountain.

        Somewhere around mile 40 the trails connected to a dirt road that eventually turned to a paved road as it neared the top of the mountain. In this section I had a runner running towards me. As in he had already reached the halfway turn around point and was coming back to the finish. I was at mile 40 so I guess that means he was at mile 60 and he was running fast through the trails. It was really impressive that someone could be that far ahead of me and moving so easily through the trails. This was also back to a section I recognized and had climbed during the MMB 60k. This led to the top of Reddish Knob that was another of those spots that used to have a whole punch for your race bib to indicate that you had peaked the mountain that no longer had a punch. So i peaked the mountain, looked around and realized yup I guess this is where I turn around and headed back down the mountain. From here to the turn around was all paved which was much relief to me. I ran quite a bit of it and felt good coming into the halfway point. There is something about and out and back course. When your headed out you know you are only getting farther away from your finish line but once your on your way back every single step is bringing you closer to your destination. It is motivating to hit the halfway point and head back. It was beginning to become light enough I did not need the headlamp anymore and that was sweet relief.      

        The combination of being able to see more than a foot in front of my feet under headlamp and reaching the halfway point was motivating and I was excited to keep going. I caught up with a guy in front of me named Bart. He was from the Netherlands and had traveled to America specifically to run this race. That kind of motivation is inspiring. I lived only 3.5 hours from the race start. He had to jump through many more hoops to make running this race a reality like flying across the world, hotels, rental cars, passports, etc. The sheer amount of effort put in to make a race a reality is inspiring for those that travel great distances. We chatted for a while as we worked our way back down the mountains we had climbed. I had a stronger hiking/ uphill pace than he did but he was faster on the descents than I was. We leap leapfrogged each other several times till we hit a long technical downhill and he just barreled down it was i gingerly took each step trying to preserve my feet, knees, and muscles. 

        The downhills hurt me pretty badly. I am from Virginia Beach and am a flat land runner. 100% of my runs are on flat paved ground and I go fast and steady across easy surfaces. To help prepare for Grindstone I had worked many miles on my treadmill at a 10% incline and walked/hiked for miles uphill. I think I was fairly prepared for the climbing but I had nothing to prepare me for the downhills or the technicality of the trails. They were extremely steep, rocky, and unforgiving trails. I was not prepared for them at all. I would have much rather to climbed a mountain than to go down it at this point. From miles 55-80 there was 3,634ft of elevation gained and 5,831 feet of descent. That is a ton of downhill technical running for a flat land runner that never trains on this type of environment. My legs were shot at this point and I had 2 major climbs left. I was 24 hours into the race at mile 84 and working my way up a climb. I knew it would not be long till I needed my headlamp again as the sun was setting for the second time during my run. It was somewhere in this region I ran into my only wildlife I saw the entire race. There were two guys not far in front of me that had stopped and said there was a rattlesnake on the trail. It was getting dim outside and it took me a second to spot it even with them pointing at it. One of the guys asked me if I knew what to do as if I was a snake whisper or something and I said "yeah, leave it the hell alone". One of the guys had started working his way through some bushes to go around the snake when I showed up. I just held out my trekking pole towards the snake so if it lunged at anything it would be poles and not me and walked past it. I was within the length of my poles to it so probably like 3 feet but it did not move. It just stayed coiled up rattling its tail. I did not even care, I was on a mission. One foot in front of the other till I got to the finish line and nothing was going to slow me down. Not that I was going fast at this point but I was determined to keep moving.

        The first climb was steep and technical with an equally steep and technical downhill but nothing to notable besides it seemed like it took forever to cover any distance at all. For me to travel 1 miles seemed an eternity and it about 4 miles of climbing. In reality it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to go the 4 miles and that is terribly slow. Not only was the climb steep but super rocky and technical. Then I had a small section of downhill before climbing again. This second climb is where things got weird. I had been running for over 24 hours at this point and awake for at least 34 hours and 85 miles into a race. The climb was never ending and only getting slower as I both tired and the darkness requiring the headlamp again slowed progress. As I eventually peaked the mountain it was completely dark at this point, I was smoked, and mentally I was losing cognitive ability. 

        I believe what actually happened was the sleep deprivation caught up to me. Yes, I was physically tired from running so much but I have never done an endurance event that kept me awake this long either. It was uncharted territory for me and my mind started drifting. It was not as thought it was drifting anywhere in particular rather my brain checked out for the night. I remember I kept thinking the terrain would have to become easier at the top of the mountain. Less rocks, would mean faster pace, which means getting this thing over with. As I peaked the mountain it was less steep but just as rocky. As mentioned I started losing the ability to focus on anything and kind of just drifted off mentally. I kept running although I did not know the pace, distances, last time I had eaten or drank. I was mentally checked out but physically still stumbling my way through it. I kept waiting for the rocks to get out of the trail and to find something more runable thinking it had to happen eventually but it never seemed to happen. I ran was seemed like in circles for an eternity on top of that mountain without knowing if I was actually going anywhere or if I was literally running circles. I did not see any other runners, I had no concept of how much time had passed or the distance I had covered, I just kept going. 

        Although I did not see any other runners I did see a lot of things although most of them were not actually there.  The rocky mountain side had a ton of moss growing on the rocks. The rocks are a bit darker color and the moss was lighter so when I would look ahead under headlamp the moss would pop brightly from my light shining on it. In my delirious state the moss kept looking like people, crowds of people, random shapes and patterns, man made structures, and all sorts of vague weird stuff. None of it was real detailed or specific but also none of it was real. It was my mind playing tricks on me in my sleep deprived,exhausted state. I knew it was not real but it did not matter, it did not make it go away. Every time as i got closer whatever I was seeing would melt into what it actually was which was typically just moss or a few trees clustered together that make a weird shape from far off. 

        Eventually I broke out of this purgatory of never ending torture to find myself once again on the very steep dirt road I had climbed early on in the race. Except this time I was many more miles into the race and going down the hill instead of up. And this was painful. Every step going downhill hurt terribly, it was to steep to run and even walking I kept sliding as the dirt and gravel shifted under my feet. I kept thinking I was going to fall any second now as I gingerly worked my way down this steep dirt road. I knew I was nearing the end of the race but I was not done yet either. The terribly steep dirt road eventually turned to trails again. I kept trying to run but was barley able to get my legs moving fast enough to run. I made it the final aide station around mile 95. 

        There were a few guys at this aide station that I guess got there before me. They were talking and referenced running the last bit to make it in a sub 30 hour finish time. I had not had any specific goals during the race besides finishing but upon hearing their goals I thought well I might as well shoot for that as well.  I headed out on the final 5 miles excited that I was almost done and might even get sub 30 hour finish. Well this excitement was very short lived. Fresh and on flat land 5 miles would only take me like 35 minutes but this final 5 miles took my 1 hour and 41 minutes to complete. I realized early on that 5 miles at this point seems like 50 miles. It was just never ending. I was running on trails that I did not remember or recognize even though I ran out on these same trails 29 hours ago. A few guys got real motivated near the end and passed me going quicker than I could move. I would guess at least 10 people passed me in this final 10 mile stretch. I was demoralizing to see them pass me this close to the end but they clearly had more energy left in the tank than I did and there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with them. I have a really bad habit of doing this on all my runs. I have a pretty good pace and placement overall and I let it slip at the end as I just can not seem to go fast enough and I always get passed by quite a few people at the end. 

        Although getting passed was demoralizing the thought of being done was keeping me moving. In this last 5 mile section I had a guy running right behind me that I asked him to pass me because his headlamp was so much brighter than mine that it was casting the shadow of my body in front of me rendering my headlamp useless. I ran behind him for a bit which was not to bad till I eventually had to stop and drop my pack to pull by backup headlamp out. The one I had one was dying and was barley illuminating anything at this point. After swapping headlamps I kept running on unfamiliar trails even though I had ran out on the same trails. There was a decent climb that I did not recall coming down on at all. And then the trails seemed to zig-zag a bit through the woods and if you had asked me I would have sworn we were coming in on a different trail than the way we left because I did not remember any of it. I eventually broke out of the woods onto some familiar ground. It was called the perimeter trail that went around the lake and back into the camp. From here it was probably half a mile or so to the finish and I saw several headlamps coming from behind me. I am not sure how I made my legs work but I started running and was not going to let those last few guys pass me before I crossed the finish line. I felt like I was really moving at this point and think my pace was around 12 minute/mile pace which is slow but felt quick at this point. I finally crossed the finish line at 30 hours and 2 minutes. I had just missed the sub 30 hour goal but did not care at all. I had done it, I was finished and could stop running. 

        Clark Zealand, the race director, was at the finish line giving out the finisher awards and handed me my buckle and congratulated me. I hung around for just a few minutes as the few guys behind me finished up just mere minutes behind me. It was a big accomplishment but I was so tired both physically and mentally I could not even celebrate or be happy as the only thought on my mind was I need to shower so I can go to sleep. I stumbled my way to my car which was parked right next to my tent. It was probably a quarter mile away from the main camp parking lot and from there it was another 0.1 miles or so to the showers. I drove my car over to the main lot getting as close to the showers as I could and stumbled my way into the shower. It felt good to was the grim and dirt from myself and become human again. After showering I brushed my teeth and make the incredibly painful walk back to my car to drive back to the tent. I crawled into my tent around 1:00AM or so and got a few hours of sleep. I had been up since 8:00 AM on Friday and it was now 1:00 AM on Sunday. That puts me being awake around 41 hours straight and running 100 miles up and down technical terrain and mountains in that time. I was so tired. 

        I was in my tent for about 5 hours but only slept for about 3 hours of it. I was very restless and uncomfortable even though I was tired. I was in pain and couldn't get comfortable enough to get good sleep. I then woke to break down my camp site and head to the celebration breakfast. I thought this was going to be a more formal event, maybe presenting the winners with their awards and giving them their recognition but it was literally just a breakfast. No ceremony, no speech, etc. When I had completed Old Dominion earlier this year it was a formal celebration awards breakfast after the race and I thought this would be something similar but it was not. I ate my food, chatted with a guy that had sat at my table then stumbled back to my car to make the 3.5 hour drive home. I had done it, I completed what is considered to be the hardest 100 mile race on the east coast.

Post Race Thoughts/ Reflections

        Sleep deprivation is a bitch. I do not think at any point in my life I had been so tired. There were times in the race I had convinced myself I needed a trail nap, just 5 minutes to lay to the side to clear my mind from the haze I was experiencing. I never did take a nap and I wonder if it would have helped as much as I have heard its helped others. I was more excited to finish the race to go to sleep than I was to get my belt buckle. I have ran 100 miles before but the last time I did it I was only awake for about 26 hours or so and the sleep deprivation did not have as much of an effect on me. The way this race is structured with a 6 PM race start means you've probably been up for many hours already before the race even begins. 

        For food on this race I ate any and all solid food I could get at aide stations. I ate at least 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tons of quesadillas, pancakes, bacon, sausages, perogies, salted watermelon, M&M's, and a ton of coke. I never drink soda but I knew I needed caffeine to help with mental clarity so at each aide station I would drink coke for the caffeine. All this was in conjunction with my sports supplements like LMNT electrolytes, GU gels, Stinger waffles, etc. If I could go back I would have added caffeine pills to my running gear to have a readily available source of caffeine. I think the high calorie intake kept me from ever hitting a real low low from being calorie deficient as I experienced in Old Dominion. I kept a steady stream of calories coming in and the only low I felt from from mental exhaustion from sleep deprivation.

        My training was very sub-optimal for this race. I had ran Old Dominion 100 earlier this year and trained similar for it. I did well at OD but that course is also about 85% paved or dirt roads. I have heard many people use road marathon training plans to prepare for OD because it is not real technical and this seemed to prepare me quite well for it. This same style of training did not adequately prepare me for Grindstone. Grindstone had very little road or easily runable surfaces, it was all technical trails and climbing/ descending mountains. My flat, fast, paved running I had done before the race did not prepare me for this. I could fake my way through OD with this style of training but not Grindstone.

        For gear I just used a single pair of shoes/ sock combo for the entire race. I did dump my shoes out several times but in hindsight I should have done the same to my socks as well. I guess dirt got into my socks and I just kept running on it and smashed it into my feet. The bottoms of my feet and pieces of dirt stuck into the skin I had to dig out post race. This made my feet quite tender and painful to walk on. I have a decent blister on my right heel and my left big toe is blackened due to continual kicking and stumbling over rocks with it. Other than those two spots my fee are in relatively good shape. They are swollen and walking hurts but do not seem to have suffered to much injuries. My legs obviously hurt, to include my knees but I I think in a few days it will work out and I will be back to normal. I think all the pain I feel is from use and nothing is injured or broken which is a relief. 

        For my next race I already have a 50 miler on my schedule in two weeks. I have not decided at this point if I will actually do it or not. It really all depends on how fast I can recover from this race if I will be ready to do another 50 in 14 days. 

    

Martha Moats Baker 60K Race Report

Pre-Race Thoughts

August 7, 2022

 

    Training runs have gone well since I've been back home and into some decent shoes. I set a new personal lifetime best 3 mile run a day ago. In the Marine Corps we have to run a 3 mile event as part of our fitness test. Many years ago (about 10) and when being force to run almost daily as a student in military occupational school I ran a 17:58 3 mile. Running 18 minute or faster paced gives a perfect score, the maximum amount of possible points awarded. Since I ran the sub 18 minute many years ago I haven't done it since. Granted I also haven't tried real hard or had any real driving force to make me do it. I ran an 18:48 minute/ 3 mile about 2 years ago and had done minimal training for it outside of my daily 1mikle sprint on the treadmill before lifting. Now that I have become a runner I decided to give it a shot and ran it in 17:35 minute/ 3 mile. I wasn't real prepared to give it a go but decided to try anyways. This is coming off the heel blister injury that prevented me from running for about 2 weeks. When I made it back home to Virginia I ran a bit over 8 miles testing my heel out to see if it would hold. When it held fine I decided to try a fast 3 mile the next day. I am pretty proud of myself but know I could of better if I trained for it, deloaded prior, and wasn't shifting 3+ hour time zones messing up my circadian rhythm at the same time.  

August 9, 2022

 

        I ran 10 miles this morning, the first 4 were a bit faster with some strides before settling into a good pace to finish out the 10 miles. Now I am off to the gym to get a heavy chest strength session. This Saturday I will be running the Martha Moats Baker trail race. This is a big race for me. Not because I care about my placement or have any support crew or anything. It is simply the first race I ever ran. This marks my 1 year of running relatively seriously and I'm interested to see my progress. I remember when I ran it a year ago I had several breaking points. Right off the bat there is a huge climb (about 3,000ft over 5 miles). I powered up this hill (without trekking poles) without any knowledge of the elevation or trail runs and completely blew out my quads. By the time I peaked it I was cramping badly regardless of the the amount of electrolytes I had. I remember cramping from about mile 5-7 till the completion of the race. I also distinctly remember a climb near the end of the race that broke my soul. I couldn't keep trudging up it and had to literally sit and take a break feeling defeated. From here things got worse as I peaked the mountain and  was unable to come down the backside of it. It hurt so much going downhill I literally tried walking, going backwards, sideways, etc. Any way possible to get down the mountain. I was painfully slow and defeated at this point and it started pouring rain. What was a trail down a mountainside quickly became a steam then river of water. I eventually finished in over 9 hours for about a 33 mile race. 

        Unfortunately this year's race does not follow the exact same course but very close to the original, there is some slight detouring that resulted in it being a bit longer (38.7 miles) and climbing about 8,000ft of elevation. Not only will this celebrate my 1 year of running and prove as a metric to judge progress but it also runs a portion of the course that I will run during the Grindstone 100 next month. This will give me a bit of route reconnaissance and practice on a portion of the course.  

August 12, 2022

        I have completed a short deload and packed my running bags with running gear. I did not deload much, I just cut mileage back the last few days to let my legs heal a bit more. This is not my A race or anything I am trying to run competitively but rather an extended training run. Pictured below is the course which I have downloaded to my watch to hopefully prevent any wrong turns and additional mileage and what my training looked like for the week of the race.

        I plan on having a huge breakfast really early before making the 3 hour drive to the race start. This will start my out pretty good on calories and right before the race I will have the Ucan energy bar and a packet of LMNT electrolytes. My aid bags each have a stinger energy chews, a stinger waffle, a GU, LMNT drink mix. The middle aid bag has Cliff Energy blocks (with caffeine) and a cliff bar in case I am wanting something a little most substantial. The little white pills are salt tabs to keep electrolytes up. I have no set time or methodology on taking them, rather if  its hot and/or I am sweating a lot from climbing I will take some. I will likely not eat/use all of what I am bringing but I also always bring extra. Also pictured is my Nathan 2L hydration vest. I will start the run with the first stack of waffles, GU's, chews in my vest and the other 3 stacks are aid bags along the way. This course has minimal aid and you pretty much bring what you want/need during the race. I remember last year there was water, Gatorade, someone made cookies, a few bags of chips, and oranges. That was about the extent of the available supplies. This is a free event so I do not expect much and cant complain. The aid stations are also quite a ways apart. The first aide station is at mile 13.4 after some massive climbs and I will estimate slow mileage (15min/mile pace) so about 4mile/hour. This means it will take me around 3 hours to get to the first aide bag. I remember last year even with a full 2L bladder by the time I made it to the first aide station I had drank it all so I must be cautious here again. Each aid station is round about 10 miles from the previous (give or take a mile or 2) so I will have to carry what I need for about 2-3 hours between stations. I also will wear the Saucony TR15 shoes for the whole race. This year I will bring along some trekking poles. I learned last year that poles are almost required for this race and will be more prepared this year. I will have poles although I have never physically used this set of poles before so they may not work out the best, only time will tell. My last poles broke during the Old Dominion 100 and this is all I have at the moment. And lastly baby wipes. You never know when your going to need baby wipes during a 8+ hour run in the middle of nowhere. This wraps up today's log, tomorrow I will run the Martha Moats Baker race and create a separate detailed race report for the event.

Early Morning Start

                Race day is upon me. It is August 13^th, 2022, at 2:00 AM when my alarm begins to sound. I am used to waking early but this is early even when compared to my standard 4:00 AM wake up time. I had slept for 4 hours and 53 minutes. This would have to do. I shaved, brushed my teeth, and got dress quickly before heading downstairs to do my final packing for the race. I had to warm up my breakfast that I had precooked the day before for expediency, pour some cold brew coffee, and fill up my bladder for my hydration vest. I quickly packed the car with all my supplies and headed out. I was on the road by 2:30 AM to make the 3.5-hour drive to the race start. As I began the drive, I was eating my breakfast, drinking some electrolytes, and mentally preparing for the race. I knew I was going to push a bit harder on the race this year than last year to test my fitness level but not quite give it 100% effort either. I have a 100-mile race I am doing in a month and don’t want to injure myself here. 

 

 

As I rolled into the race parking lot it was already full. I had arrived around 6:30 AM and the start time was 7:00 AM. I did my last-minute checks on my gear, laced up my running shoes and headed to the race director to drop off my supplies and pick up my race bib. As the race director was giving his quick overview of the course he casually finished with “well guys it’s about 7AM so go ahead and start”. There was no official line up at the start line, countdown, everyone starts at once. We went from being crowded around the race director in a semi-circle to let’s go ahead and start this very casually. I started my watch and took off running very conservatively.

The First Aid Station

                The race starts on a very short segment of road that’s about 200 yards before turning right on to a trail and heading up the mountain. Now I remember this mountain because of how bad it messed me up the previous year. I was not prepared for the elevation or challenge previously and by the time I had peaked it I was wrecked. I knew what was coming this year and hoped that my year of training (although almost strictly flat land) had better prepare me for the challenge this year. I started off in second place right off the bat, but I had zero intentions of trying to hold that place by any means. The first 7 miles are uphill with about 500ft of elevation gained per mile. My goal was to maintain a good pace but not to wreck myself either. I had a few guys pass me (probably about 4) and I just let them go. It was way to early to push hard and I knew if I pushed to hard, I wouldn’t have the legs to be able to efficiently run the downhills and I wanted to make up some ground there. Over the first 7 miles I averaged between 10:50-14:50 min/mile on the climbs and my watch does pace adjustment to compensate for the hills and it calculated that to 8:37-9:51 min/ mile when factoring in the elevation climbed. 

During the climb I quickly pulled away from most of the other races behind me but kept my distance behind the runner in front of me. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight which is difficult in a mountain race with a lot of turns, elevation, and vegetation. He could be 200-300 yards in front of me and I would be unable to see him. I tailed him for quite some time even though his pace was probably just a bit faster than I would have like to of run. I eventually caught up to him and we shared the next 7 miles or so together. We chatted about running, work, the mental side of running, intra race nutrition planning, etc. It was nice to get to talk to someone and have a partner for a bit. After we peaked the mountain there was some runnable downhills around miles 8-10 and we kept around an 8:30 pace as we went. Miles 11-13 was uphill again, and the first aid station was right at mile 13 (12.8 I believe). We grabbed some water, pulled aid from our drop bags, and began the descent.

        I remember this first section in my previous running of the race had beaten me up pretty good. I remember I ran out of water, overexerted, and blew out my hamstrings, was cramping pretty good and it had taken me 3 hours and 14 minutes to make it to the first aid station. This year I still had water left, was in good spirits, and it only took me 2 hours and 36 minutes. I expected to do better this year with better overall fitness but covering the same distance and elevation in almost an hour faster and still feeling good about it felt great.

The Second Aid Station

                Leaving the aid station and heading back down the other side of the mountain we came into some pretty technical and rocky terrain. It was difficult to run it even though it was downhill. A few miles into the downhill my running buddy had pulled off to pee and I got a bit ahead of him. I decided to do the same and he caught back up with me but pulled ahead. I ran another mile or so tailing him but then decided it best to take 20 seconds to sit, untie my shoes, dump them out, clean socks out, and lace back up. I tried to be really time efficient about it but once I began running again, I never saw my running buddy again. He had been pushing my pace a bit and I figured it was for the best for me to run my own race.

While I was running with him, I had been pushing the pace, so it was difficult to get calories in. I wanted to try to eat something every hour to keep up on my nutrition. I recently listed to some podcast that recommended 200-300 calories and hour and I was going to give that a shot. I had not realized that getting calories in when pushing the pace and being a bit more competitive is pretty hard to do. During the climbs my heart rate would get elevated, and I had trekking poles in my hands powering up the mountain so that was not an ideal time to eat. But likewise on the descents I was running quicker and had to watch my every step as I made my way down the mountains and could not afford to eat then either. In the end there was never a good time to eat to I just tried to be as efficient as I could with calories trying to not let it slow my down much.

This section of the course was primarily downhill but rather technical in many places. I still have not figured out how to efficiently run downhill when it is steeper and more technical. I know I lost a bit of time here due to know being a real efficient downhill mountain runner. I liked using my poles because it game me more points of contact which helped me feel stable and if I tripped up on some rocks, I could catch myself with the poles. But I also know the poles were slowing me down on the descents, so I kept transitioning back and forth between running with them and without. In this section I averaged and 11:30-12:00 pace through the rocky terrain.

I did completely run out of water on this section of the race but luckily, I was within 1 mile of the aid station and got filled up there. The aid station was at mile 22.7. Here was the first bit of substantive “food” I had. It was only a cliff bar but even that was more calorie dense than the sports nutrition chews/gu’s I had been taking previously. While I was gathering stuff from my aid bag and refilling my water, I asked the aid station workers what the next section looked like and was told it was rolling hills that I would enjoy. I quickly gathered my stuff and headed out.

 This is where the course deviated a bit from the previous years so direct comparison to my old times becomes difficult. According to the race website “two new sections have been added to the course, on either side of the new aid station #2”. I would like to say I was probably still running about an hour faster than my previous years’ time but am uncertain on the specifics with the course changes.

The Third Aid Station

                These supposed rolling hills in the next section were rolling but with a general upward trend. Over the next several miles I averaged 200-300 ft of elevation gain per mile. This was not as steep as the big climb at the beginning of the race and less technical but uphill regardless. I was averaging between 12:36-15:15 pace on the climbs. It was here that I tried to catch up a bit on my calories. I at the cliff bar, took some salt tabs, at some energy chews trying to catch up on what I had burned. The course was also only rolling because of the mass amount of mountain bikers. There was so many ups and downs used primarily by the many mountain bikers that was flying down the mountain as I was climbing. I kept having to step out of the way for fear of being run over by a biker flying down the mountain. And when the aid station worker said I would enjoy the rolling hills I genuinely believed him, but I did not enjoy this section. I did have 1 runner pass me in this section and he pasted me quickly. He was running uphill and didn’t miss a beat. I hadn’t even heard him he came up behind me so fast and as quickly as he had caught up, he was gone and out of sight. I was pretty impressed with his ability to run uphill at this point in the race. I hadn’t seen anyone else for miles.

After climbing for about 3 miles, it turned relatively flat at the peak then came the descents on the back of this mountain. This downhill was more runnable (again primarily used by bikers so relatively smooth although hilly) and I was maintaining around a 10:00 minute pace per mile at this point. The hilly bike path eventually worked its way down to a legitimate dirt road that I followed for about 1 mile before getting to the next aide station. I was beginning to get tired here (30.2 miles in) but I also was motivated to hurry and get it over with. 

 

The Home Stretch

                While at the final aid station I asked what the next section looked like and was told it was the same as last years. There was some initial shock and despair as last year I had completely fallen apart on this section. It is very steep, technical, and after you have been running for miles and are exhausted. Once again, I re-shouldered my pack and headed out knowing this next section was going to be rough. Within the first mile I had already climbed 784ft of elevation. I started getting really hot in the section. Not only was my body heating up from the climb, but it was a bit past 12:00 and getting hot outside. I could hear and feel the blood pounding in my head as I climbed. I reflected on the previous year how I was unable to continue and had to sit several times and take breaks just to get up the mountain. I was determined this year but even then, it is a big hill. Someone had stacked some nice rocks against a tree making a bench on the hillside that was just to inviting to pass up. I took a seat but only sat for literal seconds before I was up again. I was not going to let this mountain defeat me again.

As I continued up there was a peak with a really nice view. I pulled out my phone to take a picture and as I was putting it up, I took a step forward and heard something. It only took a split second to realize I heard the rattle of a rattle snake and instantly started back peddling. I had not even seen it yet but hearing that warning when I walked forward was all I needed to know. It was telling me don’t come this direction or I am going to have to bite you and I listened to the warning. As I back peddled, I stumbled around a bit on the rocky terrain. Once I gathered my footing and could stand still at a safe distance, I started looking for the snake. I had to continue the trail, but I had to find it to safely navigate around it. As I spotted it in a rock crevice just mere feet in front of me it rattled again. At least I saw it was out of striking distance. I quickly worked my way around it as I continued the trail.

The scenic spot I decided to take a picture at was a peak of a mountain and I thought that meant I had peaked it……but this was just a smaller peak on my way up the bigger mountain. I continued grinding upward ever so slowly till I reached another peak. I thought this must be it as it was leveling out. I started jogging again just to run to another climb. It felt like no matter how many peaks I reached it was never the actual top of the mountain and I would have to continue climbing. The aid station worker had told me it was about 3 miles up then a 4-mile run down to the finish. It ended up being over 3.5 miles up to the final peak of the mountain before I began the descent. At this point I was hot and tired. I had been drinking amply from my camel-back to ensure I stayed hydrated during the heat of the day and the long climbs.

From the peak it was supposedly 4 miles of runnable downhill to the finish (according to the previous aid station volunteer). Runnable is a relative term and means the same thing to different people. When I think of a runnable surface, I picture something similar to the flat, paved running of a coastal city like where I live. I can deal with a few bumps, rocks, hills, but when the terrain gets rocky and technical, I slow down quite a bit on the descents. I find it I guess less runnable than other runners who are literally running it. Before I began the descents there was some relatively flat running across the top of the mountain first. This was runnable in the fact that it wasn’t to technical footing but very overgrown and bushy. While running both shoulders are brushing past trees constantly, that’s how narrow the trail was. In many places the smaller trees and bushes had overgrown to the point were you just lowered your head and pushed through them. I could see the trail if I looked down but looking straight ahead was just a tangled mess of overgrown brush I would have to run through. After running through a bit of brush I started to actually descent the mountain.

At first it was a little runnable but the longer I went the less I was running, and the terrain seemed to grow worse (or maybe I was just getting more tired). I went to pull a sip from my hydration vest bladder and sucked rubber. It was empty and I still had about 3-4 more miles to go and was sweating quite profusely from climbing the mountain. This was going to be an issue. The terrain was not the most conducive to running and with no water left I did not want to push the pace to hard on the last few miles. The last thing I needed was to hurt myself going to fast downhill or push to hard without water and risk dehydration and passing out. I was only going downhill at around a 13:00 min/mile pace due to the terrain but felt like I was moving decently. I got curious at one point as to how much running was left so I pulled out my phone that I had the GPX file on and saw to much dismay that I had missed a turn, or so I thought. I had the blue line showing the course I should be on and my blue dot (my current location) to the right of that line. I had not seen any turns and had been going downhill as described by the aid station volunteers. I was not too far off, but my location dot looked to be paralleling the trail I should have been on. I turned back (which unfortunately meant I had to go back uphill) to try and correct my mistake. As I turned back and watch my location indicator get closer to the trail, I did not see a turn or alternative trail so I started second guessing my GPS. I though maybe it was just a bit off and I was actually on the trail and the maps were off. I started back down the trail I just came from a second time. I kept an eye on my phone and realized again that this was most definitely not where I should be. I turned back and went up hill once again to try to correct my mistake. This time I went even further up the hill and as I approached where my turn should have been I saw two runners coming at me. About the same time, I saw the turn I had missed. I warned the runners to not go where I had come from and instead that the correct turn towards the finish. They seemed to be moving faster than I was and motivated to finish while I had just made the same wrong turn twice, was out of water and quickly dehydrating, and quite demoralized by my mistakes. I let them take the lead and did not even try to catch them.

The Finish Line

I had been pushing kind of hard the last 5 miles or so. Not hard in the sense that I was running fast but as the finish line was approaching, I started slacking off on my calories and I had no water so eating without drinking anything would be difficult. My thought process was all I have left is a few miles and I can push through without having to eat, I will just eat when I am done. No point in slowing to eat with just a few miles to go. After making the correct turn and letting the two guys pass me, I was at a low point probably nutritionally, in hydration, and mentally. I just had a hard time pushing the last few miles in the shape I was in, so I slowed even more. My tongue was dry, it was impossible to swallow, and I still had at least 2 miles to go on some rocky terrain. I tired just nose breathing and keeping my mouth closed to preserve any single bit of moisture I had in my mouth. I was crawling down the mountain at the 16:30 min/mile pace at this point. I just wanted to get the damn race over with so I could get a drink. I kept thinking as soon as I finish there will be water available, and I can start rehydrating.

Finally, the finish line came into sight. By finish line (there was no official line) I mean a few guys sitting in camping chairs drinking beer out in the woods. The important part was there were coolers of water and Gatorade as well. As I finished the race director took a picture of me and I haven’t seen it yet, but I bet I looked pretty disgruntled. One of the beer drinking onlookers said “your supposed to smile” and I tried to tell him I would if I could but my mouth was so dry I couldn’t form words. I had to get a cup first and get something to wet my mouth before attempting to talk. The sweet, cold, Gatorade in my cup was amazing. After getting a drink down I was able to talk. I was offered a variety of beers and whisky to drink as I settled down into a camping chair (not sure whose chair it was). As dehydrated as I was the last thing on my mind was alcohol. I needed actual hydrating fluids. I sat for about 5-10 minutes and chatted with the guy I had ran half the race with and a few others. I gave my thanks to the race director for putting the race on, shook his hand and headed to my car.

There were no awards, finisher items, ceremony, etc. Just a few other finishers drinking beer, hanging out in the woods. When I got to my car, I stripped off my shoes, socks, and all my clothes. There were no facilities around, but I was in middle of the woods and did not care. I changed into a fresh set of clothes and sat down to drive home. It was going to be another 3.5-hour drive home and I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Post-Race Reflections     

I did it, again. Last year it took me 9 hours and 43 minutes to go approximately 33.81 miles covering 7,362ft of elevation at an average pace of 17:13/mile. This year it took me 8 hours and 27 minutes to cover 37.94 miles with 8,169ft of elevation at an average pace of 13:23/mile. Essentially, I covered about 4 more miles, 700ft more of elevation and still came in 1 hour and 16 minutes faster than my previous running of the race. That is the improvement I had hoped to see in my 1 year of progress since I really started running. Part of the progression is physical. I am definitely in better shape at this point in my life than the previous year. Trekking poles this year also gave me an advantage I did not have last year. I love my poles for climbing and will use them in any mountain race that allows me to. I would also say that a lot of the improvement was mentally as well. Knowing I am more experienced, I have completed bigger harder challenges (100-mile race) and that I am capable of so much more really helps fuel me through the race. I hate that I had a low point about 3 miles from the finish because I almost made it through the whole race feeling good. The majority of the run was a positive experience in which I kept my wits about me and kept moving forward at a pretty good pace. If I am still living in this area next year, I will try the run again and hopefully improve even more than this year.

Nutrition

I tired to eat every hour and kept to it mostly till around hour 6.5 or 7 when I gave up on eating to just push through and finish the race. I will attempt to list out the food/supplements used throughout the race as I remember them.

8-10 salt tabs

2 GU’s

2 GU energy chew packs

2 Stinger waffles

1 Cliff bar

3 packets of LMT electrolytes

½ pack of Cliff energy chew bloks

Training Impacts/Changes

                I am training for the Grindstone 100-mile race in about a month. Running the MMBT 60k showed me that I need more elevation training. Living in flat lands this is terribly hard to do without driving 2-3+ hours away from coastal lands to get to some mountains. I think I will start walking on my treadmill at home for probably 1 mile or so at a pretty steep incline 6-10% every night after dinner. I also think I will incorporate 1 day of training every week that is dedicated to climbing elevation. I will use a 20-35lbs ruck and hike on the treadmills at work at in incline for a more extended duration to simulate hiking mountains. Granted this does not factor in the rough terrain and footing that is encountered during mountain races or the descents (that I know I need to work on) but hopefully doing this in conjunction with my other running will better prepare me for Grindstone. It in only 32 days till Grindstone and I am still recovering from the MMBT 60k but ready to get back to training to fully prepare for Grindstone.