2nd place, 5:02:40
i had a lot of doubts heading into mt mitchell this year, my first ultra. first, of course, i doubted whether i'd trained enough. but more than that, i'd felt awful on every run for 10 days leading up to the race. mechanics felt off, i was exhausted, flat, etc. i'd briefly gotten sick on monday the week before the race and spent the whole day in bed (the live slow part...). i was relieved to feel okay on friday before the race, but 4mi w/strides doesn't tell you a whole lot about how a 40mi race will pan out. but all that worry was for naught. aside from some cramping in the final miles, i felt great all day.
i had a pretty good idea of who to look for going into the race, and i'm pretty sure none of them, aside from mark, knew who i was. of course, now i have a blog too.... there were 8 or so contenders mentioned in the pre-race emails, and i wasn't one of them. i figured i could run a solid race and still finish barely in the top 10. we had a nice pack together going into montreat. not sure what pace we were running, but it was pretty quick. it also felt really easy....
we had a group of six basically together- mark lundblad (nc), kevin lisska (sc), dane mitchell (vt), jason friedman(ny), and josh wheeler (nc/tn)- when we got onto the trail, and kept the same rhythm heading up to the parkway. enough rocks to keep me watching the trail, but the grade rarely changed so it was pretty easy to settle into a groove. in the last couple miles before the parkway mark made a move from behind me to go after dane, who had just opened a gap. that's the last time i saw either of those guys. (dane was the favorite in my mind heading into the race, but ended up not finishing, apparently from a separated shoulder. i never saw him though. he just disappeared. i'm still not entirely sure when or where he bailed.)
the chase pack- kevin, josh, jay and myself- got onto the buncombe horse trail together, maybe a minute back after 2 hrs of running. i tried not to look up. we still had a lot of climbing in the next hour and the trail just got slower and soggier. i ended up separating from the group slightly, and kevin closed the gap again by the time we hit the steep, icy, rooty single-track through the balsam forest, and we went up that together. i struggled on this stretch. i only lost time when i stopped to put on yaktrax. the ice was so hard they did absolutely no good.
kevin had a gap on me at the summit, and i imagine he only increased it on the old mitchell trail and camp alice trail. i struggled once i dumped out onto commisary ridge, and briefly worried i wouldn't be able to "race" from that point on. i'd already been out for more than 3hrs and had spent the last hour at ~6000ft. i could only hope that i'd feel better once i got to go back downhill.
kevin had about 30 sec on me coming into the aid station at the toll rd/parkway. i got a huge boost from seeing everyone there- i think everyone manning the aid station was a friend of mine. the rest of the way down the toll rd i would catch a glimpse of kevin up ahead, reassuring me i still had contact, and take advantage of that fact by downing a gel and getting some fluids. i didn't really want to feel like i was committed to hammering til after 4 hours of running. i saw kevin just up ahead just past the bill's knob aid station, and was ready to make a move, about 4:15 in. as i rounded a curve going up a steep little climb, i passed kevin just as he had stopped to take a leak... not the way i'd imagined making a move to pass. oh, well.... i ran scared the rest of the way, trying to balance fluids and gels- what's the greater risk? cramping or bonking?
i felt pretty strong running back into black mountain, and i'm glad i had a string of marathoners to pick off to keep me going, and finished in 5:02. now, of course, i wish i'd gone with mark, but i really didn't expect him to move that early. i was pretty comfortable at the time of his move, and wanted to run conservatively in my first ultra. i still think i ran a solid race- i lost to the 2007 national champion at 50 miles on a day that he set a course record. i beat a bunch of really fast guys with impressive resumes and sponsorships.
i can't help but feel good about running 40 miles up and down the tallest peak in the east by noon. well, 12:02pm.
