Remember your why.
Pre-Race
I had planned on Mountain Masochist to be my final race of 2024. About 6 weeks out from race day, I decided to take off work on Friday, September 27 to get in a good long run the day before racing an all out road mile the next day. Earlier in the week I saw that Hurricane Helene might cause the run to be a bit wet. Instead of running to the Top of Mt. Mitchell via Heartbreak ridge, I thought I'd instead go to the Old Fort Gateway Trailhead and run along Jarret Creek forest road. By Thursday it was clear that hurricane force winds would make traveling to Old Fort, which had become one of my favorite training areas since moving to Charlotte in 2021, needlessly unsafe. I decided instead to travel east to the Uwharrie Forest. Friday morning I was about to walk out the door, I realized my sump pump had stopped working and our basement was at risk of flooding. After a trip to Home Depot that necessitated reroutes around downed trees, I replaced the sump and scrapped Plan C and opted for Plan D, a simple run out the door through my neighborhood.Later that day I started seeing images and videos online of the destruction being seen in Western North Carolina. The Landslide east of Asheville on I-40 was the first sign of major destruction however, it really hit how bad it was when I saw the pictures of I-40 falling into the Pidgeon river near the Tennessee border. Then it was pictures of Chimney Rock and Montreat and Spruce Pine and many, many more. I texted friends in the area to see if they were ok but didn't hear back for over 36 hours. When I did get ahold of my friend Kendall, he said he was ok and had running water but the power was out and would be for days. As a member of the G5 Trail Collective and the Trails Coordinator for Hellbender, Kendall knows his way around a chainsaw and had been clearing roads and driveways since the rain stopped. I asked him if there was anything I could do to help and he told me he'd let me know as soon as he found out but that all things considered, they were lucky in Hendersonville but other areas were in much greater need and to try reaching out to Brandon Thrower, Race Director of Tanawha Adventures as he would be helping out at Camp Grier.
Camp Grier may be known to the ultra community as the start/finish line of Hellbender 100 and Mt Mitchell Heartbreaker but it is so much more. Nestled in the woods just outside Old Fort, NC, Camp Grier is a Christian Summer Camp that offers countless activities for individuals, families and youth groups. After the storm they went to work. With minimal damage done to the property they realized they had the capacity to help since their well provided uninterrupted water. After repairing one bridge and getting a large generator donated, they were up and running by the end of the first week. They were there to offer lodging, hot meals, showers, laundry and supplies to anyone who needed it, but they needed volunteers. I reached out to Brandon and as soon as they were accepting volunteers, I signed up and took off work to help out in any way I could. I spent 12 hours at the camp helping park cars, unload donated supplies, help people get their laundry to the washers and driers and just listen to people who had been through more hardship in one week than I had been through in my entire life. I met a woman who works in home healthcare in Burnsville who said 11 patients of theirs are still missing. She hiked two miles up to one address and found no sign of a house. I heard too many stories of people who didn’t make it. It was an experience I won't soon forget. Before I left I spoke with Jason McDougald, the camp director, telling him if there's anything I can do to help with rebuilding to let me know. He said to be on the lookout Friday as they would be announcing something big.
 |
| The devastation in Old Fort, photo courtesy of Rob Redding |
The announcement was the Old Fort Strong Endurance Festival, a 6, 12 and 24 hour running and mountain biking race to be held on December 7. Each participant would have the goal of raising $1,500 with all proceeds going to rebuilding homes lost during the storm. Old Fort is a small town of under 1,000 and lost over 50 homes, with almost nobody having flood insurance, FEMA funds would only go so far. Even though this would be 5 weeks after Masochist, I didn't hesitate to sign up and I got to fundraising. I reached out to family, friends and coworkers and ended up raising $4,075 by race day.
After my great race at Masochist I needed to recover quickly and get in as much training as I could in five weeks. Those five weeks included a week long trip to New York and Philadelphia as well as driving back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. Recovery took a bit longer than anticipated and I ended up not getting in nearly as much training as I wanted. I hoped my fitness from Masochist would still mostly be there and that I’d be better rested. I’d have six hours to find out.
The night before the race, my wife and I drove to Hendersonville to stay with friends so that I’d have a shorter drive in the morning and she would hang out with them rather than sit around in the cold watching me run circles. The next morning I left for the race around 8am and drove to Old Fort passing hundreds of downed trees still sitting along the roadside. The devastation was still very present even though it was two months since the storm. I parked across from the camp entrance and started the three quarters of a mile walk to the check in. About halfway up the hill someone yelled out of a car “Need a ride?” It was my friends Dan and Angie from Georgia. I gladly accepted and they dropped me off at the check in. I set up my stuff in the runner village right off the course, warmed up a bit and walked down to the start line. I ran into Kendall who I’d be racing for the first time as well as his friends Brandon Crews who I’d raced against a few times previously. We chatted for a bit then the bikers and runners went to their respective starting lines to await the playing of the banjo to officially start the race.
 |
| The starting line of both races |
Laps 1-3
The 3.9 mile loop started out on a flat gravel road that ran along the lake before dropping down the hill and after about a quarter of a mile, the course turned right onto a narrow single track climb. I wanted to avoid a bottleneck at the turn so I went out a bit fast. By the time I was descending I looked over and it was Brandon and I out front. I pushed just a bit harder and made it to the single track in first. The first climb was about 370' over three quarters of a mile but was very smooth and runnable as it was built for mountain biking. This climb ended up being a lot tougher than I expected as I really had to work to stay in front. By the time I reached the top I was in front with two local guys hot on my tail. I heard the two guys behind me talking about how the climb was easier than they thought which had me a bit worried since I was already feeling a bit worked. I decided if I was a bit slower on the climbs that I would make up for it on the descents. I pushed the next half mile creating a bit of separation until we hit the second shorter climb. At less than a hundred feet over only a tenth of a mile, this climb wasn't much on paper but it hit pretty hard. The two guys behind me had reeled me in again by the top but then I started to push again. The next mile and a quarter started with a big winding descent followed by a flat section along the creek. I was able to really push this section and was feeling good as I started pulling away again. After crossing Jarret Creek the trail became an old gravel road and after a small clearing, the road started to climb for a quarter of a mile with about 150' of gain. At the top of the road the course took a left turn back onto single track and climbed a few more feet before starting a descent through several switchbacks. After straightening out the course passed through the finish line where it joined the mountain bike course. I passed through and descended the gravel road past the stables and towards the lake in the lead in 29:09 elapsed.
The first lap was a bit shorter as the start line was not the same as the finish. Once I hit the lake I turned left a took the short loop through the runner village. Being the first to run through was exciting and gave me a big boost. I went through without stopping for aid and took off back down the road along the lake. I had a decent lead as I started the big climb for a second time but I was quickly reeled in. Second and third place were hot on my tail as I climbed the big hill a second time. We chatted a bit on the way up but once we hit the top, I tried to create some separation again. I pushed the descent and had a small gap by the bottom and continued to push the flats as I started to lap the back of the pack. I finished the second lap in 33:10 with a slightly larger lead but after looping through the village and starting down the gravel road, second and third place weren't too far behind me.
As we started out on our third ascent of the big climb, Robbie and Jordan had completely reeled me in. I tried to hold them off but they were out for blood this time and passed me with a vengeance. I tried to catch back up once I topped out on the climb but the second smaller climb nearly broke me. It wasn't that big but it was steep and it hurt the third time around. I started to question how many more times I wanted to run up that damn thing. I pulled myself together and pushed the descent but by the base of the final gravel road climb, Foster Ramsey had caught me. We chatted for a bit and he was gone. By the time I finished lap three I had dropped from first to fourth, despite only running it 48 seconds slower than my second lap. It seemed everyone else was just getting warmed up as I was starting to break.
 |
| Early on when I still had the lead, photo courtesy of Icon Media Asheville |
Laps 4-6
I swept through the runner village still thinking I could rally and fight my way back on the podium. As I started climbing again, I was once again passed, dropping me to fifth place. I tried to hold it together on this lap but things were starting to unravel and I wasn't even two hours in. I continued the rhythm of suffering on the climbs and pushing the descents because that was all I could seem to manage. I finished my fourth lap in 36:35, my slowest by almost three minutes. I made a quick stop to swap out a water bottle and then went back out. Halfway up the climb, Brandon Crews passed me. I wished him luck and he was gone. My legs started to really feel heavy as I continued to climb and I just wanted to get to the downhill so I could start pushing the pace again. When the descent finally came, so did the agony of blown quads. I wasn't even halfway through a six hour race and my quads were more destroyed than they've been in years. I pushed through the pain and finished the lap in over 40 minutes, a far cry from my earlier laps. But as bleak as things seemed, I was still 5 laps in in only 2:53. I still had hope that I could right the ship and perhaps squeeze in another 5 laps in the next 3:07. I would only need to do 36 minute laps, how hard could that be? I would need to maintain about a nine minute mile, but as I started out on lap six, that started to seem very unlikely considering I was hiking the climb at a 16 minute pace. Cramps started to set in during the climb and I started to get really down on myself. It was hard, I was hurting and it wasn't gonna get any easier.
The thing about a fixed time race is you go past the finish line every few miles and can quit at any time without being a DNF. My only other attempt at a six hour race had me packing up and leaving after five hours. Nobody would fault me, I was running this race for charity only five weeks after a very stout effort at Mountain Masochist. As those intrusive thoughts crept in, I focused on all the people who donated on my behalf. Friends, family, coworkers, strangers. They all gave what they could to help people they didn't even know. I thought back to all the people I met while volunteering at Camp Grier knowing they had it so much worse than some blown quads. I decided no matter what, if I wouldn't quit until there wasn't enough time on the clock to finish another lap. I finished lap six in over 45 minutes, another five minutes slower than my last, but there were still 2 hours and 20 minutes left on the clock. More than enough time for another lap, so I went back out.
Laps 7-9
It really helped to focus on individuals who had donated to my cause. I thought about my parents who had helped out cleaning up the 98' flood in Falmouth, KY, 45 minutes from where I grew up. They donated both to the race and to Camp Grier on my behalf since they couldn't help out personally. I thought of Jerry and Kerry, friend's of my wife's family who I'd only met a handful of times who are some of the kindest people I've ever met. I thought about my friends Jesus and John from the Mattie's Diner Run Club who both donated on my behalf. It turns out when you've got a large support system and a damn good reason to do what you're doing, you can push through a lot of pain.
Somewhere along the climb at the start of the seventh lap I passed Jordan who had been in second the last time I saw him. He was looking to be in just about as rough of shape as me. I was now in fifth but still very much hurting. Lap seven finished in 46 minutes and I now had an hour and 34 minutes to finish. In order to get in two laps I would need to maintain my current pace, losing any more time would make a ninth lap very difficult.
I set out on the eighth lap thinking it would be my last, there was part of me that hoped it would take me 50 minutes and I'd have no choice but to call it. I pushed those thoughts aside and decided to just run and see what happens. As I climbed the second climb of the lap I looked ahead and thought I saw my friend Kendall up ahead. I got excited that I had finally caught him and I pushed a bit to catch up to him. As I caught him I told him that lapping him was a career-defining moment for me. He laughed and told me he was just walking out a final lap and had done much better than he expected given that he was coming off of injury and sickness. I told him it was likely my last lap as well and continued on downhill. I made it to the finish line in 5:12:13 elapsed. Damn. I had just run another 46 minute lap and I had 48 minutes left. I had to go one more lap.
The last thing I wanted was to run a ninth lap and finish over time so I decide to give it everything i had. I sprinted through the runner village and pushed the gravel road as hard as I could. As I passed the course marshal who had directed me right onto the brutal climb for the last five plus hours I joked with him that this was the last time I'd go right but he couldn't make me do it again. I hiked the final climb, glad to never have to hike it again, and pushed downhill. I never let off the gas for the final lap, hoping that perhaps one of the four guys ahead of me had stopped after eight laps and that I could sneak in under the wire. I crossed the line in 41 minutes with just over six minutes to spare and collapsed in the grass by the finish line exhausted, sore and grateful.
 |
| The Boathouse Aid Station and the Runners Village, photo courtesy of Camp Grier |
Post-Race
I finished 5th overall but finished the same amount of laps as the winner, Robbie Harms, a fact that I was very proud of. I hobbled my way towards the aid station, about 200' down the gravel road from the finish. I passed Foster and congratulated him, he apparently finished 4th by only 24 seconds. I arrived at the aid station in search of food and there I ran into my friends Rachel and Miller who were working the aid station and they gave me Oreos and beer, not a bad combo. I made my way to my spot in runners village and changed into warm clothes and caught up with Kendall and Brandon. I chatted with them for a while at the finish, delaying the inevitable walk down the half mile gravel road to my car. Downhill was the last thing my trashed quads needed.
Some final Stats:
- 37 oz of Skratch Hydration
- 37 oz of Precision Hydration 1500
- 40 oz of water
- 100 calories of gels or chews every 25 minutes (14 total)
- song stuck in my head: Whatever the DJ or band was playing in runner village
- 34.76 Miles
- 6,309 ft elevation gain
- 10:10 per mile
- $4,075 raised
- Over $1 Million total raised by the event
No comments:
Post a Comment