First off, I would like to thank Marie Lewis and Magnum
Track Club for putting on a spectacular event! I also want to thank all of the
volunteers working both of the aid stations who made sure that all the runners
were looked after. Finally, I want to thank my family, and girlfriend Hannah,
for supporting me, crewing me, and putting up with me while I ran for 62.58
miles.
We left our home in Charlotte, NC for Southern Pines around
noon on Friday and arrived at around 2:30pm. After checking into the hotel my mom and I went to run the course for the first time. I had read previous
race reports that stated that the course was fairly rooty, but I was surprised at
how technical certain sections were. After completing the course, we went back
to the hotel and then went to get Italian food at a local restaurant. A short while and a few supply checks later, I
was off to sleep.
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Race morning came at me fast. I woke up at 6:00am and
immediately put on the outfit I had planned on wearing. When it comes to shoes,
I am more of a minimalist, even over the longer distances, so I wore my Mizuno
Wave Hitogami 2’s as well as a pair of X2 compressions calf sleeves. For
breakfast I kept it pretty simple and had a bagel with peanut butter and some
water. We loaded up and arrived at Weymouth Woods right around 7:00am. The next
hour passed by pretty quickly as I went to get my race number, attended the
pre-race meeting, and made some last minute checks. It was a little chilly out
so I started with a light jacket on for the first lap. I made my way over to
the start line, gave a few last minute hugs, and before I knew it, we were off!
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| Couldn't have done it without my support crew |
Months and months of training had prepared me for this
moment. I started out fairly conservative so I could get a sense of how my body
was firing, as well as a better feel for the course. The course is filled with
roots for much of the first half so I always had to be conscious of this. I
quickly latched onto a group of four other runners during Lap 1, one of only two
times all day that I would run with someone. For this race I was carrying a
single 20 ounce bottle of water that contained approximately 200 calories worth
of Tailwind. The plan was to switch out for a fresh bottle after each lap.
Before I knew it, I had passed the first aid station at around mile 2.4 and I
began what I referred to as the second half of each lap. This section here was
where the trail because much more runnable, but was also much hiller, featuring
three tough ascents over the last mile of each lap. I ended up passing the
first lap in 37:36, which I thought was a good pace to hold. I only spent about
10 seconds at my “base camp” grabbing a new water bottle before I was off for
my second lap!
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| Lap 3 |
I was passed by Mark Rostan just after I entered the trails
for the second time so I knew I was in either 3rd or 4th
place. I let him go ahead of me and
focused on settling into a rhythm. It was early, but overall my body was
feeling pretty good. Near the end of the second lap I had caught back up as we were going up the last hill. I crossed the second lap in 36:32 or
about an 8:10 pace. He stopped for a little bit longer than I did so I was
all alone one again. The laps started to feel like they were going by pretty
quickly. I crossed the third lap in 36:20, my fastest split of the day. For lap
four I picked up my younger brother Cole who was a big help because he got me
talking and kept my mind occupied. He told me that I was in 2nd
place, which surprised me because I had believed that I was running in 3rd.
He also got me to eat some energy chews which my body was starting to need. I
crossed my fourth lap in 37:26 and with an overall time of 2:27:56.
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| Lap 4 |
Even on lap five I was still getting in and out of our base
camp in more or less 15 seconds. I probably should have taken a little bit more time because at this point I was running alone in second
place. During this lap I focused on doing a general body check and assessing
how I felt. My legs were still very strong, but my feet were starting to hurt a
tiny bit from the roots. I was also finishing off my water bottle during each
lap so that was a good sign. Around this lap I decided that it would probably
be in my best interest to slow down just a little bit going up the last hill in
order to keep my heart rate down. I crossed lap five in 36:31 and picked up
Cole for another lap. I made a huge mental mistake here and began asking Cole
how far ahead the leader was, but he did not bite. Unfortunately, I later
learned from another runner that I was only about two minutes behind. Thankfully,
Cole realized this and pushed me to slow down my pace. When I finished lap six
in 37:58, I had officially run farther than I ever have before. I crossed the
marathon mark in right around 3:37-3:38.
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| Lap 7 |
Lap seven I was still feeling pretty strong, but I was
entering unfamiliar territory. I was about 40 seconds behind the leader, and as hard as tried not too, I ended up catching up to him right near the middle
aid station. His name was Scott Harber, and we chatted for around five or so minutes.
I’m not quite sure what happened next, but gradually I just lost contact with
him. It was a huge mental blow. I crossed lap seven in 37:45, approximately 25
seconds off the lead. I picked up Cole for a third lap and he could tell that I
was hurting now. He helped to distract me a little bit, but I could feel my
pace slowing. I was still drinking plenty of fluids but I was starting to get a
little disoriented. By now my legs were killing me and each root I stepped on
felt like a dagger. The hills were still not bothering me too much but I had to
walk for the first time during the final set of rolling hills on this lap. I
crossed lap eight in 43:43 with an overall time of 5:03:53. At this point I was
in a very dark place mentally. I began lap nine, not entirely confident that I
would be able to continue after this lap. After what seemed like an eternity, I
finally reached the familiarity of the last mile and my favorite part of the
course, the crest after the first hill before you dip down into the steepest
descent of the trail. Even in my stupor,
I still appreciated the beauty of the surrounding forest. I ended up walking
most of the final uphill on this loop before crossing the ninth lap in 51:47.
When I got to our base camp I felt like I could barely move. My legs felt like
lead blocks and my mind was in shambles. I really thought this was going to be
the end for me. My mind starting pleading with my legs, but my legs (and my
support crew) won out.
My biggest mistake during this race was mental, not
physical. I did not go out too fast, I did not push the hills too hard, instead
I had neglected my nutrition, and in the end it came very very close to ending
my race. Aside from a couple of energy chews and the Tailwind in my water
bottle, I had not eaten any food over the first seven laps of the race and that
was what had created my downfall here. My support team went to work making sure
that I took in thousands of calories over the second half of the race. My Dad
was especially good at making sure of this. From lap nine onward I came back to
the aid station and had potato chips, peanut butter pretzels dipped in base
salts, and sugar water each time. We also started to mix in the base salts to
my Tailwind. The impact was almost immediate.
After spending about 10 minutes at my base camp I set off on
my tenth lap with my mom. I knew that we were moving slowly, but at least we were
moving. 3rd place was still about 10-15 minutes back so I was not
extremely worried but that was a thought on my mind. Lap ten really was a great
mental pickup and by the end of the lap I was moving much faster. Even though I
came through this lap in 57:52, much of which can be attributed to my long aid
station stop, my family told me that I looked much better. I abandoned my old
race strategy of getting through the aid station as quick as possible and
instead I focused on eating pretzels and chips each lap and getting water in
me. I set off on my eleventh lap feeling surprisingly strong and confident. Some
of the pain in my legs actually decreased! I felt like this lap went by fairly
quickly and I was back around to the start before I knew it. This lap was in
43:41 with an overall time of 7:37:14.
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| Lap 11 |
I did some quick calculations in my head and figured that I
could finish in under ten hours if I kept up around my current pace. I was off
for my 12th lap which meant that I had just over a half marathon to
go. I was over 50 miles into a 100K race and amazingly I was still riding off
of my second and third wind. I was beginning to see that the sun was setting
and I was hoping that I could finish before I needed my headlamp. I finally
crossed lap twelve in 44:54 and picked up my mom for the penultimate lap. I
knew that no matter how bad I was hurting that I could still do 9 miles. Even
though I was so close to being done, this lap was one of the hardest both
mentally and physically. I tried to look at it like this lap was the final lap
and that lap fourteen was just a “victory lap”. I wore my headlamp for this lap
just in case, but did not end up turning it on. After what seemed like an
eternity I crossed lap thirteen in 47:13. Right as I started on my final lap I
saw Scott cross the finish line. He ran a brilliant second half that I was just
not able to match. I knew that I had second place almost locked up because I
was about 20 minutes ahead. I set off on the last lap with my Dad and felt a rush of relief
due to the fact that I was passing all of the landmarks on the course for the
last time. I said goodbye to the huge roots and twisting turns in the first two
miles. I was really picking up the pace over the last two miles and I actually
was feeling great. I did have to turn on my headlamp for just the last mile or
so because it was getting hard to see some of the roots. I crested the rolling
hills for a final time and dipped down before going up the rooty incline one
last time. I tripped for only the second time all race as I tried to ascend the
hill as fast as I could. Finally, I turned the corner and sprinted across the
finish line in a time of 9:55:06!
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| Finish! |
After I finished I was interviewed by the local paper,
received a beautiful custom made pottery finisher’s award, and took some photos
with my family and girlfriend. I also spoke with the winner, Scott, for a
couple minutes and congratulated him. I was overwhelmed now that I was finally
done. I ended running a 9:31 pace overall and finished about 26 minutes ahead
of third place. Not too bad for an Ultra marathon debut!
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| Lap Splits |
