Race Report - 2018 Mount Mitchell Challenge 40M

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

Some races are clearly meant to be. I struck out in 4 out of 5 race lotteries for 2018. Not so for the 21st edition of the Mount Mitchell Challenge 40 Miler. In fact, I got in on my very first try just like it did in the 2015 UTMB. I considered it to be a sign for another epic adventure.

All smiles at the start, Chris, Jerry, me and Rick.

The Mount Mitchell Challenge had been on my bucket list for a while. It is a 40 mile ultramarathon that starts in the small town of Black Mountain in North Carolina and climbs to the top of Mount Mitchell in the Appalachian Mountains, the highest peak in the Eastern US with an elevation of 6,685 feet and a prominence of 6,089 feet. It is said that this race is run in February of each year to ensure the harshest conditions possible. The weather factor coupled with nearly 5,000 feet of ascent over the first 20 miles followed by 20 miles of descending back to town makes this one of the tougher trail running races in the US as past finisher's rates and times can attest.

Entrance to Mount Mitchell State Park, road section on the course.

Getting into the race this year could not have been timed any better. I had signed up for the inaugural Hellbender 100 Mile race in this exact mountain range in April, so this would be a great way to see the area and do a challenging race at the same time. I love challenging mountain races and this definitely fit the bill. I've done quite a few, but never one that has 20 miles of climbing followed by 20 miles of descending. the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to pace of that, but I guess I'd find out on race morning. 

Old Mount Mitchell Trail to top of the peak.

A total of 3 friends and running buddies from Huntsville, AL had made it into the race via the lottery along with me, Jerry Abbott, Chris Redman and Rick Rawls. Jerry's wife Wonda would be joining in the fun as well to run the Black Mountain Marathon. Rick and I travelled to North Carolina together. Never having been to the Area and the city of Asheville in particular, I had booked us a place in Asheville, which was just a little over 10 miles from the race start. We left early Friday morning to allow ourselves some time to pick up our race packets and explore the area prior to the race.

Old Mount Mitchell Trail.

Rick and I arrived in Asheville too early to check in to our hotel, so we decided to drive to the top of Mount Mitchell to scout the most difficult part of the course before heading to race packet pickup in Black Mountain. After the nearly one hour drive to the peak that included part of the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, we were greeted by scenic views and mountain peaks as far as the eyes could see. I decided to take plenty of pics from the peak and along the top section of trail as I had decided to not carry my phone on tomorrow's race. The goal was to go as light as possible, a handful of energy gels, some salt and a hand bottle. It was going to be warmer than ever before, so no extra layers would be needed.

Old Mount Mitchell Trail.

Race packet pickup was quick and painless. We briefly connected with the rest of the Huntsville gang and headed back to Asheville to check in to our hotel and grab some dinner before getting our race kit ready for the next morning. I had been going back and forth about my plans for the day and ultimately decided to go entirely by feel. A total of 500 runners were registered for either the challenge or the marathon including a few elite runners, so I knew it would be ill advised to try to follow or try to catch anyone ahead of me, especially early on in the day.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

Rick and I arrived about 45 minutes prior to the race start and found what turned out to be the perfect parking spot, about half a mile from the race start downtown, but only 50 yards from the finish line at lake Tomahawk, which would be a welcome site a few hours later. We walked the 15 minutes to the race start, allowing plenty of time to catch up with others and find the rest of the Huntsville crew for an obligatory pre-race photo.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

I lined up in the second or third row at the starting line and when the race start was signaled, we all took off down the street and towards Montreat to cover the first 3 miles of the race on pavement before we would hit the trail leading up to Mount Mitchell. The race course was pretty much uphill for the first 20 miles, some sections steeper than others, some short sections even slightly downhill.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

There were about 20+ runners ahead of me and before we even reached the trail the field had spread out significantly. I still ad no idea how to manage my race with such a unique course profile, so I decided to race entirely by monitoring my heart rate. This was a first for me. The goal was to keep my HR around 150-155 on the way up and to shoot for 160-165 on the way down. I didn't know if that would be too fast for me or not, it just seemed like a reasonable approach at the time. I did not deviate from my plan on the way up and kept it steady.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

Time flew as I went through aid station after aid station, refilling my bottles as I continued on. I followed my fueling strategy of an energy gel every 45 minutes (for a total of 7) followed by salt every 60 minutes. This worked very well once again. I supplemented with a couple of cups of Coke on the way up and on the way down, but that was it for fuel. I reached the marathon turnaround point at the Blue Ridge Parkway intersection in just over 2 hours. Until now, we had been on either single or double track trail, mostly fairly rocky and somewhat technical trail that would require your focus the entire time, especially on the way down.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

The next section of the course had us running on the parkway for about a mile or so before turning right onto the road leading to Mount Mitchell State Park. We'd follow this road for another 2 miles before being lead onto the Old Mount Mitchell Trail, which was a new section for this year's edition. We would follow the trail all the way to the peak, the official turnaround point of the race. A park ranger would mark every challenger's bib with an "S" (for summit, I presume) at the aid station just between the end of the single track trail and the summit. I tapped the geological marker indicating the highest point before I headed straight down the summit path and down the park road. We would now bypass the trail and run straight down the park road for about 4 miles before turning back onto the Parkway for another mile before reaching the marathon turnaround point once again, this time from the opposite direction on our way down. 

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

It was during this stretch of road between the peak and the parkway aid station that I would be running with the eventual repeat overall female winner and ultrarunner extraordinaire Aliza Lapierre for most of the road section. I had just met her minutes earlier on the trail and was now just trying to hang on for a few miles, if I could. It didn't take long until the conversation turned to upcoming race schedules that included UTMB for both of us. It was fun to swap race stories with such an accomplished runner. Of course, just before we reached the Blue Ridge Parkway AS, Aliza took off, leaving me in the dust as I struggled to swallow an energy gel running 7 minute per mile pace. I did not see her again until the finish:-)

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

I had been moving pretty well on this stretch of road, but as soon as we hit the trails again, I seemed to slow. In fact, not long after leaving the AS I was passed by two other challengers, both of whom appears to be around my age. While I did not attempt to chase them down, it did keep me honest. I felt like I had slowed too much, so I tried to pick it up again and to sustain some type of pace. After all, there was still about a half marathon to go, so no time to rest just yet. The views had been absolutely spectacular on the way up, but on the way down, I had to keep my eyes on the trail at all times. This was by no means smooth pine needle single track, it was rocky terrain that was sometimes wet, sometimes muddy and always gnarly.

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

I continued to try to keep a steady pace, my HR seemed ok and my legs seemed fine. I passed through the aid stations always making sure to fill up my bottle and before I knew it, I was dropped out on a seep gravel road that turned into an even steeper paved road. This part along with the previous few miles of trail were different from the way up. I had no idea of how far I had left to go until I saw the sign "3 Miles To Go". "That's it?" I thought. Alright, I put my head down and picked up my pace. I had remembered Nathan Holland's words from earlier that morning: "You want to make sure you have something left for the final 5K". 

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

I continued to push and finally checked my watch. Could I finished close to my "A" goal of 5:30? How close could I get? Only one way to find out. "2 Miles To Go". Ok, this is getting hard. What's that? A block party? Cool. High fives from everyone. Ok, I must be getting close. What? There is a table with free beer? PBR? No way I can drink right now, let's get this done. "One Mile To Go". Where is the finish? Where's the lake. I'm still in the middle of town. Ok, I'm crossing the street. I must almost be there, still no lake. Wait, I hear people. Yes, I'm getting close. There it is, the finish line. Oh no, they really do make you look the entire lake before you finally cross it. Ok, I know I must be sprinting right now. Well, that's probably only how it feels, not how it looks. One more turn and I'm there. Yes!!! Finished!!! And I'm feeling pretty damn good. No puking, no falling over, no crazy cramps. This is awesome! And I'm close to my A goal. What an awesome race!

View from top of Mount Mitchell.

Thanks for the creators of this fantastic bucket list ultra and thanks to the RD and the entire crew of volunteers and thanks for the local support. This event somehow manages to maintain the small family type feel of an ultra thatw e all love, yet it is put on as professionally as any event I've ever attended. And the swag and finisher awards were absolutely amazing. I love the Black Mountains!

Race Report - 2018 Eagle Ridge 50K

View from the lodge at the race start/finish line.

Initially, I had signed up for the half marathon distance of this inaugural "local" event. But as race day approached, I realized that I needed to build up to 90 miles that week. While I've knocked out plenty of 25+ mile solo runs in the past, I enjoy the ultra trail running scene a lot more than solitude, so I decided to step up to the 50K distance to reach my 90 mile weekly goal. This would mean my third ultra in 4 weeks, but I hadn't really raced any of them aside from the first one, my local favorite Mountain Mist 50K. With that said, I was excited to run the first edition of the Eagle Ridge 50K put on by the folks behind RunningLane. It was taking place in Lake Guntersville State Park, an area and trail system I had never run before. I figured at worst, it would be little rollers. After all how much elevation could there be with the highest point being just above 1000ft. Boy was I wrong about that one.

View from the lodge at the race start/finish line.

My wife had signed up for the half marathon and with both distances starting at 8AM, we decided to get there about an hour before race start to get oriented. The parking lot was slowly filling up as we arrived at the state park lodge just after 7AM. The race would start just outside the lodge and with plenty of time to spare, we walked into the lodge to check out the location and catch up with friends.

View from the race start/finish line.

My plan for the day was pretty simple. Cover 31 miles, don't push too hard, don't get hurt and be able to walk after finishing the race. After all I had another run to put in on Sunday:-) I was hoping to find someone around my pace and stick with them until it became too difficult, i.e. my legs and mind got tired, at which point I'd slow down and finish out the race, hopefully on one piece.

While there were lots of familiar faces, I had no idea of anyone's plans for the day. Trying to stick with Craig Smith for as long as I could seemed like as good an idea as any. Until last year, we were teammates and some similar results in various events. When the race started, about 5 or 6 runners took of in what seemed to be an all out sprint. All but one were running the half marathon, but I didn't really know that at the time. It allowed me to settle into a pace pretty early on as Craig and I ran together at a comfortable pace. Part of the lead group was Tim Pitt and to be honest, I could not believe how fast he took off. There was no way I could have chased him down if I had wanted to at this point, he seemed to be on a mission. It wasn't until about 3 miles into the race after Tim took a wrong turn before catching back up to us that he shared his "racing plan", bomb the downhills and run whatever else you can until you cannot go anymore, love it! 

Tim, Craig and I ran together for the first 15 miles before we started to stretch out a bit, Tim , then me, then Craig. The race course consisted of 2 full squeezed figure 8 loops followed by half a loop to make up the 31 miles. It wasn't easy either. While it was all runnable trail surface aside from a short "rock garden" around miles 9, 22 and 28ish, there was some serious elevation gain with GPS and altimeter readings varying widely from 4700-6100 feet of gain. I suspect the true gain to pay somewhere in the middle.

Cruising early on before the climbing started.

As Tim began to push a little on the downs again, I decided to back off and try to run "comfortable" or at least a pace that I had hoped I could maintain. I ran by feel, never checking my pace. The second loop climb was the toughest mentally as I realized I had to do it all over again and my legs had already done plenty of running. I could no longer see Tim in front or Craig behind me, so I just kept chugging along. I would see runners here and there on the course, but never really knowing where they were in the field, how far they had gone or even which race they were in. It did not matter, it is always great to see fellow trail runners in a race, encouraging each other as we pass.

One of the few "water crossings".

The course had very little water on even with all the rain that had fallen during the week. Not surprising, since there are barely any flat spots on the course to even collect water:-) Overall, the course actually had a great flow, surprisingly so when once considers the elevation profile. The scenery was pretty, but overcast and mist somewhat impeded the views of lake Guntersville. The entire course was basically single track trails, which was fantastic and a lot of fun. I may actually have to go out there again to do some training runs. It is well worth the 60 minute drive to me.

Back to the race, once I completed the second full loop, I was actually a bit reenergized, both mentally and physically. I knew I only had the short loop left, half of it mainly downhill followed by the final climb to the finish. I chugged a couple of cups of Coke at mile 26 before moving on to push to the finish. I tried to sustain some kind of pace, no matter what that meant, just keep moving. I had no illusions of catch Tim. The only way that was going to happen would have meant he was sitting on the side of the trails taking a break. When I finally made that last right turn at the top to head to the finish, my wife had patiently waited to see me in. One final sprint across the timing mat and I was done. Tim had deservedly taken the overall win and I actually could not believe I had managed a 2nd overall finish.

Thanks to the race director and all of the volunteers that worked their tails off on this day to allow us to be out there having fun. I can't wait to see how the course changes next year to incorporate even more of the single track trails available in Guntersville State Park. Congrats to all that toed the line today.

At the finish line with RD Will Rodgers and fellow runner and 3rd Overall Craig Smith.

Race Report - 2018 Cloudland Canyon 50K

One of two spectacular waterfalls inside the Cloudland Canyon.

Cloudland Cayon State Park is located in Georgia just southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee and it is a hidden gem. Well, it had been hidden to me until this weekend, anyway. Friends of mine had run the Cloudland Cayon 50 Miler last year and had described the scenic canyon, so I figured I had to go out there and see for myself. Not being a huge fan of the 50 Mile distance, I was glad to see the 50K option, which fit much better with my training plans for the year. Finally, the driving distance would be less than two hours, so I was committed.

View of the canyon from the rim trail.

I decided to drive up the morning of the race to save hotel costs and spend the money on another race fee, instead. Maybe I should check the timezones ahead of time, because driving from CST to EST meant an hour less sleep and a 3AM wakeup alarm is usually only acceptable for a 100 miler:-) Anyway, I arrived at Cloudland with nearly an hour to spare, which provided sufficient time to stretch my legs after the drive, pick up my bib and get myself ready to run.

The second of the two amazing waterfalls.

As folks were getting ready to run, I bumped into Ryan Ploeckelmann for our first official introduction. I had a quick chat with him at the risk of it ending up on his podcast as a soundbite. I don't know how other feel about it, but I cringe every time I hear my voice recorded somewhere. Anyway, it was great catching up with Ryan and his partner in crime Jeff, who I'd run into at BFC last year as well after getting lost for a bit. Yup, I was one of those fools not reading directions correctly. Anyway, that's a different story.

One of the bridge crossings connecting the stairs leading in and out of the canyon.

Sean got all 50K runners to huddle outside and after a quick call to have fun, we were off at 7:30AM EST. The temps were fairly mild and there was only a slight drizzle here and there in the early going. The race had runners start on a 3 mile road section with quite a bit of downhill, which made for a relaxing and fun stretch of running, allowing runners to jockey for their preferred positions in the field. By the time we hit single track, it was just me and a young fellow from Georgia Tech running along while a lead pack of 6 runners was already out of sight at this point. 

The river was raging due to significant rainfall before and during the race.

I settled in just behind Chris (?) and we ran together until we hit the stairs leading into the canyon. Along the trail at the canyon rim there were quite a few slick spots whenever we hit large rocks. The rain hat left a slight film on top of the rocks and the runner ahead of me had to catch himself a couple of times from going down. I fared much better, never taking a fall or even slipping. I had opted for a minimalist shoe with super aggressive Vibram tread and lugs (Altra KingMT) and they kept me upright and foot issue free all day. I was a bit surprised, since I usually prefer a bit "more" shoe for anything longer than a trail half marathon.

Trail leading in and out of the canyon.

By the time we arrived at the canyon stairs, the runner ahead of me had backed off the pace a bit, so I decided to go past and carefully move down the stairs. Again, footing was not an issue and I was able to move down fairly quickly. Once at the bottom of the stairs, I picked up my pace again as we hit some groomed trail with ups and downs. My legs felt great so I kept moving fairly well. About a quarter mile or so before I reached the turnaround point, the lead pack of 6 passed me in the opposite direction. I was surprised to see all of them together in a small pack and almost felt like I was missing the party:-) Before long, I arrived at the turnaround, I filled up one bottle and continued trucking.

View of the cloud covered canyon from the rim.

I was wearing a vest instead of carrying a hand bottle (my usual 50K fuel carrier), because the official race rules called for mandatory windbreaker. Yeah, I think I was the only one that read that "memo", but just as well, I carried my fuel and two bottles, which allowed me to skip an aid station there and there. I also carried my phone as I was determined to take some pics. After all, this was a training race for me and stopping for photos ensured that I treated it accordingly, i.e. didn't get caught up in racing until I'd blow up:-)

View of the opposite side of the canyon.

The climb back out of the canyon was interesting and beautiful. Interesting, because I quickly decided to use the European method of climbing steep sections, i.e. placing my hands on my quads to push down as I stepped up, allowing me to move fairly quickly as I skipped every other step, yet not raise my heart rate at all. Beautiful, because we had two out and back sections to run on the way out of the canyon, which presented us with spectacular views of two large waterfalls.

The massive canyon wall along the trail.

I got to the top of the canyon and headed towards the second aid station near the start/finish to fill one of my bottles. On the way, the trail took us along the canyon rim again, allowing me to take a few more pictures of the canyon. The pictures capture just why this place is referred to as "a park above the clouds". 

Spectacular canyon view, even if most of it is covered in fog, mist and clouds.

To be honest, I was dreading the next 18 or so miles a bit. They looked like a flatish 9 miles out and 9 miles back on paper, which meant lots of running and no excuses to walk. In addition, I would be running by myself for quite a while and likely not see anyone until I'd reach the turnaround point to head back to the finish. I decided to just go to work. I carried enough fluids to skip the unmanned aid station and finally made it to the "turnaround" point, or so I thought. You could say I was a bit deflated when Sean informed me that I had a 2-3 mile lollipop loop ahead of me before getting back here to head back.

The Cloudland Canyon as seen from one of the main viewing points along the rim trail.

After a couple of F-bombs I continued on. The leaders were about 20 minutes ahead with one or two runners just ahead of me. I managed to pass one runner on the loop before arriving back at the aid station. I was reenergized, knowing that I was now truly headed to the finish. In addition, I started seeing lots of runners headed in the opposite direction. The real benefit of out and back courses is the energy shared between runners. I cannot overemphasize of how great it is to receive and give encouragement to and from other runners. It really kept me going steady all the way to the finish, where Sean waited with a high five, a finisher pint glass and a couple of kegs of beer.

Coming into the Canyon around mile 7 or 8.

Great course, great people, great volunteers, great beer and great conversation, thanks to everyone involved! Put this one on your calendar for a challenging 50K with scenic views that highlight some of the best the Southeast has to offer.