This weekend was packed full of steep climbs, leafy trails, and fun people.
Running Ahead Run Summary
Saturday we set out and did the Duncan Ridge Trail training run,
which consisted of the 18 miles the 50k runners get to run, but the 30k
runners don’t. We met up at Vogel State park, then went to the location
where the trail starts.
After the race director explained that he will be running ahead to
put tags on the trail for race marking(and training run marking), the
runners set off. I stayed back for a minute and spoke with Mitch Pless,
an ultra-running buddy of mine(and a fast one at that). We caught up,
discussed Pinhoti, and separated. He was only doing a short run that day
since he is running Pinhoti in 1 week.
Before I begin, let me give you a run-down of what I have. I am
carrying a Camelbak with 2 1.5 liter reservoirs in it. I also have a ton
of food and other useless crap. It weighed 12 pounds. I did this
because:
- I wanted a really good work-out.
- The pack that I run with runs a little slower than I am comfortable
with. To combat this, I run with more weight to make it more strenuous.
I started a familiar climb and kept following the trail. I raced down
a hill and hit a fork in the trail. “Hmmm…. It looks like they went
that way!” I ran down, down, down a hill until I realized that I may not
be in the right place. I had not seen any blue blazes or ribbons.
Great… So I did what any lost grown man would do and called my mommy.
Luckily, she was on the right trail and described what I was looking
for. I used my handy dandy GPS tool and followed my way back up, up, up a
hill. “Ah, there’s the blaze I missed!” I ran fast to catch up to
everyone. After about a quarter mile I had an odd feeling. I still
hadn’t seen any more ribbons. Dammit.
I called my mom back again, and told her what was going on. She told
me that my turn was at the very top of the hill that I had initially ran
up. I dragged myself back up that hill, and saw the turn that was going
in the opposite direction. Ugh.
At this point I had 2 miles on my watch and I was really only a
quarter mile into the course. Some people would be frustrated by now,
but I was actually pretty happy. I knew since I was on the right trail I
could run faster, with a heavier pack, and try to catch up to my
parents.
I kept myself moving at a medium-high intensity. Miles past and I did
not see anyone. I kept doing the math in my head. It made sense that I
was having a hard time catching them. I was 20 to 30 minutes behind them
when I finally started running.
There were a few times when I got confused, but for the most part the
trails were marked extremely well, considering the very leafy
conditions.
I ran into Mitch again, who told me my parents were right up the
hill. I kept moving and kept running into other runners that were doing
their own training runs. I stopped and talked to my buddy Ryan. I
casually leaned with my hand up against a tree and something bit it. It
really hurt and I felt it start to swell. Once we got done talking I
picked up the pace since I knew I only had about 2 miles until a
turnaround/road. If something bad happened to my hand I could make it
out alive!
I hit a downhill and loosened up. I glided down it and ran up behind
my Mom and Paul. At this point I was at 9 miles and they were at 7.
I ran/walked with them until my Dad, Angela, and Jess ran into us.
They were coming back. They said that the turnaround was .4 miles ahead.
My Mom and Paul decided to turn around there and run with the group. I
started running fast to the turnaround. I ran about .1 miles and decided
that I didn’t feel like playing the whole catchup game again. I turned
around, caught up with them, and decided to stick with people for the
way back.
The way back was less eventful. Jess and I hung back with Paul, who was having some nutritional troubles.
All-in-all it was an excellent run, filled with great people and
beautiful scenery. The climbs were great(masochistic I know)! I can’t
wait to run this section after running Coosa Bald in the DRT.
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