North Face Endurance Challenge 50k Race Report

October 16, 2010

The night before this race was not pretty, as Anna had been sick late in the week and I developed a touch of her cold on Friday evening.  Felt good enough to start Saturday morning but had no idea what to expect.  Fortunately, this was not a major factor during the day as the excitement of a fun trail race overshadowed any symptoms.

The race began at 7 a.m. in Pine Mountain, Georgia, but the skies were still pitch black.  Fortunately I brought my headlamp with me, strapped it on, and headed to the starting line for a full day of running.  A quick speech by the RD and Dean Karnazes explaining that the first 100 yards was the only flat section of the course (true), and we were off.  By 7:30 I was in the lead pack of 8 runners and we had opened up a slight gap on the next group.  Ran into Andon Briggs at the first aid station, who was already almost three hours into his 50 mile race.  Shortly after the first aid station there was a split in the trail.  All instructions were to follow the blue flags for the 50k route, but there were blue flags on both the left and right trails.  A few runners ran ahead on the right path, then immediately came back and said the left was the correct route (incorrect).  So, in a classic case of the blind leading the blind, the lead group of 8 runners departed down the left trail.  After approximately 1.5 miles we arrived at the finish line.  Would have been a course record had we not arrived 23 miles too early.  Oops!  So…back up the trail another 1.5 miles to where the split occurred and on to the next aid station.  This was completely demoralizing.  To go from the lead pack of 8, running well, and then at the next aid station find out you are in the second half of the entire group is not encouraging. 

It took me entirely too long to get out of this aid station.  Now being in the middle of the pack, the station was very crowded and it took several minutes to get an open water jug to fill my bottle.  By this time the “lead” group, which was no longer in the lead, had dispersed, so I decided to settle into a comfortable pace and enjoy the rest of the day.  During the first few miles I firmly believed that a top ten finish was possible, but after the wrong turn I figured at best that I could gain a bit in the rankings by keeping it slow and steady, but felt that any chance of a top ten finish were out. 

The next 15 miles went by quickly with a constant repetition of eating, drinking and enjoying the scenery.  My focus here was simply to stay hydrated, which was my downfall at the Oak Mountain 50k in March.  No such problems here, and aside from some stomach discomfort from miles 18-23, everything went well from a hydration standpoint.

At the aid station around my mile 26 and the course’s mile 23, a race official informed me that the course had been improperly marked and that I, along with the other 6 runners who took the wrong trail, were being sent on a “short course” so that we would run the 50k distance, same as everyone else.  This meant that I had only 5 miles remaining instead of 8.  Nice!  Suddenly a top 10 finish was back in the mix, so I hustled out of the aid station and my legs had new life.  Being on a different trail meant that I had no idea what place I was in or who was finishing before me on the regular trail, so I just ran and decided to let the rest take care of itself. 

I started getting a little nervous around mile 30.50, because I could hear no crowds, music, or anything to indicate the finish was approaching.  Also, having already approached the finish line on accident earlier in the day I was familiar with what the finish should have looked like, but the trail I was on did not look like it.  Plus, I saw no one during this 5 mile stretch until I spotted another runner ahead of me at mile 30.75.  I figured I could pass him along the final stretch when the trail opened to the finish, but just after my watch indicated I had gone 31 miles there was a race official in the middle of the trail who told me that I was finished and marked down my time.  Interesting ending.  No finish line, no music, no crowds, no pictures, no race photographers…just a guy in the woods saying “you’re finished”.  Not very often you have a top ten finish without actually crossing the finish line. 

All-in-all, a great event.  I had a fun time and enjoyed the technical, hilly trails (my GPS showed over 8,000 feet of climbing during the event) in FDR State Park.  The wrong turn, even though later corrected, changed the dynamic of the race.  I stopped pushing after this point, so who knows if I could have done better or worse by pushing harder.  Could’ve gained places or crashed, so no good speculating.  Later in the day I “ran” with Luke in the Karno’s Kids 1k trail run, sponsored by Ultramarathon Man Dean Karnazes’ charity.  Luke was super-excited about having his own race bib.  He was slow and steady, constantly distracted by the guy dressed as a green army man who was behind us, but I honestly believe was the only one under 3 who walked/ran it completely unassisted.  Other little ones were carried by their parents at times, but Luke steadily plugged along at his pace and finished, earning a medal placed on him by Snow White.  Hard to beat that.  A successful introduction to trail-racing for Luke.

Verse:  The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. -Psalm 33:5

"Ultramarathon Man" Dean Karnazes, Luke and Daddy after the NFEC.