2019 Pisgah Mountain 50K Trail Race

Around mile 19. Photo by Glenn Hammett

The Pisgah 50K was one of the first ultras I read about in my race search when I moved back to New Hampshire in 2011. It never could fit into my schedule, either because it conflicted with other races or I just didn't have the free time. I finally put it on my definite schedule for this year so it was happening. I can't say I was actually really into it by the time race day rolled around. This was basically my first weekend back racing after a 4 week break which is something I hadn't done since probably 2013, if even. I needed that break physically and mentally, but it turned out, I still ended up not really ready to race today. My mind definitely wasn't in it, but I had just registered the week before, and I wasn't giving up my $65 registration fee. Plus, I needed the training. I came into this race thinking that I would have no problem running a 50K. I'm super fit right now. 31 miles is easy. Well, it wasn't. Remember back when I was dying at the end of the Big A 50K in May? Back when I WASN'T in shape for a 50K? Well, today I felt much worse than that. MUCH worse.

It was an early morning, but the drive over wasn't all that bad. I got parked in a spot that definitely wouldn't work with John and Phoenix in the car with it getting the warm side by noon. But I stayed parked there so I could get my bib number. As soon as I walked over I was greeted by Jonny Hammett, Fred Ross and Tammy Richards. Greg Hammett walked over, too, so Fred made us do photos. I look pretty disheveled. Haha.

Greg lives there in Chesterfield so he was able to give me the scoop on a better parking space. And wow. It turned out to be perfect. Shaded the whole time and with its own porta potty. I moved the car down there then barely warmed up. A long warm up really wasn't necessary since the start was a good downhill on the road that would warm me up enough. I came back to the car to get all set for the race. I'd once again opted for no pack and wore the same waist belt I wore at Escarpment. I put one gel and 3 S-Caps in it and that was it. Aid stations were spaced perfectly to just get water and Gatorade there. Stupidly, I didn't bring the maple syrup...AGAIN. Not sure why I forgot about it. I figured I'd be able to just rely on aid stations for fueling. And since when lately has this worked? Never. So I basically fucked my race up before I ever started. Not kidding. I was able to get through the fueling issue at Big A and Escarpment, but not today. Today I paid for my stupidity. I think it had to come to this because otherwise I would have kept doing it. I needed this mistake to finally hit home. I just wish I hadn't had to suffer so much to learn. Haha.

Once I was set, I said goodbye to a sleeping John. I think he heard me since he grunted an ok. I walked to the start. There were a few other familiar faces, but not many. I chatted with Tammy a bit. She was doing the 23K, her first trail race. Tammy and I both had terrible races at the Hartford Marathon last year. Me, due to my injury and inability to train, and her, because she suddenly was injured with my same injury! So we both had a bummer of a winter. She didn't run again for about 5 months, but I think she's all healed up. I'm not, of course, because I keep running. Haha. But I'm in a much better place and actually doing pretty well with it. So it was nice for us to come back together almost a year later having overcome last year's debacle.

The time before the start seemed to drag. I just wanted to get this show on the road. I lined up with Jonny on the line. He had a pretty fast goal time. I didn't really have a goal time, but I expected to run around 4:30 easily. Spoiler alert: that didn't happen! Not even close! Haha.

The RD gave pre-race announcements off we went down the hill for the first part of the course on a rolling road. Jonny and I chatted along the way. This should have felt easy, but I could already feel soreness in my tendons on the climbs. I was really happy when we turned off onto the trail. It was really nice trail to run on, and this part was easy so we ran quickly through the first 4 miles of the course. We came out on a road very briefly, and then right back into the woods where the trail started to become more hilly. Constant rollers. I wasn't quite ready to walk the uphills, but I definitely cut back my pace so I didn't use up too much energy early on. It wasn't long before the soreness from the track started to appear. My calves, my quads, hamstrings. All of it! But luckily I was still moving quite quickly and easily through this nice somewhat technical singletrack. The temps stayed cool in the shade, so other than the leg soreness I was feeling pretty good. I had seen Amy Rusiecki and Kelsey Spare (formerly Allen) at the start seconds before we started. I knew Amy would be there, but not Kelsey. This had me running scared the entire way since I was leading for the 50K women right from the get-go.

Jonny and me feeling pretty good early on

The first 8 miles seemed to go by quickly and easily. I stopped at the aid station here to drink water and Gatorade and grabbed a handful of peanut M&Ms. I wouldn't have done this if I had known the course was going to climb steeply up a switchbacking road for over a half mile right out of the aid station. The only way for me to eat and breathe was to walk. I would have been able to run this otherwise, but I do not have the skills needed to eat and run. I just don't. haha. It was ok. This was a long climb and probably better that I walked it. I finally got running again, but the trail wasn't as nice here as before. It's a snowmobile trail and it was all chewed up. You really had no flow running through here, and the climbs and descents got longer. I started to catch up with a Cambridge Sports Union guy I thought was Ari from Escarpment, but when I saw his face it didn't look like him, and he didn't seem to recognize me either. Well, it turned out that it HAD been Ari. Funny we didn't recognize each other. He hung on not too far back through this section. I should have known it was Ari, though, because he was better than me on the climbs, and I was better on the descents...just like Escarpment. Oh well. I finally saw a parking lot so I knew I was coming down to the 12 mile-ish aid station and was shocked to see I had caught back up with Jonny. He said he had a rough time through that last section. I just drank something then moved on. Ari came into the aid station just as I left.

Jonny put a lead on me quickly so I found myself all alone again as we entered the Reservoir Trail. This part was fun again, and I was moving along at a good pace. I was definitely feeling the miles at this point. So far this course had been a lot harder than I expected, and I knew we had the longest climbing coming up after the next aid station. These 3-4 miles seemed to go by quickly. As I turned into the aid station, there was Jonny again. He wasn't feeling good. Something was up with his hips or something. I can't really recall, but he said he was basically losing power. I drank something here and decided to take the one gel I had in my waistbelt. Clif Gel Boston Cream Pie. DON'T DO IT! Probably the most disgusting gel I've ever tasted. And this is the last time I'm using Clif Gels.

Out of the aid station we started the long climb. Jonny and I left at the same time with me in the lead until the climb started so I let him go by. I could tell he was definitely hurting, but he was still moving faster than I was since I decided to power hike here. All of a sudden some guy came out of nowhere behind us and then flew past us. Damn. I think he ran smarter than we did. I was definitely starting to feel a little tired here, and in addition to the soreness, I suddenly had this twinge of pinpoint pain near the top of my left hamstring. Not my tendon, but the actual muscle. This sharp little twinge would not go away for the rest of the race. It never got much worse, but it was just constant and had me a little concerned.

I didn't think the climb was too bad because it wasn't just uphill. We had a few downhill breaks in there so I'm not sure which one was the summit. On one of these downhills, my fear at wearing Hoka Speedgoat 2 shoes for this came true. Not lifting my foot high enough, I caught on a root just at the start of a downhill and down I went super hard and with so much momentum that I hit the ground and still did a full side roll, covering my sweaty skin in a nice dirt blanket. Haha. I had hit so hard that it caused to make a loud grunt. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt except for very minor scrapes on my left shoulder so I was right back on my feet running again. I immediately caught up with Jonny who was struggling on the downhilll. He let me go by. We had one more climb where "Greg Hammett" was sitting in a chair taking photos. I was wondering how Greg finished the 23K so fast, showered and then got over here, but then I realized right as I passed him that it wasn't Greg. It was his twin brother, Glenn. Haha. He started to ask if I had seen Jonny, but he suddenly saw Jonny behind me before I could answer. This was the last time I would see Jonny.

After a short downhill to a dirt road, I came to the next aid station around mile 19. I was feeling drained at this time and took Gatorade and water. No food. I just couldn't. I looked at it and it made me want to vomit. From here was the start of the Kilburn Loop for 5.5-ish miles. which I'd heard horror stories about. It started on a packed dirt path. I didn't think it seemed so bad...and then we turned onto the singletrack. It wasn't long before I was suddenly feeling awful. Major stomach cramps and suddenly drained (hmm wonder why haha). I started to catch up with someone, but I would never catch him. I spent the next 6 miles constantly catching up to him but just never enough. I had hit my wall by mile 21. I still had a long ways to go, and the up-down course was unrelenting. I was struggling when I made it back to the 25.5 mile aid station (same aid station as the previous one). I took an S-Cap which I think cured the stomach cramps because they were gone quickly. I wanted to ask the guy how far back the 2nd woman was from me when we first came through, but I didn't. I just kept trudging along.

These next 7 miles were excruciatingly painful. My legs hurt, and I could barely move. I thought for sure I was going to get passed any second. I kept looking back, but there was never anyone in sight. The last part of this course did so much climbing. It almost seemed like more climbing than any other section. I was feeling so dizzy and started hyperventilating. The hyperventilating thing isn't new to me towards the end of long races when my effort is high. It's kind of scary, though, because you have to keep yourself controlled or else a panic attack could happen. I just kept taking slow deep breaths when it would happen. I had no idea what was causing it, but knowing it's happened multiple times before and relieved itself immediately after finishing, I knew I was ok. (I looked it up later. See below for what I think it might be).

The last few miles to the final 1.4 miles on the road was a death march. I felt so awful. At Big A 50k, I felt like I was dying, but not like this. This felt so much worse. It had warmed up quite a bit just to make it feel even more terrible. I was never happier to see the road until I had to run on it. I very quickly grabbed water at the unmanned station at the gate then ran as fast as I could down the road.

Fred made this for me.

I knew what the course was like on the way out so I figured this road would be the same, and sure enough, a long downhill followed by a long uphill. I saw a bunch of people standing out at the road cheering so I figured that must be Greg's house since he told he lived on the course and would be out cheering. As I approached them, I saw Jonny standing out there all clean and with a beer in his hand; he had dropped right after I last saw him. I was so jealous. I think I muttered those words and then something about feeling terrible. Greg yelled out that I had 3/4 mile left. I swear it felt like a mile. We finally turned onto the main road and there was the finish. The pain face in the next photos was real. The smile was just good acting. Haha. Too bad that one was blurry, though.

How the hell I still won that thing is beyond me. The only other time I've felt this bad in a race was at the Baystate Marathon last year, but I wasn't hyperventilating there. I was happy to at least have broken 5 hours, but my time REALLY sucked. 4:52:18. I honestly should have been able to run a 4:30 easily with the shape I'm in, but that did not go well today. Although the 400m race was definitely a factor on the legs, the real culprit was the fueling. No doubt about it. Full Results.

I grabbed an ice cold water and hobbled what felt like 10 miles to the car. John was just as I'd left him.

Fred checked on him for me during the race and took this. Haha

It took me a long time to get changed between barely being able to move and multiple porta potty trips. My body definitely hated me. I let Phoenix out while I changed then we drove up to the post-race stuff. I did not want to eat, but I had to eat before I drove so I forced down a hamburger. Fred told me I won prize money which I didn't expect at all. I wasn't expecting any awards. It was the best news of the day because I needed that $75 so badly.

The RD handing me the check.

I headed out right after that. We had a long drive, and I'll admit it was tough. I could barely get out of the car when we got home. Omg. I knew this would be a long recovery and planned the next 3 days as zero days. Lone Gull 10K was a week from this one, and I needed to be recovered enough to have a respectful race.

So, like I said, I looked up the hyperventilation thing later that night. One of the possibilities actually makes the most sense. Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction (EILO). It definitely feels like my larynx is closing up when it happens, as opposed to it being lung related. It feels like it's in my throat, as if my throat is closing. "Most simply, unlike EIB, which comes on more commonly on cessation of exercise or with a decrease in exercise intensity (change in ventilation rate), EILO generally occurs during peak intensity and will subside on its own within three to five minutes of cessation of activity." From this article. It also mentions getting relief by certain breathing exercises which is what I've done with the slow deep breaths, but the article has some other suggestions like pursing the lips or inhaling through a straw. Of course this isn't definitely EILO, but it seems to be the most likely case. I've never experienced hyperventilating outside of late in long distance racing so it's a safe bet it's exercise-induced. Haha.

To my take on Pisgah. It was a really tough race. I knew it would be challenging, but I didn't expect it to be this challenging. I wouldn't say it's overly technical either, but it definitely wasn't smooth trails by any means. I'm pretty bummed I had such a bad race. And yes, I know. I still finished 1st female, and I'm happy about that, but I don't think anyone is generally happy with a race during which they felt so awful. And I know I'm far more fit than that finishing time implies, so that bums me out, too. But, I can't use the cope out that, "It just wasn't my day." I think it definitely could have been my day or at least a better one if I could just get the damn fueling right! I decided to give the Huma gels a try again. I used to use chia seeds all the time during marathons and found they settled my stomach so it's back to chia seeds! (Speaking of chia seeds, look at all the different Chia Pets you can get now!)

This is probably my last ultra for the year even though I had originally planned 2 more. Instead, I'm going to torture myself with a road marathon. Haha. It's ok. I'm really not feeling the long distance trail races again until next year. I'm happy with what I have left on my calendar for now.