For Better or For Worse: Kristen's Promise Land 50k Race Report

Going into Promise Land, I felt prepared for the distance but maybe not so much the elevation gain that was to come along with it. I'm not a strong mountain runner (yet), so in the weeks preceding the race, I decided to focus on my strengths: nutrition, downhill running and being mentally prepared for a long tough day. What I learned is that even the best nutritional plan will quickly go out the window in the face of GI distress … and the mental battle that ensued was far more challenging than completing the race without any extra self-induced challenges. I can’t pinpoint what caused me to feel so incredibly nauseated and sick throughout the race, but I have a suspicion it was combination of factors ... Either way, it’s humbling and a tad bit embarrassing as a dietitian to admit that nutrition was the cause of my downfall. Running for 6+ hours is still a relatively new concept for me and I know challenges like these come with the territory of stepping outside my comfort zone. Mistakes will happen and there are always lessons to be learned. So I’ll start my report with this: Races like this one are why I maintain the motto “respect the distance.” It doesn’t matter how many long races or training runs I’ve completed, I will always respect the fact that anything can happen out there…

VT had 14 Hokies racing...simply incredible! 

Friday I was feeling pretty good: My nervousness was behind me and I was in high spirits, excited to run and finally experience Promise Land for myself. After many traffic delays, we arrived at the race around 7pm, set up camp, enjoyed the pre-race festivities (aka listened to Horton talk forever) and went to bed early. I slept well and Horton did a good job waking up the entire camp with his bullhorn around 4:30am. Pre-race was uneventful, though I struggled to eat my breakfast and get other things moving… I had a feeling that would come back to haunt me but tried to not worry about it. At 5:30am sharp we were off.

Perhaps a little too happy for 5 am? Nah.

The start was pretty neat with bouncing headlamps lighting up the trail like fireflies. I’ve heard people describe the first climb of the day as being “in your face” steep... to me it felt more like a slap in the face: “Wake up, Kristen!” Ready or not, this race was happening. The 4,000 ft of elevation gain in the first 11-12 miles presented quite the mental battle in maintaining a positive attitude. I could have easily become discouraged early on, instead I decided to be patient and essentially told myself to “shut up and run.” The goal was to run an uncomfortably conservative pace to start… Anyway, I covered the first 4 mile climb in roughly 52 minutes and tippy top of the mountain in roughly 2 hours, positioned somewhere around 8^th female.

I think I ran most of the race with one glove on and
one off? Not sure why, haha.

During those first 2 hours, I noticed that my stomach was feeling unsettled but took some tums and figured it would pass. I chalked it up to the tough climb. Regardless, it’s not a good feeling to look at your fuel early in a race and feel queasy... Following the long climb was a nice section of gradual downhill and I set off to gradually catch a group of girls ahead of me. I made a concerted effort to eat more here but my body just wasn’t tolerating things like normal. At this point I was 2.5 hrs in and fighting a delicate balance between needing to push the calories and avoiding getting more sick.

After Sunset Field was a long stretch of technical downhill, which to me felt more like an obstacle course with the constant dodging of rocks and having to carefully plant each step.  It was fun but mentally taxing, at which point I was thankful to have pretty resilient ankles. This downhill section (near mile 15) marked the "high point" of my race, yet somehow I just couldn’t comprehend running 19-20 more miles (the race is actually a solid 34 miles, not 31 as advertised). At this point I forced down my favorite flavored gel, mocha, and reminded myself to take one section at a time...

Aid station 4, Cornelius Creek, marks roughly the halfway point of the race. I went through this point right at 3 hours and was happy with my progress. After refilling my pack, I picked up a pretzel and half of a potato hoping those would sit better with my stomach... no such luck. At this point was a steady downhill on pavement and though I managed a sub-8 mile here, my nausea continued to worsen and before I knew it I was bent over in pain. A few minutes later I tried to eat again and immediately threw up, which of course wiped out what little energy I had. I proceeded to stumbled into the woods with hopes that the worse was behind me...

Fun times...

The next few miles were slow, but I was moving. I managed to get down some gingerale and a fourth of a PBJ sandwich at the aid station, not much. I was just starting to get back into a groove again somewhere near mile 21 when I felt a very sudden and sharp pain in my left ankle. I knew I had gotten bitten or stung by something as I screamed pretty loudly (ok maybe a few times? =), jumped into the air then sprinted a few hundred yards to get away. Ok, I'll admit to being pretty skittish. Either way, it certainly woke me up and left me feeling rattled/ paranoid. My ankle was hurting but I was too afraid to look down. I figured if it was something bad I was better off getting to the next aid station sooner rather than later. Thankfully we later discovered it had been a painful bee sting and nothing worse. 

Around mile 25 I made it back to Cornelius Creek, which marked the start of the tough climb up Apple Orchard Falls. This was the lowest point of my day- After looking at the aid station foods with disgust I sat on a rock, inspected my ankle (red and swollen but fine) and contemplated whether to continue. I was facing the hardest climb of the day while running on fumes, dehydrated and with the sight of water making me sick… a DNF was really tempting and the old me probably would have done so without hesitation. But I knew that a DNF would also mean not finishing the Lynchburg Ultra Series and that my husband would be waiting patiently for me at the finish. Oh, and we had a wedding to get to... I opted to keep going, slowly at best, reluctantly acknowledging that the racing portion of my day was likely over. This section presented the worst mile splits I never hope to see again, ranging b/w 17-30 minutes per mile... yea...

Apple Orchard Trail: Pics from my training run not the race. BTW- we apparently climbed 167 of those stairs...

It was a slow trek up… I got sick again and was light-headed so when I finally made it to the waterfall I took a seat to "enjoy it" for a minute before battling the final mile to the top (Reality: I didn't care about the waterfall at this point). Shortly before that a girl had passed and asked: “are you ok? Are you the dietitian girl?” I reluctantly said yea and admitted I was having major GI issues, at which point I just felt really embarrassed. I have to say, I was truly impressed with how kind and concerned the other runners around me were. Another mile  later (mile 29) and I was finally back at Sunset Field ... all that remained was 4-5 miles of downhill. Easy right? It was nice to be moving again yet so sad to feel like you’re sprinting downhill while only managing 10 min pace! About half a mile from the finish Jordan was there faithfully waiting and taking pictures per usual. I informed him that he was to run with me to the finish (after rocking a top ten finish of his own and in his flip flops… yea, he’s awesome). Crossing the finish line was fun, certainly a huge accomplishment but more so after everything a huge relief...

Gorgeous pic courtesy of J. Chang.

In conclusion—My race certainly didn’t go according to plan and with that was a disappointment, especially since I still don’t know what made me so sick. Pushing through physical fatigue is challenging, but I’ll admit physical illness/GI issues is the one thing capable of knocking me to my knees. Only managing to consume maybe 500-600 calories in a 7 hour span certainly doesn’t make for productive or fun running, and it’s tough looking back on the results knowing I was fully capable of a much better placing. That being said, two years ago I would have scoffed at the thought of running 34 miles including 8,000+ feet of elevation gain… for me to START and FINISH this race is a huge accomplishment, regardless of what happened in between. I am proud of that and will most certainly be back again soon in pursuit of a much better performance... =D

Post-race : After grabbing some food to go, we quickly packed up and headed off to Richmond for a friend's wedding. The curvy and hilly roads only added to my nausea (it stuck around until the next morning) but we managed to make it in time... a long day but totally worth it! Congrats Ben & Ashley!

No Regrets: Jordan's Promise Land 50k Race Report

“No Regrets” Race 3 of 6 in the BEAST series

Since leaving the mountains of Bedford with a bitter taste in my mouth after Terrapin Mtn 50k a few weeks ago, I have thought a lot about what I would do differently for Promise Land 50k. On one hand, why would I need to change anything? Everyone has bad races and sometimes its better to try it again without any drastic changes. On the other hand, something just didn’t feel right about the way my race went last time out in the mountains and I wanted to get it right this time.  As I was gearing up for PL, I began thinking in earnest about my race strategy and kept coming back to the same thought, “I need to go out harder.” This type of race plan is not a typical ‘ultra-runner’ strategy, which usually revolves around strong, steady running, but long story short, I decided that I would really push the envelope at this race, run without trepidation and have a blast in the process.  I was not going to be conservative, but rather go out hard, be aggressive with the pace and see where that would take me.  I knew beforehand that this type of race strategy was either going to work out great, or blow up in my face, but no matter what it would hurt…a lot. No regrets right?

Friday Kristen and I made out way to the campground and got all set to go, pitching our tent next to our VT Ultra teammates. The evening was pretty uneventful and it was once again great to see so many familiar faces, from Winchester, Blacksburg, Baltimore and the numerous other places where we have lived and run. Off to bed we went and I was out in no time.

Night before the race.

4AM rolled around and we woke up, got changed and hung out with fellow runners before the start. 5:30 hit and after a few words from Horton (ok more than a few words per usual) we were off and running into the darkness. I had told several of my teammates of my race plan, so they were not surprised when I took off with the lead group up the mountain. I ran with the lead 5 up most of the first climb but then they started pulling away from me over the last ½- ¼ mile before turning into the woods for more climbing.  At that point I was worried that my plan to stay with the top pack was already doomed, less than 2 miles in. Once we turned off the road and into the forest, I was on my own and would only catch glimpses of Frank G, Sam D, Jordan W and the other top guys on occasion. When I got to the top of the climb and started down the big grassy trail/service road, I began to catch up to them. After about 1.5 miles I caught most of the top group, minus Shaun Pope who was way out front by now.  I decided then to really start cranking up the pace. I wanted to stay moderately uncomfortable so I would not settle into a pace that would just get me into trouble later on when I knew I would be feeling terrible no matter what I did early on in the race. Either way, I was trucking with Sam, Frank and Jordan most of the way towards Aid Station 2 in places 2-5. Along the way Brian, another of the top group took a hard tumble and I stopped to see if he was alright. After a few seconds he was able to continue and eventually caught back up to us no problem (he ended up with either bruised or cracked ribs from his fall… ouch). 

Cool view of the course courtesy of Keith Knipling

I was relieved when we got to the part of the course where you do a small out and back to aid station 2 because I was nearly out of water, but when we started down the service road, something didn’t feel right and it ended up that AS 2 was not set-up yet. We quickly yelled for Shaun to turn around and our group headed back up the mountain. We didn’t lose too much time there, but ended up grouping back up into a big pack of runners 1-5 with Shaun still working to catch up. I was a little worried about my hydration at this point because there was no more water until the next stop at Sunset Field, but then I remembered that during a training run on the course 2 weeks ago, Chris Bernard had stopped at a spring on the White Oak loop to fill up a bottle. I was determined to find that spring and fill up. That didn’t turn out to be a hard task, and in no time, I was back in business with a full hand bottle. By the time I got to the highest point on the course at the Blue Ridge Parkway, the group had strung out again with Shaun right in front of me and the rest of the top 5 out of sight. I knew that from here on out I would most likely be running solo for a while.

Trilliums in full bloom were all over the course.
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/southern/AppleOrchardFalls/images/Large-flowered_Trillium_lg.jpg

I arrived at Sunset Field solidly in 6^th place with no one in sight other than Shaun right ahead of me. I was excited for the next several miles of glorious downhill to stretch my legs out and let gravity do some of the work. The run down the mountain was beautiful with all the trees leafing out, the trillium blooming and the creek rushing next to me. Though I am a very social person, I really enjoyed the solitude of this section. I was really able to take in the beauty of the course and not worry about anything for a while. I quickly filled up and got a little nutrition at the Cornelius Creek AS and then continued on down the mountain to the lowest point on the course where you turn onto the White Tail trail.  Once again, I was still completely alone, which was very helpful in staying relaxed and focused. I kept telling myself, “just stay strong until Apple Orchard Falls then bring it home from there.” I kept a pretty good pace through this section and arrived at the Colon Hollow AS sooner than I had anticipated. I knew that this section before hitting Cornelius Creek again was going to be one of the tougher parts because it was long, rolling and all looked the same.

http://www.cnyhiking.com/BRP-CorneliusCreekTrail001.jpg

Not gonna lie, this section was not very fun. I surprised myself and was holding it together much better than I had imagined, given the fast start, but the rolling, wide grassy trail was getting old…fast. I did see a couple turkey hunters out there which was fun (then proceeded to flush a turkey out of a roost in a tree some 100 meters later….hope it’s ok .)  On the descent back to Cornelius creek I was caught very quickly by Brad Hinton and Jack Kurisky, which pushed me back to 8^th. I was surprised that it had taken so long for anyone to catch me so I was not terribly discouraged at this point. I knew that all I had left was the brutal climb of Apple Orchard Falls then the long descent back to the finish.

Apple Orchard Falls
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TLHhbF21QxE/Tb8xlvLf-qI/AAAAAAAAC0E/IY67E9YQ6GY/s1600/047+apple+orchard+falls.jpg

After being able to keep running through most of the lower section of the Apple Orchard Falls Trail, my pace grounded to a near halt as I reached the part of the climb where you have to rock scramble for awhile then hit the stairs. I kept my pace moving but undoubtedly it was slowing dramatically. Once I cleared the falls, I heard someone behind me say, “Is that a Hokie?” and saw my buddy Rudy running up behind me. He blew by me and was running like he just started the race. Shortly after he passed me I was caught by Mario Raymond and decided then that if I had any shot at a top 10 finish, I HAD to try and stick with him. So that’s what I did. When Mario ran, I ran, and when he walked, I walked. That strategy worked well and got me back to Sunset Fields in good shape.  At the top we both caught back up with Brad which put me back into 9th place

Photo courtesy of Beth Minnick

           I wanted to tell myself that at this point I was a lock for 9^th place with only a couple miles of screaming downhill to go, but I knew that there were many, many fast people coming down the mountain as fast, if not much faster than me. With all the training that I do with the VT Ultra guys, I know that my training buddies can descend really, really quick. I did not want to take any chance with that and kept the throttle on all the way back down to the gravel road. At this point I saw that Mario was gapping me a little bit but there was not much I could do but focus on my own race and try to finish strong.  When I saw the squirrel shaped mailbox I knew I was nearly there and that’s when I finally let myself enjoy the fact that I was about to place top ten for the first time at Promise Land! I crossed the finish line in 5:17:37 which was a 25 minute PR.  No Regrets.

            What a great race it was for me. My race strategy, though not very sexy, worked perfectly for me.  I nabbed a top 10 finish here for the first time, and had a blast running through the beautiful mountains. Even better, VT Ultra absolutely KILLED it with 5 Hokies finishing in the top 15 and 3 in the top 10. It is so amazing having a great group of young folks to train with here and the hard work is definitely showing. Like we now say, “There is definitely something in the water here in Blacksburg.”  Unfortunately, Kristen did not have the best time out there and had GI issues throughout the race. But as a testament to her toughness, she finished the race with a smile on her face. It’s such a blessing to be able to share these moments with Kristen, my beautiful wife, best friend and training partner, even if the results aren’t always what we want.

HOKIES in the top 15... Steve, Me, Darren, Rudy & Guy (L to R).

             Now for a little break from the LUS/Beast series until Grindstone 100 in October, but that does not mean we aren’t going to be doing any fun ultras over the summer! Stay tuned :-D

Fun Fact: We are 1/2 of the way through the BEAST series race-wise but only 1/3 of the way mileage wise. We have many, many more miles to go....and I'm ok with that

Finally got myself a top 10 pack!

Enjoying the Ride

To say that I am not disappointed with my race at Terrapin Mountain 50k would not really be the truth. I was hoping to continue my positive momentum from Holiday Lake and live up to my pre-race seeding of 7^th. I have had some great training since Holiday Lake, but I also had been pretty sick for a couple weeks. Either way, heading into this race, I was feeling confident, excited and ready to roll.

The past week leading up to the race, work had been a little higher stress than normal, due to some changes that are going to be occurring in the near future, but otherwise uneventful. 

Friday, Kristen and I headed up to the Sedalia Center right after work. The drive was beautiful and seeing the mountains really got me excited to run the next morning. We arrived at the center, set up our tent and spent some time hanging out with fellow runners before heading off to get a long nights rest.

Our alarms woke us up promptly at 5am for the 7am start. We did our usual pre-race routine and unlike at Holiday Lake, we were BOTH ready to go at race time.

As we headed down the road towards the first big climb, I ran with Kristen and a friend from PT school. We chatted for a bit about our expectations for the race and what to look forward to on this course.

Slowly, I eased my way up to run with a couple of guys who I knew would be in the hunt for a top ten finish. We climbed together for the first several miles and came out at Camping Gap in 12^th and 13^th. As we headed down the long descent, I was passed by one or two runners, but I tried to heed the warning of some fellow runners to not blow my quads out on this early, long descent. I maintained a controlled pace down to the bottom and started the long climb back to Camping Gap. About ¾ of the way up, I started to get really cold. This is something that has started happening to me recently and for the life of me cannot explain why. Possibly from slowing down while climbing, I started getting really cold and began to feel pretty miserable. By the time I got to Camping Gap again, I just filled up and headed out, not much conversation or banter.

Let’s just say that the next section of the course was pretty ugly. On the White Oak Trail, the wheels started falling off for me. I lost sight of the guys I had been running with the whole race up until then, and people started picking me off, starting with the lead female, who looked like she was effortlessly prancing through the woods…haha. Either way, this section should not have been as hard as it felt and I should not have been slowing down as much as I was. It was encouraging to see lots of folks when the loop reconnected with the main trail, and at that point I really started getting passed by tons of people. This made me realize how much I had really slowed down over the last several miles. By the time I had reached Camping Gap for the third time, I had been caught by several of my teammates who were having very impressive races, including freshman Darren and Guy L. who had just rocked a top 10 finish at the Georgia Death race the weekend before. I was really excited about seeing my teammates but at the same time it was frustrating because I could not for the life of me keep up with either of them. I had no ‘pop’ in my legs and was only able to trudge along at my miserable pace. I kept thinking to myself, “It’s ONLY a 50k, this should not be this hard.” I guess this shows that no matter how many ultras you have done, each one is a unique, difficult challenge.

I truly enjoyed the section after climbing up and over Terrapin Mtn. It was turning into a beautiful afternoon and the view from the summit was awesome…even though I was trying hard not to fall off the cliff while punching my bib and getting buffeted by some big gusts. The ”Fat Man’s Misery” was quite an experience.  I loved the unique nature of clamoring through this narrow section! This section was the first time that I was actually able to enjoy the race…probably because I had the pressure off my back to get a top 10 finish and I could just run, enjoy the people, revel in the beauty of the mountains and reflect a little.

The downhill to the last AS was long, steep and one of the tougher downhill sections I have ever done.  My legs at this point were still feeling pretty bad, but I was able to run a pretty good clip. I lost my balance a few times and nearly took some ugly spills, but that’s trail running for you. At the last aid station I saw one of my friends from tech and she gave my some good encouragement. This was one point where knowing the course better would have helped. I was not 100% sure how much longer I had and that made for a very long last stretch. While I did not feel terrible during this section, I also didn’t really have the drive to bring it home strong.  I was kind of in auto-pilot mode and just kept running, though not overly fast.

Coming down the last hill, I saw Horton sitting off in the woods and he yelled to me, “CHANG…. I am PRETTY sure your wife is going to catch you.” Haha….great.  Anyways, kicked it on home with a 6:10 final mile for a total time of 5:07 or something like that. About an hour slower than Holiday Lake…oops.

Not sure why this race didn’t quite go as planned but sometimes its not about painstakingly figuring out what went wrong and more about picking yourself back up, enjoying the ride and barreling onward…and that’s what’s going to happen. On to Promise Land!

-J. Chang