Luke - 16.6

16.6mi, 2:06:37 (7:37)

Headed out to Mt. Pisgah for a 14.6-mile trail run. I had a comped entry from coming in first at the last trail run I did, a couple weeks ago. Didn't really warm up, just a 100m jog to the bathroom and a few start-line leg movements to keep warm. Started out real easy; there was a group of two at the front, then me, then another group of two behind me. The terrain was sometimes okay, sometimes a bit slick with leaves, and sometimes really muddy. I talked with the guys behind me a couple times, then settled in behind the leaders for a little while, then at about 1.5 miles I went ahead of them. There was an out-and-back section with the turnaround being about the 3-mile mark, and I looked at my watch to see how far in front of the next guys I was...turned out to be just under a minute. It stayed mostly flat for the next couple miles, just rollers, trending uphill but nothing major. There was a 50k that had started two hours prior to my race so I passed a runner from that every once in a while but mostly it was just me. After a bit the trail went into the forest and uphill...it was steep at times and muddy at times but it wasn't too bad except when it was steep and also really muddy, so my feet were slipping back as I was trying to go forward and up. I wasn't working like crazy, just moving along decently. The course was two loops, this (Base) loop (8.2mi) and a steeper, shorter (Summit) loop (6.4mi). At the top of this loop there was an aid station, and then a really really steep downhill. I was taking it easy down the hill when a guy came up behind me. I asked him which race he was doing (in addition to the 50k there was also an 8.2-mile race that started 5 minutes after us and a 6.4-mile race that started 5 minutes after them) and he was like, "Uh, yours..." Turns out it was one of the guys I'd passed at a mile and a half and had been a minute up on a mile and a half after that. I guess I'd been taking it a little TOO easy. He was a pretty good downhill runner, so I had to work slightly to keep up with him. He would fall back on the uphills and flats and then catch me again on the downhills. When we weren't too far apart we had a bit of conversation going. We came through the start/finish at the same time, and even though I wasn't taking the race 100% seriously I decided I did want to win. The second loop started out the same as the first, and I made a plan to break away right after the courses split, when the course went up the (steep) hill. I was with him at that point and I just sped up and was gone pretty quick. I went up a hill for a little bit and then the trail leveled off, then actually went downhill. I was rocketing down the hill, wondering when it was going to go up toward the summit, and I got to the out-and-back section of the Base loop, which I was pretty sure wasn't in the Summit loop. I stopped and got out the map I'd taken in my key pocket just in case, and sure enough I was not at the right place. I turned around and headed back up the massive hill, looking for a sign I'd missed. Another runner, one of the guys who was right behind me in the first mile of the race, was coming toward me, having apparently also missed the turn, and I told him we were on the wrong trail. He turned around but I didn't wait for him--I was hoping to make up the lost time, so I was pushing pretty hard. I was getting close to where the trails had initially split and was thinking I might just end up back at the start or something, but then saw a sign telling me I was on the right trail. I didn't think I'd taken or missed any turns on the way out or on the way back, but apparently there was a little hairpin turn with no sign or markings anywhere that we were supposed to take to pretty much just turn around on the trail. Anyway I'd gone about a mile downhill and a mile back up, and once I got back onto the right trail it was just straight up for another mile or more. The cumulative uphills were wearing me out, especially since I was trying to make up two miles on the guy in front of me. It had been foggy the entire race, but about a half a mile from the top of the hill, it cleared up and there was nothing but blue skies above me, and nothing but fog below me. It was crazy, like being on an island in the middle of the ocean, and then in the distance the mountains and hills that were tall enough came out of the fog and looked like more islands. Anyway finally got to the top, blew past the aid station, and tried to fly down the hill. It was really steep, and in places also muddy, so it was a bit crazy trying to find a balance between going fast enough and not falling. I was doing pretty well but not seeing anyone from my race in front of me. When I got in view of the parking lot, less than a half-mile from the finish, I could see someone in red who I thought might be the second-place guy, but he was too far in front of me to have a chance at catching. When I came through the finish line the first- and second-place guys were surprised to see me and I told them what had happened. They had both gone past the turn also, but since they'd both done the race last year they realized the mistake right away and only lost maybe a minute. Second place had finished about 30 seconds in front of me and first was about six minutes in front of him. I didn't stick around for awards.

If you have some time to kill there's 86 pages of pictures here. Some good shots of the fog scattered throughout; the easiest to find are the last couple pages.