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Umstead Trail Marathon
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Umstead Trail Marathon - RunMarathon
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Comments: Race began with a mile or so on the bridal trails and this was very enjoyable ... just cruised along. We then jumped off the bridal trail onto company mill trail and things got a bit more wet and slippery. I was part of a couple different trains of runners cruising along the trails ... sometimes I was the engine, sometimes I was a freight car in the middle of the train, and sometimes I was the caboose. It was good to have company and conversation during this part of the run. There was a period on the trails where it got pretty muggy and I was starting to sweat, but some drizzles cooled things off and heat and humidity didn't seem to affect me for the rest of the run. Around mile nine we popped off the trails and back onto bridal. I had my fastest splits on the bridal trails heading towards and onto the beginning of Turkey Trot, but started to slow on the northern end of Turkey Trot where the hills get more steep and closer together. Running back through Turkey Trot I had my first small twinges in the legs, but was able to continue without a break-down. I did, however, start to slooooow down. I grabbed a drink at the top of Cedar Ridge and started to run right by what proved the most painful portion of the race. The entire support crew shouted at me to come back … pointed me in the right direction and promised a party at the bottom of the trail. Running down Cedar Ridge after coming up the long hill from the bridge ... the trail never seemed to bottom out and coming back up from the bottom is when my legs started crying uncle. Somewhere I had once seen a picture of the biker Andy Schleck's face during a tough climb and the caption indicated that the look on his face was not a smile, but a teeth clenching grimace ... I latched onto this grimace and it actually helped me keep the legs turning. I also began throwing out some involuntary grunts ... these helped me keep moving as well. I never did find the party on Cedar Ridge, but found a familiar face from the gym at NC State about half-way back up the hill. His encouragement and smile at this point were a real boost. After gutting it up cemetery hill, I kept it up the last mile or so and crossed the line to the cheers of my son and daughter in 4:07:08. What would you do differently?: Going to have to train a little better next year.  Post race
Warm down: Grabbed my finisher's pint glass, took advantage of the free massage, and ate a Moe's burrito. Last updated: 2011-11-30 12:00 AM
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 2012-03-09 4:04 PM |
 Subject: Umstead Trail Marathon |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Carolina Godiva Track Club
60F / 16C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 42/169
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
What a great race this is with incredible volunteers and support ... cannot say enough about the Godiva Track club and the work they do to organize and support this race. This was my second marathon having run Umstead last year as my first. I felt so defeated at the end of the run last year that I knew just after the finish line that I would run it again in 2012. I trained significantly more this year than last. Six 20 milers instead of one. A peak of 55 miles instead of 40. I thought I was ready, I thought cramps, pain, and clenched teeth would remain the memories of Umstead 2011 ... Umstead 2012, however, had other plans for me.
Rain was coming down hard in the early morning hours, real hard, so I woke up early and decided to stay awake. Ate half a bagel, drank some coffee and listened to the rain come down. Drive to Umstead was uneventful, but a telling sign of things to come was that my parking assignment was moved after the first car pulling into "lot B" ended up stuck and marooned at the bottom of the lot ... unable to extract itself from the mud. I parked and walked gingerly to the start so as not to slip and fall before the race even started. I let folks know I was there and stayed warm by the fire ... chatted with some friends and others about the race, training, and the rain. Headed outside for the start of the race and it had actually cleared a bit ... just after 9:00 a.m. we were off and running.