H9 Baby Dragon 40k

Race: h9 Baby Dragon Egg 40k
Date: August 12, 2023
Finish Time: 7:07 hours
Distance: 25-26 Miles
Elevation gain: 6,883 ft

The BD Dragon Egg 40K is a 40 kilometer race that makes an out-and-back to Mulky Gap. This race started at 7am on Saturday morning near the pavilion (lake area). Runners have 13 hours to accomplish the 40 km. The cutoff time at Mulky Gap is 2:30pm on Saturday; with a final cutoff of 8pm on Saturday evening. This race has no nighttime running ... or walking.

The start was low key. Perry, the race director watched his watch and said "3, 2, 1, it's time to go!" And with that, we were off.  The first couple of miles were up Hill and got sleeper and steeper as we ran. I got stung by the first couple of hornets around mile 4 or 5.. Ouch!  There was a crazy steep climb at mile 6 my watch said 30% grade... Wow! It lasted forever. We climbed close to 2,000 feet in about 2 miles. Rough! I thought that was thw worst, until we peaked the top and had to go back down... have you ever tried to run a 30% grade downhill on a wet slippery, rocky trail?? Yikes!! It was crazy!  Once we got to the bottom, we went straight back up. This continued until we reached the turn around point... then we got to go back and do it all again backwards. 

The first aid station we crossed between mile 8 and 9. It was a beautiful site!  The family that was there was so helpful In helping me fill my pack and getting me anything I might need. They had a great variety of snacks, water and tailwind. We continued up and down for another 5-6 miles where we hit our turn around. Before the race start, I had asked about bringing my trekking polls. I have only ever used them for my 100 mile race never for a short distance and didn't think they'd be necessary.... The advice I was given by every single person that answered my question was to bring them so I did.. Let me tell you how thankful I was to have them and be able to pull them out at the turn around!!  I was able to give my legs just a little break and continue on to finish strong.

That aid station had PBJ sandwiches, granola bars and coke! Hit the spot!! We left that station to go up a steep long hill back in the direction we had come from. We went back through the original aid station... then made our way back to the start/finish.  I was counting down the miles I had left, I was coming down the last big Hill singing a "6 miles left to go" song I had made up and saw a sign that told me to tu4n down a forest road (rather than continue on the trail I'd originally ran up)... this beautiful sign said "3 ish miles to finish" 🎉 I thought I had 6!! I only had 3!! This gave me such a moral BOOST! I was SO excited!!  Ran about 2 miles on the forest road and then entered Vogel State Park and continued on a trail and in the campground there for another 1-2 mile's before finishing! 

This race was by far the hardest trail I've ran. It was awesome!! The only thing that sucked were the bees! I ended up with 7 stings on my right calf and 2 on my left. Brutal!! I saw a bear up in a tree around mile 16 ish. It shimmied down the tree so fast and dropped into the brush where it disappeared. Scary moment alone in the woods! I finished the race strong, feeling pretty good overall minus my blistered and bruised toes from the steep downs, and those darn stings!! I reserved myself too much during the first 6 miles. I wish I'd pushed a little more earlier on but I was nervous and held back. 

I finished 2nd place female and 5th overall. 

Last thing I want to say. Is what a funny, light hearted group of crazy people that run this race series. I highly recommend joining their Facebook groups, very entertaining! You won't get anything real useful from them, but it's worthwhile for sure! 

PFH 50k

Race: PFH50k (Pisgah Fish Hatchery 50k)

Date: Sept 2, 2018

Finish Time: 10:32 hours

Distance: 50k

Elevation change: 16,000 ish ft

This was a group run starting at the Pisgah Fish Hatchery. The course started and finished in the hatchery parking lot, the race directors jeep was our finish line! We got to pass by at least a dozen waterfalls in the first 16 miles, then summit 4 mountains including Pilot Mountain at 5,072' with a panoramic view of the surrounding Pisgah Forest. In total, it was around 33 miles with over 16,000' of climbing and descent.

These were our major climbs:

Sassafras Knob. 4,938’
Pilot Mtn. 5,072’
Chestnut Mtn 3,688’
Cedar Rock Mtn. 4,055’
John Rock. 3,209’

Funny story, I haven't ran more than 10-15 miles a week since March, my longest run was 2 weeks prior to this race and it was 9 miles. I signed up for this race 5 weeks before it after hearing from Andy the RD. Sure, it'll be fun I decided. I knew I wouldn't be able to finish, my husband was manning the water stations so I figured at some point I would stop and just hangout with him and the other volunteers. It's hard to say no to such an amazing trail run!

Pre-group run we were sent these maps of the course. I'm not the greatest with directions or navigation, but these defintley didn't put me at ease! haha! Good thing the trail was very well marked! 

The first 15 miles were beautiful as promised. Winding single track trails along the water with a few descent climbs along the way. I had a lot of fun on different sections of this part of the trail. We past several waterfalls, had a few water crossings and lots of bridges to help keep us out of the water.

 

Our mile 12 water station was the last one before our climb up Pilot Mountain. We had about 9 miles before our next water refill area. 
I left mile 12 and was directed back across the bridge and "up". We had gradual climbs with some ups and downs until around mile 15 where we went up.1 ish mile into the climb as I was coming up hill I heard a rattle snake. I couldn't see it, but it was loud! When I came around the corner- BOOM! Right in the middle of the trail coiled up and ready to strike. It was terrifying. It took me and 3 others 10-15 minutes to get it off the trail and out of our way so we could race past it. I'm guessing it was around 6 ft. MASSIVE.

 

We continued going up hill until mile 20! It was so steep, and rooted and there were so many stairs! It was crazy! Around mile 19 I put my hands on my knees and decided I couldn't go any farther. I was so done, my legs were tired, my lungs were tired. I gave myself a couple minutes. Then continued going up. Mile 21 the up was FINALLY done. We hit the summit and it was beautiful. 

 

After the Pilot Mountain summit we came down to another aid station. I had ran out of water around mile 7-8 so by the time I reached the aid station... I was so excited to get some water in my pack! My first question was "what does the next section look like?" Because if it was anything like what we just did, I was SO done. They told me it was nothing like what we just came off, but there were a couple little "pushes" uphill. I decided that sounded do-able, grabbed a few more things from the aid station and carried on.

The next section was definitely more than a little push of uphill. Darn aid station! Haha. We went up a couple more good climbs, had an awful 1-2 mile out (round trip) and back to get to an aid station/check point. It was downhill to the aid station, then uphill back to the trail. All large sharp gravel so it was basically un-runable to me. It was awful!

One of the last summits we hit around mile 29-30 ish, and to get to it was through super dense brush while going uphill. I mean, you couldn't see the trail through areas! I was scared I was going to see a snake so I wasn't doing a lot of running, and the branches were scratching my arms and legs. It was like a mini-GA death race. Some of the areas I think were added just for "fun" by the RD. This was one of those areas! The lookout was really neat on this one, we could see the Fish Hatchery AKA the Finish line! It really made it feel like we were getting close.

I played leap frog a group of 3 guys throughout the entire run. They would pass me, then I would pass them, pass me, pass them ect ect. By the end of the race when we were all doing a lot of walking on our dead legs, we ended up all finishing pretty close together. I ran the last 6 ish miles or so with one of the guys which provided great conversation to break up those tough last miles. I was so excited to finish, grab a beer and jump in the river, what a long and amazing day!

We came winding down the last mountain and finally found the finish line, which was the Fish Hatchery parking lot at the race directors Jeep! We finished around 10 1/2 hours which was faster than I would have ever anticipated considering my lack of training. The one and only "race sponsor" was an amazing local brewery that had awesome beer! Thank you to Ecusta Brewery for hosting our post race dinner! Thank you to RD Andys for an amazing super fun and challenging race, to his beautiful wife Sandra for making tasty Lasagna (options for meat, vegetarian and vegan!) and helping out at the aid stations, to the volunteers Christian, Andy Croom, Sunny and Justin Yaple (so nice to see my handsome husband while out on the trail). 

Last but not least, some amazing pictures to show some of the fun technical parts and beautiful parts of the trail! 

 

100 miles with the flu? Long Haul 100 DNF

I was so organized and
prepared for anything!

Long Haul course map

Race: Long Haul 100 Mile Ultramarathon

Date: January 13-14th, 2018

Finish Time: 14:31 hours

Distance: 100k

Elevation gain: 112 ft
Just under 6 months of training with a hefty goal of running 100 miles in under 24 hours. I trained hard and focused a lot on my nutrition. I was diligent with speed work (which I hate), lost 10 pounds in the midst of the holiday season, and had an amazing solid game plan with a prepared crew and pacer. I did everything I needed to set myself up for achieving my sub 24 hour 100 mile ultra marathon... I wasn't real nervous, mostly anxious and excited. I was feeling pretty confident that my goal was attainable... then I saw the temperature was going to be lows in the 30s. Here in Florida we just don't see those temps often. I bought several new warm running clothes, hand warmers, beanies, gloves ect to prepare for this race. Ok, even with the super cold temps coming, I think I'm still ready. I had a game plan.

All of us at the Start line, Jason & I were the runners,
everyone else was part of our amazing crew/pacer team!

Mom and I at the beginning... and so it begins!

I ended up getting the flu Wednesday evening, it hit hard and fast. Lasted a solid 2 days completely dehydrating me and wiping me out. Friday was my first day out of bed (or off the bathroom floor) and we loaded up to head to Tampa for my 100 mile race. I was so ready for this race. Physically prepared, mentally equipped, I had no doubt I was going to achieve my goal of a 24-hour finish... but as no one could prepare for or predict I got the flu. I tried to push it out, and make it happen anyway but it was a real struggle from the start of the race. I survived only off of a combination of Tylenol, DayQuil, and Pepto-Bismol.

My friend Terry was so awesome, I never knew
what to expect as we passed through our tent!

They did such an awesome job setting up our area. We
ended up having the "best tent" out there!

Our wonderful crew having some fun, eating,
and trying to stay warm!

I remember stopping and walking at mile 12 feeling like I had been hit by a freight train. So run down and weak. I powered through maintaining my goal pace for a while. Mile 22 was really hard, I could no longer keep anything down, mentally I was SO frustrated. This was MY race. The race I was so excited about running! I powered through and kept up the good fight! Around mile 50 I started to really slow down, walking more than I wanted to try and keep what little fuel I had consumed in me! I had to make a decision to continue trying to make it to the Finish or drop out of the race. I knew as the night hours came on it was only going to get colder and colder and my body was going to continue shutting down making it harder and harder to continue eating and staying hydrated. I was already struggling to run due to dry heaving/puking.

The best aid station on course. Andy Barrett runs this
station and they have everything you could ever want.
He even joined me for a few miles encouraging me.

As the sun went down, it started getting REALLY cold.

With my health so compromised, and after so much debate I decided it was in my best interest to call it a day. One of the single most difficult decisions I have made. I do not regret this decision but that doesn't make it easier. I'm very disheartened that my perfect race could not be run due to circumstances I could not change.

Trying to warm up, and cheering for Jason as he passed through.

I tried to drop to the 100k, but this race does not allow drops. I chose the DNF at 62.02 miles. My crew, family and friends told me afterword they all agreed I made the right decision. I was not in good enough health to continue my journey and risked the flu turning into something much worse. I didn't take a single picture during the race. I was so focused on not throwing up I never even grabbed my phone.  6 months of training, restricted calories, tons of logistics to plan and an amazing crew assembled... then the flu. I guess I will get well, continue training and kick butt at another race soon.

I will achieve that sub 24 hour finish!!!

My crew hung disco-balls... see my last 100 mile race blog to
read about the back story there... but this was awesome.

This was the only picture I actually took the
entire race. I felt like it was my "walk of shame".
This was leading back to the start/finish as I was
quitting the race. My final stretch. :(