The weather could not have been more perfect for a 100 mile race in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Forecast lows in the low 40's and highs in the mid 70's meant good things for everyone who toed the line. The race starts at 6 pm Friday night from Camp Shenandoah just outside of Staunton Virginia and ends in the same spot 101.85 miles later. It's is a very mountainous out and back course with 2 more summits going than you run returning but that really didn't seem to make the 23,000+ feet of climbing any easier for me.
Grindstone is considered by many the toughest 100 mile trail run on the East Coast. Those who disagree with that probably think Massanutten Mountain Trails is the only real contender for toughest East Coast 100 miler. I must be a glutton for punishment because this race was my 2nd 100 miler after running MMT this past May. My goal for the race was different than my first 100. I got to start this race knowing for a fact that I can run 100 miles now I just wanted to run faster. For me anything better than 30:14:57 was going to be a PR and I was looking destroy that time. Going into the race I had a stated goal of 26 hours which was something I believed to be difficult yet realistic.
The day started with Andy (who would be pacing me from mile 52 to 67) and I driving to Camp Shenandoah to catch the 1 pm pre race brief and see some friends who would be running and crewing this epic adventure.
Okay, race details:
As we headed out of Camp onto the race course I realized almost immediately I wore the wrong shirt and would be stuck sweating it out in a Smartwool jersey or going shirtless until I met Andy 52 miles later. I have ran in Smartwool before and liked it so the prospect of 40ish degrees for the night made sense: wrong. After 23 something miles the jersey turned into a heavy wool sweat shirt. Yuck. So I decided to stop, tie the shirt around my waist and try not to freeze. I was quite comfortable actually after I began to cool down. Infact I had been going through some dry heaving I think due to being too hot and those issues vanished as well...
So on up the trail I went feeling much more confident I was going to have a good race. At this point I had already been through the first major Aid Station which was Dowells Draft
When I reached North River Gap the first time I was ravenous. The crew had just taken some perogies off the camp stove and offered me a couple. I inhaled them and must have looked desperate so I was handed 2 more. I ate them immediately and the guy working the aid station said " hey dude seriously if you want the rest go ahead and eat them because we have tons of food." Hallelujah! So 8 perogies and several cups of ginger ale later I was headed to the Little Bald Knob Aid Station. Once I got to Little Bald I began to feel the 40 degree chill. Knowing the miles to Briery Branch Gap and back were somewhat exposed I was expecting to freeze. Jonathan Basham was working that Aid Station and he was kind enough to give me a fresh poly-pro shirt I was able to use until I reached Andy and grabbed a singlet. I was running steady and reached Andy at Briery Branch Gap with little trouble. We hooked up and took off quickly only sparing time for me to grab a shirt. At this point in the race I was in 15th place overall; I felt strong and I was gaining time.
Here is where my race took a turn:
Actually it is more like I didn't take a very important turn which made things worse. Running back toward Little Bald with Andy there was a turn somewhere near mile 57 that leads runners back to the Aid Station and the finish. We missed that turn. I had my head down and was basically allowing Andy to think for me when I realized I had not seen any course markers for quite some time. I questioned him regarding our position and he assured me we hadn't missed any turns; I agreed having not seen one myself so we pushed a bit further. Ultimately we pushed 3 full miles in the wrong direction before turning around and backtracking to our missed turn. Adrenaline, Anger, Frustration, Confusion, Embarrassment, Pain, Loss and Uncertainty were just some of the emotions that flooded my body and my mind as I ran back toward Little Bald. At one point I wanted to drop but that would have certainly damaged me more than the 12 positions I lost to the field upon reaching the Little Bald Aid Station. Now in 27th place instead of bettering 15th I handed Jonathan his shirt, ate some food, took my lumps and headed down the trail with Andy. He felt bad. It was my fault. Water under the bridge. It was time to regain time. We passed several runners as we ran back to North River Gap.At North River Gap we met Wes and Jen. That was very good for my shaken mental state. We didn't hang out there long at all though. Only enough time for me to thank Andy, give Jen a few smooches, eat some food and then Wes and I were off to the races. We were facing 3 real big climbs over the next 33 miles that accounted for about half of that distance and I was behind massively due to my 6 mile detour. Wes told me he was going to be my drill sergeant and did he ever come through on that promise. We ran all of the descents and I charged up the hills like a man possessed! It was good having a seasoned ultra runner like Wes telling me when to run, walk, eat and drink. That made a huge difference. By Aid Station 13 I finally allowed myself a 5 minute rest in a camp chair which Wes monitored like Big Ben ensuring I didn't fall victim to the chair. The rest paid huge dividends between Aid 13-14. I felt strong enough after that rest we both felt it was warranted I repeat and take a short 5 minute break at Aid 14. After Aid 14 Dry Branch Gap it was a huge descent into the first and final Falls Hollow Aid Station. This was a section Horton informed Wes we could make up time on if there was anything left in my legs. At the start of that long torturous trip down the mountain I kinda wish David hadn't told Wes that because there was no rest for the weary going down that hill! As it is so often proven true in ultra running Horton was right and Wes drove me down the hill like an avalanche into Falls Hollow. It was getting dark (again) by then so we donned the head lamps after a 2 minute rest and headed into the final 5.7 miles of Grindstone. By now I had ran over 101 miles and had I not gotten lost earlier would have been finished or finishing without lights! Oh well water under the bridge. As it turns out it was blood under the bridge as I took a rough fall in the final 3 miles. I was shaken hard and in serious pain. Wes forced me off the rocky ground and we ran toward the finish.
I crossed the finish line of Grindstone 2011 in 26 hours, 35 minutes and 41 seconds finishing in 17th place overall. My stated goal for the race was 26 hours. I was not so secretly hoping to grab a sub 25 hour top ten finish. Had I paid better attention to the course markers and stayed focused I may have achieved that goal. Oh well there is always next year! Either way I am super stoked to have been part of such a wonderful event! I got to run with some great friends and met some new friends along the way.Ultra Running. I love it.
