Race Report: Eastern Divide Ultra

The Land of 1000 Chipmunks

So a lot has happened since my last post. Ran the Borneo International Marathon, took two more MAF tests, and ran the Klimbambangan 15km Trail Run. Too late for retroposting those now. Movin' on.

Last Sunday I ran the Eastern Divide Ultra in southwest Virginia. It's a point-to-point course that measures slightly under 50km, with about 6500 feet of elevation gain. I knew that this would be a night-and-day different kind of race than my previous 50km. In my last one, the time limit to finish was 15 hours. In this one, you had to hit the 22-mile mark in under 6 hours. Oh my. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by this, and hitting that goal was really my only real target for the day.

I spent the night in a cheap motel about 20 minutes away. The morning of the race I was up at 5am, ate my light breakfast and took care of that most important business. I parked at the finish (Mountain Lake Lodge) and boarded the bus that shuttled us to the start line. The crew at the start was well-organized and efficient, and in no time I had my race packet, bib number and ziploc for my drop bag.

The race briefing was short and low-key, as was the start, which occurred promptly at 7:30am. The jackrabbits took off for the summit of Butt Mountain, while some of us power-hiked it. The mild incline looked runnable, but at the start of a 50km trail race, I wasn't going to take any chances. Nice and easy, I hit the first aid station (4 miles) in about an hour. Not bad for a 2000-foot ascent. Bacon and beer were among the other offerings at AS1. I didn't want to take many chances this early, so just a half-slice of bacon for me, please. :)

I suppose you can't write a race report of Eastern Divide without mentioning the Cascade Falls at the two-mile mark. I stopped for about 15 seconds, savored the view, and moved on. I did try to make smelling the roses a big part of my race. The race course was gorgeous.

After topping Butt Mountain, we had about 5 miles of easy fire roads to AS2, which is around 9 miles. I think I was at about 2hr 15min at this point. You know, I read about the large amount of fire/forest roads on this course, and I wasn't all that excited about it, since obviously single track is better, right? Well lemme tell ya, I'd run on these roads any day. Because on either side, there was beautiful forest and ferns just right there. All around you. One of the guys I ran with for some of the run complained a lot about the roads, but seriously, if you just look up, you forget.

I loved AS3 (about 16 miles, approximately 3hr 15min) because they had music blasting. That was a nice pick-me-up because the next three or four miles to the top of Wind Rock were brutal. Just constant uphill. Constant. But I just tried to keep my focus on the beauty, enjoying the run, and it was all good. At AS4 we had access to our drop bags. I didn't know what I would need to pack for a fully-stocked run, but the Payday I had in there did the trick. I didn't touch anything else.

From AS4 it was a pretty quick descent to AS5, the dreaded cutoff point. But to be honest, once I hit AS1 in an hour, I knew that this would be no problem. And as it was, I hit the cutoff point at 5hr 20min. Easy peasy. And here we got back on the single track, and it was delicious. You're just running on a narrow chocolate strip curving this way and that through a blanket of lush green ferns. This was probably my favorite part of the course...until we started going up. Oh my, the hill, the hill, where the heck did that come from? And once we finally crested the hill, we had to run on the perimeter of Mountain Lake Lodge's frisbee golf course, where we finally saw that yes, the sun was out, and it was hot. But before we knew it, we were out of the sun and reached AS6. I kept my stops quite short at the aid stations as I just wanted to keep going. Just gimme some fluids and I'll be on my way!

From AS6 it was only about 4 miles to the finish, with one last aid station about 1.5mi from the end. We had some more lovely fern-covered trails, but still a significant amount of uphill. Lots of power-hiking at this point, although I was still able to run any time the incline wasn't too severe. I was worried that the finish would be on an uphill, which isn't too fun, but as it turned out, the course leveled off not too far before the finish. I saw the finish line arch through the trees and finished strong at 7:26:55, about a half hour earlier than I estimated. Afterward I had only very mild soreness and chafing and no injuries. I felt like I paced myself pretty well, giving just enough but not too much, while making sure that I finished with a smile on my face.

Race organization was top-notch, volunteers were great, medical assistance was there if you needed it, and the food and refreshments were abundant. Bananas and oranges, PBJs, peanut M&Ms, and plenty of Hammer gels and Heed. Good food at the finish, and a good atmosphere overall.

The thing that suprised me was how low I placed in the standings. I finished 55 out of 65 runners (not sure how many DNFs there were). But I think this course lends well to real runners, whereas I do better with climbing and technical trails. But speed is one thing I do plan to work on in the near future, which should help me all around.

If I ever find myself in the States this time of year again, I would DEFINITELY revisit this race. Glad to have another 50km under my belt! Now I have a few months off until the next one I've got in my sights.

With RD Kirby Walke after getting cleaned up. Great race shirt!

Race Report: TMBT 2013 Ultra Trail Marathon

TMBT 2013: "The Most Beautiful Brutal Thing"
September 14, 2013

I signed up for the 50km version of this race nearly a year ago (very soon after the last TMBT was run). Although this was TMBT's third year, I had never heard of it before; but within a week of hearing about it, I was all in. I had run 4 road marathons before and was eager for a new kind of challenge.

The night before the race, I stayed at the Taginambur Homestay, which is only about 15-20 minutes away from the start line. Most of the competitors were staying in Kota Kinabalu and riding to the start line in buses on the morning of the race. As for me, I did not want to have to get up at 3am or 4am just to sit in a bus for 2 hours while wondering if I would be able to poo when I got there. I found the homestay quite welcoming and relaxing, and enjoyed a leisurely evening and morning before heading to the start. And the poo? No problem. I knew you were wondering.

The view from the homestay. The shirt seemed appropriate for the occasion.

The organization at the start area was quite efficient. I found the van where I was to drop my finish bag, and was registered in minutes. The bright and cheery yellow-shirted volunteers, combined with the clear skies, made for a festive atmosphere.

Yeah, it's all happy smiles now...just you wait!

Supposedly one of the buses took a wrong turn [edit: was rerouted due to a landslide], so our start times (7:00am for 100km, 7:15am for 50km, and 7:30am for 25km) were delayed. And delayed. And delayed. I think we finally started around 8:00am or 8:15am, and because we started so late, they just had us all start at once. Of all the things that went wrong that day, this was probably the only one that the organizers can really be blamed for. For you see, only 1.5km after the start line, there is a hanging bridge which was limited to 7 people at a time. And close to 800 runners were lined up at the start.

Shouldn't the 'Start' sign be facing the other way? :D

Knowing that, I hung back and intentionally exerted zero effort. I found myself literally in last place. But sure enough, when I neared the hanging bridge I saw the mass of humanity clustered like sheep awaiting an ultramarathon. You know how sheep do that. But I did the Malaysian thing and took a bypass (a simple ankle-deep water crossing while everyone else crossed a bridge) to overtake about 75 people just like that. Nevertheless, I waited literally 60-75 minutes to cross that bridge! So at about 9:30am, I finally started the race.

My bananas and bamboo poles got quite the reaction. (photo by Vincenzo Izzi)

I can't even say we were moving slowly. Just standing still...

...although it could have been worse - I could have been way back THERE.

Finally crossing the bridge (photo by Glen Florian)

Like probably most ultrarunners, I took this race in stages, from one water station (WS) or checkpoint (CP) to the next. The first stage, to WS1, was only 4km, and involved me stopping only long enough to top up my bottle. The next stage, another 10km or so, was a bit more trying. It wasn't just the rising temperatures that made it difficult, but the pace: anytime we reached a steep uphill or downhill, there was absolute gridlock on the trail, as we all still hadn't spread out very much after the hanging bridge. I was a bit frustrated with runners who clearly were struggling with the hills but who did not have the presence of mind to yield to those behind them. But I tried to have a positive attitude, thinking that these bottlenecks were keeping my pace down and reserving the glycogen stores in my body that would definitely be called upon later in the race.

The first two stages were some of the most beautiful and striking (and the least brutal). We had numerous river crossings, using hanging bridges or just walking across. Some of the course led us right alongside the river, with gorgeous green rice fields on the other side.

This section was probably the most tiring as it was getting hot and I was getting thirsty. I'm a big water drinker and felt the pressure to ration my 2 liters during the 10+ kilometers (and about 6000' of elevation gain) to WS3.

But then it started to rain, and my whole race changed.

I love running in the rain. I have yet to experience any blisters in my Cascadia 8s, so I don't fear wet feet. I have yet to experience any chafing, so I don't fear wet clothes. The only thing I 'fear' is running out of water. But when I'm cool and wet, my hydration needs plummet and my spirits soar.

Around the time the rain transitioned from 'light' to 'torrential' I descended into the Miki Camp loop - an out-and-back section that should probably take around two hours. As it turned out, the trail here is actually a run-off which I suppose is dry most of the time. But on this day, it was an intense, fast-flowing, stream of water, silt, mud, leaves and other debris. For the next three hours, I was basically running and walking through muddy water, whether on the flat or on steep ascents or descents. And for the most part, I loved it!

Being an out-and-back, there should have been two-way traffic on the narrow trails, and at first, there was. But after 15 minutes, I stopped seeing people coming back. What was going on? I finally found out when I encountered tens of people heading my way all at once. A river crossing just prior to CP2 (which I was about 200m from reaching) had become too dangerous to cross. A length of bamboo which spanned the river even broke, and a runner was actually swept away (but was fortunately saved by a human chain of runners). The organizers turned back all runners at this point, directing them to proceed out to WS3. I suppose some of those behind me were turned back even before they had barely begun to descend the out-and-back; I was happy that my 50km distance was still mostly intact since I was not very far at all from CP2 when I had to turn back. Here's a video that another competitor took of that treacherous water crossing:



From this point back up out of 'Jurassic Park' to WS3, we had to deal again with the traffic jam of runners who were turned back at the river crossing. Whenever possible, I passed them as I was feeling pretty good (and was far less hesitant in navigating the 'river trail' than others were). I also had my first Gu at this point (Espresso Love), the caffeine from which I believe gave me an incredible burst of energy and power on the steep uphill.

After topping up my fluids at WS3, I was off for the 'dip', which was a steep down-and-up section (mostly on paved roads) that lasted less than 5km, bringing us all to WS4. By this time I had been on the road for more than 11 hours, and was operating outside the official posted cutoff times (which I believe had been thrown out the window anyway). And I'd only gone 31km at this point!

But I had new energy, thanks in part to the iskiate I brewed at each WS, and thanks in part to the occasional Gu. From WS4 to the finish, I was a man on a mission. My uphill pace was a brisk and purposeful stride, and on the downhills I still had the feet and legs to break into a trot. I reeled in every runner I saw, and didn't have anyone pass me until the final uphill mile to the finish. I crossed the line feeling just fine. (I'm not bragging - I probably finished around 150th out of 300-something!)

One of my main training buddies and I, finishing within 5 minutes of each other

So how was TMBT 2013? Since it was my first ultra, and my first trail run, I really have no basis for comparison. I thought the organization was overall excellent, with the one exception I already noted regarding the hanging bridge choke point. (But I'm pleased to see that no one seems to be beating the Race Director over the head with this issue, but are focusing on the things that the RD's crew did well.) The route was outstanding, the views were fantastic, and the terrain was very challenging. This is no easy course, and the fact that you have to run it practically unsupported (only water was provided) makes it even more difficult.

Would I do it again? Without a doubt. Would I do the 100km version? Maybe one year. But for now, I'm content to stick to the shorter 50km and 50mi distances.