2017 Piedmont 8-Hour
Why Did I Register For This Race
Despite the subtitle, in retrospect I actually had a great time here with the except of one low spot about five hours into the race. To understand that let me back up to just after North Coast 24 in mid-September. From the day after North Coast 24 to the day before Piedmont 8-Hour I averaged less than 21 miles per week. My longest run during that period was only 7.2 miles. To say that I was ill prepared to run an eight hour race is at best an understatement. As I was laying in my hotel room bed trying to get to sleep the night before, that subtitle was the essence of my thoughts. I wondered why in the world am I even here, and it was mostly because I had registered, paid the entry fee, booked the hotel room, and told friends I was running. At least at that point my heart was not at all in the race and I was ready for any excuse to keep it short and go home. Still I went through the motions, made sure I knew how to get to the race and how long it would take me to get there. Check in was race day when we got there.
Race morning saw me up early and ready in plenty of time. I grabbed coffee at the hotel and an eggs and bacon muffin at Wawa since the hotel breakfast wasn't open until 7:00 A.M. As I 'm driving to the race I was sure I had forgotten by bib belt but it was too late to turn around and get it, so stopping to check wouldn't make any difference in any case. As it turned up there it was on the top of everything in my bag. I checked in. This was a no frills race, which also made it eminently affordable. No chip timing. The race name wasn't even on the bibs. Nothing fancy with the food and drink but what they had was certainly adequate: pretzels, chips, bananas, cookies, several types of drinks including Pepsi, ginger ale, Heed, and water. hot broth and coffee since it was a little chilly at the start. Sandwiches were put out later near lunch time. I didn't lack in anything even if the choices weren't as extensive as big races where the entry fee is 3 to 4 times as much.
It was cold enough at the start that I kept my warm up suit on for the first of the 2.85 mile loops. The loop wandered through meadows and single track trails through a hardwood forest. There were a few slopes that I noticed more each loop, but the trails were not at all technical with only a few places where you had to be careful of roots. It was laid out in a huge lollipop format and we were allowed to run the loop in either direction after the initial clockwise one. That added more variety and after the first couple loops I was being passed by runners going in both directions so I never felt alone or isolated.
With the cold it took me a mile or so to start to warm up and feel comfortable running. I began with my usual run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute. Even before I had finished the first loop I was too warm. I removed my jacket but had to wait until I finished the loop to remove the pants. I completely forgot to grab any food or drink because of that. I'm not sure if that had any bearing on the issues I had later, but it's not something I want to make a habit of. Surprisingly I didn't start to noticeably slow down until the fourth loop, but it was still a decent pace and had me on target to reach 11 laps, roughly 50K. Loop 6 had me adjusting to run less and walk more as the terrain varied rather than on a schedule. I was also taking much longer breaks at the aid station at the end of each loop.
Then there was loop 7. I timed one mile at almost 25 minutes. I felt like I was barely moving and walked the entire way. I couldn't even force myself to run the downhill slopes - if I even noticed them. I finished that, plopped down on a bench, and was ready to tell the timer I quit. Instead I ended up chatting with the RD and some of the volunteers. I must have sat there for about 20 minutes feeling sorry for myself. Then I got up to get something to eat and realized I didn't feel so bad after all. I could complete one more loop, so out I went. When I finished that one, I still felt okay and was still able to run some, so I thought why not another loop. As I'm midway through my 9th loop, I'm even starting to wonder if there would be time for a 10th one. I'm trying to calculate the running time, how much time it would take for another loop, whether it was possible to speed up, all this after having already run for 7 hours. I came to the conclusion that if I could finish this loop and have 50 minutes left, it was enough that I would at least try. Note how my attitude had changed from pre-race to post-low point. At it was when I finished that loop I had only 42 minutes left, so I stopped then. Apparently a lot of the runners had reached their goals and stopped by then because there couldn't have been more than a half dozen that I saw finish after I did.
Considering my ability to recover both physically and mentally to continue after I was ready to give up, I'd call this a big win even though I fell short of my pre-race goal of 50K which I had set when I registered. Obviously with my lack of enthusiasm and training in the two months leading up to the race, my goal became overly optimistic. The support from the volunteers and RD was a major factor in my delaying a decision to quit and then going back out for two more loops. Several of the runners still on the course who had seen me struggling also had encouraging words when they saw me back on the trail. This seems to be one of those little known gems that's begging to be found.
