Virgil Crest Ultras
50 miles
~12,000' elevation gain
8 hours 1 minutes
1st Place Overall
This race is awesome! Ian, the race director is a great guy, the course is epic, and it is just a down to earth low-key kind of event. The course was changed again this year and the result was more elevation gain in an already huge elevation course. My Garmin still counted it as about 10k in gain, which is what it was given last year, but Ian claimed the elevation to be closer to 12k. Either way, it is hilly! In terms of the changes I missed running up the Finger Lakes trail from the base of Greek Peak, but I did like the revamped Alpine Loop. There was also a lot of runnable terrain from the top of Greek Peak to the turnaround and back.
Racing
After looking at the Ultrasignup list of racers I knew I had a good shot of winner this race if I had a great day, but you never know what will happen out there. However, I still wanted to follow my own race plan. At the start I dropped in to my pace and let people go out in front of me. It is a long race and I didn't want to blow my shot at a win by getting wrapped up in a race with runners that may not be able to keep a strong pace for a full 50 miles.
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| At the start line |
The darkness started to creep away as I made the first aid station at 6.3 miles. I was running just over 9 minute pace and was sitting at about 10th place. I knew I was a few minutes back and felt really good about how I felt and where I was in the pack. I was basically running by myself and seeing other folks every once in awhile. There is some climbing at this point, but it is pretty easy going with fresh legs.
I am about a quarter of a mile from the next aid station when all of a sudden I see a group of 5 running back down the hill towards me?! They say they haven't seen any markers in awhile and think they must be off trail. We were on the Finger Lakes Trail (white blazes) and this is where I ran last year. I say I think this is it, we go forward, don't see any blazers after a bit, turn around, then another guy coming up on us yells, 'no this is it, keep going forward'. So we go a ways, then hit the course markings all of a sudden. I noticed that they went both left and right, so I knew we were off the trail for a bit, but we were back on course now. I also noticed on my watch that we must have missed the aid station. Little did we know the course this year went a couple hundred yards to the left to hit a road access point for the aid station. We missed where the trail turned of the Finger Lakes trail, as did everyone except one racer until the volunteers went down course and remarked this section. We popped out of the woods tot he one pavement section that is downhill for over a mile to the base of Greek Peak. I told everyone there what had happened since they were all first timers and didn't realize what had happened and that we had missed the aid. I was now in the lead group and was hoping that we would not be disqualified since all of the lead runners went the same way, and missed aid!! Now that I was up in the lead group my race strategy changed a bit to stay with the front of the race. We were going a bit faster than I wanted to go on the downhill (about 6:30's) and when we started the first alpine climb one racer, Silas, started to pick up the pace and pull away from the others. Alright, here we go I thought! I stuck to his heels and continued to climb up the ski slopes. I just told myself that I was a stronger runner and was able to keep any pace he threw out AND I could keep a high intensity for the ENTIRE race. Well, we will see!
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| Starting to climb after Hurt Locker |
Silas and I came in to the Hurt Locker together and were in need of some hydration and calories. Having missed the last aid we were a bit behind for sure. Hillary was there and happy to see me since she didn't really know what was going on at that point. She told me that Ian was pretty sure he knew what happened and we were good to go, which was a good feeling. Silas and I hiked up the ski slopes again while rehydrating and eating. The Nuun had never tasted so good!! At the top of the climb Silas was just in front of me and almost went off course since his head was down. I knew he was feeling it and decided it was time to start pushing again now that I was able to take some nutrition on. We were still really close coming into the Crux Aid, but with Hillary on my side I was in, refueled, and out in about 15 seconds while Silas geared up.
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| Leaving The Crux |
I put my head down and just tried to keep a strong pace without over doing it, This was the first time I had pushed so hard so early in the race and I was not sure if I was going to be able to hold it all together for the duration. I came in to the turnaround, grabbed more Nuun and calories, then took off to complete the final 25 miles. I saw Silas in less that 2 minutes, so I knew I had about 4 minutes at the most on him. Then the adrenaline really kicked in as I started to pass racers that were still on their way out to the turnaround and my pace picked up. There was a lot of downhill and I was feeling great. I averaged about 8 minute miles for the next 9 miles and stretched my lead to about 16 minutes with 16 miles to go.
The second round of the alpine loop actually went pretty well for me as I increased my lead to 30 minutes in the 5.7 mile section running up and down Greek Peak. Just like last year the last 10 miles of this course was really hard for me. I was starting to lose my intensity and was just trying to hang on for a strong finish. Running back up the road seemed to take forever and I was happy to get back in the woods. The relentless up and down sections certainly didn't help my pace any. I was happy to hit Hope Lake and make the final turn towards the finish. My first win! I kept my lead to 31 minutes and it appeared that Ian and the race directors were pretty impressed with the time for this new, tough course. I guess I was hitting the aid station much earlier than they were expecting the lead to reach them. It was an awesome day and a great way to finish the season!!! |
| Crossing the Finish Line |
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