This year it had
been snowing or raining all week. It was a combination of the two when I
arrived at my daughter’s home the day before the race. When I arrived at the shelter house, that
served as race headquarters and had been draped with tarps to keep in some of
the heat from the fireplaces and propane heaters, it was in the mid-40s and
raining heavily.
I must admit to
being a wimp when it comes to cold. I already had a cheap pair of Walmart
compression tights under my good race compressions. On top I had a compression shirt, long-sleeve
tech and long-sleeve tech warm-up. On
the way to the starting line I put on a pair of warm-up trousers and a fleece
jacket. I left the jacket with the
volunteers at the 5 mile check station.
If you’ve read many of my posts you know that I’m a serious advocate of
trail poles and I wasn’t going to do this race without them. Last year they had been invaluable and saved
me from serious falls several times.
They would be even more important this year.
Despite giving a
rather low-tech appearance, the race is really very well organized and run. There are check-points at 5 and 10 miles. If you don’t arrive within the time limit you
will be pulled from the race and given a ride back to the finish-line. The race started on time and we headed off
through the rain toward the north side of the mountain where we would start our
first descent. There would be at least
three major descents. That means there would be at least three major climbs
from between 7-900’ to as high as 1550’.
None of them, thankfully, is as steep as the last climb on the map
above. Of course there were many ups and
downs.
My trail poles (the
Lexi for which I paid 80 Francs – about $100 – in Switzerland in 2009) have
paid for themselves many times and did so again. We run for close to a mile on gravel and
asphalt roads then suddenly take a sharp turn and a very steep descent. The descent is difficult in dry weather. It
was still raining hard. Throughout the
race the rain and fog made visibility so poor I felt like my glasses were
steamed up. Thing is . . . I wasn’t
wearing glasses.
Just before we
arrived at the first descent a woman behind asked me about my trail poles. I told her that I wouldn’t run trails without
them because they provided safety and stability. They might slow me down a bit,
but I’m not fast in the first place. I’m more interested in getting to the
finish line in one piece. She seemed
interested when a man, also right behind me, said “I thought about bringing my
poles but I was afraid someone might make fun of me.” He laughed.
I couldn’t see him so I don’t know whether he was teasing me or serious.
I didn’t care. Moments after his statement we made the sharp right turn onto
the single-track trail. This is where
the race gets serious and one of the more dangerous spots. In good weather it is dangerous because we’re
all still running in a group. The sudden switch to single-track trail and the
closeness of others makes tripping over other people a serious problem.
I was not
prepared for what I saw when I made the turn.
As I looked down the mountain all I could see right before me were
bodies mostly lying on the ground. Some were still, but most were sliding out
of control in the mud. There was crying
and cussing. I dug my poles into the
thick mud as I felt my feet begin to slip.
I looked around. I could get off
the trail. I knew that the leaves were
probably just as slippery but I’d get away from the mass of fallen humanity
that would eventually bring me down if I stayed on the path. As I stepped off the trail those behind me
started sliding out of control by me. I have a technique that I’ve developed
over the years to control my speed on a steep slope and allow me to move
quickly. I switched the grip on my poles and started my zig-zag
descent. As I avoided the bodies – asking “are you okay?” as I went by – I
heard the lady who had been asking me about my poles yell “Go Mr. Sticks!” and
laugh. She and the others we sitting behind
me in the mud.
From that point
on it was nothing but rain and mud. Mud and rain. There are several points on the trail where
you have to climb over or crawl under large boulders, traverse narrow muddy
ledges high above the valley floor below and ford swift rushing streams. I was amazed that I arrived at the 5 mile
check-point 35 minutes ahead of the clock, and at the 10 mile check-point 30
minutes ahead. Of course last year I was almost 50 minutes ahead at the 10 mile
check-point. Just past the 10 mile
check-point I encountered a young woman going the wrong way. We were on what had once been an old logging
road. It was still a muddy mess and looked more like a stream than a trail, but
it had been gravel at one point so the mud wasn’t as deep. I asked the woman if she needed help. She said “no, I’m making up distance.” It wasn’t until she caught up with me a short
while later that she explained that she had missed a turn at the beginning of
the course and inadvertently cut off 0.3 mile. The old logging road seemed to
be the safest and easiest place to run the missing 0.3 mile. I told her that no one would have thought
less of her if she had just accepted her mistake, but she said that it would
bother her. She was having a lot of
trouble. Even though I have no doubt at
all that she would be one who would fly past me on any other day, she had lots
of trouble keeping up. I’d keep an eye
on her when she would fall far behind.
Normally this wouldn’t be any problem but I knew that I was losing time
especially as we got into long stretches where the mud was over our shoes. Because of the rain I had stopped early and
double-knotted my shoestrings. Now I was worried about what that would do to
time if I had a shoe sucked off by the mud – which was happening frequently
during this race.
About 3-4 miles
out from finish we had to cross a swift stream that fell very steeply down the
mountain. The bottom of the stream consisted of large limestone slabs which,
covered with mud, were extremely slippery.
On the far side we had to make our way up a 4-5’ wall of mud. If you fell at this point, or in the stream,
you would likely find yourself a couple hundred feet down the mountain and in a
world of hurt. I could see the slip and
slide marks of those who had gone before us.
Just past the point at which you get out of the stream was a very narrow
ledge of solid mud that tilted toward the stream several feet below. It was
there that I made a bad mistake. I could
hear that the young woman was just reaching the stream. I knew that she was tired, struggling and
unfamiliar with trail running. I was
concerned about her getting safely across the stream. One thing about trail racing, even in the
best of weather, you must constantly concentrate on what you’re doing. I didn’t.
While I was crossing the narrow ledge I allowed my concentration to
shift to the struggling young woman. I
went down hard against my left should. (That’s the one with the worst arthritis
spur) The pain was extreme but in that
flash I knew that if I didn’t want to end up very quickly at the bottom of the
mountain I needed to act. I rolled over so that I was sitting on my butt and
planted my poles below me. This was why
I use $100 poles. They took my entire weight and for a moment I lay suspended
just above the stream.
Then we hit McKay
Hollow. A portion of the hollow has a
nickname which I believe is “Mud Mile”. McKay Hollow is horribly muddy in good
weather. Last year it was bad. This year was worse. After having already run almost 15 miles you
slog through sometimes ankle-deep mud.
Then just when you think you’re about done in from the mud you look up the
almost perpendicular mountain wall that is your way out of the valley and to
the finish line. That’s where, on the
map above, the 20’ elevation lines are so close together that they look like
they’re one wide line. I was tired from
the mud but I was glad that my legs didn’t hurt and the arthritis in my hips
and knees was behaving. On the way up
the escarpment I kept looking back to make sure that the young woman was
safe. The climb out was dangerous and,
even having run Eagle Rock in the Ozarks, this was the only time I’ve done such
a climb where I was actually a bit frightened – for myself and for the young
woman behind me.
I was looking for the beer (which is being proven to be a very good recovery drink) when the young woman
crossed the finish line. She almost
collapsed on the steps of the shelter house.
There were physician’s nearby so I just asked what she thought about her
first trail race. She’s definitely a trail racer and I know I’ll see her next
year. “That was fun,” she said.
It was fun,
despite the rain and mud. Those are to
be expected occasionally in a trail race.
McKay Hollow Madness is a tough race in the best of conditions, but it
is a wonderful challenge for those who love to do trails. I’m just hoping that some year before I can’t
do it any long, the weather will be good enough to enjoy what must be marvelous
panoramic views. Of course, I guess I could go back during nice weather and
just enjoy the trail. My daughter and her family live at the foot of the mountain a few miles away from the park.
If you love a
challenging trail race you want to consider McKay Hollow. It’s put on by the Huntsville Running Club.
Just Google ‘McKay Hollow Madness’. Be
sure to prepare by doing plenty of miles on the hardest trails you can find. I don’t know about this year, but last year
only about 70-80% of us finished. I trained by
doing a lot of upper body strength
training at my club, miles and miles on a Stepmaster and a treadmill that can do a 40% grade (lots of
time on a 15% grade), then as many runs a week as possible of 10-20 miles on
the hardest trails near me. For people
in the Evansville area, I recommend Audubon State Park. You have to run some of
the trails 2-3 times but you can get over 10 miles without too much trouble. It
has some real butt-buster trails and there’s almost no place flat. The other recommendation is The Two Lake Loop
at Hoosier National Forest’s Celina-Indian Lake. You can do
13-30 miles depending on how you do the loop. They have a race there in June which they
tout as being the most difficult trail race in the mid-west. It isn’t as rugged
as McKay - I did it last year in only 20 minutes longer than a street race of the same length - but the hills are long and it is tough. Audubon is good for training the constant
steep hills and Two Lake Loop is best for distance endurance.
GREAT RUNNING!
Russ
