Year of the Caterpillar

In the 11 years  of the Umstead Trail Marathon, the shirt logo and finisher's pint glass has some animal/insert on it representative of Umstead Park.  This year was a caterpillar and although they indicated the kind of caterpillar, I failed to read the description.  Here is the logo.

It has a bit of a Rastafarian look to it.  On Friday, taking the day off for my birthday, I drove to the Great Outdoor Provision company for packet pickup.  It's a great store for outdoor adventures mostly for hiking, camping kayaking, fishing and clothes. Here is a picture of the swag.

Check out the number! 262.  I just need to put a period in it to make it 26.2.  How appropriate being my 75th, 26.2 and I have a license plate TWNTY6.2.  They had boxes of Smartwool socks to choose from.  I chose a pair that Cynthia would like.  The hat was $10 but one can never have enough hats.  At the top is Burt's Bees lip balm, headquartered here in Durham.  The little plastic thing is a cup.  More races are going cup free.  I carried a handheld bottle so I didn't use it but it will come in handy.

I arrived at the park around 7:30 to get to Lot A, the 4WD lot.  It was a perfect parking position because it was just below the race headquarters and the start/finish line at Camp Lapihio.  Simple logistics.  Here is a picture of the drive in meandering through the pines.

The start/finish is located at Camp Lapihio.  The last time I was there was for the Umstead 100 miler where I only completed 50 miles.  My nephew Shawn was with me and although I didn't finish the 100 miles, it brought back great memories.

This is the camp.  This race is in stark contrast to Miami 3 weeks ago.  Miami had 20 thousand lined up in the starting corrals (half-marathoners and marathoners).  We lined up 200 here.  I much prefer this crowd and community.  This was, in essence, an ultra community.  People you can sit down and break bread with.  People who are always encouraging you.  People who are hard core runners and don't shy away from the hard challenges.

Inside the camp is a stone fireplace with wooden picnic tables along with a full kitchen.  The race organization was phenomenal, not only at the lodge but with friendly and catering volunteers throughout the course. 

We started right on time.  Unlike Miami where it took me 20 minutes to get to the starting line, I was off in 5 seconds.  The first part of the race was on single track trails - the first 5/6 of 8 miles.  Although I have run the Loblolly trail in Umstead, I have run the ones today.  The trails are very similar.  The challenge on these trails were mostly roots along with some rocks.  It was a good mix of hills and flats but laying over most of the surface were pine needles making for a soft run if you could avoid the roots.  There was a lot of hopping around.  I tried to take some pictures being careful not to fall.

Th course in this section looks tame and it is but other sections were not so tame.  As one volunteer put it, "you only have another mile of hopping around."  I wore my Montrail Baja's, a low profile, light trail show.  Since 18 of the miles were on bridle trail, I figured that I would not need the knobby tread for most of the run and less weight would help on the hills.  However, I also found them to be more responsive on the single track.  The other show is my bronzed walking shoe from when I was a baby - maybe my first running shoe.

Once off of the single track trail, next came the undulating and hilly bridle trail, all 18 miles of it.  Normally, when I run at Umstead, this is the trail that I run for hill workouts.  It is challenging,  Here is a profile that I took from someone else who has run the race.

Here are a few pictures on the bridle trail.

No, once 14 of those miles are out of the way, you descend down Cedar Creek Trail to the bottom.  And, using the word "bottom" means you have to ascend back up to the top.  These are miles 22-24.  At this point the quads are screaming from the downhills and the hamstrings are screaming from the uphills.  Here is Cedar Ridge.

After Cedar Ridge, there is still a 3 mile climb back to the start/finish area.  I was all positioned to take a picture at the finish as I crossed but I dropped my camera, ugh!  So, I will have to rely on any photographers around.  All told, it was a wonderful, challenging day.  The weather was perfect.  The organization was great and the volunteers were friendly and helpful.  I had the runner's high for at least a few hours afterward and this time I could really feel it, like I was on cloud nine, a bit light-headed in a state of exhaustion.  I had a bite to eat with another marathon maniac from Asheville.  I chatted with her and another maniac at the start.  This is a race with a strategy.  I ran 5:10 and honestly was pleased with that.  I knew how challenging the course was going to be.  When I completed my application I put my expected finish time as 5:30, so, I was pleased.  3:01 won the event which is just crazy talk.  Interesting enough, the top 3 finishers were in their 40's including the third place female, who lead much of the way.

And, here is my prize!  Any empty pint glass, beautiful as it is!

Yesterday Day 60 and 61:  28.2 miles: 2014: 338 miles