The Battle to Run Red Mountain

After finishing up my 2022 running season at the end of October I took a little time off to re set a bit, and started planning out my 2023 race schedule. After an exhausting year of training and racing I knew that I needed to cut my schedule down a little bit from the prior year. Running six races and finishing a 100 mile effort was awesome, but I just didn’t have the same drive as I had the year prior. There will be no 100 miler in 2023! I had ran the red mountain 55k as my first ultra in 2022 and knew it would be a good race to start off the year. It would give me a couple of solid months of training to build my body back up, and hopefully get some much needed motivation back. I ended up deciding to cut the race shorter distance of 30k this year instead of the 55k and test the water to see if I could compete at the shorter faster distance.

Taking most of November off to recover and let my body heal up a bit I knew training needed to kick back up at the start of December. I got in a couple good runs to start the month but unfortunately only a couple of days in I was injured at work causing a giant gash to my eye. I ended up needing stitches, and with a pounding headache for the next week training would have to wait a little longer. As soon as I was healed enough I got right back into the grind, but things just didn’t seem right. Physically I knew my body was improving but I had no motivation to actually get out and get my workouts in. I wasn’t sure if it was the post race blue’s, or if I just knew the holidays season was here which is never the easiest time of year for me. Regardless it seemed like all of December was a struggle with the start of January not start much better.

Even with the first week of January starting out not great I was able to get some solid efforts in and actually build up some miles. It seemed like I finally was starting to find the groove with things looking up. Man was I wrong per the normal routine in my life the up swing wouldn’t last long. Of course right as I am feeling good physically and mentally I ended up getting sick for the first time in over a year. It didn’t seem to be horrible but for some reason I couldn’t shake whatever it was for the next couple of weeks. February rolled in before I knew it and I seemed to have finally shaken whatever sickness I had. Training was back on track and thing were starting to look up again, or so I thought. The week of valentines I worked with a guy who was hacking all night, and he told me he wasn’t contagious and was getting over being sick. Not putting much thought into it and thinking if he is back at work he must be ok. Once again the wheels fall off as I slam face first into a wall catching whatever my co worker had. With the continued sickness the last two weeks of February I tried my best to keep consistent, but became frustrated with how things were going. Easy runs seemed extremely hard, and long runs seemed nearly impossible. I started to think there was no way I would be ready to run a 30k. How would I be able to make it with my body being a wreck. In my mind my fitness wasn’t even close to what it needs to be and mentally I was beat down from the stress of thing going on in life, exhausted, frustrated, and overall just felt like an old man.

Coming into the last week of February my training block for this race had absolutely sucked, I was still sick, my body hurt and it was now race week. My body and mind weren’t right and for the first time in my running journey it wasn’t and hadn’t been fun. This was totally different from Just not feeling like racing when I ran Cedar Breaks, I legitimately didn’t feel like I was ready. It was time to decide if I had it in me to race or if I needed to try and transfer my registration to another race. I spent the first couple days of the week struggling to get my workouts in, and then talking with my wife trying to make a decision. By Wednesday night I knew I wanted to run, but I had decided to just take it day by day. I would then make the game time decision on race morning if I would run or not depending on how I felt. I would then do the race prep process as normal as possible the rest of the week, that way I would have everything I needed so I would be ready if I felt like I could run.

Waking up to the 4 am alarm on race day, I laid there for a bit before finally deciding to drag my tired sore body out of bed to make my way to the kitchen to decide if I was going to run or not. Before I even made it out of my bedroom I heard my wife say “you got this” and at that moment the decision was made, and I guess that meant I was running. I walked over gave her a kiss and said “I’ll see you at the finish line”. Surprisingly I had actually slept pretty well. Maybe it was due to the fact I didn’t have the stress and jitters I normally get when I am super amped up for a race. Regardless I knew it was time to get some food put into my body, gather my things, try to get my mind in the right place, and then hope my body would hold up. Luckily the race was super close, and the bus for the race would be picking us up around a mile down the road. This was great and it gave me a little extra time to put a game plan together before I needed to leave. This being a local race I had the advantage of being able to train on the trails the race was being held on. I knew where the hard climbs would be and where the sections of easier runnable trail played into the course. Looking at some training logs I kinda knew where I should be on the course when I needed to fuel. So I made the decision to cover my watch after I started it that way I wouldn’t be focused on my time, and I would just run off feel. If I pushed to hard I could slow down or if I was feeling good I would pick it up. Not the strategy I had trained for but I knew if I was going to make the effort I wanted to make sure I finished.

Prior to leaving to catch the bus I did one last gear check just to make sure I had everything I needed, then it was out the door. As like most races I threw on Method Mans, “Judgment Day” for the quick drive down to the bus pick up. This is probably one of my favorite go to songs to get motivated. I finally started getting some butterflies knowing in less than thirty minutes I would be lining up to get the 2023 race season started. Once getting on the bus for a quick ride I was at the starting ling feeling the energy and nervousness of the crowd of other runners. A little out of character I actually talked with a couple of guys Dan Ruch and John Shaw I knew from strava but had never met in person, and another named Zach who I had never met and we just had a random conversation about if we needed a long sleeve shirt or not. It was a good change of pace and before I knew it they were calling all the runners to the start line. Since the race had three distances all starting at the same time I wanted to be closer to the front of the pack so I wouldn’t have to navigate the crowd to start. I once again checked my gear, decided on clothing, hit the bathroom, and dropped off my bag of extra clothes. It was go time!

As the race started I made my way up the first hill watching a group run full sprint and disappearing over the top. I had to take a deep breath and tell myself “don’t kill yourself, stick to the plan”. I slowed my pace a bit letting my heart rate come down, and just after cresting the first hill the sun began to rise, and it was beyond amazing. I settled into a comfortable pace over the first six miles successfully bypassing most of the runner who were towards the back, and not having any real congestion on the single track they were coming up on. Finishing the first section feeling pretty good I opted not to stop at the aid station having enough supplies to make it through the next section before getting back to the aid station. A little over a half mile up the trail I ran into Zach and a guy that I didn’t know. The three of us made our way up the next 3 miles together cruising at steady pace. At the top the guy I didn’t know was a little bit ahead and went the wrong way causing Zach to follow. I yelled to them letting them know they were heading the wrong direction. At that point the three of us stayed fairly close to each other finishing out the second section within seconds of another. My body was still feeling good but I was starting to have some stomach issues kick in. I again decided to bypass the aid station knowing I had one more opportunity for water before the last climb. I started into the last section alone with the other two stopping, but my stomach was rumbling and knotting up. In the next mile I knew there was a bathroom and I had to make the decision to either stop or risk shitting myself between there and the finish line. By the time I got there I had no choice but to stop. Making quick work of business I got right back to it quickly realizing Zach had passed me in that time and was about a half mile ahead. Again I told myself “run your race don’t kill yourself” and that’s what I did. I ended up catching Zach just before the last big climb with about three miles to go, but the guy we had been running with earlier had also caught us. I knew with only a couple of miles left still feeling ok I would have enough in the tank to finish strong. As I started pushing to make it up the last climb my coach popped out of nowhere screaming for me to push it. It was some much needed motivation to make it to the top knowing it was all down hill after. Making it to the top I watch the guy who had caught back up to us tear down the hill pushing hard the last mile to the finish line. I made my push dropping Zach at some point and cruising my way to a 2:44:42 finishing time.

Overall I was able to finish 6th place overall and 5th male. The guy who dropped me is named Brian Robbins and he finished a little over minute ahead of me taking 5th, and Zach finished just under a minute behind me taking 7th. It was an awesome experience running with a couple of solid guys for the majority of the race, and even cooler meeting Zach right before the race started and then finishing so close together. With training going so bad leading up to this race I was beyond stoked being able just to finish and as well as I did. Placing as high as I did was just a cherry on top. Things don’t always go as planned in life with many things out of your control, but staying consistent will always put you in a spot to succeed.

“I’ve never set out to win a race, my goal has always been just to finish… control what you can control, and the rest will take care of itself.” Liz Woodgate