2014 BALD PEAK HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

A bunch of PRCers at the finish line. I don't think I've ever known so many people at a race!

The Bald Peak Half Marathon certainly lived up to the hype. It was a very unique race and one I'm glad I decided to do. I also did a lot better than I thought I would and enjoyed the challenging course. Despite technically being my worst half marathon time, I would have to say this was probably my best effort at the half marathon distance and I'm extremely thrilled with my performance.

An early wakeup call was in order as the race started at 7:30am. Thankfully I live only 25 minutes from the start line at Hagg's Tree Farm so I was able to sleep in until 6:30 and depart at 6:45am. I had a doughnut and iced coffee on the way there. Probably not the best breakfast, but I didn't have to "deal" with it until after the race, so it worked out. Packet pickup was a breeze, Libbie was volunteering and had my stuff ready before I even reached the table.

My big, fat, bruised ankle I ran a half on.

I had rolled my ankle really bad playing basketball the day before and that was a big concern going into this race. It hurt somewhat and when I'd walk I was limping, but I seemed to be able to run still (based on little ten step jogs I did at home to see if it would scream in pain). I hoped that once the race started my ankle would "warm up" and allow me to run on it... if not, I was prepared to walk back to the start after a mile or two. I basically just tried to pretend nothing was wrong.

After putting on my bib I met up with some people I knew and just chatted until the race started. I thought the race was the perfect size, around 200, and it only contained a half marathon so we were all in it together. Since I only had twenty minutes or so after arriving before the race started the start came very quick. Before I knew it I was off to tackle the beast that is the Bald Peak Half.

THE FIRST TWO MILES (10:03, 10:20)

Up the hill during the first two miles of the race.

It was no joke about those first two miles being all uphill. After about fifty feet of flat after crossing the line the course started upward and it did not stop until right about the mile two sign. While it sucked having to run up the hill for two miles to start, it was also kind of a nice way to get into the race. There was no pressure to really bomb up it, everyone knew there was so much more to go after this hill, so it was just a steady grind up the hill. My breathing was labored but I felt like I could maintain my pace until the top of the hill.

My pace was slightly above 10:00/mile, so nothing very fast. I was climbing 400 feet a mile though, which is twice as steep as anything I had run before. Shamrock and Zena had nothing on Bald Peak. I was able to pass some people I knew on the hills and generally seemed to be handling them pretty well. I don't think I could have done another mile though. By the time the mile two marker came and the hill finally relented my legs and lungs were burning bad.

THE MIDDLE SEVEN (7:35, 8:21, 7:37, 7:07, 8:11, 7:39, 7:31)

So after those first two uphill miles gaining 800 feet I was ready for some downhill. I remember hitting the first downhill and enjoying the break on my legs... I then turned a corner and had a forty foot hill to climb. Thus is the story of the Bald Peak Half. While the trend was generally downhill after those first two miles, there was no shortage of uphill. We gained 800 feet on that first hill and 300 feet during the last mile (more on that later). So that's 1100 feet. However, the total elevation gain my watch tracked was 1691 feet, meaning there was an additional 591 feet of "rolling uphill."

This is actually right before I finished but let's play pretend.

That 8:21 fourth mile was because there was literally a 180 foot hill from mile 3.5 to 4.0. Same with that 8:11 mile, big hill during that mile as well. Basically the whole thing was just up and down. There was hardly anywhere where the course was flat. That is no exaggeration either, you were going up or down for 95% of the race and most the time it was fairly significantly up or down. Not many gentle hills either way. It really kept you on your toes.

Overall these miles were downhill though, so I was able to hit some of them in pretty good time. Anything in the 7:00s was fine by me. I was watching my overall pace trickle downward from the original 10:10/mile to somewhere in the low 8:00s. The race was going better than I expected... I was handling the hills pretty well and my legs (and ankle) felt good. The scenery was gorgeous and the gravel, while not ideal, was small and light enough that you really didn't roll around or have to expend too much extra energy.

THE FINAL FOUR (7:15, 7:00, 7:13, 10:13)

Ruining my finish line photos by stopping
my watch.

So more on that gravel as it really came into play on these final miles. Overall, like I said, it wasn't too big of an issue. However, a lot of the downhill was pretty steep, and coupling that with gravel means that I was simply putting the brakes on during a lot of my downhill running. I wish I could have gone faster, but if I were to just run I would speed up out of control and fall down. So I had to shuffle down and go as fast as I could without crashing. It was kind of annoying.

My legs surprisingly felt great during these last few miles. If I had Shamrock-type gentle downhill there is no doubt I would be been hitting 6:45s. As it was, I was pretty happy to be hitting low 7s given the steepness and gravelly-ness of those final miles. I saw my overall pace drop below 8:00/mile. I knew with the hill at the end that wouldn't last, but it was awesome to know that I was doing so much better than I imagined I could.

So that last mile. The first half of the last mile was actually pretty flat. On pavement. It was nice and I was hitting a good pace. A sense of dread came over me though because I know there was a 300 foot hill in the final half mile. Around every turn I expected to see it. Legend had it that this hill was gravel... it wasn't, but it still was super tough.

I, along with everyone I could see, walked the majority of the hill. There was just no way to run it after racing 12.5 hard miles. Even on fresh legs I don't think I could run the whole thing, it is that steep. Anyways, I was prepared for this so I didn't feel bad about it. I just morphed into my best power walk and charged up that hill, arms-a-flying. Overall I did the mile a touch over ten minutes, so I'm assuming I did about 7:00 on the first half mile and 13:00 on the power walk up the stupid hill.

THE FINAL SPRINT AND AFTERMATH

There was someone closing in on me coming up that hill and he got close enough where I could hear his breathing pretty well. About halfway up the hill I thought for sure he'd pass me, and while he inched closer, I still stayed in front of him. Eventually I made it my mission to beat him. As soon as the course leveled off a little I basically went into a full sprint. By that point you could basically see the finish line, you still had a tenth of a mile to go and kind of had to circle around to it, but you knew there were no more hills.

Definitely my favorite age group award!

I was surprised my legs had it in them for that sprint. It felt good though and I left that guy behind me in the dust. I rolled through the finish line and couldn't believe my time. Just a touch over 1:46 on such a tough course. Honestly, I couldn't be prouder of my race. I really left it all out there and killed it on a bum ankle. After drinking about five cups of water I went and got my pancakes and bacon they were handing out. They tasted so good after that race!

After I finished I spent another hour or so cheering on finishers and chatting with people I knew. I ended up winning second in my age group so I accepted my award during the ceremony for that. All in all it was a great time and one of my favorite races I have done to date. I actually loved the challenge of the course and the whole thing was just well done. I think I'll definitely sign up again next year, it is one of my new favorites.

The main thing I will take away from the event is how awesome it feels to be able to run a half marathon and not even think twice about it. Honestly, the race went really fast. I remember my first half marathon and the miles just dragging on and on. The miles seemed to be flying by at Bald Peak and the course was a lot tougher. I haven't done any specific training or anything for the half marathon, so it is cool that just my standard "maintenance" running allows me to run that hard at a half marathon and enjoy it at the same time.

Official Results: 1:46:07, 8:06/mile. 20/214 overall, 17/97 male, 2/10 M20-29.