Mohican Trail Marathon - It's been a long road

Post race treat from Angie!!

It has been about two and a half years since I broke my body. More than just stress fractures. I had so much stuff going on that running trail races was a thing of the past. 2.5 years of working with a sports psychologist. 2.5 years of working with a Dietitian that specializes in REDS. 2.5 years of working with numerous physical therapists, doctors, that included several MRIs, dexa scans, and bone density scans. 2.5 years of countless niggles that would just not go away, get worse, and take weeks to recover from. 2.5 years of missing my trail running friends, missing out on the incredible fall weather running, the summer weather running, the spring weather running, and yes even missing the cold Ohio tundra weather running. 

Out of the many, many lessons I have learned through this arduous and mentally difficult process, the ones that resonate the most with me are having patience with myself, patience with the process, and giving my self some grace. I am not getting injured. It will happen. I know this and embrace this fact now more than ever. We are human and ultra trail running is one of the hardest sports that takes a massive toll on the body. We only have one body. If we do not take care of it, and I was a master of not taking care of my body, then it will come to bite you, hard.

I trained hard for the Mohican marathon back in 2020 when I was at my lightest weight and running high miles, at least for me. Covid hit and I never had the opportunity to really race the race. Oh, I ran the course on the day of the race but at this time the race has been canceled and a handful of us went out and completed the run anyway. No awards, no cheering, no aid stations, just you and the course. And a friend or two if you were lucky. I ran the course in four hours and 51 minutes. There is about 4500' of elevation for 27 miles. It is not an easy course and how many punchy climbs. Those climbs take a toll, especially if you run them all. 

The next time I was able to run half the course was in 2021, in the late summer, with a good friend. I was thinking I could run the full marathon the following weekend. I thought I was better and back to "normal". I was registered for the race. Nope. I just was not ready and on this run I hurt myself again and had to take one of many breaks away from running. So much disappointment. So many races that I had registered for and ended up bailing on because I would force my training and end up getting hurt. 

I would not run the course again until one month before the race which was on March 18th 2023. After pushing my mileage followed by getting injured and having to take weeks off from running only to start all over from ground zero, it finally hit me. Actually, I thank a good friend, my favorite PT, and fellow Christian to tell me something that resonated with me. He said, I train for the distance that I think i want to race and once I know I can handle the stress and running volume, then I sign up for a race. Brilliant. That approach takes all the stress, all the pressure, off. This is what I did. I backed off and just focused on a slow and methodical build up to a mileage that gave me the confidence to know that I could handle the Mohican Marathon. I think it took maybe 7-8 months. Funny thing is that I enjoyed the process. I enjoyed just getting out and running miles. I just wanted to run. I was sick and tired of the injuries. Sick and tired of sitting on the sidelines. Even if the run was 30 minutes, I was running. That is all I cared about.

Eventually I got to where I Was running a couple hours which finally allowed me to join me trail running brothers and sisters. THIS! This is what filled my heart, mind, and soul to the brim. Over time I was increased the time on my feet to where I cold join in the group long run which is always on Saturdays, so I flipped my long run from Sunday's to Saturday's. And finally I was able to run both the Saturday and Sunday group runs. When those weekend started to happen, I started to think that maybe I could get to the point where I could properly toe the line at a race. I never wanted to hit the start line injured or just half there. I wanted to toe the line properly. I never have expectations when I race. I want to work hard, enjoy the time, hope for the best, and just finish.

Since I had never really raced Mohican Trail Marathon and that had bugged me ever since 2020, I decided to make this my first trail race. I did not register until two days before the race. I wanted to make damn sure I was ready and not injured. Call it lack of confidence or my being superstitious. I registered the Thursday before race day.

Race morning was chilly @ 27* but not terrible at all. Some snow was forecast for late morning. That wind though, the wind would just cut right through you. It was fairly calm at the start which was good. I went with some heavy arm warmers, Merino 150 Smartwool short sleeve shirt with a thin base layer, a wind vest, compression shoes, Brooks running shorts, calf compression sleeves, Injini toe socks and Brooks Caldera 6s. Oh, and of course Brooks mittens and a nice warm hat to keep my ears from freezing.

After an easy 3/4 mile shake out run to get things loosened up after the hour and 20-minute drive the race started at 8:30am. I tried to stay in the front because after a short road section (looking at my watch we were hitting 7:25 pace) we all funnel into very narrow single track and I knew this is where things would bottleneck very quickly. It actually was pretty good and while there was a few short sections we hiked due to slower runners in the front, it was short lived and after about 1-1.5 miles in we were moving pretty good. It was around this time that I saw I was in a line of 4-5 other runner, two of which are friend from my run group, and we were being held up by a runner taking their time or maybe being overly cautious. Not wanting to stay at this pace, I blew past 3 runners and the lead runner on this group as I pulled off to the right up on the ridge side. I called out and just got past the lead runner of the group so I could open up my pace. Much better. I think everyone in that group followed my lead and we were off and moving, finally.  My legs felt amazingly good but I also know that the climbing will eventually catch up to me. I tried to settle in but that race adrenaline was pumping.

Mohican Firetower turnaround point.

Tim Crow and Matt Polo were right there with me along with Mark Butler and a couple others. I opened up a gap on a couple of the runners in out group but then on the descents they would catch right back up to me. I wasn't trying to drop anyway, at least not this early in the race, but if I could while running in cruise control then all the better. When we reached the covered bridge we are about 2.5 miles from the covered bridge and it was myself and two others, Mark being one. We made quick work of the river section and right before the climb started Mark took the lead and that was the last time I  was running with Mark. He is definitely on another level and of course being 29/30 doesn't hurt. The other runner I was not familiar with but we started chatting. He is 40 and just got into running a year ago. Super nice guy and at some point I managed to gap him but that was short lived. Got to the Firetower which is the turnaround point in 1:06 (PR!!) and I kind of stood there for a minute because the sign literally said "turn around". I always thought we had to run to the Firetower, but no signage indicated that is what we were to do. I did some some post-race Strava posts that shows some runner did just that. I knew I was going to use this as a point where I would take in some food, so I stopped and ate a Spring gel (250 calories) and by that time Mat Polo caught back up to me. We both ran maybe half way to the Firetower and then turned around and headed back. Passed Tim Crow on our way back and he was maybe a 1/4 mile behind us and knowing Tim I knew I would be seeing him again. Along the way back we crossed paths with a few more from our local running group. It was wonderful seeing so many friends racing!

Matt and I hung out for a couple miles which was great! Somewhere along the line I gapped him and I did not see him until after I turned around at the start/finish line which I reached at 2:21 (PR!!) grabbed a new hand bottle, ate some Embark Coffee Maple Syrup and headed back out for the second loop. I was barely out out of the start/finish line when I saw Matt coming up the road. He was close. Soon after I saw Tim Crow as well and at this point I knew I had to keep moving and try to keep some sense of a pace. I could tell my legs were getting tired. I was definitely racing this thing. Not trying to run comfortable but trying to be uncomfortable. I was certain that Matt and Tim would rally and not only catch me but drop me. Whether they knew it or not, I was trying to keep them off my tail I just wasn't confident that I could. 

Once again as I wrapped around a corner after the first couple of short climbs I cross paths again with Bob Smaltz, Michelle Jarc, and I unfortunately do not recall who else. They were on their way to the start/finish to refuel and head back out on the second loop. It was all a blur at this point and I could feel the affects starting to come on. I was still feeling strong, but fatigued. I hiked more of the climbs than I did on the way out but was still running, albeit slowly, most of the climbs except for the stupid steep climbs. I think it was about this time that my left foot started to annoy me. I have been dealing with Metarsalgia for over two months. It is basically inflammation of the Metatarsal heads that result in swelling. It can be painful but I have figure out some tools to help, mostly got the advice from some running friends. Ice soaks after every working, Metatarsal pads, stretching, and toe separators. All helped, but nothing had completely rid myself of this issue. What instigates the problem more than anything is running climby trails, so yeah ... I knew this was going to get uncomfortable at some point. That is primarily what slowed me down from running the climbs. Everything was fine on the flats and descents, so that aloud me to keep my pace up. As I made my way to the covered bridge and along the river before the 1.5 mile climb to the Firetower I saw the lead runner come by me. I gave him some encouragement. Dude was just flying and he finished the race in 4:02. He is also 22, but still ... that is a smoking fast time. I need to see if that is a course record. First, I wanted to see how old they were because you know ... age group is what I had on my mind. Then I just curious where I was in the overall pecking order. I ended up with a count of 12 but I may have lost one or counted one too many. My head was getting into this odd state of fatigue and things were not all that easy to focus on. Might have been the cold, the need for more calories, and the fact that I was pushing harder than I have on a run in a long time. Post-run analysis it looks like only 30-minutes in Z4 and 2.5 hours in Z3. Probably does not seem like a lot for most, but when all of my runs have been base miles and in Z1/2 ... that was hard for me at this point in my journey back. 

After reaching the Firetower I decided to run to the Firetower, peace of mind I suppose, then grab a gel (another 250 calories), turnaround and finish the race. Mentally one always feels good when they are on the way to the finish line, but at this point I did not have much to give. it was at this point it had started to snow. Very lightly, but within a few minutes I was in the middle of a serious snow squall. The snow was blowing horizontal with the ground beating up the side of my face to the point that it felt frozen. Around this time I crossed paths with Tim. He was loving it! Yeah, I know ... the more epic the conditions the more epic the race but this was kind of pissing me off. I tried to embrace the suck of course but I was also going through the muddiest section of the course at the same time. Snowing pelting me, wind was moving hard, and every other step I felt like I was going to lose my shoe in the mud that had been left behind my the heavy equipment being used to clear out the large section tree fall from the tornado that hit Mohican early last summer. Once I got through that section I started to get this sensation of IT Band pain cropping up on the outside of my right knee. Historically, descending i shat will give me IT Band pain if it decided to show up. This was not too bad but I took my time going down and descents from here on out and I was able to keep it at bay the remainder of the race.  I think it was somewhere along this section that Matt and I crossed paths again. Tim had put in time on Matt and unless I was going to slow way down I was pretty confident I would finish before Matt. As for Tim, I had no idea. This guy can come out of nowhere. I've seen it happen and all of a sudden he ramps up is pace and just pounds out the miles. I was hoping that would not happen to day and that I could keep him away. Once back at the covered bridge I knew I had 4.5 miles left. I snagged a coke for a shot of caffeine because I continued to feel a tad loopy. Not out of it and no brain fog, but just ... off in some way. The ITB issue had subsided on the flat sections which was great. 

Mohican covered bridge

I continued along the flat river section making my way to the Dam stairs. Usually I can jog half way up and then resort to walking the remaining steps. This second time I kept looking back and did not see anyone so I took my time and walked all the way to the top. All 184 steps, two at a time. Once at the top I got back onto the trail but not before taking a long look down the trail along the river to try and see any runners. Nope. I wasn't about to relax but it was nice not to worry too much about hiking some of the climbs. The final service road climb, while short, is not easy. I ran and hiked on and off to the top. Finally crossed the road to hit the final 2.5 mile section to the finish line. At this point I had run out of fluid. Not because I was drinking all of it though. The problem with the lid on this new bottle is that because my arms were getting tired I would drop my arms and the mouth piece of the lid would get caught on my bib, open up, and the fluid would leak out. Damn! I noticed it a few times. I don't know how much fluid I lost along the way but I know it was significant. 

Kept doing the look back and running scared deal for those 2.5 miles. There is a nice long downhill before the final short pitching climbs. My ITBand was not a happy camper along the descents but it was not terrible and I was able to continue running. After reaching the end of the trail and popping out onto a short service road that then leads back to the road I took notice of the time. I was wanting to finish in 5 hours. My PR was 4:51 in 2020. My time was 5:53. I thought ... if I walk to the finish line I do not think I will get under 5-hours. If I walk to the finish line there is the risk of someone coming up behind me and passing me or make me sprint for the finish line. So I started to run to the finish line. Keep in mind this is an up hill finish until it flattens out for the remaining 200 yard (?). Once I got moving I was motivated to push to the end. I wanted that sub-5 hours finish and I cross the finish line in 4:56:58. That'll do. Not a PR but given the conditions and this being my first race back ... I'm am totally good with that!

I earned first place age group for 50-54 my race age is 51) and 12th overall out of 86. Cool. 

#happytrails