Making Lemonade out of Lemons with the Rock 2 Rock Trail 10k

My husband, Chris & I had a vacation day (these are rare & like gold so spent very carefully) planned for Friday 5/24/13 to hike the 5 miles uphill on the Alum Bluff trail that leads to Mount Le Conte lodge. My mom was lucky in the lottery & had reservations for four of us to spend the night in the lodge, have a nice meal, watch the sunset & relax in our remote cabin on top of the beautiful mountain. Things quickly changed for these plans when Chris sustained a severe injury to his right achilles tendon. After a track workout on Tuesday 5/21, it seized up & left him barely able to walk. By Thursday, he was in and boot a struggling to get to his car for work. There was no way that Chris would be able to climb the mountain to the Le Conte lodge so the plan quickly changed.

 

I had a trail tempo run scheduled for Thursday 5/23 so I spoke to my coach, Chad Newton to see if I could run the Rock 2 Rock trail 10k instead of the workout. Once Chad approved, I contacted the Race director, Jay Curwen who had registration still open! The race has a 5pm start so at least I could make the vacation day worthwhile. My heart was broken for Chris though... He was crushed not being able to go to Le Conte & now not able to run at all. We cancelled the trip to Le Conte, Chris volunteered at the finish line of Rock 2 Rock & I raced.

 

The weather was perfect. It was sunny & 64 degrees. With a 5pm race start, the temperatures can get quite hot! This race is known to be a competitive trail race. It was once part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup series & also is the opening event for the Mountain Sports festival, drawing trail runners from all over the country. Among those toeing the line this year was Shiloe Mielke (Vasque), Duncan Hoge (Bull City Running), Sean Blanton (La Sportiva), Alison Bryant (La Sportiva) & Jennifer Evans (Bull City Running).

 All Photos by: Jay Curwen

 

The course is a mix of fireroad, technical single track which climbs Eden rock & gains 2,000 ft elevation in the 1st  3.5 miles. The trail is very rocky, rooty & uneven & is scattered with fallen trees & limbs, has briar bushes & other fun obstacles to maneuver. Wearing my Inov-8 X-Talon 212s, I knew that I would be fine. The shoe is low profile to make it easy to feel the trail & has tough lugs to help grip the trail on the steep climbs & decents (a must for this course). I protected my eyes with the Julbo trek sunglasses. The lenses make the trail light (even in dark shadowy sections) & protect my eyes from pollen & low-hanging limbs.

 



 

The race was off promptly at 5pm. The 1st 200 meters was on a grassy field then the race headed up the hill to the mountain. It was a clear beautiful day so birds were chirping & the scenary was gorgeous. It didn't take long to forget about the beautiful sounds becasue all I could hear was my elevated breathing. The pollen in the air was thick & my legs felt like lead. There were several runners with me as we punished our legs to attack the climb. I exchanged positions back & forth with Shaun, Josh & Kurt all the way to the top of the mountain. Once we crested the mountaintop, those guys took off down the steep decent with reckless abandon like a wild animal running for its life. I wanted to go with them but my legs were heavy from the climb & I thought that they may buckle at any second. Somehow, they recovered & I was able to pick up the pace again. The downhill had several switchbacks & obstacles to jump over. It was dangerous but fun! Everytime I picked up the pace, I would hear someone ahead of me scream in agony as they had a fall, twist of the ankle or a speared leg from a tree limb. I decided to be a little more cautious & careful with my footing. The downhill flew by & before long, I recognized the gravel road that lead to the finish line. I heard screams & cheers & knew the finish was just around the corner. I was able to push & pick up the pace to finish as 1st Female (9th overall) in 54:57.

 









 

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Rock 2 Rock Trail 10k- 1st 25 Finishers

Place Name Age Sex City State Time Pace
1 Shiloh Milke 33 M Asheville NC 46:08:00 7:26
2 Duncan Hoge 25 M Chapel Hill NC 47:39:00 7:41
3 Sean Blanton 27 M Atlanta GA 48:36:00 7:50
4 David Workman 42 M Flat Rock NC 50:02:00 8:03
5 Shaun Pope 24 M Black Mountain OH 52:35:00 8:28
6 Josh Marcus 26 M Mill Spring NC 52:49:00 8:30
7 Paul Scouten 43 M Black Mountain NC 53:23:00 8:36
8 Kurt Wilson 34 M Asheville NC 54:40:00 8:48
9 Amber Young 34 F Asheville NC 54:57:00 8:51
10 Andy Applegate 47 M Asheville NC 55:10:00 8:53
11 Matt Roane 42 M 55:16:00 8:54
12 Jeff Dean 34 M Charlotte NC 57:26:00 9:15
13 Mike Jackson 44 M 58:05:00 9:21
14 Jeremy Donahue 30 M Harrogate TN 58:23:00 9:24
15 Alison Bryant 34 F Elkin NC 1:00:01 9:40
16 Joshua Lundin 33 M Asheville NC 1:00:35 9:45
17 Jennifer Evans 24 F Durham NC 1:01:16 9:52
18 Sofie Beckham 38 F Asheville NC 1:02:56 10:08
19 Arnaud Levasseur 41 M Asheville NC 1:04:12 10:20
20 Grant Sparks 37 M 1:05:56 10:37
21 Zan Sistare 55 M 1:06:21 10:41
22 Brody Miller 24 M 1:06:59 10:47
23 Matthew Fecteau 37 M Durham NC 1:07:02 10:48
24 Matt Hollifield 44 M Spruce Pine NC 1:07:16 10:50
25 Bill Lawrence 42 M 1:08:01 10:57     

Amber Reece-Young and Shiloh Mielke

 

 

 

 

 

 





2012 Continental Divide Trail 10k- USATF National Trail 10k Championship & USATF NC State Championship

I managed to leave work at noon & get in a quick road 4 miler, shower & a spot of lunch before heading out to the race. I rode to the National trail 10k race site on Friday with coach & friend Chad Newton, Laura Raintree & Sarah. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we took a scenic route along a section of the Blueridge Parkway to admire the views. We arrived just in time for the pasta dinner. There, we caught up with fellow runners, Megan Kimmel, Jason & Alison Bryant & many others. I was starving! I had wolfed down a double chocolate, walnut cookie before we arrived to the dinner & was now helping myself to two plates of pasta, a salad, roll & dessert. 

After dinner, we checked into our rooms at the Higgins lodge. There I chatted with roommate, Megan Kimmel. It was super quiet so with the windows open, we could hear the rain beginning to fall outside as well as the sound of crickets. I read a few pages of my book & fell straight to sleep.

Race morning was weird... First of all, I got to sleep in until 7am! The Men's race started at 9am & the Women's race at 10:15am. I got ready, had breakfast & headed out to get my race packet. I felt a little lazy & lethargic just walking around.

The Men's race kicked off & was exciting to watch! It got me super motivated! I watched as Chad Newton & Jason Bryant exchanged places back & forth numerous times.

 

I started a warm-up & ran back & forth along various sections of the course to watch their race. Meanwhile, I was able to run & chat with Laura Raintree & fellow Inov8 teammate member, Maria Dazlot.

 

Chris Young came to the race & brought my training partner & 4-legged baby, Olive. That made me smile!!  Olive is a black feist/Jack Russell mix. She is a runner with the heart of a warhorse! She gives 110% in her runs & would rather die than get beat. Needless to say, she leads all the runs.

The sun warmed up the temperature by 10am & the finishing men reported that the trail was muddy & slick from last night's rain. I remained relaxed. I was wearing the Zebra (antifog) Julbo sunglasses to protect my eyes & focus on the footing & wearing the Inov8 Xtalon 190s that are like claws to maximize my grip & prevent me from wasting energy & sliding on the trail.

 

The race started at 1015am & by 600 meters in, Megan was in the lead & I was in 2nd.

After a few minutes, I couldn't hear footsteps or breathing behind me but never looked back to see how close or far away the next person was to me. I just ran solo with Megan out in the lead. Due to the nature of the course, spectators could see the race at several points. Just as I would feel myself relaxing & getting close to letting off the gas, I would hear Olive bark at me, dying to run & push the pace. It gave me a boost as I thought of her running drive & spirit & pushed myself harder. I could be a slacker. This carried on until I thought my legs could do no more.

Somehow, I was able to really work the downhills & flats & try to do my best at the climbs with dead legs. Olive was at the top of the steepest climb, barking at me again. I gritted my teeth & gave one last push.

 

 

Thank goodness, the finish line was about 200 meters away! I ended up finishing 2nd in 49:35.

Megan was 1st in 48:21 & Teammate Maria Dazlot was 3rd in 52:58. Results can be found at: http://www.continentaldividetrailrace.com/Welcome.html .

 

My time was 2 minutes & 13 seconds faster than when I ran in 2009. My splits were: 610, 802, 953, 634, 748 & 1102.

 

Olive greeted me at the finish & jumped into my arms for kisses. She pushed me to my limit! I feel relieved, excited & blessed!  What a great day!

 

 

 





 



 

Top 8 females





 

 





2012 NACAC Mountain Running Championships

The 2012 NACAC mountain running Championships were held in British Columbia with a venue on Cypress Mountain.

Team USA members were Joe Gray Ryan Woods, Tommy Manning, Jared Scott, Brandy Erholtz, Amber Moran (me), Michele Suszek & Maria Dazlot.

The Canadian Team was stacked since this race doubled as the NACAC championship & selection race for the Canadian Team for Worlds. The course was primarily uphill for a total of 11.13k with 1375.9 meters Elevation Gain and 510.8 meters Elevation Loss. The course consisted of  technical singletrack, boulder fields, meadows, mudpits, rock scramble & screaming descent for the finish.

On race morning, Team USA arrived to the race start for a warmup & strides. The air was humid but luckily cool...in the low 60s. The race started promptly at 9am & the race was on! The first section of the race was a 20% grade which quickly got the engine going. I started out the race in 4th place as I saw Brandy, Michelle & a Canadian woman run out ahead. I caught up to Michele & the Canadian before the first mile & was in second place. The course was super technical making the footing tricky. Luckily, I was wearing my Inov8 Xtalon 190s which took the worry of slipping away. Not only did this shoe match my USA outfit but it also gave me the grip that I needed for the wet roots, rocks & mud.

Maria & I ran together & took turns leading through the tricky sections since it was hard to look up for the course markings to make sure we were on the right path without falling. Did I mention that there were no aid stations in the race? I carried a gel & thank goodness it started drizzling rain & cooled the temperature to the 50s as we climbed the mountain. The boulder field & rock scramble was the toughest part of the race. Not only were the rocks slippery, each section had a drop-off cliff which could be treacherous if I made one slip of the hand or foot. The scramble/climb was a 40% + grade that went on for over a kilometer. Once I made it to the top, I felt like I had ran through the clouds to heaven. The temperature was cool & there were spots of snow on the mountaintop. I was smiling from the inside out! This was a rave run!

On the mountain top, the mud pit section was interesting. I chose to skirt around the edge since I wasn't for sure how deep the mud was. That was a good decision! I found out that a team member & a Canadian runner went through the center of the pit & got stick in the mud!

The technical sections were fun & so was the screaming downhill finish! I kind of knew what I was in for on this part since I was able to hike it a couple of days before the race. I was elated to finish 2nd for the silver & be a scorer for Team USA!

At the finish, I joined Brandy Erholz (NACAC champion) & watched as teammate Maria Dazlot finished 3rd & Michele Suszek finished 5th. We rounded out the competition for the Team Gold!! Woohoo!! It was a blessing to have such a wonderful experience & fantastic teammates. I'll cherish this experience forever.