After I came down from the high of UTMB I tried to find a
challenging and motivating race to look forward to, and the inaugural
Hellbender 100 looked like just the thing.
It is in the Black Mountains in North Carolina near Asheville and
features 25,000+ feet of climbing that take you above 6,500 feet. I went hiking with Danny and Dylan in the
area exactly a year ago, so I knew the scenery would be incredible with spring
arriving in the mountains.
My “A” target had been to get to Curtis Creek # 2 in 6:45 to 7 hours; I ended up arriving in just over 6 hours. Ummmm. I was either having a great race or building myself up for an epic blowup! I grabbed my poles from the drop bag, fueled up, and started on the next section that I knew would be the crux of the race.
My training was decent, and I arrived at the race fit other
than some lingering, nagging issues with my right hamstring and left
Achilles. PJ and I drove down together
from Arlington, and it was a scenic ride down that got us pumped for the time
we’d be spending in the mountains.
Logistics were all smooth, and before we knew it we were at the start
line ready to head off at 5am.
Start to 23.6
The first 5 miles were on roads and gradually uphill. I chatted with Keith and PJ in this section,
and we clicked off an 8:23 average pace without much trouble. It was a brisk but beautiful night with some
epic stars overhead.
We blew through the mile 5 aid station, crossed some
railroad tracks (just like mile 5 of Grindstone), got our feet soaking wet in
freezing water at a stream crossing, and started up the 4,500 foot monster
climb. It immediately got steep, and
Keith and I settled in at a very manageable pace up the mountain. We could see lights above us on the trail,
and Keith noted it felt a lot like UTMB.
We had settled in somewhere in the teens in the field. Soon early dawn approached, and we were
treated to amazing views with the sunrise.
The climb got steeper as we went up, and the last part was epically
steep with a scramble up 30-40% grade to Pinnacle. But it was well worth it! The rocky summit had huge views of the
mountains in the early light, and the crowd was pleased. We hung out for a bit taking pictures and
loving life.
I was excited for the downhill and took off fast down the
technical trail. We crossed the Blue
Ridge Parkway and an unmanned aid station where I grabbed a donut. We had a loooong 4,500 descent from 5,800
feet and switchbacked our way down to an aid station 3 miles into the
descent. I passed my bottles over to get
refilled and started wolfing down food.
They had fresh avocados that looked mighty tempting, and I was surprised
that they were also sprinkled with salt.
Delicious!
After a short gravel road uphill, we were back on switchback
trails heading down the mountain. As we
descended, it became more and more springlike.
I felt great on this section and really enjoyed the spring foliage,
though it was hard not to run too fast on the gentle grade towards the
bottom.
We came to the road and then had a short stretch to the
Curtis Creek aid station that we’d come through three times. I was WAY up on projected splits and
surprised / worried to see I was under 11:30 pace through 23 miles. I again stuffed my face with food, including
fresh avocados (a theme for the race), and headed out to the 8 mile loop that
would take me back to Curtis Creek.
This section was added to the course when the Department of
Transportation didn’t allow the race to do the last 5 miles of road to the
finish. It had 2,500 gain / 2,500
descent over 8 miles so didn’t exactly look easy but seemed fine on paper. I liked the first part of the trail as we
climbed up the mountain alongside a creek and waterfalls. At these lower elevations it was full on
spring with wildflowers all over. I had
eaten a TON of food at the aid station, and my stomach was a bit off on the climb. I used the climb to get caught up on
hydrating, and luckily everything settled back in.
I started passing people on this section and went by two
guys as I powered my way up the climb. I chatted with one guy for a bit, and he
gave me two warnings about the course: 1) at the top of this climb we’d have a
sawtooth section with super steep climbs and descents, and 2) the Crest trail
you hit around mile 45 is the toughest and most technical trail on the east
coast. Whatever, man. I run in the Massanuttens. How hard could it be?
Well the sawtooth section was a beast. The trail was crazy steep and overgrown. It lasted two miles tops but was slooow
going. Mercifully we popped out onto a
gravel road back down to Curtis Creek. I
took in more calories and made quick work of the road descent.
My “A” target had been to get to Curtis Creek # 2 in 6:45 to 7 hours; I ended up arriving in just over 6 hours. Ummmm. I was either having a great race or building myself up for an epic blowup! I grabbed my poles from the drop bag, fueled up, and started on the next section that I knew would be the crux of the race.
Sunrise on the first climb
Big views from the top of Pinnacle!
Keith on the summit
With PJ
Full on spring at lower altitudes
Lots of wildflowers on the trail after Curtis Creek
31.3 to 52.3
I studied the course ahead of time and knew this section
would be epic and tough. You have two
monster climbs and descents for almost 9K climbing and over 7.5K descending in
just 20 miles on super steep and technical trails. Ouch.
I continued eating as I hit the trail and soon started the
trekking pole rhythm up the steep grade.
It was getting warmer at the low elevations, and I finally took off my long
sleeve layer. I was in full-on
Euro-trail power hiking mode and passed a few more people as we climbed. Then I started to cramp in my quads, which
was raining on my power hiking parade. That
has never happened to me before, so I didn’t quite know what to make of it and was
a bit worried at this early point in the race.
I figured it must be some combination of needing more fluids or
electrolytes so double downed on both.
I was rapidly running out of water / Coke, and we
fortunately hit the unmapped water stop at the Parkway. I had just caught another guy that I’d
see-saw with for a while as I’d pass him on the climbs, and he’d pass me on the
descents. We were back up and altitude
and cooler weather with great views from Green Knob. We climbed up a few hundred more feet and
then started the long descent down to Neal’s Creek. The first part was super steep and technical,
and I was going slower than I would have liked.
The trail mellowed out, and I started making better time down the
mountain.
We popped out onto a gravel road by a campsite and followed
the creek on the out-and-back to the aid station. I ran into the aid station at mile 39 feeling
good and ready to crush some food. After
chowing down and drinking some soup I grabbed my food from my drop bag and
hustled out of there.
After going back on the road section we hit the Mount
Mitchell trail that goes up to the highest peak east of Mississippi. I knew it would be a long climb but was
looking forward to it. I popped in some tunes,
busted out the poles, and started powering my way up. My biggest worry here was that they said it
was a 14 mile stretch (and a brutally tough 14 miles) until next aid with only
a water stop 5 miles in. I was
constantly starving and burning through all my food, so I didn’t know if I’d
have enough to get more through. For
anyone who knows me, you know my worst fear on this earth is not having enough
food and starving!
The climb was fun, and I got to the mile 44 aid
station. They said I looked really
good. I told them I felt really
good! Mercifully they had some food
(chips and PB&J), soda, and an electrolyte drink called Scratch that I put
in my bottles. They also told me I was
in fourth and that third place just left.
Wow … I knew I had been moving up in the field but was pretty surprised
that I was in fourth.
They told me to enjoy the next section, which would be on a
relatively flat trail on the ridge. This
was indeed an enjoyable stretch other than the bog-like parts due to melting
snow. It was also cool how there were
these big icicles still hanging next to the trail. Apparently there had still been a bunch of
snow here until just a day or two before.
I also figured this more mellow stretch would be a good time to FaceTime
with the family, so I told them daddy was still alive and hadn’t perished in
the mountains.
But all good things must end, and we turned left up what can
only loosely be called a trail and was more of a face-melting ascent up
boulders. We got to the elevation high
point, and I figured I’d gotten through it and could enjoy the descent. Incorrect.
We were on this knarly, technical boulder-strewn trail and went up and
down 3 more peaks. I cursed myself for
stowing my poles and slowly trudged through this section that my fellow runner
had earlier called the toughest trail on the east coast. And you know what? I think that man had a point.
We started actually going downhill but the first stretch
wasn’t really a whole lot better. We had
a whopping 4,100 feet to descend and somewhere along the way it started to
resemble an actual trail. This stretch
was really, really hard to say the least.
But I was mentally prepared for it.
I knew that at mile 52 I shouldn’t judge the race based on how I’d
usually feel at mile 52. This course
managed to pack in more climbing and on more technical trails than the same
distance at UTMB!
But my energy was good, my spirits were high, and I came
into mile 52 with a smile on my face.
The aid station crew again said that I looked fantastic. “I feel fantastic!” They had quesadillas here that hit the spot
along with lots of other goodies. My
feet were hurting, largely due to the Salomon Speedcross 4s not fitting as well
as the 3s. I changed my socks, changed
into a trusty pair or Speedcross 3s, and tucked quesadillas into any spare spot
in my pack I could find. Apparently 3rd
place was 10+ minutes head, but they also said it was his first 100, and he was
having trouble eating. No matter though,
it was way too early to go hunting.
Miles 31 to 52 were even slower than the slow split I had
expected, but I was overall about on the pace I’d expected and left the aid
station 12h42min into the race.
Views from up on Green Knob
On the ridge trail around mile 46
52.3 to 81.6
While the last section was a killer, I wasn’t out of the
woods yet and had a 3,000+ foot climb back up to the ridge. The first 2.5 miles was mellow, and I was
moving fast. The trail got steeper, and
I was surprised before long to come up on 3rd place. He had a pacer with him, and I wished him
well. He told me he’d get to the finish
no matter what, and I told him to go get it and that finishing was all that
mattered.
I was really hoping to get back to the ridge before sunset
and managed to get back up there by 8pm to enjoy the last light reflecting off
the mountains. Miles 31 to 58 are
crushing, but the crazy thing is you then have 24 miles almost entirely
downhill to mile 82. I knew this race
would be about who still had legs to run this section well. I felt a bit worked over, and time would tell
how much my legs would come back.
It was getting chilly on up at altitude so I put on my long
sleeve layer and got the gloves / hat on.
This section was a big loop with a short out and back from mile 45 / 61,
so I had a few miles where I was passing people on their way out. I have to say I didn’t envy them the section
they had coming up, especially in the dark.
Ultrarunners are hard souls to say the least.
I refueled at the water aid station at mile 62 and had 3.5
of mellow trail until the next aid station.
Nighttime set in, and the stars were coming out overhead with
silhouettes of mountains around us. I
was managing to run a little under 15 minute miles, but I’d need to pick up the
pace soon when we hit the real downhill.
I got to mile 65 aid and ate a huge amount of food again. Very soon after aid, I heard the cheers as
another runner came in behind me. Whoa …
I thought I had been putting some distance on people, but this was a good
wake-up call.
I picked up the pace going down and started moving faster on
the technical single track. I looked
back and thought I saw two lights behind me now so was motivated to get moving,
though I didn’t want to flame out with 30+ miles left.
We spilled out onto a fire road for the next part of the
downhill. I was running well on the
road, but my stomach and energy were not doing well. I spent some time trying to diagnose and
realized that I’d kept eating well but had been drinking very little with night
hitting and being higher up with cooler temps.
I started pounding the fluids and felt better very quickly. Soon everything was back in balance, and I
was hitting 9 minute miles on the downhill.
I figured we’d stay on the road until the aid station so was
surprised when we turned off onto a trail. We kept on the trail and then
started climbing. I got paranoid that I
was going back up to Green Knob where had been at mile 35 before coming into
Neals for the first time! I was
especially worried since the mileage on my watch showed I should already be at
the aid station. One thing I’ve learned
is it is crucial to make sure small mistakes don’t become big ones, so I pulled
out my waterlogged turn sheet. It looked
like I was on the right track, and I turned left down the trail and soon was on
the road to Neals.
I crammed in calories again here and decided against
grabbing my jacket. I was still plenty
warm, the next section didn’t go back up to elevation, and I had a pullover in
my bag at mile 82 if I needed it. After
a quick turnaround, I was heading up the gravel road 1,000 foot climb to the Blue
Ridge Parkway. I felt super strong and
was running some of this, clicking off a quick pace.
We crested and would have something like a 6-7 miles descent
down to mile 82. I felt AMAZING on this
downhill. I was just cruising away and
was shocked to see I was running sub 9s.
Then I started running faster and hit miles 80 and 81 in sub 8s. WHAT WAS HAPPENING?! In every other 100 I’ve run, my legs are toast
by mile 80, and here I was running 7:50s.
Crazy.
At the mile 82 aid station (more like mile 84), I stocked up
on food again. The avocado wraps with
salt were like magic and something I really need to find a way to get at future
ultras. I grabbed my warm pullover in
case it got cold up high and took off into the night for the last big stretch.
Lots of pretty creek crossings
Sunset up on the ridge trail on the second time around
81.6 to Finish
I have to admit this next 12 mile stretch was a lot of fun
coming down in the morning but was much less fun going up at night. The first part is dirt road and was very
runnable, but apparently not by me at 85 miles in. I tried to keep a good pace as we got to the
double track, steeper section. The night
was getting cold, so at some point here I stopped to put on the pullover.
It was approaching 2am, and the sleep monsters kicked
in. I was fighting hard to stay awake on
the climb. The switchbacks seemed interminable,
and it was taking longer than I had hoped to get to the Parkway crossing that
was ~1 mile from the aid station. I big internal debate started up. Should I sleep on the side of the trail? No William, that’s ridiculous. Just finish the damn race. But I’m sleepy. What harm could there
be? Just keep moving, Will.
The internal debate raged on. But I was solidly in third place and not
close to 2nd or 4th, so I guess why not? I found a comfy looking tree, sat down and
leaned against it, turned off my headlamp, and set my alarm for 5 minutes. I woke up just before the alarm went off and
trudged up the rest of the climb to the Parkway. I was happy to finally get there and see
another human being. They had a person
at every Parkway crossing at all times on the course, and I really felt for
these volunteers who were out there in the cold with huge gaps between runners
coming through!
I tried to get my legs moving on the 1mi+ downhill to the
last full aid station, but the downhill legs were finally shot at mile 92. I was excited to get to the aid station and
stock up for the last big 10+ mile push, which I knew could take a while. I tanked up on food, coffee, and soup. They also had the glorious avocado, hummus,
and salt wraps. I ate a bunch, and they
were kind enough to give me a baggie with some more that would fuel me for the
rest of the race.
We had another few thousand feet and 3 miles to go on this
interminable climb. With my post aid
station high I pushed the pace and ran some of the uphill before the miles
caught back up to me. We came to the
last Parkway crossing and last unmanned aid station. I stopped to enjoy the stars overhead and
turned off my light while on the road.
Now we had 7 miles and 4,000 feet of descending left to go, which I knew
would be no joke on beat up legs.
I’d been texting Jen periodic updates throughout the race,
but I’d been unable to get out a message since mile 65 or so. But for some strange reason I was getting her
messages. Poor Jen was up at 4am and
worried about me. I could see her texts
but couldn’t respond back, which was starting to stress me out. I kept up an alternating jog / fast walk and
worked my way down the mountain. My
headlamp was dying, so I used my flashlight as backup rather than waste time
changing out the batteries. For some
reason I had a lot of battery problems during the race with my headlamp and
watch both dying before they should.
Something to figure out for next time!
As we got to the last few miles, I felt very different from
how I’d felt in previous 100s. I enjoyed
the race a ton but wasn’t getting the elated feeling to finish or huge sense of
accomplishment. I’d put in a hard
effort, but it felt more like a day out in the woods than anything else, which
was strange given the difficulty of the race and 3rd place finish.
About 200 yards from the finish, I got stopped by a cargo
train, which added to the anticlimactic
finish.
I had to wait there for 5 minutes, which stretched on forever! I was way ahead of 4th place, but
it was hard not to be paranoid that someone would rush out of the forest while
I stood there by the train tracks and make it a race for third. When the train finally passed through I ran
hard to the finish and was greeted by the RD.
I was thinking “so do I keep running?
Is there another aid station? Oh,
this is the finish? Cool, I guess I’ll
stop running.” I took away a few things
from this:
- Running 100 miles used to take an all-encompassing mental and physical effort, and I could only do it every couple of years. I very much respect the distance but may now be able to run 100 without that all-consuming focus.
- At some point I’m ready for the next challenge and something bigger (in the works … stay tuned).
- I probably could have pushed harder in the last 15 miles. Being all on my own in 3rd with no major milestone to shoot for made it hard to fight to shave 5 or 10 minutes.
But make no mistake, I loved every minute of the race and
had an amazing time. Especially since
this was the first year for Hellbender, a few comments about the race for those
contemplating it:
- Course markings were flawless
- Aid stations were top notch. Only downside is I think I’m hooked on avocados during 100s now.
- The course is very tough and very beautiful. The Black Mountains in spring make this race well worth the trip.
- For a comparison point, I think this course is much harder than Grindstone. I’d say it’ll run 2-4 hours slower.
- While I didn’t stay in the bunks at the start / finish, they were really nice, and I’d stay there next time
- I highly recommend running Hellbender
Handcrafted beer stein for 3rd place
Finish line
The finisher belt buckle is an impressive piece of work!
Link to the first 83 miles on Strava before my watch died.
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