I Fought Mountain and the Mountain Won: The North Face Endurance Challenge Wachusett Race Recap

Monday, June 12, 2017

Yesterday was The North Face Endurance challenge half marathon and 10k (the 50 miler, 50k, marathon and marathon relay were the day before).

This was my first mountain race and my third half marathon attempt.  My friend Liza and I signed up for it together when we found out that it would be the inaugural North Face Endurance Challenge event in MA.   What fun to be a part of the first event!  Except, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.



Liza and I went to preview the course 2 weeks ago.  The preview served only to sober my thinking on the whole endeavor [and strike some fear deep in my bones].  I'm getting more comfortable with trail running but I don't have regular access to a mountain (nor the desire to run up a mountain) which made training for this race hard.  After previewing the course, I considered dropping out of the event entirely but pressed on to do the half solely for the experience and threw all race goals (except to not get hurt) out of the window.  I knew it would be a difficult day.  Liza had decided earlier on in the year to drop down in distance to the 10k because of her rehab.

Race Day
We left Boston at 5:30 am and after a brief stop at Dunkins, arrived at the mountain at 6:45 am.  Liza and I spent some time eating in the parking lot and getting our stuff together and taking pictures with some of our other friends who were running the races.   The half marathon started at 8 and the 10k started at 9.  I was the only one of the group attempting the half marathon that morning so at 5 to 8 I hugged everyone goodbye and trotted over to join the wave 3 group at the start line.

After all the anticipation built up from the course preview, the course on race day didn't seem that bad.  I think Liza and I may have only previewed the toughest trails!  It took me a while to get my legs to wake up but once I did, the rhythm was good.  The first two miles were on a lot of dirt roads.  We had some long inclines which I walked most of but it still I was managing to keep the pace okay.  Things started to fall apart for me early, however, when I twisted my ankle at a really technical part around 2.5 miles.

I felt and heard the twist and immediately had to sit down on the trail.  I sat for only about a minute assessing the injury and my options.  I was actually enjoying the race and I didn't think the twist was that bad so turning back was barely a thought.  It was only 2 miles to the first aid station so continue on obviously... you can do anthying for 2 miles!  When I got to the aid station at 4.6 miles on the course, however, the EMTs were just leaving to respond to another injury.  I sat there a bit while the aid station volunteers tried to find something to wrap my ankle with but then ultimately couldn't find anything.  I decided to carry on until the summit aid station (mile 7.1) which had a bit more support.  What's another 2.5 miles?  I still didn't want to stop at that point but little did I know the push to the summit would be way harder than anything Liza and I previewed a couple weeks ago.

This picture shows the first section of the big climb up to the summit.  That look, dear friends, is exhaustion, disbelief, and a little bit of runners high maybe.  I had covered about 6 miles at that point, my ankle was bothering me, and it was a full hands and feet experience to get up that thing.  The picture just doesn't do it justice.

Unfortunately, that push was going to be my last.  My ankle was starting slow me down [especially on the downhill] and I started to feel dizzy on the second big steep climb and stopped a couple of times to sit on/lean against the trail and catch myself.  It was hard and I was tempted to take the paved summit road up to the top but I stuck with the official course.

It took a long time, but I finally reached the summit and immediately sat down to get my ankle taped.  It was confirmed.  I had sprained it.  The aid station workers were terrific and took care of me well.  I had pretty much been running on adrenaline on a sprained ankle for almost 5 miles...up and down a mountain.  Once I sat down and had some time to think while being helped, I knew it wasn't going to be wise to continue the race.  I had reached that aid station at about 2 hours and 15 minutes and only had about 1 hour 45 minutes to complete the rest of the course, I knew that if I continued on I would have to do that climb up to the summit again which took a ton of time on the first go, and I didn't think I could handle the descents well enough to make up for the time I was losing on the climbs.  Descending is my strength and the sprained ankle made moving fast out of the question.  Also, once I stood up from having my ankle taped it was really hard to put pressure on the foot.  The adrenaline that got me to the top of that mountain was beginning to wear off.  

I reported to the aid station captain that I was dropping and opted to take the ski lift down outta there.

My first ski lift ride. Sad to drop but excited by the fun experience.
So salty!

Ski lift ride down. Thanks for the ride, Wachusett!
Everyone has at least one drop some time in their lives right?

I was a little disappointed to have to drop out of the race but I think it was the right choice.  My goal race is the TARC Spring Classic 50 miler in the fall so I don't want to do anything stupid that could potentially take me out for a long time and affect my training for that race.  Even with the DNF (did not finish) I had a better time at this mountain race than I thought I would.  Don't get me wrong, I am pretty sure I will never sign up for another one again ever in my life...it's just not my cup o' tea...BUT I didn't hate it.  :)  More power to you mountain runners out there.  It is tough.  You are tough.  I will stick to hiking and/or running the flat trails.  <3

Icing my ankle at the finish line aid station while waiting for Liza and friends to finish

Thanks to the North Face race organizers and volunteers for putting on a good event.  I felt safe and well taken care of out there!  

Also, I'm super proud of Liza.  She's been dealing with injury recovery all spring.  Though she hasn't been running much, she was able to complete the 10k course well under cutoff.  Great job, friend!



What about you?
Have you ever attempted a race that was out of your comfort zone?
Have you ever dropped from a race?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear from you!

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