The North Face Endurance Challenge 13.1

 

It has been almost two full weeks since my experience with The North Face Endurance Challenge 13.1 Half Marathon.

I hadn't planned on this run, but work had me in town so....  WHY NOT!

The night before did my darn-est to arrive on time to catch the bus.  Had everything organized and prepared for the day ahead.  Arrived to the bay ferry parking just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, with plenty of time to find that I had left my bib back at the hotel.

One of those moments that long runs help me deal with.  It's life.  Life happens.  Calm the fvck down and breathe.  Live in the moment and proceed and let the day unfold as it will.

Moments later one of the race volunteers tell me not to worry and I can get a replacement at the start.  So on the bus we go!!!

A cold front came through the day before so we layered up.  Got the long tights on.  Got the long jogging pants on.  Got the trail injinjis on.  Got the Saucony Exodus 6.0s on.  Got my lil a$$ arms covered up so I ain't shivering like a lil' chihuahua up in the piece. 

Now before we get into the details, a little background.  The only other half marathon trail distance I've done took me almost four hours to finish and I was tore up at the end!  This event has a hard four hour cut off and 10x has hard!  It is the "Endurance Challenge" and let me tell y'all this run lives up to the name.

You know how some races use adjectives loosely to hype up the race to make folks feel good about themselves and thangs?  Nawl folks.  Not this joint.  This was indeed an Endurance and a fvcking challenge!

Seeded myself with wave 6 of 7, didn't want to seem ambitious despite a recent sub 2 hour half nearby at the San Francisco Golden Gate Half.

So let's do this ish! 

Out the shoot, try to shake off the nerves and slow the pace, but not too slow.  Settle in.  We got this.  We turn out of the base and head down to the road and cross over the main road to the challenge area.  Little after mile 1 we begin the accent up the first of three natural stair masters set to shred mode.

At the crest of the first mountain, I got a little besides myself, as on paper the three profiles looked very similar.  So I was feeling myself and turned on the jets a little on the first accent down to the Tennessee Valley aid station.

At the aid station, was still feeling good.  Yeah, the body had been put through some thangs but I was feeling a'ight people.  So still feeling motivated and on it.

...uh.  So let's talk about damned elevation maps for a moment.  Them thangs don't represent shit!  A slight change on paper is the difference between a 18%, 20%, and 23% elevation gains!  Yeah, you read that correctly.

Lil' hilly hill number two took us up to a 23% elevation gain!

The calves were screaming y'all!  Straight up hollering!  You know that silly pain!

5.7 we crest the beast of a climb, beat up and bruised, with the mental game still on point.  The decent though...  We were moving on the decent.  At one point felt as if I couldn't control the decent, quick peek at the Garmin Fenix 3 and see to my surprise -26% elevation gain.

The downhill wreaks havoc on your quads and I wouldn't know the full extent of the damage until after mile 11.  

Back at the aid station, spirits were still high!  However the pain was real!  We begin the climb up mile 10 on the last of three monumental accents!  The calves and the buttocks were on flame.  Literally.  Fire y'all.  The muscles were lit up with napalm - for reals!  But we kept it moving.

Mile 11ish, my personal hell begins.  Every fiber within my quads decided they wanted to have a conference with my brain and nervous system.  They had something to say and decided to unionize and say it with force!

The pain y'all.  I had found my personal hell.  I wasn't in danger of long term damage, but they were done.  They were headed to the picket line!  NOW!

I knew that I had two choices.  1: I'm done.  Throw in the towel.  Call it a day.  Won't be the first DNF.  But d@mned I'm still quite a bit from the start and ain't no golf carts coming through here to help yo' a$$.  Or 2:  Find that quiet dark corner in the back of your mind, settle in, and embrace all the pain and take it!  Use it.  Feel it.  Endure it!

I settled for option 2.

Next thing I know I'm down back in the flats and I focus on Ashley to help take me to the finish!

It took a couple of days, but this was the first race where the medal brought a little smile to my face.  This was the toughest run I had ever endured since I began running trails a short 9 months ago.

I'm blessed that I had the opportunity and thankful that I completed the run without any major injuries.  I was tight and sore for a few days.  Ankle was bothering me for a few days, but was primarily a result of an injury from a week or two earlier on an unplanned 18 miler.

Haven't run since this epic course, but who knows what may happen over the weekend. 

Remember folks to be good and do you!