Huntsville, AL
October 25, 2009
New to Monte Sano in 2009, the XTERRA Alabama Trail Run Series adds a medium distance race to our favorite trails. The second event in the series, the Monte Sano 15km brought out the best trail runners from the area to the state park on a cold October morning to compete for top honors. Directed by Dirty Spokes Productions of Georgia in collaboration with Huntsville Track Club and Sorba of Huntsville, everything was set for this event to be an exciting race.
The loop course would prove to be challenging for runners of all abilities. I personally designed the course for Tim of Dirty Spokes. Sticking true to my masochistic love for hill climbs, the course traversed some of the best trails on the mountain and featured a brutal up hill climb to the finish that helped to decide the winners of the Men's and Women's race. In case you would like to run the course, here are text directions on each turn and the elevation change in each section.
This inaugural event had a great turn out, as 152 runners toed the line adjacent to the Ranger's Station in the state park at 8:30am. From the gun, it turned into a two pack race. Brandon Mader took the early lead followed closely by David Riddle. I paced the chase pack made up with David O'Keefe and Tim Vinson (all from Huntsville) and Joshua Horsager from Columbus, Georgia. Running out on the short road section, we passed through the bikers parking lot and hit the Sinks Trail. I wanted to be in 3rd leading into this trail, knowing that others were better downhill runners and that I needed to keep them behind me early. We dropped 220' in less than 1/4 mile on technical switchbacks of the Sinks trail before making the hard right onto Mountain Mist and heading toward the north. This section of Mountain Mist trail has some slight climbs and is very rocky. The time of my first mile was 6:20.
The next mile was all about running as fast as possible while watching my footing on the rocky trails. With the recent wet/cold weather, many leaves had already fallen to the trails, making the rocky difficult to pick out. Plus with the cooler temperatures on race morning, my eyes were watering and for the most part I was choosing my footing based on memory of the trails.
For equipment, I had selected the light weight inov-8 roclite 295. I had used this shoe at every distance up to 50km this year, so there was no reason to deviate from what was working for me.
I think that it was Joshua who fell down behind me in this mile as I heard a crash and scream. I yelled back to him to make sure that he was OK but kept running. He had been with me step for step, so his misfortune helped to open up my lead. My second mile was a touch slower at 6:44 pace, which included a small climb up toward O'Shaugnessy Point and out onto Goat Trail.
As we got to the the end of Goat Trail connector (where it comes close to War Path Ridge Trail), Joshua had caught me and I let him pass by on the corner. He had been closing ever since his fall and I knew that it was just a matter of time. With his pass, I fell back into 4th place. He surged passed me, but as we made our way down past the trail head of K2, I stayed with him closely. We ran stride for stride through mile 3 at a pace of 7:02.
The 4th mile started with a 75' climb in the first 1/10th mile and I could tell that he was slowing down on the climbs. I took advantage of a wider section of the trail and passed him on the left. Always getting a lift from passing, I picked up the pace and surged ahead. I figured that the others would have a hard time passing him by as the trail narrowed, so I tried to hold the surge and put additional distance between us. Tim eventually passed and O'Keefe went with him, closing the gap on me before the end of the 4th mile. The hard pace from the early miles was getting to me a little as I slowed slightly, clocking a 7:34 mile.
Next up was the Three Benches aid station at mile 4.3 before heading down and around Keith Trail. I refused to look behind me but I could constantly hear footsteps no matter how fast I ran. It seemed like I was controlling the pace of the pack. Riddle and Mader were long gone so it would be a battle for 3rd place. Coming around the southern bend of this ridge, we encountered the first sustained climb. I powered up and managed to hold 7:14 for the 5th mile.
The next mile was a tale of two sections; the first part was slightly rolling yet fast and the second section was a short climb up to Stone Cuts Trail and then a technical downhill toward the Sinks again. With the 100' climb in the second half and technical footing coming back down, I would run my slowest mile at 7:38.
Tim was now trailing me closely and after making the hard left onto the Sinks back toward Three Benches, he passed me by, pushing me back into 4th place. I tried my best to cover the distance of his move, but before long he had put significant time between us. As he passed, he remarked that he would see me again on the hills. Looking back to Mountain Mist training, Tim would crush the downs and I would catch him and pass by on the climbs; those were our individual strengths. He must have been running sub 7 pace because my 7th mile was 7:08 as we came back through Three Benches and he held a strong lead.
As we left the aid station, it was only a few strides before I had caught up with Tim and he let me pass by. I didn't make a significant push up the climb to Mountain Mist, partially because I was somewhat fatigued from running all out down into the Sinks to stay with him. Plus I knew that I had plenty of climb left to go at the end if I needed to make a significant move. By the crest of the hill, I had a small lead, but nothing that any of the guys behind me couldn't eat up if I flinched. I decided that I was going to start my final surge earlier than planned and go into sprint mode back to the Bankhead Road crossing. I thought that I could drop the other guys with a sub 7 and then be able to relax on the hill climb. Well I did run my sub 7, lapping a 6:52 and had confidence in my plan; that was until Bankhead, where the trail turned up and I saw that O'Keefe and Tim were tight on my trail.
Rob Youngren gave me a nod as he and Brett Addington pointed the way up the trail toward the finish. I don't remember exactly what he said, but his meaning was 'to run the hill like we had in training - steady up the lower half and then sprint the top with no recovery.' I have him the nod back and put the plan into action. Now would be the time for me to execute on my strengths, which are hill climbs, and getting back up to race speed at the crest with no recovery. I held a steady pace on the lower portion of Cold Spring up the middle table and then gave it whatever I had left on the top half. The top half is a walking section for most, as the loose footing and rocky bed make running it nearly impossible. As the sign indicates, it is a dangerous ascent.
Reaching the top and passing by volunteers Luke Hobbs and Chris Brahm, I was struggling to not gasp for air, but I could tell that I was not the only one of our pack who had good hill running prowess. I refused to look back to see which one of the chase pack members it was, as it didn't matter to me. I had one job and that was to run all out, leaving nothing behind and give it everything I had all the way to the finish. The 8th mile was an astounding 7:34, including the hill climb.
Now on the top rim of the North Plateau around the campground, I increased my stride length and powered through each step. I refused to back down and would not be overtaken. If whoever was behind me was going to pass, they were going to have to hurt to do it. Coming across the overlook and seeing volunteer Eric Fritz, he gave me a look that told me I was ahead, but it was by mere steps. I jumped off the road back onto the trail and ran through the soft sand up toward the cabin road. I would only have to hold on for a hundred meters through the narrow trail that lead back to the pavilion and the finish line. I continued to hammer the pace, never looking back, never showing any sign of weakness, and in the end, I held onto the lead.
I ran the last 1/2 mile of the race in 2 minutes, 54 seconds; that is 5:48 pace on technical trails. My overall time was 1:07:02. I had bested David O'Keefe by 4 and 1/2 seconds. I commend him for covering every move I made, staying with me while I sprinted the flats, hammered the climb and then ran all out toward the finish. I had just enough to hold him off and earn a 3rd place overall. As I crossed the line, I was dizzy from the intense push and completely spent.
It was a hard race; maybe my hardest effort of the year. I had never run that fast on any of those trails, as typically I spend my time training on them, or running ultras, not running road tempo pace. But it was my overall conditioning that I had built for Stump Jump that enabled me to get back to race pace at the top of every climb and the hill repeats that were the details behind this story.
As I mentioned, the late hill climb also helped to solidify the victory of David Riddle over Brandon Mader. On the women's side, it was Rachel Eidson of Birmingham that powered through the climb to top the skills of Barb Saunders.
Top 6 results
Place Name Time
1 David Riddle - 1:01:11.80
2 Brandon Mader - 1:02:17.20
3 Eric Charette - 1:07:02.50
4 David O'Keefe - 1:07:06.80
5 Tim Vinson - 1:08:25.10
6 Joshua Horsager - 1:12:15.10
Official Results Link