Sometimes it takes a mountain

Sometimes a troubled sea

Sometimes it takes a desert

To get a hold of me

– Gaither Vocal Band

The Birmingham Stage Race is in the books!

Besides Pinhoti, this is the race I have been most looking forward to all year. I love the concept of a stage race and multi-day running events. I had a blast running the Grand Viduta Stage Race last year in Huntsville and I couldn’t wait for this one. I’ve wanted to do this event for the past 2 years now, but this is the first year that I finally was able to take the weekend off of work to do it.

The format of the Birmingham Stage Race is pretty simple. There are 3 stages. The first stage takes place on Friday morning at Ruffner Mountain Nature preserve. The second stage takes place on Saturday at Red Mountain Park. The third and final stage takes place on Sunday at Oak Mountain State Park. Your time for the event is the sum your time on all three stages. Needless to say, racing three day in a row on three different mountains was grueling. However, it was also a ton of fun and a huge adventure.

Stage 1: Ruffner Mountain (17 miles)

Ruffner Mountain and I have a love/hate relationship. The first time I ran there was two years ago at the Crusher Ridge 21k. I wore Nike Luna Road Racers and didn’t carry any hydration with me. The race went well for a while, until I hit the east side of the course, got lost, and walked up the hill back to the finish. I returned to Crusher Ridge a year later to take on the 42k. I got lost (again), wore a bad pair of shoes (again), I carried hydration this time, but not enough, and I left with a knee injury and a broken spirit. The Race Against the Sun was also at Ruffner Mountain and if you read my recap for that race, you know that nobody finished.

Despite the number of times that Ruffner has beat me up and sent me home with my tail between my legs, I just can’t seem to stay away. I make a conscious effort to get at least one run there every week and even though the run always takes longer than I planned it to and I am always picking ticks off of myself when I get home, I keep going back. I love the challenge of Ruffner mountain, I love how beautiful it is and I love how every time I run there, I know I will always have an adventure.

Because of this, I was approaching Stage 1 with a lot of humility and respect for how difficult this day was about to be.

I decided going into the stage race that I wanted to have some fun with my racing outfit for each day and have a theme. I decided to make it a throwback theme. I dug through my collection of running clothes and found my old high school cross country uniform to wear for day 1. This seemed symbolically appropriate for me because one of my internal motivations for my training in 2015 has been running redemption and living up to the runner that my old self wished he would be. So despite the fact that I looked really silly in my old high school cross country uniform, it was fun for me and reminded me of the work I have to do.

Of course I could never forget the most important part of my running uniform: the Survivor buff!

Because Ruffner is such a difficult place to run and because it was the first day of what would be a long 3 day journey, I secretly hoped that everyone would take it easy today and we could stay close together. However, as soon as the race director’s gun went off, someone went charging out and up the first hill. It took everything that I had to hold back my competitive instinct and not go after him. Another runner commented to me that the guy who took off up the hill had just finished a 2,650 mile thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. We will call him “PCT guy”.

While PCT guy ran ahead, I followed at a pace that I felt was comfortable and let him go. The course ran to the top of the mountain, down to the bottom, back to the top and returned again to the bottom. I tried to focus on the beauty that is Ruffner Mountain to distract myself from how much it bothered me to be in second place. I would normally be thrilled to be in second place except that I just finished in second place in the last race that I ran (see my post for the Yeti Snakebite 50) and this time I wanted a win. I wanted it badly.

The course ran onto a long stretch of gravel road. Toward the end of this road, I heard a very loud huffing and puffing and the sounds of someone sprinting behind me. The quick moving runner passed me immediately before turning off the gravel road onto a trail and another steep incline. Upon passing me and hitting that trail, he immediately slowed down. Now I was in 3rd place.

We will call this guy “Nemesis.”

We crossed paths with a hiker coming down the mountain and asked if he knew how far ahead the next runner was, he said he wasn’t very far at all. This is when Nemesis said to me, “Hey, you can pass me here if you want.”

“What?” I thought in exasperation. “This guy just sprinted by me a minute ago and now he is telling me to pass him!”

“Thanks” I replied, “but we will need to work together to catch this guy.”

“We won’t catch him.” he frankly responded.

We spent the next few miles chatting away. We are both from Birmingham, and run and race frequently on the trails, and were surprised that we hadn’t met yet.

“Get ready, kid.” Nemesis added to the conversation, “Once we hit the next road section, I’ll be dropping 6 minute miles.”

“Who does this guy think he is?” I thought, “Is he trying to get inside of my head? If so, I need to give it right back.”

“Well, we have a long way to go untill then.” I responded, “the course is steep and technical for a while until we hit the quarry trail.”

“Yeah, the course is different this year than when I ran it 3 years ago. I won it that year.”

“Good for you, bro,” I thought privately, “because I have every intention on winning this year.”

As I much as I didn’t want to let him in my head, he was. I was seriously contemplating his comment about dropping a 6 minute mile on this course. 2 years ago when I was fresh off of a college track season, I wouldn’t have thought twice about my ability to do that. However, as I’ve been focusing exclusively on ultra-marathon training, it’s been a long time since I’ve asked my legs to drop anything under 7 minute mile pace. I reasoned with myself, that I still had the ability to do it today if I needed to, but I really didn’t want to do that on day one of what will be a long three day journey.

Nemesis’ head must have been in a similar place because he then asked, “Should we compare mile times now or wait till the sprint at the finish?”

“Yours is probably faster.” I admitted. I wasn’t a very good middle distance runner during track season and my mile time is nothing to brag about.

Suddenly, something caught my eye on the trail up ahead. It was PCT guy! He wasn’t moving very fast, so as soon as the trail leveled out, I made a surge to catch up to him. I already let him go once, and I wasn’t going to do it again. I fully expected Nemesis to surge with me, but he stayed behind.

PCT guy had a nice pace going and we chatted about Birmingham, trail running and he told me about his thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. He is also good friends with Nemesis and told me how Nemesis has already won the stage race twice and is a really good runner. I was equally intimidated and excited. Usually small-town trail/ultra races like this are very spread out and the competition isn’t very close to each other. I was pumped that this weekend would have some close racing.

Once, we hit the quarry trail, I got bored with PCT guy’s casual pace and I was paranoid that Nemesis would start catching back up since we hit a section of the course that was more flat. So I took the opportunity to pick up the pace and grab the lead going into the half way point of the race. I spent the second half of the race running scared. I could tell that PCT guy was tired and wasn’t going to push in the second half. However, I fully expected Nemesis to run the second half hard and I was watching my back.

I held off as long as I could but with about 3 miles left in the race, I crested the top of a long climb and saw Nemesis charging up the mountain behind me. I told myself that when he caught up, I would simply match his pace and stay with him and we would sprint it out at the end. As it turns out, that plan was much easier said than done, he came flying by me at a pace I had no hopes of matching and in less than a minute I had lost sight of him in front of me.

It took about a minute to recover from the disappointment of what had just happened, but eventually I put myself back together and resolved to start pushing as hard as I could down this trail and even if I don’t catch him back, he won’t finish far ahead of me and I can make up the lost time on one of the next stages. Again, my plan failed, I picked up my pace for about 10 seconds before tripping over a rock and almost fell face first into the ground. My calves took this moment to protest my running by seizing up and inducing sharp pain in both legs. I had to stop for a whole minute to loosen up my calf muscles enough to start walking again and eventually transitioned into a slow jog. As soon as I increased my pace above the jog, my legs would cramp up again.

Finally, with about a mile left, my legs decided they would let me pick up the pace again and I ran in, grateful that I hadn’t been caught by 3rd place. I learned that I came in 3 minutes behind Nemesis. That is definitely a reasonable time to try and make up in a later stage.

Post-race is always the best part of any running event. It’s a chance to hang out, eat good food, drink good beer, get to know other local trail runners, and swap stories of the day’s adventures. The beautiful thing about stage races is that you have 3 days to get to know these people and form some friendships.

I knew that when I went home, my work for the day wasn’t over. Recovery is just as important in multi-day racing events as the running itself. My recovery process was as follows:

Ibuprofen. Stretch. Foam Roll. Ice Bath. Eat. Nap. Repeat.

The rest of the day was spent binge watching Netflix and binge eating everything in my refrigerator.

Stage 2: Red Mountain (15 miles)

Day two took place at Red Mountain Park. I may have a love/hate relationship with Ruffner Mountain, but my relationship with Red Mountain is all love. After graduating college, I spent two years living in an apartment located less than a mile from Red Mountain. I ran there almost every day during those two years. We used to have lots of fun runs and workouts at Red Mountain when I was at Birmingham-Southern and the first trail race I ever ran (and won) was at Red Mountain. I am confident that nobody in Birmingham knows and loves Red Mountain park more than I do.

Since I ran the first day in my old high school cross country uniform, It felt appropriate to continue the theme on day two and pull out my college cross country uniform. I was having fun with the throwback theme and it resonated with me in my mind because much of my internal mantra during my Pinhoti 100 training has been one of running redemption and trying to be the runner now that I failed to be in high school or college.

Red Mountain isn’t half as difficult to run on as Ruffner and compared to it, Red Mountain’s trails feel like running on a track. I knew going into the stage race that one of my competitive advantages in the trail/ultra running world is my foot speed and the second day of the stage race should be my best shot at winning one of the stages. However, as I learned, Nemesis also has a lot of foot speed. When he was my age (He is 44 now) he qualified for the US Olympic trials and came in 60th. That may have been 20 years ago, but it’s easy to tell that he is still in great shape.

Despite my recovery efforts from the day before, my legs still felt beat up. I’d be lying if I wasn’t questioning at this point how I would put up a solid performance today and still be able to take on what is almost a trail marathon tomorrow.

Just as I expected, when the gun went off, Nemesis took off flying down the course. I just resolved to run my own pace, keep in my mind that anything can happen, and try not to do anything stupid.

The first half of the second stage was fairly uneventful. I was surprised with the course that the race director chose. There are a lot of good trails at Red Mountain, but this race primarily ran on flat gravel roads. At the half way mark in the race, there is a good point where you can see very far ahead of you and I caught a small glimpse of Nemesis about 400 meters ahead of me. That was good news, I figured that I didn’t have a chance to catch him, but if I stayed strong I could at least finish very close to him and hope for a miracle on day 3.

During the second half of the race, there was a hiker who walked past me and warned me that there was a very large copperhead snake on the trail ahead. Of all of the time that I’ve spent trail running, I’ve heard a lot of stories of people’s encounters with snakes on the trail, but I’ve never actually seen one myself. I was part excited and part freaking out because getting bit by a snake while running is one of my biggest fears. Much to my disappointment and relief, the snake must have slithered off of the trail because I never found him.

With about a mile and a half left in the race, I was coming down a small hill and saw Nemesis only 200 meters ahead of me. I had made up a lot of ground on him since the half way point and actually had a chance to catch him before the finish! I picked up my pace significantly and hoped that he didn’t know I was there so I could have the element of surprise. However, I saw him turn his head and notice me before making the turn onto the next trail. I didn’t see him again after that.

I sprinted in as hard as I could hoping that he didn’t finish very far ahead of me. When I crossed the finish, I was told that he beat me by 2 minutes meaning that I would have a 5 minute deficit going into day 3. Again, not impossible.

Post race was again a fun chance to sit, eat, drink and chat with everybody. The runners were in much higher spirits after today’s run than after yesterday. A tangible example of the difference in effect that Ruffner will have on you verses Red Mountain.

When I went home the recovery game began again.

Ibuprofen. Stretch. Foam Roll. Ice Bath. Eat. Nap. Repeat.

Stage 3: Oak Mountain (24 miles)

I had very vivid dreams the night before day 3 of the stage race. There were lots of them and they were so strange that they kept waking me up in the middle of the night. However, in the morning I could only remember two of them. In the first dream, I was running day 3 of the stage race and was having an incredible run and beat Nemesis by 5 minutes to take the 1st place overall award. In the second dream, I was spelunking and got stuck between two rocks, couldn’t be rescued and died. The contrast between these two random dreams gave me a good chuckle in the morning.

Day one of the stage race was at Ruffner Mountain, it was primarily a test of running on technical terrain with a lot of elevation change. On that day, I represented my high school cross country team. Day two of the stage race was at Red Mountain, it was primarily a test of foot speed. On that day, I represented my college cross country team. Today, day three, would be at Oak Mountain, it would be a final test of endurance. Today I represent myself. No uniform, no team, no sponsors.

My to my relief, Nemesis started the pace for this stage very slowly. I was very grateful, because my legs felt like they had been put through a meat grinder and I got the feeling that he felt that same way. We continued running easy together along the trail until we hit the first real incline of the day. Nemesis, started walking up the hill which is a very smart thing to do at the beginning of what will be a very difficult 24 mile race after you have already finished two difficult days of trail running. However, I decided to keep my running pace up the hill and leave Nemesis behind. I knew that I was risking burning out later in the race and getting caught, but I also knew that in order to win the stage race I had to beat nemesis by over five minutes. I really didn’t have a choice. As soon as I left, I knew the game was on. Now I was the prey, Nemesis was the hunter and at the same time, I was hunting the ghost of Nemesis five minutes in front of me.

The weather on day three was perfect. It was cool autumn air and it felt so good on my skin and inside of my lungs after so many months of running in Alabama heat. The top of Oak Mountain was covered in a light fog that had me mesmerized on the trail leading up to the ridge. Normally during my trail runs, I take a lot more time to soak in and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and feel a sense of gratitude for the gift of getting to run that day. However, this weekend I had been so distracted by my competitive impulses that I hadn’t taken any time to enjoy where I was. During this first half, I took more time to think while I was running and give thanks for the adventure that had unfolded thus far.

When I reached the aid station at the half way point, I enjoyed the look and sounds of surprise coming from the volunteers. It was clear that they were expecting Nemesis to come through first. Their cheers of encouragement pumped me up for the second half of the final stage.

Once I departed the aid station and started the second half, I was immediately running scared. I was flashing back to day one at Ruffner when I was leading at the half way point and got chased down just a couple of miles before the finish. I couldn’t let that happen today. Not again. I wanted to win and I wanted to win badly.

Winning is exactly what happened. The final 12 miles of the long three day stage race were completely uneventful. I ran as hard as I could, kept checking behind me on switch backs to see if Nemesis was approaching, but never found any trace of him catching up. I came through the finish line sprinting as hard as I could because I still had no idea how far he was behind me and I knew that winning this stage by itself wouldn’t be enough. I would have to win by five minutes.

Five minutes went by, he still hadn’t finished. 10 minutes went by, he still wasn’t there. I ended up finishing that stage about 30 minutes ahead of him.

Overall, I highly recommend the Birmingham Stage Race to any trail runner looking for some taxing punishment, combined with a good time. I cannot say that this is the most difficult race I have ever run, but it certainly had the biggest taxing effect on my body. I went home after the final stage and felt completely broken and sick. It took a long time to fully recover.

Sometimes, I feel very silly at local small trail races being as competitive as I am. The majority of trail runners are not there to compete. They are simply there to enjoy the trails, enjoy the community and take on a challenge. I try to find a balance between this. I’ve received a lot of advice to not compete at Pinhoti and to only focus on finishing my first 100 miler and not worrying about time. I can’t do that. Being competitive is part of who I am. It’s part of the fun. I’ve spent years “competing with myself” and not worrying about trying to toe the line. Even though I don’t expect to win a large race with bigger competition, the process of training to do that has been much fun for me this year.