Table Rock Ultra 50k
Today, I ran the Table Rock Ultra 50k at the Steele Creek
Camp ground just above Morganton. This was a tough race on me. I finished in 6
hours and 15 minutes and 34th overall. I didn’t do as well as I
wanted but I achieved both of my goals. I got in a tremendous climbing, and I
brought home an awesome hooded pullover shirt.
My plan was to go up last night, but I had to work late. I
couldn’t see myself driving up to arrive around 8:30 PM. Then, setup my tent in the
dark only to pull it down by 6 AM this morning. I opted for just getting up
early and driving up this morning.
The race started at 7 AM so navigating the trails were a bit
rough during the early pre-sun rise miles. Then, the course opened up to a grassy road for about 3
miles. This was followed by a gravel road for several more miles until we
finally picked up some trail miles. Here’s where we started the stream
crossings. The water was cold. Really cold.
They did a pretty good job marking the course with blue
ribbons. I only got turned around once, and I back to tracked to the last
ribbon. I then did a 180 sweep of the trail and spotted the next one for crossing
the stream.
About 10 miles, we popped out on another gravel road for
some good climbing and some good descending. About 17 miles, we started the climb up
to Table Rock. This part of the trail was toughest. I pretty much power hiked
this section as best that I could to the top. I have to say that the view from
the top was spectacular. My race was already a struggle so I took the moment to
take in the view. I have to learn to enjoy these moments.
A bunch of runners took advantage of the downhill and rolled
by me. Maybe I could have run a little faster during this section but the risk
vs. reward wasn’t there for me. I have bigger races coming up, and turning
ankle, breaking a leg, or worse was not worth it for me.
After the Table Rock climb section, we ran another trail
section before picking up the gravel road back to the final aid station. Here
we had a few more stream crossing but the cold water felt great on tired and
hot feet. Hurting the runners, the sun was now out strong and heating everyone
up. The last 5 miles roasted everyone.
I was happy when I finally popped out on the final section
back to the finish. I could now relax and forget about any more roots and rocks
to the finish.
Coming in to the race, they sent several emails. They talked
about how tough back country trails were, and they talked about the potential
for bees on the course. Yeah, some their trails were highly technical, but I
never saw any bees. Thankfully, I never got stung.
Outside of the 4 mile out and back climb to the top of Table Rock,
the majority of the course is runnable. The stream crossings are what they are.
Just slow down and wade across to the other side. But be prepared to do some
climbing. There is a lot of it.
Kickin’ up trail dust,
The Cool Down Runner
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