2020 Quest for the Crest 50k (35 miles) Race Report

2020 Quest for the Crest 50k (35.5 miles)
October 17, 2020 at Mount Mitchell, Crest, and Buncombe Trails in Burnsville, TN
Brutally hard course with the reward of incredible views that are worth the work
Watch time: 11:26:54
Position: 76/114 overall

Strava - https://www.strava.com/activities/4212707423

GoPro Race Video - https://youtu.be/LGpc_7Qn4UM

     This race was supposed to happen in May, but was re-scheduled because COVID shut down everything, including all spring races. That was a good thing for me, since I was coming off a break from running and wasn't in great shape at that time. I got back in the groove of things over the summer and put in some solid training the past few months, despite now living on the road. I still wanted to do this race along with a few other runs in this area, so we have made our RV itinerary line up with my adventure runs / race schedule. Sure beats having to drive 6-10 hours on Friday, run on Saturday, then drive back on Sunday. 

    I didn't really know what to expect with this race. I've had some pretty good efforts lately, at the Vertical Mile Challenge back in August, and the Barkley Challenge Loop I did two weeks before this race. I've heard reports that this race is harder than my nemesis race, which I haven't finished in 3 tries. I think I'm in the best shape I've been in for a while, and with Georgia Death Race coming up in 3 weeks, I set 12 hours as a personal cut off - if I couldn't accomplish that, I probably don't have a shot at finishing GDR (but I will try anyways). 

    Another side effect of COVID was that the field was very limited and the course had to change. Normally it's a point to point run with 3 big climbs, the last being up to the summit of Mount Mitchell. The race director took many precautions, so we didn't go up to the summit b/c the crowds were quite large. Great call on his part. We also couldn't have shuttles drive us to the start point, so we ended up with a "barbell" shaped course, that was basically two huge climbs and two huge descents, with some ridge running in between. We also would only have two aid stations - we could also have drop bags at each one, and were required to bring a lot of extra gear, including a water filter, space blanket, rain jacket, and more. I never ended up using any of that stuff, but better to have and not need than need and not have.

View from Albert's Lodge

    We rolled into Albert's Lodge on Friday afternoon. They were gracious enough to agree to let us park our RV there. They even were able to give us an electric hookup, which came in real handy with overnight temps in the 30s. I can't imagine what the people who camped out in tents must have felt like, but I didn't really hear much complaining. I found out a few F3 guys were running, so I hitched a ride to the 5:15am start with them. They had been out on the original course a few weeks before, so I absorbed any bits of knowledge I could from them about the course. A good portion of our new route was still on the same trails as the original.

    We started off with the usual Run Bum cheer - "WE ARE HERE .... TO HAVE FUN!!!!" We had a quick mile run to spread out our small field of runners even more, before we hit the first climb. That was 4 miles with an average grade of around 15%. The trail was also littered with rocks and roots here and there, and nobody was really pushing too hard this early in the dark. My main goal was to get up on the ridge before sunrise. I'd say I timed it pretty well. I unintentionally captured some cool effects with my GoPro camera as the runners ran by with their headlamps on.

    We had a flat few miles along the ridge, but this was just a giant mud bog. There are some places where it is so bad that they have cut tree stumps and placed them like steps. Good idea but when they get wet and muddy from other runners' shoes, they become pretty slippery and it's almost a better choice to run through the mud or on the edge of the trail. It was here that I realized I hadn't eaten or drank anything, so I thought I'd better get on that so I could prevent a big bonk later in the race. Well with temps on the mountain probably below 20 degrees, my water line had frozen! I stuck it inside my shirt between my pack and my back and it thawed pretty quickly so I could drink.

    As we approached the "small" climb up Big Tom, a runner had turned around and was heading back the other way. I asked if he was ok but he just had a disgusted look on his face. I wondered why at this point even if he was going to drop why didn't he just go on to the aid station. I soon found out because the next climb is brutal - 0.4 miles and over 500 feet gain - A 27% INCLINE! To make it even more fun, it is basically a boulder field. This was obviously the slowest section of the race, and it took me over 30 minutes for this mile.

    Now we would finally have some downhill! I was really looking forward to running some after nearly 3 hours of hiking. The only problem - the downhill was also full of rocks and roots and wasn't really run-able. I was really slow and cautious in this section, even if I was disappointed not to be cruising along down a well groomed trail to the first aid station. I had hoped to get to the first aid station around 4 hours, but I didn't expect to be taking over 20 minutes per mile going downhill. Despite the difficulty, the views of the mountains were stunning, and the terrain of the trail was always changing and was quite interesting.

    Eventually I got down to the first aid station, 13.5 miles, 4 hours and 45 minutes into the race. For most of the race to this point I had grouped up with 3 or 4 runners, and didn't really see anyone else. I was surprised that there were about a dozen runners at the aid station. The food fare at Run Bum races never disappoints, even with all the Covid precautions. Salted potatoes, hot soup, bacon, avocado wraps, PBJs, quesadillas, fruit, chips, cookies, Moon Pies, and more. All of this was a welcome site after a morning of just a few Snickers bars and a honey bun. After a quick chat to thank the volunteers, filled up my pack with more food from my drop bag, I was off for basically a repeat of what we had just done - a mile on the road, another huge climb, and another big descent. My thought was that this next section might take me slightly longer, being tired at this point, so I hoped to be at the second aid station by 10 hours. That would put a sub-12 hour finish out of reach.

    It was actually about 2.5 miles from the aid station before the big climb really started. That ended up being a 5 mile uphill that was really steep for 3 miles (2,200 feet up / 14% average incline) and less steep for 2 miles (550 feet / 5% average incline). It was nice to find Bigfoot going up the second climb - just a volunteer there to cheer us on and give us a good laugh. Once we got to mile 20, the hard climbing was over and my legs were completely toast. We had a short little walk over to the best view of the day, where the race photographer was stationed. I took the few minutes to have a photo taken and enjoy the view before I got back to the trail. I had the course navigation running on my watch, which also gives you a projected finish time based on how many miles you have left and your average pace to that point. It told me that I was projected to finish around 6:45pm, which would put me at 13.5 hours! The cut off to finish was 14.5 hours so that was a little bit nerve wracking knowing I would be that close to cut-off. The good news was that we were basically done with the difficult climbing. The bad news was that if I had any problems along the way and couldn't recover or pick up my pace, I was in danger of not finishing. We had one last mile of climbing before we started on a long section on the ridge followed by some downhill to the second aid station.

    This section wasn't very technical.  There was about two and a half miles that was the same trail we ran earlier in the day, but before it was in the opposite direction and in the dark, so it didn't feel at all like something we had already done. Some sections were a bit muddy and there were a lot of small creek crossings, but there was also a long section that was grass covered and felt really good on my joints after all the rock hopping we had done earlier in the race. But my body and heart were just not into running. So I did what any respectable ultrarunner not having a great day but still wanting to finish does - I did a lot of power hiking, with maybe some 1 minute runs mixed in. I connected with a couple and we chatted a lot about races we have done together in the past. That helped pass a few miles but then they started running and I couldn't keep up with them. I made sure that I stayed on top of my eating and drinking, at one point downing probably 600 calories at once (this was probably right around lunch time so it made sense). I made sure to drink plenty of water since the day was heating up and I was too lazy to stop and take off my long sleeve, not to mention I had no room in my pack to stash it.

    I was steadily making progress on the estimated finish time. Even though I wasn't running, downhill power hiking was much faster than slow uphill hiking. I had been around a 22 minute per mile average, but now I was knocking out some 15 minute miles, with each of them taking 7 minutes off my estimated finish time. By the time I got to the aid station, I had lowered my average pace to 20:30/mile and my estimated finishing time was about 5:45pm. I walked into the aid station and they asked "what do you need.... ginger ale, gatorade, water, Fireball?" I made a beeline for the table to do a shot, followed by a bunch of bacon. I topped off my water, loaded the pack back up with the rest of the food from my drop bag, and headed out after about 5 minutes.

    We were now to the point of the race that Run Bum had told us to save our legs for. A little less than 9 miles to go of very runnable downhill. To this point of the race I hadn't really done much running at all, and after the gut bomb from the aid station, I got a huge surge in energy. I also knew that 12 hours was still within reach but I would have to push the pace to get there. I sent Katie a text and told her I thought I would finish at 5:30, but was going to push it for 5:15. I was trying to make sure I had a ride back to Albert's Lodge (where we parked the RV), but she didn't know where to go and my cell service was spotty so I only got a few messages through. I started with some slow shuffling, jogging for a minute or so, picking out a tree down the trail, and running to that. 

    Surprisingly, the more that I ran, the better my legs felt. I wasn't hammering out 7 minute miles or anything, but I was ticking off miles that continued to make my estimate time of finish 6-7 minutes earlier. Soon I had 5:15 and knew that I locked up a sub 12 hour race. I could have hiked it in at 20 minute miles, but I realized I could probably get a lot better finish time if I continued what I had been doing. We were on an easy downhill on a gravel road and I thought that was what we had left to the finish. With about 2.5 miles left, I was surprised that there was another aid station. It was on the pre-race info, but I never really paid attention to it since it was so close to the finish. I got a quick cup-full of Coke to get a nice sugar boost. Then we turned back on the trail and started climbing again! I remembered a few of the runners talking about this but had forgotten. Thankfully it was only a few hundred feet over a couple miles. With about a mile and a half left I could start hearing the finish line, but we had to do a big loop around to get down to it. I popped out of the woods and saw my kids sitting there waiting. Luckily Katie had found out how to get there, and got there early enough to see me finish at 4:45pm, much faster than I thought possible a few hours prior. I got the joy of running in to the finish line with all 4 kids.

    This is a very challenging race, probably one of the hardest I have done. Every race is different and I enjoy them all, but I think this one being so fresh in my mind and finally getting to run a trail race in the "proper" North Carolina mountains has made it my favorite. I had a great day as far as nutrition goes, never once feeling like I hit a wall. I only felt hungry a few times and was able to immediately eat enough to fix that. My pacing also seems to have been right on, since I was able to run hard for the last 9 miles and finish so strong. I will definitely do this race again, especially since the course this year is quite different from the regular course. Now to turn my focus to Georgia Death Race on November 7th... what could go wrong?!?