CTRR wrote: The first 9 km are continuous easy ups & downs but the best is yet to come. You must now climb Cape Smokey which is 2.1 km of extremely steep grade. For distraction there is a wonderful ocean view and you may even spot a whale! Relax for the steep downhill on the way to the finish. A couple more hills will take you to the finish at Cape Smokey Ski Lodge on the left.
Nick wrote: Leg 4 is Smokey and can be a killer if it is hot (it's run at noon) or if there is a 30mph headwind (the year I ran it)
My goal was to try and hit the mat which meant I had to maintain a 6:00 min./k pace. It was an aggressive goal because the closest I've come in the past three times I've run a leg at CTRR was a 6:09 pace on an easier leg and my longest run ever was about 18k. Leg 4 is 20.1! However this year training went pretty well and reasonably injury-free so I thought it was a possiblity. ...ummm...wrong!
I had my race plan set up to try and hit the mat. I knew I had to run pretty hard the first 9k to bank some time since the 2.1k uphill was going to take me a lot longer than a 6:00 min/k pace. However the risk I ran was not having enough energy once I got to the bottom of the hill to push hard up the hill. Once I got to the top I would have to push hard down the hill to make up some time and try to hang on to the end.
It did not start off well. I was at what I thought was the start line and chatting with some teammates when Bicycle.boy said " Ummm...Dennis, shouldn't you be up there?" I turn around and see about 30 meters ahead of me the race had already started. "Je**s!" Off I go. I hit my watch a few seconds after the race had started but still 15-20 meters before I get to the start line.
I manage to pass a couple of folks just so I'm not in last. I was pushing fairly hard but having a great time. It was sunny and about 18 degrees. I get to the 5k water station feeling pretty good but ever mindful I had a honking big mountain to run up. The next four k the legs starting feeling a little heavy but I kept pushing pretty hard but trying to leave something in the tank. The water station team at the base of Smokey were jokingly selling fresh legs! I told them I wanted two pairs and I wanted to return the pair I had! I hit the base of Smokey and ran the first 30 meters or so up the hill before I decided to start walking. It is a steep hill and it took its toll fairly quickly when I tried to run it. I thought that I would walk until I hit a flat spot and then I would run. I found out there are no flat spots going up the hill- AT ALL - ANY WHERE!. I tried running for another 30 meters or so and decided to walk again. There was a woman about 50 meters ahead of me and she was running. I was walking and catching her so I decided to just keep walking. She started to walk and I got fairly close to her. I decided to run a bit to catch up with her and talk to her. When she heard me get close she started to run again and I decided to walk. She quickly decided to start walking again and I got along side of her and talked about how hard the hill was. She was walking slower than me so I just kept walking faster until I got close to the top. I guess I ran once again because there are pictures of me running! Once I got to the top I starting running down hill as hard as I could to try and make up some time. The downhill portion wasn't as steep as I has envisioned but it also wasn't as short as I had envisioned. I pushed hard until I got to the second last hill. It was steeper and longer than I had anticipated. I ran just short of where Robert was to support me and had to walk up to him. I drank some liquids and kept walking up the hill. I think this was the hill that cost me most of my time. Once I got to the top I ran again to the finish line, which ended on a little hill.
I hit my watch around where I thought thte mat might have been but I probably ran by the spot by a few meters. Because I missed the official start and the official end my watch isn't completely accurate but my time was certainly not any longer than what I got and probably 5-10 seconds faster than what I got. My watch time was 2:03:54 for 20.1 k. My longest distance ever! My officail time, which is the slowest runner to hit the mat plus 5 minutes, is 2:04:55. I was ranked 68 out of 70 runners, but 3 of us were given the same time and I finished ahead of three people, so I did actually finish 67th. This leg draws a lot of pretty good runners (except for me! ;>)). I would have finished a few spots higher with my pace on some of the easier legs.
Robert and Emma (I think someone else was with them but I didn't notice who! My apologies!) did a great job supporting me. They were there by the side of the road many times with water and gatorade to give to me. It helped me a lot!
This year we had a great team with a bunch of new folks. They all blended in seamlessly and we all had great runs. We had a fantasic time! I'm looking forward to next year already. I'd love to give Leg 4 another shot but probably never during an offical CTRR. I have other legs I want to run and there are many others who want to give Smokey a shot. However, maybe some day if you are driving the Cabot Trail and see some lone idiot running up Smokey in July it might just be me trying it again!
