Laurel Highlands Ultra Run - 2010 Race Report: June 12, 2010 was the 31st running of the Laurel Highlands Ultra, a point to point race run from Ohiopyle to Seward, PA. New for this year was a 6.5 mile detour around the downed footbridge over the turnpike. This raised the mileage from the usual 70.5 to 77. This was to be my longest race yet, and only my second time running 50 plus (I also ran the Oil Creek 50 last fall – itself a great, well organized race over a beautiful course).
The race started at sunrise – 5:30 am. A half mile of road led to the trailhead, then climbed over a couple of smaller hills, before we started to ascend the Laurel ridge. The climb was steep, rocky, and without switchbacks. Mist was rising off the river in the valley below making it look like we were climbing into the clouds – stairway to heaven?
I felt ok upon reaching the top at mile 8, but was relieved the biggest climb of the day was over. It was humid, and already getting hot. The aid stations are spaced irregularly along the trail, anywhere from 6 to 12 miles apart. Even early on, I was draining my 1.5 L hydration pack between the stations plus stopping to drink extra.
Once up on the ridge, the trail is schizophrenic. At times it is flat unobstructed dirt and very runnable, at other times the trail is so rocky that even when it is flat it is hard to run. There are also climbs and descents that don’t look that bad on the course profile but are actually quite significant. On the plus side, the ridge is high and well drained with little mud even after the rain, and, although there are several steam crossings, all of them have solid wooden bridges. The trail was also very well marked, and I had no problems navigating.
As morning turned to afternoon, the temperature peaked at 86 degrees and 90% humidity, and the weather began to take its toll on everybody.
The detour comes about halfway along the trail. Here we turned off the trail onto a dirt road. Happy to stretch my legs a bit, I made some time as the dirt road descended from the main ridge. A little bit of pavement at the turnpike bridge, then back onto another gravel road to re-ascend the ridge. A number of runners were having trouble here. The section including the detour had 12 miles of running between aid stations, half of it on roads exposed to the midday sun. The humidity was oppressive, and my hydration pack was empty with about 3 miles to go before more aid. I started to struggle against the heat.
Soon enough, I reached the mile 44 aid station and my drop bag. Change of shoes and socks, and fixed my feet. I was thankful that I had done a thorough job pre-taping. Otherwise, the heat and humidity would have torn up my feet much worse. As it was, they were in good shape, and I felt refreshed as I headed for the next station, at mile 52.
Again I drained my water with several miles to go before more aid, but I made it just as the sun was starting to go down. At mile 52, a number of runners had dropped. I didn’t know it then, but the race would have only a 50% finishing rate this year (70-75% is typical). The next aid station was 12 miles out.
I didn’t have a pacer so I was running alone at this point. Running in the dark was a new and creepy experience for me. While my rational self knew there was nothing to be afraid of, I was still pretty spooked.
There are bears here. I know they are shy and would rather avoid me. Yet? Bears do occasionally attack humans, but only in defense of their cubs or when the people involved are especially stupid – trying to follow along, take photographs at close distance, or leaving food out. Does night running all alone qualify as stupid to bears? I take solace in knowing that, as John Muir said, bears are “peaceable people.”
Here the trail conditions took a turn for the worse – several difficult climbs and descents and lots of rocks. By now my running had become shuffling, so I walked – slowly. I started worrying about making the next cutoff, but I was unsure about the cutoff time. One unique feature of this trail is concrete mile markers every mile. In this section I had slowed to 25 minutes per mile. Not good.
I was still about 5 miles from the next aid station when I again ran out of water. Really not good. About this time four runners came up behind me, power hiking to make the next cutoff. I joined up with them, incredibly thankful not to be alone in the dark anymore, and was able to pick up the pace.
The lack of fluids was getting to me. I felt nauseous and was starting to fall behind. Not wanting the others to miss the cutoff on my account I told them to go on ahead. I walked into the mile 64 aid station, still 20 minutes ahead of the cutoff, but I was done, dehydrated. I thought about trying to continue, but, without a pacer to look after me, I thought it would be a bad idea to try to make it on my own, so I dropped.
Reflecting on it now, I think I made the right choice. I made a good showing for a rookie in a tough race that was made tougher by the weather. Some things I did right, and I made some mistakes that I learned from. I ran 64 miles – farther than I’ve been – and I’m left wanting more. I’ll be back to Laurel Highlands to avenge this DNF.
On the positive side, the day after the race we headed over to Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water." It's only a few miles from Ohiopyle, and I had wanted to see it since I was a child. What a whimsical piece of work--where your living room descends into a waterfall. How wonderful.
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