MMTR 2015 the DNF that didn t happen! My 2015 MMTR experience was exceptionally different from 2014 for many reasons. First, and probably most significantly, I was pretty well trained to finish my first 50 miler at MMTR in 2014. I had averaged nearly 200 miles per month for the three months leading up to the race, with many of those miles being on terrain that was a lot like the MMTR course. All of that training paid off well and I finished with a time of 10:45, far exceeding my own expectations! It was, and remains, my personal best ultra-running performance to this point. This year, however, a plantar fascia tear at the end of May prevented me from running all summer. I was only able to run a total of less than 250 miles between Labor Day and MMTR, with my longest trail specific run being only 18 miles. Second, I had a ton of amazing family and close friend support in 2014. A bunch of us stayed in a warm cabin prior to the start and several family members met me at a number of aid stations providing encouragement and support that carried me through much of the day. In 2015, I was on my own. I slept in a tent at the KOA campground and would carry all of my own specific support needs on my back, literally. Encouragement came from other runners and aid station crews. Third, last year s weather was cool with minimal precipitation being in the form of snow flurries in the loop section. Being a cold blooded runner, probably because I was raised in Maine, this played into being very nearly the perfect conditions for me to run comfortably. In 2015, the race was warm and humid with rain showers throughout the day. Humid weather has long been my nemesis to running well. I sweat profusely and then have to counter that with an appropriate amount of fluid, food and electrolyte intake. Regardless of the above scenarios presenting new challenges to me, I was excited to be running MMTR again in 2015. I had plans to run my first 100 at Grindstone this year, but faced reality in July and had withdrawn from the race. It was at that point that I thought I had also conveyed a withdrawal from MMTR. Due to my injury, my plans changed in July to remove all remaining races for 2015 and to instead focus upon rest, recover and healing and to hope to race again in 2016. On Labor Day, Sept 7 th, I went for my first run in over three months. Over the next 10 days I tested my body out a few times and was pleased with my progress. Conversations with other runners led to the question, Are you going to MMTR? My first response was NO!! I m focused upon recovery for 2016! But the idea began to eat at me. Maybe I could show up and see what happens at MMTR I had been biking and swimming all summer. I even did a little hiking in the White Mountains of NH. Maybe it would be okay to show up and run MMTR. On Sept 17 th, I confirm with Clark that I am in fact still registered to run MMTR It was at this point that I started to get serious about maybe running MMTR this year, with only 7 weeks left until the race and no meaningful running/training under my belt. I didn t really think a finish would be possible, but was interested in showing up at the line and seeing what happens!
I only ran about 250 miles during that period. I tried not to over do it, but still wanted to push it enough to see if I would have enough to maybe even finish the race. I was pleasantly surprised at my results. All of my runs were at comfortable paces that were only about 15 to 30 seconds off pace from the prior year. This included one 18 mile intense trail run that also went very well. Everything seemed to look good that maybe I could finish. Though it nagged me that my longest run was only 18 miles On Friday Nov 6 th I took the day off from work and drove from York, PA down to Lynchburg, first stopping at the KOA to set up my tent and drop stuff off prior to the pre-race dinner and briefing. The briefing itself was cool. I connected with a few friends, stuffed myself with pasta, listened to Clark s weather prediction carefully and then headed back to the campground for some rest. I slept well that night, though it was only briefly interrupted when I woke to hear the lone runner who chose to start his day at 3:30am. It was not long after that I got up and started getting my body moving. I honestly didn t carry a burden that I must perform well. I knew I was undertrained and I had a hard time seeing myself getting to the finish line with less than 250 miles of running in the six months leading up to this race. I was resigned to do the best I could and see what happened. That all being said, I was carrying a chart of my Aid Station split times from the previous year, thinking that would help me gauge how my day was going. We were off at 5:30am! Somehow, I had ended up starting very near the back of the pack. I realized my mistake and used the pavement to quickly and easily weave my way through about ½ of the crowd before we hit trail. I paused to say hello to Tim Perry for a few minutes and wish him well in the race. It is this early section in the dark that seems so mystical to me with a long line of headlamps dancing up the trail almost mesmerizing when looking back from one of the switchbacks. I talked with a couple of experienced runners through this early stretch, but soon found myself silently entranced with my own stride and my own thoughts. Thoughts that were soon enough interrupted by the recognition that I was sweating profusely. I knew this was a bad sign. It was warm and humid. Heavy sweating had been an early warning in other races for me a warning that if I did not maintain a balance of fluid and electrolyte intake, my day would end early I started to drink frequently and started a careful regimen of S-caps. As I stopped at the aid stations I began to check my time and progress, comparing it to last year s performance. It was very quickly obvious that I was off by about 10 minutes through the first five aid stations. When I reached Irish Creek, a little over 19 miles in, I really began to feel the run. My feet were really sore, not used to running over all the rocks, my hamstrings and IT band started to ache and my stomach was beginning to turn and fade on me. Doubts began to creep in as I continued on towards the Reservoir AS. The doubts were reinforced as my next time check revealed that I was now about 20 minutes off of last year s pace and began to wonder where I was in relationship to the 12 hour cut off times, as I started to trudge up Long Mountain.
My strategy in the prior year s MMTR had been to powerhike the long climbs and to run everything else. That strategy played to my strengths as an inexperienced runner but a life long hiker. I had the same strategy for this year, but with the mental impact of the pain I was feeling and the recognition of my ever slowing pace when I was not yet even half way through the race finally knocked me down. Halfway up Long Mountain, I actually gave up! I decided that I could not and would not finish the race, a DNF was inevitable, and I might as well drop at the Long Mountain AS! My power hike slowed to a walk and other runners began to quickly run and hike past me. I reasoned in my head that a DNF had been inevitable and that I had no real excuses other than I simply had not trained adequately. I also told myself that under the circumstances, a DNF at Long Mountain was not something to be ashamed of. I knew I would not be alone and that there were likely to be others in very similar shoes. We could console one another, ride the bus to the finish line and then cheer the race leaders and finishers across the finish line! As I continued in my little pity party, slowly walking up the road for at least a mile or two, runners passing I realized that the road had begun to level off a bit with about a mile or so to go before reaching the AS. Others who had been power hiking took this as a sign that they needed to begin slowly running. As I watched one runner kick into a slow jog, I thought to myself, I can do that. So, I started into a jog and was surprised that if felt, okay. As I continued, it actually began to even feel a little better. I recalled some sage advice that I once heard from David Horton just keep running, even when it hurts, and eventually your body will adjust. It will adjust!! I thought to myself, maybe that is what is happening to me. Maybe my body is adjusting and I can go beyond Long Mountain! As I entered Long Mountain AS, I quickly got a report that I was about 35 minutes ahead of cut off! At this point, I was back in! There was no way I was going to quit with that much time passing before the actual cut off. Not yet convinced that I could finish the race, but convinced that I could at least power hike up Buck Mountain and then jog to Wiggins and power hike again up to the start of the loop and maybe even be able to run through the loop! That would be a significant moral victory to celebrate to run 40 miles of MMTR instead of 26!! I partook of the AS goodies, had my pack filled with water and set off up the long climb with a renewed energy! From that point forward, I never felt particularly strong, but I felt like I was doing enough to maintain a decent amount of time ahead of the cut off. I simply kept my focus upon my present moment and moving myself forward. I didn t even particularly worry about making it to the next aid station; I simply focused upon moving forward. My mental state improved tremendously and as I entered the loop, I was thrilled, now knowing I would make it to at least the 40 mile mark. A young lady at the Loop-In AS told me that it was 5 miles to the next AS and I just laughed at her. I told her and the couple of runners around me that I had been there before and knew it was more like 6 miles. I had to be realistic about distances and times otherwise my mental state could take a negative dip again. I knew heading into the loop that this was the longest section of the course in terms of time. I embraced this fact that just focused upon plugging ahead and moving myself forward without a care about how much further I had to go.
As I approached the peak of Mt Pleasant, I received word from the descending runners that the hole punch was missing. This did not bother me at all. As a mid-pack runner, I m accustomed to finding the hole punches either broken or missing entirely. It made no matter to me. I simply wanted to get to the peak and see the view, if there was one. And what a view it was! The cloud deck was just high enough to allow enough of a view to know that this was one amazing place! In fact, the clouds, rain and cool breeze just made the peak visit very special for me. I stepped forward, raised my hands and just drank in the scene for a couple of minutes before turning and beginning the descent. I continued to move forward relentlessly and soon found myself back at the end of the loop. I was genuinely shocked to find that I still had about 25 minutes over the cut off, though the reality of how short of a time that is dawned on me as I looked over to see that the Loop In AS was now closed. I also recognized that my pace was still giving up time. The cut off time was working to try to catch me. I fell into a nice jog and continued on to Salt Log Gap. It was motivating to see a bus there, though I knew it would not be for me and I started into the climb up to Forest Valley. Once I reached Forest Valley, I was starting to feel the long day wear on me again. I stopped to get some coke for my stomach and just to bend at the waist and try to stretch things out. David Helt, a friend and an AS worker, gave me the update on my status. I was now down to about 20 minutes over the cut off time, but had two nasty climbs in the next section before getting to the last AS at Porter s Ridge. I acknowledged his information and continued to stretch, asking him about a couple of other runner friends of mine who I suspected were somewhere on the trail behind me and certainly also pressed for time. After some short answers, David gave me an abrupt kick in the pants, okay Eric, it s time for you to get going. I immediately agreed, obeyed and began to jog down the trail. Mike Dunlop had caught me back in the loop. We both reached Mt Pleasant at about the same time and then he had gotten ahead of me. Mike does not know me, but everyone knows Mike! I knew he was running for his 10 th MMTR finish, so I knew he would be working hard to ensure a timely finish. He would occasionally get out of my sight, but then I would make some ground back up and managed to effectively stay not terribly far behind him right through to Porter Ridge AS. Mike would not know this, but having him within my eyesight really helped keep me moving through the nasty climbs before we arrived at Porter Ridge, the last AS. As Mike pushed quickly through that AS, I took another prolonged break here, drank some coke, and then gathered my last bit of energy for the final push. I told the Aid Station workers here that I was absolutely amazed that I had made it that far and now likely looked to be able to finish the race within the 12 hours, considering I had only run a total of less than 250 miles since Memorial Day. They laughed at me perhaps not believing me, and I set off for the finish line. My watch s battery power had nearly died around 40 miles, so I turned off the GPS at that point so that I could at least know the time. As I gathered momentum and speed on the long and final descent, I was surprised to see that I might actually finish somewhere right around 11 and a half hours. I summoned whatever I had left and forced myself to run from that point forward. I passed Mike about half way down the hill and I continued to run. I even kept running after turning left onto the pavement and climbing the last insignificant and yet daunting hill. I heard Clark call my name through the bull horn
as I approached the finish and saw the clock reflecting 11:28!! Wow!! I had made it!! Clark even acknowledged to me, and you were thinking you were not even going to come run! In the days since the race, I ve thought a lot about my run at MMTR this year. It is an understatement to say that I learned a lot about myself during that run!! I ve always viewed every single one of my setbacks to be major opportunities to move forward. I can t help but think that hitting the incredible rock bottom low that I did, only 20 miles into a tough 50 mile race, completely giving up, accepting a DNF, but then somehow recollecting myself, getting back into the race and pushing forward relentlessly and ultimately finishing the race that I really never should have run I think this will pay a dividend in a future race. I ve rescheduled my plans to run my first 100 miler at Grindstone 2016! I m hoping MMTR s 2015 experience will help me there and beyond! Thank you Clark and all of the AMAZING race volunteers for helping to make MMTR 2015 an INCREDIBLE and an AMAZINGLY SUCCESSFUL adventure!! Your aid, support, encouragement and kicks in the butt all made all the difference for me!! THANK YOU!!