2009 Grandfather Mountain Marathon
I last ran Grandfather Mountain Marathon in 2007 as a training run, and figured it would again be good for hill training. This time DJ joined PM and me, and a great time was had by all.
In 2007 I went out conservatively for the first ten miles, then ran a hard effort to finish up with 3:32. This time I stuck with a more even effort over the entire course, finishing in 3:13 and 13th overall. (However, still only 7th in the 30-39 age group).
The first 8 miles include some stiff hills, and I admit I was quite nervous about my stamina as we got into the first few winding climbs. I’ve been running a lot of flat Charlotte greenways lately, so I had little to gauge my climbing shape. Despite having my GPS watch I ran the entire race on feel, shortening my stride and slowing the effort on the ups. As I showed in the Poconos, I’m not afraid to let gravity take over and slam the downhills, and apparently I made up significant time on other folks on the three major descents. As I like to say, “Big dude gotta roll when he can.”
Overall the weather was superb, and the three or so miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway (around mile 10) were as gorgeous as I remembered. I felt great at pace on this mile-long descent and the following flat. The final climb of the race basically starts as you exit the BRP at mile 14, with a straight road hill topped with a right-hand turn onto gravel. Mile 16 has the infamous gravel climb, which was strewn with casualties last time I ran the race, though this year there wasn’t anyone within sight ahead of me. Someone who almost caught me at the base, but apparently wasn’t ready for what was ahead and faded quickly.
The rest of the race (yes, the next 10 miles) is beautiful winding mountain road, almost completely ascending. Words of advice: The toughest aspect of this section is the cant of the road. Last time I wasted a lot of energy running the low side of the road, but this year I managed to mostly stay on the high side. This minimized lower leg stress from the angle, and reduced lots of sharp ups and downs from cutting across the road too much.
DJ, BJ, PM, post-PB&JI was saddened that the main runner hang-out hill at the finish was covered with parked cars, so there wasn’t really anywhere to sprawl out. However, the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were back, along with plenty of cookies and snack cakes and stiff Gatorade. No complaints about the post-race fare from me! As anyone who has run the race can tell you, the finisher medal is still the same crappy one from the past. Which, honestly, I’m a fan of, since I don’t much care about finisher medals; I think it’s neat that such a tough marathon has such a dinky medal. I do wish the marathon shirt was at least as nice as the Bear’s long-sleeve shirt, but (despite my reputation for buying way too much Boston marathon gear) I also don’t run GMM for the shirt.
Friendly chill-out areaI didn’t run the killer Bear race to the peak of Grandfather Mountain on Thursday, as a number of friends did. PM did both the Bear and the marathon! At some point in the future I’m definitely going to have to try that run, as well as the Grizzly bike race on Friday. DJ even claims to have rejuvenated his marathon spirit after a few unpleasant races. Overall, great times hanging with good friends in the mountains.
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