DOUBLE TROUBLE

July 8, 2012

MORGANTOWN, PA - This was more like multiple troubles. The Double Trouble 15K/30K Trail race was held in French Creek State Park on a very muggy, humid, and warm morning. The 2.5 hour drive from Ellicott City to the park was quite uneventful, although beautiful. Pennsylvania is a grand state, but amazingly, PA all looks the same with gorgeous rolling countryside and vast farmlands.

Back to the race. Gabriel was not feeling peppy. His left calf/soleus was weak and sore and he had jumped into some pretty good training immediately after Mount Washington. Perhaps he was doing too much climbing. The one workout he had schedule prior to the Double Trouble was a 4 x 1600m in 4:55, with 3:00 rest and he only managed 3 x 1600m in 4:55, 4:58, 5:01 in 97-degree heat. This heat wave was killing him.

The race was amazing, however. The original goal was to run the 30 KM with a 3M warm-up, and a 3M cooldown for a 24-mile day in prep for NYC. However, Gabriel managed to cop an entry to the Glossglockner Berglauf mountain race in Austria on the 15th of July, and this necessitated a training change. The 30 KM could potentially be shelved for the 15 KM, but it depened on how the race played out.

Amazingly, the race played out spectacularly not in Gabriel's favor. The eccentric RD decided to start the 30 KM runners on the singletrack portion of the start, while the 15 KM runners (part of the PA Off-Road Championship) started on a straight road path to the trailhead merge. Immediately, Gabriel fell behind about 5 runners on the singletrack, and when the two races merged, Gabriel was deep in 50-100th place. There was no room to move up. The singletrack was too tight and patience was of utmost importance. Gabriel's first reaction was, "well, no worries about winning the 15K, this is ridiculous." That quickly changed to, "screw this, I am going to win the 15K, or at least try, and if I do, no 30K for me, just the 15K."

However, the lead pack was way out and after 20-minutes there was no one in sight and he was in about 11th place. By 27-minutes, he had moved into 6th place and had 4th place in his sights, with 3rd place not far off. A gradual, steep incline at 30-minutes caused a major cave-in from the front-runners, and Gabriel started gaining ground. A quick road segment gave Gabriel a glimpse of 1-2nd places, and he set off in pursuit. However, once he tucked into 3rd place, he was stuck. Second place was stubborn and would not let Gabriel pass. This was a race. Screw trail etiquette. Even though Gabriel was a 30K runner, the 2nd place runner would not relent. So, after inquiring if the runner ahead was the leader, Gabriel did his best Usain Bolt impersonation and blitzed a turn, immediately opening a 20-30 meter gap and safely into 2nd place.

However, it was now 45+ minutes on the clock and he had to make up ground on first place if he had a chance to win. The race was going to take 1hr, give or take. Finally, after much stumbling on the rockiest terrain on the course, he spotted the leader, and on a nice incline the leader relented. Gabriel assumed the lead, but he proceeded to relax too much (in hindsight). The second place runner smartly tracked Gabriel until Gabriel had to re-tie a shoelace for the home stretch. Gapping Gabriel by close to 200m, Gabriel worked hard to catch back up and soon they entered the final aid station together before the final descent to Hopewell Lake.

Gabriel assumed the lead down the trail, and they were flying. Mimicking Killian Jornet, the leaders leaped boulders, tree limbs, and every rock and root possible, taking turns at dangerous, ankle breaking speeds. Gabriel searched for any flat or uphill ground to make a move and create a gap. Finally, there was a 100-200m flat section and Gabriel got the gap he needed. However, an ill-advised comment from a volunteer stated they were 1/4 mile from the finish and Gabriel launched into his kick, only to find that they still had over a half mile to go! Gabriel was devastated, but he recovered for one final launch, but he was being caught.

Finally, he spotted the lake, emerged from the trail in the lead, and proceeded to drop a great final 200-300m uphill finish to take the win and course record. He was absolutely destroyed, but it was a great effort. If there was a heart-rate monitor, he work rate would have been in the 180's the whole race. Not bad for working his way through the entire field. This was great preparation for Austria, and gave him the confidence necessary to descend recklessly and compliment his uphill skills.

Onto London, Munich, and Heiliglenblut...