Sklarska Poreba, Poland - And so, the battle commenced... from the final steps at Mount Washington, Gabriel was forced into rehab mode. His left hip flexor had been strained on the "only one hill" and he had about a month and a half to prepare for the most grueling race of his career, the Maraton Karkonoski, the host of the WMRA World Long Mountain Challenge.
Gabriel's preparations were a fine balance of rest, recovery, and smart running... avoiding ascents and descents in order to full heal the hip. A family vacation to Siesta Key during the 4th of July week allowed for training on flat, if not sandy, surfaces, and the recovery began to take shape. Now it was a matter of if he had enough time to regain the fitness he had lost over 2.5 weeks of minimal running.
In the build-up to Poland, Gabriel had failed a key test - the Catherine's FA 20-Miler in Luray, Virginia, on July 20th. He selected this course for its rugged uphill start and by the summit, his hip had failed. This was not good news. He walked the whole way back home, frustrated at his body, but at least thankful for over 2hrs worth of running.
Back to rehab... clam-shells with an thera-band. Abduction, adduction, repeat. Ugh... the one sacrifice was cancelling the much-anticipated Grintovec Mountain Run in Slovenia, which would be used as prep. Gabriel did not want to risk his effort for Team America on August 3rd in Poland.
And so, Gabriel jetted off to Slovenia, drove down to Venice to meet his wife, then to Trieste, the onto Lizjnan, Croatia, to spend time with former UALR harrier and former FIU Athletics colleague, John Eckart. However, it was in Croatia that Gabriel was struck down with allergies and a 104-degrees fever. He was not catching a break.
Back up the cost to the wonderful Ljubljana and off to Wroclaw, Poland, for the drive to Sklarska Poreba. All the runs in Europe were positive. Gabriel's hip felt ready, he felt he could climb. And so, came the race...
The course would be challenging, about 6,000ft of climb at close to a mile high of altitude in the mountains of Poland and the Czech Republic. Gabriel started out well, climbing with teammate Josh Ferenc, and in the chase pack of teammate Zac Freudenburg (would go on to place 5th). Jason Bryant was not far behind (25th). So Gabriel's largest concern, the initial 2,500ft climb from Start to Mile 4, was uneventful, he was stoked, his hip held up well.
But immediately into the technical rocky descent, Gabriel's hip started straining and all his confidence left his soul. It was crushing. He truly felt we would not be able to finish. It was a repeat of Connemara all over again. But Gabriel pressed on, repeating a mantra of, "what else do you have to do today. Nothing." Amazingly, his hip remained a dull weakness, never progressing to the painful must-stop of early in the month. After some good running with Jason, they hit the turnaround together and Jason called out, "come and get me!"
It sounded good in theory, to chase Jason, as we were in scoring position for the team, but all of the toughness and callousness that Gabriel had build up over the early Spring was gone. The fitness he showed in racing the best US Mountain runner in Jordan McDougal at Rothrock, was gone. The combination of lack of training and 90-degrees sunlight was baking his spirit and he did all he could to finish the Challenge... which was such a comforting word for some reason - this was a Challenge in the truest form of the word. Not a race, but a challenge. He pushed on, and managed sub-6:30 miles for the final 3+ miles of the race to finish strongly in 31st position.
The sad fact was that Team USA missed out on the Bronze Medal by about 2 minutes. If Gabriel had been able to race as he did at Rothrock, before Mount Washington, before getting greedy, they would have a medal, as Ferenc finished 15th and Gabriel had ran with him up the legendary mountain stride for stride. It was not to be, but it was a great improvement in 2 years time from Ireland.
Perseverance was key, and Gabriel earned the respect of his teammates, especially Jason, which was good to know.
