March 8, 2014
WALESKA, GA - As the gods would have it, the weather cooperated, and Gabriel was allowed to travel to Atlanta, Georgia, in search of a legitimate fitness check.
The La Sportiva Mountain Cup race, the Assault on Garland Mountain, would provide the platform. Although Gabriel has been training on snow and ice covered trails, limiting his fast running on trails, he was still confident in his fitness... now he just needed to prove it.
Arriving the night before, a quick check of the course revealed a muddy, soft surface with undulating hills. It looked prime for a good run. Race morning was crisp and beautiful, as temperatures would rise into the 50s by the start. Warming up in the parking lot was NC State legend, Ryan Woods (3:43/8:02/13:50 - currently 4th in the Mountain Cup), US Mountain Goat Jason Bryant (yearly Mountain Cup top 5 finisher), and an unknown Strava ambassador that looked fit (would be Matt Haley, 8:45/15:17/31:56).
The race started with a 150-meter sprint to the trail head. Gabriel was so full of running he wanted to lead into the trail, but the Strava athlete surged ahead. Knowing Woods was pretty fit, Gabriel explosively surged past the leader past the mile to get a clearer view of the muddy trail. However, by the second mile, Gabriel was already spent by the effort. The effort of such fast running quickly put in him in oxygen debt and already his form was flailing. Woods cruised past by 2.5 miles and was gone, easily extending his lead to over 3-minutes by halfway, while Gabriel slipped into third on the long downhill to the back half of the course.
It was a 9.6 mile race, and Gabriel had to stop at the 3 mile aid station to relax, take a gel, gain composure, and try to focus on running hard. He had done so much work leading up to this point to allow a stupid rooking racing mistake (starting too fast) to do him in... there were still 6.5 miles of muddy, hilly trails to go, surely he could rally. However, the next few miles were more of the same - stopping to stretch a non-functioning left leg, but noticing he was gaining on second on every climb. With this insight, Gabriel formulated a plan - he would work his hardest to reach the final 0.6 mile, 7% climb, with the 2nd place runner... and then over-whelm him on the climb.
Finally, by settling into thought, Gabriel found a rhythm and started running well for the first time since the opening mile. He caught second with 1.5 miles to go, surprisingly stormed a downhill section to get a few more meters, and then just attacked the final climb to place second in 59:29. It was a very strong effort over the final third of the course that gave Gabriel relief of a job well done.
Well, lesson learned. The trail cannot be won at the head...
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