May 24-25th, 2014
PART I:
White Haven, PA - The weekend began with a drive out to White Haven, PA, where Gabriel was registered to line up at his first XTERRA event, the Pocono XTERRA Hickory Trail Run Half Marathon.
Gabriel was in need of a long, hard effort, and 21km over hill and dale would prove great stimulus. Thankfully, a great former collegiate athlete showed up, Tradelle Ward of Duke. Reminiscent of Ashton Eaton, Ward was strongly built, on-top of his stride, fit, and motivated. More importantly, he had scouted out the course... and as a former Foot Locker All-American in high school, he was loaded with ability.
The race set out quickly on a downhill, and Gabriel settled into a rhythm, finally taking the lead past the first mile of the race, with Ward in tow and immediately it was a two man race. Ward passed Gabriel on a fallen tree jump and a gap of 20m formed and Gabriel kept Ward in check on the couple of miles of grassy cross country. However, once they hit the rocky singletrack, Gabriel sustained his first loss of direction, unable to pick up the Yellow Trail. However, he soon found it and took off in pursuit. He knew he only chance to catch Ward would be two-fold, 1) the distance itself and 2) any massive climbs, as Ward was quite heavy for a trail runner.
After another misdirection, this one Gabriel's fault and losing a good 400m+, the climbing started on Skyline and after a couple miles of climbs some hikers signaled that Ward was just ahead and struggling. Gabriel was gaining... but once again, they entered singletrack and Gabriel followed the trail only to have Ward pop out of somewhere yelling, "you got lost, you have to go to the aid station." Easier said than done. All the markings were torn down and on the floor. Gabriel jogged around for a mile, trying to figure it out and then set out to finish. He finished well, full of strength, and notched over 80 minutes of running at sub-7:00/mile pace for the hilly and technical course... a good day of training and then a day at the lake with the girls.
PART II:
Catonsville, MD - In the back of Gabriel's mind was the BRRC Patapsco Trail race in his backyard of Patapsco Valley State Park. He would approach this low-key event as an "up-tempo" effort, just to stretch out and test his legs and fitness. He awoke feeling pretty good, no major soreness, some stiffness in his soleus, but while warming up, his right hip was not having fun. After paying his $6, he laced up his new trail shoes and saw Graham Peck arrive. Peck recently stormed to a 2:26 at the Boston Marathon, so the day would be no easy trot. Not only that, but Ryan Stasiowski showed up as well... as well as Jesse LeBuff... oh good, just bring it on.
The race started in an open field, and Gabriel strided out to the lead with the field stringing behind and Gabriel got to work, thinking "Kilian..." and attacked.. until he got attacked by a vicious pit-bull type mut that escaped the backyard of some neighboring homes. The owner yelling, "don't move a muscle!! Stop running!!" Gabriel slid to stop, avoided getting bit in the face by the massive animal, awaiting the pack to catch him, while finally the owner grabbed the dog and Gabriel bolted down the trail, full of adrenaline and trying to recover from the assault.
The great news was that Gabriel was fluid and flying. The energy issues he feared were held at bay and he stormed to a commanding run, even with the 20-30 second detour of avoiding dog-death. He finished the race no worse for the wear and starting his thoughts on conquering an epic long run on Memorial Day...
