This past weekend was the Umstead 100 mile run, in William B Umstead State Park, just outside Raleigh, NC. 2019 was the 25th anniversary of this event and I had heard good things about. Since it was also close to family, it seemed like a good opportunity to run another 100 and earn a Western States qualifier for this year.

The race itself is run is run on a beautifully well maintained multiuse trail within the park. It is a 12.5 mile loop, repeated 8 times. This course may be the least technical trail I’ve ever run as the trail reminded me a lot of a dirt road. It is used by Runners, hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians alike.

The race started at 6am with fantastic temps. It was about 50 at the start, though a little on the humid side. Since my training was not where I had wanted it, I wasn’t quite sure how the day would go, so I took off at what felt like a comfortable pace and just enjoyed the run. Since the course is so well maintained, I didn’t have to worry about tripping. I maintained a steady pace, walked the up hills (note, there is 1000 feet of elevation gain per loop), chatted with other runners, and just enjoyed my time in the park. Although there are only 2 actual aid stations on course, the race also puts out several water stops in between aid stations, so runners have access to water about every 2-2.5 miles. This would prove helpful a bit later. Loop 1 was done in about 1:30.

Loop 2 was still nice, with temps staying cool and the wind blowing just enough that the humidity wasn’t really an issue. I tried to stay relaxed and easy. Another 1:30. Loop 3 got a bit warmer as the sun finally peaked through the clouds. Since it had not yet been warm and humid in Ohio yet, I could feel myself slowing in the heat. While it wasn’t oppressive, it was zapping my energy. I would stay hydrated at aid stations as best I could and made sure to eat at every one as well. I was still feeling really strong at the end of lap 3, 1:50.

Loop 4 brought about a change in my mood. About halfway through the loop, I developed some hip pain that brought me to a very slow walk. I am not quite sure why it started bothering me, perhaps my low mileage training, or maybe just a bad day? Either way, I felt it was going to cause me to be unable to finish, but I knew if I made it to mile 50, I would at least be credited with a 50 mile finish. I limped into the aid station, 2:55.

After lap 4, I went into the HQ building for the race. I was hurting so I sat down and tried to stretch for a bit. After about 10 minutes, my crew, who is also my brother, Larry (side note, he had never crewed an ultra before, but helped me out a lot) got the medical crew to check me out. They had a massage therapist to work out my hip. She also noted that she believed me to be dehydrated (though I wasn’t showing any visible signs of it that I noticed), so the doctor on site said I needed to hang around for a bit and hydrate. I “hung out” in medical for about 1.5 hours before I was able to leave. I told the doctor I would go out to the first turnaround, about 1.5 miles of the 12.5 mile loop and come back in if my hip wasn’t better. He also got me a volunteer pacer, just in case.

I set out on loop 5 with some trepidation as I was uncertain as to how my hip would hold out, but, to my surprise, it felt great. After a bit of a walk to test things out, I started running again, and at a decent clip too. My pacer, Al, kept me moving and suggested walk breaks regularly. Loop 5 ended up being a really strong loop. In total, the loop took 5 hours, but 1.5 of those would have been time spent in medical, so only about 3.5 hours total.

Loops 6 and 7 I picked up another volunteer pacer. When I had come into the main aid station, I didn’t see any readily available pacers, but someone yelled over to me as I was about to set off on my own. A runner I had met a few weeks before at Tobacco Road marathon had signed up to be a volunteer pacer and had just arrived for his “shift”. Brad and I took off for these loops and we had a good run/ walk split going. I was staying hydrated and working hard. Lap 6 was around 3:15 and lap 7 about 3:30.

Lap 8 I was back on my own as no pacers were available. I had plenty of time to finish and started the lap feeling good. About 2 miles into the lap, however, my energy was drained. I started walking and ended up walking much of the loop, but I just needed to move forward. A thick fog moved in through the night and made the course almost eerie, but having run it 7 times before, I knew where I was going. About mile 95, my foot started to hurt quite a bit. I knew I was developing a blister, but not much could be done with 5 miles to go except to finish. It’s really the only foot issue I had the whole race. I came limping into the finish on the loop in 3:46, with a total time of 27 hours, 14 minutes. I had finished!

I do want to make a special note, something that was a bit of a unique feature at Umstead. While every 100 was in a public area and we were always advised we may be sharing space with folks out for walks or runs, Umstead had the most people out just running than any other race I had done. This may not sound like a selling point, but I think it was. I say this because I had a chance to talk to some of these folks. In one instance I was running the same pace as a woman who wanted to know more about ultras. We talked for about 2 miles before I had to walk a hill. In our talk, she told me she runs 11 miles in the park both Saturday and Sunday. Come Sunday, I saw this same woman, doing her 11 miles, coming down the same hill we parted ways the day before. She came over to me, high fived me, and told me she was so proud of me. Remember, this was a complete stranger to me just hours ago. In another instance, a group of runners out for their morning run on Sunday, saw me limping with about a mile to go. They immediately stopped their run and walked the last mile with me, chatting with me and encouraging me the whole time. It was quite the experience.

In all, I really enjoyed Umstead. After 25 years, it seems they have things mostly dialed in. The aid stations had plenty of vegetarian options and all the volunteers were fantastic. The weather was almost perfect and except for a few issues, my race went way better than I anticipated it would have. It was a great weekend.