Pisgah 50k Trail Race 2011 - Ben Nephew

Pisgah 50k Trail Race 2011

~5000ft of climbing

Chesterfield, NH

Since the Pisgah 50k has become a fixture in New England trail racing, I thought I would provide a bit of recent history.  I’m not sure what happened before the turn of the century, but apparently I’ve been racing at Pisgah for ten years.  Prior to 2000, I don’t think anyone had broken 4 hours.  Once Leigh went under 4:00, Dave Herr and I started our course record battle.  Here are the winners for the last decade:

2000 - 3:56:11 Leigh Schmitt

2001 - 3:46:20 Ben Nephew

2002 - 3:52:00 Dave Mackey

2003 - 3:45:26 David Herr

2004 - 3:44:33 Ben Nephew

2005 - 3:46:28 Ben Nephew

2006 - 3:55:00 David Herr

2007 - 3:56:15 David Herr

2008 - 4:05:22 Greg Hammett

2009 - 3:54:40 Brian Rusiecki

2010 - 3:42:26 David Herr

 In 2001, I beat Dave Dunham by about 10 minutes.  In 2002, Dave Mackey pulled away from Dave Herr and I over the last few miles after the three of us had run much of the race together due to the fact that most of the course markings had been removed.  If Dave Herr had not been there, we would have ended up in VT.  Dave got his first CR in 2003 with a very strong second half and beat me by 5 minutes.  I didn’t even realize he was in the race until we hit a hairpin turn at around 16 miles.  Tom Buckley was third in 4:31:50.  Dave Herr and I both ran hard from the gun in 2004, but he had some cramping and ended up 16 minutes back.  2005 was a very painful year.  Dave pulled away after 20 miles, and built up a large lead going into the last 5 miles.  I managed to recover and pass him back with about 2 miles to go, but he chased me all the way to line.  I won by 26 seconds, and decided I was done with the 50k for a while.   While I was hoping for a less stressful 23k race at Pisgah in 2006, I ended up in a ridiculously hard battle with George Adams, and won by 0.03 seconds.  Dave had an easy 13 minute win over Glen Redpath.  George switched to the 50k for 2007, and came within 3 minutes of Dave to become one of the few who have run under 4:00.  A young Jack Pilla was 3^rd in 4:12.  Greg Hammett handed Dave a rare loss in 2008, when all the times were slow due to mud and some very destructive trail improvements.  Brian Rusiecki won by 3 minutes over Dave in 2009, but Dave took full advantage of the good weather last year and chopped 2 minutes off my six year old CR.  After seeing the slower times in recent years, I decided to return to the 50k last year.  My 3:52 only got me a 4^th, and I had to fight off George Adams to hold onto that!  Brian ran 3:46 and Jim Johnson ran 3:47 to make it a very fast race up front.

I wasn’t planning on running this year’s 50k due to the fact that I spent over six hours running the Pemi loop the weekend before, but my legs felt good towards the end of the week, and the weather was too nice to pass up.  It was a perfect day for running, and Greg took it out hard to the start of the singletrack.  The pace felt fast, but I recognized that Dave and I had run similar splits in the past.  I could feel the White Mountains in my legs on the bigger climbs, and decided that I had to let people go.  Dave, JJ, Greg, and Kevin all powered away on the hills through the early miles.  I drifted back to 6^th by about 10 miles, and was started to wonder if the race was going to turn into a solo hard long run.  I was running with Dane Mitchell, but it was taking some effort to stay with him.  As we reached a long singletrack climb around 17 miles, my legs started to feel better.  I moved past Dane, and noticed that he was tripping on the many roots quite often.  He was coming back from an ankle injury, and I was worried that he was going to re-injure himself.  I pulled away on the twisting downhill section before the mile 20 aid station, and my legs were continuing to improve.  Neither of us had seen anyone for quite a long time.  Although I was annoyed that I was out of the race, I thought I might be able to take advantage of the cooler weather and salvage a decent time. 

I ran the Kilburn loop from mile 20-25.5 hard, but was shocked to see Kevin at the aid station.  I wasn’t sure how anyone else up front was doing, but I enjoyed being able to run the last 5 miles hard.  I’m usually just surviving at that point.   I spotted Greg about 3 miles before the finish, and while he was still moving well, his stride had clearly shortened.  He thought I might have a chance at catching JJ or Dave if someone cramped, but that seemed unlikely at this point.  My right calf tightened up on the last few downhills and I was glad to see the finish.  My 3:45:18 was my second best time, but far behind Dave’s 3:41:52 and JJ’s 3:42:10. While good weather has played a part in the fast times over the past two years, it is hard to believe that the CR has dropped over 20 minutes in the last 12 years .  This course has plenty of climbing, and more roots than you can fathom, at least a couple million.  I should also mention that Dave Herr is 46 years old.  It must be tough getting old and fast….

I got a little lucky with the tight anterior tibialis, as strangely it was the start of some tendonitis.  The strange part is that it was caused by a cut on my calf from my Pemi loop run.  I thought it was just a flesh wound, but apparently it was pretty deep and there may also have been some deep bruising and inflammation.  By Monday it was quite stiff and there was some crunching when I moved my toes up and down.  It responded well to intensive icing, but I probably could have prevented it entirely if I would have iced following the injury.  It is now obvious that I took a chunk out of my leg, as the scab is still pretty large.

I wore my 255’s at Pisgah with the tread modified to simulate the new Terrafly outsole.  I’m not wear tester size, so I haven’t been able to get a pair of Terrafly’s yet, but the 255’s worked great.  No falls, I rarely tripped or slipped, and no blisters or hot spots.   Besides the calf issue, my legs felt good the day after the race.   I’m excited to try the Terrafly’s as I think the line will be great for New England trails.  The midsole is very similar to the 233 and 255, which I have had great runs and races in all year.   Kevin and JJ wore shoes that are so new they don’t even have a name yet!  They probably won’t be available for quite a while, but I was impressed when I took a look at them after the race.