Race Across Durham (marathon) - 17 November

Eno River

This rather obscure race, well, obscure to me but maybe not so obscure to the residents of Durham, North Carolina, turned out to be one of the nicest marathons I have run. It only had 130 runners and there was no pizazz, no promises of BQ. I didn’t go in with high expectations but I did go in injured, so I was delighted with the outcome. I had a reason for selecting this marathon: I had been researching hikes in North Carolina when I stumbled on the Mountains to the Sea Trail, and I liked the sound of it but I was disappointed to see that the trail is not yet complete. When I saw that there was a marathon on the trail this sounded an excellent way to get on the trail without feeling unhappy that I could not thru hike it, while still completing a substantial chunk.

Regarding the injury, all I can say is that I am a slow learner. I have run 3 hundred milers now and after each one I have injured myself the first time I go for a run after the race. This time I strained my hamstring at last Saturday’s Big Bear Marathon. It happened late on in the marathon and didn’t bother me too much at the time but the next day I was in real pain. I could manage to hike so I pretty much hiked the pain away. By Wednesday the pain had all gone, Thursday I was flying all day, so on Friday afternoon I decided to go for a short run. The pain returned in the first few minutes but I persevered for 5 kms anyway, actually in considerable pain. On Saturday I went for a short hike in Umstead State Park, continuing my plan to visit the sites of as many well known ultras as I could, and the pain was tolerable. So I knew I was in for an uncomfortable marathon.

The marathon was a point to point, all on the Mountains to the Sea Trail as promised. I had to drive to the bus pick up, take the bus to the start, then take a bus from the finish line back to my car. There were 2 buses going to the start line and I boarded the second one because it had lots of empty seats. It seemed a very long bus ride. It emerged that the driver did not know the way and had gone a very circuitous route so we got to the start line only 7 minutes before the start. We had to check in at the start line and when I checked in the marshal was pleased to meet the Australian and introduced me to the race director, who wanted to chat; I would have loved to chat but I had to change my clothes and use the bathroom and I didn’t have long, so my chat just involved me asking if I could change my clothes in the bushes (I could see a line at the portaloos). I probably tarnished his nice image of Australians when I rushed into the (not so dense) bushes and took off my clothes. As it was I had to run to the start line and was still moving in the wrong direction when I heard Go!

Going the wrong way!

We started near a lake (I believe the bus driver had tried to drive around it twice) and kept fairly close in the early miles. It was a cloudy day and freezing cold, but not as cold as it had been at the boat ramp start line before I started running. I wore my light jacket, but I had taken off my leggings at the start line and I was very glad of that. (Taking off leggings is tricky when you wear shorts on top of leggings, which is why I had to change in the bushes.)

The entire race was on trail, save a mile or so when we deviated through suburbia to avoid a sewage spill or something like that. There was a stretch just before this that was really muddy. Being totally in the forest is what made it so lovely. Much of the trail was single track, so by the time the faster runners had passed I was almost alone, just seeing other people from time to time. The first half was almost flat with some slight undulations. There was a lot of leaf litter, which covered a few obstacles like tree roots and small rocks so it wasn’t all easy going. I love the wintry deciduous forest.

From half way we followed the Eno River, sometimes crossing from side to side. The trail was very close to the river, which featured a few small rapids, and sometimes we climbed a bluff above it. I was going quite slowly but I was really happy. My hamstring reached maximum pain early on and then maintained that level of discomfort for the duration. Other things started hurting too but it was all tolerable. One of my fears had been stomach issues because the night before I had eaten a meal that comprised a burrito filled with refried beans, an enchilada filled with refried beans, and an accompaniment of refried beans and rice. But my stomach was fine. Around 16 miles I passed the place where I had parked, which confused me as I thought I had parked at the finish line. But no, for some reason we had to park in the middle!

In the last 10 miles I saw few runners, save occasional stragglers. Nobody passed me in the second half. The sun came out for a while but the air was still icy and I never took off my jacket. It was all so pretty, but curiously devoid of the squirrels that usually proliferate in these forests. Right near the end we had a reasonable climb, but it was not as severe as I had been led to believe, and there was a marshal at the top saying The worst is behind you now.

The finish was by a quarry whose hole was filled in with water. The marathon had taken me well over 5 hours, which may explain why I did not feel especially tired. It’s a long time to be out there but I can’t have been going very hard. From the quarry we took a bus back to the parking area where they had a finish line party in progress. Except that there wasn’t much left of it by the time I got there. I had a bowl of soup (no non meat options but I fished out the sausages) and a beer. Then I drove back to my hotel and enjoyed the donut I had saved for the occasion.

In the evening I decided to go to Popeye's, which meant deliberately eating meat for the first time this trip. I wanted to try their chicken sandwich because it has achieved certain notoriety: firstly I've heard that people are prepared to queue for hours to get hold of one and secondly there was recently a murder in a Popeye's car park following an altercation over queueing. At this suburban Durham location there were about 15 cars at the drive-thru, which meant that the cars were blocking a lane of the highway, the seating area was packed and there were plenty of folk who had gotten out of their cars and were lining up to order. I think the secret to the popularity is that the chicken batter is made from the same ingredients as krispy kreem donuts.

I have a few observations about American marathons as opposed to ultras (which even apply to 50 km ultras which in all honesty are not much longer). 1. Nobody walks in marathons until they are reduced to walking through fatigue whereas in all ultras Americans appear to feel obliged to walk as soon as the terrain turns uphill even slightly. 2. Marathon runners are not as friendly as ultra runners. They don’t chat. Ultra runners always chat. 3. There is no food or only engineered food (gels, chews etc) at marathon aid stations. I prefer a pb&j, M&Ms or at least a banana. But the marshals and aid station folk are just as over-the-top enthusiastic, whether it’s a 5km or an ultra.

The next day I did a hike along another stretch of the Eno and saw lots of squirrels.