Whiteface Vertical K
My wife and I left home at 6:30 in the morning on July 9 to make it in time for the start of the Whiteface Mountain Vertical K Race located just outside of Lake Placid,NY. As we approached, the clouds opened up and it started to rain and thunder.
The race directors delayed the start of the race for an hour hoping for a break in the weather and it happened. The race started promptly at 11 am.
I should preface this report with the fact I find this race a killer. It starts at the base of the mountain and culminates at the summit, a mere 2.5 miles but climbing 3,300 feet. Last year, it chewed me up and spit me out and I was determined to not let that happen again. This year I enlisted the help of EN and got a 16 minute PR.
The weather had a big impact on the day. At the start of the race, the weather was comfortable but the humidity was rising quickly. My pace was good and I could feel a good race was developing and then I hit the 2nd half of the race. At this point, I was doing a lot of climbing on all 4s. The course had gotten extremely muddy and the rocks were very slippery as well. In fact, as I was traversing some pipes, my foot slipped and became lodged between 2 rocks, which I quickly ripped out tweaking my ankle and big toe.
As I crested the top, storm clouds were rolling in and the temperature dropped into the 50s. The guys manning the finish line were all bundled asking if I needed anything. No offense to other RDs, but these guys were extremely nice and accommodating. I rarely see this kind of friendliness at a finish line.
I felt so good at the top of Whiteface! My race plan was spot on and corrected my deficiency, climbing. I'm not sure if it was the thin air or the euphoria of getting my PR but I felt like I was on cloud nine. After filling my water bottle and having half of a PB&J I headed back down. My wife asked if I wanted to take the gondola down but I decided to run back down the mountain. The weather was poor but I thought it was a beautiful day.
I've decided to write this last section to give the reader an idea about trail running but cannot emphasize enough that this was not part of the race but was seen on my sojourn back to base. On one of the side trails, I saw a chewed up deer carcass and bear tracks. Clearly this race will put you in touch with nature. I'm not sure if there was a correlation, but I decided to pick up the pace and to never mention this to my wife because my Whiteface Vertical Race days will be over. Lol
The race directors delayed the start of the race for an hour hoping for a break in the weather and it happened. The race started promptly at 11 am.
I should preface this report with the fact I find this race a killer. It starts at the base of the mountain and culminates at the summit, a mere 2.5 miles but climbing 3,300 feet. Last year, it chewed me up and spit me out and I was determined to not let that happen again. This year I enlisted the help of EN and got a 16 minute PR.
The weather had a big impact on the day. At the start of the race, the weather was comfortable but the humidity was rising quickly. My pace was good and I could feel a good race was developing and then I hit the 2nd half of the race. At this point, I was doing a lot of climbing on all 4s. The course had gotten extremely muddy and the rocks were very slippery as well. In fact, as I was traversing some pipes, my foot slipped and became lodged between 2 rocks, which I quickly ripped out tweaking my ankle and big toe.
As I crested the top, storm clouds were rolling in and the temperature dropped into the 50s. The guys manning the finish line were all bundled asking if I needed anything. No offense to other RDs, but these guys were extremely nice and accommodating. I rarely see this kind of friendliness at a finish line.
I felt so good at the top of Whiteface! My race plan was spot on and corrected my deficiency, climbing. I'm not sure if it was the thin air or the euphoria of getting my PR but I felt like I was on cloud nine. After filling my water bottle and having half of a PB&J I headed back down. My wife asked if I wanted to take the gondola down but I decided to run back down the mountain. The weather was poor but I thought it was a beautiful day.
I've decided to write this last section to give the reader an idea about trail running but cannot emphasize enough that this was not part of the race but was seen on my sojourn back to base. On one of the side trails, I saw a chewed up deer carcass and bear tracks. Clearly this race will put you in touch with nature. I'm not sure if there was a correlation, but I decided to pick up the pace and to never mention this to my wife because my Whiteface Vertical Race days will be over. Lol
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Comments
Patrick,
My next race is a trail run on 8/21 called Lucifer's Crossing (6.66 mile) and then the following week is Rev3 Old Orchard Beach Olympic (8/28)
Btw, I tried looking for the EN tent in Lake Placid on Sunday. One of these days, we will catch up. However, I did see many EN folks tackling the run course. They looked extremely strong on what seemed to be a hot and humid day.