the uwharrie 100

Myself and two (2) friends, Mike Lawson and Tony Riggs, set out in July of 2018 to complete our first 50 miler at the MMTR 50. We went on to complete the MMTR 50 in November of 2018. That race lead us to believe we could work our way up to complete our first 100 miler. What were we thinking? 2019 would become the year of the buckle with completing the Roanoke Double Marathon in April and the UROC 100K in May. The Uwharrie 100 would complete the series we set out for if we could muster through it before the 36 hour cutoff.

We selected our 100 and decided to register for Uwharrie early in case the race filled up.  On January 23, 2019 we knew our fate come October 19, 2019.  This set us on a path of training for the next several months.  We strategize along the way during events or chatting with veteran 100 mile runners and we would always get the same answer once we told them we were going to attempt The Uwharrie 100 as our first.  The answer was, “hmmm, that’s a good one”.  It was determined what they were talking about more than halfway thru loop three (3) of The Uwharrie 100.

The Uwharrie 100 as I experienced it….

Training went well leading up to the event with logging more than 1,000 miles on the training plan.  I felt good physically but didn’t know how to feel mentally.  I had mixed feelings leading up to race day, excited, nervous, scared, have I trained enough, have I undertrained.  All went back to trusting my coach, Justin Collins and knowing he had trained us well.

Race morning the clock went off at 4:00 AM, I was up and dressed but had forgotten my 2Toms lubricant for anti chafe back at the Start/Finish tent, aka “The Compound”, we had set up the day before.  I ate and all was complete except for applying the 2Toms.  I knew I had the quest at first arrival at the Start/Finish.  Once arriving, I made a beeline to The Compound and started to apply the 2Toms all over my groin area and back side to prevent chafing.  Quickly did I find out that I had picked up Biofreeze, which is in a similar container.  I didn’t know what to do other than apply the 2Toms and wait for the Biofreeze to play its course.  After thirty minutes or so, the process was complete and the race was started.  My race morning was not off to a very good start.

Loop one (1) started like I thought being a little fast but I finally got settled to a pace close to where I had planned. My feet began to feel the trail pain around mile 18. Loop one (1) had a completion time of 5:35:05. My feet got some relief after sitting down in The Compound to change socks and shoes. Loop two (2) had begun with a slower pace and all smiles. The feet were mostly pain free but showed back up after passing the Crossroads aid station for the second time and added some Achilles heel pain. Loop two (2) had a completion time of 6:20:59. Back out for loop three (3) with a sock change and armed with a raincoat knowing rain was on the way. Loop three (3) turned out to be more interesting with a fast hike only method with a hopeful completion time of less than eight (8) hours. Things were going great until my stomach got upset midway between the Start/Finish and Crossroads. I was hoping this was the end of that but it was not. The stomach struck again after Crossroads leading to the mighty Sasquatch climb. After this, I was thinking, this can’t be happening plus the light rain that had begun didn’t seem to be helping either. I was close to mile 50 and I knew I would dehydrate if I continued to have stomach problems. I ate some pepto chewables and caught back up to the guys. I asked them what should I do and Mike gave me a pack of nabs. I choked them down on the way to Kelly’s Kitchen. I told a volunteer I had the boo boo butt at Kelly’s Kitchen and needed something solid to eat. I scarfed down some potatoes, refilled my bottles and off I went. The rain continued and our lead man had endured all he could and chose to drop at mile 59 at Crossroads aid station. Not being able to convince him to progress, we dredged on to complete loop three (3) in 7:52:27. After a shirt and sock change, loop four (4) was hard to start, for the rain had pick up heavily and more was yet to come.

Pacers could be utilized after the first two (2) loops. Tommy Branch decided to sacrifice his 100K to stay with us for three (3) loops. Casey Vedder was our pacer as we sloshed through the water soaked trails on loop (4). The trails were running like creeks as we trekked on mile by mile. Around 3:00 AM Sunday morning the rain started to come down hard and like Forest Gump said “It rained so hard that sometimes it rained upside down”. It continued hard till 5:00 AM and stopped around 7:30 AM. Loop four (4) was completed in 7:56:02. We headed out for loop five (5) with just shoes and a shirt change. By this time both feet hurt pretty bad, both Achilles were in pain, both calves were tight, both quads were starting to feel fatigued and my lower back was achy. Jeff Nixon was the pacer for the final loop. I kept telling myself “I have to make it to Crossroads aid station”. Once there it was “I have to make it past Sasquatch and Soul Crusher then to Kelly’s Kitchen”, and so forth through each aid station. The last section from Crossroads to the Start/Finish was the worst. It has about a mile climb in the middle (Hallucination Hill) and several up and downs across 5.5 miles, takes forever. Loop five (5) was completed in 7:23:55.

We had made it, all five (5) loops in 35:08:29. We passed Sasquatch, Soul Crusher, Hallucination Hill and several other non-named hills that we named along the way, passing them all five (5) times. We managed to survive passing tropical storm Nester. I managed to survive the boo boo butt, the biofreeze mishap and endured the pain over the 35 plus hours of sleep deprivation to cross the finish relieved to have completed my first 100. And now off to the next adventure!