Pyles Running: Trilogy "Run for the Hills Trail Half Marathon" @ Mountain Institute

West Virginia Trilogy

Run for the Hills Trail Half Marathon

@Spruce Knob Mountain Institute

1st Place/Course Record

1:22:30

(1793ft elevation gain)

Strava Data: LINK

(I broke the previous course record by 8-Minutes)

From Trilogy website: "West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest is a treasure where the mountains wrap themselves around you. The highlands of the Mon are a place of solitude, choice and challenge – a place where nature prevails and where we must adapt. The landscape embodies wildness and reminds you of yesterday’s people. The West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners and The Mountain Institute welcome you to the Trilogy. Come for these special autumn runs on Spruce Mountain and take home memories you will enjoy for a lifetime."

"Welcome to the fifth running of The Trilogy, a three day stage race through the Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area . . . a run across West Virginia’s highest hill . . . a run of days with friends.

These very special runs traverse the WV Highlands and her unique landscapes. Runners who choose to experience this event will be rewarded with spectacular views of waterfalls, beautiful fall foliage, and breathtaking vistas that will be forever etched upon their hearts. Race headquarters will be The Mountain Institute’s 400 acre outdoor education facility in the shadow of Spruce Knob. Take a look at the links below to get a sense of the event which is presented by the West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners in conjunction with The Mountain Institute. Please contact us with any questions.
Adam Casseday & Dan Lehmann RD’s"

After reading that preview to the Trilogy events there was no question I would be making the 30-Mile drive from Green Bank to West Virginia's highest point at Spruce Knob to compete in Day 3 of the Trilogy "Run for the Hills Trail Half Marathon".

After a long Friday and Saturday in Fayette County for the Sticks and Stones Trail 15K we arrived back to Green Bank late Saturday afternoon and I tried to refuel better than I had the previous day. Luckily I was able to start that process with some wonderful post race food provided at Sticks and Stones and continued refueling once we got home.

The next morning I woke up feeling slightly sore in my ankles and a bit tired from racing/traveling but overall ready to make the short drive to the Mountain Institute for the race.

I arrived to the welcoming faces of race directors Dan Lehmann and Adam Casseday along with many faces I knew that would be racing or volunteering. (Most people camped out before the race so the grounds were covered with tents)

I was happy to win the 15K at Babcock the day before but I really wanted to win this race and break the course record much more so after registering and getting a sweet race shirt I relaxed in the race headquarters with other runners.

The race started off nice and quick for a trail race with Andrew Rhodes and me quickly jetting off the line over some rolling terrain (mostly hard packed dirt road) and hit an opening mile of 5:49. Right at the mile marker the course makes a left hand turn to return back to the start area through half beaten down grass fields. This was roughly what the next couple miles consisted of and although it wasn't too hilly, it was somewhat tough on my ankles as they were feeling weak at this point and I slightly kept rolling them especially on the uneven slanted sections. By the end of mile 3 we had started heading down Cardiac Hill a twisty and turning single track trail and Andrew took off. We had came through 2miles (picture below) basically together with a 6:39 mile but on the technical downs he left me big time. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill he was out of sight probably putting a good 30+ seconds on me if not more.

2-Mile Mark with Andrew closely following

(Photo by Dan Lehmann)

Lucky for me the 4th mile was pretty good footing back on grass with some covered rocks/gravel beneath the leaves which I did continue to slightly roll the weak feeling ankles. Even with the slightly rolling up terrain and two creek crossings I was able to hit a 6:27 mile which brought Andrew back into view as we headed towards the real hills of the race.

Right as we come to the start of the tough single track trail climb I had caught Andrew and was content to sit on his shoulder while we slowly worked our way up the hill. He had other plans and peeled to the side to allow/motion me to pass which I did so without making any push after passing. But even without pushing the effort I was feeling a gap starting to form behind me as I continued up the single track trail climb hitting miles 5 and 6 in 7:35 and 8:31. The toughest part of the climb was the trail had a lot of slick spots where your leg would just slide to the side of the slanted down, giving you the feeling that you could easily tumble down the side of the mountain.

But just as the technical trail climbing was starting to wear on me I came out of the woods and onto a forest service road which is my strong point in trail races so I pushed the pace down knowing this was my section to bank time on both Andrew and on the Course Record I was after. I ran the 7th mile that included the start to the FR Fire Tower climb in 6:24 (I was sub 6 before the climb up to the tower started). I continued to push up fire tower hill and reached the top at around 8:20 pace in which I still had .4 of a mile back down the steep climb until the mile marker so I pounded away and dropped that overall mile split to 7:04 with that .4 of a mile probably being close to 5-flat pace. The 9th mile included some of the down of the fire tower road, the flat of the service road, and at the last bit some up heading back to the woods but it was my fastest split of the race as I hit 5:39.

At this point I figured I had opened up the needed time to win the race and shatter the course record but in trail racing you never know what to expect or what can happen so I headed back into the single track/grass trails with my focus on driving home as fast as I could. Mile 10 and the first half of 11 were in some ways my favorite section of the course. It was mostly downhill on a really narrow dirt/grass trail with rocks and mud thrown in but for some reason it was the best I have ever felt on somewhat technical downhill running. These sections also included four barbed wire fence crossings as this was hilly farm land that held cattle. I actually caught my left hand on the first fence crossings ripping open my thumb (turned out to be more blood than deep cut as it really looks more like a scratch now). My 10th mile was 6:38 on this terrain which looking back on I'm quite proud of as it shows I'm slowly getting better coming down tough sections.

The 11th mile started with the downhill trail running but ended with a single track climb back up Cardiac (hill I struggled on coming down early in the race). This climb is no joke if fresh but at the end of a race and coming off some downhill running the legs were screaming at me as I headed up the almost 500ft climb in less than 1K of running. I was forced to quickly power hike one section about midway up when I rolled my ankle so hard on sections of roots that I heard either my ankle crack or the sound of the root snapping (either way it hurt). I limped for a few strides up the hill before putting it out of my mind and just kept going, finishing the mile in 9:19.

The last .72 of the race on my GPS was back on the grass circling around the field looking down on the finish line which I painfully (ankle) ran in 5:06 to come across the line not only in 1st Place but with a huge new course record of 1:22:30 (previous record 1:30:21).

What a day and what an event to be apart of. I look forward to hopefully many trips back to this race and maybe one day testing out the Trilogy (50K, 50Miler, and Half Marathon in 3 days).

(1st Place Prize was 1-Night stay at one of he Mountain Institute Yurts which I look forward to using for next years race and also the post race picnic was one of the best I have been apart of for post race food)