If you ever ran on a treadmill and played with the incline feature you know what the inclination percentage number is all about. I typically set it at 1 to 3 % when I train on treadmill. The Mt.Washington road race has an average inclination of 12 percent and the last stretch is around 22 percentage. I am not kidding! Doesn’t it sound brutal? Well it was. And that’s the whole point. Some treadmills don’t even have 12 percent option. They stop at 10 percent for inclination.
Even though the drive to the mountains was picturesque, waking up at 4AM and driving for 3 hours was a pain in itself. Especially if you are not used to seeing the sunrise! It’s been so long since I hit the road so early. The foggy roads and streaks of bright sun light through the trees was a thing to savor. My friend Mahesh (my ride) and I took a wrong turn somewhere in the route but managed to reach the base of Mt.Washington just in time. He was the last guy to be allowed to drive to the summit. He’s my ride (and for three other runners) downhill once the race is over.
It’s 20 minutes to the race and the green slopes, white and yellow daisies and almost clear blue sky were a true treat for any person, let alone a nature lover. Relishing the scenery, I did a quick 5 minute warm up flowed by 10 minutes stretching. Runners were all over the place looking at a Mt.Washington simulation video, stretching, and just relaxing before the race. We all gathered before the start line and the opening speech ended with “remember it’s just one hill!” and the canon went so loud that I kind of felt it in my heart. The echo from the mountains was very evident and the runners started the divine journey to the summit.
The first one mile was not very inclined but it’s the longest single hill stretch I ever ran until then. All I could hear was panting. All runners were panting so heavily that it sounded like I was in the middle of some sought of a tribal ritual. Mile one was cool and mile two was OK and then the game started to change. As I was approaching mile three I realized that I was not trained for such a mountain. My initial target for Mt.Washington was to finish the race in under 100 minutes (it’s just 7.6 miles!) or even better, under 90 minutes. Now the targets started to fade off.
Once I crossed mile mark three I was very eagerly looking for the half distance mark. I started taking many walk breaks, tried to talk myself to relax and enjoy the scenery and just keep covering the distance. My focus was to take small steps and just keep moving.
Crossing the half mark at 50 minutes was quite a relief. I thought I could finish the race in under 100. Then I went through a very unique experience, something I never felt in the past. In my previous races, no matter how hard I was running my legs listened to my mind. I would order my legs to stop and they would. In this race it seemed as if my legs separated from my body and started to develop a mind of their own. As strange as it sounds, I did not want to stop running but my legs would almost cease and go into walking mode. I was just not able to control them. Period. Damn!Instead of taking walking breaks during the run I felt like I was taking running breaks during the walk. Boy, the hill was steep! At mile 5 or so the temperature started to fall down. We were passing through clouds and I felt the chill deep in my bones. Then came the real test of the race. The clouds cleared and the visibility improved. All I could see was a long stretch of steep uphill. Just one hill and no relief in the vicinity. It was quite demoralizing and and my heart kind of collapsed and I asked "Why am I doing this again?" You know that feeling when you begin to question the very purpose of a journey. I just wanted to finish the race now. Timing and pace does not matter. Frankly, I do not even remember how I ran or walked from there to the end.
A runner was carrying a big US flag on his shoulder and I thought I should at least keep up with this guy running with such a weight. It was a liberation when I saw people on the side of the road cheering runners. It’s a sign that I am close to the finish line. I saw Mahesh with the camera and before I could enjoy the relief I saw the brutal 22 degree stretch. I wanted to run it without stopping but I was forced to walk for a few seconds. I some how managed to run the steep stretch and I was very glad to cross the finish line. My legs were in tears thanking me because I finally stopped the painful uphill conquest. The temperature was below 40 degrees and they covered me with a mylar space blanket and threw a medal around my neck. The race was over. Finally. What a relief and more than that, what an experience!
I walked around the summit, cheered runners trying to reach the finish line, and started our journey downhill once they opened the road for cars. One of the runners we offered a ride finished in 72 minutes and I did not even bother to ask the other two. We saw other runners walking and running the uphill and cheered them. One of them looked so old and beaten and that I thought he would collapse before the finish line. I checked later and he's 76 and finished the race. What can I say?
We finally reached the base camp to enjoy a massage, cold beer and hot soup. What a pleasure. Surprisingly my legs below the knees are super fine. They felt as fresh as ever and were ready to race a 10K. But the glutes, hamstrings and quads were aching. My butt never hurt so bad!
Takeaways and free suggestions:
- More training for harder races.
- Enjoy the 50 meters 3% uphill stretch during the race at mile 4. That's the flattest stretch in the entire race.
- Do not run this race. Drink a beer in a bar instead :)
More pictures here.
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