Mt. Nebo Bench Trail Race

On Saturday December 16, I went out to Mt. Nebo for the 4 mile Bench Trail Race.  The race was to take place along the bench trail which runs around Mt. Nebo. 
The weather forecast was looking pretty good for the race. The rain from the previous evening had moved up and the cloud cover was going away as I made the driver out there.  However, when I got closer to Nebo, the clouds were still hanging over.

The drive up the “mountain” was interesting with the dense fog and the switchbacks. I was planning on riding up Nebo with my bike after the race, so this gave me a great chance to see what I was getting into.
I arrived at the check in where it was still dense fog and cold.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, which brought a pretty good chill to the air.  The start to the race was about 1/4 mile downhill from the check-in.  They had a truck and trailer available to shuttle people down.  I decided to take the truck down that way I could at least save my legs a little.  The grade downhill to the start is around 18%, so I would rather warmup closer to the start.

The start area was located on the bench part of the mountain, so that area was fairly flat.  It allowed for a good warmup.  At the time, I was still wearing long sleeves, but could tell that the air was warming with the cloud cover moving off.  Also, this area had significantly less wind. 
The start was a road start and went down the road a 1/4 mile before hitting the trail.

I know my problem with a lot of races is starting off quickly.  I’ve been trying at the beginning to allow some of the crowd to pass, so that I can allow myself to settle into my own pace. They described the elevation before the race and it looked something like this.

I was moving along the first mile getting there in about 6:40.  It was probably a little fast, but hey this a 4-mile race, it’s best to push hard.  The second mile didn’t feel too bad, but I could tell my hip flexors were a little tight and my legs were a little heavy.  I was still felt really good however.  My second mile was a 7:22.  Going into the third mile is when I was really starting to feel it.  The uphill section was a more of killer than I thought!


This Hurts

 


Smile!

At that point, I could really feel myself dragging, but knowing the end of was near I was going to fight.  Heading into the final mile, I started to feel a side stich coming on.  I had noticed that I wasn’t breathing effectively about half way through the race and this came back and bit me.  I was going to push through the pain and make it to the end.  Plus, I had someone behind me and I wasn’t going to let her pass! 

To the finish

You shall not pass!

I ended up with a time of 28:50 which ended up with a 15 overall placing and 3rd in my age group.  Some takeaways from this race are the following, practice breathing and start working on some more temp runs.
Overall, this was a great race.  The trail was wide and not technical at all.  The race shirt was great and the age group prizes were beer glasses, so you can’t beat that.  They also gave us Christmas ornaments that said 2012 Mt. Nebo Bench Trail Race which was a nice touch!  The after race food was some chili and potato soup which made for a nice meal before I started my ride!