Race Preview - Pilot Mountain Payback Half Marathon

Several months back, I decided to do a half marathon and saw this event - the Pilot Mountain Payback. It's the inaugural running, it's local, it's cheap, it's small (capped at 200 runners), and it's a cool trail run. There is a half marathon and full marathon (the full goes to the top of the summit!). So I bit and signed up for the half. The race was scheduled for February but was postponed due to all the snow we were having. So here we are on race eve - time for a quick preview.

I've been training all winter. Logging lots of mileage and lots of long runs. I've gotten some trail running on my feet, but not as much as I would have liked. The trails ranged from wide/flat packed dirt, to super technical, to a path in the woods. I wanted to check out the Pilot Mtn trails all winter but they kept closing them due to the wintry conditions. The race is predominantly run on the Corridor Trail which links the Yadkin River area of the park to the base of the Pilot Mtn summit. Sunday Chris and I were able to stop by and take a peek at the Corridor Trail. We were too warn out from our busy weekend to do a short run on the trail so we walked it for a few minutes. I'd have to say it is more difficult than I had in my mind. I thought this bridle trail would be more like Salem Lake or the New River Trail but in all reality it falls somewhere between Owl's Roost Trail and Claytor Lake Trail.

Two days ago we got an email from the race director with more detailed information. There were two shockers in the packet. First, the trail is an out and back (as expected) but there are 6 streams that cross the trail. When I signed up I knew there were a few water crossings, but 12 water crossings with "up to 6 inches of water" is more than I was bargaining for. (Any water crossing tips from trail runners welcome!!!). I figured I'd just go with the flow and see how others go across. The other shocker - the course is 14.50 miles instead of 13.1 miles. This prompted me to begin referring to the race as a "Half" - air quotes used when said aloud too. I already bought my 13.1 Euro magnet for my car - too bad they don't make 14.5 magnets :D. With the delayed race date, I was able to increase my mileage and increase my long runs to 15 miles which I'm very thankful for. I just wish the race director had posted that information earlier! I feel bad for any who are doing this as their first half but have not done runs longer than 12 miles.

With this information, I promptly threw out all paces, goal times, and strategies. There are no age group awards (there are only two 24&under females) and I'm sure I'm no contender for the overall female awards. My new goal: run hard, have fun, and enjoy it. The terrain is 1.5 miles of dirt road and 13.0 miles of trail with 12 water crossings and a 2,000 foot cumulative elevation gain/loss. With over 5 months of training for this under my belt, I'll be glad to check this off my race list and begin training for the other races we have signed up for this spring/summer. I'm curious to see how I'll like a trail race - I have enjoyed logging miles on the trail but races can be a different experience.