Uwharrie (URE) Marathon (2022)

Darin, Phil, and I got on the road at 5:30 am to head out to the Uwharrie National Forest for the 2022 URE Marathon—one of my favorite annual races. If you read my 2021 URE Marathon race report, and you're wondering if this same Phil and Darin from that race, the answer is yes.

The three of us made a commitment last year to come back this year and try to best our previous efforts. My goal was to run it faster than previous years and maybe earn a top-5 finish. Darin's goal was to go sub-5 hours, and Phil's goal was not to be the final finisher and possibly go sub-7 hours.

The ride to Uwharrie proved interesting as we were hydroplaning through the torrential downpours, hoping the rain would cease by the time we arrived. Our hopes were answered, and the rain stopped right as we were pulling up, but we all knew we'd be dealing with a wetter-than-usual course.

Without much time to be wasted, we got our stuff together, checked in, and were awaiting the countdown to start.

"5…4…3…2…1", and we were off!

This year's strategy was to go out a bit faster in the beginning, trying to take advantage of the rolling gravel hills during the first 5-6 miles before getting onto the singletrack. Often in races, especially hillier trail races, I'll try to conserve early and pace accordingly, trying to save as much as possible for the later miles. But not this course, as it gets more difficult and technical as the miles go on.

Darin and I were sticking together, pushing 8:00 minute miles for the first 3 miles, until we realized that the initial turnaround point for the beginning out-and-back section was a bit further than previous years. This threw a wrench into all of our goals for the race, making the possibility of a faster finish unlikely, simply due to an increase in distance (not to be outdone by all the water we were about to encounter).

We had a very important decision to make only 3 miles in—do we continue to push it and see what was possible for ourselves, or do we quit on our goals for that race and just enjoy a day of trail running.

Neither of us was slowing down, and without speaking it, we both understood that we were there to race. Time to roll with it.

Five miles in, I realized I was more than hydrated and needed to relieve myself. I told Darin I'd catch up and did my best not to let him out of my sight. I was working on getting caught up as we were approaching the first aid station around mile 6 when I realized that I didn't have my car key on me anymore. I had put it in my handheld at the beginning of the race, but somehow it had fallen out. Panic set in, and I started worrying about how much time I'd be spending post-race trying to locate my lost key. During this panic, I approached the aid station, notified the volunteers about my situation, and kept it moving. I lost sight of Darin during all of that commotion but assumed he was ahead of me on the trail, so I did my best to pick up my pace and hoped that I would catch up to him soon.

The miles were ticking away, but my mind was somewhere else. My mind was worrying about the key.

I conquered Sasquatch Scramble, overcame Soul Crusher, passing a couple of other runners in the process, and at mile 15, I decided with only 10-11 miles left that I'd stop thinking about the key and just focus on running my best race. There wasn't anything I could do from where I was in the wilderness anyway, so it was just wasted energy.

But where the hell was Darin? I thought I'd see him by now. Either he was having a great day out there, or I was confused about my position in the pack.

I made my way into Kelly's Kitchen aid station at mile 17, leap-frogging with a few other runners, who looked strong but maybe not strong enough to keep me from passing eventually. I started to think about when I'd want to make my final surge for the finish.

Coming out of Kelly's Kitchen, I saw Darin coming in. I must have passed him at mile 6 when I was freaking out about my key and just never realized it. I was relieved and stoked to see him. Relieved because he looked super game and was running a really good race. Stoked because I was further up in the top 10 than I thought. We passed each other and had a quick exchange, and both went our separate ways.

Nine miles separated me from the finish, but they weren't going to be easy. It was time to refocus, take inventory of how much gas was left in the tank, and apologize to my legs for the onslaught they were expected to sustain.

I continued to power hike all the uphills, run the flats as best as possible, and bombed every downhill that I encountered.

Upon entering the final aid station, Crossroads, I was given the best news ever. "Someone found your key!" I couldn't believe it. Thank you to the volunteer that made my day and found my key—I'm beyond grateful. This was just the energy boost I needed at that moment, so I wasted no time and took off.

The creek crossings were getting gnarly at this point. Waist-deep water, considerable currents, and unstable footing created challenges that many of us hadn't planned. These crossings were definitely slowing down the overall pack, but I'd be lying if I said that they weren't a cool addition to the adventure.

I passed another runner but was soon passed by a different runner. I climbed up Hallucination Hill, caught up to the runner who just passed me, and turned on the jets (or whatever was left of them). He lobbed some friendly words my way as I passed by, and I returned some respect.

Three miles to go.

Rolling hills, tortured quads, and sore feet.

One mile to go, and out of nowhere, another runner surged past me. He was cruising, and I started to try to keep up with him, but I realized it wasn't going to happen. However, I couldn't be sure that no one else was close behind, so I committed to not slowing down and just pushing on to the finish.

There they were—the colored flags signifying the end. I ran strong all the way through the finish line, where race director, Daniel Paige, was waiting with a smile, some good news, and my key.

I earned 6th place overall, with a finishing time of 4:40 (three minutes faster than last year, on a longer and much wetter course).

Darin wrapped up not too far behind, earning 10th place overall, going sub-5 hours, meeting his goal.

Phil finished in under 8 hours, ahead of a few other runners, achieving his goal.

It was another awesome day of racing the trails at Uwharrie with my friends and the amazing North Carolina trail running community.

Thank you so much to everyone that helped to put on this event and for all of the volunteers that showed up to make this opportunity a reality.

See you next year!