Pumpkin Holler 25k

I've wanted to run Pumpkin Holler for a while but it has never worked into my race schedule. I was excited to build my fall training block around it as one of my races this year. They do training runs so you can go out and get a feel for the course ahead of time. I would have liked to run it to get an idea of the course, but it's an hour and 15 minute drive and it didn't seem worth making that drive and back just for a training run so I never did. I had heard it was similar to the Walnut River Gravel Run so I was expecting gravel roads, some in terrible condition, and mostly smaller hills. Looking at the elevation map there were a couple giant looking hills, but I know hills can look really big when the rest of the course is relatively flat just due to comparison. Spoiler alert, that was not the case here! I'd say in comparing the Walnut River Gravel Run to this race, the gravel roads on this course were way nicer but there were a lot more hills and the hills were much longer and steeper. This course had a lot of shade where the Walnut River Gravel Run did not.

I was able to sleep in until 7am and had time to do yoga while getting ready for the race. I was a bit bummed the race didn't start until 10am because it was supposed to be a pretty warm day, but it was nice to sleep in and have plenty of time to get ready. I decided to eat overnight oats before the race but wasn't hungry as I was getting ready so I ate them in the car on the way there. I enjoyed the drive there and back because I was at the tail end of an audiobook I was enjoying and ended up finishing on the way home. I got to the race and stopped off for a quick restroom break, did one set of dynamic stretches, and then walked over to wait for the pre-race briefing. A lady came over and started talking to me about the race. Not sure if I looked official in my race team singlet or if she scouted me out as her main competition. I didn't know much about the course since I had never run it before but I shared what I knew from reading the course information on the website. She took off to do some warm ups or something and I talked to a friend from Turkey Tuesday who was there to crew for a friend doing the 100 miler.  He said the hills aren't too big but there is a really steep one around 4.5 miles. That was the big one I'd seen on the elevation map.

At the race start I saw the woman again, her name was Alice, and we chatted while we waited for the race to start. She asked what my time goal was and I told her I didn't really have one. She said she was aiming for 5:30 per kilometer. I entertained myself for the first portion of the race trying to determine what minute per mile pace that was, I finally decided it was around 8:30-8:45 pace. I was a bit off! We took off at the start and she said, "This is going to hurt." That wasn't even on my mind, to be honest. I was just planning to run hard and have fun. She went out pretty fast and I hung back and did my own thing. The first almost mile was on a paved road and then the rest of the race was on gravel roads. I took off at what felt sustainable and was shocked when my first mile split was 7:38. That was definitely faster than I expected, but I felt good so I kept trucking along. I passed Alice a bit after the mile mark and told her good job. The first few miles were all gentle, rolling hills. There were 2 guys running close in front of me and then another 2 further ahead. The guy closest to me, I'd start to pass and he'd speed up and I'd end up behind him again. He was scuffing his feet a lot as he ran and kept kicking rocks up as he was going so I always gave him a wide berth when I went around him. Finally around the 4 mile mark I passed him and after I did he fell down. I checked on him and he was fine and back to running. I think he just wasn't picking his feet up enough as he ran. I passed another guy shortly after him. At 4.5 we went up a hill that was steeper than the others, but still not bad. I was hoping that was the big hill but didn't really believe it. Miles 2-5 were 7:40, 7:37, 7:56, and 7:55.

The further we ran past 4.5 miles without a big hill, the more I started wondering if maybe that was the big hill. Then I made it close to 5 miles and I could see a monster hill looming ahead. I knew the 10 mile turn around (which was actually 5.5 miles because it was long at 11 miles) was at the top of the hill. A friend in the 10 mile came running back down the hill and cheered for me which was nice. The longer I ran up the hill, the more I wondered if it would ever end. I really started regretting those 7:40 miles at the start of the race and wished I'd held back a bit at the beginning. Later I found out from one of my friends who does the race every year that the hill is actually 3/4 of a mile long. I was guessing at least half a mile. I finally crested the top and it flattened out, only to see a photographer stationed at the top. I felt like I was barely moving, but I smiled anyway. I was hoping we'd stay elevated so I wouldn't go down the hill and then have to come back up it after the turn around, but no such luck! I was gaining on the guy ahead of me and was getting excited to have someone to run with, but he was in the 10 mile and turned around at the top of the hill. Mile 6 was way slower, thanks to that hill, at 8:37. 

Finally at the top of the hill!

We ran 2.5 miles out past that aid station. The next aid station was at a smidge under 8 miles. Miles 7 and 8 were 8:11 and 8:13. I was having a hard time bringing my pace back down after that hill and it was really starting to warm up. I was also struggling to stay in a race mindset since I was running all alone. When I got close to the turn around I saw there were 2 men ahead of me and I was running in 3rd overall. I was on my way back after the turn around and saw Alice in 2nd place female position. I looked down after cheering for her and crossing paths and I was at about 8.4 miles so I figured I had almost a half-mile lead on her and assumed that was about a 4 minute lead. I tried using that as motivation for myself. I told myself I had a 4 minute lead and she was running 8:30 pace so I had to stay at 8:30 pace or under so she wouldn't chip into my lead too much. That worked fairly well and gave me something to work with as I got tired. Miles 9 and 10 were 8:00 and 8:35. Then it was time for the monster hill again. I told myself no matter what pace I was running, it was faster than walking so I just kept pushing up it. My pace felt absurdly slow, but I just kept putting one foot in front of another and finally crested the top. That mile was 9:39 and I told myself my lead had a minute chipped off it, so I needed to get back down to pace. It was nice that once I hit the 10 mile turn around, I started passing 10 mile runners which kept me from being all alone.  

I really started struggling. I was getting tired and hot. The shade had been really great for the most part but the last few miles had more and more sections without shade until I got to the last 3 miles and there was no shade at all. Mile 12 was 8:57 and then the shade was gone. My mantra became, make it to the pavement because I knew once I made it to the paved road, I had about a mile to go. Miles 13 and 14 were 8:29 and 8:43. We hit the pavement and I got excited that I was almost done. When I went around a couple guys running together, they said they thought I was a car because I was moving so fast. That made me laugh which was an appreciated reprieve. I definitely didn't feel like I was moving very fast though. Mile 15 was 8:17. I spent most of the last mile passing 10 mile runners. When I came toward the finish, one of the 10 mile runners started to sprint against me so I took off sprinting and crossed the finish line before her. Lots of people thought we were the top 2 female finishers in the 25k. She told everyone she was in the 10 mile. It was just fun to have someone to race against at the finish so I was glad she decided to go with me. My last 0.84 was 8:04 pace. I wish I knew what my finishing kick was! I knew the race was going to be long and expected it to be more like 16 miles so I was glad to be done in under 16 miles!

Carter had a soccer game at 1:30 so I got some water, changed my clothes, and headed out so I could make it home for at least the 2nd half of the game. I finished the race at 12:15ish and was back in Tulsa at the YMCA right as the 2nd half of his game started. I enjoyed the race. I will definitely go out a bit slower if I do this race again in the future. This is one I might contemplate doing the 50k at one year. The 25k showed 975 feet of elevation gain so the 50k would definitely have significantly more elevation gain than the Walnut River Gravel Run I did, but the gravel roads were much nicer and there was a lot more shade, so it may even out a bit. I finished the 25k in 2:11:21, an average of 8:18 pace for the 15.84 mile race. I was 3rd out of 58 overall, 1st of 38 females, and 1st of 5 in my age group. Thanks to the softer surface and struggling to stay in a race mindset, I was sore the day of the race but already felt fine the following day and was able to run my speedwork the Wednesday after just fine. There were a lot of dead leaves off to the side of the course and I could feel myself struggling a bit with breathing and my nose burning the further I got into the race. I ended up having some terrible allergy pressure going on a couple days later and ended up getting a migraine because of it. Overall the race was a blast and I would definitely do it again!