Swimrun NC 2022 race report
We love this race, and signed up for it in January, before we knew whether we were going to qualify for ÖTILLÖ World Champs. Once we were invited to WC, and accepted, that was our sole focus for months, with swimming and running taking over our lives. Then the race happened. And then a week of vacation in the Arctic Circle. And then finally back home, where we had to go back to the real world, and figure out what we'd been neglecting this year. And we remembered that we still had two races left in 2022!
The training for WC was intense, and we absolutely needed a break after the race. We didn't stop running and swimming, but the volume in Training Peaks went way down, some runs were replaced by strength workouts, and if we didn't feel like doing a workout.. we didn't. Which means we rolled up to the start line of Swimrun NC having no idea how prepared we really were. We had built a large base. Did we still have any of that? Did we care? No, we did not. We were just excited to see each other and so many of our swimrun friends again, and go play in waterfalls.
The air temps this year on race day were forecast to be a little warmer than last year, and the water temps less frigid. That means lows in the upper 40s, highs in the low 70s, river temps in the upper 50s, lake temps in the lower 60s. Last year we wore our warmest suits, the Ornö X, with sleeves.
This year we both brought the ARK Ornö X, but ultimately decided on race morning to wear the less insulated Utö, no sleeves. (Trista started in minimal gloves, because of her Raynauds.) I'll just go ahead and say: we did not regret this decision. And we never cabbed down, even though maybe we would have been more comfortable a few times if we had. But we're also pretty lazy, and that's a LOT of effort.
After 13 portapotty trips and a billion photos, we headed to the start line, going straight back to the back, where we are most comfortable. Or, as Trista yelled loudly to Kristen as we headed out as the sweepers for the shake-out run the day before, "WE LIKE IT IN THE BACK." (So inappropriate. So very loudly inappropriate.)
When the race started, evidently some people headed out at a sub-6 minute mile pace. I feel like I should clarify that.. we did not. I know, you weren't sure. But we didn't. We decided to let somebody else win, so we let others lead out the pack.
We started out nice and chill on the gravel road, and then slowed even further down when we got to the trail. I felt like there was less walking in this first section this year, which actually may mean we were a little further up in the field when we got there this year. I say that based on having more people around us than usual for the whole race this year.
We actually had.. pretty much the same people around us nearly the whole race. Bernard and Monica, and Heather and Ted both settled in behind us for the beginning of the trail, then pulled around us when we walked to deal with our first gel, but we'd see both teams repeatedly for the rest of the race, as they passed us on the runs and we passed them on the swims. Fun to cheer each other on!
As far as nutrition goes, we didn't actually talk about it ahead of time. I think we both brought ~10 gels, which is enough for a 5 hour race if you take a gel every 30 minutes, and your race is 5 hours long, neither of those things being based in any sort of fact or discussion. We had no idea what our previous times were, and we didn't talk about our nutrition plan.
When we got to 30 minutes, we finally talked about it. And we.. did not want to take a gel. When you do a 13.5 hour race and take a gel every 30 minutes, you get tired of taking gels every 30 minutes REAL FAST. And you don't get over it very soon. So we decided to settle on taking a gel every 40 minutes. Because while that math isn't as easy, it's doable.
I say it's doable, but I don't think we nailed that schedule. I think we stuck to it for 2 gels. Then we missed one. Then we were kinda all over the place for a few gels, taking them too late or not at all. Then we ended up taking like 3 all at once, with 10 minutes between each. Because that's how we do. ***Team Shitshow***
We made our way through the beautiful majestic trees full of Fall foliage, over the streams, past Sexy Rock, and into the area where things start to get a little drippy and dark.
And then our favorite part!
The waterfalls never, ever disappoint, and almost as good as the wonder of OUR first time through was getting to see the wonder through other peoples' eyes.
The pictures are amazing, but even they don't really do it justice.
The section of the run between the tops of the waterfalls and the lake isn't quite as magical, so we did briefly ponder just DNFing and spending the rest of the day doing Waterfall Repeats. Ultimately we decided we'd soldier on, though.
Especially because it was almost time to FINALLY SWIM! The run sections in this race are so long, you forget that eventually you get to swim.
As we approached the lake aid station, we finally put on our swim caps and goggles, got our paddles onto our hands, and fished out the tether to finally tether ourselves up. We hadn't bothered on the first run.
One of my favorite moments at this lake aid station was when Trista tried to use her giant paddle hand to pick up a tiny cup of water, and almost knocked over a box of 20 tiny water cups.
Then the short swim, short run, longer swim, short run, short swim, short run, longer swim circuit! Two identical loops.
My brain basically shuts down when running, so I had completely forgotten that Meredith was going to be at the longer swim entrance. We were so excited when we ran up and she was yelling for/at us!
She told Trista that the place she was getting into the water was slippery, and that she was going to fall on her ass, and then immediately Trista fell on her ass. It was beautiful.
The only other notable thing I recall from this first round of swimming was how many people we passed in the water. This is a runner's race, and it's humbling to be a not-as-strong runner in a runner's race, but it IS fun to pass back some of those runners who aren't quite as strong in their swimming.
Also the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Maybe the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man?
The water was chilly but not anything like last year, entirely tolerable, and we came out of the water to begin the Moore's Wall climb significantly less frozen than last year.
As we ran out along the lake's edge, a guy came BARRELING toward us at top speed. At first we thought he must have dropped something and was dashing back to pick it up. But then his partner flew by, as well. And then ANOTHER team came in hot behind them. And we realized this must have been the two front teams.
This is our third time doing this race, and we've NEVER seen anyone coming back as we're going out. The out and back parts split immediately after this, and a combination of them being so fast and us being marginally faster than normal meant we got to see some really speedy teams briefly! I'd say it was inspirational, but actually it was just EXHAUSTING to think about. They didn't look like they were having as much fun or making as many bad puns as we were. (SURE, they got money at the finish line, but whatever. Our puns are equally profitable.)
And then up up up!
640 "stairs" to get to the top of Moore's Wall. For very cruel values of "stair". Ledges. Stone cliffs. Insurmountable climbs for little nubby corgi legs. Endless.
I pulled Trista (not literally, just inspirationally) up this section, knowing that she was going to have to hang back on the technical downhill coming down Moore's Wall. I even warned her that I felt like my recent lack of much trail running left me a little clumsy and also risk-averse, so I was going to do what I could, and she should do what she could, and if we got a little distance between us (LEGAL AMOUNTS), not to worry about it. I was going to do what felt safe for me.
We did most of the climb alongside our friends Leah and Carolyn of Team BTB, who we'd leapfrogged with a few times already.
Once we got to the top, we got our mandatory bracelet, our very welcome cup of water, and took our mandatory scenic photo! Unfortunately we were both too braindead to do anything clever, so we just got a standard picturesque team shot.
And then it was time to descend!
I felt like I didn't do TOO bad on the descent, but again maybe because we were further up in the field this time, we didn't pass as many people, and we got passed by some STRONG descenders, including Team Heather and Mr. Heather, and Team BTB, who were just eating up that downhill like it was flat pavement. Trista was an amazingly patient teammate, as always, and didn't try to pressure me into going at a pace that I felt was unwise or unsafe.
At least until we got down off the main descent! Once things flattened out, we ended up in the middle of a train of teams (Dirty Bananas ahead of us, Cabo Wabo behind us; we love asking peoples' names and team names during races!), and despite the fact that our goal was clearly stated to be having fun and enjoying our off season, Trista was RUNNING WAY TOO FAST. I figured she'd burn out pretty quickly and we'd settle back into "plodding run forever" pace, but no! She just kept pushing!
I was having to work to stay with her, and even then there was a gap between us, and I didn't have enough workable oxygen to do my usual obnoxious chatter. Just a desperate, "HEY. You're looking REALLY PEPPY, I must say! WHY, fortheloveofgod."
But I wasn't DYING, just having to WORK, and I decided as long as I wasn't pushing so hard I was tripping over things, and as long as I didn't feel like I couldn't maintain the pace, I'd just go with it. SURELY SHE WOULD TIRE EVENTUALLY, and we could resume half-assing our race like we planned.
But she pepped us all the way back to the lake, where finally we got to take a break from her run lark, and do some more swimming!
As we passed the main lake aid station, we came across Bernard and Monica! Yay! But then they asked if we had spare goggles, because the nose bridge of Monica's had snapped. Boo!
Unfortunately we didn't have extra goggles, but Trista recommended that they ask everyone they passed if they had any, because maybe they'd get lucky.
When we got to the short swim, we all entered the water together, and as we went to breathe left, we saw Bernard swimming with his head out of the water and his goggles on his forehead. We were laughing so hard we could barely swim, and when we got out, we gave him a lot of shit for being such a supportive team player that he ALSO swam without his goggles, even though his were perfectly functional, and there was no reason for him to not use his, and lots of reasons for him to use them!
We hoped maybe Meredith might be carrying a spare pair, as we got to the first round of the long swim for this iteration, but alas no. They were just going to have to get through this long swim however they could.
As we got out of that swim, I suggested we have David the announcer put out a call for anyone with spare goggles, and Trista immediately yelled out asking him to announce it. (I'm the ideas person, Trista is the people person. I'm taking credit for the idea, even though she was probably already asking before I said anything to her.)
As we headed back out for loop 2, we heard David ask, and it sounded like maybe he immediately found someone to help out! We crossed our fingers they'd have some goggles for their last loop, and went to complete our own last loop uneventfully.
And then only one last long run left! Which sounds like we're near the end, but we already knew this was a LONG run, and not always my favorite one.
First we headed out the opposite direction from the start line, to do a little waterfall lollipop loop. I have a love-hate relationship with parts of this course, and this is one. On the one hand, it has a terrible uphill coming back in. And a set of STAIRS that just seems wholly unnecessary. And it's one of the most technical and unrunnable sections very briefly. But on the other hand, waterfalls! And swinging from trees! And scaling the edge of a really sketchy boulder!
AND Trista fell, which rarely happens, and since she didn't get hurt, it was a delight! Usually I'm the faller. It was just her feet coming out from under her on a really loose dirt supersteep downhill and landing on her butt, but I was really proud of her. Good fall, teamie!
On our way back up the lollipop stick, and that terrible hill, we got to appreciate that we were not in any way the last people out there! Still lots of teams coming out as we headed back in! It was a nice feeling. Even if probably most of them were going to pass us on that last run, which we still had ~4 miles to go.
And that whole last run section is another love-hate for me. It's pretty much the same trail we come out to the lake on, but now you're more tired, and it skips the fun waterfalls, and the lighting is dappled and weird and messes with your vision, and there's a lot of rocks and roots, and there's nobody else around that means you can set your pace off someone else. Yes, it's beautiful, but it's also a little treacherous, and INTERMINABLE. We joke about that last 4 miles being like 10 miles.
We were also particularly shitshowy on this run. On top of Trista's ass-fall into the water earlier, and her ass-fall in the waterfall loop, she was also having one of her ankles turning a lot, to the point where her ankle was touching the ground. NOT a fun feeling, and once it starts, it just keeps happening. And then I started having ankle turning problems, too, AND had one almost-fall where I caught myself before doing a full Superman, only to pitch forward again and go off trail into the woods and ultimately managed to catch myself a second time. But the whole thing seemed to take 30 seconds, and was very loud, and probably sounded like we were being attacked by a moose. When Trista turned around to see WHAT WAS GOING ON BACK THERE, I was way off the trail, looking at her innocently with wide, wild eyes, my heartrate out of control. She's like "You didn't yell that you were fine AS you were falling, like you normally do!" and I replied "I'm still not sure if I am!" Took me a few minutes to get my breathing and heartrate back under control after that.
One way we killed time during this interminable last run was I made a proposal to Trista about our finish line move. We had had a few very, very lofty ideas for the finish line, but we'd practiced them the night before, and they were NOT doable without injuring ourselves and maybe others. So we fell back on one of the ideas we have had in our back pockets, in case we ever couldn't come up with something else. This was that moment! It felt a little lame, but it was better than nothing.
During the last swim, I'd come up with a way to maybe liven it up a little, by getting other people involved. Trista was on board, the only problem being.. we needed other people. And the end of the race was getting ever closer, and there were no other people around.
Fortunately Bernard and Monica then ran up on us! As they got close, I said "Hey, once you get to us, slow down for a second so we can tell you The Plan." We asked them to participate, and asked them to maybe let Kristen know, so she could spread the word, when they saw her. And to let Marcus and Kawika, who usually both film our finish line antics, that one should film and the other should participate, and also get others to participate. It was all coming together!
And then we released them to go on and kick our asses getting to the finish line.
In the last few miles, Team BTB, who we'd passed back in one of the swims after they decimated us on the Moore's Wall descent, passed by us again. This felt very familiar, as the same thing happened last year in the last miles, with a team who could out-run us, but that we could out-swim. We both knew the plan without saying anything. We let them pass us, because they ARE faster than us, and we don't want to burn enough matches to pass them back AND stay ahead of them. And then we hope that when we get to that last swim, we have enough time to pass them back before the finish line!
We have no delusions that we're battling it out for the win. We were the last two female teams out there, for all we knew. But it's fun to have a little competitive spirit back in our neck of the woods sometimes, especially since we knew they'd been pushing to pass us back, and were also just out having fun.
And then it turned out that they had mostly used their amazing downhill skills to catch us, and once they passed us they settled into a pace we could hang pretty near. So we just ran our sustainable pace and kept them in view, exchanging encouraging words and quips when we'd get close to each other.
At one point Trista asked if we should tell them the plan. I assumed she meant the plan where we keep them close and then pass them in the swim for the win, and I'm like "WHY would we tell them the plan, Trista?! Part of the plan is that they don't know the plan!"
She clarified she meant the finish line antics plan. So they could be part of it.
Oh.
We still didn't tell them the plan, though, because we weren't in chatting range that at moment.
After what felt like 72 hours, we got to the river, and started heading upriver, away from the finish line. So cruel. We knew this upriver part felt like forever, but we also knew we were pretty close to the last swim, so we started putting our swimcaps and goggles back on. We never tether on this last swim, so I stowed the tether in my suit and we zipped our wetsuits back up. C&L were decidedly NOT doing that, and I briefly thought maybe I should call out that they might want to start prepping for that last swim! Then my very meager competitive spirit reared its tiny head and said, "Hey, we might need those few seconds!" and we kept quiet.
They did finally realize how close to the water they were, and started suiting back up as they got their final bracelet from the volunteer, but we were ready at that point, and we waded in and started swimming immediately.
And this swim is so ridiculous! It was definitely cold, but there's just so much going on, you don't even have time to feel cold. Because the water is INCREDIBLY shallow, and you're busy trying to not scrape your hands on the bottom, often doing a sculling motion on the top of the water rather than doing a real stroke. Trying not to bottom out and scrape up the front of your wetsuit. Trying to find the deepest channel through. I stayed as close behind Trista as I could, figuring if she beached herself, maybe I could zig or zag to a deeper part before I also beached myself.
The reality is, though, that if you try to stop and assess anything at all, you can't stop. The current is so strong, it just keeps dragging you downstream, whether it's deep enough to do so or not. So you just have to keep flopping forward. We never walked or stood, and only had one place where it was almost unswimmably shallow for a second.
I tried to glance over at the boat dock as we zoomed by, or listen for drones when I sighted, but I never saw any evidence of Marcus, like we did in the last swim last year. I hoped that meant they were at the finish line, ready to do our finish line move up real big!
As we came around a bend, we could suddenly see the swim exit, and we started trying to angle that way. Not easy against the current! And with some shallow ridges in the water that want you to stand up too early.
We managed to get our feet under us, and after a few tries I slid my way over to the shore, and very gratefully got a hand up from David the announcer, who was Team Adorkable's biggest fan all day, and so much appreciated. We got some announcer hugs, then trudged up those terrible last stairs to the finish line!
I hoped we'd come over the rise and see like 30 people in a row ready for us. But there .. wasn't. Sad trombone!
But Bernard and Monica were right there, waiting for us, and they very kindly helped us perform our finish line move for Swimrun NC 2022! Which would have been more impressive if it had been 30 people, but 4 people is still twice as good as if it had just been the 2 of us!
We had such a fun race, and as a bonus, we learned that our residual fitness from World Champs was good enough to get us 5th place women's team! Which is exactly the place we got last year, but we were significantly faster this year!
2019: 5:33
2021: 5:11
2022: 4:59
Finally sub-5! Not a formal goal, since we didn't even look up or know our previous times until afterward, but a nice accomplishment!
We also sometimes end up as last finishers (not counting WC, where we were THRILLED to be almost-last finishers), so it was nice to find out we were firmly midpack this race, 37 of 72 overall, and 5 of 11 women's teams. (We did edge out Team BTB on that last swim, but we know they'll push harder on the run next time so they can get the win.)
Overall it was just a really fun race, a great day, and such a fun weekend. We got to see so many friends, make so many new friends, eat ice cream, spend an evening on the couch with our SpamFikas watching the ÖTILLÖ World Champs video with each other in person, and doing a fun post-race hike the next day.
(Poor Team Envol SpamFika were great friends and tried to go back and get video of us out on the race course when they were done, but misunderstood where we were, so missed us completely and waited out at the lake for a long time, while were cursing their names at the finish line because they had the car with all our warm clothes and our phones, and we had no idea where they were. We take back most of the things we said when we were tired and cold, boys.)
This race continues to be one of our very favorites, and while the fabulous race directors are taking a well-deserved break next year, we will be the first ones signed up for Swimrun NC 2024 when registration opens.
Team AdorkaFika at the actual Hanging Rock the day after the race.
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