Race Report // Conquer The Rock: Bear Crawl 25K

Race Information
Name: Conquer The Rock
Date: March 8, 2020
Distance: Bear Crawl 25K
Location: Table Rock State Park
Website link
Strava link
Time: 4:32:20

Our story starts the night before the race. I slept terribly! I had been a little nervous all week and, that night, I was very restless. This was my first very serious trail race. I had run 15.5 miles only once before, but not at that kind of elevation! (Granted, it ended up over a mile under that. That is one part of trail races that I still have to get used to.)

As soon as my alarm clock went off at 5:30AM, I hopped out of bed fully dressed. Sometimes I sleep in my running clothes if I have an early start the next day and this was one such night.

I guzzled some water, braided my hair, and made myself a peanut butter sandwich. Man, it was hard to eat that sandwich! I had to eat something, but it wasn't easy. I washed it down with a Gridlock (ALDI's monster energy knock-off). You know, breakfast of champions.

I had packed my duffle bag last night and I pulled over twice to double check on the way. Did I remember socks?!? My Nathan is in there, right?!? The night before I realized I had only two and a half scoops of Tailwind!! It's my main form of trail nutrition, so I was not happy. I supplemented with Gatorade. Also, I had plenty of other fuel to take with me.

I ended up getting to the race start around 7AM. I was wearing my Hello Kitty union suit because ya girl's gotta stay warm before the race starts! The RD asked if I would run in it. 😂

Got my bib, chip, stickers, and hat. Then I found my friend John and we chatted for a while. I felt way better after that. Just chatting with a friend about everything and nothing helps take the nerves away.

They had BibBoards at the event for us to use. I've been wanting to try them for a while so I was pretty excited to give these a go. I love my activewear and am never too thrilled to stick it with a pin. The BibBoards left my clothes unscathed!

Oh, hey, you like how I've got my top on backwards in this photo? Haha. I ended up putting my bib on my leg, and when I switched that up I realized I had my shirt backwards!

After standing around and chatting for a while, I went pee one last time before the race and when I came out of the bathroom (flushing toilets at a race, woohoo!) they were setting up for the photo. I ran over and scooted down on the side. You can see me on the bottom right holding my peace sign!

There was a quick race meeting and then we lined up!

The race started a few minutes after 8am. I wasn't mad about it because the it was first day of daylight savings time so the sun didn't rise until 7:50am.

I always try to smile for the camera! I love race pictures!

My friend John had ran ahead. And then he was like, "Catch up! Come on!" I knew I couldn't keep up with him for long because John is a much faster runner than I am. We ran together for a little bit and then he sped off. I had no problem talking a walk break up the first hill. Needed a second to recover from going out faster than I should have and also, wanted to save my endurance for when I needed it.

We ran on the road for about a mile and a half before reaching the trail head.

Shortly after passing the Table Rock nature center, we saw the race photographer again. The rest of the photos from here on out are from my phone, but I was really happy to get these couple of pics!

Mile 1 - 12:01
Mile 2 - 13:54

After two miles, things started getting pretty steep. I'm middle of the pack at best and everyone I saw was hiking at this point.

I took my first Gu. As soon as I got the first bit, I realized that I haven't had any Gu brand gel since, like 2017. I hoped it would sit well in my stomach! It was hard to get down! So thick and gelatinous. Ugh. I decided not to take my second one unless I really needed it. I had to drink a lot more than I anticipated to wash it down.

Right before I hit four miles, I took off my long sleeve top. That third mile felt so steep and so long, I was definitely warming up. But the sun was coming up behind me and things were looking so pretty! At this point, I could really tell that the Gu really helped. It was gross, but I was grateful for it. Also, I was getting pretty jealous of the people with hiking poles.

We reached Bald Knob right as my watched beeped for five miles. It was GORGEOUS and this was an incredible reward for getting this far.

Mile 3 - 19.05
Mile 4 - 20:37
Mile 5 - 22:43


After Bald Knob, the climb gets even more serious. On a map, Pinnacle mountain looks so close! But we were all just inching along. To give you an idea of the difficulty, I checked the segment on Strava. The KOM has a pace of 14:48/mi at that half-mile segment. His 5K PR is 14:43. So, yeah. It's brutal. Type 2 fun all the way!

Around mile 5.6 we summited Pinnacle Mountain. I was going to take a photo with the sign, but there were a bunch of backpackers there, so I kept trucking through. There isn't a pretty view at the summit of Pinnacle Mountain because it's not bald. I also dug my peanut butter crackers out of my pack as my reward for making it to the SECOND HIGHEST POINT IN THE STATE.

I was able to pick up the pace since I was headed downhill. I ran a long the ridge trail for a couple of miles. Always being sure to walk up the uphills, of course.

At mile 7.5, I turned onto Table Rock Trail and a couple things changed.

- Because this is an out and back section, this is where I started to see the front runners. I love out-and-back sections because everyone you pass is like, "Good job!" and "You got this!" and "Nice work, sis!" It is such a nice feeling!
- This is also where the trail started to get super technical again and, while I ran when I could, there was a bit of rock climbing going on.
- I started to see a lot more day hikers. Until this point, I had seen maybe two people who weren't in the race. But after that, I saw quite a few of them. It was a beautiful day and this is a very popular trail!

I reached Governor's Rock at eight miles. Its really an incredible overlook, but I didn't stop for photos because I wanted to keep going. And I knew I would grab a photo at the Table Rock overlook.

Mile 6 - 25:23

Mile 7 - 17:22

Mile 8 - 16:56

Half a mile later, I saw my friend John right around the Table Rock summit. (Which is the sixth highest peak in the state.)

Nine miles into the race found me at the Table Rock overlook. I took a photo for a couple guys. They took my photo. And then offered me some Skittles. Because trail runners love candy!

Then, I turned around and took off. Every second that I didn't stop was one more spot higher up on the leader board! I'm really glad that I did this course in February because the views are really spectacular.

Shortly thereafter, my sister sent me a screenshot. She was tracking me on Google maps and could see my location. So I decided to video chat her! We chatted for almost a the whole mile. Definitely made some people laugh when they saw I was video chatting. I also definitely fell on my butt during our chat. 😂

Mile 9 - 24:44
Mile 10 - 26:05

At 10.5 miles, I finished the out-and-back section. And I started seeing a lot fewer people. Honestly, even though it was impossible for me to miss any turns, sometimes I wondered if I had.

By this time, my feet hurt. The outside of my left knee was feeling not great. My right heel was starting to hurt. My body was basically wondering why I was doing this to myself.

Honestly, this part is kind of a blur. It's a steep downhill with a lot of steps and rocks. I was just focusing on keeping going.

Mile 11 - 20:13
Mile 12 - 18:20
Mile 13 - 16:00

By the time I reached Carrick Creek trail, I felt home free. I was just counting down the miles! Shortly after 13 miles, I reached the pavement again. It was a TRUDGE. It had been four hours and twenty minutes and I felt like I was inching along.

Also! I had studied the course map very thoroughly before the race and it showed us running a short loop through the campground at the start and finish. However, at the finish, the arrows indicated that I run right past the campground. I had missed something. I found out that I did not, in fact miss something, but it had me confused for a while!

When I approached the finish line, there were a handful of people cheering and ringing cowbells. And I'll tell you what, that felt so good! I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face! My friend John came over and told me how awesome I was. And then I stuffed my face with barbecue chips.

Mile 14 - 13:50
Last .31 - 15:50

FINAL THOUGHTS

I was so freaking proud of myself for completing this event. I had wanted to finish in five hours or less and I finished almost thirty minutes faster than that! I've never done such a difficult trail race. And you know what? I cannot wait to do another really difficult race! I've started doing google searches for the most difficult hikes in the area.

I'm not sure if I could have pushed it harder, but part of me feels like I could have. Though, I think that I would be in a lot more pain if I had pushed it harder. My biggest pain afterwards was my tight calves. I worked on my right foot a lot after the race and the next day, my plantar wasn't bothering me too much.

I do plan to sign up for the race next year. And I'm thinking about registering for the 50K!