Today, I completed my 3rd Tar Heel Double Down Challenge; the double down challenge included the 4-miler before the main event, a 10-mile race, which is the featured race of the Tar Heel. Completing the challenge, of course, will get you the extra bling and bragging rights. This year, my daughter decided to join me in the fun and run the challenge. This morning, after the usual early morning breakfast, we drove to the parking event area, which was located around 3/4 miles away. Sugars were ok, a tad on the high side this time, hovering in the low-200s. Runnable but definitely not optimal, I made a small bolus adjustment, but I did not want to overdo it much as I did not want it to get a low sugar during the event. The weather was better than last year; it was a tad cooler and overcast. Once again, I took advantage of the distance from the parking area to the starting area as a walking mile warm-up.

I met with Venu from our InsaneRunning group for a quick chat. Kaleel and a few of the other InsaneRunning members were ahead of us, closer to the starting line. After that, we headed out to the pacing start area and settled down around the 10:00 pace. No plans for PR, but just have some fun. Last year, I tweaked my right knee in this event, and I am still suffering from the consequences of it.

Below is the race recap,

Miles 1-4: The Double Down and the four milers all start at the same time. Even with the wide roads, there were a lot of runners in this event, and it got very crowded. This continues to be a very popular race in the area. The plan for today was to still run a fast enough 4 miles to cross the finish line in plenty of time to beat the start cut-off, and then I could slow down and reaccess to see how to tackle the next 10 miles.

My daughter stayed with me for about 1 1/2 miles; she was accessing the event and maneuvering around the amount of people running in front of us. There were lots of mini hills, which we were able to tackle well at this time. The water stations were very crowded, and it was hard to grab fluids and keep running; I decided to skip the first one and only grab if the opportunity and space were open for me not to slow down. Similar to last year, I carried my energy drink with me for this event. Even after a couple of miles, there was a lot of zig-zagging to be able to clear my way and keep the effort ahead of the cut-off.

There was a change to the route from last year. The starting point was closer, but then, after finishing the 1st 4 miles, the runners needed to make a sharp right turn, go down a couple of stairs, and come up a short uphill before making another sharp left and back to the start line instead to just keep straight to the start line we did last year. Oh well, made for an interesting sequence. At this point, sugars were still running high; another small bolus adjustment, we will see.

Miles 5-10 (or Tar Heel 10 1-6 miles?): Runners running the double down had until 8:00 AM to cross the start line for the second time to continue with the challenge. I ran easily and was only ahead of the cut-off by just 1 minute this year.

The 1sr couple of miles were about the same as the 4-miler. I did a check on the effort after slowing down just a tad. I was feeling just ok, but now I am still hitting below the 11:30 min/mile pace. The heart rate was on the side high, which was not necessarily that bad, but keeping an eye. I still decided to adjust the pace and grab Gatorade at the water station to hydrate more.

I kept passing runners, especially during the uphills. Now, we have a combination of Double-Down runners and Tarheel 10-milers instead of Tarheel 4-milers.

Miles 11-Finish (or 6-Finish): At this time, I am continuously assessing the effort more often and adjusting; sugars are coming down but just slightly, not enough for me to feel optimal. I am still having fun as I caught up with a few friends as well as a couple of my daughter’s friends. After a few hills and turns at the water stations after 6 miles, I started to refill my bottle. By the time I was getting to the next station, I was drinking almost the whole content and still felt thirsty.

At one of the looped-out and back sections, I was able to see my daughter smiling and running very comfortably. I quickly yelled out, “COOOOKIE!!!!!” I could see her trying to figure out where it was coming from, but she could not find me. I yelled a second time as she was running away from me, heading to the big downhill, but again, it only caused her to turn to see if she was able to see where the voice came from. No luck, smiling, she continued her journey to the finish line.

Walking the water stations to keep my heart rate in control, but I also picked a couple of hills to power walk, concentrating on fast-moving walking legs. The route at portions narrowed down to single lane road, which made it a little bit crowded, causing me to switch/adjust the pace often and zig-zag a bit to move ahead of a few runners. By this time, I was only able to pass one of the pacers, compared to a couple in last year’s event, where I was performing better and was able to catch up with one of the pacers where my friend Susan is used to pace.

One longer hill at mile 9, nothing too extreme, manageable, but it did cause me to slow down considerably and had me walking most of it. After I reached the crest and into familiar scenery as the course then turned into the same course I had done earlier during the 4-miler event, I pressed the pace as I knew we were closing toward the finish line. After one last refreshing downhill, I tackled the last uphill at a solid pace. As soon as I saw the finish line, I pressed even harder. The uphill pace to finish was very strong, and I saw Bianca and Calvin soon after I crossed the finish line.

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Month/Year	Event	Location	Type	Time
Apr-24	Tarheel 4 & 10 miler: Double Down	NC	Misc	2:33:46

Highlights:

Course: 1st 4-mile loop course. It is a very popular event that, even with the ample multilane roads, could feel crowded at times. Very hilly, although challenging, not necessarily too extreme.

Then, a 10-mile loop with similar characteristics. However, there is a pesky long hill around mile 9.

Venue: At Start/finish, excellent variety and availability of food, plenty to drink, and amazing volunteers.

Expo: Packet pick-ups are run very efficiently. Multiple vendors, offering the usual items and sales.

Weather: Lots of clouds at the start, followed by somewhat overcast skies, a tad warm 61º with just over 75% humidity.

T1D: Sugars remained high throughout the event.

Fueling:

2 Maurten, Tailwind and water

Learning Points:

• Quick recovery from previous events is critical to having a decent follow-up event.
• Having fun with the crowd and spectators makes the miles go by fast.