Uwharrie Mountain Run - Race Report

Uwharrie Mountain Run - Race Report

It was another glorious day in the mountains this weekend! Saturday was my sixth time at Uwharrie Mountain Run, and my third time running the race.

Previous Years at Uwharrie

I first went to the race in 2019 to volunteer at an aid station (mile 17/23). The race often sells out, and that year it had sold out within minutes. I’m a bit notorious for not being timely with my race registrations — I don’t race very often, I sometimes procrastinate (they don’t call me #LastMinuteLiz for nothing!) and sometimes I’ve got meetings and calls scheduled for when race registrations open (ughhhh 8am meetings!) So when the race sold out within minutes, and I heard that you could get priority registration for the next year if you volunteered, I signed up to hand out sodas and broth and encouragement in the middle of the woods!

That might have been my first time volunteering at an ultra, and I loved it! I could hang out in the woods all day and cheer on people doing amazing things? Yes please!

I followed that experience by doing the race in 2020, and have been volunteering odd years and racing even years ever since.

The Uwharrie Mountain Run is organized Bull City Running Co., a local running store in Durham, NC. The race runs along the Uwharrie National Trail and offers three race distances: 8 miles, 20 miles, and 40 miles. The Uwharrie National Recreation Trail was originally built by an old-time trapper's son, Joe Moffit of Asheboro in 1975 as part of a Eagle scout project for which Moffit was Scoutmaster. The trail was originally 40 miles and is fragmented now, with a 20.5 mile stretch intact in the Uwharrie National Forest. It intersects with numerous other hiking and mountain biking trails in the national forest, as well as some off-road trails, jeep roads, and various campsites.

I dove straight into the deep end in 2020 and started with the 40 miler, which starts at the northern terminus of Jumping Off Rock trailhead and heads south to Wood Run trailhead, the southern terminus and 20 miler finish line, and then turns around and returns to the start line. (The 8 miler follows the same route starting at Jumping Off Rock, but stops at the Highway 109 Trailhead). I had used the Uwharrie 40 miler as a training run for Umstead 100, which was going to be my first 100 miler but, well, we all know how 2020 turned out: Uwharrie was one of my last races before the lockdown in March, and Umstead 100 was cancelled for that year.

Me crossing the 40 miler finish line in 2020! How has it been 4 years already?! And haha awwww none of us had any idea what was coming in the next month…

Ellen coming through the 5/11/35 aid station in 2021!

Finish line photo after the 20 miler with Shannon in 2022!

The Uwharrie Mountain Run was held in 2021 but under modified conditions to minimize shuttles: the 8 milers ran north onto the Uwharrie extension trail, which is part of some attempts to reconnect the historic 40 mile trail. The 20 miler that year was modified to a 16 miler that followed the original 8 mile route as an out-and-back, while the 40 miler that year followed its normal route. I volunteered at the aid station in 2021 that is normally at mile 5/35, but that year it was at mile 5/11/35 and it was fun to see runners come through multiple times. Gosh, what a year it was as we navigated all the changes and tried to figure out how to more safely run aid stations!

In 2022 I ran the 20 miler distance. The 40 miler has a special place in my heart, but I don’t love training through November and December, and the 20 miler is such a good build-up run for a spring training cycle. In 2022 that 20 miler was a key run for my Antelope Canyon 50 miler — both runs involved me running hard for a bit too much of the race with a good (and slightly speedier) friend of mine, ha!

In 2023 I was back to volunteer at the 8 miler finish line (and the mile 8/32 aid station for the 20 and 40 milers). This area was full of non-stop action and excitement!

Pic courtesy of fellow aid station volunteer Brittany Nave!

This Year - 2024 Race Recap

And so once again an even-numbered year was upon me, and I found myself back at Uwharrie Mountain Run for the sixth time — my third time running, and once again tackling the 20 miler distance!

I had a pre-dawn start to my day carpooling with friends Raheleh and Danica from the Triangle to Uwharrie. I’ve been coaching Raheleh for a while, and both Raheleh and Danica are participants in the Fleet Feet Carrboro/Durham trails program that I coach. I sometimes struggle with early mornings, but good company makes for good mornings!

Parking and day-of packet pick-up was at the Eldorado Outpost, which at first glance is a lonely gas station in the middle of the remote forest with some wide fields for parking, but is actually a hub for information and provisions. Posters, stickers, and announcements plaster the front windows, locals in hunter orange congregate around the hot bar serving chicken biscuits and gravy, a few taxidermy heads of game line the back gabled ceiling, the last bathroom and indoor plumbing you’ll see for miles is freely available, and if you look carefully you can find a few treasures such as old-fashioned glass bottle sodas. Packet pick-up is an unassuming affair tucked in a corner of the general store, and includes a bib, a long-sleeve shirt, and a drop bag to use. (Packet pick-up is also available the night before at a hotel if you’re coming in early for the race.)

Shuttle service from Eldorado Outpost consists of school buses to the Jumping Off Rock trailhead. I’m always surprised by how bumpy school buses are (how did I ever do my homework on those things as a kid?!) and get a laugh over how my hips don’t easily fit down the narrow center aisle anymore, ha!

Maybe the bumpiness is exaggerated when I choose to sit in the very last seat, lol

These womanly trail runner hips just don’t fit down the narrow school bus aisle like they used to, lol

The start line is always a chilly affair, but fortunately there’s always a fire pit to crowd around (and a few port-a-potties if the need arises).

The start line fire pit is always popular! (This pic was from 2022)

Drop bags go into a truck at the start line, which means you can hang on to those warm layers for as long as possible — which is clutch for those particularly cold years when the water in your flasks or bladder might freeze. This year it was chilly at the start, but stayed in the 40s and 50s and sunny, perfect weather for a February trail race!

Raheleh, Danica and I found fellow Fleet Feet runner (and mentor of previous trail seasons) Tracy at the outpost, and we met up with Laurin and Jess (who also run with the Fleet Feet trails program) at the start line! It was an exciting day for many of us: Raheleh was excited for a technical and rugged challenge (she’s conquered all sorts of amazing races up to 50 miles!), Laurin was going for more technical trails and vert after a great fall season where she completed her first 50K, Jess was going for her longest distance run ever (and I think we’ve got her convinced to tackle a 50K now!) and Danica was going after her longest run ever as part of a build-up to the Black Mountain Marathon/Mt. Mitchell Challenge later this month! Ahhh I was so excited to be there with these amazing runners, many of whom I’ve been coaching leading up to this very day!

Left to right: Tracy, me, Raheleh, and Danica! Excited at the start line!

Left to right: Jess, Laurin, and me at the start line! Whoo hoo trails!

The start is always a mess as we all cram onto the singletrack trail, jockey for position, and head straight up a big climb. I filed in at the back of the line to keep things easy with Raheleh, Tracy, Laurin, and Jess (Danica went a little ahead of us to start 💪) The race starts with a big hill climb that lasts for about a mile and gains about 400 feet on some of the most technical terrain — loose rocks and a few big rock steps. It can be a glorified hiking conga line, but I didn’t feel the need to press at this point; I just enjoyed being outside, generated some warmth in the chill morning, and had some patience.

The hiking conga line!

That said, I started to get the itch to make some moves as soon as we got to the first big descent. We crested the southern peak of Dark Mountain and, ironically enough, the sun broke through the trees in a warm glow. My fingers and toes got twitchy, and the next thing I knew I was barreling down a sunny and rocky trail cheering and hollering “whoo hoo!” and “good morning!” and “great job!”

I’m sorry y’all, I can’t help it — one of my greatest joys in life is a lovely technical downhill. I’m not sure what that says about me, but I truly truly truly love just letting go and flying down a mountain. I suspect this may make me a bit of a nuisance to my fellow racers (I know at least one runner lamented about that “crazy lady” barreling down the downhills to Raheleh). Known bug, thanks for the report, but I hope some of my exuberance and cheering earns me a bit of forgiveness. (Thanks for your patience and love!)

The first aid station is around mile 5, but I was well supplied and didn’t need to stop except to say hi to my friend Amy P. who was volunteering and give her a hug!

Pic courtesy of Amy Perlmutter — thank you to Amy and Mark for volunteering at the mile 5/35 aid station this year!

Since this was a big fun training run, I wasn’t really trying to push pace. The real goal was to run smart, run pretty even splits (all things considered with a mountain trail race), have fun (especially on the downhills), and still be running decently well at the finish line. Which, admittedly, can add to me being a nuisance since I pretty much just run the downhills, and power hike all the ups and a lot of the flats.

“But here’s the thing about Uwharrie: it ain’t flat. ”

But here’s the thing about Uwharrie: it ain’t flat.

Let’s be clear: Uwharrie isn’t the most technical trail. It’s not the steepest trail. It’s not the longest trail or the most remote trail or the wettest trail or the dryest trail or the highest trail or any other sort of superlative you can think of when it comes to trails. I’ve been on some really gnarly routes with rock scrambles and climbs and sheer drops, I’ve been at thousands of feet elevation, I’ve been in cloud rainforests, I’ve been in dry alpine tundras. I’ve been with alligators and snakes and boars and bears. Uwharrie doesn’t have any of those extremes. But the things Uwharrie has, it has in spades.

First, Uwharrie has rocks.

Not fun scrambly boulders sort of rocks or cool overhang rocks or gravelly rocks. Nah, Uwharrie has little rocks. Sharp little rocks that like to hide under leaves, or maybe are innocuous on their own, but the pounding adds up over the miles. In fact, the Uwharries still exist today as a standalone mountain chain isolated from the Appalachians because of its hard rock. The Uwharries probably date back to 500 million years ago (that’s twice as old as the earliest dinosaurs!) when they were thrust up as a mountain chain along the coast line, spit up by active volcanoes and reaching as high as 20,000 feet tall. These incredible mountains have since been worn down to about 700 to 1000 feet tall, but still remain thanks to their hard metamorphic rocks such as quartzite (7 of 10 on Mohrs scale), rhyolite (6 out of 10), and basalt (6 out of 10).

So yeah, if these mountains can last 500 million years, then they’re sure going to win in a match against your trail shoes, no matter how good of a rock plate you’ve got.

Mmmm rocks. Yum. Photo credit: Raheleh Ghasseminia

Second, Uwharrie has PUDs.

PUDs aka “pointless-ups-and-downs” are a fundamental characteristic of the Uwharrie National Trail. Bill Bryson might have coined the term (or at least documented it) in his book A Walk in the Woods* (affiliate link) about his Appalachian Trail hike, but PUDs are best applied to the Uwharrie National Trail. 20 miles, around 4000 feet of elevation gain, and not a single overlook or view to be had.

“I love running pointless ups and downs for no views!” - Uwharrie trail runners (And those pink leggings are me!) Photo credit: Raheleh Ghasseminia

Third, Uwharrie is relentless.

Don’t expect a reprieve on this course, because you won’t get one. Up a mountain, down to the creek, up to the next mountain, back down to the creek. There are no stretches of road or flat open fields or easy running along a river. Nope, you go up, you go down, you repeat this process until you hit 8 miles, 20 miles, or 40 miles depending on what you paid for.

This is the hardest part about the course: nothing alone about this race is extreme, but the trail is constant and unforgiving — physically and mentally.

Hiiii rocks! Most water crossings have rocks you can rockhop. Because, yunno, Uwharrie has a few rocks, so you might as well put them to use.

But Uwharrie has community.

But as much as I like to complain about the course (ughhh what a stupid course), it’s one of my favorite races. It’s a physical challenge. It’s a mental challenge. And I’m guaranteed to see some friends out there, or at least some real friendly faces.

Every year I’ve done Uwharrie I’ve had friends out on the course with me. Even if they weren’t running in step with me, I took comfort in knowing they were ahead or behind me, and we were in this thing together. Maybe we weren’t sharing every struggle and every moment, maybe we had our own highs and lows along the way, and maybe we found some reflection and respite in the quiet solitude of the woods (because odds are you will be out there alone at some point). But that’s a powerful thing: knowing that you can do hard things, that you can find strength and bravery and be alone in the wilderness, but that there are others out there going through the same thing. Perhaps that’s the whole point of Uwharrie — those pointless ups-and-downs suddenly have meaning when you face something hard head-on, that it’s your own struggle out there, but that you’re never truly alone.

“But that’s a powerful thing: knowing that you can do hard things, that you can find strength and bravery and be alone in the wilderness, but that there are others out there going through the same thing. ”

The first year I did Uwharrie 40 I didn’t know what to expect except “it’s gonna hurt” — but that was a given, 40 miles was bound to hurt! And it did, but I was so excited to be out there doing something big that I didn’t really notice the terrain. It was a thrill when the fastest 20 milers caught me on the trail and I bounded down the descents in step with them. It was so joyous when I saw friends at the turnaround point and at aid stations, and saw friends doing the 20 miler coming to the finish line as I headed out for more, chasing down other friends ahead of me and out-running the setting sun. It had long lonely middle miles where everything hurt and the woods were so quiet and disquieting, but those experiences through those 40 miles was something extraordinary, almost transcendent.

Some more water and rocks

The second year I did Uwharrie I opted for the 20 miler because 40 just seemed a bit extra. And I remember being so grateful when I hit the southern terminus that I didn’t have to turn around and do it again. I was so proud of all the 40 milers going back out, the grit it took to leave the party and know the quiet mountains waited for you in the fading day.

And this year when I did the 20 miler, I thought of those past race days, and of how this race day was unfolding for my friends. I was curious how they were doing, and grateful for the company and for the opportunity to do this adventure once more. And I was a little curious how it might feel to tackle the distance twice over — especially once I hit mile 16, but we’ll get to that later.

The mile 8 finish line and aid station was once again a blur — there’s always so much hubbub there! I briefly saw Brian, who slyly slipped a packet into my hands as I went past the aid station tables in the gravel lot. The packet was a bit of food — a sticky rice cake with blueberries and cashews and ginger. Yum! I had been noticeably behind on my fueling for this race; I was a bit undertrained coming in, and I hadn’t been practicing my nutrition strategies as diligently as I should have in the weeks leading up to the race, and it was a bit hard to get calories down. So the rice cake was a great treat and something I could work on for the next mile or so. (Thanks Brian!!)

Mmm thanks again Brian for the treat!

As I made my way through the middle section of the course, sometimes leap-frogging back and forth with other runners, my mind strayed a bit. I’ve been working on my Italian for some (hopefully) big adventures coming up soon, and certain words seemed to bounce around in my head. “Lo scontrino” was the most popular of these; it means “the receipt” and I kept thinking of all the receipts I was printing for each mile I deposited in the bank. Receipts, receipts, receipts, show me the receipts, “lo scontrino” for mileage money in the bank.

The other words that occasionally cropped up were “l’acqua” (water) and “la bevanda” (the beverage). After the first couple of times that these ricocheted into my thoughts, I started a drinking game: whenever I randomly thought of “l’acqua” or “la bevanda” then I had to drink some Skratch or LMNT from the flasks I carried. (This is probably the smartest/most effective drinking game I’ve ever played)

“And then mile 16 happened. Ugh.”

At the mile 11 aid station I filled up on some water and LMNT, and Raheleh caught me and I was sure this was the last I’d see her until the finish line. She was well ahead of me but just in sight as I left the aid station, and I was so inspired by how she attacked those hills with confidence! Go Raheleh go!

I got a big grin on my face when a volunteer greeted me loudly, “welcome to mile 14, sunshine!” at the next aid station. A refill of water and electrolytes in my flasks (and maybe a joke about me carrying a ziploc bag of white powder in my pack), and I was well on my way. In and out in a jiffy.

And then mile 16 happened. Ugh.

I asked Raheleh after the race how she liked mile 16, and she said, “You did NOT tell me about this beforehand! I feel like you purposefully did that!” To which I laughed and told her I purposefully didn’t remind MYSELF of mile 16 going into this race.

Coming out of the mile 14 aid station you roll down a long descent to a creek area. And then you start to climb. And it’s a real pain in the butt sort of climb. You come out of all these rolling PUDs earlier in the course, and suddenly it’s 15% grade and you’re gaining over 300 feet in less than three quarters of a mile and you’re deep in your miles and your feels. Son of a biscuit. This is Dennis Mountain. Dennis Mountain and I are not friends. But you put your head down and you get it done, thinking, “what goes up has to come down.”

This is my “I’m so happy to be out here hiking up a mountain!” face at mile 17

This is Dennis Mountain. Dennis Mountain and I are not friends.

Except mile 17 is almost as annoying as mile 16! You drop 250 feet in a little less than half a mile (with a lovely little 23% grade at one point) and the trail narrows, and you continue on a rocky twisty section that jumps up and down, up and down, skirting the edge of Keyauwee Knob and the Wood Run South summit that drops steeply to the Upper Wood Run creek. All the while the 40 milers are starting to come through, and while it’s exciting to see them (I’m usually wayyyyy more excited to see them than they are excited to see me, lol), it’s so narrow that you’ve got to cling to trees to let them pass through.

But wait! There’s more steepness! And it comes with bonus rocks!

And that mile 17 aid station you’re looking for? It’s more like mile 18. You finally drop from the side of the mountain and cross a creek with colorful banners (they use this bunting around every aid station and road crossing, which is super helpful and easy to spot in the brown bare wintry forest). And there’s the aid station, hallelujah!

Almost to the mile 17 (more like 18) aid station!

From here it’s a short steep climb (barely a blip on the elevation chart compared to what you’ve just done) to get up away from the creek bank, and a mostly downhill and rolling terrain to the southern terminus.

Here is where I caught up again with Raheleh. I discovered I still had pep in my step, and while I wasn’t running very long stretches of trail, I could still get some decent speed out of my legs when I did run. We rock-hopped across some fun water crossings, marveled at the final few miles, and sped along to the finish line!

Yay Raheleh!!

And what a joy it is when you finally get to that finish line! We crossed that timing mat, got some beautiful pottery from Michael Mahan of From the Ground Up (a local Seagrove potter) for the finisher award, fresh goodies from the drop bag, and some aid station food including Open Eye Cafe coffee and some soup. Yum!

Danica was there to meet us (huge congrats on your LONGEST RUN EVER!!) as well as Tracy. Raheleh, Danica and I hung out for a while to see Laurin and Jess (also LONGEST RUN EVER!!) arrive — salt-crusted and smiling! What an incredible day! Huge congratulations to all on a great race!!

Raheleh crossing the finish line, hooray!!

From left to right: Raheleh, me, Danica, and Tracy! All 20 mile finishers, congrats!!

Laurin crossing the finish line!

Jess crossing the finish line!

Jess and Laurin with their finisher pottery!

From left to right: Raheleh, Jess, Laurin, and me! Congrats all!!

Raheleh, Danica, Jess, Laurin and I caught the very last shuttle back to Eldorado Outpost, picked up some super delicious glass bottle sodas for the drive home, and then that was that!

Now on to the next exciting thing — Black Mountain Marathon for some, Mt. Mitchell Heartbreaker perhaps, and maybe that new Tanawha 50K coming in June?! 🤩 (Including longest distance race milestones again for some runners from this group, yay!!)

By the Numbers

Uwharrie Mountain Run will get you around 3500 to 4000 feet of elevation gain (several of us checked afterwards and there was a big range based on our watches), and it should be around 20.5 miles since it covers the full length of the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail. (The 8 miler is also a little long)

Aid stations are at miles 5, 8.5, 11, 14, 18, and finish

For the 40 miler, just imagine the 20 again but backwards 😄

Finisher awards are pottery — 8 miler usually get a small medal, 20 and 40 milers get a mug or small pot of some sort (and they’re usually slightly different). Top finishers get fancy awards.

The cut-off for the 20 miler is technically 6 hours…but I’ve always seen people given official times if they come in after that. You just might have really slim pickings for food options. The cutoff for the 40 miler is 12.5 hours, and that one is a little more closely enforced because the race runs out of daylight, but it’s usually enough time for most people who are run-hiking.

Aid station fare is usually water and Tailwind, oranges and bananas, PB&J on Hawaiian rolls, cookies, trail mix, maybe some soda and soup (though these items often run out early). Volunteers are always great though. Usually there’s just enough water for what the aid station needs, but I always make sure I’ve got plenty just in case.

The two big climbs are right at the start (mile one) and deep into the course (mile 16). Hang in there, they will pass soon and then it’s just constant up and down (mostly runnable if you’re so inclined).

Packet pick-up is available the night before at a hotel or the morning-of at Eldorado Outpost.

Shuttle service is available to/from Eldorado Outpost to the start line and from the 20 miler finish line back to Eldorado Outpost.

A look at some of the finisher pottery over the years. Far left is the 40 miler finisher pottery from 2020, middle is the 20 miler finisher pottery from 2024, far right is the 20 miler finisher pottery from 2022

What about you? Have you done Uwharrie Mountain Run before? If so, let me know in the comments what distance and what you thought of it!