2024 Firefly Trail Run: 12-Hour
4/20/2024, Hendersonville, NC
We gathered near the starting corral for the pre-race meeting. The race director asked if anyone had done the race before. I had. I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I stood there as the only one without a race vest or water and was the only one with my poles in my hands.
I had run the 2023 edition of the Firefly Trail Run 12-Hour. I had gone in knowing I could do six hours but wanted to be able to go further if I could. That led to my expectations getting increasingly larger as time passed and ended with 50K being a foregone conclusion and the only question remaining was how much further than 50K I would go. On race day, I did seven 5K loops in 12 hours for a total 21.7 miles. That day left me humbled and I resolved to return in 2024 for revenge.
The race is held on at the picturesque Wag Valley Farm outside of Hendersonville, NC. The loop switchbacks up and along the side of a mountain resulting in a 5K loop with 550 feet of elevation gain and culminates at a breathtaking waterfall. The one and only aid station is in a barn that you run through every lap.
For the uninitiated, the goal of a fixed-time event is to run as far as you can in a specified amount of time. Usually, you must complete the lap for it to count in your final total. The Firefly Trail Run offers 12-hour, 6-hour, and 5K events. The 12-hour starts at 9 am and the 6-hour starts a 3pm so that everyone is finishing under headlamps at 9 pm. The “fireflies” are the runners in the woods after dark since the fireflies are not actually out in April.
My plan was the walk out from the start line and that’s what I did. I did not need to get wrapped up in the emotion of the start. We skirted the edge of the trees with a pasture on the left for about a half mile before turning sharply into the trees. The trail then leads us almost back to the start before it turns climbs. We switchbacked our way up to the top of the little mountain before making our descent to the waterfall. After the waterfall, it is a little bit of single track and then up and down a gravel road back to the aid station.
I noticed the course was not nearly as hard as I had remembered. I was able to cruise up the hills without jacking my heartrate and I was not even breathing hard. I hung out in the back for the first loop and walked into the aid station in dead last, but under the 60-minute pace I needed to keep my “A” goal of 12 laps. I had my own aid station set up, so I bypassed the race’s aid station. My plan was to drink 500 mL of Tailwind and eat a half PB&J sandwich each lap. Every two laps, I would take an Untapped Maple packet. I had twelve ½ PB&J sandwiches and 5 Nalgenes of Tailwind prepped ahead of time.
I kept moving throughout the morning, maintaining my 60-minute per lap pace. The leaders were lapping me, but nothing like the year before when I was getting lapped twice a loop by the same people. Each time I stopped at the waterfall, I gave thanks to God for something I was grateful for: my wife, my kids, my mother-in-law, my friends, etc.
Through 5 laps, halfway to my “B” and main goal of 10 laps, I needed to decide on how to handle the start of the 6-hour race. There would be a mass start and they would all be running and full of energy. In 2023, I had been stuck near the start of the loop and had to stand on the side of the trail for several minutes. I made the decision to slow so that my 6th lap would finish after 3 pm. This of course took me off my pace for 12 laps. The decision was not totally voluntary, as the day had gotten very warm. The start of the 6-hour race was also a mental challenge to deal with. They come bounding past like it is the best day of their lives and you realize you are only halfway through your race.
My 6th lap was my first lap over 60 minutes. Because it had gotten warm, I was consuming more Tailwind than previously planned and I had run out of my pre-made stash. I took a few more minutes to gather myself and make more Tailwind. I checked my feet for blisters and applied more Vaseline. I was stopped for over 9 minutes but was well within pace for my main goal.
I figured laps 7 and 8 would be a slog so I switched to caffeinated Tailwind prior to each lap. This was a nice boost and the timing was right. My times crept up over an hour for each lap and due to needed to care for myself, my aid station breaks go longer. Still, I did not linger and waste time resting. I stayed moving the entire race. I also noticed that people had stopped passing me for the most part and I was eating them up. Mentally, I thought of myself as the grim sweeper, having paced myself and was now catching up to everyone else.
Lap 10 was the hardest. I think I mentally checked out and was ready to be done. I continued to move but not fast. I noticed my watch was about to hit 50K (slightly ahead of the official distance) and I wanted to get a Strava PR and I “hammered” it to get the 50K under 10:30:00. I hit that and left everything on the course at that point and death marched it in knowing I was not going to be able to go out for one more lap.
I did, however, find that I had a chance to finish 10 laps in under 11 hours and I found a little more and ran it in down the gravel road and into the barn. I almost ran someone over trying to get in under 11 hours and I crossed the finish line at 10:58:51. Hindsight led me to believe I could have gone around again, but it would have been dark, I needed to refuel, and my legs did not have it in me to finish another loop.
Overall, I was very happy with where I was fitness wise and my performance and execution. I have come a long way from 2023, and I keep getting faster and hard things get a little easier to deal with. Maybe one day, I’ll get to don a headlamp at this race.
Luckily, I had found a rental right across the road from the race, and I had planned ahead and had a pizza waiting for me for dinner, which I devoured before conking out for the night.
Stats:
Strava: 2024 Firefly Trail Run
Official Distance: 31 Miles (10 x 5K Loops)
Official Time: 10:58:51
Overall Place: 22/40
Gender Place: 14/23
Watch Distance: 32.36 Miles
Watch Time: 10:58:56
Average Pace: 20:22/mile
Elevation Gain: 5,486 ft
Average Heart Rate: 145 bpm
Active Time: 10:24:31 (not in aid station)
Rest Time: 34:23 (in aid station)
Run Time: 33:20
Walk Time: 9:40:12
Idle Time: 45:28
Fastest Lap: 56:06 (Lap 2)
Slowest Lap: 1:10:50 (Lap 9)
Gear
Shoes: Lone Peak 7
Poles: Leki Ultratrail FX.One
Shirt: Vuori Strato Tech Tee
Shorts: Vuori Kore – 7 inches
Socks: Feetures
Hat: RNNR Bigger Than Trail
Watch: Garmin Forerunner 955 (Ultra Activity)
Lube: Squirrels Nut Butter and Vaseline
Electrolytes: Relyte and Tailwind
Food: PB&J (homemade) and Untapped Maple
Awesome!