VHTRC Magnus Gluteus Maximus

Several folks went out for a nice run Saturday on the Bull Run Trail. We were accompanied by the Grinch, he survived a harrowing attack from a couple of Golden Retrievers, there was some serious dog slobber involved. Lorrin said he will be washed before going back on the Christmas tree. More pictures.

Nittany Valley Half Marathon

This past weekend, Paul and I headed to State College, PA to visit family and run the Nittany Valley Half Marathon. This would be our 3rd time running this race, though we missed a few years recently. This is a fun, late-season race on a tough, hilly course with very unpredictable weather. The race has the feel of a low- key club race, and finishes with a 1.5 mile uphill that has you wondering why you keep coming back. This year the predicted 'wintry mix' held off and we woke to an inch or so of snow and temps around 30. Paul signed up at the very last minute, figuring it would make for an easy day if he stuck with us. Paul, my sister, and I ran together for almost the whole race, at a comfortable pace, and finished in 2:07. This was my slowest half in years but it still felt like a nice workout, and not racing was just what I needed right now. My family decided we need to make this a tradition so hopefully we'll be heading back to Happy Valley to do this one again next December!

Return to the Greenway

It seems like a long time since we were cursing and slogging through the snow/mud of the 2007 Greenway race! Now it's almost time to start training for 2008. Joe & I had a nice rainy run along Seneca from Darnestown to Berryville and back, then an out-and-back past the Mill and along the creek. They've put in a gravel pathway under the bridge, and done a couple reroutes to reduce erosion of stream crossings. (We've seen this south of 355 too.)

It was a beautiful wet day, with intermittant misty rain. The woods were cold, dark and sleeping, except for a few deer and occasional birds. As usual, we saw very few people; a family with 2 dogs, another pair of runners. Through the thickly pine-forested stretch of woods between the Mill and Darnestown, the forest floor was filled with dead stalks of some waist-high broadleaf plant. I don't remember anything but pines growing here -- but maybe I've only run this stretch of the Greenway in the winter months, other than the 355 N/S sections. Spring, Summer, and Fall, with the days of longer light find us further south or north for races. But as the air gets crisper and we stay close to home, it welcomes us back to the familiar wooded hills and fields, the earthy smells of damp leaves and river.

PSA from Magnus

Dear Ultrarunners, I would like to inform you of a healthy wonderfood, both nutrient packed and delicious. Beside me, I present to you the Cinderella squash, sugar pumpkin, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and some decorative varieties. Squash is packed with Vitamin A, Vitamin C and potassium. It has the carbs you crazy runners need with a little bit of protein.

My people also find the winter squashes quick to cook. They bake or sautee it -- squash goes well with lentils and rice, baked and stuffed, with kielbasa, and in soups! I hope you people enjoy squash to power you through a winter of running -- now it is time for my nap.

JFK 50 Mile - Nov. 17

Hopefully we can get some pictures and a report, but until then congrats to everyone who participated, and those of you who did a MMTR/JFK 'minislam' you are crazy!

JFK Results

Brightroom has pictures up - but has excellent copyright protection, so I can't copy the pix! There are great pictures of you all - look at the results for people's bib number so you can search the photos.

MMTR Video

Jeanne Craig and her husband created a short video of MMTR -- includes some footage of Mical's finish!

MMTR Video

Catoctin Running and Riding

Just thought I'd share a few pics from a recent Catoctin outing-- November is a great time of year to be on these trails (while the middle of August is not such a great time...). Lorrin and I ran from Hamburg Rd. while the guys did a mountain bike ride. It was the perfect way to ease back into running post-MMTR. Following up the run with hot coffee and cookies at the car made for a perfect fall day. Somehow the rocks really don't seem that bad when it's not 90 degrees!

Mountain Masochist – Lynchburg Ultra Series Finale

After using Holiday Lake for a training run for Bull Run, and running Promise Land because Michelle was finally back on her feet, I felt I might as well sign up for the ultra series and run Masochist. Having read so much about it as the “premier ultra of the east” and hearing Mical & Angelo’s stories from last year certainly intimidated me. Masochist has over 9,000 ft of climbing and 7,000 of descent – and those 4 extra miles. Additionally, Horton tightened the cut-off times this year so there was no grace period. But I was resolved to do my best.

The XMP training program had helped many of my friends get faster, so I used that as a base and ran the Baker 50 and Gunpowder Falls 50k as training runs. I wanted to do another 50k, but each weekend got booked and all the sudden I was in taper mode. It seemed to happen so fast – I had all these plans to run more miles, do situps/pushups, cut out beer, eat whole grains, etc. but it just didn’t happen. I did some long runs along the Schuylkill River in Philly the last couple weeks leading up to the race and my right hamstring felt tight. But I read somewhere if you couldn’t be well trained, might as well be well rested. So I rested.

Briefing
Mical, Mark Mckennett, and I drove down Friday afternoon to miss rush hour and actually get there in time to eat food. We sat between our WVMTR and VHTRC friends and caught up. The race briefing was interminable, and I was ready to pass out I was so tired. On the drive back to the hotel, we witnessed some guy, showing off, lose control of his car and crash into a small tree in the median. We paused on the side of the road, debating what we should do, until we saw him get out of the car – he was monstrously huge and did not seem injured so I decided he must be jacked up on meth so we left the scene, considering the only damage was to the poor tree. Back at the hotel, we set out our gear, and proceeded to not sleep.

Race: 6:30 am
We somehow picked the bus with Bill Potts, Jim Cavanaugh, and Mark Radan (aka Gym Mark) so we chatted with them. Wargo was also on our bus, and I saw that he was wearing his distinctive flames singlet. “I’ll get you, Wargo” I muttered under my breath. At the start, waiting in line for the porta-pottie, I was in line behind this girl who was dancing around and acting really wacky – yep, she turned out to be “Space” Sara Johnston.

Time to go – we started in the dark on the parkway, but there was plenty of light from the moon and other people’s lights, and no obstacles on the road. We hit the first aid station at exactly the 12-hr pace, not a good sign to me! But I was running with Mical and Jim, so I felt there was no need to panic, just get in the groove of running and relax. If I could just stay with them as long as possible, I would finish. Now, a lot of the course is a blur to me – I might recall it better over time. There was very little singletrack, it was mostly wide dirt roads – that went up. I remember a covered bridge. I blew through an aid station because I had enough water, and I think Mical stopped to fill her bladder. Next was a long downhill where I was running with a guy that looked familiar – he said he was from WV and had done Highland Sky, and MMTR 6 times. Then he said, “My legs are like rubber, I think I have the flu” and started walking. I kept running. I thought, I better take advantage of my downhills, Mical & Jim will catch me. I chatted with a lady who got into this from doing ride & tie. She was a physical trainer and blew past me going uphill. Mostly I just ran and ran, trying to cover as much ground as possible while I felt good. My aid station cut-off gaps at one point were even up to an hour, but I had to keep pushing. Somewhere around 30 miles, I started to feel nauseous, so I had to keep trying to eat and taking Tums and ginger.

Buck Mountain & the Loop
I had read how challenging Buck Mountain was because you hear the music long before you get to the top. But it was here that I spotted a “flames” singlet as I hiked to the top. I resisted pushing Wargo down a ravine, and instead mentioned amiably how blustery it was. I needed to pee, but I couldn’t stop with Wargo so close, so I blazed through the aid station, then made my way down the mountain. I was way ahead of schedule for the loop, so I wasn’t that surprised that Joe & Paul were not yet there. This was the longest I stopped at an aid station, to down some chicken noodle soup. Even though I was still nauseous, but knew I had to keep eating. The loop was probably my favorite part, because it was mostly runnable singletrack with some climbs, but a nice break from the roads. Here I caught up to Farouk. I thought ‘this can’t be’ and at the end of the loop I saw Paul & Joe – yay! I gave Joe my waistbelt which was starting to bother me and he ran down the road with me about a mile. I was glad to hear Mical was only about 15 minutes behind. Then it was more running.

At some point, the guys doing the MMTR double, JB and Andrew, passed me. JB said he felt sick and I offered him some of my Tums. The next aid station had apples, which tasted great. Then back into the woods, for the last singletrack and two significant climbs. The second was so steep I had to lean against a tree and catch my breath. But after the climb, running on the singletrack I passed VHTRCer Ed ‘Cappacino’ – this can’t be! The ‘Iron Horse’ sponsor named Rosie passed me, but I think he stopped at the aid station for a burger because he never caught back up after I blew through.

Downhill to the end
Boy, this took forever. I thought the downhill was on more of those forest roads, but it was more like a rugged jeep track, lots of rocks covered by leaves, so harder to run swiftly down. I kept thinking Wargo was going to come out from nowhere and pass me, so I kept focused on running as fast as I could maintain at that point. Then I saw Joe and Paul! They had hiked up from the finish. Joe ran down with me while Paul waited for Mical. I just hammered as much as I could muster, looking back occasionally to make sure no-one was close enough to pass me on the line. Next thing I knew, I was hugging Horton and said “No Wargoes here” then I staggered over to lean against a fence because I thought I was going to yak. But there were kids playing in the grass and I didn’t want to destroy their innocence.

I changed into something warm and saw Mical, then Mark, then Jim come in. Whohoo! Mical went over to take a shot at the Iron Horse and did 21 reps. We drove back to the hotel & showered. I could have just passed out, but we had to claim our victorious LUS jackets!

Lorrin Harvey: 11:23:22
Mical Honigfort: 11:37:49
Mark Mckennett: 11:42:12

Mical's Pictures (including some from the boys' bike ride)

Awards Ceremony:
Yep, Mical got the Iron Horse award, because she rocks the bench. Our West Virginia friends did quite well, Adam Casseday tied for 4th. See the results on Horton's site.

What I learned:
- Having an imaginary enemy helps inspire you to run faster
- Don't stop at the aid station: grab & GO!
- A solid base from the spring really helped overcome limited fall training
- It's crazy, but I prefer courses like Highland Sky with singletrack and lots of rocks!

Bad-A$$ Ladies Mountain Biking Weekend

When Michelle didn't get a weekend backpacking pass from the doctor, we could either carry the 50lb pack for her or revise our camping plans. Where can you find drive-in yet primitive sites, somewhat spread out from one another, at a park offering everything from canoeing to hiking to ORV/ATV riding to mountain bike trails? And only a couple hours from DC? This little-known gem must remain a secret, so we'll always get the campsite we want!

Friday night found us relaxing around an excellent campfire, wood provided by The Cat's Meow, a fire that was free to burn without constant meddling by outside testosterone-laden forces (left unnamed) who feel compelled to prod and jab at the fire, fiddling constantly. It was getting pretty chilly as fall is finally here, so we turned in early to get a head start on the trail in the morning. We did have a brief debate over which map we should use ... hmmm.

Sometime around 3:00 I was awoken by little animal screams and hooting... most likely an unfortunate critter got grabbed by an owl. We also heard some noises we decided must have been deer. And squirrels or birds rooting around in leaves sound like a saber-toothed tiger in the dark of night!

After a quick breakfast in the morning, we geared up, realizing only one of us actually brought bright clothing, despite our discussions about the bow-hunting and squirrel hunting going on in the woods. We warmed up on a brief road section from the campsite, then hit the trail, which immediately dropped into a gravelly ravine. The next 4 - 5 miles were winding singletrack up, up, up Polish Mountain, elev. 1800. We wound our way through beautiful deciduous forest, alternately yellow then orange, then red with the changing leaves. It was a perfect day, cool temps and a clear blue sky.

Once we hit the top of Polish Mountain, it was slooshy, jittery, slippery shale all the way back down. This was followed by some up and down pine forest area, then a sweet, long, obstacle-free descent to a "weird section" with twists and roots and streams everywhere. Some climbs followed, including a really amazingly steep descent that Mical and Michelle totally raged. We were eventually dumped out on some forest road for more fast descending, followed by a painful uphill switchback section. Once you took your bike for a hike up the hill, you were rewarded by more excellent ridable singletrack.

That 12-mile trail was "totally dialed" by lunchtime, so we had some food then set out to explore the rest of the park. We checked out the ranger station overlook, drove down to the Potomac/C&O canal area and made plans for a future Adventure Weekend. We drove up to another overlook, and just for fun, went back the long way and took the truck down some really crazy washed-out rutted roads. Megan will have a second career as a South American birdwatching tour group driver; she handles those roads like a pro!

The night was young, so it was time for us to get serious... about dinner and beer! Mountain House meals were really tasty and required minimal prep and cleanup (sponsorship?) and we enjoyed a Raspberry Lambic to celebrate Mical's recent birthday. We turned in a little later, lulled to sleep by the dude at the campsite a quarter mile away who must have been practicing for the next American Idol.

We woke up a little stiff and sore, but could we just pack up and go home? H no! But this time, we thought we'd explore the roads a little and cut out the big climbs of Polish Mountain, then drop back into the trail. Those roads were STEEP -- there were no rocks or roots to give you an excuse to get off and push, so you had to keep churning in low gear, up up up. Then DOWN! Really FAST! Then it was back onto the trail for another 5 or so miles, 10 total.

Well, I think we all can agree the mountain bike loop and park is superb, and maybe next time we'll invite the fellas, but you are gonna have to R-E-S-P-E-C-T our awesome fire-building Cap-a-bil-i-ty!

Here are the Pix of the Rockin' Chix!

More Girls with Bikes, Our Raging Campfire plus a Moth

Towpath Marathon

I guess it’s only fair to write up the bad races too… so here goes…

First, the good stuff (so you can skip my whining at the end if you want):
This is a great race! It’s very well-organized, with great runner-support, and held in a beautiful natural setting. It is run on a soft surface (crushed limestone), and benefits the Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area. I trained for my first marathon (Chicago ’01) on these trails and it was really nice to be back. It is a totally flat course and normally the weather in northeast Ohio is quite cool in October. I caught up with Paul and Mary Foster (Paul was shooting to qualify for Boston), and Mike from Baker Trail who I ended up running a few miles with. My brother and Paul spectated by bike, and it was awesome to see them out there. Afterwards, the guys had some beer at the post-race beer garden and we stayed a bit to cheer in some runners.

Now, for my whining… It was HOT in the midwest today! And humid! And I guess I was a little delusional to think I could race a marathon a week after Venture Quest. It was already in the high 60s in the morning, and very muggy. The haze burned off and the temps climbed into the upper 80s. The later part of the course was fairly exposed and that didn’t help. But I was hurting before then anyway. I started off running 8:50s (slower than my stretch-goal pace), which gave way to 9s, then 9:40s, and then a late-race death march. Interestingly, I did not get passed after about mile 16. I was passing TONS of people in the last few miles, even with my shuffling pace. People were hurting, and there were at least a few heat-related medical incidents. Even with the need to stop long enough at the aid stations to get in enough fluids, I still thought I should be able to break 4. I came in at 4:06, with some very, VERY sore, crampy legs.

All in all, I’m glad I did this race, but it was a tough day of running. If nothing else, it was a good last long run before Masochist! Now, on to relax with a nice Ohio microbrew….

Venture Quest This!

Tales from the 2007 Venture Quest Adventure Race

Well, it was the end of September again which could mean only one thing – time to avenge team “Bobcat Trail Candy” at the annual Venture Quest adventure race at Fountainhead Park in VA. For those of you who may have missed our tragic post on last year’s race, Mical, myself, and our esteemed comrade in running madness, Michelle, were bullied like the new nerdy kid at school by Venture Quest last year as it basically “who’s your daddy”ed us to a big ole DNF. Unfortunately, Michelle was unable to join us in our quest for vengeance as the course, scared of our team’s resolve to crush it this time around, hired Jeff Gillooly to take a hit out on her foot, Nancy Kerrigan style. This nefarious attack on our team unity only served to steel Mical and myself in our quest for VQ blood and to “Represent!” our fallen teammate. (Michelle of course put this off time to good use, riding the wheels off of her bike in preparation for her next assault on Shockabilly.) Mical and I were to be technically separate “solo” racers this year, meaning that we would have to kayak and check into the checkpoints separately, but could still race together by choice.

After riding the trails at Fountainhead twice during the fall and Mical running the Women’s Half Marathon there as well as having previously run Bull Run (in addition to last year’s VQ race), Mical and I felt that we at least had a decent handle on the terrain that the race could throw at us, unlike last year’s blank slate. (It’s kind of like the scary monster in your bedroom closet. Once you realize that it’s really just a great big hairy jumping spider, with great big fangs and beady eyes, it’s really not as scary, right? Oh wait, no, it’s still scary.) Just so we wouldn’t get too cocky, I decided to instill confidence in Mical concerning my abilities by flipping over my handle bars and landing on my bad knee twice during practice rides in the last two weeks leading up to the race. As Napoleon Dynamite says, “girls only want boyfriends (teammates/husbands) that have great skills.”

The day before the race! Uh oh, there’s a problem. My gears jump around a little on the bike when I’m shifting. I’d better just do some last minute mechanical work here, no problem for a crack mechanic like me! Hmm….. suddenly my gears won’t change at all and the bike chain is trying to commit suicide by jumping into the wheel spokes. “It Can’t Be Fixed, The Race is Over! Oh, The Humanity!” Enter Mical as voice of reason: “Take it down to HTO and get them to fix it.” We take it to our local HTO, Sam (local mechanic) works on it while we wait. We get to the racing briefing on time and the gears on the bike shift “like knife through hot butter.” Sam is a god.

At the briefing the day before the race they give us the racing passport which gives us the basic layout of the course. The race will start off with a run down the road to the marina and back, followed by a prologue where the teams pick one of three checkpoints to get to and then return to the transition area to head off to the mountain bike loop. (Teams can either run, use a kayak/canoe, or an inflatable tube to get to these checkpoints. Interesting…) After the first (full, 8 mile) mountain bike loop the racers then trek (or paddle) to 6 different colored checkpoints in any order. Then return to the transition area, (before the time cutoff), and do another full mountain bike loop (before the second time cutoff). Then portage your canoe/kayak down to the water, go to two more checkpoints (before the third time cutoff), dump the canoe for a challenge, and then trek back to the finish.

We wake up at 4:30 the next morning, throw our equipment in the back of Adventure Van, and head down to VA for the race. Unlike last year, where it was already 100% humidity and 78 degrees at 4:30 am, today will be beautiful with no humidity and highs probably in the mid 70s. Great weather for a race, and we arrive at the park in the dark. We get the map showing the race course at 6 am, and pour over it by headlamp. The race does not cover as large of an area this year. The part that you absolutely have to paddle is only about 4 miles, compared to the 11 we would have had to do last year if we had finished. The trekking does not take us as far from the transition area this time either, although there will still be plenty of running with the prologue, color checkpoints, and run back to the finish. And of course, there’s always the biking, with Shockabilly nagging at you like the rock under your sleeping bag that won’t let you relax. Yes, we’ll have to figure a way down. Twice.

Looking at the map we plot our course. For the prologue point we decide on P1, which is out on the Bull Run/Women's Half course (near the Do Loop, for those familiar). It’s a good distance away, but of the other 2 choices, P3 involved trekking over undulating ground and P2 is across an inlet we would have to skirt. We know that the fast teams will sprint down to the marina and back to grab the limited amount of inner tubes at the turnaround point (only 30 innertubes and there are over 200 racers signed up for the race), and there is no way we are portaging the kayaks down and up the hill any more then we have to, so we’re not going to P2, even though it’s the closest point by far. Of course, the reservoir is 10 feet low this year because of the drought, maybe skirting around the inlet won’t be so far out of our way after all? Mical and I agree to check out the reservoir during the run down to the marina and make up our minds then.

8:00 am: Starting time! The herd takes off at a sprint. Mical and I take it relatively easy, with most of the racers passing us. As we round the bend in the road down by the marina we see that the water in the inlet is extraordinarily low and that P2 is even closer than we thought. We immediately revise our plan and decide that P2 will be our prologue point. As we come up the hill back to the start we see many racers running back to the water with their precious inner tubes. However, many teams also picked up their canoes and started running back to the water! Mical and I are amazed by their determination to portage their heavy boats up and down the hill to the marina several times, and wonder if it will come back to haunt these guys with the bittersweet bite of lactic acid buildup later in the race.

We run back down the hill on the road towards P2. I joke to Mical “Wouldn’t it be funny if all that mud around the inlet is like quicksand?” We break out of the trees and see streams of runners coming from different trails in the woods, all with the same idea as us. Also, flotillas of racers are crossing the inlet on the inner tubes or their canoes/kayaks. With the early morning fog it’s actually quite dramatic. We start skirting the inlet, forced up on a rock embankment by the water. Farther round the inlet then us we see a racer jump down from the rocky embankment onto the muddy flat that in a wetter season would be covered with water, but in this drought is a shortcut across the inlet. The racer disappears! It IS quicksand! The unknown racer surfaces a few seconds later, spitting out mud and has to basically swim back to the rock embankment, where his teammates fish him out (covered from head to toe in mud) with some pieces of driftwood. Suddenly P2 doesn’t look like such a great idea, but we’re committed. We run around the deceptively serene mudflat, wise to its deadly charms, and join the unruly mob of racers running up the hill to P2, check in with our e-punches, and run back through the woods to the transition area. On the way back we pass a team which obviously contains a husband/wife duo, whom are arguing. Wife (who is correct): “The transition area is this way!” Husband (who is not correct): “No, that’s too far in that direction, it’s this way!” Wife: “I’m telling you, it’s this way!” Husband: “No, it’s not!” (We later saw this team finish, much, MUCH later. I could imagine this conversation playing out many more times throughout the day.)

Get to the transition area after ~ 30 minutes of racing. There are more bikes still in the transition area then I expected, so that’s good sign. Jump on the bikes and head off to the mountain bike loop. Immediately get stuck behind a team that does not know what they are doing on the bike. I’m fine with people of different ability levels on the trail (Lord knows the majority out there are better than me), but when people come up behind me who are clearly capable of passing me I get out of the way. Not only did this team refuse to yield to the growing line of bikers behind them, they also short-cutted switchbacks! When I voiced my displeasure about the shortcutting, one of them made a joke about reporting/disqualifying their teammate. I replied that I didn’t care about the race, it wasn’t good for the trail!

After passing the “I give mtbers a bad name” team, Mical and I got into more of a groove, with Mical going down some gnarly downhills. I was especially impressed since it was very dusty, which resulted in bad traction and some really soft shoulders on the trail that would just suck you into them and not let you out. After making it half-way through the mtb loop Mical suddenly realized that her front fork was locked out. She had been riding the whole time with no suspension! This made her performance on the rooty downhills of Fountainhead even more impressive. Of course, we were very happy when we passed the scene of last year’s chain break with no incidents. :)

I had been debating the whole time as to whether to ride or walk down Shockabilly. While you ARE taking your life into your own hands if you decide to ride down it, I had often found walking down Shockabilly to be asking for a sprained ankle. So, at that last minute, in the spirit of the race I decided that a quick death was better than soft tissue damage. At the top I asked the volunteers “So, is there and ambulance waiting for me at the bottom?” “Nah” they replied, “Just body bags. We just zip ya in once you land at the bottom and then dump the bodies in the lake.” With that encouragement I bombed down Shockabilly. Nailed it! Feeling very pleased with myself I watched Mical come down (she walked) and then headed forward to the transition area. We had completed the mountainbike loop in 1 hr 25 min, a full 20 minutes better that our previous course PR. We rock! Yet somehow there were many more bikes in the transition area then I expected, signifying that more racers had finished that biking section before us. No matter, I had a secret weapon: Mical can run! Time to let her loose and whup up on the competition.

Mical and I took off and started knocking off the checkpoints one after another. Hit CP green at the intersection of two streams. Hit CP orange on the top of a hill. Make up time on a nice trail on the way to CP purple in a ravine by the lake. Mical says “I’ll be happy as long as we get back to the transition area by 12” (1st time cutoff is 12:45). Pass an annoying team on the way to CP white, which was going to just let their navigator run out to the CP while they waited at the trail, but then changed their mind when they saw us. Uh, oh, where is CP white? Shouldn’t it be in this little gully? Where are we? Mical proceeds to figure out that we should be in the next gully, and we find the checkpoint. I then proceed to take us right through the middle of a large section of deadfall, which slows us down even more. I do pick the right trail on the way to CP blue though, which allows us to set a good pace to that CP. Skirt around our friend the Quicksand Mudflat Inlet from this morning and get to CP red. Run back to the transition area by 11:30! We are now well ahead of the 12:45 cutoff, and know we no longer need to worry about having enough time to make it through the second mountain biking loop unless we have major problems. Plus, there are still a large number of bikes in the transition area, which means that most likely we passed a lot of people in the trekking portion of the race (in fact, looking at the splits, we did kick some butt on that section compared to other teams).

We successfully make it through the second mountain bike loop without incident. 2 solo chicks pass us (waa!) but they appear to be pretty competent bikers so we don’t feel (too) bad. In weird surrealism worth of a Stanley Kubrick film we come across a lone racer, dragging a kayak across the middle of the bike course, obviously very lost. Moving straight ahead, never deviating from his bearing, blatantly ignoring the fact that his eyes are telling him he’s on the biking course and not in the reservoir, so unwavering is his belief. He is probably still dragging that kayak, thinking “If I just go a little farther, I’ll get to CP7!” As we progressed towards the end of the loop some “real” full suspension mtbers started catching us. It was funny to see the “how did these people get in front of us?” looks. Plus, most of them look plain tuckered out at this point while Mical and I were still fresh as daisies. I was feeling pretty full of myself as I bombed down Shockabilly past some of these full suspension dudes, so I sprinted up the last hill to the transition area. Uh oh, I could feel the lactic acid buildup in the quads, that hubris might not have been such a good idea… But still, we finished the 2nd loop in about 1:35, not bad at all!

Portage the kayaks down to the water. Mical and I were able to help each other out, one in front and the other in back carrying both kayaks to the water at the same time. We moved onward at a good pace with just a short discretionary break. However, after going about 4 miles in the kayak my butt is starting to get really sore. I don’t know why this happens when I kayak for extended periods of time, it just does. By the time we reached near the next checkpoint we were in the middle of a virtual armada of racers. And you know what happens when a bunch of racers get together: mob mentality. One of the racers in the front of the flotilla mistakenly picked the wrong inlet for the next checkpoint and it’s the blind leading the blind – the whole gaggle goes in. People are beaching their boats left and right and running all over. No one can find the checkpoint because, of course, it’s not there! Mical and I realize that it’s the wrong inlet before we get out of our kayaks (much to my dismay because I REALLY want to get off my sore butt – next time I’m bringing one of Lorrin’s Korean Seat Pads!). So the whole flotilla heads off to the next inlet, at which point I beach the boat at the nearest available landing, just so I don’t have to sit anymore! Mical is smart, and pulls up much closer to the checkpoint and on the shady side so that she won’t have to run in the sun like me.

Off to the next checkpoint. Mical and I help each other portage the kayaks up a gentle incline to the dropoff point and then head down to the challenge. The challenge is paddling an innertube across Sandy Run, without getting your torso wet (which would cost you a 5 min penalty). I learn that it is not easy to paddle the innertube across the water, you have to take little strokes otherwise all of your stroke energy just goes towards spinning the innertube like a top and you go nowhere.

Mical and I get to the other side. From here on out it’s just a ~ 3 mile run to the finish! Mical and I take off, along with all the other racers from the flotilla. People comment that they are impressed that we’re running. Mical responds “That’s what I do”. Now I get to pay for my mountain bike hubris – my quads start to cramp up on me! I pop several salt tabs, they seem to help but the cramps don’t fully go away. An all-men team in orange shirts plays leapfrog with us for a little while and Mical’s knowledge of the Bull Run/Women’s Half course helps us during a moment of confusion. Then the orange team gets ahead of us at a bad time for them. We plotted a shortcut on the map, they didn’t. They continue up the trail while Mical and I go cross country for a very short distance, cutting off a big loop of the trail. We feel sorry for the orange team, and wonder if we should have told them about the shortcut. We then continue running. We see the road in front of us – almost there! Mical and I run down the road, congratulating ourselves on our successful beatdown of Venture Quest! We e-punch at the finish line – 7 hours and 39 minutes! Not bad for a team that DNFd last year! Results are on the Ex2 site, and Will Ramos was out taking lots of pictures. Our few pics are here.

We actually finished prior to the awards ceremony. Mical is the 4th place girl and scored a medal and gift certificate! We both stick around for massages, and wonder… who all can we sucker into joining us for another attempt at VQ domination next year?

“Indy, what is VQ?”
“Fortune and Glory, kid. Fortune and Glory….”
-Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (aka VentureQuest)

Parsalmouth anyone?

No, I'm not speaking Parsalmouth to attract all these snakes. I thought Lorrin was the snake whisperer! I ran over one on the towpath yesterday between Violette's Lock and Pennyfield Lock, and then I saw this guy! He was beautiful!

Gunpowder Falls 50k FatA$$

Mark, Sharlene and I headed up north of Baltimore to the Gunpowder Falls state park for a low key 10-mile loop race. Mark & Sharlene just wanted to do 20, but this was the last good training run for me before Masochist! I had forgotten how incredibly pretty the course is.

Miles 1 - 3ish
From the parking lot, you head through a couple miles of rolling fern-covered hillsides, with a little creek winding past. Then you cross the road that goes into the park and head up a slightly inclined forest road, past some archery ranges. A fun descent is followed by some more climbing, then a footpath by the river, going upstream. You want to look at the Gunpowder but it's just rocky enough to make you keep your eyes on the trail.

Miles 3 - 6ish
The extremely well-stocked aid station is just after you cross a bouncy bridge, in a parking lot. Even though it was a fata$$ it was better stocked than Promise Land! You then do a lot of climbing, through deciduous forest, over a couple of creeks, and through a powerline area. I saw some really pretty little blue butterflies here. Next you descend on a paved road, probably less than a mile, until you turn right back along the river for about a mile. You return to the aid station again.

Miles 6 - 9.?? (so apparently it's not a true 50k, but it's still hard!)
From the aid station, you cross an iron bridge, then run along the riverside downstream. Here it's really grassy but pretty flat running. You finally get to York road, scramble up the embankment (because the frontrunners kicked over a hornets nest on the trail) then run across the bridge on a scary road where cars go fast. Back into the woods, returning upstream, but you head up the hill into the deciduous forest, with more ferns. When there was a nice breeze, yellow birch leaves would cascade from the trees - ahhh, fall! If only it wasn't 85 degrees! Once you drop down to the river, and pass an ampitheatre thing on the left, you are really close to the bathroom and the looooong paved path back to the parking lot.
Repeat 3x!

I did much better than I thought - maybe heat training from Baker, maybe because the course is a little short, but I came in at 6:13! Two years ago I ran the course in something like 6:58. I was able to keep moving pretty well, and concentrated on running the upslopes even if I didn't feel like it. Sharlene and Mark ran their 2 loops and both were happy to have nice runs and their injuries didn't act up.

Serge Arbona won in something like 3:55. Mark saw a snake (next to my foot) and I saw a snake (frantically trying to get out of my path on the trail!).

Then Sharlene, Mark & I went to the super-mega Wegman's for some celebratory food and coffee!

Parks Half, Helvetia, etc.

The Parks Half Marathon is over and what a great day it was to run! I've heard all went well. Some of us were running and some volunteering and I think we'd all say we had a good day out there. Here are a few pictures from where Mark, Paul and I spent our part of the race - course layout and cone distribution. Paul and I were on Truck S where we put out and then picked up 1141 cones! Mark was on Truck T which put out 918 cones. This does not include the start and finish line areas, that's a lot of cones!

And last weekend, Joe, Megan and I went to Helvetia, WV, for the Helvetia Fair on Saturday and the Helvetia 10k Mountain Run on Sunday. We had a great time watching the very short parade and hanging out at the fair on Saturday. There were a number of folks staying at Dan and Jody's so we all hung out and ate and drank into the night on Saturday. Megan and Joe ran the race on Sunday - I think this was Joe's first official race back since his injury. Congrats Joe! They were sweeping and taking down course markings so they both got to go at an easy pace on this very challenging course. Here are pictures from the Helvetia weekend. Check out the results of the race. This is not the 10k to do if you are looking for a PR! It's 2 miles flat, 2 miles up hill, and then 2 miles down hill.


Lastly, in other news, I'm still recovering from my stress fracture. It's been a little over a month since I injured myself. I've gotten lots of good advice and info from others that have had stress fractures, thanks Caren, Amanda and Wayne! The best thing about being injured is I haven't had to get up at 5:30 am for 6:30 runs! And I've also gotten to ride my bike A LOT! I've learned important biking skills like avoiding snakes on the towpath, riding with your mouth closed at dusk on the towpath so you don't suck in the bugs, and slowing down real fast so you don't run over squirrels or run into deer that run in front of you. I actually had one snake try to strike at me, fortunately it missed and I did not drive into the canal! Here is a picture I took of a different snake on the same ride. This is taken with my camera phone so the quality isn't good, I have no idea what it is. The only down side to being injured is that I miss running with my friends!! I plan to be back out there soon!

Catoctin Bike/Run

When Mical & Paul find out how Joe raged *UP* the steep trails of Catoctin, they are going to be mad that he's not on their venture quest team!

Multi-sport Weekend

Just thought I'd report on our action-packed weekend! Saturday, Lorrin and I ran the VHTRC Women's Half Marathon and kicked some butt out there on a very warm day. The trails were in great shape and as always, it was a challenging race! Paul and I followed that up with a loop around the mountain bike trails at Fountainhead as we get ready for Venture Quest. It was a tough ride for me, but we (well, I) struggled through and it took us about 1:50 for the 7 mile loop we did at VQ last year (pretty slow, but I was pretty dead). Sunday, Lorrin, Paul and I took the kayaks out for an hour at Black Hills and Lorrin tried to teach us some paddling skills... I still fear my arms are going to fall off at VQ this year! Paul and I then headed over to an orienteering meet in Patapsco State Park. We plan to get back there to mtb someday- very pretty park, but alot of hills! We ran an intermediate course and took about an hour and a half to get all the 13 controls. The last sport for the weekend was drinking Punkin Ale at Dogfish Head...

More Baker Trail Pictures

Check out the so-called steep-slope cable climb and some pictures of increasingly soaked Mical & Lorrin on the Baker Trail Images page.

Baker Trail – An “Easy” 50

First, some background…The Baker Trail is a 141 mile “trail” through western/central Pennsylvania and the Baker Trail UltraChallenge covers a third of the trail each year. This year the third annual race was held, traversing the southern section of the trail. Last year, Angelo and Mical ran (and Lorrin paced) the central section, which despite having the majority of miles on roads, was an enjoyable course of gently rolling hills through scenic Amish farmland. We passed the time counting Amish children who waved from vegetable patches.

This year the course was described as 20 miles on non-technical trails and 30 miles on roads (dirt, gravel and paved). While generally accurate, this statement doesn’t tell the whole story of the course. There is a 14 hour cutoff for this race, and we thought we’d never have to worry about that… we could take it easy and it would be a great practice run for MMTR.


Part 1- The trail (aka scrambling in ravines), Miles 1-20
The race starts in an industrial park on the “Armstrong Trail”. It’s awful humid at 7:00 am and we start slow in the back of the pack. We talk about running conservatively, how we’d pass people later, and how this was a “training run”. The first 4 miles are a flat, crushed black rock path along a river, where the early morning haze makes the docks appear suspended in space.

Course Note #3: The trail sections have good footing; there aren't many rocks or roots.
The first climb is steep and Mical realized her road shoes on slick, shale-covered non-switchbacked uphills were not a good combo. Lorrin’s trail shoes were only a little grippier. Non-technical might mean “no rocks/roots” but it doesn’t mean “no scrambling into and out of ravines.” Some research into the Baker Trail origins may reveal it was built by West Virginians. This first climb goes on for quite much longer and more steeply than expected, but then we run a gently sloping downhill with lots of ferns and pine trees.

After a quick stream crossing, we run up a road. Mical remarks it is probably a good thing we took it easy so we won’t have a big backup at that cable climb.

Course Note #4: At mile 6.25, there is a 50-foot cable climb up a very steep slope covered in loose shale.
Replace the word “slope” with “cliff face” and you get a better picture, especially if by “cable” you mean “impossible-to-grip plastic-covered metal cable covered in other people’s sweat…and blood.” Gazing upon this obstacle elicited some choice words.

Once we hauled ourselves up the cliff, we again dove into series after series of ravines. Not really runnable, since you might smack your head on the upslope while hurtling down. And there were stream crossings in every ravine. And we found our obligatory snake! The 5-ft black snake was stretched across the trail, but quickly moved away as Lorrin took a picture.

Just before mile 16, it started raining and it felt great! It cooled us off and the sun went in for a bit. That didn’t last long and the humidity was back. We passed a few people at the mile 16 AS and found ourselves on some very runnable trail with nice views, and got in a group with a few guys from PA (David and Jason) and OH (Mike). It was nice to be running with others as opposed to just straggling at the back of the pack. We were all trading stories about various ultras and enjoying the race.

Course Note #1: The elevation gain is 6,600 feet and loss is 6,300 feet.
There were some more tough ravine descents and climbs that we laughed about, and joked about how slow we were progressing. Lorrin and I speculated we could probably make up time on the road. The guys laughed and said they had driven the course the night before and the hills were killer.

Estimates have put Bull Run Run 50 at 6000 – 6500 feet of gain/loss, and it didn’t seem that steep! Our only explanation for the Baker Trail estimate is that the GPS must have cut out in the deepest part of the ravines.

Course Note #5: There are unbridged creek or drainage crossings. Unless there is significant rain, all can be jumped across or crossed on rocks or other objects without getting wet.
This one is funny! Most of the stream crossings did not have “stepping stones,” and before we reached AS5 at mile 20 there was a knee-deep stream about 40 feet wide.

Part 2- The roads (aka running in a sauna), Miles 20-46
Course Note #2 About 30 miles of the course is on paved or dirt country roads.
This is about the only course note that could be called accurate. By mile 20, which took maybe 6.5 hours, we were beginning to be concerned about our time. Surely we would speed up on the roads…but we started with a killer climb that lasted at least a mile.

Unlike last year, this road section was not really scenic or interesting. We joked about the “car graveyards” and other things we would frequently see, such as scary dogs chained up barking at us. Also, the road section did not have rolling hills, rather very steep up and then very steep down.

Around AS5, Lorrin decided to change into road shoes. David & Jason from PA had a full support crew, who must have been practicing for David’s Wasatch run the following weekend. They jumped on Lorrin and she got a 100-mile shoe-change treatment, wet shoes & socks removed, feet toweled off and put into vibrating, massaging slippers, then blister inspection and on with the fresh shoes and socks.

Rule #7: Personal listening devices of any kind are prohibited.
The final section of trail was on the left off a paved road. Mike from Ohio was standing at the juncture and yelling at a guy who was booking it up the hill…he missed the turn. We also yelled at him, but the earphone wires were swinging and he must have been rockin’ out pretty hard. Later, his family would cause some trouble with the race director about the course not being well marked and how their son deserved to be allowed to continue even though they drove him from where he got lost to the next open aid station (because he was so lost, several interim ones had closed).

While running a grassy forest road, we did get a neat view of a nuclear power plant (blacked out on Google Earth) and then down on the power plant property. As a company pickup drove past us slowly, we hoped we didn’t look too suspicious.

Advisory #9: Stop if you feel sick!
Time was ticking away, and while it looked like a 13 hour finish was possible (we had hoped for 12 hours initially), it seemed unlikely. We just weren’t moving very fast, and it was very warm. We were becoming delerious. Lorrin shouted “A bear! with cubs!” but it was only a stupid cut-out silhouette off in the distance, next to a waving man and an elk. Aid station volunteers kept saying “it’s not as hot as last year.” Last year’s report says temps were in the “mid- to upper 80's.” Paul later told us it hit 92 at least. But the humidity!! At one aid station, a lady bumped into Lorrin’s arm and exclaimed, “oh, you are too hot! You should cool down.” Uh-huh. Volunteers were driving between aid stations with coolers of ice to keep runners from overheating.

Paul met up with us at a few aid stations where he spent many hours volunteering; he ultimately ended up riding his bike along with us from somewhere between mile 41 and 45. He entertained us with his stories of the day and made the time pass a little faster. I also started wondering if we’d be close to the 14 hour cutoff. Then, we started hearing thunder in the distance and it was getting darker….


Part 3- The storm (aka running for your life), Miles 46-51
It appeared we were running right toward the storm, as the clouds darkened and it started to rain. It was starting to get scary dark and stormy and the lightening was flying, though still in the distance, as we passed mile 49 and had 2 miles to go. We told Paul to get the heck out of there on the bike (seemed less safe to be on a metal bike than to be running) and go get the car in case we needed to sit in there to wait it out. He took off and we picked up the pace.

Advisory #4: Watch the weather forecast closely to know what gear to bring; the UltraChallenge will happen rain or shine.
At Aid Station 49, we asked for those reflective vests other people were wearing, and they chided us for not getting them at the prior aid station! But no one offered them to us! And just as lightning was crashing all around us, a volunteer drove up, not to save us, but to encourage us to keep going and not to worry about that ridgeline near the finish.

Lorrin tucked in behind me and we just ran, fast. (By ‘tucked in,’ Lorrin was trying to stay lower than everything else, lower than Mical, lower than road signs, lower than cornstalks. She was also whimpering.)

Seriously, we were actually running hard for the first time in the day (ironically, had we been able to run faster earlier, we would not have been in the storm situation…). The dirt road had become a river. With about a mile to go, Paul pulled up and turned around (almost running over a disoriented Lorrin who ran in front of the car) and drove behind us with his flashers on. It was really dark, pouring rain, and we had turned onto the road to the finish, where there aren’t many cars, but those that were drove really fast. He clocked us at 7 mph in the Prius and we FINALLY could see the farm. The lightning was pretty close (in fact, until Paul met us with the car, it was the only source of light-- power was out, so no streetlights). Basically, it was pretty dumb of us to be running instead of getting in the car.

The Finish
The sign to the finish led up across a field, up a high bald, and then back down to the farm. [bad words spoken here]. We booked it to the lower driveway and bolted for the barn where everyone was huddled in the dark, ringing cowbells and beaming out spotlights. “Watch your step” someone said, because there was a board across the doorway, then someone scanned our chips and handed us medals. Done!

Course Note: All participants will finish back at the farm where food will be provided. Showers are also available for cleanup.
Poor us! The power went out, so they couldn’t finish cooking the food. And no showers. We ate a little of what was available, and Mical & Paul drank some beer. Lorrin, who has a deep terror of thunderstorms was too exhausted to drink a beer. Yes, it’s true. But we all slept really, really well that night.

We heard there were 8 people still out on the course behind us when we came in. Only 3 of them finished, one after 14 hours. The winner came in at 10:13 and one-third of the field did not finish. Marvel at the super-slow splits for everyone here: Baker 2007 Splits. Although our race was definitely dramatic, we have nothing but high praise for the race director and legions of volunteers. The racer-to-volunteer ratio was probably 1-to-1, and they were tremendously encouraging, concerned about our welfare, and dedicated to reviving the Baker Trail. Thanks to all of them!

Check out the Pictures!

Baker Trail 50 Miler

DONE. 13 hours and 44 minutes. That was one of the toughest races we've ever done. Here is the finish line picture... I think we still have a terrified look in our eyes after a harrowing run through a thunderstorm in the final miles. We'll post a recap of our epic soon!

North Fork Mountain Trail Weekend

Several of us headed out to WV for a weekend of running and camping at Seneca Rocks, WV. Much fun was had by all! This is a point-to-point run on the North Fork Mountain Trail. You can do either half, first is about 10.5, second is about 13.5, or run all 24 miles. There is some difference of opinion about the difficulty of the trail. I said it was pretty runnable, and I guess I was using that term in the WV context. This was also my 6th year on the trail but only my second time doing all 24, so I felt pretty comfortable with the trail. It is on the top of a ridge with a number of short climbs and descents. The first half is not very rocky, the second half is more rocky, particularly the last mile or so before you get to a two mile steep, fast descent. There were a few injuries, including one sustained by Amanda. I expect she'll be out running again soon!

Lorrin and I ran the 24 together and had great fun, we met up with two folks from VHTRC, Debbie and Dan, and they joined us for most of the second half. By my estimate, we did the first 10.5 in about 2:20, had a 10 minute break at the aid station, and then did the second part in about 3:40, for a total of about 6 hours and 10 minutes.

Here are pictures from the weekend.

Burning River 100 Miler

Well here is another race report which will cap off my 3rd race in 3 weeks. I know I know it's crazy but I am addicted and can't stay away from it. Well temporarily I have no choice but to stay away from it. And that I will explain later.

Well to start off I already knew this was going to be a great weekend out in Ohio since I would be traveling out to Ohio with 2 great friends of mine, Margie Hughes and Gerard I can't think of his last name hehehe.

Well my crazy running schedule started out with CFA 50k a couple of weekends ago which was awesome and I am sure you have already read about that. Then next up was the Jay Challenge up in VT which was awesome and again everyone has to give that one a shot in the future. And then next up was BR100 which again was an awesome race. Before I forget and everyone starts to ask if I was crazy enough to run the entire 100 I have to say I was only going out to OH to pace margie the last 35 miles. I know that sounds crazy to most by say only 35 miles. But I am getting used to it now and 35 miles really is not all that bad.

So the morning of 3rd I pack my car and head up to Breezwood where I would be meeting margie and gerard and leaving my car and driving the rest of the way in margies mini van. I get up to Breezwood a little early and wait in the gas station parking lot for the call. Margie calls me and tells me they are running a little late and to find a good place to leave my car for the weekend. So I drive around a bit and find a nice truck stop with a big ass parking lot that seems pretty safe to leave my car. Well margie and gerard finally pull up and I pack the van with all my crap and we are off. They both give me a hard time because I pack as if I am going away for a long time and as though I would actually be running 100 miles. But in my mind it's always better to overpack and be safe than under pack and be screwed.

So we are off and heading down the road which should take about 4 to 5 hours to get where we needed too. We stop a few times for gas and to get something to eat. And to make an emergency stop because gerard was not feeling well after something he must have ate. Well that did not slow us down too much and we finally arrive at our destination which was the finish line of the race and where packet pick up was to be. Since we are there a little early we walk around a bit to check things out. And if the weather was any indication on how the rest of the weekend was going to be then we were in for a long really hot weekend. So we check out the end part of the course and exactly where the finish would be. We probally walked the last couple miles of the race and head back for packet pick up. That ends up going smoothly and we are back in the van heading to the hotel. Once we figure out where that would be we head off to find out where the finish would be and where I would be dropping margie and gerard off in the morning. Once that was done we head back to the hotel to check in and get situated and head to bed for what would be a really long weekend.

Since the hotel is not too far from the start we don't have to get up till about 330 or 400 to make it to the starting line by 430 or so and for the start at 5am sharp. And so I drop margie and gerard off at the finish and walk around while everyone is checking in and getting ready to start. So 5am gets there quick and off everyone goes. I myself just walk around and watch eveyone dash on down to the road for some long boring road miles I am told.

So I hop back into the van and drive down to the first aid station where crew is allowed. I get there nice and early and take a little nap. And get up in time to see Sean Andrish come flying in looking great. He had about a good 20 to 25 minute lead on Mark Goodale the eventual winner at that point. Finally around 830 or somewhere around there Margie comes running in with an awesome and bubbly attitude telling me she feels great and I congratulate here and looking great and tell her I will see her at the next spot. A little later gerard comes in looking pretty good as well. Then off I go to the next spot which would be the first aidstation/crew spot where they would come through twice. So I am at that aid station for quite awhile watching both margie and gerard come in and go both times. At this time margie is 3rd lady over all and pretty close to 1st and second I think. Then I was off to the next one which is another spot where they would be coming in twice. At this point it is already getting super hot and you could tell by the looks on everyones faces and by how bad alot of people were feeling. But as margie comes flying in she looks great and is off again till the second time around.

After this I am off to mile 65 where I can pick up and start running with margie. I am all excited since I have been waiting all day to run with her. I get myself all ready and situated and then play the waiting game. I forget about what time it was that margie comes rolling in but she looks great. I get both my headlight and flashlight ready and wait as margie gets rehydrated and food in here. Then we are off.

For the first few miles we talk about how she is feeling and about the rest of the course. She tells me that the heat really has took a toll on her but other than that she is feeling great. And ofcourse I am feeling pretty good myself hehehe and that's because I had not just run 65 or so miles. Well the run is going pretty good so far and we finally make it in to the next aid station right around when it had started getting pretty dark. We are both feeling pretty good but hungry and a little thirsty. By this point margie has been 2nd female overall for awhile which is great. But she tells me that she is not feeling all that great and if the next female catches up to just let her go since she really just wants to finish and not kill herself. So right as we are about to leave the aidstation the next female comes in and I tell margie that we need go and we are off. And sure enough a few miles down the road the lady we saw at the previous aid staion comes flying by us and we just let her go.

For the next several miles we do some good power walking/running in order to save ourselves for the rest of the race. And so the aidstations come and go and the both of us are feeling pretty good considering margie has been running forever and I am still a little tired from the previous two weekends. But I keep margie moving and try not to waste too much time at the aidstations and anywhere along the course. Aid the succeeding aidstations we try to eat some and fuel up and then we are off.

Most of the trails are really not all that bad. Which deff made it easier to run on at night. Although we are not doing awhole lot of running but a good part of it we are. I do allow margie to take a break here and there but really not for longer than 2 minutes at a time. I am trying to keep her moving/running as much as I can. I want her to get a good finish and hopefully top 3 female overall.

Well we are clipping off the miles at a pretty good rate and really enjoying eachothers company. And ofcourse all the aidstaion volunteers are wonderfull as always. At this time it is pretty early in the morning and we are moving right along. We are really running/walking from aid station to aid station at this point. Which really is working quite well for both of us. I am also totally enjoying a great run at this point. I am feeling great and having an awesome time.

Well then comes the bad part for me that is. And the reason I have not been doing any running at all this week. I think it was arond mile 90 or so. We are walking through some urban area on some of the road running during the race which totally sucks. Because I hate running or even walking on the roads now. And so we are walking along and I am tired of the roads so I decide to walk in the grass which obvioulsy feels alot better. So I had not take but more than 3 steps in the grass when I step into what must have been a sprinkler whole or something in the grass and then my right ankle goes one way and the rest of my body the other. I then proceed to let out a F**K S**T as loud as I ever have. And I swear I heard a pop or crack and I am then face first in the grass like damn this S hurts. Margie yells are you ok and I am like yeah yeah. I think at the time I am more dissapointed and frustrated that it happened at that point. I mean it has never really happened to me that bad with all the running that I do. Well I then get up and slowly start hobbling along and tell margie I will be ok.

So off we are again hobbling/shuffling down the toe path I think it was to the next aidstation. We both sit down and get some fuel in us. And before long I get up and start to walk out the aidstaion because I don't want my ankle to stiffen up too much. And so we are walking along and I know my ankle is slowly swelling up but I am able to continue to walk and shuffle along. So we are walking along the tow path or canal and I know my walking is getting slower and slower because of my ankle and it really is not comfortable at all. So eventually I tell margie since it is her race that I did not want to slow her down anymore and to just push along and I will get a ride to the finish at the next aidstaion. And so that would be the last time I saw margie till the finish.

And so the next few miles I think I have been some of the longest and toughest few miles I have run to date. My ankle was really starting to swell up and become really uncomfortable. But I could not stop or do anything tilll the next aidstaion. Well i hobble in to the next aid station and eveyone there already knows my situation since margie had filled them in. And I start to ask for a ride to the finish when a super nice guy offers to give me a ride to the finish so I can see margie come in.

So I get to the finish line and hop my way over to some chairs and plop my ass down and take off my shoe to look at my ankle. You could tell how ugly it was and so I get some ice and right away start to ice it.

Well a couple of hours later I hear the announcer call out Margie's name and I get up and hop over to meet her and hop over the finish line with her. Both of us have smiles on our faces and I can tell margie is glad that is over with. Then I finally get my ankle looked at by the emt and massage people and they don't think I broke it. Then I finally decide to get the podiatrist to look at my ankle and she just tells me that I probally just have a pulled or injured a ligament or muscle a little but nothing too serious. So she tapes it up and sends me on my way.

Over all I think I did an awesome job of pacing margie and keeping her moving foward. I did end up helping to pace her to a 25:36 finish I think it was and a 3rd place female overall finish. We both congratulate each other on a great run.

And so we sit around for awhile and watch others finish and then 11 comes around and the awards ceremonty start and everyone gets their medal/belt buckle for finishing.

We are then back in the van and on our way back down the road. We finally get back to my car and I make my way back to the house.

Well as of right now I am feeling great and can actually walk around on my ankle. Although it still does not look great with all the pretty colors I think I am doing alot better than earlier this week. I have an ankle brace now and I hope to heal up soon and be back to running in no time. I do hope to see everyone again soon and hopefulling with you all even sooner.

Catoctin 50k: A hot one!

HOT, hot, hot...that was the story of the day! Temps climbed into the upper 90s, so it was more of an exercise in survival than a race. As far as the Catoctin course, it can be described as rocky and hilly, but that doesn't really do it justice- if you've been out there, you understand!

It took me about 30-40 minutes to get into a groove, and then I was feeling pretty good. I ran with Pam and Angelo for a little while, and we were pretty close to the back of the pack. I was only running about 15-20 minutes ahead of the cut-offs, and the first half (the way out to the Manor turn-around) was uneventful- I left Manor at 4 hours (12:00 pm). They had ice cold sponges at Manor, and that was a great pick-up. I hiked up after the turn-around still feeling OK (the RD arranged to have another water stop about 2.5 miles up the hill from the turn since it was such a hot day). Plus, I dipped my bandana into water every chance I had to try to keep cool. I ended up running with a guy from Cumberland off and on for about the next 10 miles, and he kept us going at a nice pace, plus after being alone for quite awhile, it was nice to have someone to chat with! He also picked up my cool lizard bandana that I lost, when I was much too tired to add any bonus miles to go back and try to find it.

Coming into Delauter at mile 22, it was great to see Michelle, Sunny, Ed and others- plus I ate 2 popsicles there!! The stretch to Hamburg seemed never-ending, as always, and I really thought I could finish feeling OK with only 6 miles to go. But those 6 "Catoctin miles" really gave me some trouble! Even fueled by green tea from the Hamburg aid station, I had a tough time especially in the last 4 miles, and started to worry about over-heating if I pushed too hard up the final hills. It was probably more of a mental game than a physical one, though. The heat really made it tough. I was never so happy to see that parking lot and know I only had 10 minutes to go up to the Tea Room. And, I almost caught the girl I had been leap-frogging with for the whole race! I finished running, and the awesome volunteers wrapped me with an icy cold towel!

Finish time was 8:34 (about 9 minutes faster than last year!). Got my Cat card, a burger, some Hop Devil from Michelle, an ice cream sandwich, and we sat at the Tea Room for a little while til everyone finished. That last 4 miles may have really been the worst I've ever felt in a race, but I'm happy I could hold it together and finish.

Splits (I was inconsistent in when I hit the split, but this is what I remember):
arrive at Hamburg: 1:35
leave Delauter: :48
leave Manor: 1:34
arrive Delauter: 1:55
arrive Hamburg: :53
arrive Finish: 1:49
I think this is a race that will continue to suck me in, once the pain has a few days to wear off!

Michelle took these pictures and said she would have taken more "but it interfered with my iced towel distribution duties!" The volunteers at Catoctin were incredible, and I don't think many of us would have been able to finish without them!

Jay Challenge Race

JUST A FAIR WARNING THAT THIS IS A LONG POST. JUST FAIR WARNING HEHEHE


Just to let you all know this is a before the race pic and deff not during or after the race pic. I am too clean for that. And as you all can tell Gary Knippling made it up for the race. I did not know untill I was in the parking lot the morning of the race and I saw him pull up in his truck with two other people.

Well it all started a while back when I was on the computer looking at all kinds of different races. And I don't remember if someone had mentioned this race to me or I happened to stumble across the web site. Either way I had decided awhile back that I was going to do this one. It had the makings of another great adventure on my short list of races. So I signed up for the race and quickly got my plane ticket and hotel reservation.

After CFA 50k I had planned on taking it easy knowing I had Jay's the following weekend. That lasted all of 2 days. Since I showed up that monday to run at the Kentlands. I actually felt great that night and was really happy I made it out for the usual 7 miles because I really felt it helped to loosen up my sore legs and quads. Then the next night I showed up for XMP's workout. I did take it a little easy that night but still got in about 6 miles.

Then I was off on my next adventure. The flight up to Albany was a short one and the drive back to my mothers was just as short. Of course we talked about how crazy she thinks I am for all the running I am doing. But she is totally supportive of all that I do which is deff awesome. We get back to my mothers and I start to sort out all of my goodies for the weekend. I make sure I have everything that I will want and more. For the next few days befor I leave for the race I am trying to read up on the race and checking the weather. The race has been known to have awful weather. And the last email before I left for JAY from the RD had stated that out of the last 30 days they had maybe 2 to 3 days of nice weather. And I said to myself I am in for a treat hehehe I mean long day.

So friday morning came pretty quick and I had my mothers explorer packed with everything but the kitchen sink. I also take more than I possibly could need for any race. But I am the beleiver that it's better to be over prepared than under prepared. So with directions in had I was on my the 4 hour ride it would take to get up to JAY Vermont from Salem NY (mothers house). The drive was wonderful with back roads and some very nice mountain roads. And very few boring highway roads.

I made it up to JAY in plenty of time and stopped at the Jay Country Store which was right next to the start finish of the race. I go into the store to hopefully get something to eat and gatoreade to drink. And boy did that hit the spot. I could not really get anything done at this point in time since they were still setting everything up for packet pick up and everything else. So I made my way up about 3 miles to where I would be staying at Jay Peak Resort Hotel. Little did I know that the MOUNTAIN right behind the hotel would be the same one I would be climbing up the next day. If I would have known that at the time I might have made a mess right then and there hehehehe. Well I had to wait about an hour or so to check in and so I just sat in the car and relaxed for a bit. So check in went smoothly and I made it up to my room. I could have fit everyone in that room it was huge. Well I unpacked everything and layed down to watch some tv before I headed back to the start finish where packet pick up was at 7. And sure enough while I lay down watching tv it decided to pour like no other. And that deff was an indication of how the race would go the following day. Well packet pick up went smoothly and I headed back up to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel I did my usual routine of pinning my number to my shorts and laying everyting out that I would be wearing for the race the next day. Along with putting together both drop bags for the race. Everything was going smoothly and I was off to bed.

Well race morning came quick and I had the car packed once again and off down the road to the start. So I pulled into the grassy parking lot and started to get ready. And that is when Mr.Gary Knippling pulls up. And I said to myself what do ya know. I did not think I would see any other VHTRC'ers up at this race. So we walked around a bit and I showed gary where the halfway point was and where we come out of the water and split off from everyone who could not handle the full 33 miles.



Well this is the start and if you tilt your head to the side it is basically an uphill start. Really only an ant hill compared to what we would be going up later in the day. But it was deff an eye opener to what the rest of the day would be. Well we started up this hill and basically headed right into the woods shortly afterwards. This first 4 to 5 miles was not that bad at all. We did have a few short climbs in the woods which we had to use a rope to help us up. But it really was minute again compared to what would be coming up later.

The first aid station came up really quick which was like 5 or so miles into the race. Here is a picture of what I think was the first aid station.



At this point I was not so tired yet. And still pretty clean an dry up to this point.

Soon after the first aid station we were back in the woods and we all got our first bit of mud. Actually it was alot of mud but what can you say most of the race had alot of mud. And shortly after that mud we entered out first brook which was actuall quite nice. I have been in the water before during a race but that was only to cross a stream or something like that. This time we actually had to basically hike/run/walk through the water which was actually quite nice. You really did have to be super careful and pay attention or else you would take a dip into the water and be soaked. Here is one of the pics from the water.

And as you can tell I am having a great time. We actually spent about 20 min or so in the water the first time. And as you can tell we had to hike up and over boulders and rocks the whole way. So no real running in the part at all. Well at least you did not catch me trying to run and face plant in the water. And since it was my first time at this race I was taking the cautious path through the water. Well I made my way through this first brook in one piece and ended up at Aid station number 2.



As you can tell in this picture I decided to sit down for a bit and change socks. This is Aid Station number 2 and our first drop bag. I decided on a change of socks and an ensure and some quick foot work. And on my way out grabbed a couple cups of gatorade and a few m and m's. And then we were off to what would probally be the toughest part of the race. And that is the climb up Jay Peak Mountain. Jay Peak is not nearly as technical as anything in the Massanuttens but it is one hell of a tough and very very very long climb. I thought I was going to die quite few times on the way up. I also thought my heart was going to explode it was working so hard to keep pumping the blood to my legs which were struggling to make their way up the mountain. But I was not alone in the struggles up the mountain. For quite a few of us it was our first Jay's race. Finally finally we made it up to the top of the mountain where the ski place is and Aid Station number 3 which is in this next pic.



Here I am at the Aid Station with the lovely Rene. I spent about half of the climb up Jay Peak with her and then a good part of the remainder of the race with her. She is an awesome runner and even better company. Well for me she was great company hehehehe. I was so happy to be finally up that damn mountain at this point. I deff had to catch my breath and take a moment to enjoy the view from atop the mountain. Then it hit me that we had to make our way back down the mountain which I knew was not going to be easy or any fun at all. And sure enough the trip back down the mountain sucked big time. You did not want to go too fast or else you would face plant. But you could not really walk at all because of gravity your body wanted to sprint down the hill. Somewhere after we made it back down the mountain we soon entered back into the water if I can remember correctly. I maybe wrong but I do remember getting this pic taken while in the water. So here it is. No promises on where exactly in the race I am at this point in time.

I know I know it looks like I am taking a shit break but I was really just cooling off hehehehe.

I was actually enjoying myself at this point in time. I really did enjoy running through the water. It was really quite refreshing.

Again after coming down the mountain and back into the water we were quickly out and running right into Aid Station number 4. This is where I filled up my Nathan Pack and had a couple cups of gatorade again. I also made myself another drink in my water bottle. Again I was running with Rene when some guy came up behind us and said we needed to get moving or we would not make the 6 hour cut off at the half way point. So off we started running again. And that is when I realized I was missing something. I had my nathan pack on my back and bottle in hand. But I was still missing something. And that is when I realized I did not have my camera in my other hand. And so I started to turn around and go back for it which was left on the table at AS #4. But then I soon realized that it was not worth it and I really did not have alot of time. And so I again turned around and started running once again. I was already beat down with that mountain climbing that I knew I was going to have to give it all I had to make it in time. So from that point on I was not able to take any more pictures which I was pretty bummed about. But I realized finishing the race was what was really important to me. Oh well that was that.

After AS#4 we had some more mud and water and lots of fun. Right up into AS#5 and the cut off we were running through one of the brooks again and I kept looking at my watching wondering how much time I had before the cut off. I was going to make it one way or another so I started running through the water which probally was not the smartest thing to do but I did not care at that point. So I made it into the AS with 20 minutes to spare. At this point we had run about 19 miles and some change. And we had another 6 hours to finish the race. I knew I had plenty of time even though I was exhausted at this point.

Soon after AS#5 we had a good stretch of running before we hit the water again which felt great since the weather was warming up. This next stretch of running was pretty long and tough. We had tons more mud and basically a swamp to run through which was quite interesting and did not smell all the great. Oh and I should mention the about knee high mud too which was not easy to get through.

After making it through the swamp we came to the part of the race that I had been looking foward to the whole day. And that was the river crossing. I knew this was going to feel great. So I make it to the river and notice the water did not look all that great but I knew it would feel good. They had a rope which assisted us across and I slowly inched my way over to the other side. Once there I decided to wait for Rene which I had left a few miles back. So I took a short break and chatted it up with the 2 volunteers who were there to help us out. And so a few minutes later Rene arrived and made her way across along with another guy who had been running with us for a bit as well. After that I had started to remember that I wish I had my camera at this time because I really wanted my picture in the river. I then noticed that one of the volunteers had a camera and I asked if they could take my pic in the water. So I quickly jumped back in and got my picture taken. And as soon as I get the pic I will post it online for everyone to see.

Within a quarter of a mile later came AS#6 and our second drop bag. This is where I had another dry pair of socks and a dry pair of shoes. Both of which I had changed out. And boy did that feel great to sit there and change both. Felt like I had new feet at that point in time. I also stayed in that chair a few extra minutes as I did not want to get back up. But I realized I needed to get going so up and off I went.

AS#7 was about 5 or so miles later. But during this time the thunder and lightning really started to pick up and it also started to drizzle. This is also where I left Rene once again who was having trouble with her knees. I now know I probally should have stayed with her hehehe but I just pushed on.

I finally made it to AS# and quickly had a seat where I never wanted to get up. Within a few minutes of sitting down the skies opened up and it started to pour cats and dogs. And I thought to myself this sucks but I have to get going and get out of there. So off into the pouring rain I went. From then on I did not do a whole lot of running but alot of walking. A few short miles later came a water only stop and the last one before the end of the race. Oh and don't let me forget the nice big sand pit/sand hill we had to climb up which totally sucked ass too.

Well I knew I did not need any water at AS#8 so I just kept on moving knowing I only had about 3 miles to go before I could finally finish this tough ass race.

Finally finally I came into view of the finished and I made one last spring to the little down hill that we had run up about 10 hours earlier. And I weaved my way down the hill trying to add in a little more work hehehe. Everyone thought that was crazy and funny.

FINALLY after 10 hours and 30 minutes later I had finished the JAY CHALLENGE race. This was one hell of a tough race. I mean I had been in a muddy race. I had been through a pouring race. And I deff had been through some climbs at races. But never had I been to a race where all 3 obsticles were on 1 race. This one deff has it all. And even though the race sucked ass I am so happy and glad that I tackled this challenge. And I will deff do it again in the future. So next year we all have to go back and have some fun up in JAY VERMONT. Hopefully a few more pics will follow in the future as soon as the RD lets me know.

Thanks for reading my novel. Hope you all enjoyed and plan on it next year.