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!