Catherine's Fat Ass 50k

Well we found ourselves in the car heading out to the Massanutten Mountains for another adventure this past Saturday. The weather was fairly pleasant at 5:45 am in the park and ride where we met to drive out to the race, but we knew it wouldn't stay that way!

We got out to the start in plenty of time and then hung out applying bug stuff and sunscreen until Jeff Reed gave us instructions. The funniest part of the intro was when Gary Knipling presented Jeff with a silver necklace with what he said was a bear tooth attached, this was to recognize Jeff for all his work on Catherine's over the years. Gary claimed that he and Quatro found a road-killed bear a couple of weeks ago and sawed the tooth off, then used it to get the necklace made. With Gary I suspect anything is possible... Anyway, with thoughts of bears, ticks and rattlesnakes in my head, we started off on our run at approximately 8am.

There's a detailed course description as well as maps on the Catherine's website so I won't bore you with all the gory details. Results can also be found on the site. There were 5 aid stations that were really well stocked. The course was marked anyplace where you might have a question about which way to go. The after-run food and drink were amazing! VHTRC sure does put on one heck of a Fat Ass, pretty impressive for a free event.

In terms of comments about the course difficulty, I will say that I thought the course had a fair amount of runnable stuff and wasn't too technical. The rocky parts are really only on the climb up Bird Knob and then the Yellow Trail. The Purple Trail is somewhat rocky but its bite isn't in the rocks, it's the fact that it gets steeper and steeper as you go and you don't think the switchbacks will ever end. And since that's your 3rd climb of the day and it's pretty darn warm, it's downright unpleasant.

The nice thing about a Fat Ass is that there are no cut-offs so I really was just out trying to do my best to enjoy the day. I mostly succeeded at that. The only thing I really hated was that it got really buggy and that it was hot and humid. But hey, it's July, what can I expect?? I did have some cramping issues the last 8 miles and took all my endurolytes. I know now that I should have had more with me and been taking them more frequently.

But in the end, I had a really good day. I finished all 50k, it took me about 8:53. I spent a lot of time running with Bob Phillips and we entertained each other with ultra stories as well as discussions about politics, cop shows, life, etc. I didn't step on or see any rattlesnakes and didn't get any ticks. I did see plenty of great views, pretty rocks, one probable watersnake, and beautiful streams. So I'd recommend the CFA to anybody looking for a run next July! Here are a few pictures I took along the way.

And if you want other opinions on the run, Joe and Mark can fill you in. They both finished way ahead of me, Joe in 7:17 and Mark in 7:34. The first finisher did it in 4:36, wow!

To those running Catoctin this Saturday, good luck and have fun out there!! Better you than me!