Maryland Challenge 2010

Another fantastic year of the Maryland Challenge is complete! Thanks to the fabulous crewing of Bill and Megan, you guys rock!

Our starters this year from the PA border were Mical, Lorrin, Amanda, Michelle and Mark. Yes, Mark was running with the "ladies" as he calls us. Fortunately he's used to running with us and I don't think we drove him too crazy...although now that I think of it, he did occassionally take off on his own for awhile...he must have needed some alone time. It was a chilly 28 degrees, this meant that Lorrin, Mical and Michelle all had to wear their awesome shirts from the WV Trilogy. We are stylin' aren't we?



















The miles passed by quickly, despite all the rocks, and before I knew it, we had arrived at I-70 which is about 18 miles into the run. At this point, Mical and Lorrin headed home with Erik and Eddie. Paul, Joe and Tony began running with Mark, Amanda and Michelle. After leaving 70, we enjoyed some nice scenery from the top of the Washington Monument. The weather was amazing, it had warmed up to high 40s, maybe even low 50s, and we were mostly in short-sleeves.

We made a brief stop at the South Mountain Inn to refuel and pose for more pictures. Then we headed up the dreaded climb to Lambs Knoll.

Joe, Mark and Paul quickly left us in the dust on this climb but Tony, Amanda and I had an enjoyable time talking about our various holiday vacations and BEER. Tony knows his beers and I've got several in mind to try after this conversation. But we still had a few miles to go in our journey...so we breezed through Gathland and started toward Weverton Cliffs. It was about 5:18 when I finally had to give in and turn on my headlamp. The sunset was beautiful over Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights, especially the reflection off the rocks on the top of the ridge we were running south along. Somewhere in this section Amanada mentioned that her back was spasming. Naturally I thought, oh good, Amanda will want to stop at the base of Weverton Cliffs and I can be done, whooohooo, I hate running on the towpath. But no. We reached the parking lot and I announced I was done...wouldn't you know...before I knew it I was leaving the parking lot running down the trail to the towpath. Drat!! We plodded along, Joe blew past us, then Paul and Mark blew by, I felt like I was standing still. As we reached the bridge across the Potomac to Harper's Ferry I announced that I was not going across, Amanda agreed and we continued to our unofficial finish line, the foot bridge to the parking area. We were met by an enthusiatic crew of Bill, Megan and Tony. Yeah, 40.5 miles done!! The guys rolled in shortly thereafter, having officially touched the soil of WV and returned. Well done all!!

Thanks everyone for the food, drink and fun at another Maryland Challenge! Looking forward to running more with everyone in 2011. Here are a few more pictures from the day.