I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for awhile – getting to see all my WVMTR friends, drinking awesome Mountain State Brewing Co. beer, camping in the paradise that is The Mountain Institute, running in the mountains of the Monongahela National Forest. What’s not to love?!The 50k Leading up to the race, I had the usual concerns about not enough training, what to wear, etc, etc, but my main concern was whether or not I’d be running by myself the whole time. As much as I love running in the woods, I knew I would miss running with my usual trail running partners – Mical, Lorrin and Amanda. Turns out I had little to fear, once again the awesomeness of the trail running community was reconfirmed for me, I met and ran with many new folks this weekend and had a great time.
The 50k kicked off right at 7am with temps in the 30s, perfect running weather for me. We took a lap through TMI property before heading to Big Run AS#1 at 5.5 miles. That first section is a blur for me, only fleeting thoughts about how happy I’d be later to be heading back up Cardiac Hill hours later as I got close to the finish, tempered by concern about how I was going to drag myself back up it. Before I knew it I was approaching the first AS, said a quick hello to Dan and Adam and blew right through the AS. The one commitment I had made about this year’s race was not to linger in aid stations or dilly dally taking too many pictures. Last year we had about an hour of stoppage time according to Mical’s Garmin; our finishing time was about 9:26, I was bound and determined to move more deliberately this year. So I didn’t stop at the AS and just kept going.
Much to my surprise I was not at the back of the pack. I was in the midst of many different runners and ran at various times with Kimba, Rhonda, Adele and others between AS#1 and 2.
This section went pretty fast too; remember running along a meadow with lots of shoulder high Goldenrod, wet rocks and some mud. Arrived at AS#2 Bee Run, mile 11.3, in about 2:39. Megan, Dan and Adam were there to greet us all. Megan and Dan were like a NASCAR pit crew, asking me what I needed, taking my trash, and providing lots of encouraging words. Adam was telling me how strong I looked. After those guys pumped me up, I was ready to tackle the climb up Bee Run that I had been dreading since last year.
I quickly fell in running with Kimba and Rhonda. But as the trail started to climb, I once again encountered my weakness, HILLS. [Note to Harold and XMP folks – I really need to work on running or at least walking faster up hills next year.] Kimba and Rhonda got further and further away, a couple folks passed me. But I hung on to the top and finally made it. Once on the Allegheny Trail I caught up with Kimba and Rhonda who had now been joined by Suzie. Now we were a gang of four pushing our way through some downed trees and chatting about MMT, the Ring, Reverse Ring, Mohican 100, Burning River 100, etc. Time passed quickly and we were soon headed down toward Judy Springs AS#3 at mile 16.9. Kimba and I were really looking forward to seeing our friends Paula, Greg and Dennis, the fabulous volunteers at Judy Springs, and hear about their adventures packing in all the aid station stuff. Because this is one of those AS that you can’t drive too and these guys work hard to get all the food to us and take care of us all day for the 50k and do it all over again for the 50 miler the next day. I can’t say enough thanks to these guys, but THANKS. We arrived at the AS in about 4:12 and totally chowed down on Paula’s quesadillas and other yummy food.
Next up, Bear Hunter Trail and another long slog uphill. The four of us headed out chatting pleasantly, then they were gone again as I paced myself up the hill and let them go. We passed Greg and Mary Ann Yarborough in here. This is a mother/son duo, I’ll just say in their 40’s (Greg) and 50’s (Mary Ann), which had run Highland Sky together and were now back for the Trilogy. Talk about inspiring!! I finally made it to the top of Bear Hunter, it took me another 10 or 15 minutes but I caught back up with Kimba, Rhonda and Suzie. At this point I should probably mention that all three of the aforementioned folks were running the whole Trilogy. I figured they were taking it a bit easy today to save themselves for the 50 miler. My strategy at this point was to try to keep up with them as long as I could because the conversation was great and time was flying by with them. We continued to work our way around downed trees from the snow storm earlier in the week and worked our way up to the turn at Horton. There was a camouflage tent-like thing here that I guess was a hunting blind that we ran right by and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was anyone in there and, if so, what they were thinking of the 50 or so runners joining them in the woods today. We passed the plates pointing to the out and back on White’s Run for the 50 miler the next day and then began the mostly fun downhill of the Horton Trail. Before I knew it we were back for our second visit to Judy Springs AS#4 at mile 22.6. Total time was about 5:57. We grabbed more quesadillas, water and the best sports drink ever, Mountain Dew, and headed out for the next climb. Because in WV, if you are not descending, you are climbing!
At least the climb up to Lumberjack is incredibly scenic!! You get great views of the leaves changing and you can look back at the ridge we had been running on before.
The hill pattern repeated itself as I lost those guys. But I paced my way up the climb, took some pictures and it finally flattened out. I caught up to them again. We passed Cody and John. Cody had talked John into running this 50k, which was his first ultra, he had not run more than about 13 miles before this race. He was struggling; we’ve all been there before. Kimba offered some encouraging words to John as Cody took off. The four of us moved on talking about jobs, work schedules, politics, etc. What a pleasant day in the woods! Then we hit the road, right turn, run down the road to Seneca AS#5 at mile 27.7. The total time was 7:26, I think it was around here that I realized how much faster the race was going than it had last year. I was consciously trying not to look at my watch too much, I wanted to move this year but also not be obsessed with time. After all, how often do I get to spend all day in the woods. BUT there was good beer at the finish line so it’s not a bad thing to be done running right?? Megan was at this AS too and she and the expert volunteers got us in and out of there quickly. Our foursome took off again, we could almost taste the finish line.
There’s not too much to write home about in this section, it’s a short 3.3 miles with the highlight, if you want to call it that, being the climb back up Cardiac Hill. I don’t even have to tell you what happened here, yes, Kimba, Rhonda and Suzie left me in their dust as they powered up the hill. This is what well trained 100 miler chicks can do on a hill. But I persevered and made it to the top. Last mile to the finish was pure heaven, awesome views, nice breeze, new found trail running friends, the feeling that I had made up a huge amount of time from the previous year!! I crossed the finish line in 8:09, compared to 9:26 the year before.
Then it was time for a beer!! Thanks for a great run Dan, Adam, Kat and all the volunteers from WVMTR and staff at TMI, you guys rock. Thanks for a great run Kimba, Rhonda and Suzie!
Congrats to all the Trilogy participants, you guys are amazing! Darcy, Kathy, Rhonda, Adele, Elizabeth, Angie, Kate, Kimba, Suzie, Kristen, Mary Ann -- some of you made it this year, some didn't, but you all are an inspiration to me!! Here's the url to pictures from the whole Trilogy weekend.
