Promise Land 50k ++ report 2016

After a 5 week layoff from training in December and January (and gaining 10 pounds) I sort of let myself get sucked into doing this Southwest Virginia Triple Crown series of three 50 k races that I was not planning on doing. I was thinking I would do 2 of those races, The Smith Mountain Lake Dam 50 k, and Promise Land 50k, but not the Holiday Lake 50k. Then this series became available. Amazing what we runners will put ourselves through for a Tee shirt! Anyway, doing Holiday Lake in February with little training was probably not a good thing for all these nagging pains I get that prevent me from training as hard as I want to. A month and a half later I finished the Dam 50k which included a good bit of road running which is good for my summer road marathon plans.

So, 4 weeks after the Dam 50k, now at Promise Land, the day started off with about 300 trail runners slogging uphill on the first ascent by headlamp in the rainy mist for the first 4 miles and I realized I was hiking uphill pretty good and was feeling ok. One never knows about how you will feel come race time until you are actually underway and moving along. As we started our rolling descents and ascents on the grassy horse trail road toward aid station 2 at Upper Reed Creek, I kept an ongoing check on how I felt, trying not to go too fast on the gravity aided down slopes and trying not to lose too much time on the short climbs. Alissa Kieth and I kept passing each other and tagging along together for a good bit all the way through aid station 3 at Sunset Field on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then on the descent down the upper part of Apple Orchard trail. I was checking my time to that point and it seemed I might be on pace for a PR (Personal Record) or close to it. Once we got on the grassy forest road headed toward Cornelius Creek trail, Alissa pulled ahead and I let her go. I had to stop for about 4 or 5 minutes along there to fertilize the trees. On down the Cornelius Creek trail I again was trying to be careful not to go too fast. The slight downhill road section between aid station 4 at Cornelius Creek and where the course turns onto Whitetail Trail, I know I ran too fast, like I always do, but I usually recover pretty quickly with a little hiking on the single track section there. That would not be the case on this day. I had blown up, I was shot, out of gas, bonked, or whatever you want to call that "out of energy / legs will not co-operate" feeling that happens when you burn the wick just a little too bright on the front end of a race. I think I was way too optimistic with how good I felt early in this race and it greatly affected my speed, or rather lack thereof, on the "dark side". The "dark side" is what Promise Land runners, and especially us local runners in the Lynchburg area, have come to call the part of the course that is to the west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I think I first heard that "dark side" descriptor from David Horton on a training run on that section back in 2008 when he was still running. That is about from mile 13 to about mile 29 in this 34 mile race, and includes a three mile steep climb up Apple Orchard Falls trail...after you have already done a marathon distance...on trails...in the mountains!  

After reaching Sunset Field the second time, I glanced at my watch and realized I might have just run the fastest time I had ever done during this race from the start to Sunset Field the first time, and the slowest time I had ever done the segment from there back to Sunset Field the second time. So much for a PR. Not going to happen. I would be hard pressed to finish an hour slower than my PR on this course of 6 hrs 49 min. I tried to make the most of the down hill from there to the finish but had to be careful not to hammer the down hill too hard while still on the single track section, as I could feel my legs were on the verge of muscle cramps. I have cramped baaaddd in that section before and sure did not want to now. Finally, back on the gravel of Overstreet Creek road, that will take me back to Promise Land Camp, I let gravity work and ease off the brakes. The last mile my watch says I ran in 7 min. 25 sec. and at some point had reached a 6:34 pace for a few seconds. After I crossed the finish line I forgot to stop my watch for a few minutes, so I will have to wait for the official results to be posted. I was somewhere close to 7 hrs 40 min.

One of my slower overall times on this course, but it hasn't discouraged me. My training the past few weeks has been gearing up for a down hill road marathon I plan to do in June. I have not been focusing on the monster climbs these mountain races have. I did well for about 19 or 20 miles. I completed the Southwest Virginia Triple Crown and got the tee shirt! I got a nice pair of Patagonia Nine Trails running shorts with zippered pockets as the finish award for the Promise Land race! I am not injured. I am going into the heart of my road marathon training with a good base. Hopefully I will be able to get a Boston Marathon Qualifying time. Looking forward to Track Tuesdays and a few downhill runs on Thunder Ridge in the near future! If you want to join in, hit me on face book.

A new year, adjusting focus.

     2016 is here.  Hope for a better year from a running viewpoint.  2015 was not very good to me running and injury wise.  I scaled back on training early in 2015 to recover from the beating my legs and feet took from training for, and running the Beast Series in 2014, and only had a few ultra marathon races targeted.  I didn't do any local road races in 2015 except for the Peaks Christmas 5k this December in Bedford, VA.  I managed to participate in the Promise Land 50k ++ in April.  I "won" the 24 hour solo division at the Hat Creek Trail Races in May by just staying on the course after the heat had blown everyone else up. I ran two marathons in other states, one in Wisconsin that was a combined paved trail and dirt singletrack with a unique twist...a lookout tower to climb halfway through the course, and one in Maryland with very nice shoreline scenery.  In early June I ran the Carvin's Cove Trail Marathon, then later in June and July I had to deal with some injuries that started from work and home project related things happening to me, not running injuries.  But those injuries translated into not being able to train and then ramping up training probably too quickly during the recovery phase.  I was able to do the 30 mile event at Iron Mountain in September, then just barely finish the Grindstone 100 miler in October.  By December I was finally back in half decent trail ultra shape, but not as good as I was in 2014, looking back.  I did manage to finish the 2015 Hellgate 100k ++ race in very warm weather an hour slower than I did in 2014.  I have neglected core strength work and am currently recovering from a lower back injury that I somehow managed to inflict on myself over the Christmas Holiday weekend.  I will need to make some adjustments this year to my training to regain core strength.  When I look back on my most successful and injury free time periods of running I realize those were periods when I maintained good core strength training while staying focused on good training for running.

     I will turn 60 in June this year.  I age up into the 60-64 age group as far as running goes.  The Boston Marathon qualification time is 3 hours 55 minutes for this age group.  I have run several road marathons with a finish time of 3:45 to 3:55 over the past few years, but none in the past two years. I will be focusing on training to run a Boston qualifying time in a road marathon that is certified as a Boston qualifier course by the USA Track and Field organization.  I know right now I am not in condition to run a road marathon at that speed mostly due to training primarily for long trail ultras in the mountains over the past two years.  Those runs are much slower paced and are run primarily by effort not pace.  Long uphill pulls from 2 to as much as 7 miles on rough rock strewn, root covered trails means power hiking up mostly.  Then long downhill bombing runs over those same rooty, rocky trails at fast-as-you-dare speeds.  That kind of racing and training just isn't conducive to running a road marathon at an even pace for 26 miles.  It is vastly different training and vastly different running.  I have tried to combine the two types of training and racing over several years but that has not allowed me to reach my goal of qualifying for Boston.  My time for qualifying in the men's 55-59 age group was 3:40.  The Boston Athletic Association has changed the qualification times over the years to kind of limit the field to faster runners as well as the fact that the course can only accommodate so many people.  Anyway, I have a 3:45 at Richmond in 2007, a 3:46 at Rehoboth  Beach I believe that was 2011 , and a 3:47 at Myrtle Beach in 2012.  I would have been about 5 minutes faster at Myrtle Beach if not for a porta pot stop at mile 6.  Too much food the night before.  I ran real even splits of around   8:24 per mile until the last 4 miles,  when I couldn't hold that pace and slowed to about a 9:00 minute per mile pace, but that was probably my best overall effort and even paced road marathon.

     In June of 2016, Grattan Garbee and myself plan to chase a BQ run at a marathon near Denver, Colorado that will have a little over 4,000 feet of elevation decline over the 26.2 mile course.  I have six months to get in condition to run that distance downhill.  I plan to do quite a bit of training on the Blue Ridge Parkway, namely Thunder Ridge.  It is exactly 13 miles from the Radar Ball driveway on Apple Orchard Mountain down Thunder Ridge to the James River Visitors Center.  The elevation profile will be roughly descending from 4,000 feet above sea level to 650 feet above sea level.  So about 3, 350 feet of descent in 13 miles.  I will probably do some runs on Tobacco Row Mountain and Fleming Mountain as well.  I will still be out on "Wild Wednesdays" for our runs on Candler's, but I will be doing less trail running, and more road running this spring and summer. Not that I will leave the trails all together.  I love trail running too much for that.  I will likely register for the Dam 50k to be held April 2nd, just to get the shirt and say I ran that Dam 50k (snickering).  

     So training will be a little different.  Mixing in some core strength.  Some faster cruise intervals and track intervals.  Some flatter tempo runs.  Some long downhill runs.   Less in the way of long trail runs in the mountains and more road running.  Oh, yeah one more thing...I will be training my new supervisor at my job, which should go pretty well, I hope.  My former supervisor got promoted within the Fire Department from Logistics Captain to the position of Training Division Battalion Chief, so the new Logistics Captain will be taking his position as the shop supervisor.  These guys are "good at heart" public servants who have the desire to help their fellow man.  However their career has not been in the repair and maintenance of heavy trucks and automotive vehicles, so lots of times there are communications that have to take place about things that need to be done that takes more explanation than I would like...coming from my viewpoint of working under supervision, up till the last four years, that already understands this information from a whole career of repairing vehicles.  So a few changes are in the making for me.  Hopefully I will be able to make those changes work well.  The world in general is changing around me, mostly not to my liking, but there is little I can do about that.  I will be happy to just stick with the things I have some control of and effect those changes.  As I raise my coffee cup...here is to change!

Race report for the (Hotter Than) Hellgate 2015 100k ++

     Continuing a theme I have seen in comments about this year's warm temperature during the day for Hellgate, I chose to insert the "Hotter Than" into my Hellgate race report.  The weather is normally not as warm and humid the second weekend in December as we had this year with highs in the mid 70's.  However I am glad we did not have to deal with ice or deep snow!  It certainly made the aid station workers and crews jobs easier!  I never thought I would want ice in my hydration pack in an ultra marathon in mid December in the mountains of Virginia, but I was glad there was ice at several of the last aid stations on the course!  Thanks workers!

     I took Friday Dec. 11 off work so I could sleep in some and rest up before the 12:01 am Saturday morning start.  Friday afternoon I got to packing up my stuff, race bag with shower stuff and street clothes for after, drop bag with extra shoes and socks and gels, and my hydration pack, spare headlamp and batteries.  I planned to leave home in time to get to Camp Bethel for the 5 pm check in and 6 pm meal so I could chat with others and relax.  Well I was a bit late leaving but still had plenty of time to make it for the meal...about 25 minutes down the road, my wife calls me and informs me that my hydration pack is still at the house!  I will definitely need that with how warm it is going to be on Saturday afternoon, so I went back to the house and got it.  I was a bit concerned this might make me too late for when the meal would be over at 7:30 pm, but I was still able to get there for the food.  Nice veggie lasagna I might add!

     After the pre-race briefing and the matching up of people who needed a ride to the start (huge car pool caravan to the start of this point to point race) I went out to rest in my car, and make final prep with pinning my race number on my shorts, making sure I had what I wanted for food, Tailwind mixed, and extra Tailwind powder in my pack and so on.  Blake Edmondson gave me a ride to the start and kept a small bag with some of my things I would want at a few places on course.  He met me at Pettite's Gap, and worked the aid stations at Jennings Creek and Bobblet's Gap.

     Midnight and we have had a prayer, sung the "Star Spangled Banner" and at a minute after midnight Dave Horton starts us on our 66.6 mile race through the trails of Viginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, specifically the Glenwood horse trail which has as it's northeast terminus the Big Hellgate Creek trail head parking area, which is where the race gets it's name.

     In the first half mile I found myself kinda boxed in behind a group of runners that weren't going at the speed I thought was fast enough to suit me, so I managed to get around them to get in a clear section and Todd Thomas came around them with me.  We ran together another half mile or so then Todd pulled away.  The slightly rolling trail felt good, especially the downhill sections, so I took full advantage of the gravity pull on those places that I could.  It seemed like we got to the first creek crossing pretty quickly and then out on to the first long uphill gravel road (Pettite's Gap road) where I took a moment to eat a Honey Stinger waffle and a gel, then set about running as much of that uphill road as I could.  In retrospect, I probably pushed too hard up that hill, running most all but a couple short sections all the way to aid station 2 at the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Hmmm, come to think of it I did pretty much the same thing last year.  I still felt good though over 8 miles in, descending away on the east side of the Parkway and through the single track section that goes over to Hunting Creek road.  I did not feel like I was pushing too hard.

     As I got going up the gravel climb of Hunting Creek road, I slowed to a hike and took out another Honey Stinger Waffle and a gel.  I was trying to jog some of the not too steep sections and hike the steeper parts.  Several people passed me on that climb as I started to notice my left hip was aching and overall I had a feeling of being really tired.  Of course it is after 1 am!  As we got near aid station 3 at Camping Gap there was a guy hiking near me that wondered out loud about how soon the next aid station would be coming.  I must have lost track of where I was because I answered with "oh, about another half mile" only to look ahead and realize "oh, well, we are here already"! Then I said something like " wow, too early to be hallucinating already"!  My time to this point was very close to my last years split here so I felt pretty good about that but I was concerned my left hip was going on strike.  This past summer I had battled a couple injuries that were not running related, but kept me from training.  In June I pulled some muscles in my left lower back and hip / upper hamstring area while using a pole mounted chain saw to cut some limbs off trees at my house.  In July I had a heavy truck tire, mounted and aired up, fall on my left foot. That stopped all running training till the end of July. The combination of these two injuries affected my stride as I got back to training in August.  All experienced runners know what happens when you have to alter your stride...aches and injuries tend to transmit all over, going from one joint to another, or one muscle group to another.  I have felt a nagging, slowing me down, type of pain near the end of some of my long runs this fall in my left hip and it chose now to show up again...ugh!

     On out the loonngg grassy road toward Floyd Field in the wee hours of the morning, I felt like I was slowing down more and more.  My left hip got to where I was noting I was not able to pick up my left leg as much as I should and was grazing some of the higher spots with my shoe.  This is not good.  One thing trail running requires that is different from road running is being able to lift your feet to clear obstacles like roots, rocks, sticks and logs.  When you can't lift your feet, you WILL trip and fall.  I began to work on massage techniques as I hiked uphill climbs, hammering and digging into the muscles in my left hip as I continued to make progress on the course.  I took the single track down to Overstreet Creek road easy as there are lots of obstacles on that section.  I had picked up a piece of a stick in my right shoe, so when I got off that single track to start the climb back up to the Parkway and Floyd Field, I stopped and took off that shoe and got the stick out.  I looked up at the sky several times during this climb.  The stars were so bright on this moonless night.  I came up on a guy hiking with no light and asked him if his light was ok.  He said it was and was just enjoying the hike in the dark.  I had a hand light and two head lights with me so I wanted to make sure he was ok. I could have let him have one of my lights.  We talked about how pretty the stars were.  They seemed really big and close.  He mentioned he had seen a couple meteorites.  There was a meteor shower but I didn't see any.  Getting to Floyd Field at Headforemost Mountain is the first major hurdle in this race.  It is the first place there is a hard cutoff.  That is, a time limit to get there.  If you don't get to Floyd Field  by 6:40 am then you can't continue on course. I was there at about 5:45 am so nearly an hour ahead of the cutoff, but lost ground on my time from last year.  Kathie Colling and Melissa Early were there working the aid station, and they gave me red carpet treatment!  Kathie even hiked across the Parkway a few yards to collect my trash as I was leaving on my way toward Jennings Creek.

     As I started the descent toward Jennings Creek I knew it would be getting light soon.  My batteries in both my head light and hand light were worn down.  I was trying to conserve them by alternating use of each so I wouldn't have to stop and get into my pack for batteries.  I managed to make that work.  My reserve headlamp was in my pack also but I wanted to save that for the (increasing) chance that I might have to use it near the finish.  I didn't need it last year but I was going slower this year, and the warm temperature was sure to slow me more as the day wore on.  There are a few little rolling up and down sections here and a creek crossing that is too wide to jump across before you get on the grassy road that makes the last drop into Jennings Creek aid station.  At that creek I had caught up to a guy that had been in front of me. Here he is blocking my way and hesitant to cross the creek, looking for a way across and keep from getting his feet wet.  That sort of thing irritates me in a race. I can see wanting to keep your feet dry on a training run where your time doesn't matter, but my goodness, if you are any kind of a trail runner you should be okay with just stomping straight through a creek in a race!  I stepped up beside him and said "here ya go, just go right through it"!  I hope he didn't take offense.  By the time I got to the Jennings Creek aid station it was daylight.  Blake was there and I handed him my headlight, hand light, gloves and long sleeve tee shirt. I could probably have done ok without the long tee and gloves, but I wore them anyway for the night time portion as the temps were in the 50 degree range and you never know whether it will be cooler and windy on the ridges than the valleys, plus my hands get cold easy when I run.  I saw Steve Wolbert come in the station behind me, and Alissa Kieth came in just as I was heading out on course with breakfast in my hands.

     The first climb up the gravel road leaving Jennings Creek is a good place to eat breakfast. It isn't too steep, and not as long as the first two gravel roads in the race, and there is a nice gravel downhill once you get past a short single track at the top. Funny thing, there is a little grove of pine trees on the left within the first quarter mile of the downhill here.  Both times I have run this race, I had to stop at this pine grove to go get rid of the used food that had accumulated in my digestive tract to this point. Same exact spot both times...in a 66 to 67 mile run...weird.  The single track at the bottom of this gravel road is a really nice section.  I'm going to have to make a trip out there and run a loop course using that section sometime.  In fact I don't know why I don't hear of more training runs using this part of the course.  I guess there are other trails that are closer to Lynchburg, or more scenic or epic runs.  But if you look at a map of this area there are lots of trails and forest service roads nearby here that could make nice loops.  I guess that makes for more places to get lost at too, ha ha!  I have never been lost, only temporarily disoriented!  Steve Wolbert caught and passed me back at the top before the descent, and I kept waiting for Alissa Kieth to catch me but unknown to me at the time, she had been experiencing severe indigestion and her race would end at Bearwallow Gap on this day.  I felt bad for her when I saw her later.  I know the long hours and loss of family time as well as the expenses of training and racing the "Beast Series".  To have finished well at all 5 of the previous races in the series, then to have the wheels come off in the last half of the last race in the series and not get the finishers award for the whole series is just a real disappointing thing to happen.  Somewhere along here is halfway through the course.  After the nice single track trail there is another gravel road climb as you approach Little Cove Mountain aid station, then a couple rolling up and downs then the aid station.  Here your are confronted with a notable incongruity if you are wearing a GPS watch and have been keeping tabs on the distance covered.  I remember last year, looking at my watch here and seeing over 37 miles.  The mileage chart on the website, and the hand made sign at the aid station will say you have run 34.5 miles to get here.  I know the course is long.  I know about "Horton miles". I readily accept the fact that most trail races are longer than the advertised distance.  I realize you can't just start or stop a race out in the middle of nowhere, there has to be a semi-convenient venue for the start and finish where there is room for people and cars.  But for some reason the 37 plus miles on my watch here and the 34 plus I was seeing on the aid table sign just grated my already thin patience last year at this point, so I purposely wore only a time keeping watch this year.

     Leaving Little Cove aid station headed toward Bearwallow Gap you are on a really runnable double track for a good while, maybe around a couple miles, then on a singletrack that isn't too bad with nice views for awhile, then you enter the "Devil Trail" with seemingly endless switchbacks, lots of rocks on the trail that are determined to make you twist an ankle, and to make it worse, the rocks are covered with very slippery leaves.  You know you are getting closer to where the trail crosses route 43 just above the town of Buchanan, but the switchbacks just don't seem to be helping your progress much.  Bearwallow Gap aid station is another of the Glenwood horse trail parking areas that this race utilizes.  It is large enough so that folks who have horses and use trailers can pull in and unload and loop around without having to back up.  This is the second hard cutoff location with a time of 12:30 pm or you can't continue.  If you get here before that you are pretty much a lock to finish, barring any unfortunate circumstances.  There is truly only 20 miles to the finish from Bearwallow, so all the extra miles have already been covered.  If you have a pacer to help you finish it is here that you are allowed to pick up your pacer.  Last year Blake paced me from here to the finish.  This year I did not have a pacer, so I just concentrated on moving as best I could.  Running the flats and downhills and power hiking the uphills. I bumped into Kathie C. and Melissa E. here again and they seemed to follow the race, driving to the next two aid stations as well, and being of great assistance to the aid crews and runners. They filled my hydration pack as I grazed pretty well off the aid table and then set about the power hike uphill for the first little bit out of Bearwallow .

     After the first mile or mile and a half out of Bearwallow headed toward Bobblet's Gap, the single track uphill becomes more runnable for good stretches  as it winds in and out of small hollows in the side of the ridge.  Eventually the trail drops you out on an old dirt road that climbs to the left, back up to the parkway where Bobblet's Gap aid station is.  Here Sam Price is running his remote wilderness restaurant (just kidding, but seriously, he has got all kinds of food, pierogies, cheese quesadillas, and so forth).  I remembered last year eating a bit too much here, so mindful of that, I ate well but didn't overdo it.  I wanted to be able to make good use of the next 3 miles...downhill at first on washed out rocky dirt road, then as you descend the road gets better until you are on a real nice gravel road for about a mile.  As you get close to the bottom of this road, you turn right on a single track trail that is known as the "Forever Section".  It isn't all that terrible as far as trails go...if you are on fresh legs! By now I am hiking every little uphill and trying to do something that at least looks like running on flats and downs.  This section has a few ups, a few downs and a little bit of side hill on trail that is covered with leaves about a foot deep. A few little rocky sections and about 9 or 10 little creek drainages thrown in for good measure.  It is only about 5 or 6 miles long but, it...seems ...to ...take ...forever!  At last I am on the nice flat trail that leads into Day Creek trail head parking area and the last aid station.  I get straight water in my pack with a little ice.  I had been mixing Tailwind powder in my hydration pack the whole race up to now.  Eat a few pickles and chips off the aid table, and off I go on the last climb, about 3 miles back up to the parkway for the fourth and final time.

     I am close to an hour behind my time for last year.  I get my spare headlight out of my pack in preparation for darkness.  As I approach the top of this climb I see a group of people ahead and it appears that I am closing the gap on them.  I cross the parkway and start down the last long descent. As I go past the group of runners that were just ahead of me, I realize one of them is Kim Weatherford.  I'm glad to see she will finish.  About halfway down the last hill the light is pretty much gone from the sky and I am glad I have my spare headlamp to see by.  I get to the Camp Bethel driveway and head in for the finish.  So glad to make it with about a half hour to spare... around 67 miles in 17:31!  Dave Horton is there greeting and congratulating each finisher.  I get my finishers awards, nice jacket, nice hat, and nice pair of  running socks all embossed or embroidered with the Hellgate race logo.  It is so nice to have the Camp Bethel facilities to finish at.  Hot showers!  I chat with friends who conquered the same trails I did today, then head home.  I pull in the Shell station on route 220 on the way home for some coffee and a bite to eat.  Blake is there with the same thing in mind.  Second time that has happened.  We both stopped  at the same place in Lovingston on the way back from Grindstone for coffee back in October.

     As an ultra trail runner I sometimes get asked why I do this.  I am not real sure I can pin down one reason.  I read an article in the January 2016 issue of Trail Runner magazine (that just came out a few days ago...why are magazines always a month ahead of the date on the cover?) that partly answers this question.  The article is titled "The Siren Song of Mount Blanc" and is about the Ultra Trail du Mount Blanc trail races that are held in France.  The author of the article is Yitka Winn.  Near the end of her article she is pondering this same question...she quotes a mountaineer named Whymper who penned a work called "Scrambles in the Alps" and I quote her here to answer this:  "In 'Scrambles in the Alps' Whymper addressed the question that he, as a mountaineer, was so often asked.  It is one that we, as trail runners, also often face--the question of why we do it, and whether our toiling in the mountains "repays" us.  "We cannot estimate our enjoyment as you measure your wine or weigh your lead; it is real nevertheless," Whymper wrote.  "My scrambles amongst the Alps have repaid me, for they have given me two of the best things a man can possess--health and friends."

   

2015 Grindstone race report (from the back of the pack)

     Back in June of 2015 I was slowly starting to gear up my training for my second 100 mile race.  I had contemplated all the facets and had sent my entry registration in for the Grindstone 100 mile Endurance Run for the second time, having run it in October of 2014, and taking stock of the beat down it gave me, yet wanting to attempt to improve my time of 34 hours, 46 minutes from last year, serious training had to get underway.  By serious training, I mean long runs of 20 to 30 miles ( and maybe longer) in the mountains on weekends, at least on Saturday and several back to back that would take up both Saturday and Sunday, and getting in another 20 to 30 miles during the week.  I remembered the time in the mountains on weekends with friends last summer, and the weekly mileage I had hit in July and August especially, along with a couple 50 mile races and a road marathon I did, so I was getting ready to make that same kind of time commitment again to 70 and 80 mile weeks, along with family, work and volunteer duties with Scouts.

     I had taken the colder months of January and February to recover from the long race season I had put in during 2014, having completed the "Beast Series" along with the training load that goes along with those extra long races.  I knew if I volunteered at the Holiday Lake race in February and volunteered at the Terrapin Mountain race in March I would not be pulled into wanting to do the "Beast" series again this year.  I did not want to lose too much fitness though and I did want to make a little progress on my desire to complete a marathon in all 50 states, so I put a marathon on the calendar for late March in Maryland.  Colder weather and late snows around the end of February and the first of March gave me further issues with getting back into "racing shape" than I wanted.  I completed the marathon in Maryland but was pretty slow due to the lack of proper training.  In April I had a surprise opportunity to take some work related training in Wisconsin, and while there I notched a marathon in that state, slow again, but now had my eyes on running the Promise Land 50k plus mountain race.  After a cold night sleeping in my van with a small propane heater which I think may have given me some carbon monoxide poisoning I "participated" in Promise Land...about an hour slower than the previous year.  All this to say that by the end of April I was tired of racing marathons and ultras way slower than I should be, and was itching to get my training back on track.

     May was upon us and looming ahead was the Hat Creek Trail races.  I was entered in the 24 hour solo division, and was treating it as a training run for Grindstone based on the premise that I would be running tired into the darkness, all night long.  I was surprised at the short list of folks registered in that division.  Most everyone was part of one of the relay teams or running the 12 or 6 hour solo divisions.  I was wondering if I might be able to get close to 100 miles on the relatively flat 5 mile loop course in 24 hours.  Race day came and the heat was on...95 degrees and very high humidity.  After the first lap I realized this was going to be a run of terrible attrition and people were going too fast for the heat...they were going to blow up, crash and burn.  I backed my pace way off, ate and drank like there was a party going on and managed to stay out on the course after everyone else in the 24 hour solo division had stopped.  I managed to get 80 miles in 23 hours and 37 minutes I think it was, and I actually won the division!  Not due to speed or real ability (at the age of one month short of 59 at the time, all my speed and ability was pretty much in the past), but just due to being too stubborn to quit.  This brought me to the place where I was getting more confident that training was progressing in the direction I wanted.

     June progressed well with long runs and midweek faster runs, a highlight was getting out on the Appalachian Trail to meet up with Scott Jurek and cover 38.5 miles with him and other members of the Blue Ridge Trail Runners.  The week of June 28 through July 4 I had 51 miles in training...progressing toward 60 and 70 mile weeks I had hoped would take place in July and 80 mile weeks I was hoping for in August.  July 5th saw me doing a 23 mile strong solo run, finishing in a thunderstorm on Candler's Mountain trails.  Monday, July 6th, late in the after noon at work, after putting new front tires on two Ambulances, I was moving mounted tires and wheels to get ready for the next day when disaster struck.  One of those mounted tire and wheel assemblies fell on my left foot and the pain was so severe I was totally speechless for a few minutes.  I knew I had just wrecked my running for the rest of the summer!  I would be lucky if nothing was broke.  I knew at the very least I had a severe bruise to my whole foot! I could barely walk let alone run.  I went for x-rays and they said they couldn't see anything broken, but there was severe soft tissue bruising and trauma.  I couldn't run at all for three weeks.  After that let pain be my guide.  I swam to try to maintain some cardio conditioning.  I swam an open water mile in the lake at Scout Camp, but swimming isn't running.

     After 3 weeks of zero running...losing fitness...losing leg strength, I got back to easy slow running.  The next three weeks saw my mileage at 24, 26, and 30 miles, more flat pavement than rough trail, gingerly, easy, slow, not the 60, 70, 80 miles with strong mountain weekends hiking hard uphills and bombing fast downhills...the middle of August and I was way off track to be considering going 100 miles on foot by the first of October, let alone trying to improve my time.  The weekend for trail work and training runs on the Grindstone course was coming up and I told myself if I could finish those runs without quitting early I would stay registered for the race.  If I could not complete those training runs, which were roughly 30 miles on Saturday August 22nd, and 21 miles Sunday August 23rd, I would withdraw from the race.  I finished both.  Not without some pain mind you, and pretty slow, close to or maybe right at dead last the second day.  I kept my name in the hat.  The next two weeks saw me getting in close to 60 miles each week including 30 miles at the Iron Mountain Trail races.  I did drop down from the 50 miler to the 30 mile distance at Iron Mountain because at this point my foot was still hurting, my fitness level for mountain ultras was not great, and I knew 50 miles in one fell swoop would be much more difficult to recover from one month out from my 100 miler.

     Of course the twists and turns were not all done yet.  Torrential rain the weekend before the race, and even more rain and extreme winds were predicted for race weekend, and the National Forest Rangers cancelled the permits for the event.  Much scrambling on Clark Zealand's part got the race re- scheduled for the second weekend in October, which although it screwed up the taper plans, it provided one more valuable week for my foot to heal before getting trashed again by that tough technical course.  I went to bed early on Thursday, October 8 and by 5:30 am I found myself awake contemplating how much my training was lacking, how my foot was doing, and preparing to drive up to Camp Shenandoah to pick up my race packet and set up my tent.  I got there early...like the third person to check in, and got settled and tried to relax, making last minute adjustments with my hydration pack and drop bags.  Others drifted in.  Blue Ridge Trail Runners present and accounted for. Oh no!  The shoes I had planned to start with are at home!  Grattan is still in Lynchburg, and bringing Erin to help crew Alexis... so phone call to Grattan and arrangements made to get my shoes up to Camp Shenandoah with him...phew!  They got there a few minutes before the start!  I had other shoes but not the ones I wanted, so minor crisis averted.

      Before the race started I must have had a troubled look on my face, because Todd Thomas said something to me in effect like "cheer up and look happy...you look like you are going to a very dark place".  Well, he was right, literally and figuratively.  I knew my fitness for this level of event was minimal.  I was wondering if my foot would hold up under the relentless pounding it was about to receive.  And of course since the race starts at 6:00 pm and it was cloudy, and there was no moon anyway, it would be very dark out on those mountain trails...I would be getting tired and the going would get tough...even tougher the second night.  I had thought if training went well and I was healthy I could finish around 30 hours.  I knew that was out the window now, but I was still hopeful for 32 hours, and even had an aid station split spread sheet in my pocket for a 31:35 finish time.
A few pictures at the start, the National Anthem, and we were off.  Around the lake...bottleneck going into the single track right away...fairly smooth trail running back through the camp past the shower house, then the climb out and...thunder in the distance!

     Rain...well it just fits the tough profile this course gives you.  Get all wet and try to regulate temperature right off the bat, with the steep climbs, the windy ridge lines, and the slick, mossy, wet leaf covered, wobbly rock strewn descents...and then fog.  Similar to last year, but at least I had a better idea of where I was going and what terrain was next.  I had not been on the course at all until race time last year, and I made a couple wrong turns that cost me time and made me run a couple extra miles in the 2014 race.  I would not repeat those mistakes this year.  In fact I was able to prevent a few others from one of those mistakes where the course turns right off the fire road to go to the first aid station.  Some people had blown on past the turn as I did last year on that downhill section of gravel road.  As I saw the turn and realized the people in front of me had gone past it I yelled "WHOA! RIGHT TURN!"  The first aid station at 5ish miles is more of a courtesy than a necessity for runners on the way out.  As the last station on the way in, it definitely is a necessity then.  I saw Clark greeting runners there but moved on trying to measure my effort and not spend too much energy too early.  The Falls Hollow Creek was pretty full and the course crosses the creek a few times getting to where you start the real climb up to Elliot's Knob.  I don't think my feet got under water last year.  Different story this time.  Wading thru the crossings got my feet soaked.  The hike up the steep gravel road to the top of Elliot's told me I lacked the strong uphill hiking I normally can do.  Just not enough training and climbing in the preceding weeks. Nice to see some of my friends on the short out and back at the summit.  Now to get across the long ridge and then down the other side to the Dry Branch Aid Station.  Lots of rocks impeding progress.  Letting people pass me. Trying to eat and run and stay hydrated.  Don't want to get into any calorie deficits or dehydration issues this early.  More people passing me.

     Dry Branch aid station.  Topped my hydration pack, had some good food.  Rebekah Trittipoe was making fluffernutter soft tortilla log rolls and they were great!  And, she had little snack bags to go so you could eat as you hiked up the next climb!  Thumbs up Rebekah!  I checked my split sheet and at this point I was about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, even though I felt like I slowed down a lot after the climb up Elliot's.  I hiked well on this climb, and got across the top of Crawford Mountain quicker than I thought I would.  The descent down the back of Crawford is so tricky at night with the rocks and wet leaves.  I was glad to get into Chimney Hollow and run a little on the flat.  I caught a few people on there that had passed me earlier which put me in a better mood.  The rocks were taking a toll on my left foot though, and the shoes I had wanted so much were staging a low traction act on the wet rocks.  I guess it had been so dry on all my training runs with them, I never got a chance to test them in the rain on rocks.  Well, no time to worry about that.

     Dowell's Draft and my first drop bag.  Grattan, Blake and Clifton were there and helped me with hot coffee and soup and getting my Tailwind into my hydration pack and topping it with water, and sending me on my way up to Lookout Mountain. Nothing in this section sticks out as particularly more tough than any of the rest of the course, just kind of keep moving.  Lookout aid station was a welcome sight though with warm food and another cup of coffee.  Pushing on through the night to see if I can get to North River Gap on schedule.  At some point on the descent into North River I began to really feel the effort I had been putting out, and realized not only was I red lining out on my fitness from lack of enough training volume, my left foot was really hurting, and I was compensating some with my stride and my left hip flexors were now complaining.  I began to take serious stock of how I felt and decided I might have to halt my effort at North River even though  I actually was on schedule with my aid station time sheet at North River.  Grattan, Clifton, Sam, Blake, Joe Wilson and Chelsie were there filling me with food and helping me with my hydration pack and Tailwind again.  I sat for a few minutes while they all encouraged me to continue.  I knew the toughest part was about to happen.

     The nearly 8 miles of trail to Little Bald aid station is about 6.5 miles of uphill grind in the wee hours of the morning, when the normal human body just wants some sleep.  I changed socks and felt a little better.  I determined I could press on, but I was not very excited about what I knew lie ahead for the next 6 miles.  The first part of this climb goes over the mountain the race takes it's name from, Grindstone Mountain.  Then a short downhill then back up and you roll through a couple more short flat and downs then a good solid climb up Little Bald for about four miles.  I saw the leaders coming back on their return trip as I neared the top.  Just before I got to the top here comes Todd!  He told me to get my butt in gear and move it!  All my get up and go had already got up and gone at that point.  I yelled back at him that he was about 12th or 13th and Josh Gilbert was just ahead of him maybe a minute or two.  I passed a couple young ladies near the top, and as we broke out of the single track onto the slightly downhill fire road one of them sounded kind of distraught when she asked me where the aid station was.  She had her pack off and was looking at a map or mileage chart.  I said it is about a mile and a half mostly down hill on this fire road as I pointed northward.  She almost wailed "I can't understand why it is so far away!  I can't believe I just spent 3 hours and only went 6 miles!"  I told her the tough part was over till it gets dark again.  Keep moving.  They have to put the aid station where they can drive to it.  You can't really drive to right here unless you have a very modified four wheel drive or a military type humvee or something like that.

     Little Bald aid station and familiar faces!  Shane and Dave and Steve were helping runners with hot food, coffee and soup and doing a good job of it.  I sat.  Changed socks and shoes.  Changed shirts.  Ate.  Ate some more.  Sat some more and ate even more.  Finally about 30 minutes later I moved on.  Somewhere along here I encountered the rest of the BRTR gang and gave them fist bumps and high fives.  They all looked pretty good.  A lot better than I felt.  I was a bit surprised that Alexis was not right with Kevin or Brenton or Mike P. at this point.  I guess I had seen them so close together at Elliot's I assumed they were all together.  By this time they had gotten a little strung out on that long fire road that stretches past Little Bald aid toward Reddish Knob.  This section is much flatter (not to say that it is flat) than most of the previous parts of the course, and has much better footing, so I was moving pretty good to Reddish. There is a couple miles of asphalt out there past Reddish going to Briery Branch with a good bit of downhill on the way out so I made good use of that as well.  Along here I kept leap frogging a guy and a girl.  The girl was wanting to drop out at Little Bald.  No good.  The aid station workers are not leaving any time soon.  Might as well keep going to the road at Briery Branch where your crew is.  So she did.  After she dropped there I was talking some with the guy who was Joe Galioto.  We ran together for awhile chit chatting, then separated again before getting back to Little Bald.

     The descent back into North River Gap was welcome.  Down, down, down.  The day was warming up a little and the mountain bikers were out in full force.  I saw guys flying down that trail so fast I don't know how they survived.  I saw them later, down near the foot bridge and said something to that effect to them.  They said "we don't understand how you are still running".  Honestly, I don't understand either.  As bad as I felt the first time I came into North River...I was seriously thinking of a DNF...and now I knew I would finish barring any other unforseen issues and was still moving pretty good.  I knew the ultimate slowdown would happen, just not when, but as long as I could walk, I could finish at this point.  Back through Lookout in the evening and on the way down to Dowell's it got dark the second time.  I still had a mountain trail marathon distance to go with two looonngg climbs, in the dark, extremely tired, facing me.  As I started back through Chimney Hollow I kept trying to will myself to run, but every slight incline just forced me to hike.  This was not good.  If I had to finish the whole rest of the way like this it was going to be a long night.  The climb up the back of Crawford and the climb up the back of Eliot's absolutely slowed me to a crawl.  I was dizzy and felt like I could not keep my balance.  I felt like the slightest trip would send me hurtling over the edge of the cliff to my right on both climbs.  I actually went fair stretches where I was one stepping, moving one foot forward and dragging the rear foot up behind me, instead of stepping forward with each foot in turn.

     At last, the top of the ridge going back across Elliot's.  I started moving better but my head light was fading.  I stopped to change batteries.  I dropped one battery, fumbling around finally getting it right.  Frustrated at my slow pace, I moved on.  About half way across the top I saw some green eyes reflecting back at me off to my left.  I tried to make out what those eyes were attached to but it was out of reach of my headlight.  They were wider spaced than a human set of eyes would be.  They were about 3 to 4 feet off the ground I would say.  Not a deer.  I have seen plenty of deer at night.  Usually they reflect light blue or almost white and they will move their head somewhat.  I have seen a few bears in the woods and usually they will leave and go the other way when a human is around.  Whatever this was just stayed still, watching me as I moved along the trail.  At least it didn't follow me.  I have seen video of Mountain Lions at night...exact same green reflection.  The Wildlife folks will say there are no Mountain Lions left in the Appalachians.  I'm not so sure now.  There have been many claims for Mountain Lion sightings in the Appalachian Mountains.  Maybe this was what I saw.  Maybe not.  It seemed higher off the ground and wider eye set than a large Bobcat.  I have seen very large Bobcats...this was bigger.  Might have been a juvenile Sasquatch!

     Down the gravel road off Elliot's, I got a nice view of the lights from Staunton.  Down the creek drainage in Falls Hollow, I zig zagged across a flat rock in the creek and fell, basically doing a split.  I didn't fall in the water but I did mess up a muscle or something right above my right knee and pulled something in my left glute, still feeling that over two weeks later.  Falls Hollow aid station and hot soup and coffee...oh what a welcome relief.  I saw Rick Gray here and he said he had been having a rough time.  Digestive issues.  I left trailing right behind him and his crew, but I could not maintain their uphill climb pace.  Finally coming back into the back of the Scout Camp, I felt like the trail was much rougher coming back in than it was going out.  As I got closer to the lake, the sun was coming up and I no longer needed my headlight.  As I crossed the dam, there was Blake waiting for me to show up.  Todd and Alexis were at the finish area, bundled up and trying to nap, while congratulating all the finishers.  Clark was standing at the finish line. I gave him a big old hug, signed the cardboard totem, although my hand was not really working enough to write very legibly, and hugged the wooden totem pole.  A shower, breakfast with the BRTR gang.  Then the toughest part...driving home!

Hat Creek Trail Races 24 Hour Division Race Report

     In the leading up weeks going into this event, I was attempting to gain a little better running fitness, as I had kind of let go of serious training during the first couple months of this year.  I really needed a break from the last three races of last year and how beat up my body was.  I had volunteered at aid stations and swept the courses at both Holiday Lake and Terrapin Mountain 50 k races, so was not training for them.  I had run a couple of road marathons in March, but was not very fast since I was not training too hard.  Mostly just an opportunity to check off two more states on my 50 states marathon quest, and have something on the calendar race wise that would force me to at least train a little.  By the beginning of April I went ahead and registered for the 24 hour solo division at Hat Creek and thought I would just use that as a personal challenge to see how close I could get to 100 miles in 24 hours on that 5 mile loop course.  The only gauge I had going in was Todd Thomas' 105 miles at Hat Creek in 2014, and the 55 miles I got tag teaming the course in one of the relay divisions last year.

     I knew I would not be as fast as Todd (he is after all about 18 years younger than me).  I did not have time on weekends to do any real serious long runs.  It seemed like my Scout Troop had something going on about every other weekend I was involved with, or some other activity was tying me up to where I just did not have the time needed for those extra long runs (like 20 or more trail miles...always takes longer than road miles).  I did get in an 18 mile run in the mountains the week before the Promise Land 50 k ++, then ran the Promise Land race (34 miles, but 48 minutes slower than last year) just three weeks before Hat Creek.  Those were my longest runs other than the two road marathons in March.  I had a couple of 12 to 15 mile runs on Candler's Mountain and some shorter, faster road runs, since the PL 50 k, but no defining progress as to where I really stood with a long endurance event like this 24 hour event now staring me down.  To make matters even more doubtful, I have chronic issues with my right knee that get re-inflamed when I do things like try to keep up with younger, faster runners (it is doggone hard to just shake competitive mindset), that I managed to re-aggravate a couple weeks before the event.  There always seems to be something to rattle confidence.  I started with an elastic knee brace on, but took it off after about 25 miles or so, as it was restricting blood flow and my knee actually was doing ok.

     About a week or so before Hat Creek, I started to realize from looking at the list of registrants that I might have some small chance at something here...this got me to strategizing a bit on lap times, and trying to remember what my lap times were from last year in the relay.  I began to think that if I could average around an hour per lap during the daylight and somewhere around an hour and a half at night I could be close to 100 miles, depending on how much time I take resting at the start / finish area eating, re-hydrating, etcetera, which I did not give much thought process to... future reference...plan on about 5 minutes, maybe 6 or 7 minutes as you get more mileage and no sleep, to turn yourself around after each lap, even with crew help.  Prepare mentally for the push you will need to kick yourself back out on the course.  "Beware of the chair", as Dave Horton has said.

     Saturday, May 16, 2015, high noon and we are off on our first lap.  Trying not to go too fast downhill on a wide grassy section, I hear Clark Zealand commenting to Micah Jackson I think, about pace and something to the effect that it feels so easy but it seems hard to believe we are going as fast as we are until you check in with your GPS watch...something like that, anyway, I remember looking at my pace on my watch and it showed 7:43 per mile, whoa, way too fast!  Trying to slow down, yet not wanting to get bunched up behind folks as we come to single track, knowing that was downhill and sometimes you can put more effort into slowing down than just letting gravity take over, I gave up arguing with myself on pace.  It was plenty hot, around 90 degrees, but I felt good and my knee was not complaining so I concentrated on where I was stepping and just kept moving, trying to stay hydrated.  At some point I was able to pick out Carlton McFaden who was also in the 24 hour solo, and stayed right behind him for awhile.  He began to pull a lead and I let him go realizing that he might be faster and maybe would finish the 24 hour solo ahead of me.  I knew Shane Glass was right nearby and was also in the 24 hour solo, so I kind of had to keep tabs on him.  Sam Price was in the hunt also and had run some good training runs on some of our Blue Ridge Trail Runners Wednesday evening runs on Liberty University's Candler's Mountain Trail System, so I was hoping to do ok in this event with these younger, and possibly more fit guys.  You never know how an event like this might turn out. Lots of stuff can make the wheels come off at any time.  Shane and I did the first several loops within sight, or at most a minute or two of each other.  It seemed like we were leap frogging at the start / finish area frequently.  Anyway, at the end of the first loop after running it in 53 minutes, with the continuing hot, humid afternoon and evening ahead, and more than 23 hours left, I knew I had probably just caused some as yet to be determined problem / slowdown, and / or crisis that would sabotage my run.  Well, can't dwell on that.  Get my hand held replenished with GU electrolyte drink and back on course...as I'm leaving Jeremy Ramsey says to me " Hey, take it easy, it's hot!"  I determined right then that I did indeed need to take it easy or risk blowing up in the heat of the day, so I made backing off the pace I had been going a real priority, now that the crowd was thinned out along the course it would be easier.

     The end of lap two and several friends, some with their spouses, are at the start / finish to run their legs of the relay divisions, or just cheer us on, or to volunteer on the course.  They all came to my aid helping with refilling my bottle with whatever I asked, pouring coffee, soup, getting me food, handling a myriad of chores that are difficult to think about sometimes, and getting me back on course each lap through out the whole weekend.  On top of that, I did not even ask any of them to do that, they just jumped in and helped!  Amazing!   Alexis Thomas and Chelsie Viar did a stand out job as crew along with Todd Thomas, Kevin Corell, Joe Alderson, Bethany Williams, Blake Edmundson, and Grattan Garbee. Several of these folks are parents, and at times I felt like they were taking care of me just like I was one of their own kids, even though I am old enough to be their parent!  Thanks, big time!

     As the night wore on, I did get slower, gradually getting to where I was dead on my feet and straying off the path a little with "micro naps".  How in the world can the human body fall asleep while running and hiking?  Todd Thomas kept encouraging me to get back out on the course when he thought I was spending too much time in the chair with my make shift crew.  He kept telling me "You got a goal...100 miles... get moving!  You know you aren't going to go faster on the second half!  You need at least 50 miles by midnight!" At one point I woke up tripping around in the bushes and not sure which way the path was or which way to go when I found it!  I think I had a couple loops in the 2 hour range where I hiked about 80 percent of the loop.  Knowing I did not have 50 miles before midnight I began to adjust my goal to 80 miles, considering the heat and humidity, and just hoping my digestive system would not shut down.  I had already seen plenty of attrition from the heat dehydrating people to the point they could not keep anything on their stomach.  Once that happens your body will protect the vital organs and the brain by shutting down your muscle function.  I feel helpless to try to aid someone who is in that condition, and I certainly did not want to wind up that way myself.  Speaking of things that can "happen"...one of the times I stopped at the "outback" aid station, 2 and a half miles out on the course, I grabbed some M&M's and shoved them in my mouth and started chewing.  Within seconds I realized something was not right.  I spit out the mouthful and realized I had split a molar and half of it was on the ground with the M&M's! Fortunately, it did not cause any real pain as the tooth had been filled long ago and only the outer enamel had cracked off the inside of the tooth.  Just some minor irritation to my tongue now.  And... I fell pretty hard on one loop in the wee hours of the morning. Tripped on one of those little 1 inch diameter tree stump nubs that sticks up about an inch or so above the ground.  I rolled and slid on my back and caught another little stump on my right hip from the belt line down about 4 or 5 inches.  That stung pretty good for awhile with salty sweat getting on it.   One of the things that happens to me when I trip and land hard is every muscle in my body tenses up to absorb the impact.  If I have already gone 20 miles or more, it is pretty much guaranteed to lock up at least one leg, or sometimes both with rock hard muscle cramps and spasms.  It must be comic to watch me get back up off the ground when that happens.  No humans witnessed that, but maybe it provided comic relief for the snakes and mice and possums and raccoons and deer (and lions and tigers and bears,  oh my)!   I finally got enough caffeine in me to wake up enough to run a lap in an hour and twenty minutes, then another one in an hour and 11 minutes, then finally daybreak.

   
     After it got light enough to run with out a headlamp I think I had one more lap under 1:15.  All the rest were up around an hour and a half.  At some point in the dark early morning hours, Carlton had got off the course and laid down in his tent.  I was in the lead now, but Shane was right behind me.  I put a lap on Carlton but did not know if he would get back on course, rejuvenated from a nap, and maybe run me down with a couple 45 minute laps...who can know about these things?  I found out later Carlton was not able to come back on the course due to digestive issues from the heat.  Later in the morning Shane went to his car and took a nap.  I knew I had to make good use of the time remaining if I wanted to get to 80 miles, so I just kept on rolling.  A little after 10:00 am Sunday morning I set out on what I knew would be my last lap.  It was already getting hot again.  I was noticing I was a little jittery from too much caffeine so I stopped intake of that.  My taste buds were not happy with all the sugary sweet stuff I had run through my mouth in the preceding 22 hours.  My stomach felt bloated and swelled up, and I felt like I had gained 10 pounds.  I have never eaten so much and taken in so much hydration as I did while attempting to cover as much ground as rapidly as possible in these conditions.  I took just plain water back out with me and my Endurolyte capsules.  I had a GU energy gel with me but I was loathe to the thought of trying to eat anything sweet.  I trotted out most of the first couple miles to the bottom of the steep hill that goes up from the creek bottom to the camp ropes course with the climbing wall.  I don't recall running much at all after that, just hike it in and get back before noon and you will have 80 miles I told myself.  As I was coming back toward the main part of camp around the lakes, both Sam Price and Shane Glass had rested and now were back out on the course for a final lap.and had caught up to me there, although I had multiple laps on them.  It was good to see them back out.  I think Shane finished with 65 miles and Sam finished with 40, so congrats to them for getting back out there!

     I finished around 11:37 am, so in 23 hours and 37 minutes I had covered 80 miles in some real hot, humid conditions.  Not to brag too much, because we all know that pride goes before a fall, but I will be 59 in four weeks.  I know there are some younger people out there that can do a lot better than that, and some masters and older folks too!  Hope to see you on the trails in the near future.  I feel kind of like one of those NASCAR guys that maybe wasn't the fastest, but managed to some how stay clear of the big wrecks, and finish in the lead on the last lap.  I have heard more than once, " you only have to lead at the end of the last lap"!  Some how I won the men's 24 hour solo division of the 2015 Hat Creek Trail Races!!!  Thank you once again to all those who helped, volunteered and worked to make this event possible.  Thanks to Race Director Jeremy Ramsey for his effort as director , and thanks to Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes, who operate Camp Hat Creek, for letting us use their property for this event.

     

Hellgate 100 K ++ (66.6 miles) race report 2014

     Where do I begin?  This was my first Hellgate race and only the second time I have run a continuous race longer than the 50 mile distance.  The first was the Grindstone 100 miler just a little over two months ago.  I was still feeling some of the after effects of that race and added to it was the wear and tear of the Mountain Masochist 50 miler only six weeks ago, although I did not feel nearly as beat up going in to Hellgate compared to how rough I felt going in to Masochist.  At age 58 and having had some issues with my right knee the past few years, I had to make a decision earlier in 2014, that if I ever wanted to try to complete all 6 races of the Beast Series in one year it might be now or never.  That knee might not last much longer, and if the attempt to do this finished my knee off as far as running was concerned I would have to be OK with that.  So early in 2014 I decided to go ahead and run the three 50 k spring races, Holiday Lake in February, Terrapin Mountain in March, and Promise Land in April, and register for the Lynchburg Ultra Series.  My thinking was that if I could put together a good spring season, I would extend my L.U.S. entry into an entry for the Beast Series which would entail running not just the Mountain Masochist 50 miler in November that concludes the L.U.S., which I had run before, but also run the Grindstone 100 miler in October and Hellgate 100 k ++ in December.  Neither of which I had run before, and both distances were over any previous distance I had gone.

      For the first race of the two series that share four races, Holiday Lake 50k in February had about 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground that with the increase of air temperature, I knew would turn in to muddy slush for the second half (I had run it in 2010 when there was similar conditions) so I was not concerned about finish time, just complete it and move on.  Something more important than just finishing happened as Grattan Garbee (who I had attached myself to in order to keep a good pace) and myself got to the big creek crossing.  We could see someone had fallen on the ice and Dr. Mike Dunlop was there (fortunately, an ER doc) assessing what was wrong with the runner.  We saw that it was Amy Albu who was down, and her ankle did not look good.  She had broken both the tibia and fibula and definitely needed help getting to transportation so she could get to a hospital.  Soon a crowd had gathered and we all took turns carrying Amy toward the next aid station.  As we got closer to the aid station a girl in a Jeep came down the double track and we loaded Amy in and she got safely to the Charlottesville hospital where she works as a trauma nurse.  It was good to see her out on the Masochist course and finish it in November.  What a recovery! Tough gal!

    Next was the Terrapin 50k in March.  I had a good day and ran faster than I had run that course before by a few minutes.  During the weekends, David Horton was rallying some of the local Lynchburg trail runners to help do some trail building, rebuilding, and maintenance on Liberty University's trail system on Candler's Mountain.  Dave and I got into a conversation about various adventures on one of those workdays and I mentioned I would like to try Hellgate.  Of course, his reverse psychology kicked in right away and he said "Nah, I don't think you are tough enough."  Well, I raise my eyebrows, but didn't say much of anything, while at the same time thinking to myself  "You wait, I'll show you I am tough enough!"

     Then came Promise Land 50 K in April and again I had a good run and set a PR by 17 minutes.  I'd have to check dates to make sure, but somewhere around this time was the big train wreck next to the James River in Downtown Lynchburg.  I am a mechanic for the Lynchburg Fire Department and sometimes have to respond to large events like that to support the overall operation in various ways.  Bring fuel for the trucks, bring food and set up portable tent shelters, set up generators and lights, move equipment and sometimes move hoses, address any equipment malfunctions, etcetera.  The evening of that train wreck, I was not sure how long I might have to stay around and assist, so I was drinking coffee  (coffee does exactly what it should for me...alert and awake...  maybe talk too much about silly stuff).  Somewhere about 9:00 pm I was released from duty for the day, so I went home and got on the computer to see what news I could get about the wreck, and see any video about it...pretty impressive.  So now I am well caffienated and surfing away on the internet and get the idea to read up on Grindstone.  In the middle of the night (not much good happens after 11:00 pm) I decide that if I can get in Grindstone, and my entry to the L.U.S. will extend in to an entry for the Beast Ultra Series, then Horton would pretty much have to allow me to enter the Hellgate race!
You Only Live Once, and since it might be Beast now or never...here we go!  Do, or do not, there is no try!  You can't score a run with one foot safely on first base!  He who wants fruit must first climb the tree.  My favorite..."Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." ~~~ T.S. Eliot.

     One of the requirements for entry to Grindstone was sending in an online searchable race result for a race of 50 miles or more in the last two years.  Hmmm, it was 2009 the last (and only) time I finished a 50 miler, which was Mountain Masochist in 11:02.  I decided on The North Face D.C. 50 mile Endurance Challenge in June.  I had another good day, finishing 2nd in the men's 55-59 age group in 10:15.  What a confidence booster.  I went on a trip to the Florida Keys with some of the older Scouts in my Troop the last few days of June and the first few days of July, then came back to Lynchburg for a couple days , then went to near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, to a reunion of the church youth group I was involved with in the early 70's.  A great spring season, and now into the second week of July, having not run hardly at all for a couple weeks during vacations, I started ramping mileage up quickly.  My right knee had been on good behavior, but...one Wednesday evening on a Blue Ridge Trail Runners Wild Wednesday run in July, coming down off Lone Jack Mountain's long gravel downhill pretty hard, trying to keep up with people younger and faster, (Frank Gonzalez and Clifton Williams), I knew I had pounded it too hard.  It started to feel stiff and not real painful, just uncomfortable enough to not be able to train as hard physically as I wanted to mentally.  I pride myself on downhill speed and if I feel real good and that knee is doing great I love to hammer a good downhill.  Now that was taken away.  Even though I managed to train pretty well the rest of the summer, it was always there, nagging me and slowing me down.  I tried to boost my uphill speed and fast hiking...only so much available there before I run out of cardio-vascular capability with this old body.

     Weekend runs in the mountains with friends, Todd and Alexis Thomas, Grattan Garbee, Clifton and Bethany Williams, Blake Edmondson, Chelsie Viar, Joe Alderson, Kevin Corell, and other folks who came out when they could were a highlight of every week.  We raced the Iron Mountan 50 miler at the end of August.  I did not do as well as I thought I might.  I was starting to feel the toll of the high mileage.  Going into September I had several items on my plate that involved quite a bit of effort as far as volunteer time with things I think should be a fair priority for me.  There were lots of responsibilities at work to take care of.  The week before Grindstone was not planned out well and it got away from me.  I was going in to a 100 mile race that was critical for me to finish if I wanted to finish the Beast, without the real rest and good sleep one needs to have for such an event.
I had not slept well for a week or two.  It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of my time.  I was on a merry-go-round that wouldn't stop.  It hit me like a ton of bricks in that event, finishing way slower than I think I have the potential to finish.  Got it done though.  Twice as hard as I thought it would be.

    I turned in my registration for Hellgate the very next day after Grindstone.  Horton said to me "Are you sure?"  I said I was, and handed him the check for the entry fee.  I was already in for Masochist and it was only 4 weeks away. I knew I should recover more but the very next weekend I went for a 17 mile run on part of the Masochist course. Not smart.  My knee pain flared up on that run and stayed at a fairly high level for the next month.  Dummy!  Now this was going to be real interesting. 50 mile race with pretty tight time cut offs on a bum knee.  I was right up against the time cut off coming out of the loop at 38 miles, but managed to finish  8 minutes ahead of the time cutoff.  So glad to get that in the bag.

     At least there would be a little more time to recover, reset some training and taper before Hellgate, with a six week time span between these two races.  Rest and recover totally for a week.  Lots of time in the whirlpool / hot tub at the YMCA.  A little ab and core cross training.  A few good long runs in the mountains and a little on the actual course helped a whole lot!  Taper week found me doing more cross training and shorter but faster runs.  Two days of rest, then time to go to Camp Bethel for the pre race dinner and race briefing.

     Blake picked me up and gave me a ride to Camp Bethel.  As we got there, we saw Sheryl Mawn, Helen MacDermott, then others gathering.  It put me in mind of a tribe gathering to face a common enemy.  I renewed acquaintance with Chris Miller at dinner, who I had met around Reddish Knob on the Grindstone course.  Horton got us all to put our names on cards for door prize drawing.  Of course he had fun with that...being King of the D.Ho Kingdom and all, he gets to make the (ahhhemm) impartial rules for drawing names.  Lots of fun!  Dave got people all paired up with rides to the start...absolutely amazing.  Biggest car pool caravan I have ever seen.  This sort of co-operation is what makes runners, and trail ultra runners in particular, such amazing people.  Yes we are competing against each other, but in a larger sense we are battling a common enemy...the gnarly trail, and we are all as interested in each other getting to the finish in as good of a time as possible, as we are our own selves.

     Nearly midnight and we are at the start.  Horton is calling names on his bull horn and one of them is mine.  Better go check in and get in the crowd for the start.  We sing the Star Spangled Banner, have a prayer and at 12:01 am we are off.  The first 3.5 miles is fairly flat on wide trail.  I look for someone I can latch on to to give me a sense of pace.  Mike Dunlop is right ahead and easy to see since he is 6' 8" tall and so I fall in behind him.  Soon we are at the big creek crossing getting wet feet...at least the water is not super cold and the air temp isn't too cold yet...but that will change soon enough.  We get thru the first aid station and start up Petites Gap Rd.  I feel pretty good and eat a gel so I can keep my energy level up.  The lower portion of this gradual uphill is pretty runnable and I keep a steady pace going.  After we take the hard right the hill gets steeper so I power hike then jog alternately.  I spot Chelsie and we stay within sight of each other to aid station 2 where Blake will meet me with dry shoes and socks and my hydration pack.  It is getting real windy and the temperature is falling.  Glad to have warm dry socks and shoes.  Blake and Todd pour me some veggie soup and a cup of coffee and I head on.  I have been moving well and get across the Parkway and start down the rocky trail toward the part of the course that runs on the Terrapin 50 k course.  The bottom mile of that is nice grassy down hill that I run with ease.  I continue to move well on the single track over to Hunting Creek Rd.  I eat some crackers and another Gu gel.  My knee is doing good so far.  I continue to climb well up to Camping Gap where I expect to see the L. U. student volunteers.  As I get to Camping Gap I am looking to my left where the aid station is usually set up for the Terrapin race but it isn't there!  Oh no, I think, something happened, they aren't here...ooohh this will be a long stretch with no aid...good thing I have my pack pretty full.  Then as I round the turn I see them in the grassy area off to the right...all is well.  Brenton Swyers is there keeping order.  I get some food and drink there to save what is in my pack for the long haul to Floyd's Field.

     The trail here is gravel double track for about a mile and goes slightly up then slightly down before becoming grassy road with more ups and downs.  Mostly runnable at a good pace.  I run quite a bit here within sight of Mike Dunlop and Rick Gray.  I know there are some holes and dips in the ground on this stretch so I am trying to be careful about looking where my feet are stepping in the dark.  It is really windy and getting colder. I'm going downhill and the wind is really cooling me off.   I have a light windbreaker with a hoodie on, so I pull my hood over my head and readjust my headlight.  As I am doing this I step in a hole and go down hard.  My calves cramp up immediately and I have a real hard time just getting up.  Wasn't expecting cramps this early.  Takes me a few seconds but I recover and get moving again still maintaining a good pace.  Whew! Now the single track that goes down to Overstreet Creek Falls that is part of the Promise Land course, still moving good.  Up Overstreet Creek Road looking forward to meeting Blake and getting hot soup and coffee at the aid station before crossing the Parkway.  In this section my glasses were fogging a little.  I was concerned I was getting "Hellgate eyes".  Every year several people get a condition that makes their vision cloudy around this area.  It is the coldest and windiest part of the race.  You have been facing west into the prevailing wind for a long time with your eyes kind of "bug eyed" to see in the dark to keep from falling.  That drys out your eyes and the cornea can actually freeze a little.  Apparently having Lasik surgery makes one more susceptible to this. It goes away by itself in a few hours usually, with no ill after effects.   Anyway, just fogged glasses for me.

    Aid station 4 at Floyd's Field (Headforemost Mountain) and Blake is there with my goody bags and thermos of coffee and thermos of veggie soup.  I was a good hour ahead of the cutoff there so I was thankful for that. ,   I had been eating pretty good but I think the coffee and hot soup was really helping me.  Grattan Garbee was there also to crew Bethany and Clifton Williams.  He had brought Blake's wife, Kristen, up so she could drive Blake's car to the finish from Bearwallow Gap, where Blake would start pacing me the last 20 miles to the finish.  They double teamed crewing me with one filling my pack and the other pouring hot liquids for me.  I am so thankful to have friends who would give their time to do this.  I owe them big time.  Several folks helped me in one way or another.  Kevin Corell gave me a box of Salted Caramel Gu gels that I really like and used, Frank Gonzalez gave me a pair of shoes I wore for part of this race.  Grattan helped out in multiple ways with training, crew help and transportation, Todd helped with training, crewing, encouraging pep talks, and paced Clifton the last 17 or so miles after running backward on the course from Bobblet's Gap to get him.  And not the least, Blake ran with me for the last 20 miles.  Anyway, after some good nutrition as I hiked across the Parkway from Floyd's Field I was able to run very well
down to Jennings Creek with the exception of another hard fall and calf cramping episode that I recovered pretty quick from.

    Aid station 5 at Jennings Creek was a welcome respite after the fast downhill.  It was daylight so I shucked off my headlamp and flashlight. Gave my glasses to Kristen as it was getting warmer and less windy and I would not be concerned about my corneas freezing now.  Blake filled my hydration pack, I had some eats off the aid table, as well as more soup and coffee, and set off on the next climb to Little Cove Mountain.  I was still moving ok but not quite with the speed I had been operating at on the previous climbs.  I took time to keep eating as I power hiked this section.  Up higher the gravel road flattened out then had a few short rolling up and downs that were mostly runnable.  The sun was a welcome sight.  It was still chilly in the shadows though, and a little breezy, so not time to unlayer just yet. Up to this point I had not paid any attention to mileage discrepancies from what it says on the information sheet and what the aid station posters had on them compared to what my GPS watch actually had.  Now it was getting noticeable...and slightly irritating.  I should be at the Little Cove station by now...grrr.  This is taking too long.  Not only that but nature calls for a used food waste removal...more time just choppin away.   Finally I make it to Little Cove aid station.  There I saw one of the funnier things I have seen in awhile.  Us runners have come to display decals on the back of our vehicles that show mileage of races we have run.  One of the ham radio guys was there with a pickup truck that had stickers like those that had 7.62 and 5.56 (those are ammunition sizes for those reading this that don't know.  Namely metric NATO military rifle  rounds).  I had to smile even though the mileage was starting to wear on me.

    On to Bearwallow Gap.  As I recall, the beginning of this section is nice downhill on gravel road, then becomes single track that is not bad for a little while.  Then all of a sudden you are on this nasty rocky switch backing section that just twists back and forth and you don't get any secure footing on and you know you are now on the "Devil Trail".  Every time I thought I was getting close to crossing Route 43 it seems the trail took another turn that I just knew was going the wrong direction. Doggone these rocks...three and a half extra miles shown on my watch on the course at Bearwallow Gap, aid station 7, compared to the aid station time table.  No wonder I am not holding pace...look at the extra miles!  I was on Horton time through Jennings Creek, now I am way behind that, but at least well ahead of the cut off by around an hour and 15 minutes I think at Bearwallow.

     Aid station 7 at Bearwallow Gap is where you are allowed to have a pacer.  It is the second place on the course that has a time cutoff.   This is where Blake met me to run with me to the finish, and I was finally here!  Major milestone reached!  There were lots of people there.  Pacers and crews meeting their runners.  My last change of shoes and socks, my last time to hit my coffee and my veggie soup.  I took my jacket off and my Grindstone beanie hat, as well as my mittens.  Got my hydration pack filled and stuffed some Roctane and some more salted caramel Gu gels in my pack along with a pack of crackers and an Orchard bar.  I'm pretty sure Blake was telling me as we left there that I was ahead of the cut off by an hour and 15 minutes, which meant I had lost  45 minutes on Horton time since coming through Jennings Creek.  That section took me way longer than it should have.  Can't worry about that now.  Got 20 miles left and if I can get moving good again, I should finish well before dark.  After a half mile of climbing away from Bearwallow, the trail levels out pretty decent for a good bit and Blake and I got into a pretty steady rythym for the next couple miles.  I was catching and passing people and was able to feed motivation to keep moving well from that.  Todd had been at Bobblets Gap and when Alexis came through with a chance at a top 5 women's finish, he could not pace her to the finish.  Top 5 women and top 10 men can not have a pacer.  So here comes Todd backward on the course to help pace someone.  Turns out that I was doing ok, and Blake was good company.   Bethany was a minute or two behind me with Grattan pacing her.  Clifton had fallen back a bit further and it seems Todd was just the right man for the job of getting Clifton back in the groove.

     Bobblet's Gap, aid station 8, and Sam Price was rockin it with hot Pierogies and all kinds of cuisine.  I ate up and drank up and was a little on the bloated side of comfortable leaving there going down the long gravel road, oh well, just throttle back a little and enjoy the gravity ride while staying out of the big washed out ditches in the road here.  I am so glad I had the experience of running this section going into Day Creek aid station a few weeks before.  After about 2.5 miles of downhill the course takes a right onto some rougher single track that has three good ups and downs and has several switchbacks and small creek crossings.  It seems to go... on... for...ever...hence the nickname, "the forever section" for this part of the course.  It is only 5 or maybe 6 miles from the gravel road to Day Creek but it just goes on and on crossing several small creeks that I really did not remember from a few weeks ago.  I kept telling Blake "I think this is the last little creek", only to come upon another.  One of the little muddy spots was way deeper than I thought it would be and it got a load of extremely abrasive mud in my sock down on the ball of my right foot. After about a mile of trying to wash it out at each little creek without taking time to remove my shoe,  I finally had enough with the irritation and had to stop and get my shoe and double socks off and shake out the sand.  I was on the verge of bad leg muscle cramps while bending and twisting to get the apparel off then back on my foot.  Why does a simple thing like taking your shoe off and putting it back on require so much drama and pain and time late in an ultra??  One would have thought I was wrestling an alligator!  Soon though we were on the flat and could see cars at the Day Creek aid station.

     Aid station 9, Day Creek.  I knew this climb out on course pretty well.  This is one of Grattan's favorite places to stage a trail run and I have been on several runs here over the last few years.  One more 2.5 mile climb and one more descent of about 3 miles or so and I'll be done.  A few items off the aid table and I'm hiking the hill.  I have run this whole climb on fresh legs, but that was not happening today!  Just a steady hike.  We get to the top where we cross the Parkway for the last time, four crossings in all counting going under it at Bobblet's Gap.  We start to cruise down the other side toward the finish.  The sun is low in the western sky but not yet setting.  Blake comments about what a good place for a nice photo op this area would be for getting a nice sunset picture.  I agree.  I drink the last bit of liquid from my hydration pack, knowing that is ok, I'm only a couple miles from the finish.  We gradually pick up speed as my legs lose the tightness from the climb up.  We hear some whooping and hollering and Blake looks around behind us and says it is Clifton, Bethany, Grattan and Todd, and they are gaining on us.  I speed up more, not wanting to let them pass me.  I don't have much left and I'm holding my speed as fast as I dare go right now.  It might not be enough.  I have run with them enough to know they can all beat me in a dead sprint.  I'm going to do my best to hold them off. We pass the One Mile to go sign.  I don't think I can go any faster and they are closing on me.  They shouldn't run an old man down like this.  If they catch me, oh well.  I am giving it all I've got.  We make the left into the camp as Blake, Grattan, and Todd pull off course a little to the right so as to not go in the finish chute, since they are not racers entered in the event and are just pacing us runners the last 20 miles.  Clifton and Bethany pull up beside me just as we get to the finish chute and Clifton says to me  " Let's all hold hands together as we finish".  I say " Yeah, cool!" So we finish together, the three of us in 16:29.  So happy for a good day. Bethany, Clifton and myself all finishing together with our pacers and Clifton and myself completing the Beast Ultra Series, finishing an hour and 32 minutes ahead of the cut off.  Horton is razzing us about taking a short cut and where did we catch a ride in a car.  "No short cuts here" I say. " I even ran all the extra miles!"  For sure I could have lived without those "Horton miles" on the Devil trail!

     Alexis is there to greet us and we pose for pictures, along with Chelsie Viar, Clifton, and me, the four of us all finishing the Beast Series.  We learn Alexis is the women's Beast Series winner and has set a new record by 4 hours total time over the 6 races.  We learn Ryan Paavola set a new men's course record today with a 10:45 run.  Our friend, Mike Donahue, who gave his all in service to our country's effort to bring freedom and peace to Afghanistan liked to say "Every day is a good day."  Indeed that was true for this day.




   

2014 Mountain Masochist Trail Run 50 Miler Race Report

     For nearly a month (well actually longer) I had been nursing a sore right knee that is a result of a long list of multiple insults and injuries going way back.  Mostly the ailment stems from a torn medial meniscus that occurred in August of 2010 that also involved  stress fractures of the top of the tibia.  The latest insult to this knee was the Grindstone 100 miler just 27 days prior to this event.  Why do this, you might ask.  That is difficult to explain.  Runners have to run.  Ultra runners have to run ultra marathons.  Football players have to play their game too even though it can be painful at times.  For those who understand, no explanation is necessary; for those who don't understand, no explanation is possible.  Anyway, my training was limited to a couple short runs a week for the past four weeks and self confidence was waning going in to this 50 miler.

     A brief explanation of the Ultra Marathon Series I am attempting to complete is in order here to explain how important this particular race is to me.  There are six races annually that make up the Beast Series.  Three 50 k races in the spring, the Grindstone 100 miler in October, Mountain Masochist 50 miler in November, and Hellgate 100k ++ in December.  The three spring 50k's plus Masochist 50 miler make up the Lynchburg Ultra Series.  Add the Grindstone 100 miler and the Hellgate 100k++ to get the Beast Series.  You must FINISH ALL the races WITHIN the TIME limit, or you are out of the series.  The Masochist 50 miler has the tightest time cut offs of all the six race series.  The last time I ran it I finished an hour ahead of the time limit. but I wasn't beat up from just finishing a 100 mile race a month before, as I was now.

     I have done the L.U.S. before, but had not done the two longer races in the fall to get the Beast award.  I decided last winter to attempt the L.U.S. again this year, then later after two Personal Record times at the Terrapin Mtn. 50k and Promise Land 50k this spring I thought about the Beast Series.  I helped Dave Horton along with several others do some trail building and maintenance on the trails on Candler's Mountain in the spring, and got in a conversation with Horton about wanting to run Hellgate.  He said he didn't think I would be tough enough to finish. David likes reverse psychology I think.  I started thinking about that and decided I would extend my L.U.S. entry into the Beast Series and go ahead and send in my application to run Grindstone.  If I got in Grindstone and finished then I would ("only") have to finish Hellgate to get the Beast Award.  I finished Grindstone (my only 100 miler, embarrassingly slow, but none the less  within the time limit) then I picked up the Hellgate application from Dave at the Grindstone awards breakfast and returned it with my entry fee in person to him the very next day.  Part of the entry process for Grindstone is to turn in an online searchable race time for a 50 miler or longer race within the past two years.  I realized the last (only) 50 miler I did was Masochist in 2009 in 11:02.  So I selected the North Face D.C. 50 miler along the Potomac River and finished second in the men's 55 to 59 age group in 10:15.  This really boosted my confidence, although that race is on much flatter terrain than the races we have in the mountains.   I spent most weekends this summer doing longer than 25 ish mile runs with Todd and Alexis Thomas and others in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I ran the Iron Mountain 50 miler in late August this year with a bunch of us who are in the Blue Ridge Trail Runners, mostly as training for Grindstone, and while I did ok, I did not do as well as I thought I might.  Maybe I was over-training for my own body's capabilities?  At any rate, my knee had been hinting to me since late July that it was 58 years old and was not getting any younger.  Lots of running and racing were taking a toll on what little cartilage there was left in that right medial meniscus, so my thinking was if I want to get the Beast series done, it might be now or never.

     One of these days I will learn to pack a little earlier than the night before or the morning of an event like this.  There is lots of stuff to think about and put into drop bags, for example out on the course one may want dry shoes and socks, (yep we go right thru creeks and any mud as a result of precipitation) a jacket, hat, gloves, extra snacks and energy gels.  Then there is stuff to pack in my hydration vest, snacks, energy gels, handi wipes, maybe some Ibuprofen, some tums, some leg cramp medicine, and not the least, fill the hydration bladder.  Then there is stuff to pack in the drop bag for the finish.  I will want a change of clothes and shoes, more handi wipes (no shower at this facility), deodorant, maybe some money to buy some food at the store there, some protein drink and some powerade.  Lets see, what else...oh yeah, I want to bring my hiking poles to help me climb the mountains on the second half of the course.  I'll tie them to my drop bag that will be at the aid station just past the halfway point.  Using the hiking poles should help out my knee.

     This is a point to point race in the mountains.  There are no big parking lots to park 300 cars.  We get on buses in Lynchburg that take us to the start, a campground about 20 miles away.   We leave our drop bags with the bus drivers who take them to the halfway point (a highway crossing with a grassy picnic area) where we can access them and get what we want.  Then the buses go to the finish (another camping area about 50 miles out of town) where we can access the bags again.  We have to board the buses before 5:00 am because they will pull out at 5 and if you are not on one, you will get left. That would be bad. You can't leave cars at the start so driving there is not cool unless you have pre-arranged some way for your car to leave.  Plus, the bus comes back to town, not the start.  It is past time for me to be on my way and I throw my stuff together and leave the house in a bit of a rush to not be late for the bus.  As I am driving I realize I left my little medicine bag on the dining room table...ugh...and my hiking poles are on the floor in the dining room...oh well.

    We check in at the start as a light rain is falling, temps are about mid forties but predicted to get colder and very windy by afternoon, possibly some snow.  I get my knee brace in place and tape it so hopefully it will stay put, take one last porta john stop, and sit in the bus till the last few minutes before we start.  As we get underway we wind out of the camping area onto a back road for about a mile and a half then we hit an old forestry service road that goes under the Blue Ridge Parkway right where two creeks converge.  There is no way to get through that area without getting in water up over your ankles, halfway to your knees, so, wet and cold feet right away.  Motivation to move a little faster to build up some heat in your feet again!  I was pacing myself carefully so as not to go too fast on the first half which is mostly runnable with just a few climbs that will be hiked.  The second half has much steeper, and longer elevation climbs, and I will have already been on my feet for 5 and a half hours at my pace, so I have to be careful about energy expenditure, food intake and hydration.

     I enjoy the sights on this course.  When I was a much younger man I enjoyed hunting with friends I worked with, on or near many of the trails we now run on in this part of Amherst County between the Pedlar Reservoir and Hog Camp Gap just before "the loop".  Buck Mountain is aptly named...I have a nice 7 point buck mounted that I took off that mountain on Thanksgiving Day of 1991. (I am now vegetarian and have not hunted in years.)  I have enjoyed hiking and camping with my Scout Troop and my family in this area as well.  Those experiences may be what draws me to this trail race, whether I am running in it or just cheering others on at aid stations.  I always enjoy the view of Buck Mountain as I approach Route 60, but realize the race is just getting started even though I am a little over half way on distance.  I was pretty close to being right on schedule, about a half hour ahead of the cut off.  I was keeping track of what the cut off times were as I came through each aid station with a little piece of paper I had printed off the runners e-packet and trimmed down to fit in my pocket.  I had laminated it with clear packing tape so moisture wouldn't make it unreadable.  At some point before we got to the Parkway gate aid station I had to stop and take off my knee brace and stow it in my pack as it was rubbing the back of my knee and causing more irritation than it was worth.  That took some valuable time, de-gloving, untaping, unstrapping, shoe untying, getting the pack off and open, back on, tie up my shoe, put gloves back on...grrr, wasted 5 minutes.  So hitting Long Mountain Wayside (Rt. 60) at 12:05 pm wasn't too far off my plan but those 5 minutes, and the ten more it took to get into my drop bag, change out of wet socks and shoes, get the useless knee brace out of my pack and restock the pack with more energy gels, get my jacket on and double up on my gloves, as I was about to go into higher and colder elevation with high wind,  would come back to haunt me later.

     I hit the aid station table for a 1/4  peanut butter and jelly sandwich and checked my watch as I started the climb up Buck Mountain.  Hmmm, 12:15, that certainly took longer than I thought it would.  Now I am only 15 minutes ahead of the cut off and they are strictly enforced from here to the finish.  Not where I wanted to be going in to the toughest terrain on the course.   I could see Jeff Martin up ahead and thought maybe I could catch back up to him as we had been leap frogging each other all morning.  Pretty soon he is coming down the opposite way.  He told me he was going to go back down to Rt. 60 and call it a day.  Easier to go down than up.  I tried to tell him to come on and stay with it but he continued down.  I hiked on hoping for something warm at the aid station at the top.  Well, before I got to the top, here comes Jeff again, back on course.  He passed me and went on to finish...big "atta boy" Jeff!  At the top of the mountain there were angels sent from heaven...oh, well, maybe not quite that dramatic, but close!  Freda Spencer, Cheyenne Craig, Wade Stout, and Opal Corell were there with a campfire, hot broth, snacks and encouragement.  I wish I had time to stay by the fire but I knew I had to keep moving on to Wiggins Spring.

     Downhill!  Moving faster now, well doggone, that didn't last long.  My hamstrings were cramping and greatly slowing me, right when I have opportunity to move faster.  The only thing I could do was stop, stretch, then hike for a few yards then try to jog on a little till the cramp would hit again.  Right leg, then left.  Then my calves started joining the cramp party.  This is mutiny!  And my medicine for this is on my dining room table!  Soon though I was at Wiggins Spring aid station where I knew I would see my buddy Blake Edmondson again, working the aid station.  I handed him my pack and asked him to top off my water, which he took care of.  I got some veggie soup and some salt on a chunk of baked potato and kept on up the hill toward "the loop".  As I was leaving there I overheard a young lady in great distress over how rough she felt talking to her crew.  I tried to encourage her saying "a mile and a half up this hill and you will be at "the loop".  Get through the loop and you've pretty much got it made to the finish."  Her crew hiked up the hill with her, behind me, cheering her up and feeding her as they went.  By the time we got to the aid station going into "the loop" she was in a better mood and moving faster than me so I let her go and her crew went back to get their car.  Food equals happy!  I know Todd Thomas believes that.  He was at the loop after escorting Alexis thru that section and sending her on to the finish, he filled me with food, gave me a pep talk and sent me on into the loop.

     The Henry Lanum Loop in the Mount Pleasant National Scenic Area is a nice day hike for those who enjoy hiking.  Beautiful views from the summit of Mt. Pleasant are breathtaking.  This day was not pleasant though.  Cold.  Windy.  4,000 foot elevation.  Small ice pellets blowing out of the sky.  As we go in to this loop the trail is nice, wide, grassy, a bit on the down slope, very runnable.  In about a mile it makes a left turn into uphill, gnarly, technical trail that is slow going.  I caught back up to the young lady who was in great distress but got happy again.  She was not hiking uphill as fast as I was so I chose a spot and went around.  She was still in a good mood.  We chatted a little and I told her I would see her at the finish and moved on.  The summit was brutally windy, but enough visibility to be able to get a decent view.  One of the more memorable family hikes we have been on was to the summit of Mt. Pleasant several years ago.  When we got to the summit we saw a rain storm off in the distance, with the sun shining through the rain to make a beautiful rainbow.  My youngest son who is disabled and can't walk was small enough to fit in a Kelty papoose backpack, and he had a blast holding on to my head as we hiked up, took in the scenery, and hiked back to the car.  As I thought about that warm day, I took my aid station cutoff sheet from my pocket and realized I had less time than I thought.  As a matter of fact I need to push the pace getting out of here if I am going to be allowed to continue.  I began moving faster, running more and hiking less.  Thankful the last mile or so of that 6 mile loop is very runnable, I started pushing the pace more, keeping an eye on my watch.  I had to be at the aid station going out of the loop by 3:50 pm.  It was exactly 3:50 as I got to that aid station.  I kept on going as Sam Price yelled "what do you need?  I'll bring it to you."  I yelled back, "I'm good, I have enough water in my pack and enough energy gels to make it to the finish."  I don't know if any one behind me was allowed to continue, that made me kind of feel sad for those folks for a minute.  I had other business at hand though.


     Rather than think about trying to run fast enough to make it to the finish I just concentrated on the cut off time at the next aid station and getting there as quick as my legs would carry me, given the fact I already had 38 + miles on them.  Thirty minutes to cover the next three miles.  Ok, lets see if I can put a road 5k effort down here on the sections that are flat and down.  I knew there were two short uphills on this part that I likely would have to hike some.  I cranked the speed up and held it as much as I could.  After a couple miles I came up on Craig Miller and another guy and as I came by them I said, "You know the cut off at Salt Log Gap Is 4:20 and it is 4:10 now."  Craig said, "Wow, I better hang on your coat tail then."  We cruised by the Salt Log aid workers and I saw one of the buses were there to give people that had to be pulled off the course a ride to the finish.  I checked my watch and called out "number two six zero - thru Salt Log at 4:19 -  a minute ahead of the cut."  As I started up the hill the aid worker called out to me, "The Forest Valley aid folks will pull you if you aren't past them in 20 minutes."  Well that sounds pretty easy since it is just a little over a mile. Problem with that is it is up a real steep hill, the whole mile +, that does not lend itself to being run very much at all, especially with legs that already have around 40 miles on them and have another 10 or so to go.  As I got thru the Forest Valley aid station I checked the time and was four minutes ahead of the cut.

     The section between Forest Valley and Porters Ridge aid station is marked at 4.1 miles but seems more like 8 miles to me.  It is late in the day, 43 miles in. High elevation.  Cold. Windy.  More uphill and finally a section of down and flat for a couple miles.  I lost track of Craig thru there somewhere, but I had a mission, to get to Porters Ridge before 5:45.  More STEEEEP uphill.  Over 4,000 feet elevation for at least the third time. My legs are burning.  My chest is heaving.  My heart is pounding, But I must maintain relentless forward progress.  I pass a few people.  Suddenly out of seemingly nowhere a familiar face appears.  It is Blake Edmondson!  He ran backwards on the course from the finish after working two different aid stations to pace me in to the finish!

     I ask Blake how far to Porters Ridge.  He says it is less than two miles.  Then he tells me he has some of the Gu brand salted carmel energy gels with the elevated electrolytes.  I get one to stall the near cramping feeling I have in my hamstrings again.  I can go at a nice steady pace but can't keep a redline pace the way I'd like to, or the cramping will straighten my legs and turn my muscles into useless brick.  We keep moving as steady as I can manage.  We pass John Cooper.  Finally we hear music and the Porters ridge aid station and I am about 5 minutes on the good side of the cut.  I get a couple salted tater tots and head to the finish.

     Down, down, down off the mountain and past the fish hatchery then the left turn on to route 56 and I know I will finish under the time limit.  Todd Thomas has come backward on the course to help run me in.  As the finish line comes in sight I pick up my speed pretty good, knowing I don't have to hold anything in reserve now.  It is dusk.  The red numbers on the race clock glow in the dim light.  11:52 is the elapsed race time.  I am happy to have finished under the twelve hour limit and earn my second completion of the four race Lynchburg Ultra Series, and still be able to continue to the last race of the six race Beast Series. Thankful to have the opportunity to do these kinds of adventures.  I have run and hiked thousands of miles soaking up the great outdoors that I love to be out enjoying.  Not everyone can do this.  Thankful for a friendly, supportive running community locally in the Lynchburg area that supports events like this... it takes a lot of volunteers...and what good is a race with no one to run it?
Thankful for Race Directors such as Clark Zealand who directs this quality event and two other races in the Beast Series, as well as David Horton, the founder of this race, now complete thru 32 years, and director of three of the other races in the Beast series.

  Next up:  Hellgate 100k+, stay tuned.  If my knee goes the way of the dinosoar, I will join Dave Horton and Paula Dahl on bicycles next year.  Maybe do a little more tailgate camping instead of backpacking.