The short version of my race report: Tough, hilly, muddy, rocky course. I finished in about 8 hours 8 minutes. Here's the actual elevation profile and highlights.
The long version:
Mandy and I headed over to the Winchester/Gore, VA area late Friday afternoon. After checking into the hotel and dropping off our gear, we made our way to the Cove Campground to pick up our bib numbers. After about 3 miles on a dirt road, Dueling Banjos started playing in both of our minds when we realized that we had taken a wrong turn. We got back on track and finally got to the Cove Campground where packet pickup was supposed to be. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the race volunteers that because there was no one to be found. We saw a bunch of tents, coolers, boxes, and a sign for the race, but not a soul in sight who could get us our bibs. Hmmm... starting to not feel very good about this race's organization. We talked to a few other runners who were waiting around and heard one of them say that the course map had changed three times in the last few months. Again, not helping with my confidence in the organization. Mandy and I decided to pick up our bibs the next morning since the sky was starting to darken and we were both getting hungry. We grabbed dinner at CrApplebees where we were called "honey" by various members of the staff (must be a Winchester thing). When we left the restaurant it was raining like a MoFo. All I could think about was what this rain was going to do to the course.
Saturday morning we got up at 3:30am so that we'd have plenty of time to get our gear situated, have breakfast, and get to the campground. We met up with some of the other guys from our running group and exchanged ideas/questions about why the race had a 12 hour limit. Was it because the course was really tough? Was it to give newbies plenty of time to finish? Was it to account for the usually hot July temperatures? Around 5:50am, the race director said a few words about the course. Something about we'll probably hate him during the first half and understand where the "Your pain is our pleasure." tagline came from. The rain also started to pick up. When I'm already running and warmed up, rain is a welcome relief as long as there isn't thunder and lightning to go with it. But when it's raining before I even start running, I just want to crawl back in bed where it's warm and dry.
We finally got going around 6am. Mandy and I position ourselves toward the back of the pack since we're slower than most runners. We weren't even a quarter mile into the race when the entire pack in front of us slammed on their brakes. Turns out the front runners had missed a turn and we were all following along blindly. Ooops. We got back on track and came across the enormous puddle that the race director told us to look for; it looked more like a pond to me.
Not long after this was the first of many climbs. The rain had turned the hill into a sloppy, muddy mess and getting solid footing was proving to be difficult. As much as possible I tried to stick closer to the trees so that I could use them to pull me up when I couldn't get a good grip with my feet. Unfortunately my Tarzan hill-climbing technique didn't work too well on the second hill. It seemed that every step I took, my foot would slide down the hill and sink deeper into the mud. I really didn't want to be covered in mile the first mile of a 31 mile event. I almost fell a few times. Once the guy behind me who was hanging on to a tree grabbed my hand until I was able to steady myself. Another time I managed to stop myself by putting my hands down into the goopy mess that my feet were lodged in. Lovely.
I tried to do some bad math at this point and realized that we were averaging just over 3 miles an hour. Holy crap. At this pace, I was looking at a 10-10.5 hour finishing time. I decided to push this out of my head for now and just keep pushing forward. I know I had a 12 hour limit, but really preferred not to have to be out there for that long.
The really fun climb began after the first aid station. The good news is that this was wasn't muddy like the first two hills. The bad news was that it was rocky, steep, and LONG (about 1.5 miles). This was when I first met this 60-something woman (in the red shirt below) who seemed to be a pro at climbing hills. By this point, it was pretty clear that the course elevation map I saw was nothing like what we were actually running. So much for trying to be prepared.
What goes up, must come down. Down was a long series of switchbacks that required some serious attention since there were a lot of rocks, roots, and fallen tree limbs. I couldn't take my eyes of the trail to admire my surroundings because I probably would've gone tumbling off the side. I noticed that my right foot was hitting a lot of rocks and that I was tripping a lot. Not a good sign. Sure enough, my right foot hit a rock, my ankle twisted and I went down around mile 12. I'm just glad that we were on some flatter ground and that Rhonda (red shirt lady) was nearby to help pull the thorny branches off of me.
Miles 12-22 were an out and back on a gravel road; about 4.5 miles out and 4.5 miles back. This section was pretty tame compared to the rest of the course and it was fun to see Rob, Chris, and Peter along with the front-runners. On our way back, we came across four kittens who appeared to have been abandoned. One of the other runners handed me one and it was decided that several of us would each take a kitten to the next aid station. At first I wasn't sure it was a good idea since I thought that maybe Mom Cat would be back looking for her kids. After holding the furball for a few minutes I realized that this kitten probably wouldn't stand a chance if a dog or fox got to her. I was afraid to run with her since I wasn't sure if there was a cat equivalent of Shaken Baby Syndrome so I walked the 1.5 miles back to the next aid station. It was a runnable section so I lost some time but whatever. It's not like I was going to win prize money or set a PR. Besides, who could resist this face?
We dropped the cats off at the aid station and were relieved to find out that one of the volunteers was going to find homes for them. Yay! Now back to running...
Remember those switchbacks from earlier that we came down? Well, now we had to go back up. I probably sweated about a gallon going up and was really bummed to find out that I had run out of water. I guess with all the kitten activity, I forgot to refill my hydration pack when we got to the aid station. This made the next 5+ miles really difficult. Not only was I thirsty (a bad sign anyway, since this is a sign that you're already dehydrated), but I also couldn't take my gel since I didn't want to take a chance of it upsetting my stomach since I didn't have anything to wash it down with.
It seemed like an eternity before I got to the last aid station. I guzzled down the best cup of Gatorade I've ever had. I was so thirsty at this point that I didn't care if it sent me running for a potty break. I topped off my hydration pack and headed off. Four miles to the finish! Of course, we had to stop and take a peek at the view since it was too foggy the last time we were at this aid station.
Although the last few miles were downhill, my feet were feeling completely beaten up. I
should have probably run the downhills harder to make up some time, but my tootsies and the bottoms of my feet were feelin' pretty raw, bruised, and battered. I was happy to see one of the ladies from our running club around mile 29.5. She kept me company the last bit of the race. She's a speedy woman, and I had to laugh when I realized that she was walking faster than I was running. No wonder she's been winning so many races lately.
I crossed the finish line around 8 hours and 8 minutes and was happy to find a buffet of burgers, pasta salads, and sweets at the finish line. This is why I run! BTW, the kittens made it to the finish line safely before I did and some had already been adopted.
Would I run this race again? Not sure. The organization of the pre-race events including registration, bib pickup, and the website need a lot of work. The course was tough, but pretty runnable except for the muddy hills and rocks, the latter of which I wasn't expecting. The trails through the woods were very pretty: lots of moss, very shady, and lush. Other than the pre-race organization, my biggest concern with this race is that it's in the dead of summer. We lucked out and had cooler temps plus the rain to keep things tolerable. Had it been any warmer, I may have been closer to a 10 hour finishing time if not longer.
