It was going to be a nasty winter run. Cold, wet and a lot of rocks.
Initially 90+ people signed up but ended up about 50 runners started. Still a lot of runners, but 50 was usually the size for this event.
40 miler is no joke. 30 mile or 50k is what people could do. 10 miles more put it in a different category. This one was like a 50 miler.
It was my 2nd year doing it (last year, here, I had a better write up than this year). I was looking foward to it. There were several friends signed up and I was hoping to have a good time with them out on the trail. The MMT gang.
Weather was a disrupter and a few of those I was hoping to see could not make it, which was fine. They messaged me that they couldn’t make it. A run was still a run and I went out to have a good time even if running by myself. I was hoping a good strong run, but I ended up walking most of the course like last year and ran maybe for 6 miles in the afternoon to avoid the cutoff.
I went out the night before. I was not the only one because by the time I arrived at Camp Roosevelt, there were a few other cars camping out too. We carcamped and secured our parking spots for the morning since the lot was small. There was no way to fit 90 cars in there but we usually do fit everyone, not sure how, but people are creative.
I woke up while it was still dark. I would not say the night was comfortable one but I was able to sleep on and off and was fresh when morning came. It rained during the night so, I could not really sleep on the flatbed of my truck or set up a tent in the woods (well technically, I could, but did not want to do it in the rain). I arrived at camp near midnight and I did not want to spend too much time fidgeting with a tent setup and I wanted to fall asleep as soon as possible. I opted for the back of the car. Sleeping in the back seat was passable. I was smart enough to bring my pillow and a blanket. Those two are my comfort items and would allow me to sleep anywhere.
A few showed up very early the next morning. My friend Mordy came from Ohio and parked next to me. We had a kind of catch up on things during the early hours as we waited for all the rest to show up. Eventually, more showed up. We started the run on time at 7:30.
Rain stopped. I saw Jeff P started early, he said he started at 6:45. He believed he was a slower runner and asked for an early start. I was hoping to catch him on my run. I did not see him until the final 9 miles.
I wanted to walk in the beginning, so I was in the back of the pack walking with Ram and Tracy. I ran with Tracy couple times at the MMT 100. Ram was my pacer (safety runner) for Old Dominion 100 this year, plus an unofficial pacer at MMT before, last year I think. He saved my race at Camp Roosevelt that year. We chit chat by recalling prior years’ races we had together.
The first 17 miles we had no aid stations so we carried all that we needed. Surprising it was not that hard in term of how much water we needed to carry. This was somethingthat worried me last year. I drank maybe half of my 1.5 L pack. I ate a few candy bars. I arrived at Veach Gap, our first aid station, feeling great.
I wanted to be there earlier but ended arriving around 12:30, probably half an hour later than last year. We had a good aid station with hot food and all. Close to a dozen people were there and two long tables full of food. My friend Jeremy, who initially was going to run with me, but instead came out to the aid station to cheer. I ate some food. They had hot soup. Then we set out again.
A flashback, decending on Veach brought back my memories of the Old Dominion 100 Run. Now, in the day time, I could see what the trail actually looks like. It was not that bad. It was gravelly and where you kind of be careful of where you are stepping but it was not too technical. During the Old Dominion, I felt this section was terrible besides Sherman Gap. I was waiting for Ram to rerun this section with him (also I was just up on Sherman Gap two days ago).
The next section was 6 miles on the roads. We had to climb up to Woodstock Tower. The section is similar to the Old Dominion Run. I believe during OD 100, we came down the other way, but now we were climbing up. Ram was tired and he could no longer keep up with me. I did not wait for him. He said, during Old Dominion I was running while he was walking, now today we were in reverse position, he was running while I walked by him. The course again brought back memories of my Old Dominion Run. It was good to see the course now in day time and to have a refresher.
Kate, a seemingly fast runner who passed us earlier on Orange while we were still on the ridge before descending to Veach, told me she would drop out at Woodstock and asked me to let the people at the aid station know.
I outran the people around me (just one guy, Bill?, he did the Devil Dog this year) so I got to the aid station first at Woodstock. I passed message from Kate to the aid station’s captain, who then told us that no one was allowed to drop at Woodstock since all the volunteer’s cars were full. I am guessing then Kate took a ride back with a random stranger happened to be there or she made a call for someone to pick her up.
I expected the run from Woodstock to Edinburg to be long and tough. The afternoon was not bad. Timewise, I left Woodstock about the same time as the previous year, at 2:30. I made to Edinburg in two and half hour by 5 pm, half hour before the cutoff. This was the exact time as last year. We had one of the best meals of the day once arrived. I might have stayed there for whole 15 minutes before heading off. It was not a race, so might as well enjoy some good food.
We had 9 miles left, which I did not know at the time and I was guessing at most 6 miles were left. It was a long climb up to Moreland Gap and then a long descent on Moreland Road down. I finally caught up with Larry and Jeff on this stretch. We together with two other runners (Morali and another dude who did not talk), plus Larry’s dog, Max, finished the last stretch together. There were only about six of us left in the race at the time. It was good we made it back to Roosevelt. It took me 12 hours, about 20 mins slower than last year.
I sat at the fire ring for an hour or so waiting for the last few runners to make it back. I was surprised I passed Charles, who know when, and he and his friend came in with the sweeper, Erin. Erin said he did this for the last five years. We then helped break down the aid station and called it a night.
This year was unlike the previous year, there were only couple of us left at the end. Many had finished many hours before and left. I helped put out the camp fire. Q gave me a whole lot of water, maybe 5 gal. I made sure all the ambers were put out. It was kind of sad, because the fire was so strong earlier, but we had to leave, so putting it out was a must.
The day was good. I was relatively dry even though we were rained on briefly. Feet had some blisters but that was on me of not clearly the grits from my shoes. I did not feel tired at the time, but the body took a beating. The next day, it felt like I did some hard training, because I could hardly crawl out of bed. This was the kind of runs I love.
In awe 