Those who know, know, what the Ring is. It is not a secretive run, but is a 70 mile *free* run and with the club, some call it a fatass. It was started as a fatass of two runners who wanted to be the first to run on the newly built Massanutten trail. Now, it it is more than a fatass because we have a race director and Virgnia Happy Trail’s signature aid stations and each one is captained by an experienced ultra runner. A free race that rival and surpass in quality of many paid races.
However, the race is not widely known to people outside the Happy Trail club. And there are some prerequisites for the registration that at least one to many are a bar to get over. It was that runners must be familar with the course, since it is unmarked, this is usually meant having done one of the MMT 100 training runs or one of other runs there such as Boyers, Elizabeth, or Catherine Run. This restriction excludes a lot people who are not from the area or part of the club. RDs screen the signups and weed out those who are not qualified.
I think the mystery of the race involves how hard it can be. I have done the Massanutten Trail 100, which is known as a kicking rock good hard race. The Ring is just like that, hard, and on the same Massanutten Trail, but without most of the road sections. To many, including myself who have done the MMT100, we were surprised by how difficult the run is. Might be because it was my lack of training for it since it is not a real race per se and because it was free.
Also, another mystery is the signup is through the club’s own website, which is a bit hard to use and the registration opens almost unannounced. Opening date for registration is posted in the club’s calendar, but I guess only the die-hard runners of the club monitor it. I have in the past missed the signup (openning date) and by the time I realized it, the registration is closed or race is full. You got to be on top of the signup game to run in this. The signup page is also a bit intimidating because it asks you for the day of the week and splits out some random number that in the past, related to the closing of the stock market to find your position on the waitlist. It was a mouthful of what the heck lunatic is this website. In the past, I was confused by it and stayed away from the signup. Today, it is only used to combat spam or robot (AI) signing up.
Third mystery, maybe the name. Obviously, it was vaguely refering to the movie of Lord of the Ring (The Fellowship of the Ring). The run itself has nothing to do with Frodo or Bilbo. Well maybe it is a bit adventurous heading to Mt Doom. Or maybe to rid of the Ring of obsession. I don’t really know. We ultra runners are bit of obsessive cuckoo. Probably the name came about because the first two runners who ran around the mountain loved the movie or maybe it was during the time the movie came out. The name probably more has to do with going around the two mountain ridges in a circle around Fort Valley. Maybe again it is about how hard it is, almost impossible but inevitable, we would get it done in some epic fashion.
Forth mystery is the lingos, staying on Orange. It was the mantra of not getting lost. The course is not marked other than following the orange trail blazes (orane paint on tree trunks and rocks). So for those who know, we would advise each other to stay on Orange to avoid getting lost. The funny thing, though we all know this, yet we still get lost out there. So it is like an inside joke of sort about being lost on the trail. They also say don’t pee on the fence. I still don’t get that though. You get the shock I know, but why? Maybe of the rocks I think. The attempt running on the Massanutten is like peeing on the fence. We knew not to do it, but still do. Curiosity got the better of us.
What makes me want to run it? The run has been around a long time, since 2001 or 2002. Runners in our club are proud of it. It is like an initiation or a rite of passage thing and a badge of honor. You have to have run the run to be a truly badass. So, now I finished it, I am a bona fide member of the club!
Many of our runs in our clubs involve some form of doing it on the Massanutten mountain, the Waterfall 50k (aka slang or abbreviate as WTF, yes really the expletive), Boyers, Catherine, or Elizabeth Furnace, MMT100 and its training runs, and the Chocolate Bunny. I have done many of those runs the last four or five years. I fall in love with it. So I was familiar with the mountain and trails and when people say it is a hard race, why not give it a try. How hard can it be, right? Also, friends and others have return to running it again and again, so it got to be fun. To me it is more a FOMO, fear of missing out to be with them to make history.
Why I didn’t do it sooner? Because, yearly since I started trail running, I traditionally went down to Damascus (VA) on Labor Day weekend to run or help in a race called the Iron Mountain, another hard hard race. That race conflicts with the Ring every year since both occur on Labor Day’s weekend. This year, the other race was initially not going to take place because Hurricane Helene, which caused significant damges to the area and trails near Abingdon. So I immediately decided to do the Ring. I got in during the signup period. It was a done deal even after I knew the Damascus race was happening.
Another reason, maybe a more real reason for me is that I have been envious of people who were doing the Reverse Ring every winter while I voluntering at the event and I wanted to run in it too except of its requirement that runners must completed the Ring first. Everyone knows I could do it without having to do the Ring first. But rules are rules. One has to run the Ring first before doing the Reverse Ring.
This year, A few of my friends who I ran the Massanutten 100 together two years ago, decided to take a crack at this. To me it was like a reunion run with my pals on the infamously hard trail. I got to suffer it with them once more time. I guess it is a guy thing.
I prepared as usual, meaning very little the weeks leading up. Doing more mountain runs would have help! The night before the race, I was scrambling at the last minute looking for headlamps, shoes, batteries, and other running stuff needed for the run. As for food, I do
ordered a chinese carry-out fried rics for breakfast. We knew the first 25 miles won’t have any food and packing something to eat for the long run seems wise. However, I was too lazy to pack sandwiches or what not except a candy bar I had left over from a previous run. Ouch, ya. It almost derailed my race for lack of food in the early stage.
Water was also important. I was smart enough to pack some carbonated beverages in my drop bags, two cans of Red Bull for energy at night and that was pretty much it. I trusted the aid stations would tilt me through. And they did. John who ran with me asked me for one of the Red Bull, so I gave it to him. I drank the other one and it helped both of us through the night. John decided to nap, which we all kind of made of fun of him for being a softy. It was his MO though to nap on the trail. You can see where or who I learned it from to sleep while running in my 100 mile races. John.
So, at the crack of dawn, we assembled at the Signal Knob parking lot, our base, start and finish line. There were 54-55 of us. It was more than the lot could accommodate. At early pre dawn hours and the race or run, which does not start until 7 but by 6 am, already had a full lot. Some had to do shuttling from a nearby sister lot at the Elizabeth Furnace Campground. I was lucky to get a parking spot. We should have carpooled.
After gotten out of my car, I saw many friends and chatted and fooled around till the race start. And thus, I forgot about carrying an extra bottle of water. I had everything I needed so I believed, turn sheets, map, my pack and I turned in my drop bags. We could have two bags this year, one for roving that goes from station to station and one to be placed at Woodstock, the second to last aid station. I think the reason is there are not a lot of volunteers to take bags from Edinburg to Woodstock, which is like a 30-45 min drive and back. I think was a wise decision from the race management.
We started out at one end of the parking lot, used a short back trail (Orange) to run back to the other end before crossing Fort Valley Road to head to Elizabeth Furnace side, then climb up to Shaw Gap.
I ran with two buddies, Charles and Costi. We were mostly hiking it since Charles said he wasn’t trained for it and neither was I. We were the last two runners. Costi dropped back to talk to us. Along the way we picked up Michelle of West Virginia who said she met me at C&O 100 last year at her first 100 and knew I would finish that race, which I did and she wanted to stay with me to finish the Ring. Not sure if that to stroke my ego, I do take pride in my pacing ability. Though I know today is not to pace anyone since I am not sure if the pace we were doing would carry us through.
To pass the first cutoff, we would have to do a 21 min pace. I hiked around that pace, so I knew I would need to run a little bit to not get behind on the pace. Note, the first cutoff is at mile 40, at 9:30 pm, a long way to go (14:30 hours), so it would be hard to control the pace for that long.
We hiked up Shaw, did make a slight booboo by following a white trail instead of Orange/Blue (the Tuscarora Tr.). We had to backtrack. Then we descended to West Veach and hiked up east side of Veach, from there it was a long hike to Milford Gap – 13 mile long. Volunteers (Amanda, Larry and Andy), all are my friends, were there to refill our water. So glad they were there. I knew there wouldn’t be any food, so I joked about having miraculous pizza, which was a reference to the Reverse Ring because they managed to bake home made pizza on an improvised rock oven there.
I felt I was on pace at Midford. Maybe just a tad 10 mins ahead, which was really good for having done 13 miles in 4 hours and only off by 10 mins. Leaving the aid station, Charles already gone on ahead since he had a faster pace, I joined up with Karen from there to mile 35. She was a stronger hiker. By then both Costi and Michelle had dropped back due to my aggressive pace. I held onto Karen’s pace.
Along the way after Kennedy Peak, we ran into Dr. Cooper, who has gotten lost, and went off trail with Charles and they were coming back toward our way. This saved us from going off course too. I knew about that particular turn because, I got off trail there many times. Together, we descended to Camp Roosevelt. It was not Cooper’s day because he had to double over from time to time to calm the crambing. I arrived at Camp Roo by 3:00 pm, which was 30 mins before the suggested cutoff. I knew I was on pace.
Cooper and Charles stayed behind to rest a bit while Karen and I pressed on ahead to tackle Duncan Hollow, Big Run and the Waterfall climb. Charles was dejected that his drop bag was already sent ahead to the next station by accident. Mistakes were made is all we say. Later, we found out he ended up dropping there. Poor Charles.
The afternoon sun shined on us. Soon after a few miles, my water was out. I did not fill my own water earlier at the aid station but handed off the pack to a volunteer, so it was likely they only filled it half way and I did not recheck it or likely because it was hot, I drank a lot more and water was empty before I knew. Oh well, it was what we could do. I knew I would not die of thirst today, it only made the run a bit uncomfortable for couple hours. It was kind of ironic, I would be suffered from thirst when Duncan Hollow and Waterfall are known for being wet and have a lot of water all around. I wish I had carried a water filter. Too late for that, as I was feeling sorry for myself. Then all a sudden Karen fell down in front.
I ran up to her to see if she was alright. She bruished her chin, elbows and knees. Not sure what had happened, maybe kicked a rock or root something. She seemed alright but the air was knocked out of her. Her strong marching pace was gone. I left Karen before we got to Peach Orchard, while she stopped to use the toilet or so I heard she said. I did not look back or offer to wait, knowing, it is anyone race. If I stop, I would not finish. Later, I think she dropped at Crisman.
Going down on the Big Run was not hard but time was flying away. At the bottom of Big Run was the Waterfall Trail that many dreaded. Interestingly, I didn’t see any waterfall. It is just the name of a very steep trail. I called it our first big climb of the day. I knew we climbed Veach and Shaw, which both were quite big climbs, but they were nothing compared to this one because of the steepness. I was stopped to mentally prepare myself and then hiked up in one breath (one take). My friend Jeremy and I came out to hike the Waterfall two weeks before, and every 10 steps, I had to pause to breathe. So today, I thought I would be doing the same, and it surprised me I was doing much better. I had wanted to reach the top by 6 pm but then settled with 6:30 as time slipped slowly by. I made a second booboo when I reached the top by following a false trail into a thicket. It was soon impassible and I turned around and found the correct trail to take.
Reaching Crisman Hollow was a welcoming sight. There was real food and really my first real meal. A volunteer handed me a freshly grilled cheeseburger, with pickles, ketchup, mustard, and the whole deal. Mouth-watering good food. That is the signature service aid station of our club. There is joy and laughters. And I got all the water I needed. Several other runners were around. Really first time during the day to see any other runners beside those few I were with earlier. Charlene was there and her companion John2, who was crewing her. Cooper got lost and arrived there before me by taking the Chrisman Hollow road instead, so ended his run there. He was retelling how he got off the wrong turn by following some streamers, I did too and almost got lost there where he took the wrong turn. I had the map on my phone and was smart enough to double check so I found the right Orange to go (Orange there can be confused with Yellow).
As much as I wanted to stay for a bit, I had to cross Kerns before nightfall. It would be dark in two hours. Kerns is known for being hard, rocky, and slow to traverse. I had less than two hours to do it. If after dark it might take 3 or more hours and it would mean not making the first cutoff. I got to say, it was easy doing it in the daylight. I reached Jawbone when I had to turn on my headlamp, maybe by 8:30 then.
The descent to Moreland Gap was not easy. I knew that, having done it two weeks prior. So, I did not arrive at Moreland until 9 pm, 30 minutes left before the cutoff. It was what I hoped for.
At Moreland Gap aid station, I caught up to John and possibly Lisa. She dropped at Moreland while John and I were trying persuade her to join our misery in climbing Short Mountain at night. We knew it would be a piece of work (hard) to tackle Short Mountain. We resupplied at the wonderful aid station. Tom S., a friend, got us everything we asked. Temperature was already dropping. John seriously said to me, while half jokingly, that we needed to pack winter gloves for this night hike. My hands were cold and stuck them inside my shorts pockets.
Nothing much could be said about our trek over Short Mountain. We passed couple people. The name of the runner escaped me. I think couple of them later dropped. Short Mountain seemed harder than Kerns and rocky. We were battling fatigue and sleepiness. When we arrived at Edinburg Gap, it was midnight. There were maybe 7-8 other runners around, which made our arrival very festive. First time to see so many people. I met Demitre, Collen and others. I finally caught up to Charlie too. He was the person I have been chasing but everyone said he was swift. He was with another friend (Caleb) as he was headed out while I just arrived. His wife was there crewing. It was the last time I saw Charlie since he is way faster and gone on ahead.
I stayed at Edinburg for about half an hour to change socks and replenished everything. I don’t remember what I had eaten, but probably something good and hearty for the next climb. The aid station was not bad.
Indeed, on a normal day, the next section should not be too challenging. It was about 7 miles and should take maybe a little over 2 hours. It was longest section for me that night timewise, taking me 3.5 hours. I arrived at Woodstock at 4 am. I think mostly it was fatigue that slowed me down. However, I was moving. This section I was alone, by myself. I saw a headlamp far ahead and followed it but did not really catch up to anyone.
At Woodstock, again it was a party. There were many people there (runners). Some were sleeping, others were on their way out. I asked for wipes and cream for lubing up. They had all kind of things but runner’s stuff. I carried them in my pack but it wad too much work to dig them out of my bag.
As for food, I had a good ginger broth, then headed out. There were others sitting around still, covered with blanket. One might have been my friend Robert. I was too rush to notice. We were two hours ahead of the cutoff, so in theory, a nap is quite appropriate. While I was tired, I wanted to get the run done. We only had less than 13 miles to go. I wanted to finish it before sunrise.
From Woodstock, it was a gentle climb for like 4 miles before descending to Fort Powells. It was uneventful. One runner followed me out, hoping to keep up with me. I did not wait but maintained my pace. By morning, some time after 6 am, I arrived at Fort Powells. There again, running friends Nick and Samantha, filled up my hydration pack and resupplied me for my next stretch. This was the coldest time of the night (or day now), temperature might be low 50s or high 40s. I was covered in a blanket, sitting with Caleb to take a breather. Michael, a runner from behind us, came in and then took off running. I then set off chasing after him.
We had just 8 miles left. 4 miles on road/ with a bit of trails, and always uphill climbing to Signal Knob. It was a gradual uphill so I just had to be patient. With going at 2 miles an hour pace, I knew my estimated arrival time was 10 am, so there was no need to rush rush.
At top of Signal Knob, I stopped to enjoy the morning sun. The antenna tower was an amazing and welcoming sight after the all night climbing. I said to myself, I climb 65 miles just to see this. Our wonder. Our Mount Doom.
The descent from there was definitely the hardest of the whole course. I had no idea even though I had hiked there a zillion times. It caught me by surprise. There were only four miles left, so had to suck it up and took it slowly. The last mile was a joy. I could almost run it. People then were waiting for me at the finish. I could not wait to tell the whole world I did it.
I stayed to cheer the several who were behind me, including Robert, Caleb, and John, who came in as this year DFL (dead last runner). He was awarded with slices of cheese. I’m sure he was proud of it. I think that was so goofy. Charlie waited for all his friends to come in. We laughed and ate. Tracy was serving. Q was around cracking jokes, asking of we wanted to do it again.
The run was amazing. It was hard and well earned. As much as I would like all those who started with me to finish with me, but like any races, some made it and some didn’t. I was not fast and I was around many who did not finish. Many (30-40 other runners) finished ahead of me and I never get to see them, like Siqi, who finished second and Dan came on first at 16 hours and something. The run has a group component as well as individual. It is meaningful only what I put into it. While placement is important in a race (to some) but what more was having fun. I think I had a nice day being out there. It felt like an accomplishment to join the cohort of others who are part of the fellowship of the Ring. I am so grateful for all the volunteers who made it all possible.
So, I have overcome the Ring. That’s that. Q, the former RD, sneakily asked if anyone of us would want to do the winter version, called the Reverse Ring, because you do it in the reverse direction. I think all of us said no. He slyly let us know that the registration is open already. For Fear of Missing Out, I put my name in. I’m third. John was first to register. Until then, I got to train.
In awe 
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