First of all thank you to all the volunteers, families and friends for their supports for the race. It could not have happened without them.
Much deserving a mention is my crew and friend who drove me to the race and back and waited at every station from 4 am to midnight after I made the last (one and only) cutoff at Elizabeth Furnace. I rarely have a crew, so, the race is a pity that I was not able to finish.
Why I wanted to run it again? It has to be a very special reason to run a 100 mile. I came across a runner, Annabel, she said she wanted to run it for her mom. As for me, I did not have a particular reason. Last year, I signed up because of the Grand Slam. This year, I just wanted to have fun, to experience the course without the pressure of got to do it, and of meeting everyone’s expectation. Partly, several of my friends signed up and I wanted to join them to hang out. I was initially going to do the Massanutten 100, since that has been my race for the last few years. For various reasons, that did not happen and OD100 then became my race. I wanted too to pace a runner for his Grand Slam this year.
We went to the briefing. Nothing new. I placed my drop bags. Then showed up for the next day 4 AM. We ran around the parking lot twice and that was supposed to be a mile. I was thinking great, we got to do the extra lap early so at the end we won’t have to do it again and which would save us time. In theory, we are half mile ahead of our pace chart. I took that as a good sign.
This year, I was not the last runner going out. In fact, I lined up at the front. We took our time going up on Woodstock Tower. There were just Wayne and I and a few other runners by the time we reached the top. I figured, like last year, I would slowly pick off runners.
From Boyers we entered the Orange Trail heading down toward the Reservor. Then we headed back to Boyers toward St David Church. We crossed the Fort Valley and ran toward Four Points. About a mile from Four Points, I caught up with a bunch of runners. I remember from former year a group of 4 runners called themselves the Lost Boys because they got lost in the Boyers loop. So I called them the Lost Boys too. Apparently one of them was a runner I was going to pace. So I called out, hey would you still want me to pace you. He said sure. Together we headed into Four Points. Note, only one of them (and she wasn’t a boy) finished the race as a DFL (last runner), the rest of us later dropped.
The race was still early, only a third way into it (mile 32) but there were signs that things were not going well. Our pace started to slack. We were an hour behind goal pace of 26 hour finishing. If we were wise, we should have sharpened up and started the hurry up and go mindset.
The next 20 miles, we traveled through the swampy land of Duncan Hollow. It was not that rough for me, but I was moving methodically slow. I did not finish the loop and arrive back at Four Points second time till after 5 pm (my pace chart called for arriving at 2:40 for 26 hours and 4 pm for 28 hours). This was an hour behind of my 28 hour race pace. It should have been a warning for me but apparently I ignored it because according to the math. I reached mile 50 in 13.25 hours, so 100 miles, should take me 27 ish hours. Hence, I was not panicking.
The next 10 miles took me 2 hours, which was good. I figured I had plenty of time to get to mile 75, our first cutoff. The sun soon set. A fellow runner spoke to me that we were not going to make it. So I started counted the time again. We had 8 miles and we needed to get to Little Fort. In my mind I thought I had 3 hours, but in actuality, I had 2. I was planning to get to Little Fort by 8 pm. She asked me to check my watch again and then I realized it was already 8 pm. So I had to settle with 9 pm. She (Kalla) and I started running in earnest. I did arrive by 9 pm.
Now the next segment was 11 miles and we had 3 hours. On paper it was doable, but this section, became more technical. It was dark. There were 5-6 (the Lost Boys) of us and we caught up with another 3-4 runners. It made a fun group as we raced toward the cutoff. I was hoping we might get to Elizabeth Furnace by midnight. It came down very close. I got in, got my medical check, and then headed back out. Time was of the essence.
At this stage, it was a relief that I made it through the one and only cutoff. However, I was spent in term of energy. Because I had run this race before, I knew what was to come. We had to cross Sherman Gap and the Veach Gap and then climb Woodstock Tower, three big climbs.
It was mind blowing hard. In summary, It took me 3 hours to climb Sherman and then 2 hours Veach. I wish I could say, then I did Woodstock Tower in 1 hour. I would have the race done. I got halfway up near Woodstock, time was about to expire at 770+758 road. I did not think I could move another step. It was mathematically impossible for me to run 9 miles in an hour or even 2 hours. Volunteers there were more than ready to take me back. So there I ended my race at 7 am with 9 miles left.
I don’t like feeling sorry for myself that I could not finish the Old Dominion 100, while coming so close with 8.7-9.2 miles left. But Pat Pat to myself.
There were various reasons I could tell myself why the race did not go according to plan, but in the end, it was just me not having enough to survive the race.
Some would be fine and celebrated the distance ran. I stopped at mile 91. I was actually done at mile 80, or even at mile 75 but mathematically, I still had a chance to get myself to the finish line. My body started giving up at mile 86, and I knew it would be a long way to get the final 14 miles. By then it was no longer feasible for me to attempt limping in.
I am grateful though to be able to run in OD100. Weather played a part. We knew ahead it was going to hot. It is usually hot. The rain was a relieve to cool off the morning portion. The entire day was humid. We just perservered.
In hindsight, I should have stopped at midnight, since trying to finish the race with 8 hours left was historically very hard at this race. I attempted it any way knowing there were others who did that before.
Proverbial saying, hindsight is 20-20. Everything fell apart the next seven hours. The moment I left mile 75, I tripped and felt into a mud pit. I had sand and mud all over me, on my clothes, my hands, feet, my pack, my water bottle and water hose. I could not drink my water until I could find a creek to clean off. My legs were giving out on me. Then came pouring rain. The sky poured buckets. Rocks were slick. I did not chance it. Even by walking I was kicking rocks and stumbling. Each time I kicked a rock, my toes hurt. I never kicked so many rocks even while running the MMT 100, which was known to be rocky.
My evaluation if a race is good is by how tired I am afterward. This race even though I did not finish, I enjoyed the course, the clock and the 1 day, 100 miles. It is always you against the course and the clock.
I got a great welcome when I had to do the “walk of shame” to Henry, our race time keeper by the finish line to tell him I quit. My friends enrupted in cheers and claps. They thought I made it in, but in fact I was given a ride back. I had to tell them, I got a ride! Still I was grateful they (the Lost Boys) were there.
I am grateful to my crew, friends, volunteers and fellow runners to make Old Dominion an unforgetable experience.
In awe 