Last year I had a faster finish (around 3:19 pm, and I mistakenly thought I finished at 4:45pm). I only remembered being chased by the sweeper. I did it in 7:19h, which at the time was disappointingly slow, but this year was an hour slower (8:17h). It was a fatass, meaning free race.
Most fatasses in my mind are not real races and so usually I don’t run at my best. This year, I had both Boyers and Redeye 50k fatass with only two days apart, I did not even bother to run fast on either one.
My goal was the same for Redeye as for Boyers, that is to maximize my time being on my feet as a training for Western States.
I could have finish around 3 pm but I forgot how fast people normally run at Redeye. Most people managed to finish by 3 pm.
And when I did not show up after 4 pm, the race director started to worry for me. I had assumed like last year to have until sunset (5 pm), and thus I did not push myself to go faster. Also I was with another person.
I also missed the sweep because it was a loop course. When I finished the second loop, fhe sweeper already went out ahead of me.
Trail ribbons were already pulled by third lap and generally, it was not an issue, but I was not completely attentive to the trail on my second loop, so I got lost on my third loop. In my mind, I thought I knew the way, but I in fact missed one of the turns at mile7. I would still have found my way even if I were completely lost, but I had to find the correct trail to be on the course and that probably costed 30 minutes or more. It was on me. However, now I am more familiar with the trails at that section.
Last year the course was almost completely new to me. The way the race set up is we learn the course during the first two loops and on the final loop after the flagging were cleared, we would be on our own to find our way out, and many people don’t run the third loop. As an ultra runner, I took this as a welcome challenge. Welcome to the tough love of trail running for the uninitiated.
The day was festive. Several runners who did Boyer’s 40 mile couple days before also came out for Redeye 50k. Boyers is a tougher course with 6500-7000 ft of elevation gain. Redeye only has 1000 ft per loop. So making it 3000 ft total. To us who has done Boyers, this run was super easy.
Still we started with tired feet. I need the double day long run for my training. I had to go easy on the pace so as not to injure myself.
Indeed, my legs were happier to tread on the hills of Redeye 50k than at Boyers. The technical section that previously caused me issues suddenly seem so much easier to handle.
A lot of my running friends came out. I was almost the first to arrive. Tony T. was already there. Tony did Boyers too. Then there is Nick (I don’t know him but everyone seems to know the guy, and he joked of going by the name of Bartholomew). RD said he was definite that there was no such name on his list. It must have been an inside joke. The Bartholomew I heard of was Ash Bartholomew from Lucy’s Dad, YouTube video, of 2023 last runner of 2023 Western States. That story is my motivation to attempt Western States.
Then there was Justin. He met me before, but I forgot his face. He brought his daughter out. It was a good chance for an reintroduction. They knew me from Massanutten. I was the guy who carried a bunch of hoggies (italian subway sanwiches) on my run and everyone still remembered me because of that.
Wayne, my pacer from the devil dog, showed up not long after. Wayne also did the Boyers couple days ago. I model my training for Western States and or races after him.
Along with him was a band of chinese runners. They were mostly from Maryland and I have seen them in the past, but usually in shorter races. We reintroduced each other again. Cheryl told me she met me at the Old Dominion while crewing for Wayne.
Charlie, Wayne’s friend was there. We ran and trained together for the MMT (Massanutten 100) in 2023, a very hard race. Wayne and Charlie were discussing how to improve the core and bowel muscles so as not to get stomach issues during a run. They also talked about speed training. In fact, Wayne started his speed training since September. I noticed how much faster Wayne has gotten. He said, we got to mixup the training so that the body/training would not stagnate. He was talking about the mix of various things. He recommended me to do at least one session of hill training a week. Weight training as well and a speed work. He swore by MAF, something about keeping heart rate low during a run. However, but now he said that is improving too slowly, and we have to have some higher intensity on occassion. Speed work is new to me. As I said, I model my training after his because I have seen how he conquered some tough races I thought would be impossible to do.
With all these tips, I felt my time at Redeye was well worth it. I need both knowledge and application. I got both that day.
Loop one, I was mostly with Wayne and heard him talked on various things.
Loop 2, Wayne took off ahead and we never caught up again. I was with his “pacer” Cheryl, at least that what most people on the course (I knew) called her or known her by during the MGM 50K, another recent race.
Wayne had originally planned to stay with her, but even in loop 1, I realized Cheryl’s pace was too slow for Wayne but it was about right for me. So I stayed with her.
Now Cheryl just got a brand new navigation watch but did not know how to use it. At the very first turn after leaving the aid station to start the second loop, she already made the “wrong” turn. It is a loop course so in reality it does not matter. However, I called out to her to let her know, we should be turning right instead of left. It should be a red flag that I should not stay with her.
I knew my way around the park, especially after doing a 100 mile there twice. I was pretty sure which way was the correct way.
Soon, there were some other runners caught up so as to confirm we were indeed going to the right way. I know some runners like Q, like to go in the reverse direction, which might have created some confussion. I think he did so to check on runners and also helped them with navigation.
However, as long as one follows the course markings, it should be fine in going either direction except the final loop when the ribbons would be removed.
We finished the second loop in two hours. Our first loop took us three hours (8:00-11:00). Our second loop, we were climbing up to the parking lot at 1:05. I was pretty sure, we (I) could do the next loop in 2.5 ish hours, so putting us at 3:30-4:00 pm finish.
I got to the station, talked to people, since I was not pressed for time, there was no incentive for me to leave the station in a hurry. In hindsight, I should have left. Mike E was there. He told me the sweeper already had gone out to remove ribbons, but if we hurry, we could catch up. Cheryl said, she would not do the third loop without a guide. Since, I was generally with Cheryl on the second loop, I was willing to be a guide on the third. This was a bad idea, looking back.
I felt we stayed at the aid station for a bit too long. Having done enough ultras, I had an internal clock to tell me when I should be leaving. Basically, if I were to stand around with nothing to do, then I have stayed too long.
We checked the time on the way out, it was already 1:25 pm. On the third loop, My runner was much slower than earlier loop which was expected, since 22 miles ish, is the “wall” for many marathon runners. Cheryl is an excellent marathoner, but was not immuned to it. I was not hit with the same fatique because I was not going fast that day, also I have a higher tolerant for distances.
I had expected my runner to be able to keep up with me. While I am a slow runner, my purpose that day was for my own training. By going slower than my normal pace, pretty much made my training less effective. Though, I was aiming for time on my feet.
Her speed almost matched my walking pace. I did not mind, as long as she was still strong and moving. All the flaggings were indeed gone. There were like two to three runners behind us (They were Cheryl’s friends) but they were like 5 mins apart. In hindsight, I should have left her with them.
By one hour mark, I checked on Cheryl, if she wanted to head back, we could still turn around before the halfway. At the time it seemed like a joke to turn around. We chose to keep going forward because distance wise is the same in either direction. Now looking back, turning around might have been a better choice because the directions to get back were still fresh but going forward we had more unknowns such as the chances of getting lost.
Then, I met a fellow Devil Dog’s runner, Vladamir. We roomed together before the race at the Devil Dog. He was the second place finisher. I was glad he still remembered me. He was taking his family on a hike. I knew we were near the exit to Burma Road, maybe a mile or two and then we would be nearing the finish, because usually people with families would not be far from the trailhead.
We took a left on the Burma Road and crossed a road to get to Taylor’s Farm Rd. From there, we should be within 3-4 miles to the finish.
This section gets hilly. We continued on Taylor’s Farm passing Blacktop road (I don’t know the name at the time but I knew where it would lead). Note, we will meet it again later at Old Blacktop Rd.
There was doubt whether we should be turning at the road. Cheryl doubted and stopped to check her navigational watch. I was pretty sure here we had to go straight, because making a right there would bring us to Camp Gunny on the Devil Dog course. I am 100% familar with the Devil Dog course and camp Gunny was not where we wanted to be headed toward.
I was not following the gps course, but my memory from the previous loops. The course was marked a little differently this year at that section.
I knew we would pass a foot bridge soon, which we did. We came to the foot bridge and made the climb uphill.
My mistake was I forgot I needed to make a left turn after the bridge but continue onward for maybe a mile. Last year, I think we made the turn further down at the yellow blazed trail. There were two trails crossing our path we were on. At the time, my mind was drawing blank. When I passed the orange blazed trail I made a mental note, but I didn’t slow down to check the trail’s sign post there. In my mind, we still had further to go. As for how far, I did not remember and I was hoping to see something to jog my memory. I know in hindsight that was not the best thing to do. A better way is to check the map, which I did have with me.
I believe, I might have gone about a mile. Cheryl caught up to me and said the trail was unfamilar to her. Actually, she had been complaining the whole Taylor’s Farm section, because her watch went off.
She was absolutely right, my mind was still drawing blank of where we needed to turn. The trail did not seem to be the same. So I checked my phone. I did not download the gpx track before the start and my phone would not download it anyway because it always strips off the .gpx extension and my mapping program would not load the file without the extension.
I had Google map in offline mode, which had saved me many times in other trail runs. From the Google map, I determined we were off course. Her watch showed as much, however, she did not know how to get us back on course. Cheryl insisted we to go back to the previous road crossing or use the google map directions, which as readers know do not work for trails.
I presented her the options. I do vaguely knew where I was even though she doubted my directions. We had three choices at the time. One, to continue forward, I knew it would intersect a road where cars drive on. and we could either walk back to camp ot get picked up 2, to do Cheryl’s plan by going back to the previous gravel road, to make the turn she was insisting of turning, 3rd, was for me to find the correct trail of the course and finish the race
Note, in either option 1 and 2nd option, I only would lead her to the road and she would be on her own. 1st option would be the safest and fastest for Cheryl. 2nd option I knew was a definitely the wrong way and we would only get deeper into the woods, but Cheryl did not believe me and she wanted me to go that way with her. I would not.
For me, I could do either 1 or 3. I prefer 3 because I knew we were not that lost. 2 miles were easy for me to make up. We still had time since it was 3:30 pm then. I know, we supposed to be back by then, but things like this happened.
I could get out quicker, but we could only moving as fast as she could manage.
I was not too tired. I knew if I run it, I could be out in 30 mins to an hour by covering 2-4 miles distance. I could make it by 4 pm, but I was not so sure about Cheryl could keep up. At this time, she was not able to run but walk. It was 20-25 min pace. We had about 3 miles left.
It was her first time being lost in the woods. She later described it as being “devastated.”
I led her onto the Turkey Ridge Trail and she said, this looked like the trail at the beginning of the loop and was checking if that was the right way. She was trying to convince me to turn around again. However, I was sure where I was heading and stopped talking to her. She only expressed more doubts and confussion.
I vaguely remembered being on blue, then orange and then yellow and white (blazes). Since missing the Turkey Ridge Trail earlier, I stopped at every sign post and read all their arrows and directions and distances. I was glad they gave ample information and I knew in general, I was back on course, though I had about 5-10% reservation. I mostly checking the post to know how many miles to the finish.
Mike, a friend, who was volunteering that day, called me to check since it was already past 4 pm. Later, he told me that the runners who were behind us had came in and so he knew something had happened when we didn’t show up.
I gave them my location saying we were on Turkey Ridge heading toward the campground.
Once we reached the campground, I saw two parked forest ranger vehicles. I presented Cheryl another option, if she does not want to hike out, and believes we are still lost, she could ask one of the rangers for a ride back. Two miles probably would take only a few minutes in a car instead of having to run out.
She said she recognized the place now.
We got on the white blaze trail (I think was the South Valley trail). To me, this trail for sure would lead us to the finish. I still was being extra careful. Every turn, I would look and read all the signs. I made all the correct turns and got us back to the swinging bridge. I gave Mike another call saying we reached the Bridge (the Bridge was where we entered/exited the loop, a key location). Mike understood we were only half mile out and should arriving within 10 minutes. There was only one last hill to climb to the parking lot. I got us out.
Lessons learned. I regretted taking a new person with me. I don’t mind being lost, because it was part of the training, but because I had to slow down my pace for another person, my training was not as productive.
For Cheryl or anyone new to trail running, be always prepare when going into the woods, always carry enough water, food (calories), expect to be weak and tired and getting lost, expect being longer than planned, carry a map, dress warm, know the directions even when the course is marked, have a contingency plan, and carry a phone. Absolutely, be selfsufficient. I carried all those, but my runner did not, and it hampered our pace and could have ended much worse.
We eventually got out of the woods. We have gone for 8+ hours (one hour longer than planned). We managed to finish before sundown. Cheryl’s friends were still there. Mike and Caroline joined in a brief celebration of a friend’s birthday. It all ended well. They did not have to send out rescuers for us.
Epilogue: Cheryl though was shaken, but her spirit is not broken. She plans to do more trail running and has already signed up for the first MMT training (coming in a week), which takes some serious high level of ultra trail skills.
In awe 