Yes, I am alive because if I am dead then I went to the wrong place. Never felt this sore after a race. It is comical. If it didnt hurt so much I would cry.
First to Jim and Bill- Why didnt you warn me?! :)
I could not in my wildest imagination dream up something this sadistic. It states that there are 81.3 miles of trail. What they define as a trail in Virginia isnt the same as anywhere else. When they say "trail" them mean look over this rock pile to the next tree with a orange blaze or a yellow ribbon. Move to that ribbon, repeat.
This year it was a new course but 90% of it along the MMT (again the T means "trail") as previously. We started at a new start at Caroline Furnace. I would strongly recommend getting a cabin. If not, the nearest place to stay is about 20 minute drive over the ridge. There is nowhere around to eat, no restaurants or stores. Bring EVERYTHING. Also the parking is 0.5 miles from the finish. Up and down a hill. Either leave a drop bag with all of your change of clothes at the finish (although I dont know that they "allowed" that.) Luckily a volunteer drove me to my car then I came back to the finish as there wasn't a lot of people there yet and took a quick shower before I left. Now, back to the race.
This was so outside my skill set of running. Its like the opposite of what I do in a 24 hour. There were several times at night when I got to the "top of a ridge", I started giggling hysterically. Luckily there was no one around. And in Virginia there is no such thing as "top of the ridge"- you just keep going up and down over the ridge line. In most states you climb to the highest point, then descend.
I went out slow. I wanted to be consistent, as Todd said. I was worried that my groin would act up at some point, but it never did. I couldn't imagine being on the top of a ridge and have that happen again, then trying to get down. Also about one week after BPAC my left Achilles area started hurting. It was a stiffness that improved with running and heat but after a run it would slowly come back. I saw my message therapist twice, and taped up my Achilles and calf, and luckily that never bothered me.
We climbed "Short" Mountain first. (You get the idea, I don't have to repeat myself here, we're in Virginia.) I power walked every hill. The up hills were easy for me. Profoundly easy for me, even until the end. I know- I am a freak and I really accepted that at this race. Some of the uphills that were dirt roads I ran and my heart rate didn't go up. I never knew that I could go up like that. Every runner that I passed ( and after I think 50 miles only the 1rst woman passed me-no one else did) was going up hill.
We continued along the western ridge up and down and there was a cool breeze and we were in the shade, temps starting the race in the 50s up to around 65 by noon.
I SUCK going down hill, especially if it was technical. After 37.6 miles I had to walk down all the steep sections. Runners were bombing down full speed over these cliffs, and I just was in shock watching them take off. I felt like a Marionette doll. I could not place my feet and keep my balance. What is that a lack of? Whatever it is I really need to start doing exercises to improve that or if it is a learned skill I need to start practicing. I really started to notice this coming down into Shawl Gap.
From Veach Gap to Indian Grave it was 9.0 miles. Nine miles on the MMT is a profound distance. It was getting hotter in the low 70s. I found two bonked runners on the ridge. They both could talk and were ok, but had been vomiting. I offered them supplies but they said that they couldn't keep anything down anyway. If you do this race, I recommend carrying a camel back. You need to bring way more food than you normally would due to the distance between aid stations.
From Indian Grave to Habron Gap it was on a gravel road. Normally I would say horray but it felt horrible pounding on the feet and much of it was in the sun. I made an ice collar at Indian Grave so that helped. You didn't need sunglasses because most of the time you were under trees or really needed to see where your footing was. But here it helped. Ate alot of dust from the buses pulling canoes down to the river.
From Habron Gap to Camp Roosevelt was also a long distance- 9.5. It felt like forever. At Camp Roosevelt I took off my camel back- a mistake. I was tired of wearing it and didn't like it on my back. I could feel sweat on my back and was feeling hot. I had a Ultimate direction bottle but stupid me, I had forgotten the hand holder. I took my small back-up headlamp, double looped it around the bottle and put my hand in it to hold it. 1.5 miles after leaving Camp Roosevelt, the lid blew up literally. I have no idea why. I just had accelerade in it. I had to hold the nipple over the hole to keep what was left of the liquid inside. Luckily, about 15 minutes later a volunteer from the next aid station was out for a run and he lent me his bottle which I returned to him when I came in. Thanks!
In my opinion, the eastern ridge is slightly more run-able than the western ridge, but it was the southern traverse of Jawbone Gap trail killed me. This starts at Gap Creek. It was a rock garden for 4.8 miles at the top, up and down constantly which just destroyed my feet. That plus the climb back up from aid station #14 to #15 really killed me. Surprisingly the climb up Birds Knob wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although the new descent down the purple trail was not pleasant. Trying to get down Birds Knob as they had to do in the past would be quite painful.
It was a profound experience. I was able to run the last 3 miles down hill on a gravel road. Or at least it felt like running- it was probably just gravity and the fact that I couldn't stop if I wanted to.
Right now I am pretty sore but I can get around and do the stairs. This is a good way to test if your hand railings on your stairs are weight bearing. Feet are swollen with blisters under the forefoot but the skin never broke down and I didn't tape them so I am happy. No focal tendon pains. No groin pain- hallelujah. Shoulders are really sore from wearing the camel back.
I dont recommend doing this race in the Stonewall Jackson Brigade (ie alone without a pacer or crew) unless you have done several 100 milers before. Although the volunteers are excellent and the course was VERY well marked, the length between the aid stations is quite far, and if the weather were hotter or more humid it could have been real trouble. I feel very lucky to have run it in 25:33- the longest continuous amount of time that I have ever run.
Matt Chaffin
Manlius, NY
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