Chocolate Bunny - The last MMT training run

This weekend was the weekend of the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club (VHTRC)’s annual Chocolate Bunny. The Chocolate Bunny runs over the last 38 or so miles of the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 (MMT 100). It combines a little bit of dirt road, a touch of asphalt , some fire roads with some truly awesome steep rocky trails. In it’s 38 miles you climb and descend 7500 ft not only crossing mountains but a lot of streams. This year the course was quite wet so our feet were wet and or muddy pretty much the whole time we were out. On drier days the trail sometimes follows dry creek beds. This weekend these dry creek beds were creeks. Needless to say the run was quite a challenge.

I will be pacing a Karen T during this years MMT 100 so we ran together again. We ran this same exact course in March in drier conditions during the day. The day started off with us trotting out of the upper horse parking lot at Camp Roosevelt. We had not left the parking lot before a couple of the runners made a wrong turn on the Orange blazed Massanutten Mountain Trail (MMT). We would be going the other way into the Duncan Hollow portion of the MMT. I will run that portion in 3 weeks with Karen and both the portion where the others made a wrong turn and Duncan Hollow during the Old Dominion 100. We started out trotting easily with the handfull of runners running this year. Soon we got into some pretty mucky terrain and some walking crept into our gait. Before we turned right onto the blue blazed Gap Creek trail the trail became particularly beautiful. I was relieved to be on our first climb of the day as we left the endless mud and occasional splashing through of water behind. Karen climbed this first climb particularly well. I was pleased to see how much she had improved on the climbs since February. It was quite a chore to keep up with her and my newly stretched out hamstrings hurt a bit. I’ve been doing a lot of stretching for PT for my knee/leg. When we got to the top of the climb we crested the ridge and trotted down. The downhills with Karen go quickly. She liked downhill running a lot and is quite good at it. On the way down we encountered the first of many blown down trees. One was challenging to pass with branches at various heights. After some downhill running and a bit of level trail/fire road we were at Gap Creek which during the MMT 100 race will be an Aid station bustling with runners and volunteers and possibly crew people. Tonight there was only a couple of people camped there with a beautiful, inviting camp fire roaring. We crossed Chrissman Hollow Road which, at this point is a nice smooth dirt road and proceeded about 200 yards up the road to the Jawbone Gap Trail. We still had a few runners close behind and in front of us. We then started up the Jawbone climb actually running slowly. Soon the steep fire road had us walking. I was looking carefully for trail blazes and the point at which the trail makes a right turn off of the fire road. The sun had just set and it was twilight. Karen turned on her headlamp and flashlight. I went for a few more minutes before i put my headlamp on its low setting. When we got to the top of the ridge a couple of runners made a right turn on the Orange MMT trail where they should have turned left onto Kerns Mountain. Luckilly Karen saw this and was able to yell to them before they were out of range.

Kerns Mountain is considered by many to be the hardest part of the MMT 100 course. I find it absolutely stunning. You are running for a long time on top of a narrow rocky ridge. Sometimes it feels like you are a mouse running up the back of one of these dinosaurs with the armour plates sticking out of its back. Running Kerns Mountain in the daytime is spectacular enough. Running it at night was almost surreal with great rocky formations appearing out of the darkness. We could see the lights of towns in the valley off in the distance. Karen performed wonderfully on the occasional stiff little climbs on Kerns mountain and kept fluttering along with her steady ground consuming gate along that rocky ridge. Soon we crossed over to the right side of the ridge and they over the top to the left side of the rige going south where a decent descent started happening. There was a flash or two of lightning and some thunder but all we got was the tiniest sprinkle of rain. That was a relief because there had been worries of thunderstorms. We were running with another pair of runners and we almost missed a switchback going down but Karen saw where the trail went and got us all back on course. We soon left the pair of runners behind us and hit Chrissman Hollow road again. We would go several miles on Chrissman Hollow Road. As the road nears rt 211 and civilization it becomes a paved road but it is still pretty steep and switchbacked. Karen excels at downhill running so the pace became quite steady run down this section. Soon we could see the headlamps of other runners and Rt 211. We crossed rt 211 and went to the aid station. We had gone about 12 miles of the 38-40 miles.

The aid station was replete with the usual aid station foods: soda, lots of potato chips of various sorts, and cookies. Not much for me to eat. Luckily i had packed 12 packs of Medjool Dates with a couple tablespoons of almonds to eat. I had just hoped for some real food. I did have a little mountain dew for caffeine as it was getting quite late and i nibbled a cookie and i had some pretzels to replenish my salt. The Aid station people had emailed me that drop bags were available. I should have put some non-sugary non-junk food in a bag for me to eat. It was, however GREAT to see all the volunteers. I had packed enough water in my 5L water pack and enough food for me to easily go 50 miles.

We left the Aid station encouraged and ready for the next section ahead of us. As we trotted down the White blazed Wildflower trail to the Orange Massanutten South trail it occurred to me what a big responsibility i had taken on to pace someone. I began to say prayers of gratitude and prayers that my runner would make it home safe tonight as well as me make it home safe. Bird Mountain is a nice climb that brings you to several very nice lookout points. At night the lights of the towns make it even nicer. From one of the lookouts it seemed that we could make out the outline of a small airport - probably a grass field airport. At this point another runner had caught us and was running with us. After a nice ridge run the orange Massanutten South trail turns onto a dirt forest road. This road is called by the running club “The Ant Hill Road”. I had gotten pretty badly hurt here the last time i ran this with Karen. We were running at a good pace and i tripped over a rock. I stopped for a quick prayer on this road. The Ant Hill road went quickly but it was wet and there were big puddles to negotiate here and there. When we hit the dirt road that carries actual traffic after the gate on the Ant Hill Road we had a bit of a discussion on where to go. Karen and the other runner were holding turn sheets which said nothing of the fork. I got out a map and saw that we were to go downhill just as Karen had said. The left fork went to a radio tower then stopped. Karen was pleased about the downhill and she began to run but after a bit we were walking again, the we ran. I spotted the Purple blazed Roaring Run Trail. The sign for the trail had both the purple of the Roaring Run train and the pink of the new Browns Run trail. We settled into climbing again. The trail would climb a lot before we reached near or over the top and turned Left onto the pink blazed Browns Run Trail. After a time on the Browns Run Trail we could see the radio tower off to our left. For a good amount of time this trail was not too technical and was downhill so Karen moved quickly. I did my best to keep with her as she trotted down the mountain. Soon the stream crossings started again and i noticed how wonderful the stars were. I called Karen over to see and we turned off our lights. It was a wonderful sight for someone who has been living in suburbia for years. The trail went on for a long time and there were occasional blown down trees to negotiate. Soon we hit the Orange trail on the gate but Karen realized that we had gone too far and would be going the wrong direction on the Massanutten South trail if we had gone here. We turned around and soon found the right turn off. I was very glad that Karen was so good with this course. When i pace her she is supposed to follow the course on her own. I am pretty much there for moral encouragement and safety. I’m not even allowed to carry anything for her.

After the Orange Massanutten trail turned off of the Pink trail it went a while on a forest road type path before doing an abrupt left on to single track trail. We missed that turnoff briefly before turning off. The temperature had gone from quite warm to comfortable as we ran. Along this path we felt several puffs of really warm air then we noticed something like dust floating in the air. This dust would be with us the rest of the night. On this stretch we would hit several more of these blasts of warm air followed by cooler air. Soon we could hear cars on Rt 211 and we hit a short uphill section and we were in the Rt 211 parking lot. There was another aid station, the last one before we finished set up in the parking lot. Karen changed her soaked socks for dry ones. I took off my shoes and tried to get as much of the grit out as possible. The grit felt like it was tearing my feet up. At this point i took one of my caffeine shots. It was getting very tired from sleep deprivation. I ate what i could at the aid station and probably a few things i should not have and i ate a packet of dates and almonds before we crossed Rt 211. The runner who had been with us for miles was no longer with us.

We crossed Rt 211 which like the first time was a bit of a harrowing experience after being on remote mountain trails for the longest time. Soon i found a plastic bag and then a bottle top that someone had dropped. I always like to leave trails cleaner than before i ran them. The white trail follows a forest road for a little while before branching off to the left on a true trail. There was more sloshing through water at this point. Soon we were back on the Massanutten Mountain Trail. The Massanutten goes on for a while then you turn left onto the Gap Creek trail. After being on the trail for so long the climb on gap creek seems endless. There is one portion just before the end of the climb that runs through a dry creek bed. It was not dry this time so we were basically wading along a creek in the water for quite some time. I had given up hope of getting enough grit out of my shoes to help my feet. I was expecting a disaster when i took off my shoes. Thankfully the creek bed portion came to an end but it did not come to an end before we began to worry if we were still on the proper trail. We were. After the trail turns out of the creek bed there is some more climb and you are soon on top. The Descent off this trail is a lot easier than the ascent. There were the notorious “Massanutten Rocks” but not so many on this bit. There were some blown down trees to deal with. Soon we were crossing a creek to Chrissman Hollow Rd. We would then turn right on this forest Road and trot back to the Jawbone Creek with its steady climb. Along this stretch during the race we will find a nice friendly aid station personned by the Trail Dawgs running club.

The Jawbone climb went a bit slower this time. This was the first time that Karen had to stop to breath very much on a climb. I guess the 11 miles she ran earlier in the day were starting to get to her. As we labored up the forest road i told her that soon the cats would be waking my partner to feed them. She kept her patience til near the top where she asked how far. At that point my mind was pretty vague and fuzzy. All i could tell her was “the top will be here pretty soon”. An altimeter would have been nice. As promised the top came and we were trotting over the backside of the mountain only to have to clamber over at least 2 more blown down trees. This section is extremely rocky and was the sight of Karen’s fall the last time we ran here. As i went over the rockier sections where she might have fallen i tried to find the metronome she lost there. No such luck. I had thought that this section was long but it was not. No sooner had we started this section of trail did it end with a sign for Moreland Gap Rd or more accurately the Number for Moreland Gap Rd. The sign said 4 miles to Camp Roosevelt. Our turn sheet said 3.1 miles to the turnoff to the finish. We started trotting down Moreland Gap Rd at a pretty good pace. I asked Karen if i had taken good care of her. She said “yes”. Karen asked a few times how much further til the cars. All i could do is be vague. I knew it was not far and i knew the cars were on the other side of the valley which i could point out to her. As we passed the entrance to Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp i told her to take note. The start and finish of the MMT 100 is there. By then the dirt road had become paved and i knew it was soon before we would hit Fort Valley Rd. At Fort Valley rd we turned right after a little navigational discussion and ran then walked up the hill. We turned into the parking lot and finished in 12:04:01. When we got there we found out that we were the only women who had finished that night as well as being the last finishers. It was a good morning. Karen was delighted at winning a race. We decided to share the award which was a fun kids toy. As finishers we also got a chocolate bunny each. I got an extra one for my partner as they had too many. A lot of people had dropped out that night. We just kept on grinding on.

I asked Karen if she was going home. She said she was not safe to drive without taking a nap. I retraced my drive in over the Massanutten ridge and through the country roads to Rt 340. I stopped a place or two to rest for a few moments before getting some coffee for the ride back. The coffee was not enough. I ended up having to sleep for a half hour or so in the rest area near Manassas on rt 66 before finishing my drive home. For some reason i was more tired after this run than i was after the Philadelphia 100 miler where i was up for well over 30 hours before i got some sleep at a friends house. After my nap i exited rt 66 to the Fairfax County Parkway. I had wanted to call Laura to see if she wanted to go out for some breakfast but i couldn’t. My water pack had leaked on my cell phone and killed it. Luckily i was able to dry it out and restore it to function. 

 

When i got home at a bit after 9:30 am i found that Laura had already eaten so i stripped off my filthy muddy clothes and got the wet shoes off my feet. My feet were all white from having soaked in water for around 12 hours. The grit had made the bottoms of my feet pretty sore. It’s 2 days later and the feet are starting to feel better. At least there were no blisters, just water and grit. I’m still a little sore but in a day or two i should be fine and ready for another hard run this weekend. At least this weekend will be a bit easier. It’s a marathon on a pancake flat course along the Potomac.

The Wild Oak Trail

This weekend i set out for a lovely adventure. I had read about The Wild
 Oak Trail now the Wild Oak National Recreational Trail on the Virginia
 Happy Trails Running Club website and on backpacking sites. The trail is
 just over 26 miles long and sports around 8200ft of climb and descent,
 almost as much and as steep as my beloved Devils Path in the Catskills
 which is 25 miles long and has 9200ft of climb and descent. After a very
 early morning breakfast of an omlet, banana and some mate i began my long
 drive to the headwaters of the Shenandoah. The weather predictions were
 pretty dire so i was prepared to cut my run short or even do short hill
 repeats close to the car to stay safe. The drive there was pretty
 uneventful til i got off the main roads where the navigation got a bit
 tricky. Luckily i still had cell reception so i called Laura and she
 walked me through the drive using Google Maps. I stopped at the
 Stokesville Grocery and supply just a couple of miles away from the trail
 head and asked how far. The woman there said not far. I bought a really
 delicious piece of beef jerky and was on my way. After a couple of turns
 The Wild Oak Trail parking lot appeared on my right. There were 2 cars
 parked in the lot. I felt encouraged. At least there were other people
 out today. During the whole time i was on the trail i would see no one
 except when i got to Camp Todd. At the trail head i spent a very few
 minutes getting my packs together, putting on my all to insufficient rain
 gear and putting myself in a mode that was respectful of the trail and of
 the mountain. I knew if i was not respectful of the mountain that the
 mountain could really hurt me.

 The run began with me lightly and happily trotting off on a trail that
 felt quite easy and fun. Soon the trail came to the loop and i took off
 on the left fork of the trail.  The white exclamation point type trail
 blazes would be my comfort for many hours on this trail. I was very happy
 to see them. The trail began a gentle climb up lookout mountain and the
 rain continued. When the climb got more steep i began to walk keeping my
 heart rate to a reasonably good number for a long distance workout. At
 this point i was of the opinion that the trail was a very sweet place to
 be. I felt that the feeling would last for the rest of the run but i
 tempered my expectations a bit knowing that the weather was bad and that
 this trail was steep. As the trail climbed over Hankey Mountain i got
 a sense of the seriousness of the run but combined with that was a feel
 that it would go well. The scenery was ever so beautiful and the ridge
 running was amazing. It was difficult when the trail dropped down to
 forest roads and ran along them for a while. The single track on TWOT
 (The Wild Oak Trail) is just so nice.

 As i ran this run i was eating 1 packet of food an hour with an
 occasional extra. The packets contain 2 dates, usually medjool dates, and
 a couple tablespoons of unsalted raw almonds. I find this combination to
 be good fuel for me for moderately long runs. I supplemented the packets
 with a raspberry or huckleberry flavored Hammer gel here or there and a
 ate a piece or two of power bar. The power bars don't work that well.
 They give me a sugar high then low.

 Coming down off Hankey Mountain was trail then Forest Service Roads. The
 Forest Service Roads played with my head because there were not very many
 trail blazes on them and where they were blazed the blazes were often
 very faint. Needless to say, despite the fact that the Forest Service
 Roads offered easy running, i was happy to get off them. At the end of
 the Forest Service Road there was a gate and the single track trail
 resumed and the trail started climbing pretty seriously. At one point it
 was so steep that i was going around 30 minutes/mile but i did not care.
 I was still enjoying myself. I was a bit concerned because of the rain
 and wind and the fact that i was all wet in the weather. The concern kept
 me from lingering very much where there were views to take pictures. I
 just kept moving along whether running, shuffling downhill or walking. I
 had to keep moving. Near the top of the next mountain, which according
 the the map is around 4080ft i had to pause. A big thunderstorm had moved
 into place and lighting was striking the summit about a half mile away. I knew  how far away it was because i know how fast sound travels.

 The flash precceeded the boom by 2-3 seconds. It was not time to be up
 high. After just a few minutes the lightning moved on but the rain did
 not. It was very very wet and cold. There were little cores of ice in the
 very large raindrops. I summitted that mountain and enjoyed a short ridge
 run before starting down the other side. The running was pleasant while i
 stayed on the ridge. Despite all the rain, the rocks and sand that
 comprised the sweet TWOT stayed solid. There were just a very few muddy
 patches. After i left the ridge things changed. It seemed like the trail
 was routed through a dry creek bed which seemed to go on for at least 2
 miles. The creek bed was not dry. The best i could do was slosh quickly
 and carefully through the cold ankle deep. To add to the frustration of
 the water there were few trail blazes on this section. At least there
 were few unmarked trail junctions. After a good long time in the dry
 creek bed the trail began to follow a hillside some distance uphill from
 a small creek. As the trail got closer to the creek or gully i could see
 i was approaching a campsite. I crossed some more water and crossed the
 road and saw trail blazes going straight towards the North River. The
 blazes then directed me to the left. I followed the trail and the blazes
 disappeared. I sat on a stump and because the rain had lessened i looked
 at the trail narrative. The trail narrative from VHTRC says "Cross the
 road, cross the river and climb Little Bald Knob".  The river was
 absolutely raging. There was no way i could cross it safely. Or was there
 ? I went to where the trail goes to the river and i saw the grey white
 exclamation point blazes on the other side of the river. Well, at least i
 will try. I stepped into the river. Just about 4 feet into the river the
 water was up to my knees and threatening to throw me off balance. No Way
 ! I scrambled back to the bank. I tried again and came to the same
 conclusion. No Way ! It was the end of the trail for me. I would have to
 find another way back to my car. I had run 18 miles in the mountains at
 that point including about a mile or so of backtracking where i thought i
 was lost but wasn't.

 I walked to someone who was camping at Camp Todd and asked them how to
 get back to the beginning of FR (Forest Route 95). They said they were
 not sure but they pointed the way to Elkhorn Lake and the way to the West
 Virginia Border. I knew i did not want to go to West Virginia. I told
 them i knew the trail arced to the right over Little Bald Knob and
 Grindstone Mountain so i decided to go right. I only had the trail
 narrative because i was unable to get a map of the area at the local
 stores so i was not sure how far the run back to the car would be. There
 were a few intersections with other forest roads none of them marked with
 the FR number along the way. They had signs pointing how far to various
 camps and to the West Virginia Border. I knew i needed to go towards Lake
 Todd. So i kept going that direction when i found a sign for Lake Todd. I
 knew it was 8 miles from Stokesville to Lake Todd so what i thought would
 be a 3-4 mile run on FR 95 was a 9+ mile run. It was no big deal. Even
 though i was running through running water at times and even though i was
 wet i was nowhere near hypothermia. I had LOTS of water in my improvised
 5 liter water pack and i had lots of food. I could easily have gone 50+
 miles that day with the supplies and clothes i had on. The rain shell on
 the top was much appreciated and i wished i had worn a rain shell on the
 bottom too but i figured it would not do me much good if i ended up
 wading through a lot of water. I was wrong. The water resistant part
 would have helped.

 Every now and then i would see trail head parking and different colored
 exclamation point type trail blazes. Sometimes it would be raining and
 for a while the sun came out and there were the most glorious white puffy
 cumulus clouds. The run on FR 95 was very very nice. I ran most of it
 with the exception of a few of the steeper uphills. After a while i saw a
 trail crossing sign and a familiar friendly grey/white trail blaze. I had
 run that many hours earlier. The car would be coming up soon on the left.
 When i got the the car i went to the trail register and made a mark that
 i was out safely.

 It had taken me 8:01 to run and walk 27.41 miles of mountains including
 about 15 minutes at the river staring across wondering what to do. The
 run had 6500-7000ft of climb and descent.

 My overall impression of the trail is that it is a sweet sweet trail and
 i want to come back and do the whole thing when i can actually cross the
 river without risk of drowning. I loved the TWOT !

 At the car I took off my packs and hesitated before getting in. I found
 an old magazine to put on the drivers seat before i sat down. I was
 drenched. I got in and turned on the engine and turned on the heat. It
 took me a while to clean the water off my glasses after i put them on. I
 called Laura to tell her that i was safe and to tell her that i had
 survived a deluge of water. More was to come. I reversed the route i came
 in making one short wrong turn. I passed the cute Stokesville Grocery and
 Supply and drove down the North River Road. All along the road there were
 deep puddles of water. I seemed to be the only vehicle out there that was
 not a high clearance pickup or 4 wheel drive. When i got to the bridge
 crossing the North River there was water. I drove into it until i
 realized it was going to be way too deep at the bridge for my car. It
 even looked like there were parts of the bridge washed out. There were a
 couple of stumps on the bridge that had floated there. I backed up and
 waited. A local came along in a pickup. I expected him to just ford the
 flood. He just watched and walked towards my car. I got out and walked
 towards him. He told me to take Natural Chimney Road to get to rt 42. I
 thanked him profusely and turned around and went to Natural Chimney Road.  As i looked to my left i saw a the river raging and i saw other bridges
 overrun with high water. Natural Chimney had a much higher bridge over
 the river. At this point the landscape was beautiful, green and hilly.
 There were rainbows all around. When the rain did not come back rainbows
 would follow me all the way up from the headwaters of the S Shenandoah
 River to the Junction of the North and South Shenandoah River near RT 66.

 With my partners help in navigating i found my way back to 42 and then
 saw a sign for rt 11. I took that road. When i got to 11 i saw rt 81 and
 i saw a gas station a few hundred yards to the South. I turned South and
 went to the gas station. I filled up the car, got myself a big cup of hot
 coffee, a couple of cookies and a bag of chicken jerky. As i ate and
 drank on Rt 81 i felt a lot better. The warmth in the car helped. The
 bottoms of my feet stung from being in cold water and i did not know if
 they were blistered or if i just had a very mild case of trench foot.

 On the way back to 66 i saw the Southern Massanuttens, Bird Knob which i
 have run over in the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 (MMT) Training run
 #3. I saw the lovely Kerns Mountain which i ran over in the same run. I
 past the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds where the Old Dominion 100 mile
 run will start in June. I noted the proximity of the various hotels and
 motels the the fairgrounds. Woodstock VA where the fairgrounds are
 located is just a few miles South of where Rt 66 intersects rt 81.

 When i got on Rt 81 the weather was not so bad. There was one of the
 rainbows that had followed me all the way up 81. This was not to last. As
 i drove on i saw a ridge beautifully draped in white clouds. It was not a
 high ridge but it was just enough of a ridge to trigger condensation.
 Soon there was a bit of rain on the windshield. Then i saw a bright flash
 off in the distance like a flashbulb going off. It startled me a bit. As
 i got closer to that area. It started to rain more and more and lightning
 light up the sky. Sometimes there were enormous bolts going sideways
 across the sky. While the show was amazing the drive began to be an
 ordeal. The rain seemed to go on and on and i had to slow down a lot to
 keep from hydroplaning. Finally when it let up just a little i called
 Laura. She put in an order for Kabobs from our favorite Kabob house. She
 asked for her regular, veggie kabobs. I would have fish kabob instead of
 chicken because i had already had chicken that day. The short drive from
 Manassas to Herndon seemed to take forever because of the weather but
 really according to the clock, it was not that much time.

 When i got to the Kabob house there was the usual short wait while they
 cooked the food. I ordered us homemade salted yogurt drinks too. The
 kabobs came quickly but i had to wait a bit more because they forgot to
 make the drinks. After a wait that was very well worth it i left the
 restaurant with my order. Home is a couple blocks away. When i got home i
 gave my partner the food and quickly stripped of the sopping wet clothing
 and got into a hot bath. No blisters, just feet white and slightly
 burning from soaking in cold water. Nothing that dryness and some coconut
 oil wont fix.

 Getting into my nice dry nightgown never felt better and dinner never
tasted better !!!

It was a good day on a sweet trail but it was an adventure too.

The Wild Oak Trail Pix

Playing on Signal Knob and Maneaka Peak

This Sunday i set out to do the Elizabeth's Furnace 50k race course or at
least a big chunk of it. I ended up with a big chunk of it and a lot of bonus 
miles that were quite fun despite not being the course i wanted to run.
I started the day out at home quickly packing 10 packets of medjool dates and 
almonds into my fanny pack and loading my water pack - all with the help of
my ever patient partner Laura. After a nice breakfast of our usual egg white   
omlet and a whole banana i set out to drive to the Signal Knob Parking Area.
The drive to the Forest was uneventfull and quick. I appreciate the 70MPH speed
limit on the western part of rt 66 though the speed frightens me a bit. Walking
and running really is first class travel to me. When i got to the forest i made
a quick pitstop at one of the less popular parking area to take care of a nature
call before driving on to the Signal Knob Parking area which was just a couple 
hundred yards away. As it was a foggy day there were few people parked at Signal knob. I was pleased as i sometimes worry about getting parking on nicer days.

     The first direction on the turnsheet for the Elizabeths Furnace 50K tells 
you to start at the South end of the Signal Knob parking lot, cross the bridge
and turn right towards Signal Knob on the Orange (Massanutten trail). I started
south on the little trail to the orange trail. I got to the intersection of
Orange and Blue (Massanutten and Tuscarora) before i realized i had gone the
wrong direction. The trail sign said 3 miles to Maneaka Peak trail. I turned  
around and by the time i got back to the parking lot and crossed the little
bridge at the end of the parking lot and started on the Orange Massanutten
trail again (it's a loop) i had run about 1.6 bonus miles. No harm no foul. It
was a nice day !

    I had heard in descriptions of "The Ring" where people run the entire 71
mile Massanutten trail ring that the trail up Signal Knob was incredibly rocky.
The beginning of the trail was like a narrow, smooth single track road. I was
wondering what people were talking about but after a while the trail started
switching back and it started hitting those rocks. It even crossed a talus field
or two but there was a trail built. It was incredibly rough but the only part
that really gave me pause was a blowdown i had to climb over. I slipped a bit
climbing over. That was scary. After a rocky switchback the trail turned off the
edge of the mountain and headed in a more level direction. I could see the ridge
that the Maneaka peak trail would come off of in the close distance. This part
of the run had a bunch of puddles.


    After a bunch of puddles and a pleasant, reasonable level run through a
forest a white blazed trail came in from the left. This was the Maneaka Peak
trail. This trail followed a ridge that was more or less defined. After a while
the trail went abruptly up what seemed to be a pile of huge slabs of rock. I
love this type of trail. After the slabs it was rough for a while and it settled
down to being a gentle ridge run - with rocks of course. The run on the ridge
seemed to go on for quite a while before it intersected with the Blue Tuscarora
trail. The Tuscarora trail went downhill with just a few rough places here or
there. I was able to run most of the downhill with a few tricky spots. I was
impressed to see mountain bikers on the trail. At one point i started wondering
where the pink Sidewider trail was going to come in and i asked one of them.
They told me "in about 1/2 a mile".  Sure enough after a few more switchbacks
the trail appeared on my right and i took it.


    The Sidewinder trail was pretty smooth though it had an up and down bump
where it crossed a stream. It mostly went along the shoulder of the mountain
for a while til it intersected with, in the words of the Old Dominion 100 race
director, a fine logging road. The fine logging road had purple blazes. I
followed the logging road til the end running as fast as sub 10 minute/mile when
it was flat and walking around 15minutes/mile when it was steep. The logging
road abutted a steep gully like trail that led down to a nicer trail that also
had the purple Mudhole gap trail blazes. I saw a side trail that crossed the
creek and being a day that i got lost i HAD to take it. I sloshed across the
creek and did a 1/2 to 3/4 mile detour on a lovely dirt trail before i realized
there were no trail blazes. I turned around and sloshed through the creek
giggling to find the trail again. I got a bonus creek crossing !!! On the way
up mudhole gap there is of course a good amount of mud but the main thing is
you have to cross the creek 5 times. When there is a lot of water the best thing
to do is just slosh across. Slippery rocks are dangerous and it is more fun to
just wade through the water ;-) This time it was not that deep. I have been in
Mudhole Gap when the creek crossings were knee deep.

     The creek crossing fun ended just before Forest Road 66 which carries the
Orange blazes of the Massanutten trail. When i got to the dirt road i turned
left and cruised for a while til the Orange trail went off to the Right near
a gate. I followed the trail enjoying the easy forest trail worrying a little
about the coming trail intersection. When the Blue Tuscarora trail intersected
at this point it was confusing and i started off in the wrong direction. It
seemed really spooky. There were a couple of blown down trees and the trail did
not look like anyone had walked on it in a long time. There were undisturbed
leaves blown over it. Soon i realized i was going in the wrong direction and i
doubled back. The trail on the ridge was sometimes well defined, sometimes not.
Sometimes the ridgetop was only a few feet wide and sometimes it had 3-4 ft high
slabs of rock sticking up all over the place. The trail was rough and rocky !
I loved it ! It went on for a LONG time and going was slow but i found this part
to be one of the best parts of the run/walk despite it being a bit spooky
because of the potential for getting hurt. At one point i found an empty ammo
box of the kind used by geo-cachers. It had a label "flashbangs" on the inside
of it. I was surprised not to see a sign in book inside. On this trail section
i scraped my left leg on one of the standing rock slabs but i hardly noticed it.
I did however slip a couple of times and both times really hurt. One time i went
down and bruised myself in the rear and one time i slipped on leaves but caught
myself. The second time made my left knee hurt because of the strain. By the
time i got off that ridge i was a bit shakey.

    When i got back to FR 66 and the Orange trail i sat down and ate a Hammer
Gel and one of my date/almond packs and tried to make a decision on whether to
continue the run or cut it short. I decided to cut it short and i took the blue
trail back towards the Signal Knob parking area. What i did not realize is that
route might have been shorter but it had a nice steep climb on it on a switched
back trail. Somewhere on that switchback trail the gel kicked in and i realized
that i should have kept on the planned route but now that i was climbing i kept
at it. Soon i was back at the top and the White Maneaka peak trail appeared. If
i had done the prescribed route i would have been coming out here after another
loop over Signal Knob.

     The descent down the Tuscarora Trail was a bit slower this time and i fell
once. I was very carefull to pay attention. I was a bit shakey from all the
technical trail i had gone over during the day. The climbing, though i had gone
very gently on it probably had taken a little bit of a toll, though i am sure
that the descending took more of a toll. The Pink Sidewinder trail appeared and
i thought "i'm almost there" but there was still quite a lot of descending to
do. Once i got to the intersection with the Orange Massanutten Trail i turned
Left to the Signal Knob parking lot. This section of trail seemed more familliar
than the others. Of course i ran it twice at the beginning of the day ;-). When
i got to the gravel of the parking lot i started running a bit faster til i got
to my car. I felt well satisfied driving out of Fort Valley. On the way out i
never fail to wonder at the steep talus walls around the Passage Creek. It is
so beautiful there ! Once out of the park i drove a while on rt 55 and 79 to the
7/11 and stopped to fill the car and get a bite to eat. Jerky and a large coffee
never tasted so good !

The stats for the run are as follows:

6:56:56 walk/run  21.58total 7.58r 14.00w 5000Ft climb and
descent VERY technical trails.

I never stopped my watch for looking at maps or eating or anything. That is
start to finish. Mostly walking but it was a good workout ;-)

Philadelphia 100 mile run -- 100.8 miles

The real story behind my run began quite a few days before the Philly
100 began. I had offered to pace a woman at the MMT 100 (Massanutten
Mountain Trails 100)  so i thought it would be a good idea to get familiar
with the terrain i would be running on. I did this by running the MMT
training run #3 put on by the VHTRC (Virginia Happy Trails Running Club).
The #3 run covers the last 38 or so miles of the MMT and has around 7500 FT of  climb and descent. The run is spectacularly beautiful with narrow ridges
and fun climbs all littered with the notorious Massanutten rocks. I was
having a great time not falling and hardly even tripping on the technical
trails. We left a technical section on Bird Mountain and started running
down a mossy jeep trail and i mentioned what a nice road it was. Just a few
moments after that i went down VERY hard on both knees. The left knee in    
particular got quite painful when we went faster on the few road downhill 
sections. We finished the run but by the end my left knee had a big knot
on it and it hurt while running fast or running downhill. Because the knee
hurt for quite a few days and because it was "crunchy" my partner prodded me  to see the Orthopedist.  The Dr took a lot of X-rays and did some tests hes
said i have Chondromalacia "We all get it" but that my knee was basically
healthy.  He diagnosed several flexibility and strength issues i have and
gave me a script for physical therapy and a lift for my short leg. He suggested
that inserts of any kind would help. He likes Superfeet (NFI). The most
important part of the visit is that he told me that i could run the
Philadelphia 100 miler as long as i paid attention to the symptoms of my knees.YEAH We are set to go ! I went into the Dr's office worried and left encouraged.

As the day of the run came closer i gathered my supplies for the run. I got
lithium batteries for my USB charger so i could recharge my Garmin 305 GPS.
I made sure i had my headlamps ready to go. My partner bought lots of medjool dates and unsalted almonds. All of this except for the food was packed into the nice bags provided by Reston Runners for the JFK 50. My partner tried to get someone to cover for her on Sunday. She teaches Sunday school at the local Unitarian Church but everyone who might have covered for her was out of town. I would do this run on my own. I did have a lot of help with supplies from my partner, though ;-)

Friday came along and i went to work as usual i did my usual non-cigarette
breaks where i go out for a short walk where in the past i would have smoked. When work was done i walked home and had a nice dinner with Laura and waited for the DC/Megalopolis traffic to die down. I did, however, eat too much fresh papaya. That would come back later to haunt me. Dinner was leisurly and we watched a couple of videos.


After dinner i quickly went through my checklist and reluctantly headed out. It was just a little after 9pm by the time i got in the car and en-route. The
traffic going up the Northeast Corridor was very light. I got to the Motel 6
in Mount Laurel NJ a bit before Midnight. The motel was very sparsely furnished there was not even a coffee machine. I did not mind. All i needed was a few hours of rest. I woke up at 3:30 and finished my race day checklist by 4:00 am. I was out of the motel already sleep deprived a bit after 4 am.

I had wanted to stop at a genuine New Jersey diner for breakfast on the way to the race but there was not enough time. I parked the car at the Burger King across Rt 73 from the motel and walked up to the ordering window. They would not serve me if i was not in a car. I don't get how being in a car makes someone safe. I just don't get it but i got in my car and ordered a breakfast sandwith and some coffee.

I called my partner Laura on the way to the race and we chatted briefly. I would turn the cell phone on and off for the next 36 hours to keep it from running out of charge.

I got to Sedgely and Kelly Drive at around 5 am and talked to a couple of
runners who were already there including a runner from Canada who started early on Friday and had already done about 50 miles. He was quite chilled by the early morning weather.

People began rolling in pretty quickly after 5:30 and i got to see Lauri again.
It is always nice to see Lauri. I put my aid bag on the grass next to some of
the other people stuff who had crews. This little patch of grass would become
our oasis at the end of lovely Boathouse Row in Philadelphia.

The race started informally with Lauri saying it was time to go. The only rule
she seemed to care about is that you kept your watch running if you stopped and record your distance accurately. I had watch that went to 99:99.99 and i had a battery pack and cables to keep my Garmin 305 charged for the whole time.

The first lap went quickly with me chatting with other runners for a couple
miles. We were even going a bit faster than 10 minutes per mile which is a
REALLY nice pace for the start of a 100 mile run. I would only stay with them
for 2 miles as i was doing a pattern of running 20 minutes easilly then walking 10 minutes fast - or at least i did that for the first 72 miles or so. I was
pleased that even at around 9 minutes/mile my heart rate was well under
100 beats/minute. I thought i boded well for the day. I was a little confused
about the turnoff at the Falls bridge but it was a bit more than 4 miles out
on the 8.4 mile loop so i took what would be the first of 12 right turns onto
the Falls Bridge. Even in the darkness of the start we could see people out on
the Schuylkill River in their rowing sculls. The rowing sculls on the river
would be a constant source of entertainment for the next 28+ hours.

As far as logistics we had our cars to store things in and the runners staked
out an area where they put down bags and portable chairs for a kind of 36 hour picnic while the run was going on. From 7am til 9pm the bathrooms at Lloyd Hall just across from the 'picnic aid stop' were open. There were Porta-potties scattered about the course. Most of them were locked but there were open ones here and there and of course you could always find a bush to hide behind if absolutely necessary. At the other end of the 8.4 mile loop there are 2 gas stations one with a quick mart and one with a Dunkin Donuts. There also was a pizza shop too. With all the food , water and coconut water i brought and these stores i would not lack for nutrition.

My strategy for the race was very low key. I was out to get a night run. After
i had run through the whole night after starting at 6:00am i would see where i was. If i wanted to finish the entire 100.8 miles there was a 36 hour time
limit so it would be quite doable. My attitude, as usual was to have fun and
enjoy the run as much as possible. This run was in many ways a training run for the much harder mountain 100 milers i have on my schedule in the summer and possibly a very hard mountain 100 in October.

The run went easilly for the first 3 laps with me passing the Marathon somewhere around 5:35 according to my GPS and the 50K at about 7:15. I wore my water pack loaded with 3 litres of water til about 50k but i dropped the water pack at lap 4 and just drank a lot every time i got back to the picnic area. At the aid stop i would drink a coconut water and a large coffee cup filled with a mixture of kosher grape juice and water.  I started slowing at this point but i felt good. The run was fun and carefree til around the 7th lap and 58.8 miles. I had a bad patch there. A turkey sandwich and a V-8 at the quickie mart helped turn that around. The dates and nuts i had been eating every hour supplemented with salt pretzels started to be insufficient nutrition towards the second half of the run. I had hoped to be at 50 miles at under 12 hours but 16 minutes was no big deal.

After about the 6th lap i started playing tag with James Lampman. We would walk or run together and talk. He is a REALLY good walker. Sometimes he was keeping a 14 minute mile pace after all that distance. He has run a lot of ultras and a lot of 100's. It was good to hear him talk. He is in school for
kinesthesiology. He will use this training to help other athletes. Being an
athlete himself he will bring a special perspective to his practice.





lap  Dist    time        Lap time
---------------------------------
1  - 8.4   - 1:42:08     1:42:08
2  - 16.8  - 3:32:33     1:50:25 Stopped to change shoes
3  - 25.2  - 5:25:54     1:53:22
4  - 33.6  - 7:42:06     2:16:12 lots of logistics , bathroom to ch clothes
5  - 42    - 9:55:48     2:13:42
6  - 50.4  - 12:16:52    2:21:04
7  - 58.8  - 14:31:45    2:14:53
8  - 67.2  - 16:54:45    2:23:00
9  - 75.6  - 19:30:45    2:36:00
10 - 84.0  - 22:32:36    3:01:51
11 - 92.4  - 25:15:56    2:43:20
12 - 100.8 - 28:12:47.17 2:56:51

I was to call Laura, my partner about every 12 hours. The next call was due at
about twilight when she feeds the cats. At that point. The sky was starting to
get light and a beautiful dark blue color was reflected in the River from the
sky. This was one of the most beautiful moments of the race. After than i had
my first sleep deprivation hallucination. There are a bunch of bushes planted
across from boathouse row. My mind insisted on seeing the bushes as a herd of llamas grooming each other. I though they were really neat but as i looked at them more closely they morphed back into bushes. During the night and early morning i ended up getting a couple of the Red Bull shots to keep me awake. They really helped.

During the first 9-10 laps of the race i really really enjoyed myself. The low
spot around 55-58 miles was easy to handle with a little food. The last 2-3
laps i still enjoyed but they were a lot harder than the rest of the race. I
found it very hard to run and when i did run it was not much faster than walking so i walked. The end of the race was literally a walk in the park. It hurt a little but it was a walk in the park. The highlights of the end of the run were the regatta with rowing teams from all the local schools in the water competing. Lots of excitement and getting a couple of morning snacks. When i started my end march i got an egg and turkey sausage sandwich at the market and it tasted oh So good. On my last lap i stopped at the Dunkin Donuts for a bagel with Salmon spread and a cup of coffee. It might not seem ambitious but there were things about this race i would not want to give up. One of them was sitting and chatting with the people who were volunteering and helping their runners finish. Another thing was that last snack. It was so nice walking that last bit with my bagel and cup of coffee. I also had the best tasting pizza i have eaten in years. Yes it was cold and stiff by the time it was offered to me but it was the BEST tasting pizza i have had in years and it sure kept me going when the food i had brought was starting to not work so well. Thanks James ! You and your dad sure helped a lot. Thanks for lending me gloves when my hands were freezing.

Sorry the story is so disjointed. I'm still a bit sleep deprived from the trip.
I'm going to go to bed early tonight and try to catch up on sleep.

Enjoy your running !

---- Marina Brown