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.
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