Report from David and Christian (see links to other reports from the day below. All pictures are by Sophie Speidel).
Last Saturday was Sophie's "Harry Landers Special/Wildcat-Rip Rap run 2011." This 21+ mile loop begins and ends at Sugar Hollow Reservoir and takes you over and down the west side of the Shenandoahs along a beautiful path to a "super secret swimming hole" before returning. With 20+ signups on her FB page for the event, and talk of a post-run picnic that included Knob Creek, Sophie's plan promised an exciting day. And it did not disappoint.
Christian and I rolled in to the Sugar Hollow parking lot at 6:45 am. The parking lot was already teeming with runners awaiting the exciting day. The crowd included folks from different corners of Virginia and beyond, including Jenny Nichols from down in Bristol, lots of VHTRCers and WUS runners from DC, Marc Griffin from Waynesboro, and Neal, Quattro and Gary from the Richmond area. Sabrina Moran was there too, hailing from as far away as New Jersey(?)! From Charlottesville, we had both CAT and Boston Bound runners, including the run's namesake, Harry Landers.
Sophie & Jenny at Chimney Rock
The weather was overcast and mild as we started off. The runners quickly broke into groups by speed and Christian was nice enough to hang back "in the middle" with me. The climb up the North Fork Moormans River trail included knee-deep creek crossings and lots of beautiful glimpses of the Moormans River. At Blackrock Gap, VHTRCer Marlin Yoder join the group after coming up the west side of the mountain from Harrisonburg. The only downer for me for the day was I didn't appreciate that we still had a 2.5 mile uphill jaunt on the AT south before getting to the RipRap trail. From running this section of the AT before, I had this vision that the Rip-rap trail was right across the road from the Blackrock Gap clearing. Wrong!
Once to RipRap, it was smooth and beautiful running, first along the ridge looking out over the valley, from Chimney Rock and other great vantage points, and then down the "hollow" trail, past the 20 ft Waterfall, and finally to the swimming hole. On the way, we began to pass larger and larger stands of mountain laurel in full bloom. The flowering laurel were remarkably beautiful, creating this sensation of being in a popcorn forest, but with a much more pleasant smell than popcorn (five years at popcorn-crazed Indiana University made me hate the smell of popcorn).
Like a trail from a fairy tale, Mountain Laurel in full bloom
Meanwhile, Sophie -- splendid event hostess that she was -- had busied herself running back and forth to the different speed groups to make sure everybody was OK. By the time Christian and I arrived at the swimming hole, Sophie had set up shop as the pool photographer, snapping pictures of each of us as we dunked our heads in the crystal clear, but chilly, water.
"Super secret swimming hole" cool-off
The day's excitement came as Christian and I continued down the Riprap trail from the swimming hole. Coming towards us via a heavy rustling in the bushes was . . . Gary Knipling, all sweaty, scratched, and smiling. Confused, since we thought Gary was behind us, we learned that, "It's a long story, but I got separated from the group, and I am OK, so please relay that message." After chatting with us a little longer, Gary headed back towards the swimming hole in search of the rest of his party, but not before saying, "Watch out for the flourescent orange salamanders. I saw a couple and they are beautiful creatures, so please be sure not to step on them!".
Shortly after meeting Gary, we arrived at the Wildcat trail for the 2.5 mile run/power walk back up to the AT, where Sophie and husband Rusty had the night before stashed water. From there, it was all familiar territory, with the fun downhill segments on Turk Branch Trail and the South Fork Moormans River Trail .
We arrived back at the parking lot to find Neal, Gary from Richmond, and Jenny Nichols hanging out; the faster crew and others had already left, while the large group of VHTRCers behind us had stopped to swim at Blue Hole. We shared fried chicken and good stories (but no Knob Creek, unfortunately) with Jenny, Gary, and Neal before heading out.
All in all, this was a wonderful, wonderful trail day. Big thanks to Sophie for doing such a great job!
-- David
Christian adds:
I think David's report covered the day pretty well, so just a few remarks. This was my return-to-the-mountains debut after a stress fracture in February and it couldn't have been better. Being "off" running makes you appreciate the trails and mountains a lot more and thankful for being able to do this. It was awesome to run with so many different peeps from all over VA and a few other states.
Thanks to fellow CAT Mike Stadnisky we are able to present a talk about the science behind ultra endurance. I hope many of you are able to come, it should be interesting.
I posted a report of our adventure at Three Ridges, as well as the Montalto Challenge 5K, on my blog here.
We had a great time and hope to get back to Three Ridges in June or July---it is a 14 mile loop, perfect distance for someone looking to increase their mountain trail miles gradually and get some good climbing in. Plus the swimming holes are awesome! Afterward we can go to Devils Backbone or Blue Mountain Brewery for brunch.
Thanks for joining us, Drew and Nick! Hope you had fun running with the big dogs!
While Sophie and other were climbing up Montalto on Saturday, Kendall and I took a nice tour some gravel roads in western Albemarle County. Smaller loops on these roads would make for a nice weeknight training run. Kendall and I would love to get a group run together out here in the fall with lunch at the Batesville Store following the run.
We started out at the Victory Hill Church of God off of US 250 at the Crozet exit of I-64. Heading east, the road quickly turns to gravel as we encounter the first hill of the day. I knew we were in for rolling hills all day long, but as soon as we got to the first one, we knew we were in for a hard day of running. The first 2/3 of the run are nicely shaded by trees lining the road. Occasionally the view would open up as we passed by a field to spectacular views of the Blue Ridge. At any given time we could see from south of Humpback Mountain to well north of Calf Mountain and Jarman Gap.
Turning onto (the popular with runners) Dick Woods Road, we quickly picked up a pair of four legged running companions. Hoping they'd turn around after a few house, we kept running with our new canine friends in tow. Well, a couple of houses soon turned into several miles miles. Our golden retriever friend latched onto a couple walking in the other direction (that had managed to pick up a traveling canine friend of their own), but the Boxer wouldn't let us out of her sight. As we ran up and down White Mountain Road, the conversation turned to who was going to have a new playmate for their dog at home. Let me tell you, this was one fit Boxer. She kept up with us for 12.5 miles only stopping for water twice. Now before you accuse us of dog napping, we flagged down several cars and stopped at an Episcopal church to ask for help in getting "Buddy" back to her home. Our plan became to make it with her into Batesville where hopefully some one at the Store would be at least king enough to watch her until we got back to the car and could drive her home. She turned out to be a good running companion only causing trouble on the paved sections of Batesville and Craigs Store roads where we'd have to shoo her out of the way of on coming cars (the leash we fashioned for her out of twine didn't last very long).
As we rounded the corner and walked across the one lane bridge into Batesville and made our way towards the Police car managing traffic for the Batesville Day Parade, a guy with a Golden Retriever calls out, "there's my dog." So that concludes Buddy's story, but our run was still 8 miles from being done. We stopped in the Batesville Store, to refuel (lemonade and ginger snaps for me) but didn't stick around for the parade or "Legendary Folk Singer Rusty Speidel." The next part of the run was more exposed to the sun as it took us behind the Miller School on a nice long leg-stretching downhill on Pounding Creek Road. With every downhill comes and uphill and we had several more rolling hills before topping out on Midway Road. One last drop down to a stream, almost getting bitten by a not-so-friendly dog, and back up again, the gravel turned back to pavement and we were back at the car.
A good day in country side. A short drive from Charlottesville and miles and miles of low/no traffic rolling unpaved country roads.
The details:
24 miles / 2400' of climbing / 19.5 miles of gravel road
In addition to Sophie's mountain run -- meant only for runners with extensive mountain mileage and races under their belts -- Christian and David will be back at the Park for a more "traditional" RT run that starts at 8 am.
The run will be a relatively short run of 4 to 6 miles, with opportunities for varying speed groups. This is a perfect run for those CAT members who have been dormant these last months because of injury, time pressures, or other conflicts.
So longtime friends that have felt left out because of the long mileage runs: Please come rejoin us this Sunday!
We also plan to invite some new runners to this run and maybe meet up at Greenberry's for coffee and food immediately after the run.
David Horton and the CAT gang (David, Sophie, Drew, and Joey)
As many of you know, a group of Charlottesville Area Trailrunners were among the 300 or so racers at last weekend's 2011 Promise Land 50K+, a David Horton race with about 34 miles of distance and 8,000 ft of climbing.
We had some big finishes, including a 15th place finsh for Drew Krueger and 20th for Joey Cohen (this was the first run of PL50K for both of them), and 1st Master's female for Sophie Speidel.
Congratulations to all racers!
Sophie's race report can be found on her blog here:
Here are reports by Drew and David:
Drew:
In the aftermath of Mountain Masochist in November, I found I had done a number on my left IT band. I cut back my running quite a bit and, while rehabbing my leg, watched the pages of the calendar turn along with races I had hoped to run. It was tough to be missing several races I had really been looking forward to; however, I knew not rushing a return to higher mileage and racing was the right decision. I set a soft goal of toeing the line at the Promise Land 50k to mark my return to full health, and this past weekend, that goal came to fruition.
I had put in enough miles training that I felt confident I could have a good day at Promise Land. However, I also had a healthy dose of trepidation as the race approached-my last few long training runs were tough mental battles. Following these tough training runs I was left questioning whether I had over-trained or if, perhaps, I was having a tough time acclimating to running in the heat again. I was hoping for the latter. In either case, I took solace knowing that tough mental runs are small victories in and of themselves, and if I hadn’t overdone my training, these small victories would aid me during tough spots in a race.
Thursday night/Friday morning before the race, things started to go haywire. Our dog become very ill over night, which resulted in very little sleep that night, and a morning running to the vet’s office and various stores around town to fill prescriptions, etc. Our poor guy was in rough shape, and I was reluctant to leave him in the care of a stranger, given his condition, so we decided my wife would stay home with him instead of hanging out at an aid station during the race. I was starting to feel a bit panicky with the dog situation, all that had to be wrapped up before I could take off, and getting out the door to Promise Land! It was great to ride down to the race with David, as hanging out and talking helped to take my mind off everything else that was going on.
I usually feel a good bit of excitement/nervousness prior to a race, but before Promise Land, I strangely didn’t feel much of anything. I made a comment along these lines to David and Joey as we stood around the bonfire the night before the race, and thought to myself that I needed to start thinking about the race and get in the right mindset, and soon! However, as I laid in my tent that night trying to get mentally excited for the race, I felt like I was being steeped in a pool of negativity. Out of nowhere, I started feeling really negative about being at Promise Land, about running the race, and that I would have a really terrible run. I tried to invoke some positive self-talk, but before I knew it my alarm was going off and it was time to get ready.
Getting ready in the morning is fairly regimented for me. I tracked through my mental checklist and was wishing David and Joey good luck at the starting line in no time. As Horton counted down to the start of the race, I did a quick mental check-in. Instead of feeling giddy and ready to run, I felt a wet blanked of negativity wrapped tightly around me. 30 seconds! I took a deep breath, accepting that for whatever reason I was feeling negative and understanding that I was just going to have to utilize some positive self-talk to bring myself out of this funk and get through this race. 5,4,3,2,1, GO!!!!!
The beginning miles of the race climb fairly steadily, and I was a bit alarmed to find myself running side by side with some folks I knew to be very strong runners early in the race, so I backed off the intensity a bit, reminding myself I had a long day ahead of me. Physically, I felt good in the early miles- my legs felt strong and my HR was staying relatively low, despite the incline. After passing through the first aid station, the group I had been running with got spread out a bit, and from about aid station 2 to aid station 6 Keith Knipling, Sandi Nypaver and I played leap frog. I ran for long periods with both Keith and Sandi, and then there were periods where I was running by myself for a long time and I’d suddenly come through the heavy fog and find that Sandi was only 10 yards in front of me, or that Keith was right behind me.
Throughout this period of aid 1 to aid 6 I felt good physically, although I was starting to get a bit hot as I approached aid station 6. Mentally, I was still having on/off bouts of negativity. The negativity was really just annoying. I didn’t feel like it was affecting my running at all, since I was feeling strong, but I would have to remind myself with each little bout of negativity of the mentally tough training runs I had completed and how I would come out of this funk if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
As I came into Aid Station 6 I was anxious for the spur to/from the aid station to see if anyone was just in front or close behind me. It turned out Sandi and another runner were about 1½ minutes ahead of me here and I was about 1½ minutes in front of Keith. While I was hoping to feel a surge of adrenaline, knowing that after the climb up Apple Orchards Falls it was all downhill, it just didn’t come. I think I had missed a few drinks of perpetuem, and I was feeling a little low on energy. I took off up Apple Orchard, knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing Sandi again and that Keith would be closing on me shortly. As it turned out, Keith started catching up sooner than I had hoped due to some navigational issues on my part. A few minutes after starting the climb up Apple Orchard Falls I came to a diversion in the trail and didn’t see course markings in either direction. I stopped running to assess if I had overlooked any course markings. Again, I didn’t see any course markings, so I decided to keep running for about 30 seconds. If I didn’t see any course markings in that time I was going to make my way back to this point. I ran up the trail, didn’t see any markings, so in frustration I ran back to my original location to wait and ask Keith where the trail went. Just as I got back to the original spot I saw Keith approaching. Keith apparently noticed my confusion and yelled out that the trail kept going straight. Keith eventually caught me on the climb and I watched him speed ahead of me. The climb was getting me! I felt like I was overheating, so I stopped at several stream crossings and doused myself with the cold water. Also, my calves were cramping up a bit, so I popped an S Cap and continued plodding up the trail.
It was a huge relief when I saw Bob up the trail and realized the climb was over. I pulled into the aid station, took down a few cups of water and prepared for the fast downhill. I had little hope of catching back up with Keith in this section, but I still tried to run the first bit fairly fast. I hadn’t seen anyone coming from behind, so I wasn’t too worried about being caught from behind.
After a few miles of the downhill my abs and back were seriously revolting. It felt like my abs were about to burst they were so tired. I looked back up the road behind me and didn’t see anyone coming. Also, I hadn’t seen any signs of Keith ahead, so I felt I had my spot in the race fairly well sewn up. As such, I decided to back off the pace a bit and enjoy the last couple miles into the campground.
Despite the significant core pain, I was feeling pretty good. I appreciated the opportunity to relax the last bit of the race and reflect on running strongly despite an oddly negative mental day for me. It would have been easy to phone the race in and just run relaxed the whole day, but I was pleased that I had continued to run fairly aggressively all day. I started to see cars in the distance and knew the end was near.
It was great coming into the campground to a bunch of cheers and enjoying the last few yards. As I crossed in 5:38 Horton yelled out my name, and congratulated me. Perhaps the biggest highlight of my day came next when Horton looked down at my race number (#94) and yelled out, “Boy, I seeded you wrong!”
The post-race celebration, like the entire race event was a blast. It was great to meet so many runners and to cheer in the rest of the CAT runners as they came into the campground.
Congratulations to all the CAT runners on races well run. Again, the support of the club has been absolutely great throughout the build up to the event as well as during the event (thanks again for coming out to cheer us on, Bob!)
David
This was my second running of the PL50K and my fifth 50K since I began running ultras about 18 months ago. By far, this is my favorite. The natural beauty of the course, the tough uphills and long, gentle downhills, combined with a kick-butt atmosphere at the Promise Land Campground, makes for a great race experience.
Last year, I ran a very slow 8:22 but was still all jazzed up after finishing. My plan this year was to use a substantial buildup in training volume and speed work to make a significant improvement in my race time.
Things during training season didn't go quite as planned. After putting in very high quality training prior to Holiday Lake in February, my volume slacked off considerably because of heightened problems with my piriformis, and because of a busier work schedule during my teaching semester.
But I wasn't about to give up on running the PL50K given how much fun I had last year. And I was inspired in recent weeks to go for it, both by Bryon Powell's discussion on iRunFar.com of enjoying races when not as well trained and by Bob Clouston's great effort this year to finish at Boston with an injured calf.
So we when Drew and I set off by car for the race Friday afternoon, I was feeling pretty good. The ride down was great, as were the camp atmospherics that night. It was fun joining up with Joey Cohen there and hanging out with him, great to see Marc Griffin, fun to see Sophie and meet her gang at the camper, and of course, very entertaining to watch David Horton in action during the "schwag" giveaways.
The race started promptly that morning at 5:30 am in light rain. At first, I was far from inspired as I trudged slowly up the first long hill, which seemed to go on forever and which I seemed to walk slower than everybody else in the race. But at AS 1, I knew from last year that the running would get more fun, so I perked up and started to pass folks. The run down the grassy jeep trail to AS 2 was as fun as I remember last year. It was here that I saw Quattro "Q" Hubbard for the first time and heard him giving race advice to others as he ran with them. Nothing was more inspiring then rolling into AS 3 in the fog and seeing Bob Clouston there. What a big spirit lift! Bob reported to me that Drew was running well, I grabbed some more water and eats, and was feeling now like this race was going to be a lot fun.
And the rest of the race WAS fun. I followed mentoring advice (mainly from Bob) and made constant progress forward, moving quickly through aid stations, and made sure I was popping Endurolytes and eating gel on a regular basis to stave off cramping and keep the energy up. I also let gravity be my friend as I could see that I could pass many on downhill sections --I guess my thick body provides the mass needed to gain momentum downhill while not giving up much in terms of energy. At the beginning of the race, I often got passed again on the way back up a hill, but by the second half of the race, once I passed someone on the downhill, I never saw them again until the finish -- a good feeling.
From Colon Hollow on, I met up and ran near a couple of newlyweds, Kelli and Craig, from Gainesville, FL. They were fun and great to chat with, both because I lived in Gainesville for two years when I taught at UF and because Kelli and I ran near each other in last year's PL50K and both wondered how we would finish in this year's race. Kelli and Craig were great too because they were a young couple that were just finishing up school and readying themselves with new careers and a life outside of Gainesville.
Anyway, as the three of us made our way up the Apple Orchard Falls trail -- shuffling and power walking but never needing to stop -- we decided to shoot for a sub 8-hour finish. By the time we got back to Sunset Overlook that meant booking down the last 4+ miles to the race finish in less than an hour. And that we did! My legs felt amazingly good during that last stretch as I continued to pass many faces familiar from the first half of the race.
By the time I reached the Horton last-mile marker (at 33+ miles), I was ready for the race to be over, but knew that sub-8 was in the bag. I finished in 7:52:29, or about 30 minutes faster than last year! (Kelli and Craig came in together right around the 7:50 mark).
For any of you that have not run this race, it is a challenging but very rewarding run, especially if you love the great mountain outdoors!
Last weekend, Mike Stadnisky ran the Sweetwater 50K in Atlanta. Here is his report:
I was in Atlanta this past weekend visiting family and I ran the Sweetwater 50K.If you ever get a chance, I would grab your fiddle and follow the devil down to Georgia
- it is a killer race!
In the first 3 miles, I saw the sun rise over Sparks reservoir, slid down and rope-climbed out of a gulley running with water, and dunked into a hip-deep creek.Unfortunately, the river crossing was cut out of the course as we got torrential rains Friday night in Atlanta (which came up to Cville on Saturday and turned Riverview Park into a sand-dune).The river was flowing great, so well in fact, it inundated the riverside trail at several points.
The first half of the loop is wonderful, moderately technical singletrack following the eponymous creek, falls, and past ruins of an old mill.This part of the course is beautiful, and is best compared to a highlight reel of the best parts of the Potomac Heritage Trail and Great Falls trails.
And then there is the second part of the course, which is a meat grinder.The website modestly states that the course includes "some area outside the park nicknamed Top of the World (TOTW) and Powerlines. These areas are where runners will find some of the more challenging terrain."The grades and relentlessness of the parabolic, pain-inducing powerline are truly fantastic.You simply *cannot* run up these hills - you climb and then you bomb down the other side, sip and repeat.It's worth it though, from TOTW, you can see the downtown Atlanta skyline and the course mercifully returns to singletrack, giving way to shag for the last 2 miles.
Then you do the loop again, mentally steeling yourself for the powerline section.The race was a blast, my race-day nutrition was finally in place, I (uncharacteristically) tapered - all adding up to taking third in my age group/28th overall with 5:57:49.77.
