A few weekends ago my hubby and I traveled down to Virginia so he could race in the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 miler race. I know this is a late report seeing as the race happened May 15-16th but the entire group of people that run that race was wonderful. The members and volunteers from the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club are such a wonderful tight knit group of people. They are amazingly supportive of their own as well as “foreigners” running on their trails. If it wasn’t for Virginia’s heat and humidity I might consider job opportunities down there just to be a part of their community. Instead I think I should try to find a group so wonderful here in New England.
So without further ado: A crew’s view of MMT100 2010
For my blog readers unfamiliar with the world of Ultrarunning, a crew is a person or group of people that travels to various aid stations along the course to provide the runner with assistance. This assistance may be helping the runner to restock their hydration and food faster, providing first aid for blisters, helping with the changing of shoes and socks. A lady at the race told me that crew stood for Cranky Runner Endless Waiting. I’m tempted to agree with her. For every 5 minutes of excitement, we wait around for hours. And while the runner tries to be nice to their crew, when you run 100+ miles through the night, you are a little sleep deprived and deserve to be cranky. Some runners choose to use drop bags to keep their loved ones as loved ones. Not everyone is as understanding of Ultras.
Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 miler (actually 101.7 miles) is run on the rocky hilly course of Massanutten Mountains in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. Over the 101.7 mile distance the runner experiences 18,000 feet of elevation gain through some very difficult technical trails.
The race for us started Thursday night. I finished my final presentation for class and we drove straight to Virginia successfully avoiding New York, Philadelphia and D.C. traffic. We arrived at the camp at the right time, the pastor who worked for the Caroline Furnace Camp and conference center had just shown up for work and let us go sleep in screened in huts with cots in them called Sukkahs. I never got a chance to thank him properly for that but it was exactly what we needed.
After our nap we went to set up our tent only to find that someone had forgotten to bring the tent poles. It was off to Walmart and Mexican food. Luckily, that was the biggest glitch of the race.
It was brutal hot that first day in Virginia. I was greatly reminded of why I choose to live somewhere with snow. I’m Canadian, my blood isn’t designed for heat.
We attended the pre-race meeting, like all good runners and crews should and had some dinner and got an early night.
The morning was a quick and busy one. My hubby’s watch kept going off and I was wondering why he had set it so early if he was going to keep snoozing. He suddenly woke up with a start when the speakers came on in the morning. He got ready in a flash, checked in and grabbed some breakfast. It’s always amazing to me looking at people before a race. Those who look lost, overwelmed and the runners who look cool and collected. One girl caught my attention early on, she looked like she hadn’t done many races before. I had really hoped she would prove me wrong, but she wasn’t quite ready for the mental challenge of the Ultra yet. My biggest concern for her is if she doesn’t try again.
The start of an ultra isn’t really like the start of a normal road race. People tend to sprint off the start of a road race, trying to get the best position early. Most Ultrarunners take the start at a nice mellow jog or even a walk. What’s the first few yards when you have 100 miles left to go.
It’s not like they warmed up or anything.
We were allowed to help our runners at 9 points during the race (not including the start/finish). The race organizers helped me a great deal by providing me with GPS coordinates. Because some the roads out there where a little nerve-wracking for me while driving my hubby’s beloved car. Picture exaggerated… slightly.
And that first Aid station (Edinburgh Gap – Mile 11.7) was mostly a water bottle swap out, shove food in his face and off he goes again.
I had plenty of time between it and the next Aid station at Elizabeth Furnace (32.6 miles). I took my time chatting with other crews and taking a nice long trail run to experience some of the trails for myself.
At Elizabeth Furnace I was pleased to see he was still running with the guy he picked up pre-race, David Snipes. They were running well together and having a good time.
Shawl Gap (37.6 miles) had a nice flamingo theme going for them. It was the shortest section so far in that race to which I saw Adam. Another quick changeover and he was off (are you noticing a theme here)
I did start noticing different foods at Shawl Gap. They had quesadillas going for the runners… with salsa. I swear I need to run ultras just for the food.
My escape from Shawl Gap was a little interesting. I hadn’t read the crew instructions and instead followed my GPS down the same dirt road the runners were on. And eventually took me to this bridge.
I’m pretty sure that bridges like this just couldn’t survive in New Hampshire or Canada. So I was a little nervous, especially because there had been a sign that said “do not cross when bridge is under water”. This tells me that the bridge is occasionally under water. I really hoped that flash floods didn’t happen in this part of the country.
At Habron Gap (53.6 miles) I found myself wishing that the water level in the river would rise a bit. I was very warm, but the river was wide instead of deep. I ended up just sitting on a rock on the river floor to help myself cool off. When Adam arrived, he ate a few hot dogs. He did so while inspecting a gross, clearly broken toe on one of his running acquaintance. Dave also had me wipe down my hubby’s legs with icy paper towels. I could tell who was in charge.
At mile 63.1, Camp Roosevelt, hubby came in asking to lance his blister. He took several cups of soup and split up with Dave expecting to be slow due to painful blister and thinking that Dave and Dave’s Pacer (who kinda looked like a young, non-crazy Tom Cruise) would catch up to him (they never did).
It was dark by the time we made it to Gap Creek for the first time (68.7). I really liked Gap Creek. They had a fire going, and it was getting chilly at night. And they had lots of Christmas light going. I hung out there a fair bit. Of course, everywhere I went I got comments about the little red wagon I used to haul around my stuff.
At the Visitor’s Center (77.1), my husband was starting to show signs of tiring, but he kept eating and drinking like a champ. At this point I think he was still on a 26 hour pace. He was flying by this course’s standards. The visitor’s center was a well oiled machine. The volunteers were amazingly responsive. I watched as one donated their spare socks to a runner who needed them but didn’t have any in their drop bag.
I was very happy to have my GPS to find Picnic Area (86.9mi) it’s a now defunct picnic area that the state allows the race to use. But it was crowded and not very pleasant for the crew. I decided to take a nap in my car as a nighttime rain storm rolled through for about 20 minutes. I might have gotten 2 hours of sleep. I was so worried about missing him on the way through.
My second visit to Gap Creek (94.5 mi) worried me a little. I estimated that he would be much faster than he was through that section. And when he finally showed up, I was dressed and ready to join him if he wanted me for the last 6.4 miles. He was concerned about leaving the car, but I assured him that it was only a 3 mile run back on the roads.
So for the last section of the race, I became a pacer. I kept him company and possibly kept him going. At least a little. He struggled through those last miles and it took us two hours to finish. But for me, I had accomplished a goal I had set when I started running. Be able to run with my husband.
And did he ever finish. When we came around that corner, he took off on me. His initial goal was to break 30 hours. He ended up finishing in 28 hours 50 minutes and 30 seconds, earning him 42 place out of 170 starters.
Oh and that last 3 miles required for car retrieval ended up being the longest 3.6 miles I have ever run. I was so sleep deprived and junk food nourished, it was kinda pathetic.
I was overall incredibly impressed by the race. The support staff at the aid stations were fantastic and a runner really could have done that race with only drop bags and their support. The other people watching the race were friendly and great company. And the racers, well the racers were simply awe inspiring. The woman’s winner, Sheryl Wheeler was simply an amazing woman and I was really glad to get to chat with her husband and crew along the way and her after the race. That woman is a real role model to aspire to.
I’m sorry for such a long report, but it’s hard to sum up even my portion of a 100 miler. I don’t know how long my husband’s will be when he actually finishes it. Additional pictures I took in the race can be found in my flickr set.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
[...] Crewing at Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 [...]