Tough one GC. The humidity that weekend was awful. I was thinking about you, our BC racers and others I knew racing that weekend when I was out running this weekend. One week later and we had perfect ideal conditions. PR green light special days. Looks the organizers were one week off for perfect timing. Sort of what took me away from chasing marathon PR's... race day could always be so fickle. While the weather is a a factor in ultras, often you are not splitting hairs over time so much. Anyways, good for you for giving it a go. You look pretty fit out there and if you were passing folks at the end you held up pretty good.
In dog beers, I've only had one.
I don't think they are very strict about it. My understanding is they use this as a 'guideline' so they don't have folks finishing at midnight.
I was curious about that. The website says "The cut off time is officially 13 hours or 7:00 PM, and will be STRICTLY ENFORCED", yet in last years results, 25% of the finishers were after 13 hours.
Le professeur de trail
Stone Mill also allows for an hour early start (5am) for those that "really need it" as they say. It is by request only. I am guessing you just need to email the RDs.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Thanks for sharing that story. I don't really know much about it, but I will chime in that high humidity can really take a toll on you. Most likely, that was a huge factor. I think you should run Stone Mill.
LB2
Interesting idea. A couple issues, however. First I'm planning on driving down 1.5 hours that morning.
Also, I was born with no sense of direction and starting early probably puts me at a bigger risk of getting lost, for the first couple hours until I get caught anyway.
Is it a hard course to follow? I've seen some race reports where people got lost. Please tell me it's better marked now. Or are the first 10 miles at least easy to follow?
Caveat that I have not run the race, but am familiar with trail sections and have volunteered over the years. I think the trail (and trailheads) are generally easy to follow and it is well flagged on race day. One year, some racers missed an early loop around Clopper Lake, but that was a change that year and I think racers mis-understood the course map.
I usually help at the Quince Orchard AS, which is 7 miles from the canal and a 12:30 pm cut-off. Usually our last runners are coming thru at 10:30-10:45 am at the latest so they should make it easily. If I remember correctly, there are a couple of folks that always start early. I'm sure a quick email to the directors can confirm that.
Interesting idea. A couple issues, however. First I'm planning on driving down 1.5 hours that morning. Also, I was born with no sense of direction and starting early probably puts me at a bigger risk of getting lost, for the first couple hours until I get caught anyway. Is it a hard course to follow? I've seen some race reports where people got lost. Please tell me it's better marked now. Or are the first 10 miles at least easy to follow?
RD's message posted on Facebook yesterday
ONE MONTH AWAY!!!
please note, we welcome those who truly need the extra hour to start at 5 am, vs 6 am..BUT you must request this from me...and you accept the "terms" that school/bathrooms are not open til 5 am and earliest 1-2 aid stops may or may not be ready for you.....also if you are not familiar w course, please stick with someone who is, as our marshals etc not out until 6 am start( course will be fully marked fri evening)....same cutoffs apply as to whole field....
I would say it is well marked. I don't remember if there are reflective markers or not. It will be dark until 6:40am or so. During the 6am start, it's basically a congo line for the first few miles so I don't even pay attention to the trail markers until later in the race. The only instance I remember of people getting lost is my first year two guys made a left when they hit the C&O Canal instead of a right. They were leading the race at the time (23 miles in). One guy dropped, the other finished and ran a total of 70 miles. He still beat me!!!
Re the drive, I was thinking of getting a motel room this year. I have always driven down that morning which means a 3am wake up and a 3:30 or 3:45 leave my house. It sucks. If you want to split a room, let me know. It's just me. My fam never comes with me to these things.
And if you really want to start at 5am and don't feel great about following the trail, you can try and convince the RD that you are legally blind and need a guide to get you through. I would be happy to do so!
Tim
Trail itself is pretty easy to follow. Not a lot of splits in the trail (like in our area) until, as runtraildc said, Clopper Lake.
I'd email the RD and ask how many are planning on an early start. might be enough to follow along.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
Sounds like a good job on a tough day. Humidity is a killer.
Good luck with StoneMill.