Nice job, Brian.  Can't believe you sat down in the chair-o-death so late in the race. That was brave move. Poles can make a  huge difference, I've used them a few times, mostly on long training runs to help with a bad back.

Thanks AT! Yea I sat several times and I didn't mind it really. I had to sit to change socks and shoes and fix blisters. Now I didn't sit in front of the fire like others though, that would be suicide. Thanks for reading!

Congratulations, nice work!

I can relate to what you call the "aid station drift". I called it "stretchy miles" in my OC100 RR.   Those miles around the Drake Museum just never seem to end.

 

A few thoughts on your next anticipated endeavors in the 100-mile domain:

 

OC100 was your first 100-miler, and there are certainly many things that you had not encountered before that and that seem new now. However, it is a fairly easy 100-miler, and MMT, and especially ES are way more difficult in every aspect of ultra and mountain running.

Even though Grindstone has more elevation gain than ES, when comparing the finisher's times of MMT, Grindstone and ES, it seems that ES100 is still the most difficult course along the East Coast.

 

Check your pace and the time cutoffs of the races you are anticipating to run next. ultrasignup.com gives you an estimate of your finish time for the races they have in their inventory (Grindstone is not one of them). Even though this estimate might be dead wrong, it is a starting point.

ES100 is very strict on their cutoffs, and so is MMT100.

 

The weather at ES100 and MMT100 can be a lot hotter than at OC100 (temps above 90 degrees, with high humidity, and does not go down a lot in the night), which considerably slows down running. It might be difficult to make the cutoffs then.

 

ES100 has a lot more elevation gain than OC100, and the hills are much steeper and have difficult footing. At the Call of the Wilds marathon, you ran the first 17 miles of the ES100 course, which is 1/6th of the ES100 course. ES100 also has a few exposed sections that are run in the night, and where you can fall off cliffs some ten (or hundred?) feet straight down. Not everyone's piece of cake.

 

At MMT, the distances between aid stations are significantly longer than at OC100, and the sections between them are more difficult.

 

From my estimate (without having run Grindstone yet), MMT seems the "easiest" of the three choices you have outlined.

Thanks You Couch! I agree with everything you stated and love reading your thoughts. One thing I also consider is that I almost feel as if I wasn't fully "tested" at OC. That sounds strange to say but that's how I feel. I mean it was hard and I hit one low spot, but that's really it. I never really hit the death march or death slog or whatever. I knew going in I was finishing and that's half of it I think. A week after OC I ran one of my fastest 10 mile loop training runs on my local trails that I have done since I started trail running. That tells me I either could have pushed more at OC or that I recover fast I don't really know. Either way OC was hard but not brutal I guess is my whole point. It is a very first time friendly course even though it seems to have on average a 30% + DNF rate each year. I think I can handle the next step up which I agree with you is MMT.

I plan on doing at least one of the MMT training runs over the late winter that they hold down there so I can get a really good feel of what I'm in for. I'm also probably going to put my one ticket into the WS lotto and if I get picked then all plans are out the window then! LOL

Couch did you do a MMT report? I don't recall if I have seen it.

I did a MMT RR, but can't post the link on my phone here. I'll look for it.

Edit: it's currently on page 5 of this forum, scroll down quite a bit.

"Massanutten 100 - a RR from the Couch" or so.

Have fun reading!

If you need more information, just ask. XT has run MMT twice, so there' a good amount of knowledge and experience available.