Notes
Why Dwight? Why do you just nod your head and say okay when Chris says let's do Bull Run Run 50 Mile. Why did you think it could be anything but measured misery? It's 50 miles for God's sake. Okay, whining over.
This is a race put on by the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club. They have superb volunteers, great organization, well marked course, decent facilities for bathroom etc. before and after the race. The aid stations were better than typical Ultra stations with lots of different foods. I didn't carry any food, only 3 gels during the race (took 2) and only a belt water bottle. The day was a dream day for a weatherman. We left at 4:15 from Brokenland Park N Ride with occasional rain as the temperature hovered around 33 or 34 degrees. Easy drive to the park. Since we had more than one person in the car, we got a premo parking spot close to the start/buildings. The VHTRC really knows what they are doing. Swag for this race was great. Fold up chair, beer coozie, nice socks, BRR magnet and Finishers 1/4 Zip. Food after was shredded pork, potatoes, some other minor stuff.
Note on the weather. Low to mid 30's most of the day. We had gropple (Snow in the form of little tiny spheres. Not hail, not pure snow, Gropple)
Urban Dictionary: gropple
Top Definition. gropple. A weather term, referring to a light, hail-like snow. The forecast is calling for rain changing over to gropple, with sleet and hail mixed in
We had rain, cold, some sun and at the end, bone chilling winds. It was not a day where you needed to drink a lot of liquids but you still dehydrate. I didn't use my camelback and left it at the drop area.
The course is deceptively hard. I describe it as Patapsco on steroids. If I had trained at Patapsco, doing 25 to 35 mile runs, then this would have been more pleasant. It took Chris and me almost the same exact time for the first 33 miles in the race (8 hours 45 mins) as Catoctin (8 hours 39 mins for 33 miles) We were in another mudfest trail run. Thought Hashawa was bad which it was, this was worse because the deep mud sections were bad and the regular trail sections were often almost as bad. And, it was 50 miles of potential mud instead of just 50K.
The course is like a T shape. You head from the start and down to the river. (Note: Down, which means you will come up at a time when you are probably the most tired). You turn right for 8 miles, nice aid station that Kevin Sayers RD from Catoctin was helping out at. Turn around through fields of beautiful and I mean beautiful Bluebell flowers. Head back to the start and up the hill to your drop bag if needed. This is mile 16.6 ( add one more 6 to the end and you know what I mean) Chris changed out of her wet jacket and put on her after race shirt/jacket. Good move because it just got colder the rest of the day with the wind.
Now you head down and left at the river and hit several very, very good aid stations. At the end of this part, you do the "famous" Do Loop. The Pit of Despair as many have called it. Well, it was so unimpressive that we didn't even know when we were on it. All it is is just more of the same rolling hills with tree roots and mud sucking that you've seen for miles. If they hadn't made up a name for it you could have just said we ran some more. Out of the Do Loop and now we are at mile 38 aid station. Previous to this we looked at our now malfunctioning GPS watches and determined we weren't going to make the cut-off. Yea, sweet! I can stop running and hitting my ankle with my one shoe while piles of sticks and crap are jammed between my foot and sock. Find out at the aid station that our watches are now short by 3+ miles and we're ahead of cut-off time. Crap.
More running/walking/running/walking and we are trying to get to the Marina aid station now before that cut-off. 20 minutes to spare. That means 1hr 45 min to go 5 miles. Pretty much know now that we'll make it but don't know how many miles left because watches are screwed. We pick up a couple of scragglers, get passed by a couple of people and just push on. Shout out to Chris because she had been really, really sick and literally had not run the previous 3 weeks. Would have been easy to just not have done the race. Instead, 50 miles done, Bam! And I was begging for us to push through and make the cut off so that the race would count and I wouldn't have to come back for more "unfinished business".
Come to the last turn up the hill from the river. Again, picture Patapsco or Wincopin and you are at the bottom. You have run nearly 50 miles and now it is straight up. Like Catoctin from the turnaround only not for 2 miles.
We can see the finish banner and two girls behind us try to "chick" us at the end. Nope! Burst of speed up to an 11 minute mile and we get in at 12 hours 45 minutes. Tough but earned day. My third 50 mile and my worst from time perspective but it is just a ton harder than JFK and Stone Mill.