Subject: Re:: very loooong OD personal report Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 20:27:37 EDT From: Thewashman@aol.com This run is the fourth 100 mile run in a series of ten that I will be running in 1999. I am calling my running odyssey the DecaCent (10 one hundred milers). Starting in 1979 and patterned after the Western States 100 (which also started as a horse endurance ride), the Old Dominion 100 Mile Endurance Run is the second oldest 100 miler in the country. Because of its history, I had been planning to run this race for years but, because of bad timing and some bad publicity, I have not yet gotten around to it. Al Catalano, from my running club, and Gary Freedman, from my area, ran the race last year and dispelled any notion of the race not being well-run. Also, since I was going to attempt the Grand Slam, I had to do the original four races and that meant the Old Dominion. I would recommend this race to anyone, especially those interested in the historical aspect of our sport; however, the great amount of dirt road running will make the sections of trail very difficult. The race starts at 4:00AM at the fairgrounds in Woodstock, VA, just off I-81. The first four miles is on asphalt until you begin the climb to Woodstock Tower. The climb is over three miles of steep switchbacks and is best walked. You then start a long downhill to the start of the Boyer loop. The Boyer loop is the first encounter with trail and it is a good indoctrination to the Massanutten Mountain trails. For those who have run the OD and are contemplating the Massanutten 100, this section is a sample of what most of that race is like. The Boyer loop ends with a road section back to the same aid station that you passed going into the loop. From there, you follow rolling dirt roads reminiscent of the Vermont 100 until you reach the first handler station at 19.64 miles. I arrived just under four hours, which was my goal. I grabbed a jelly sandwich and took off along more rolling dirt road. At 22.71 miles, you cross the main road through Fort Valley and start up St. David Road. This section is a slightly rolling road which is exposed to the sun for most of its length. I was thankful that the race was when it was as a major heat wave moved into the East Coast on Sunday and it reached near 100 degrees on Monday. I got through that section before it became too warm and trudged along the last couple of paved miles to the Four Points aid station at 32.55 miles and around 6:45 into the race. I had fallen about 45 minutes behind my goal but was still comfortably under a 24 hour pace. I knew most of the next section from the MMT 100. It starts by going up the trail to the overlook (which we go down at MMT) and by running down the steep paved road and then entering Duncan Hollow on the Massanutten Mountain East Trail. The heat was beginning to become a factor at this point. Last year, the Peach Orchard aid station, at 38.67 miles, was missing due to a death in the family of the aid station crew and the message did not reach the race management. Runners had to go from 32.55 miles to Crisman Hollow Road at 43.13 miles before receiving aid. Last year was relatively cool. If that had happened this year, it would have been a disaster. The section leading to Peach Orchard isn’t too difficult but, between there and where you descend to Crisman Hollow Road, the trail was a very difficult, hot and rocky ascent. I began to pay the price for trying to break 24 hours. Upon reaching the aid station, I discovered that they had run out of water. I had to fill my bottle with Powerade for the road section back to Four Points. As I was heading to Four Points, the resupply vehicle was heading to the Crisman Hollow aid station with more water. Even the aid stations were suffering from the heat of that last section. They offered me water as they went by but I declined as I was only a mile from Four Points. I arrived there, at mile 47.7, over ten and one half hours into the race and over an hour past my goal. The next 3.22 miles is mostly uphill. I was familiar with the last three miles of it as it is the same climb as in the MMT 100 although this time I was doing it in the daylight. On the climb, I passed the fifty mile mark in around 11:15. At this point, I knew that sub-24 hours was probably not going to happen and I hit a low point mentally. I knew that I had lost track of the big picture (the goal of finishing the ten hundred milers) and may have sacrificed it by trying to push myself to break 24 hours. I wanted to run each race without worrying about any of the others but I now know that I have to keep the big picture in mind as well as trying to do my best at each race. There were times earlier in the day when I should have backed off a little but refused to do so because of the chance to break 24 hours. From the Mountain Top aid station in the MMT 100, we head for the Short Mountain section. In OD, we head for Edinburg Gap along the dirt road. We had been going uphill for nearly 3 miles to Mountain Top but there were at least 3 more miles to go before it leveled. Just before the Edinburg Gap aid station, I saw a flag of the same color as was being used to mark our course off on the Massanutten West Trail that I knew lead to Edinburg Gap. Even though there were no flags at its intersection with the road (and because we went this way in the MMT 100), I started down this trail. I saw another flag farther down the trail but then, when I got to an intersection, I didn’t see any flags. This course had been too well marked for this to happen so I knew I had made a wrong turn. Sometimes, too much knowledge of a course can be dangerous. If I hadn’t known that the trail went to Edinburg Gap, I wouldn’t have followed it and covered an extra mile or so. When I returned to the road and rounded a bend, there was a course marker and I headed into the aid station at 56.57 miles at over 13:20 into the run. I had started the race using my Asics 2040’s because of all the road sections but now I felt like I needed a change of shoes. I was going to wait until Elizabeth Furnace to put on my Montrail Vitesse’s but decided to wear them now. The ATV road that follows the Edinburg Gap aid station is extremely rough and rutted and the initial climb is relentless. Once you finally reach the top, the rest of the way to Little Fort is rolling Jeep road. As rough as the ATV road was, I did see a young couple in a Jeep bouncing up the road. I asked them if they were wearing kidney belts as the Jeep was bouncing like a bucking horse. At Little Fort, Paula, my wife and handler, was there waiting with a double cheeseburger. It tasted great. I needed the energy it gave me as there is a long climb after exiting the aid station. At the top of the climb there is an intersection. If you were to go left, you are less than eight miles from the finish. Unfortunately, I had to turn right and was more than 34 miles from the finish. This section consists of rolling dirt roads until the Mudhole Gap aid station at 69.48 miles. You then enter a section of single and double track trail with several stream crossings and only a couple of small climbs. You can cross the streams without getting wet; however, had there been any recent rains, things may have been very different. I reached Elizabeth Furnace at mile 74.95 at 18:50 into the race (10:50 at night). This is the only station with a cutoff time. You need to clear this station by midnight in order to continue. I can attest that this is a very fair cutoff time. If it took you twenty hours to get this far, you will not finish the last 25 miles in eight hours. I had used my Mini-Mag flashlight to get me into Elizabeth Furnace but took my double-D Maglight for the next section. The trail section from the aid station is not very well defined but I didn’t have too much trouble following it. Going through this section in daylight is a great advantage but I didn’t get the chance. The climb is nearly three miles uphill over a very rocky trail. After cresting the hill and starting down the other side, the daylight advantage could have been realized. The trail was fairly runable but was made difficult because of the darkness. I made fairly good progress and reached the dirt road that lead to our next climb. The dirt road and the next climb occur early in the MMT 100 but this time I get to do the climb at night and 82.79 miles into the run. The climb isn’t difficult in the MMT 100 but seems to take quite some time now. The descent on the other side has good and bad sections and I try to push a little because time is getting short. I finally reach the Veach West aid station, 86.58 miles, in just under 24 hours. I have four hours for the next 13.5 miles. I change into my Saucony’s and, even though it is 4:00AM, I drop off my big flashlight. I decide to run in the dark and use my Mini-Mag light only if necessary. I tell Paula not to bother going to the other handler stations but to go to the finish and I’ll wake her as I run by the car on my way to circling the racetrack. Much of the next sections were run at various points during earlier parts of the race. I finally make the climb to the intersection where earlier I had to turn right to do the last 34 miles. This time I turn left and head for the Woodstock Tower aid station at 93.16 miles. Time is getting very tight now and I am forced to push as hard as I can down the 3 miles of switchbacks to the paved road and the final four miles to the finish. There were several of us working for that finish and we all made it. As I entered the fairgrounds, I woke Paula and then circled the track to get my finish. I crossed the line at 27:27 with less than 33 minutes to spare. I had pushed too hard in the middle miles and, as a result, had to push hard near the end to make the cutoff. I was exhausted and a bit disappointed but was glad that I finished. I got a quick massage and, a rarity for me, decided to forgo the awards ceremony and go to bed. At OD, they only give awards to those under 24 hours so I figured that I wouldn’t force myself to try and stay awake any longer. I was later able to appreciate my finish. With the first four hundred milers out of the way, I look forward to my next challenge, Western States. I was able to meet five of the other six runners who are attempting the Last Great Race (Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont, Leadville, Wasatch and Angeles Crest). They are Janine Duplesis WA (who is going for her second consecutive Grand Slam), Karl Jensen BC, Leon Draxler WA, Ed Bogess CO and Stan Jensen CA (whose run100s web site keeps us all up to date on hundred mile races). I will be seeing a lot of them this summer and wish them all the best of luck in their quests.