And would love to do again some time:  Women’s Half Marathon, Promise Land 50k, Highland Sky 40M, Laurel Highlands 50k/70M, Laugavegur 55k (Iceland), Escarpment Trail Run
 And were pleasant enough to do again: Dam Half, Fire on the Mountain 50k, Holiday Lake 50k, Swinging Bridge, All the VHTRC fat asses
Trail races I have not done
 And would very much like to do (within the next 5 years): Bull Run 50M, Where’s Waldo 100k, White River 50M, Megatransect (doing in Sept)
 And would very much like to do (within the next 10 years): MMT, Zane Grey 50M, Wasatch, Miwok 100k
And have minor interest in: Grindstone 100, Mountain Masochist 50, North Face, The Ring, Western States 100
And will never do: JFK 50
And belong in a category of its own: Hellgate 100k
‘Aaron, you’re not going to become a go-getter now, are you?’
We had at long last identified the cause of Aaron’s chronic suffering and fatigue, tracing it to an ill-fated tick bite he suspects he got during MMT in the spring of 2010. And following an initial bout of elation I was struck with trepidation. What if the mellow, sleepy Aaron I’d come to adore was only a Lyme-depressed manifestation of him?? What if the post-doxycycline Aaron would be less inclined towards naps and CSI marathons and instead favor frenetic activity? He had been a triathlete, after all! For goodness sake, what if the healthy version of Aaron would turn out to be….ambitious?
Aaron’s condition had flared after running Highland Sky, when he had a week of 102 degree fevers, teeth-chattering chills, and extreme fatigue. The experience triggered an idea that his many years of malaise might have been related to a pathogen, rather than the Achilles problem he had chalked it up to. The first two doctors were not impressed that slipping to a mere 2:50 marathon time could possibly represent a medical problem, and would not satisfy our request for a Lyme disease test. Finally, I snuck Aaron in to see my primary care physician, Dr Hunter, took his case seriously and ordered a battery of tests, including for all tick-borne illnesses.
We’re ready for a long road to recovery, but are elated to finally be on it. It’s amazing how many fellow trail runners know someone who has had Lyme disease or have experienced it themselves. As an infectious disease epidemiologist, it’s been fascinating to learn about the ecology and spread of Lyme — and troubling to read about the market failure 15 years ago of a vaccine with fairly good effectiveness against Lyme disease, but which was pulled after media hyping of false links to adverse events. Don’t get me started on the media and vaccines.
And no, Aaron promises, he won’t turn into a go-getter. But he might give me a taste of my own medicine on a long run.
Nothing says summer like frozen custard, watermelon, and the purple trail.
schmitty & seanie: the last of the leesburg mafia
I liked driving to Catherine’s Fat Ass with Brian S. Sure, he made us arrive a full hour before the run started, but this was more than redeemed by stopping at Sheetz twice and even taking me and Sean to Pack’s.
For some reason this year’s Catherine’s course was substantially altered to an out and back (I’m not sure because I was napping in Brian’s car for most of the pre-run period). Sean was very cranky about this, probably because there wouldn’t be enough rocks. So I suggested we just do the old route and as long as we got aid a couple times it would be fine. Brian, Sean, and I recruited Keith, Neal, Matt B, and newbie John A. as fellow renegades to go the old route.
I liked the run. It was certainly hot in the sun, but not terribly oppressive. I was very disappointed to not see a bear again after all the reported sightings at Jeremy’s Run a few weeks ago, but that was more than made up for by the good company. Sean, Neal, John, and I formed a pack for the first ten miles and then after Sean and Brian went short Matt, Neal, John and I ran together to the finish. It was great to see Neal out there after his long bout with cytomegalovirus this spring. And now that Sean has moved to Leesburg I hardly get to see him at all, so it was great to run with him too. And it was John A.’s first ultra experience — quite an intro, what with the heat, the hornet’s nest (we all got stung, including John in a place too close for comfort), the limited aid, and the purple trail. But John was very game and a cheerful new addition. He also wrote a much more detailed blog about our jaunt here.
i almost made as much mess eating watermelon as the frozen custard
When we pulled into the finish the parking lot was abuzz with people, burgers, and watermelon. Despite opting for the 20-mile version, Brian and Sean had gamely waited for me. I had run out of water with a couple miles to go, so the watermelon (seedless AND organic) was particularly refreshing. There were a lot of people I wanted to catch up with more, but I had already pulled two ticks off me just sitting there in the grassy lot (which I’m particularly paranoid about right now because we suspect Aaron’s chronic fatigue is due to lyme disease) and Sean and Brian were eager to get to the Pack’s frozen custard stand we’d spotted — which, after five and a half hours in the heat, sounded like a pretty darn good idea.
