I decided to start a list:
Trail races I have done
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.
Catherine’s Fat Ass 50k
Massanuttan Mtns, VA
July 20, 2013
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.
Canaan Valley, WV
June 15, 2013
Happy Birthday, Aaron! (his present was a smiley, puke-free girlfriend)
Aaron was right: the 50k distance wasn’t too long for me, it was too short. Although I had been reluctant to try running a longer distance until I had mastered eating and holding my stomach in the 50k, Aaron had a theory that the 50k distance was my sweet spot (or rather my not-so-sweet spot), because the race was long enough to require me to eat a lot, but fast enough that I never had good opportunities to relax enough to chow down. He had a notion that if I lengthened the distance and could lower the intensity, I’d be able to walk and eat and take my merry time and not experience my stomach eruptions.
Despite my catastrophically bad 2011 DNF at Highland Sky two years ago, the only DNF in my trail and road racing career, we decided to put Aaron’s notion to the test back at Highland Sky this year. Aaron has a vacation house in Canaan Valley and I have come to love running in the area, wiping away all the bad memories from the 2011 race, where my stomach went south and stumbling across that damned Road Across the Sky was one of my most miserable experiences of my running career.
I had never run as far as 40 miles before, but this year I was prepared. Aaron and I have been running together in the Sodds for two years now and I have come to adore the area and know the trails and terrain. I had a breakthrough a month ago when I finally discovered trail shoes that aren’t so high-cut and don’t irritate my ankle bone (Vasques), and here they made their racing debut and wonderfully spared my feet against the jagged rocks (although they’re a bit more slippery than my Pegasus on wet rocks and wood — I did a lot of pussy-footin’ in those sections). I also made the racing debut of my relatively light 1.5 liter bladder, complete with a drink mix I’ve found that agrees with me: U-CAN blueberry pomegranate.
Still, my ultra newbie was quickly made apparent by the fact that I put my bladder in upside down and Aaron had to fix it at mile 2 when I started complaining about the hose smacking me in the face. The guy running behind us who witnessed the blunder quickly identified me to the woman he was running with as someone who would surely come back to them later in the race. He told me this story at the finish line after the race, when it was particularly amusing as I had just set a new CR. My running green exhibited itself again when I asked Aaron at mile 10 to adjust my bladder straps, as it was entirely too loose and had been bouncing painfully on my poor innards.
But overall I couldn’t have asked for a smoother sail. Everything fell into place. Even though I felt bad for Doug that he had a work crisis and ended up having to crew instead of run, Let Me Tell You How Much I Love Crewing. Not that there was a lot of crewing to be done here, just one crewing spot at the half-way point. But having Doug drive Kerry, Aaron, and me to the race, Getting to Leave on My Warm Hoodie until the gun went off (yes, it was actually quite chilly at 6am). Divinity! And the highlight of the race was seeing Doug and Joe running up the road, keys and wallets jangling, to get drop bags for me and Aaron at mile 20.
try running this submerged in mud and black water
Although the first half of Highland Sky is quite technical, the second half rewards those who can spare enough juice in their legs to clip right along in the faster road and Dolly Sods plains sections. This year the first half of the race was particularly arduous, as Hurricane Andrea had dumped buckets on Canaan Valley over the last week, obscuring the rocks beneath long black puddle ponds and deep shoe-sucking black mud. One unfortunate runner this year actually lost her shoe in the mud and had it swept away by the water and had to run 7 miles with only one shoe to the next aid station. Due to the mud, the course had to be altered slightly at Timberline, going down the long and winding Salamander ski slope instead of the infamously steep ‘butt slide.’
Aaron ran with me for the first half, splashing through the puddles and doing our darndest to keep upright. During the first half we also ran with Ragan for a bit, and three of us enjoyed a good 3-WUS pee at the top of the first climb. But there was a luscious long technical downhill after the 2nd aid station, and wet rocks be damned, I let myself enjoy it thoroughly (and poor Aaron had to follow along), and after that we parted with Ragan. At mile 20 is the major aid station, where Doug and Joe provided excellent crewing (and an excellent opportunity for Kerry to drop when her tendinitis flared up). Aaron’s heel bursitis was also flaring, so at the aid station he told me to ‘Fly away, little bird’ for the next 7 miles of the dreaded ‘Road from the Sky’.
the endless, open Road Across the Sky
I was reluctant to leave Aaron, I was so enjoying his company (and it was his 36th birthday!). But he made a firm call, insisted I go on, and I trusted his decision. Running the long, straight road was dull enough, so I was particularly lonely running it without him. But after that slogging slow mudfest, it was a somewhat welcome relief to be able to tick off some easier miles and look at something besides your feet for a bit. And there sure is something nice about getting to that aid station at the end at mile 27 and being about to look back and see a mile of empty road with no one coming. I don’t let myself look back much when I run, it’s kind of a soft rule of mine just to run my own race and not bother with what’s coming, but there were three spots where you could see so far back that I couldn’t resist: at the end of the Road Across the Sky, at the last aid station, and one last time on the last road to Canaan Valley resort. Each time, the road was empty, allowing me to relax.
In the Sodds I was happy to catch up to two guys, including Matt Bugin, whose wife Holly I know from previous races. Given my complete ignorance of how to pace a 40-mile run, particularly those long gradual climbs in the Sodds, I was glad to have some guys to key off of, and I ran behind Matt to the end of the Sodds, where I took off down the long Salamander Ski slope. I spent much of the second half just trying to stay calm, cool, and collected. I sang along in my head to teh White Stripes, ‘We’re Going to be Friends.’ Whenever I felt my pace creeping up on me, I chided myself to ‘keep it in the pants’. Somehow this catchphrase always got me to slow down, maybe because it made me laugh so hard.
Youngster Jake Reed ran away with the men’s race, leaving Jeremy Ramsey a bridesmaid for the nth year (although 25, Mr Reed is not new to ultra running, winning Promise Land and Terrapin Mt a couple years ago — tho this was his first HS)
Although, as Brian G will attest to from last year, the last 5 miles of straight road are somewhat boring and onerous, it is awfully nice at the end of a race to be able to look back a half mile behind you and see nothing but empty road. By the time I rolled into the last aid station, I couldn’t see any runners behind me. I wasn’t wearing a watch, so I had no inkling that I was potentially set to break a CR. Apparently RD Dan Lehman had been tracking me and I went through the last aid station at 6:30-something and with 4.1 miles to go the CR was 7:03:50-something. But the end was mainly road (except for one abominable stretch of high grass that had turned to swamp in sections — by far Brian’s least favorite part of the finish when I paced him last year).
always the belly shot!
With no one behind me, I walked wherever it suited me. But fortunately after running for 7 hours there was an overwhelming drive to just get ‘er done and I did sneak below the previous CR by a little less than a minute (Aaron and I were off somewhere chatting when the race started, so it would have been a bit frustrating if I’d missed the CR by seconds). More importantly, I felt strong and good and held my stomach, as my goal had not been to win, but to run a strong, comfortable race where I felt good. The last two aid stations I wasn’t having a whole lot of appetite, but I took a whole cup of ginger ale and made myself walk out of the aid station sipping it until I finished it. Honestly, if I had won the race, but barfed and felt terrible in the process, it would have been more disappointing than finishing 2nd or 3rd.
Michele winning the masters
It was nice to be able to celebrate my good race with other WUSsies at the finish. Ragan finished second behind me, completing the WUSsie 1-2 domination reminiscent of the Women’s Half Marathon. She’s coming off a challenging spring of training while on sabbatical in NYC, which has a dearth of parks you can pee in. And Michele represented by winning the Masters division. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and Doug and Kerry continued to be angels of divinity by fetching a couple Siriani’s pizzas. There is a very friendly vibe at the finish area of Highland Sky, probably because all of us are so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience such a beautiful course — and so relieved to have survived its punishing design.
Dan with his fast ladies
When we were driving home from the race, I remarked to Aaron that even though part of what we love about coming to our vacation house here in Canaan is getting away from everything and being entirely unfettered and unstructured about time and commitments, the area has such a friendly and vibrant local community (including RD Dan Lehman, Adam Casseday, Luke Fleishmen), that we should try to be more involved, even if it means having to set an alarm and plan a day from time to time.
Amanda Miller and Mark Schwartzbard make their dog Beans legitimate
Over Memorial Day weekend we celebrated the union of Aaron’s brother Mark and his lovely bride Amanda in Joshua Tree, California. It was a bit of an ordeal driving through LA traffic to Pioneertown (I don’t know how people endure LA), but we were amply rewarded with a weekend of relaxation, adventure, and celebration in one of the most beautiful and other-wordly parts of America.
the happy couple
The wedding was a small (<60 guests), no-frills event, with none of the usual wedding fanfare of bridesmaids, toasts, wedding gifts, etc.
and Aaron’s very happy parents
Part of the wedding involved going to the ‘Integratron‘. I will let you explore the link here yourself to learn about this ‘fusion of science, art, and magic.’
The Integratron is an acoustically perfect tabernacle
and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex
in the magical Mojave Desert
getting our chakras aligned at the integratron
Aaron and I had plenty of time to explore the surrounds. I hadn’t done any desert running since my college days in New Mexico. It was very good to be back.
at one with the joshua tree universe
Our first run took us into a land of hippies and drug use and what turned out to be an event called Storytellers Fest that also drew some interesting personalities.
thanks mark and amanda for having a wedding in a location with lots of cool running trails!
The next day we ran the Boyscout Trail in Joshua Tree National Park. I really dug the lizards, particularly the zebra-tailed lizard (I’m not making this up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra-tailed_lizard).
soooo many lizards!
The sun was INTENSE. I cannot emphasize enough the need for sun protection out there. I can get away with not putting sunblock on my legs when I run in DC, even in the heat of summer. The desert will punish such oversights. Fortunately, Mark and Amanda overlooked no creature comforts and all guests were provided with desert parasols.
aaron appreciates the shade of the parasol
Finally, I would like to give a shout-out to Ruby’s Diner. The drive from LA that was supposed to take 2-2.5 hours took us over 4 in traffic. We were driving through the middle of nowhere and it was 10pm EST and I was turning into a pumpkin for want of dinner. In desperation I had finally agreed to turn off at a road stop that appeared to have a McDonalds and what we thought was a Ruby Tuesdays. Just as I was drowning in existential doubt over which option was less likely to make me vomit: McDonald’s or Ruby Tuesday, we came across Ruby’s Diner. Now THAT is a desert oasis.
when in doubt…Ruby’s!
