As we were driving through a rather desolate stretch on the windy roads down south, Ryan said, "you sure know how to pick 'em." I do not think it was meant as a compliment 😂 but I can't actually argue his point. I mean, I have most definitely been prone to picking less obvious and more out of the way races. I have my reasons. I don't want to just choose the most convenient races. I mean, that works too, but part of why I love these long races is that they give me an excuse to explore new places. I want to be inspired and excited by my race choices, and going someplace different and running new trails is a big part of that in my mind. Much like No Business, when I saw the photos from Rim to River, I knew it was going on my list and that I wanted to run it. And with that, we come back to "you sure know how to pick 'em" and our 15 hour drive to West Virginia this year so that I could run the Rim to River 100.
We were lucky enough to have Emily join us as part of our crew so after dropping Sam at school on Thursday morning and getting the car packed up, we headed to Portland to pick her up and then started the long drive south. It was 10+ hours to Cumberland, MD, and we didn't quite beat the sunset, arriving at the hotel around 7:00, by which time I was starving and maybe slightly grouchy! We walked across the parking lot for dinner at the Crabby Pig, where I had a delicious (and big) crab cake, hush puppies and green beans. Yum! Then we stopped at the neighboring brewery for a beer and wandered back through the parking lot with beers in hand, which resulted in a lot of laughter and me almost spilling my beer everywhere. I am definitely not the most coordinated human being 😆😆
Road trip!
We woke up early and walked downtown for a yummy breakfast. Then as our hotel was right at the end of the C&O Canal Path, we took a short detour on the way back and walked to see the end of the canal before packing up and heading out. Neat!
Brrr, it was chilly out! And Ryan clearly had not had enough coffee 😉
Thankfully we had a much shorter drive on Friday! We stopped at the New River Gorge Bridge Overlook visitor's center right before Fayetteville so that I could go to the bathroom, and then decided to take a short walk down to the overlook. It was a beautiful day and wow, the bridge, spanning 3,000 feet over the gorge was impressive, as was the gorge itself. (0.4 miles walked)
From there, we drove into Fayetteville for lunch at The Take-Out, where I had a delicous sushi rice bowl creation with grilled chicken. So good! Then it was off to ACE Adventure Resort, where the race started and finished and where I had rented a cabin for the next few nights. After we checked in and got things settled in the cabin, we took a walk around the complex, stopping down at the lodge for me to check in for the race. Nice to stretch the legs out a bit. Found some witch hazel in bloom too! (1.7 miles walked)
Then we headed back into Fayetteville for an early dinner at Pies & Pints and back to the cabin to attempt to get some sleep before race day. As always, sleep is hard to come by the night before a race, and I was up around 4:00 am to make sure I would be ready to go for the walk down to the start. It was in the mid 30s with clear skies, and the forecast was looking like it was going to be pretty perfect weather-wise, ie. no excuses!
The race started at 6:00 am. The cap for the race was 250 people, so it was a decent size crowd as wound our way up the paved road into the resort. The mile on the pavement spread the field out at least slightly before we hit the trails, which were most definitely leaf-covered and hiding a fair amount of rocks, but which were mostly decent running with some ups and downs but a fair amount of reasonably flat stretches. The train moved onward and there was a bit of chitchat here and there as we meandered for 6 miles on the trails through the resort before popping back out right near the start/finish and then back onto a singletrack trail out to the first aid station at 7.5 miles, Concho Rim. The sky was just starting to lighten in the 1/2 mile before the aid station.
I dropped my headlamp there, stopped to use the port-a-potty, picked up some additional gels and grabbed a cookie to go. Ryan's notes say I left at 7:35 am.
All smiles as I headed out of Concho Rim, cookie in hand
Ryan and Emily's view from the overlook at Concho Rim. So pretty!
The first few miles out of Concho were along a gravel road with views out over the river through the trees as the sun rose. Then we wound around again on the resort property for a bit before dropping very steeply down into a valley that was lined with rhodies and had some pretty stream views and a waterfall vista.
Sun coming up on the gravel road stretch after 1st aid station
Finn's Falls, before we started up the Thurmond out-and-back section
Shortly after the falls, the course crossed Arbuckle Creek. The water was low enough that we were able to cross, carefully of course, without getting our feet wet. For that I was very grateful! Then we had a steep rock step climb up to a rail trail. The rail trail made for some nice easy running, and after a few miles, we crossed a creek on a bridge that put us on a paved road that we ran on out to the Thurmond aid station at mile 17. Thurmond actually is an Amtrak station, and while we didn't see an Amtrak train, there was a freight train out on the tracks, which I did hear some runners had to stop for!
I really appreciated that every single aid station had a port-a-potty, as my stomach was not the happiest. After a quick stop at the aid station to use the bathroom, refill my bladder and grab a few oreos, I retraced my steps back on the pavement, rail trail and then down the steep rock steps, where one guy passed me all the while telling me that this stretch is where he had fallen and ended his race last year! Eeekk. Yes, I went very carefully down those steps!
View from the bridge at Thurmond
The remaining 7 miles out to the second crewed aid station, Cunard, at mile 27, were essentially entirely flat rail trail, up along a plain above the river. I ended up in a nice train with a few people for most of that stretch and we were running reasonably quickly for a 100 milers, but truly, there weren't a lot of obstalces, it was flat and it was early. I had picked up my sunglasses and brimmed TMR hat back at Concho, but didn't end up taking off my beanie and gloves until somewhere along the final stretch before Cunard, and I kept my long sleeve shirt on over my short sleeve shirt all day. It was a bright and calm day, beautiful for running, but cool.
Coming into mile 27
There was a lot of activity at all the crewed aid stations, but Ryan always found me easily enough and they had a chair set up with all my gear. I picked up some additional gels, used the bathroom, filled my bladder, reapplied glide and put on sunscreen, grabbed another cookie and a bag of chips to eat as I walked out, and headed out shortly thereafter, trying, as always, to keep my aid station stops efficient, effective and as quick as possible without forgetting anything. Ryan's notes say I left at 11:44 am.
From Cunard, it was a 700 foot climb up a paved road in just under 2 miles to the next trail section. Harsh, man, harsh! Definitely a grind. Then there was about 5 miles of singletrack before we hit the Kaymoor Miners Trail, a very steep, rocky step climb, pretty much vertical. As I was climbing up, a group of about a dozen Amish people were coming down, one of whom was carrying a baby in his arms, you know, just casually wrapped in a blanket! I am not sure they knew what to make of me. Ha! Apparently the trail goes up to a waterfall, but we turned the other direction at the top of the steps and the trail took us along the base of this cool long stretch of cliffs, upon which multiple people were climbing. There were some neat views out into the gorge from up there too. As I neared the end of the cliffs, I passed two climbers who were down near the trail at the base of their climb, who called out good luck. I said thanks, and have fun back to them, to which they said, you too. I replied, I will, and the guy was like I think our ideas of fun are a bit different. 😆😆True dude, very true!
Along the cliffs after ther Kaymoor Miners Trail
View out into the gorge
At mile 36ish, there was an out and back of about 1.5 miles total out to Long Point, where we had to grab a key chain from a box to bring to the next aid station to prove we'd done the short section. It was sometime in early afternoon at this point, and the trail was crowded with a large number of us runners running to and fro the lookout, but also with a whole lot of tourists. It was a bit of a funny juxtaposition. The viewpoint was looking out over the gorge back to the big bridge, very pretty, but way too crowded an area to stop and take a photo, so I just picked up my key chain and headed back to turn it in at the Long Point aid station at mile 38.
After a short stop there, the next 5 miles were reasonably chill and mostly downhill, finishing with a mile stretch of pavement to the next crewed aid station at mile 43, Fayette Station. Another stop at the port-a-potty, a piece of bacon from the aid station, a PB/chocolate date eaten, and I was off at 3:51 pm.
Coming into mile 43
This is my face in response to Ryan's request that I eat more 😆
I am chomping on a peanut butter filled and dark chocolate covered date from The Take-Out. Yum!
View of the bridge from Fayette Station as I headed out, mile 43
The view from the bridge down at the river at Fayette Station was just so cool, but then I had to climb back up and out of the gorge on yet another steep paved road for a mile before the course headed out onto a nice stretch of mostly flat double-track for a few miles before turning onto some twisty, short up and down type singletrack for a bit before dumping us back at the level of the river after which we had a few miles of "just uphill enough to not be able to run it at mile 48" old road/double-track, which paralleled a beautiful stream.
Waterfalls on the long slightly uphill doubletrack stretch up to Anstead at mile 50
The uphill seemed endless and all I wanted was to reach Anstead, the next crewed spot at mile 50 and the turnaround point of the course. I was feeling OK, but as I was nearing 12 hours and halfway into the race, I was also starting to feel the time and miles, and was in a bit of a low spot. I knew there would be some excitement to be on the "back" of the out-and-back, but I also knew a long stretch of night was coming, and that even if I ran the final 50 really well, I was looking at probably another 14 hours of being out there. It was nothing terrible, it was just a bit of a blah feeling.
Coming into Anstead at mile 50
I took a bit of a longer stop here and ate some rice and avacado and drank some protein drink, along with changing my shirts and picking up my jacket, a dry beanie and gloves. I also took a flask of Roctane Summit Tea, my headlamp and my waistbelt. Ryan's notes say I headed out at 5:54 pm.
I managed to get all the way down the 2 miles of doubletrack and partway through the singletrack before having to turn on my headlamp/waistbelt. There were still a fair number of people who were still headed on their way out to Anstead and I was passing a few people here and there headed back to 58 like I was. In the end, I probably really just had needed some food at mile 50, as I ran pretty strongly on the 8 mile stetch back to Fayette Station, surprising Ryan and Emily with how quickly I came in, at least relatively speaking. 😂
Back at Fayette at mile 58, I brushed my teeth, and did the whole aid station thing, eating some more rice and drinking some more protein drink. I also picked up my earbud so I could have some music for distraction and company as I had a long stretch of 22 miles to do before I saw Emily and Ryan again. And yes, within those miles there may have been some singing out loud to Taylor Swift 😉😂😊
There was yet another steep paved stretch out of the aid station of about a mile before getting back on the trails and back to Long Point aid station at mile 63, where I did a quick stop before heading onto the Arrowhead loop, which most people seemed to not enjoy, but which I didn't find that bad. It was just sort of windy singletrack for 6 miles, which can definitely seem long in the darkness. Passed a few people and got passed by one guy and his pacer, who expresssed that he was impressed I was out here doing this solo. I'd say the majority of people had picked up pacers by this point, although I did see a few guys who were solo during this stretch as well. I am not scared of the dark and I don't mind running alone. I thought the course was incredibly well marked and I really never had any doubt of if I was on course, which was definitely much appreciated, so I was just chugging along, singing to myself and moving forward.
The volunteers at Arrowhead aid station at mile 71 were very enthusiastic and dressed up in costume. I stopped and filled my bladder and mixed another flask of Summit Tea before asking if they had a baggie so I could take some chips to go. The only bag they had was a big gallon ziplock, so there I was carrying this huge bag with like a dozen chips in it out of the aid station to eat as I walked down the trail 😂😂 I was amused in any event. I did text Ryan heading out of the aid station to let him know that I was definitely slowing down a bit. Darkness and 70+ miles will do that.
I was anxious that the course was going to repeat the stretch along the base of the cliffs and that I'd have to go down the Kaymoor Miners Trail in the dark, which I felt was just an accident waiting to happen, so I was much relieved to find that the way back to Cunard kept us off that stretch. Phew! Can't recall much else of the stretch between 71 and 80, but I know I was excited to be getting back to Cunard where I would be picking up Emily!
Ryan's notes say we left the aid station at 2:22 am. It was nice to catch up with Emily and hear about their day. Despite the fact that the first stretch out of the aid station was basically flat for 7 miles and I knew we should be running as much of it as we could, I will admit that what became a rather painful slowdown started at this point. I simply lost focus and I was just more than content to walk instead of run. Emily did try to encourage me to shuffle along, but she was mostly taking my lead and so we definitely were not moving quickly through the night!
There was an additional aid station in this stretch on the back half at mile 85.5, Erskine, where we stopped briefly for a port-a-potty stop and for me to pick up some chips and peanut M&Ms. We also changed out the battery on my waistbelt, and I asked Emily to relay to Ryan that I would want to switch out my headlamp once we hit Concho. The night is long at this time of year, and requires a lot of light swapping!
We ran the final stretch back down to the creek, which I slowly and very unsteadily crossed, before making our way up the very steep uphill which was pretty much as bad as I thought it would be on the way down many hours prior 😂 I was definitely toast at this point. Maybe fancy avacado toast like Emily said, but still toast 😜😜But at least I didn't have to stop and sit and gather myself on a bench like one guy we passed! Eeek! Ryan was apparently wondering what was happening to us as it was taking so long. Oh well, it is what it is! I was still moving, I had no thoughts of lying down by the side of the trail, or quitting, or anything like that, I was just moving slowly.
In any event, we eventually reached Concho at mile 92.5. I pretty much started sobbing the second I saw Ryan, which was really more the result of tiredness than anything else - plus is it really a 100 if there isn't some sort of crying?! I think I've cried in 3 out of 6 so far! - but I pulled myself together shortly thereafter and we made quick work of the final aid station stop and headed out at 6:50 am for the last 7.5 miles! Ryan said everyone was coming in looking pretty much cooked, and that I had the fastest aid station turnaround that he'd seen while he was there waiting for us, so I guess it was a rough stretch for many. It was great to catch up with Ryan although it was mostly walking along the first 1.5 miles to back to the road crossing near the start/finish on the rocky, leafy singletrack. As we started to wander through the resort trails, the sky lightened and Ryan pushed me to run as much as I could. I was definitely tentative on the downhills, but with enough reasonably flat terrain and the light, I was able to at least pick up the pace a bit!
We kept chugging along until we saw the blue "one mile to the finish" sign, and then opened it up on the final paved downhill stretch. I will admit I was hoping to run 26 hours, but in the end, once I crossed that line, it didn't really matter. I finished smiling and proud in 27:05:57.
It may not have been a perfectly executed race as is evidenced by the three hour positive split on the back 50, but I had only two minor lows and no real drama, stayed happy (mostly), fueled well and often, was able to explore some beautiful trails and spend a full day+ in the woods, supported by two great people. I did not have the happiest stomach, which led to a lot of pit stops, but I was still able to eat, I had no chafing, no foot issues, didn't sit once, and two days later, I can walk up and down stairs normally! I think I can call it a win.😊
#yayrunning!
Happiness!
27:05:57 (32 hour cut-off)
- 66th out of 182 finishers (when I last looked a week before the race, 249 were on the start list, so while they aren't listing DNF/DNSs, it seems there were quite a few)
- 13th out of 53 women finishers
After getting my buckle and beautiful local pottery mug and chatting for a few minutes with the RD, we pretty much got right into the car and drove back to the cabin and I got right in the shower. Then, as it was only a little after 9:00, Ryan headed into town to bring back some delicious biscuit sandwiches and after a bit of time relaxing, we all retreated to our respective beds for a short nap. For lunch, we headed back down to the lodge for the taco bar and then decided we should take advantage of the nice afternoon and not sit inside the small cabin for the rest of the day. We headed back towards Fayette Station, stopping at the Bridge Buttress trail for a short walk, which was just too many steps for it to really be a recovery walk 😂but which was very pretty. (0.4 miles walked)
Bridge Buttress Trail
Bridge Buttress Trail
View of bridge from Bridge Buttress Trail
We continued along the road down to the Fayette Station aid station, which had been returned to its natural state of a quiet parking area by the river. We walked out on the course to the small bridge crossing the river with the cool view up to the big bridge and checked out the river's edge. It was flat and paved and definitely more suited to recovery 😉 (0.6 miles walked)
Afternoon view of bridge from Fayette Station
Looking back at the bridge I ran across at mile 43/58
So grateful to share the weekend with these two! What fun!💕
Oh yes, and when I uploaded the race to Strava, I got the notification that I had hit my running goal for the year 😆😊 The earliest I've hit 2,000 miles yet - 11/5! (In 2022, I hit 2,000 miles on 12/4, in 2021 it was 11/24, 11/28 in 2020, 12/7 in 2019, 12/9 in 2018 and 12/31 in 2017.) I am not taking Ryan's suggestion to take this to mean I don't have to run again until January 1st, so I guess we'll just have to see how far beyond 2,000 I can get by 12/31! 😉😅😎
We finished up the day with a delicious dinner at Secret Sandwich Society, and then went to bed early. We were all tired and had plans to head out fairly early on Monday morningto head back north. As usual, after these long efforts, I did not sleep well, my feet were a bit puffy and my legs hurting, but honestly I would have expected nothing less!
Grateful as always for my body, which allows me to complete these crazy races, but so much more than that, grateful to Ryan for supporting me always, to Emily for joining us on this year's adventure, and of course to everyone who cheered me on and supported me from afar. Also a big thank you to Mom and Dad for hanging with Sam while we were away - it is much appreciated! 💗
And to the Rim to River RD and volunteers, thank you! This was an excellent race from course marking to aid station enthusiasm to the chance for us runners to explore this beautiful area. West Virginia's slogan is wild and wonderful, and Rim to River truly lived up to that. 🌉
