Final Run (In My Fifties)

The Ragnar Trail Relay held at the Bear Bear Lake Resort in West Virginia was an event I had “steered away from” when I was first asked to join a team. Having run a Ragnar Road event and not really enjoying it I thought this just might be more of the same. I was wrong.

In our case a team of eight people would run three different loops Green, Yellow and Red with a combined distance of around sixteen miles and around five thousand seven hundred fifty feet of ascent / descent. My presence was to fill in for a team member who had to drop out.

Normally, three legs would have been nothing more then a good workout, yet heading into the event my hope was to complete two laps. A four mile run on Wednesday morning left me limping around that evening and all day Thursday when my Achilles heel flared up again.

While weather may not have a huge impact on Road Running it can have huge consequences for trail running. Two days of rain prior and during most of the relay, morphed splendid trails into steams, bogs and slip slides. Heavy fog added to the enjoyment, especially at night as light from your headlamp reflected everywhere except where you wanted it.

I was the last team member to show up and as luck would have it I got there just as our first runner was to head out on the first leg. I know the team would be glad to see me anyway but now even even more so as our team of eight dropped to a team of seven. One of our members had a medical issue which prevented him from coming.

Cold rain, pea soup thick fog, mucked up trails might have put a damper on attitude but not with us. Our team Captain Craig, Camp Captain Dave assisted by all the rest of the team created an Oasis from the storm, complete with Propane heat for warming and drying. Hot food, Coffee and snacks appeared whenever needed from Dave who took care of all of us. Craig skillfully revised, planned and took extra loops to make up for our missing compatriot.

My first lap was our first team lap in darkness, my second, the first in daylight the next morning and my final (if I could) would be the next to last loop sometime Saturday afternoon. After two laps the Achilles was sore but runnable.

The final lap on my plan was yellow, but since conditions were difficult and slowing teams down it would be necessary to “Double Up”, meaning two team members would run the same loop together. Jon would be my partner, we would start and finish together.

Yellow would turn out to be my favorite loop. I led for the first four miles running through waist high ferns waving in untouched forests. This trail was perhaps the most technical, reminding me often of home. It also presented the most variety of the three taking us through heavy rocky areas, steams, slicked up hills and finally about a mile of mucked up roadway to the finish. Jon, somewhat new to trail running led the last two something miles holding a solid pace until ........ footsteps behind us............ the pace picked up .......... footsteps went away ........ final three tenths left ........... pace quickens to a sprint as “insurance” we were not going to get passed...................... This immediately returned a memory of pacing a friend forty miles in his first hundred miler only to have him “Run Away” from me at the finish. To be honest he finally caught on and slowed down.

It took some work but I caught up to Jon and we finished together.

As I neared the finish my teammates and strangers were singing Happy Birthday as the announcer called my name proclaiming I had turned sixty, he also mentioned I was looking ahead to running my tenth JFK fifty miler in November. Yes my Teammates had told a “Little White Lie”; tomorrow is my actual birthday but my spirits were lifted even higher by their actions.

It's cool, raining and foggy here on the Mountain today, perfect Ragnar conditions I suppose. My Achilles feels a little sore but I was considering getting one more run as a fifty year old. Writing this I realize the Yellow Loop will remain my last run, what I might do today by myself would be nice but not nearly as meaningful.

I'll save it for tomorrow.............. Thanks Team

TEAM SLUGS 2013

Anna Hartman (Jr Slug)

Blake Capella (Jr Slug)

Christine Dzara

Debi Capella

Jen Hartman

Katy Warehime

Craig Capella (Team Captain)

Dave Hartman  (Camp Captain)

Jonathan Rock

Mike O'Grady

Photo by Dave Hartman