I did this 34ish mile loop on 11/18. I got the idea and route from friend Rachel Corrigan, who did it with her boyfriend a few months ago.
I had considered signing up for the Looking Glass 100K, but I chose to do this instead. My wife will be out of town at a conference, I have a free place to stay at in the Smokies and I will save alot of money, compared to doing Looking Glass.
First of all, this is not a brag by any means. While I do consider this a huge accomplishment, I finished near the end of the race, under the cut-offs. It took me much longer than I anticipated. I am your typical mid-pack ultra runner, so here is my account of the race. People always ask me about the details, so this post is for them, and for myself. I also do these blog posts, so that I can always remember the experience. A digital scrapbook of sorts, since the details will soon be forgotten. There were several people that did not make cutoffs and did not finish, so I feel blessed…especially being an East Coaster on the more seasoned side of life.
This was a monster of a course. Just shocking, and believe me, I enjoy tough mountain routes. The following puts this in some perspective:
Many of you are familiar with the Promise Land 50k race. It is one of the tough-er 50ks, on the East Coast. It is 3 miles longer than Rut, but Rut has around 3000′ more climb. The Rut is way more technical and has elevation over 11000′. I use Emily H (a great adventure friend and accomplished ultra runner) as an additional reference. Emily had a faster finish, than me, at the Rut, but it took both of us over 4 hours longer to finish the Rut, than it did Promise Land. Huge difference.
The Rut Mountain Run 50K is big time mountain trail race in Big Sky, Montana. Arguably THE toughest 50K in the US. Some friends suggested this race a few years ago and I had been wanting to do it ever since. A few of the same friends raced it a few years ago, but icy weather caused a course change and they were not able to go to the summit of Lone Peak! The 28k-ers did get to go to the peak, that year…not the 50K-ers. HUGE bummer. They planned to go back and race it another year. I told them I was in, when they went back. We decided to go in 2020 and were all registered for it, but Covid derailed it. We deferred to this year.
This has been my goal race for 2 years now. My training has been set up around this and Promise Land, along with hopefully/maybe doing a tough 100 miler, in the near future. Training involved 50 mile and 10,000′ climbs per week on mostly rugged terrain-like North Mountain. Promise Land 2021 went very well, which was shared in a previous post. I may not be in as good of shape, as I was for Promise Land, but I should be fairly close. The winter and early spring is much better training-wise, as Promise Land is always the end of April. The intense summer heat and vacations made the summer training much tougher, but I was still able to train a decent amount and felt ready.
My wife, Maria, was not able to go, due to work. I am planning to take my daughter Jenna on a nice trip in the future. My son Connor was able to go with me. This was his first time out West and we flew out together on Thursday. We visited Yellowstone National Park on Friday and Grand Teton National Park on Saturday. It was an absolute blast. My wife and I had honeymooned in Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons 26 years ago. Neither of us had been back since. Doesn’t seem like it changed at all.
Connor at Teton areaConnor in Butte MT, later in the week. Fascinating history and make up.Connor at Yellowstone Tetons. Just amazing. Oldest saloon in Montana. We went to some super old Western towns, later in the week.
The VA crew showed up: Gilberts, Hutchins, Lisa-Tim and Wade all got a cabin at Big Sky. Connor and I did our own thing on housing and stayed at Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky, which was great.
On Saturday, after the day in the Tetons, I went to Big Sky and got my race packet. I like the bib, shirt and drop bag a lot.
I usually fold my bibs very small, to race in, but I was going to go full display for this race.
The Rut is not just a one day and one distance event. It has a VK(Vertical climb) on Friday, a 28K on Saturday, the 50K on Sunday, plus an 11k and a kids “Runt” run. The atmosphere is epic. Some people do all 3 main events-VK, 28K and 50K..amazing.
Josh did the VK and the 28K. Tim did the VK and the 50K. Gina did the 28K. Jeremy did the 28K-his longest race ever! Lisa, Emily and I did the 50K.
Sunday. It’s Race day. Connor dropped me off at base camp. It was pretty crowded pre-race but luckily Emily and Jeremy saw me. We had Jeremy take a pre race pic.
Funny that I had 2 Houdini jackets on. Those came off within first mile.
As mentioned earlier, this is aruably the toughest, most epic 50K, in the United States. There are so many factors that go into play on this race. There is over 10,000 feet of climbing in this race. That is a ton for a 50K! Another huge factor is how steep and technical it is. It starts at over 7200 feet and goes over 11000 feet, with a ton of exposure. Weather is a huge gamble. It could be snowy, icy, windy, rainy, cold and storming. You register in hopes that you can run the whole course.
We started off at 6am. The whole race course was beyond amazing and the first several miles were runnable and enjoyable. I had plenty of energy early on, the weather was fantastic, there was a beautiful sunrise and so much excitement in the air. I was thinking to myself that I was “living the dream”….doing a big time trail race in the majestic and rugged mountains of Montana. There is a big climb at the very beginning of the race, but I don’t think I felt that one at all. We came into the first aid station..the atmosphere there was great. So many people cheering and spectating. By far the best race atmosphere I have ever experienced. I topped off my water and adjusted some things and continued on.
Emily may have caught up to me around this part. We ran together off and on, for a few miles catching up. Some of the downhill near the first aid station was a big field of loose rock. That was not easy to run on.
Emily took this pic at the first aid station
Mile 8 started a 7-sh mile climb, that was really tough. This is where I started feeling how tough the race was really going to be. The climbing in the 14/15 mile sections was surprisingly tough. I had to grind it out and stay focused, both mentally and physically. We got a short downhill section and another another climb to the mile 18 aid station-Swiftcurrent. This is where our friends, Josh, Gina, Jeremy and Wade were stationed to cheer us on. It was so great seeing them. I came in a few seconds behind Emily, so that was good that our crew did not have to wait. I was already getting tired at this point and still had the hardest part of the race to go. I knew the super tough and technical climb to the summit of Lone Peak was coming up. I could see it towering above me. Gina and Josh talked to us, for a minute or two and took some stuff from us, that we no longer needed. I handed them my jackets and flash light. They were surprised that I had 2 Patagonia Houdini jackets with me. I had no way of knowing what the weather would be like, on the peak, so better safe than sorry. Houdini jackets are super light, so not a big deal to carry around.
We were off to the brutal climb to Lone Peak. Part of this is named the “Bone Crusher”. I cannot fully describe how hard this climb was. It was starting on this climb, that I started to worry a little about cut offs. I think the grade of this climb is around 40%. It is super technnical rocky steepness that had us to a crawl. This was harder than any 14’er climbing that I have done. Took forever to summit.
Words and pictures do not do this course, justice.
Emily H picMuddy Squirrel picRun the Rut website pic
Even after the summit, there was an immediate steep technical rocky downhill, that was almost as hard as the climb, but in a different way. So challenging!
The last 11 miles: It was all beyond tough, but the last few miles I dealt with fatigue, no interest in eating, quad cramping and low energy. I had no energy for the climbs and very little for the tame stuff.
Struggles:
Light-headedness: There were a few times that I felt light-headed and my surroundings appeared yellow. I stopped and it would pass. Only for a couple seconds at a time. I assume this was caused by altitude on top of exertion. I have done several 14,000 foot mountain summits and never had any elevation issues…but that level of exertion was not there, with my 14’ers. They were laid back shorter hikes.
Cramping: Even with all the climbing training I did, my quads were tired and cramping most of the last several miles. This really slowed me down.
I never sit down at aid stations, but did at one, later in the race. I drank some water, started moving, but threw the water all back up. Ugh. Felt ok though. Kept going.
Around mile 25 or so, I was below tree line and alone. There was a steep short climb up to a gravel road. There was 5 or 6 volunteers and race fans, that were looking down on me, wildly cheering every step. They could tell it was a struggle for me. I stopped for a second and they got even louder. When I finally made the road, it erupted into a major party. They cheered, like they had just won the lottery!
At the next aid station, a volunteer was all over me, trying to do anything they could to help. I thanked him and kept moving. The volunteers were absolutely great!
At this point, I knew I would finish, no matter how slow I went. I jogged in. It was a fantastic feeling to go past the finish line, with the my friends and crowd there. Done!
At finish, about to cross the line! Josh Gilbert took this one.
Thanks Gina Gilbert for taking this video and cheering. Finisher award. Made out of wood.I was SO filthy, at the finish! Sheesh. Emily said it looked like I had a mustache.
Promise Land 50K++ (34+ miles) of tough mountain trails..LOTS of climbing..technical..and beautiful. This is arguably the toughest/best 50K on the East coast.
This was my first 50K, back in 2012, when only barely trained up for a half marathon level. After that 2012 race, my ankles and hip flexors were absolutely trashed and hurting bad. I was happy just to finish the 2012 race under the 10 hour cutoff. I think I ended up with a 9:20 or so time.
Moving forward to 2015. I was still not trained up for this. I trained off and on the last part of 2014 at the 13 to 16 mile level. 2015 has mostly consisted of racing, resting, tapering and resting again, so no real training at all. But…that is basically how I roll. I tough out these ultras on half marathon level training.
My goal for this race was 8 hours, but realistically I was predicting around an 8:30 time. My prediction was based off of the other ultras I did this year. My time at Terrapin was 7:28, so I figured to add roughly an hour for the 4 extra miles (as Terrapin had lots of climbing, as well). I was also worried about my legs recovering and feeling strong for this race. I have done too many back to back races, without much recovery time. This will be my fourth ultra in 4 months, plus a 15 mile race, a 10 mile race, and a few 10ks. The 10ks were even extremely tough ones! I had a few decent training runs since November, but not many.
This race is/was exciting for several different reasons. First, it is an exciting race by itself, due to the toughness, atmosphere, reputation and beauty. This is pretty much a bucket list type race for the East coast, anyway. We camped out at the race site, the night before. Camping out there is an absolute must do. There is a big grassy field that everyone parks and sets their tents up at. Another reason it was exciting was that 2 of my best friends were doing their first ultra…Sara Martin and Robert Drinkwater. I was very excited for them. It was also Brian Lang’s first ultra.
Other friends that raced were Dru Sexton, Josh Gilbert, James Decker, Matt Prescott, David Landes and Caleb Johnson. Gina Gilbert was there crewing and supporting us all day!
Race start at 5:30am! I slept ok and got up at 4:30. I didn’t habe coffee, which is an extrem rarity for me. It was in the low 40s I think I had shorts, a short sleeve shirt and a long sleeve shirt on. I ended up tying the king sleeve shirt around my waist for most of the day. The weather is extremely unpredictable here, especially at the different elevations.
The race starts at the camp and goes up a gravel road for less than 3 miles. We hit single track after that. There is some climbing, but then you hit an extremely nice part..smooth trail, grassy with views and very little climbing. You climb some more. Early in the race and depending on where we were on elevation, it was sleeting! Yet, it was relatively warm while sleeting..odd. A technical beating downhill is next..then a good stretch of road going downhill. You are now at the lowest point at mile 20. You know there is lots of climbing left.
From mile 12sh to mile 30 is called the “Dark Side”. You can see why on the map. I had totally forgot how hard mile 20 to 30 is, especially with 20-mile-tired-legs. This part is going to Apple Orchard Falls and the climb after that. It is very very technical and lots of climbing. This is part of what makes this race what it is..it is beautiful, but comes with a price. I thought I had a chance at a sub 8 race until I got to this part. I was painfully slow. There was a group of 3 college age kids that was near me. One girl (that looked very strong earlier) kept bending over like she was going to puke. Her 2 friends kept waiting up for her, but finally left her after the falls.
At some point, later in the race, it got really cold. It had been light raining off and on all day. I had tied my long sleeve shirt around my waist. I put it on for the rest of the race.
At times the race felt like a death march. It was brutally slow (for me) and just flat out tough. Words cannot really describe how hard that Apple Orchard Falls portion is. People and myself were moaning and groaning in this section near Apple Orchard Falls. There was more water coming over the falls than I have ever seen.
We went through Cornelius Gap aid station twice in the middle of the race. It was great to see Helen MacDermott there volunteering and smiling.
These 2 videos give you a small taste of the Apple Orchard Falls section.
I FINALLY made it to mile 30..I had a couple small climbs left, then all down hill on a gravel road to the finish. My sub 8 hour time was long out of reach, but I finished before the 8:30 time that I figured I would be around.
Gina was waiting for me at end of the road..see below picture. I don’t look too tired and miserable :).
Sara, Robert and Dru were waiting for me at the finish line…always nice to have a reception.
Patagonia finisher shorts! (anyone that finished under 10 hours)
Sara and Robert did outstanding. Sara was right at the 7 hour mark and Robert was a little behind her. I was extremely happy for Sara and Robert.
Josh was the fastest I think at well under 6 hours. David Landes had a great race at a little over 6. Everyone did well. I am by far the “caboose” of our Mountain Junkie group. I think I was 45 minutes behind the second to last person in our group. I hate that they have to wait on me…and do not expect it. I do appreciate it though. It is a little humbling to finish 2 plus hours behind a few of my friends (not all of them by any means), but that is how good they are and how average I am.
I always feel like it is a success just to finish this race. There is so much that can happen.
Another great (pure) adventure and one for the books.
A group of 12 of us participated in the Willis River 35 and 50K, near Farmville, VA. Farmville, is roughly 2.5 hours from Roanoke, on the eastern side of Lynchburg. The race is a trail race in the Bear Creek State Park.
Friends that participated with me, are as follows: Gina Gilbert, David Landes, Carla Cross, James Decker, Robert Drinkwater, Helen MacDermott, Sean Cooper, Dru Sexton, Josh Gilbert, Jon Robinson, Matt Prescott and Emily Morris. Sara Martin had planned to race with us, but an injury kept her out.
This was an incredible adventure and experience. I knew days ahead, that the forecast was calling for rain on race day. I did not think much of it, as the temperature was supposed to be in the 50s. I had recently ran a rainy, 39 degree trail half recently and fared well.
I got up at 3 am and met Gina, Josh and some others to caravan to the race. We got there and realized that the ground was completely saturated with rain. People were parking their car, upon arrival and getting stuck in the grassy field. I was a little concerned with how to dress, as I knew more rain was coming and it seemed cold with no relief in sight. I went with the MJ Rnuts series black base layer with a technical ss shirt on top of that (the 2012 CtC shirt). I wore gloves and shorts. I never got cold..what I wore was perfect.
8am start…we were off around 5 minutes after.
The race is a primitive, wooded trail Most or all of the trails are not very worn down. Some parts of the trail seem like you are just running through random woods. You go 10 miles to an aid station on a road, then turn around to do the same 10 miles the other way. That is the 35k race. You then have a choice to go the opposite way and do 5 miles, then turn around and come back, for the 50K. There are aid stations approximately every 5 miles.
The trail is very hard to follow! You are following white hash marks, but you are also following white ribbons. At times, there are white ribbons telling you to make a turn. You can easily miss a turn, if you are looking ahead at other white hash marks and not looking for ribbons. There is no shame in missing a turn on this race.
The trails were water filled and extremely muddy. Your feet sank into the mud and water. The trails were like creeks with running or standing water in them. You had no choice but to run in the water. It was a constant slop, slop, splash, slop..
The mud was so bad that my feet were constantly sliding off the mud and one foot would bang into the other leg.
It started getting dark about 2 miles in and started raining soon after. The steady rain lasted the majority of the rest of the race. Lightning and thunder happened, as well.
Where there are not normally creeks, there were creeks..everywhere. These were big enough that you could not hardly jump over and had to step into the water. There were some normal creeks that you had to cross. There were big rivers that you had to cross. On a normal day the creeks would be really low and the rivers not a big deal. This day was not ordinary…everything was way up. We had to cross several rivers that were very high with very strong current. They were 10 yards or so wide..some may have been wider. I heard reports of people getting swept by the river current and having to get helped out of the water.
Through all the conditions, I felt pretty good. I never got cold like some of the others, even though I was drenched. I tried to start slow, but still passed some friends the first few miles. Carla Cross and I ran together for a small portion. I saw her for the last time at the 10 mile aid station. I lost track of Gina, David and Helen before the 10 mile mark. I turned around at the 10 mile mark and kept expecting to see them behind me. Several minutes later, I still had not seen them. I was thinking “What the heck is going on? Where are they? Did I miss them?”. Finally, 2 miles from the turn around I ran into them. They were not sure where they were. I advised that they had 2 miles to go, just to get to the 10 mile turn around. They were pretty disgusted. They had missed a turn and wasted a solid hour or so. Helen and Sean decided to turn around at that point and take a DNF. David and Gina completed the 35K, but did not finish in enough time to be able to finish the 50K. I really hated that for David and Gina. This was David’s first 50K and Gina had never went past the 35K on this race. They both really wanted to finish the 50K, so it was disappointing to have the missed turn mess them up. They were in a group and got detoured by someone else. I noticed Dru didn’t look good at the 10 mile turnaround. She ended up being cold (and recovering from a cold)..she dropped out. Robert was running with her and made sure she was taken care of.
I was amazed by the conditions and my excitement about it all. I kept feeling like I was in Navy Seal training.
Josh met me at mile 19 and ran the last mile with me to the 35k finish. Everyone was beat down by the mud, rain, water, river crossings, cold, etc.
After I finished the 35K finish line at 4:09, Josh and the race director assumed and asked if I was done. I said to let me think about it for a minute. I asked them if Robert had stopped. Josh had already said that Decker stopped at the 35K. He said Matt Prescott wanted to stop, but the director told him he had a good chance to win the 50k, if he went on. John Robinson went on for the 50k, but was having a knee issue. At first, I thought that if Robert went on to do the 50K then I would. If he only did the 35K, then that would give me an excuse to stop at the 35K. I was tired, but I actually felt pretty decent. After I found out that Robert stopped at the 35K, Josh and I talked. He suggested that I could outdo Robert if I completed the 50K. That made up my mind. I told him and the director that I was going on.
That last 10 was kind of lonely, as there was only 15 of us that went on. We were pretty spread out. The first mile or so was easy, as it was a very popular, well used trail. It soon got back to the tough woods, the swamps and rivers. The rivers got worse on that stretch, as it had been raining more steady. I used a big stick to help me wade through the rivers. I just kept trudging on..I had to hike a lot. My legs were too tired to run, unless it was flat or downhill.
I met Matt and then John, as they were heading back to the finish. I assumed they were first and second place and I was happy for them.
I finally reached the 5 mile aid station and turned around. I “ran” with a guy from Richmond for a while. He was in his 50s and part of the Richmond Road Runners Club. He has done this race several times and has done Promise Land 8 or 9 times. He passed me and put a little distance between us those last 3 miles.
With around 1 mile to go, David Landes was waiting on me, near a river crossing. I was glad to see him. He ran that last mile with me. I was also happy to see that Gina, Dru, and Sean were waiting at the finish line for me..that meant a lot. I was honored that they waited, even though I asked Josh (at end of 35K) that no one wait on me.
I finished the race at 7:04, so it took almost 3 hours to do that last 10, between me being tired and the conditions and terrain.
I got several compliments for finishing the race in those conditions. I would say that was my best race yet, as far as the adventure aspect of it. I had a blast. I had felt good and strong all day…that is a great feeling.
I would definitely do this race again. The conditions would not normally be like this, but I enjoyed it. The conditions added a lot to this race. There are no big climbs…relatively flat, runnable terrain.
EdgeofMountain 