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.
Cold TWOT..what a funny name. TWOT is an acronym for The Wild Oak Trail, in Western Virginia. ..and yes, there is a Hot TWOT event also. Hot is in October and Cold is in February.
I had always heard a little, about the course and the race events, but not much. For some reason, almost none of my many trail running friends ever mentioned it as a race they wanted to do or had done. It has a good reputation as a super tough single track course. It is billed as arguably the toughest trail in VA. It is a huge loop, so that makes it even more special.
Copy and paste, from the TWOT site. “The Wild Oak Trail is a 25+, 100+ and 200+ mile trail race in the George Washington National Forest near Mt. Solon, Virginia. The course is a 25+ mile loop with roughly 7,000 feet of vertical gain per loop. While much of the trail surface is runnable, there are also rocky, difficult stretches that make smooth running very challenging, even for elite runners. Even finding the trailhead can be an adventure.”
There is no fee. There is no official aid. The course isn’t marked. This is not your average trail race.” (I did get an email, from them, this week, saying there is a $20 fee, for firewood and other administrative. They are offering refunds to the 100 finishers. They are donating unopened aid foods and drinks to the local food bank. They are highlighting local businesses)
“Only” one loop, for me! I might add on, a few miles, to make it a 50K.. depends on how the day goes.
The TWOT website is a joy to read. It takes a super tough stance of “come out and do this super tough race..support yourself, because we aren’t…no whining..no asking questions…otherwise do not come”
To add a huge extra layer, on top of the event, we are in a big winter year. We have had tons of ice and snow this year. I have ran in big (for us) snow, the past 3 weekends. TWOT is roughly 2 hours North of Roanoke, so they have gotten even more than us. There is still a lot of snow on the ground, there..and now another storm is coming. The storm will hit Thursday, with an expected 5-8 inches of snow..and the race is Saturday. The storm coming in, may cause travel issues..hopefully the roads are not icy.
I have gotten used to running in the snow and enjoy cold weather running. Maybe I should be intimidated, but I am not. I just know it will slow me way down. So, it will probably be a completion, rather than a speed effort. Not that I am any level of fast anyway!
More interesting features of the race. They have 100 and 200 mile distances. Those people will attempt to do 4 and 8 loops. The 200ers, as we will call them, will start Wednesday. Wow. The 100ers will start Friday. I can comprehend a 100 and would like to finish one soon, but 200 seems like a crazy long backpacking trip. Days!
The majority of the snow, has been good to run in, this year. I have been using Yak Trax a lot, for the icy spots. I trashed them, big time, though… For the race, I decided to go with screws in the shoes. #8/half inch sheet metal screws.
Wish me luck. Will tell the rest of the story, after.
EdgeofMountain 