12/28/14: Boyer's Furnace 40 Race Report

Sometimes you eat the trail; sometime the trail eats you. Last year I had a great run at Boyer’s Furnace and won it in 7:40. This year I was chewed up and spit out, and I struggled mightily to finish in 8:56.

Somehow my hydration bladder leaked all over my pack during the night, so I had a bit of a disaster to deal with in the morning and got to the start line late. The runners were already off, so I hustled to catch up to my usual running crew and eventually made my way to the front of the pack. I made quick work up the 1,000 foot climb to Woodstock tower, averaging just under 9:00. The next 8 miles on the MMT orange trail up on the ridge went well, and I got to Edinburg Gap at mile 11.8 in 2:07, about four or five minutes ahead of last year.

On the next 9.5 mile road stretch things started going south. Last year I ran impossibly fast on this section and seem do have averaged well under 8:00s. I don’t really remember running this stretch fast, but I guess it had something to do with running it with a 19 year old. Ah, young legs. This year I was still moving well, but my stomach was not cooperating. I threw up a bit at mile 19, but it unfortunately didn’t seem to help.

I rolled into mile 21 at 3:43 elapsed thinking I was going to drop, which sadly would ruin my no-DNF year. But there is no rush when you are out in the mountains, so I sat down and relaxed for a bit. After some soup and PB&J I was feeling better but still wasn’t great. If I left this aid station, I would be committed to another long, tough 21 miles with most of it up on the ridge. It was also a long, long 12 mile stretch until the next aid station. But stupid is as stupid does, so I grabbed some food, left the aid station, and started hiking.

I managed to keep hauling myself along the trail over the next 12 miles at a somewhat respectable pace. The views over to the Shenandoahs were great, and the weather was as good as it gets with temps in the low 50s. I managed to run out of water and Coke more than an hour from the next aid station. Woops. I had some Perpetuem in my front bottles, though it wasn’t really agreeing with me and I suspected it might have been the culprit upsetting my stomach. But I was just too thirsty and drank it anyway.

The Milford Gap aid station appeared like a mirage, and I was tremendously thankful that they hiked everything up to the trail. What service! I spent some time gathering myself together here with soup, Coke, and Ginger ale. Reluctantly I dragged myself out for the last 8.5 mile stretch and was somewhat revived for the next 3 miles or so.

But sadly it didn’t last, and I threw up again about four miles from the finish. I felt much better for the first 2 miles after that but then had a tough slog for the last 2. Let’s just say I was super happy to finish and just sit down for a while.

It was not exactly my best day out in the mountains, but I still had quite a few fun stretches and was pleased to keep it together more or less. I still haven’t fully cracked this stomach issue and maybe I never will, but at least I was keep to keep on moving and get it done!