So I was sitting in a hot tub this afternoon with Steven Baker and Michael Stratton, reminiscing about our experiences from the day before at Hellgate, and I decided to write a race report about this unique… and very painful race. 

            So as usual the idea of doing this race came from the insanity of the one and only Michael Stratton, who’s joy and enthusiasm about ultras is incredibly infectious.  He always has said that Hellgate was his favorite race and that everyone should do it. So I, naturally, took up the challenge and decided to race it, since I was unable to complete the LUS because of a conflict with the Collegiate Triathlon National Championships. I would throw Hellgate into my schedule as naïve as could be.  So here is the recap of my Hellgate experience.

            As a student at Virginia Tech, this past week has been consumed by one thing and one thing only: Finals.  Hellgate was a very close second though.  On Friday, I woke up as 6:30 in order to take my organic chemistry final, which took about 2 hours.  Following that I went home to complete a final paper due that day as well. Needless to say, I did not get the amount of sleep prior to Hellgate that I had hoped for. One of our amazing groups that were doing crew for us picked me and my fellow runner Devon Minarik up at around 4:45 to head over to the race.  Everything seemed like a blur for awhile.  All I knew was that I was getting more and more nervous as time went on and the clocked clicked closer to 12:01 AM. 

            And so we were all up at the race site.  We headed up much earlier than everyone else and slept for an hour or two up at the start.  And by sleep I mean we sat in our cars wide awake telling scary stories about being in the woods all by ourselves at night.  Suddenly the area was a buzz of activity with people everywhere doing all sorts of things getting ready for the race.  In a flurry of activity, I got all set, with all my clothes, shoes and accessories I thought I would need for the race.  All of a sudden, I found myself standing at the start with my fellow Hokie racers Steven Baker, Devon Minarik and Michael Stratton. 

Off we went, a stream of lights heading out into the mountains of southwest Virginia.  For the first section of this race, all four of us tried to stay together.  Some of the people around us might remember us playing a game where we would say names and names of bands.

 Things I remember from this section  (between the start and A.S. 2)

-Steven Baker taking several pit stops for ‘bowel movements’

- getting excited about the steam crossing then not being so excited after it

- trying my hardest to stick on Baker and Stratton when they took off.

After aid station two, where we met up with our crew, things began to change.  The cold started setting in and the mood of the race began to change from excitement to ‘digging in for the long haul.’  After aid station two, Michael and Steven took off on the downhills and left Devon and I in their wake.  Devon and I then decide to run our races together and pull and push each other along.  When we got to A.S. 3, one of my most memorable moments of the race occurred.  I had been wearing an ankle brace because of some lingering injury issues but wanted to get it off at this A.S.  The problem was that I couldn’t get my shoe off to take the brace off.  When I asked someone to help we get the shoelaces undone, a young lady came over and gave it her best shot.  When it was clear that the laces were frozen together from the water, she looked up at me and said, “ Your shoelaces are frozen, I’m going to try and bite them apart.”  She then proceeded to start biting my shoelaces in an attempt to free them.  I was deeply moved by this act of serving from someone I never met before.  I would like to personally thank that young lady and all the other aid station workers who I know exhibited character and love for so many strangers on that long, cold day.

Things I remember from A.S. 3-5

-         the wind howling in the night

-         hearing the trees creaking

-         deciding to not be scared of running downhills that were coved in leaves and to just take the falls when they came

-         running with my buddy Devon

-         meeting some new people

-         the wind and cold at Headforemost A.S.

-         looking down at the lights in town and wondering what the people there were doing

-         a wonderful lady at A.S. 5 talking with me about how glorious the sunrise was

-         feeling relieved that the night was leaving

After the breakfast aid station, things began to change again.  The sun was rising and with it came two sensations.  A great feeling of accomplishment for finishing almost 7 hours of running in the dark, and a great feeling of dread in knowing that I still had many many many many more miles to go.  During the climb out of A.S. 5, my buddy Devon began to feel the affects of the race and began to struggle.  We dragged ourselves along the uphill and began the running on the long downhills. By the time we reached the bottom and began our ascent to A.S. 6, Devon was out of it and I began wondering what I should do, stay with my friend and try and get him to finish the race, or move on and try and salvage the rest of mine.  Like he was reading my mind, Devon told me to go on. As I pulled away from him on the climb up to A.S. 6 I was feeling sad that I lost my racing buddy, but hoped he would be able to rebound later and make the race cutoffs.  I picked up Justin Morrison at A.S. 6.  Justin is a freshman at Tech and had agreed to run with me for awhile (little did he know that I would con him into running the rest of the race with me ).  Just like at the other A.S., Max Opheim was there and ready to take care of every one of my needs.

Things I remember from A.S. 6-8

-the bright sunlight and beautiful views

-A couple of faceplants

-all the leaves… a growing hatred for leaves

-The EVIL section of rocks and switchbacks between A.S. 6 and 7

- running strong at the ‘in and outs’ between A.S. 7 and 8

Once I reached A.S. 8, I was feeling on top of the world.  Justin and I had just finished running the ‘in and outs’ of the mountain really fast, and I knew that there was only one more aid station to go.  The one thing I have learned from doing ultras, is that no matter how close you are from the finish, you are always a world away.  Justin and I went on our way out of A.S. 8 in high spirits.  Those soon changed as my body began to feel the affects from the lack of sleep and the 50 odd miles we had run already.  Soon we were basically at a standstill, doing the ‘zombie walk’  After a long stretch of that we eventually made it to A.S. 9.  My hopes were still intact, but I was not feeling good at all.  The aid station workers were amazing as usual and they made me feel a little better about the ‘three miles up and three miles down.’  And so Justin and I began the three miles up.  The wheels began to fall off the wagon here.  I started hallucinating and not walking straight.  I could not focus on anything because my eyes wouldn’t stop flitting from one object to the next.  Justin had to do everything in his power to stop me from walking off the edge of the road.  Some of the strange thing I do remember doing and saying during this climb include:

-asking Justin to carry a pinecone for me because I wanted to have it as a souvenir, then telling him to throw it away some 20 minutes later

-seeing beautiful paintings lying on the ground, only to realize they were just scattered leaves when I stopped for a closer inspection. 

-ranting on about growing up and becoming a miner so I could exact a revenge on these mountains through mountain top removal.

- Something about throwing a rock at David Horton when I finished… haha… yeah I think I was bitter at that point

When we got to the top I was still pretty out of it but I knew all we had was a downhill all the way in.  So I let myself go and did a controlled fall the rest of the way in.  Everything was a blur and it kept flying by me.  Down we went, down down down…..

Finally we got to the road.  Then I saw the one mile left on the ground.  I think at that point I told Justin that the one mile marker was the only reliable marker in this race.  After what seemed like years we found the entrance to the camp and I knew I had made it.  Seeing Dr. Horton and shaking his hand felt amazing.  Seeing all my friends from school was such a great thing as well. I had finished Hellgate.  Dr. Horton told me that at age 19, I was the youngest person to ever finish this race.    

So what did I come away with after doing this?  Well I learned a lot about friendship. My friends were AMAZING.  Max was my main man when it came to support and it made me smile every time I saw him at the aid stations.  The first words out of his mouth would never be, “good job” or “you’re looking good”, but rather, “what can I do for you” or “what do you need.” It was amazing to know that I had someone waiting for me no matter how cold, windy, or boring the wait was.  The rest of my friends who were support crews were a life saver as well.  I can’t tell you how meaningful it was to get passed in a car with my friends hanging out the window whistling or screaming at me.  And how about the person who ran with me for 30 miles?  Justin ran with me for about half the race and did so much to keep me moving, whether I had fallen and did not want to get up, or stopping me from walking off the ledge of a mountain.  I cannot say how much I owe him.  This race taught me so much about perseverance. So much about toughness.  So much about friendship.  But I think most of all I came away in awe of people.  People who would put themselves through 60+ miles of pain; people who would stand outside in the dark in the night to feed these people; people who would give themselves selflessly to help others. 

With that being said, I want to thank Dr. Horton for once again putting on an amazing race. I cannot have asked for a memorable experience.