2006 Promise Land 50K – Saturday April 22

Dan Broom

I trail run because I enjoy it. 

I was telling myself this as I emerged, half awake, from my tent at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday having been awoken some fifteen minutes before by the drumming of rain on the flysheet.  Fortunately, the rain had stopped by the time I got up and it was soon time to head over to the start line where the runners were gathering for David Horton’s prompt start at 5:30.  It was dark and the rain was still holding off as the race started – maybe we would be lucky and the forecast would be wrong for the rest of the day.  The front runners stampeded off into the darkness, leaving myself and others not wishing to burn out over the first few hundred yards to shuffle off at a more sustainable pace.  No sooner had I turned out of the Promise Land entrance and started the initial climb of Onion Mountain when a flash lit up the sky.  One optimistic runner close to me tried to reassure everybody within earshot that it was probably a camera flash.  At least one runner didn’t believe her and headed back down the road to retire to the safety of the start line.  The rest of us were willing to take a chance that she was right.

It poured. 

Some time passed before the rain finally stopped.  By this time I had ascended and moved on from the top of Onion Mountain and was slipping and sliding up more muddy trails ascending Apple Orchard Mountain.  Fortunately, the top of Apple Orchard Mountain (4,004 ft) marked the highest point on the course.  From there it was downhill for the next 6 or so miles to the lowest point of the course (White Tail Trail) at 1130 ft.  During the descent, I noticed the stunning scenery as I wound my way down alongside a creek that provided a couple of shin-deep water crossings.  The trail was mainly single track and most runners that I talked to were enjoying the views.  The aid station at the bottom of the creek marked the start of an 8 or so mile loop that would eventually bring me back around to the same aid station.  As I was arriving, the leader of the race also arrived but from the end of the loop.  He made fast work of refueling before heading up Apple Orchard Mountain towards the finish.  I felt pretty good by the time I reached this aid station for the first time.  I had had a relatively easy run down the creek and with the exception of having my shin encounter a submerged rock in one of the creek crossings, I was relatively unscathed. 

The loop began with a gentle descent over 2 miles on gravel, then paved roads.  As I had been feeling good, I found myself running this section a little faster than I probably should have.  Arriving at White Tail Trail I left the road and headed back onto mud.  After passing through the next aid station, the race started to drag.  At this point I was 21 or so miles into the run and so had the bulk of the distance behind me.  Only 11 miles to go.  The next aid station (back at the start of the loop) took forever to reach.  The trail leading up to it was grassy and undulating and followed the contour of some hills for what seemed to be an eternity.  I thought a couple of times during this section that the guy that I could see in front of me had taken a wrong turn and was leading me out into the uncharted Virginia wilderness.  Fortunately, the guy knew where he was going and eventually we arrived back at the aid station.

During the pre-race briefing, David Horton had described the next section of the course as the most ‘spectacular’ and also the ‘slowest’.  The ‘spectacular’ part sounded great, the ‘slowest’ sounded ominous.  He also made a point of saying that we would be wise to fuel up before heading out on this section.  This also sounded rather ominous.  I decided to heed his words and took a few M&Ms – in hindsight maybe I should have also taken the half a hamburger that was on offer.  Soon after, the reason why this was the slowest section of the course became painfully clear.  The trail followed a steep uphill climb next to Apple Orchard Falls.  There were a number of series of stairs to help the climb, yet I was not particularly happy to see them appear as I reached them in succession.  About half way up the climb I had an overwhelming desire to sit down and fall asleep.  I stopped and took a quick drink and decided that I should keep plodding my way upwards.  After all, I knew that there was an aid station at the top of the climb, wherever that may be.  When I stumbled into the aid station I found a variety of food on display.  I grabbed a handful of potatoes and quickly ate them – very tasty.  A couple more potatoes and an oreo later, I was no longer feeling sleepy and decided it was time for me to start the last 5 miles of the race which headed back down Onion Mountain on the same trail that we had come up about 6 hours earlier.

The last section went by quickly.  It was downhill and, powered by potatoes, I decided it was a good idea to make up some of the time that I’d spent shuffling up Apple Orchard Falls.  At the end of the long downhill, I turned into Promise Land and happily crossed the finish line with a great sense of achievement and was greeted by David Horton and my fellow Connecticut runners, Kerry Arsenault, Jerry Turk and Jay Avitable, all of whom had finished, showered and eaten by the time I got back.

The race was fantastic.  As my second ultra, it most certainly reinforced my enjoyment of such endurance events.  I can only thank everybody who made this event fun and memorable – David Horton, all of the runners and volunteers who provided conversation and gave encouragement mid-run and in particular my running and travel friends – Jerry, Kerry and Jay.  Finally, thanks must go to whoever provided those potatoes at the top of Apple Orchard Falls – they saved my day!