Dear David and everyone at Promise Land,

     I just wanted to thank everyone  involved in making the weekend so 
amazing!! This was my second ultra but my first "Horton" ultra.  I was 
really nervous signing up for this event since I live on the Chesapeake 
Bay and have no way to really train for mountain running.  My daughter 
and I traveled alone and camped at the starting line.  We had a lot of 
fun at the campfire Friday night.  We talked to "Sundial" about his time 
so far on the AT and didn't get to our tent until 11:00pm.  Wow, I 
really don't remember the ground being so hard when I was a kid.  I 
think I only slept three hours before hearing the alarm go off.   After 
grabbing  the best cup of pre-race coffee ever, we nervously stood at 
the starting line wondering what the day would bring.  This is always my 
favorite time of the race, wondering about all the adventures about to 
unfold. Things unfolded up hill for quite a while, 12 miles I think to
  the aid station where my daughter worked  for the rest of the day.  
The downhills in the next section were a lot of fun and I found out that 
I am a pretty good down hill runner.  I ran through the next aid station 
since I heard that we would be making a loop and coming back to it.  The 
loop was much longer than I thought it would be.  I should have stopped.

     When I finally popped back out to this aid station again I stopped 
because David said if we didn't we would "DIE."  I mentioned to one of 
the ladies there that my lower back hurt and she was brave enough to 
lift up my soggy shirt and sprayed bio-freeze on me.  What a life 
saver!  Thank you!!  I am so glad that I had no idea what was waiting 
for me in this next section.  Apple Orchard Falls.  Who came up with 
this name?  It sounds so sweet.  It's NOT.  It's miles and miles of up 
hill.  I overheard someone asking about stairs and wondered what they 
were talking about. Holy cow there they were ---Stairs.  Out here in the 
forest.  One hundred billion of them.  Yes I counted them.  People who 
run 100 milers are not the only people who hallucinate!!  I think I saw 
Jacobs ladder and the angels coming and going from heaven.  This is 
where I started to whine a little.  One of the other  runners (who was 
running Promise Land for the 10th time)  had been encouraging me through 
the whole race was really giving me his best pep talk here.

      I finally reached the parkway and there was my daughter.  It was 
so good to see her.  "It's all down hill from here" she said.  So, I 
handed her my water bottle and took off.  I know I have told her where 
liars go.  It was not all down hill.  It was a lot of up and down.  The 
next aid station came quickly and from there it was only (I forgot) 2 or 
3 miles. YES, I was going to make it .  All of a sudden I just flew DOWN 
hill.  I got this sudden surge of energy and ran the last few miles in 7 
min. miles.  It felt so good.  I came to the parking lot and was so 
surprised to see David Horton there congratulating the runners as they 
crossed the finish line.  I couldn't believe I felt so good after 34 
grueling miles of mountain trails.  The post race food was amazing.  It 
was the best tasting hamburger I have ever had.   I will definitely be 
running more "Horton" ultras in the future.  It was painful but the 
course was so beautiful.

Thanks again,

Shelley Corrigan