Massanutten 100 pacing experience

"Almost heaven West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains Shenandoah River

Life is old there older than the trees

Younger than the mountains blowin' like a breeze.

Country roads take me home

To the place I belove

West Virginia mountain momma

Take me home country roads"

I've never been to the west side of Virginia before. This weekend was the first time I experienced Massanutten mountain and its beauty. After seeing Shenandoah River, this song popped up in my head. My dad likes John Denver and we've sung this song (Take me home, Country roads) since I was young. It's good to be able to connect the song with the landmark.

This weekend I, together with B. and T., had an honor of crewing and pacing R. (Master) on his 20th finish at Massanutten 100 (MMT100). It was also the first time he had crew and pacers at the race (the previous 19 times he ran it solo - no pacer, no crew). It started with R. telling me to enter this race when I was thinking about which 100 miler I wanted to run after the CC100. After talking to other people who have run this race before, they all said it's challenging and VERY technical and rocky (which is not good for my ankles). However, I still entered the lottery for both Vermont 100 and MMT100. It seemed like the Ultrarunning God knew I would not be ready for MMT100. I did not get in the MMT100 lottery but was picked to enter Vermont 100.

I heard a lot of good things about the Virginia Happy Trail running club from R. and wanted to experience the race and the community. So, I asked him if I could come out and pace him at MMT100 this year. T. and B. also wanted to come to the race. So, we organized our road trip.

We left for Massanutten on Friday morning and got there just in time for the pre-race meeting where R. got recognized as the runner with the most finishes (another guy was also running his 20th MMT100 this year). MMT 100 is an old school 100 miler with no other distance. It's a club race and most runners who enter the race are club members.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast before going to see R. at Aid Station 5 - Elizabeth Furnace (Mile 33.3). It got really warm during the day (the RD later told us that it's the most challenging weather condition in MMT100 history). A lot of runners slowed down as it's still early in the season and they were not used to running in the heat (yet). R. came through the aid station still looking strong. We got him in and out of the aid station quickly.

T. and B. picked him up at AS#9 - Habron Gap (Mile 54) and ran 16 miles with him. After leaving Habron Gap, I drove to Camp Roosevelt (AS#10, mile 64) and took a nap while waiting for them to come through. At that point, many runners had dropped or did not make it to the cutoff as it's the biggest climb from Habron Gap to Camp Roosevelt. After they left, I drove to Gap Creek to wait before I started pacing R. (mile 70) around 3am.

After leaving Gap Creek, we began climbing. R. looked really tired at that point. My job was to make sure that he kept eating, drinking, and moving forward. It was also a good training run for me to run in the dark when I was tired. Massanutten trail was all ROCKS. Every step you step on rocks (either small or large or sharp or loose rocks).

Below is the picture I took when the sun came up on top of the mountain. The view was breathtakingly beautiful.

R. had some stomach trouble after we left Gap Creek but he felt better when we reached Visitor Center AS (Mile 78) and he could eat again. Phew. Below is the selfie I took while we ran on the road section before we got to Visitor Center aid station.

After the Visitor Center, we began climbing again to Bird Knob aid station (Mile 81). At that point, R. said he was hungry again (and that's a good sign in ultra running). We ran through the Overlook (picture below). The temperature got REALLY warm at that point and I struggled to stay hydrated.

We reached Picnic Area aid station (Mile 88) 15 minutes before the cutoff. There we met T., B., and T. (our crew) and we tried to get R. in and out of the aid station as fast as we could.

Both of my ankles started screaming after 15 miles on those rocky trails and downhill run on loose rocks and the last descent from Scothorn Gap to Gap Creek on loose rock fire road made it worse. Once we reached the road section (Mile 95), I knew R. had enough time to finish. I told him I was going to slow down and walk because I did not want to aggravate the pain, and that he did not have to worry about me.

He started to pick up the pace by doing his R.H. shuffle. I walked to Gap Creek aid station (Mile 97). B. and T. gave me a ride back to the finish so all of us could see R. finished the race. Below is the picture of me after 27 miles on rocky trails looking worse than some 100-mile finishers.

This year MMT100 shortened the course by 3 miles but they also made the cutoff time 1 hour shorter (35 hours instead of 36). R. finished his 20th MMT100 and received the 2,000-mile buckle. 

It was great to be part of this epic adventure. I am glad I had a chance to experience the trail and the race without having to enter the race. Honestly, I don't know if my ankles can handle the technicality of the trail for 100 miles. They are now stronger than they used to be but 27 miles on that trail were enough to wear them out.

As for the race and its community, I love how laid-back and friendly they are. I could tell that everyone there (the RD, committee, volunteers, and crews) understands and loves the sport. Maybe I will change my mind and try MMT100 in the future (when my ankles are ready) but as of now, I'm ok with being a pacer and crew at this race.

Sydney

p.s., there was no phone signal (or sporadic) in the mountain so it was a REALLY good mental break for me.