VT Ultra 50k Race Recap

This weekend didn't go at all as planned, but we're ok by that! The original plan was to drive to Virginia Beach and race a road 25k in Kristen's hometown. Then winter arrived (for the second weekend in a row) in the form of ice/snow on Friday causing the race to be cancelled and us staying in town. The silver lining, however, is that this opened up the opportunity for us to race the VT Ultra 50k held locally in the Jefferson National Forest. It was a very low key race - no entry fee, no support personnel, no t-shirt - just a course and a few coolers worth of food to get you through the distance.

I (Jordan) decided to assist with the race production by running with a fellow VT Ultra teammate, Rudy to mark the course ahead of the other runners. We started at 7:50, a good hour ahead of everyone else.

Somewhere during the first loop...probably on Snake Root

Rudy running up Jacob's Ladder

Due to the fresh snowfall, the trails were beautiful, plush and definitely runnable, just VERY slow. Many of the trails had a layer of thick ice from last weeks precipitation hiding under the fresh 3ish inches of snow. We created the first sets of tracks on several of the trails which is always a fun experience. It took a tad under 4 hours to cover the first loop of the course. 

Loop 1 marked in purple ~18.5 miles.

Loop 2 in purple ~ 13 miles

Kristen (who opted to sleep in and let it warm up some) joined us at the start of loop 2. First we circled back around to the last portion of the course near the pond to make sure it was marked, then we set off to complete the course. Loop 2 takes you down Poverty Creek to Royal, then to Prickly Pear, Right on skullcap back to Poverty Creek. Poverty Creek took us back to Jacob's Ladder, where Rudy peeled off to head straight back and Kristen and I climbed up the mountain. At the top, we followed the fire road/ Horse Nettle to Jaberwokie, which was crazy fun running/falling downhill in the snow!

Near the beginning of loop 2.

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!
(Pics courtesy of Stephan Sabo and Rudy Rutemiller)

Near the marathon mark (for me)... somewhere halfway up the mtn.

The last stretch around the pond felt pretty long. The snow was much more slippery and our bodies were very tired from all the climbing and stabilization necessary in the snow. We were so happy to be done! It was a great ending to a great day, though anti-climatic finishing in a parking lot of full of cars but no people (they were all still running or hiding from the cold in their cars!)

Finished! I ran the entire 50k while Kristen ran ~13 miles.

Thanks VT Ultra for the time and energy put into this race... It was great motivation to get out and brave the elements and definitely a keeper!

Written By: Jordan