Sticks and Stones...

“I'm allergic to rocks hitting me in the face.”
― Mike Rowe
Two years ago I traveled to Virginia to run in the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100.  I did not succeed in finishing.  Apparently a rugged and notoriously rocky 100 mile race is not the place to test a new brand of socks in relatively unfamiliar shoes.  Lessons learned: There is no substitute for Drymax and a new ride is not always better.  I DNF'ed at just over 60 miles in with massive blisters under my metatarsal pads on both feet.

I made a valiant effort at field surgery but succeeded only in traumatizing the child who was watching me hack away at said blisters with a dirty pocket knife in an effort to save my race.  There are times when the situation cannot be salvaged and the best thing to do is curl up in an ass-ball and admit defeat.  This was one of them.  I made it all of 100 yards out of the Camp Roosevelt aid station before waddling back to call it a day.

While I initially went through the usual self-doubt and second guessing that follows a DNF, I felt somewhat justified when the bottoms of both feet peeled off like slabs of flank steak over the next couple of weeks.  Lessons were learned.

Yup, there's a reason they say "Massanutten Rocks!" I think I remember kicking that rock.  And that one.  And that one...

Fast forward almost two years and I am sitting at #1 on the MMT wait list with a little over a week before the final refund deadline and three weeks until race day.  Unless the universe is setting me up for massive disappointment I should get a shot at redemption.  But nothing worth doing is ever easy and MMT is no exception.  While this race may look easier on paper than some of our mountain races out west, it is a deceitful harlot and is not to be taken at face value.

Massanutten may not be above treeline or have as much elevation gain as some races but it makes up for this by employing a handful of insidious contrivances.  First off, the infamous rocks in Virginia do not move when struck with little piggies and they are countless in number.  The climbs, while not overly long are steep and bountiful.  Lastly, the humidity is so overwhelmingly oppressive that it would be almost comical were one to be an outside observer rather than a willing participant.

All said, my plan going into this race will be very simple: I am going to leave the MMT course by crossing the finish line or by being dragged un-cerimoniously over some very pointy rocks.  That is all.