The rain started slowly on Friday night, but by Saturday morning there was a steady downpour. I was thinking about Larry’s Jersey Shore Marathon report … had to laugh again, but now it wasn’t so funny thinking about doing an ultra in cold, wet, windy, weather.I figured that Larry’s prayers were answered, and we were going to get a taste of a really miserable day. Before breakfast, Margie and I started talking about just going to pick-up our t-shirts, and conserve our bodies for Charlie Horse, and for the Laurel Highlands Ultra, which was just three weeks away.We had some pancakes at Denny’s in Winchester, VA.I started thinking about ultrarunners, and why the hell they do what they do.Monica Schultz is going to be doing Badwater, a 135 mile run across Death Valley where the temperatures are typically 125 F, and crews have to pour water on their runners every quarter mile to keep them from dying.I figured there was no way we were going to wimp-out because of bad weather, so we’d better figure out what gear to wear, and get to the start.On the way to Yellow Spring, WV, from Winchester, VA, the skies started to clear-up, and the pancakes and coffee started to kick-in, so we were ready to go.

The beautiful green hills around Yellow Spring (could call them mountains since they appear to be about 1000 feet high) were particularly enchanting as their tops were covered by the misty light fog and rain.This place was a fairy tale.I expected a friendly troll to greet us as we crossed the bridge past the country story and took a right turn to Ruritan Park.The race director, Lynn Golemon, greeted the 150 or so runners that were gathered inside the community building where the post race BBQ chicken dinner was to be served.Lynn informed us that this was a small community, family oriented, type of event that benefits the local volunteer fire department, and other local causes.They want to keep it that way.The trails are on private property, there are well marked, and by-the-way, they are just beautiful.This group is very well organized.It warms the heart to know that there are still places where everyone seems to know everyone, and there is a feeling that they come together to do their part to benefit the community.One also knows that behind the scenes, there are very strong individuals that take ownership and have the passion to make events like this happen.

The racecourse had a bit of everything.It was constantly changing.We started on a road, then climbed a jeep trail to a single track, then across some logging roads, across a grassy field, to well stocked aid station with several friendly volunteers.Then down into some very technical single track, and then crossed a rushing stream back-and-forth about 20 times with water up to our butts (didn’t get my butt wet … only came up to my quads, but I heard Margie complain that the water was too cold on her butt).We then started to get into the mucky sections.Mud and muck, more mud and muck, then some more mud.Then cross a stream to wash off the shoes.Climbed up to the power line on the mountain top where the wind and rain were burrr cold … beautiful view of the mountains and valley from this point.

There were sections of this course that reminded me of every trail run that I’ve done:The single track at White Clay, the rocky trail of the AT, the jeep trails of Holiday Lake, the powerline of Buzzards, the rocky jeep trail of Umstead, and even some very steep climbs like Conestoga.However, Capon Valley also has some beautiful sections that are signature Capon Valley.

This was a tough course.Although the plan was to be conservative, we ran hard just to keep warm.The sun never really came out all day, but it was still a gorgeous day for a run.Never fell down.Never lost my shoe in the “shoe sucking mud”, didn’t get a blister despite soaked shoes and some pretty hard downhill running.Didn’t even catch a cold.

As we were approaching about 5 hours and 50 minutes into the run, we got back to Yellow Spring and a guy said “great job.If you hurry, you can break 6 hours”.Margie said to me “you want to run hard and go for it”.I said, “I’m running as hard as I can already”.Margie took off like she was doing a 5K for the last half mile or so to the finish.When I crossed, she was standing there with a big smile on her face as I crossed the line in 5:55 something.We had a great run and a great time.Didn’t have to wait too long for the shower, and then I wound up winning a door prize at the awards ceremony.The BBQ dinner was worth the price of admission.

Only problem with sending out this race report is that more people may want to do Capon Valley next year.It sold-out this year, and this is the sort of event that could easily attract 500 runners within a few years.However, they want to keep it a small community event, so it’s going to be a tough ticket to get in the future.