VHTRC's Fat Taffy Kiss 50K was a lot of fun.  John and I got to the start just as RD, Joe Clapper, was saying the countdown 10,9,8,7?  Wow.  An 8:00 start means 8:00 sharp!  We hustled into the dinning hall where thankfully Tom Corris was there to show us where to sign in, rambled off the course description and wished us luck.  Since it was my 1st time running on this section of Bull Run trail and John's 1st ultra, I didn't want to get us lost in the first mile of the run.  Luck was with us.  The melting snow and the rains from the night before flooded a large section of trail, which brought the back of the pack to a stop.  We had caught up and started feeling a whole lot better.  We had to bushwhack our way around the underwater section, which wasn't so bad because about 70 other trailrunners ahead of us had done a good job clearing the way.  Sometimes it's better to be late and hang in the back of the pack.

Anstr was taking pictures and gave us a valuable shortcut to take on the return trip.  I'm still somewhat of a rookie but have learned that when someone with as much trail experience that Anstr has, you pay strict attention.  Thanks Anstr!

The course starts at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park in Clifton, VA.  It's an out and back on blue blazed Bull Run trail.   The trail was easy to follow because of the blue blazes; long blue ribbons and the muddy tracks left behind by fellow trailrunners.

It's a fat ass event so one never knows how much aid is going to be out there.  I thought we packed enough aid but found that we were dry when we got to Fountainhead.  We were running with Phil Silas at this point.  Phil was smart to pack a few $1 bills and generously shared with us two PowerAde drinks from the vending machine.  The water was shut off for the season. John and I would have been very cranky by the time we got to the next aid station.  A big huge THANK YOU to Phil!  I'll remember to pack a few $1 bills for next year.

It was a muddy day and was worried that John might not be having fun.  He bought his 1st pair of running shoes about 7 weeks ago and decided he wanted to run an ultra with me.  His longest run was 2 loops around Carousel Park for 1 1/2 hours.   John has never even run a 5K before.  I said, "Honey, let's run for 2 hours then turn around and run back".  He said he felt good and wanted to keep going.  hummm.

"Jose Cuervo" was manning the next aid station before the "Do Loop".  Jose does a very good job with cookies, candy, Pringles, sodas, water, salt and lime.  We hung around there for a while then Phil said he was going to run the "Do Loop".  Since I have only seen the Rambler on the website, and John wanted to run the whole thing, we decided to do the "Do Loop," but before we left, Jim Moore gave us more trail description.  Jim is another very experienced ultrarunner that you pay strict attention to.  Well, we ran the "Do Loop;" it was very tough but we did see the Rambler.   Phil, John and myself took up Jose's offer and celebrated the start of the return trip back to the finish.

I told John we are on an 8.5 to 9 hour pace and with that he started to run faster.  John took the lead with Phil behind him while I made a pit stop. They had stopped to wait for me way off to the left when the trail leads to the right.  I yelled to John and asked if they took a short cut, nope, must have been talking about football.  Eagles vs. Redskins Sunday.  So they were just a little off trail?  Gotta look up now and then!

We came across Bill Parlett.  Bill pulled something at JFK and was taking it easy today.  We told Bill that Phil is right behind us. So we continued on.  We remembered the shortcut that Anstr told us to take and followed pink horseshoes up to the parking lot and then into dinning hall.  Anstr took our picture and RD Joe Clapper checked us off the list, congratulated John and pointed us to the pizzas.

What a wonderful event.  Joe Clapper does a great job of making sure everyone has a good time and is back home safe and sound.  We finished in 8:12 and I am so proud of John.   He is in great shape and he must have done some secret training.  I guess Santa will have to buy him some trailrunning shoes for Christmas.

--Margie

Snow, slush, water and mud.  Rain, flooded river, slippery downhills, minimally marked trails - constantly off trail (lost?) and two aid stations.  And I survived it!  That sums up yesterday.

Basically, the tougher section of the spring Bull Run 50 miler, with an overflowing Bull Run Creek.  The Do Loop I did with another person, so was generally on trail.  Beyond that, I tended to get off trail whenever I lost concentration.  All told, I probably missed trail 5 or 6 times for up to 800 yards (once, on a great downhill) at a stretch.  We had several water crossings, in addition to many, many creek crossings.  The start required some bushwhacking due to high water.  Fortunately, as slow as I was, the creek was down on the way back.

--Tom G.