How woud you like to spend a week running and hiking some of the most scenic single track in the Eastern US? At the end of each day you arrive at a comfortable camp and enjoy a big meal sit around a campfire with friends. That’s exactly what seven ultrarunners did during the first week of August.Thanks to organizer Eric Grossman I was fortunate to join Eric, Kevin Townsend, Roger Sutton, Doug Blackford, Byron Backer, and Neal Jamison on a six-day stage run starting near Irwin, TN and finishing at Grayson Highlands state park in Virginia. Each day’s stage was between 15 and 39 miles, which made for some long days on the trail. Eric, Byron, Doug, and Kevin each completed the entire 160 mile run (Byron was short on the last stage by a few miles), while Roger, Neal, and I finished some but not all stages.Each day’s stage was self-supported.
While we were on the trail, our crews took down camp and set it up at the next stopping place. Eric designed the stages so that we would end near a nice campground. As the run progressed the crews and runners developed freindships and enjoyed the camraderie of a shared experience. The run couldn’t have happened without the crews: Robin Grossman, Irene Backer, Anne Townsend, and Melinda Day.The stage run was not all fun and games. Each day the runners suffered blisters, black toenails, sore muscles, and exhuastion. The worst part of the entire run was when I was stranded in the woods without a flashlight at dark on the longest stage. I had to bivouac seven miles from the end of the stage. My crew and the entire group suffered a night of uncertainty until I emerged from the woods the next morning. This was undoubtedly the one aspect of stage run we could do without. It was due to a stupid mistake (forgetting to pack a flashlight) and totally preventable.
Read the full article at http://www.ncultra.org/article.php?story=2007080905262139
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