Race 37 Rope Mill Trail Half Marathon

There were four really great things about this trail race:

1.  I did not get stung by bees this year (stung 5 times during race last year)
2.  I did not fall in the river this year (there was no river crossing this year, last year got completely soaked)
3.  No knee pain - walked the entire race - no running.
4.  It was free!  For volunteering for a previous race, they gave me a free entry.

Hard to beat that!

Being an early person, had no problem getting to the race early enough to snag one of the 50 parking spaces - once filled, participants had to park a half mile way.  With plenty of time I decided to explore a bit and came across a WARNING NOTICE that said:

Use of these trails is at your own risk.  This site contains ruins of the historic 

Rope Mill...foundations, slab, and flume are unstable...extreme caution.

Yeah, this sort of got my attention...

Actually the trails we did were in a different area, so that was good.  But the sign intrigued to find a  bit more about Rope Mill.  Apparently it was a mill that produced cotton ropes that were used for plow lines and well-water buckets prior to 1900. 

At 7:45 the Race Director called us all together to go over a few pre-race items. 

note the beach ball...

Although this year's race did not contain a water crossing, Lisa (RD) did have an "alternative' for those who just would not think the race was complete without going into the water.  Note the beach ball in the picture above - these were tied with string and a rock and each contained some type of giveaway.  They would throw these into the river and whenever you were passing by that part of the river and wanted to get one - just go for it.

In case you are wondering - I did not partake in the activity, was glad to stay dry : )

At 8:00 AM we were off for the half marathon and at 8:10 the 5Kers were off.  We did a lot of zig-zagging and up & down.  I'm not sure what the total elevation gain was for the race but it was pretty hard.  I know it is not possible but it seemed like we were always going up.

Truth be told, at about mile 8 I was ready for this to be over with.  It was getting hotter as the sun got higher in the sky.  Seemed like every time I turned a corner (and there were a lot of them), I was going up hill again.  And, it appeared that the course might actually have been more than 13.1 miles.  My Garmin read 15.62 miles when I finally finished.  I do suspect my Garmin  (FR60 with Footpod) might need a calibration check, but at most it would probably be plus or minus 5-8%.  

However, I did finish the race, and for me, that is what counts.

Race 22 - Rope Mill Trail Run

I read the race description on the Mountain Goat Adventures website:

"This won't be your run-of-the-mill trail run...expect a course with a bit of everything including buff singletrack, ATV trails, knee deep river crossings, embankment climbs, coasteering, and some craggy scrambling."

Hmmm...  I've never done a race with a river crossing, but what the heck, it's warm outside, and I have no idea what coasteering or craggy scrambling are, but again, what the heck.  So I signed up.


This was my 3rd Mountain Goat Adventures race and Lisa (Race Director) always has something important to tell us about the race just prior, so all gathered round and listened:

Once again they had a 10 mile and a 4 mile version of the race; I signed up for the 10 mile.  So at about 8:00 AM, we were off.  The first couple of miles were uneventful.  However, we all knew that just after mile 3, we'd be in the river.  I caught glimpses of folks in the water as I made my way along the river and just as promised, at mile 3.1, there it was:

Okay, I really did know better, but I wanted to get pics of the river crossing...

Yep, it just wasn't my shoes and socks that were wet after I fell into the river!  Oh well, I'll try to dry the camera out later : )


Okay, the river crossing was checked off the list and now we were looking to do some coasteering or craggy scrambling.  So we carry on on the course and all of a sudden - BEES!!!  People were getting stung left and right, I got stung twice, immediately started running as fast as I could to get away from the bees.   So we were about a hundred yards up from the bees when the trail takes us down an embankment to riverbed, with about 6 inches of water in it.  Well this was not a crossing, the trail was actually in the river bed.  So we are all queued up in the 6 inch deep water making our way through the river bed, when all of a sudden, -BEES!!!  Once again, GET.OUT.OF.THERE as fast as humanly possible.  Got three more stings this time.  


This was no longer fun.


But the crowd thinned out, the 4 milers were gone, hanging with some other back of the pack folks, and no more bees.


So Jeff, Amanda, and I are moving along at similar paces, talking, laughing a bit - okay this is becoming fun again.  We come around a bend and notice a girl walking very slowly and we ask her if she is okay.  She (Katie) was having an allergic reaction to the bee stings!  Jeff and I stayed with her and Amanda headed for the next aid station to get help.  Gave Katie some Gatorade, checking her breathing, observing her, this was getting serious.  She felt like she was going to pass out, so we sat with her waiting on help.  At that point, Jeff stayed with Katie and I took off for the aid station to measure the distance.  Got to the aid station, they were on the phone with 911.  Wasn't too long before Race First Aid, Fire Rescue, and Police were all there, on bikes.  This was way too much of an adventure.


Back to the course.  The bee stings were hurting like hell, but I'll take that any day over an allergic reaction.  Once again, a few uneventful miles, but uneventful was so welcomed by this point.  When I got the end of the trail I cross paths with one of the Race First Aid guys and inquired about Katie.  He confirmed that she was getting the medical attention she needed.  That was good to hear.


I finished the course, but I have no idea what my time was.


I still have no idea what coasteering or craggy scrambling are.


And yes, the answer was "D", all of the above...     : )