Calabrese Corner

I’ve never run the Elizabeth Furnace 50k before. My schedule prevented me, or I just forgot to sign up and couldn’t get in off the waitlist.

When registration opened this year, I said to myself, this is it — I’m finally going to do it!

I was completely naive about the terror that was about to ensue out there.

Race Day
I was extremely lucky my buddy Charlie Poffenberger called me the night before and wanted to talk gear for race day because I was so busy this week, I just laid out shorts and a shirt. That would have been a huge mistake.

After talking to him I added just a poncho to my race kit but when I woke up the day of the race, something told me to bundle up, so I added pants and a light coat.

I left around 4:30 am and caught up on podcasts that I couldn’t listen to all week because I was listening to pop jams with my daughter, then got to my regular sketchy 7-Eleven to use the restroom. It was packed, with a dude checking out Redbox (didn’t even know people did that anymore) and a van full of people having an intense conversation; it had me wondering why people were up at this hour! I thought I was the jackass, but I was about to learn the hard way that I definitely was, and that I was way worse than my 7-Eleven friends.

I got to the Signal Knob start area and was relieved to see that there was a lot of parking. I was worried that with so many runners it would be limited. [Editor’s Note: It WAS very limited this year by the time the race started. With our 74 runners and then a handful of early volunteers in the lot, there were virtually no spaces left aside from the area around the finish that we blocked off for the finish and the Signal Knob Cafe.]

I brought Q my assigned bottle of Coke, talked to Tony Taylor and Zach Weinberger, and just kind of tried to stay as dry as I could with the early morning drizzle.

I did something dumb: I didn’t bring gloves. Luckily, Ted Bielawa let me use a pair of mechanic’s gloves that he had in his trunk. This was very kind, and Ted, I’ll give them to you at the next VHTRC event. They may be dry by then!!

My logic was I could just keep my hands in the poncho, but with my pack setup and stuff it just didn’t work that way. Definitely needed gloves!

Go!!
It was already wet at the start when Q gave us our brief and sent us out. I definitely was not feeling good about this at all. I knew with the weather I was going to be wet with sweat and rain all day and just not be able to get comfortable.

I hung with Charlie up the initial climb up the orange trail towards Signal Knob, and we had a good conversation which distracted me from the crazy weather. I wanted to take off the poncho, but every time I wanted to it would get cold or start raining, so I just left it on. Part of my strategy for this one was knowing that I wasn’t going to be going fast. I mean I always want to finish fast, but sometimes in wet conditions with the added layers on these trails the main thing is not become hypothermic later. Getting a finish and staying healthy is always my priority.

Luck
As bad as the forecast looked, we didn’t get much real rain for a while. There were many water crossings either headed into aid station one or right after. When we arrived at Aid Station 1, I pummeled coke and ate a delicious ham, cheese, pickle, and mustard wrap that Q made. I always go for real food on a race if available and this race is pretty low key so it was very nice of him to make us food. [Editor’s Note: You’re welcome - tho you must have brought the cheese, as these rollups were Cheese-Free 😁. Also, the 1st Aid Station comes at the end of five stream crossings on the purple-blazed section of the Mudhole Gap Trail. From here, it’s a short stretch of orange-blazed fire road, then a steep climb up the Massanutten Trail to the ridge line, so almost all the water crossings were out of the way at this point.]

Bad Luck
We were on a slow-moving section when Ashley Carr and a few others passed us but Charlie overheard something that worried me. She said she really wanted to get to a spot before the rain. I mean we knew it was coming and were very lucky it held off but now it was Anton Sigur in No Country for Old Men. Ominous. Calculated we were on a collision course with this force.

Does Luck Even Exist, Anyway?
This is where things got ugly. Charlie and I kept up good conversation up to this point, talking all things sports, movies, etc., but when the rain came, as bundled as I was, I got really cold. Two parts of me in particular: mainly my arms and my hands. My arms were not protected by the poncho and the light coat I was wearing, which initially worked. So, I didn’t sweat much, but my the arms were soaked through. That sucked; but worse the gloves Ted gave me were also soaked through. Make no mistake, Ted saved my ass loaning me these-if I wasn’t wearing them I would have had to drop for sure.

Just Staying Alive
I was starting to waffle, I was in my head and kept thinking about my arms and hands freezing, and I started to think about dropping at aid station 2. Then we got a nice downhill and linked up with Carol Cohen. She pepped us up and I was able to warm up and come back to life. I told Charlie I was on the ropes back there, but we got the downhill right when I needed it.

Aid Station 2: The Furnace
This was tough because I really needed to eat. I didn’t eat enough out there the last stretch but also we couldn’t stand around out there being that wet for very long. I ate everything. Zach Weinberger gave me coke - it was delicious. I ate chips, chocolate covered graham crackers, roasted potatoes, and everything they had. I felt like the dude at a buffet that was on the brink of being banned. I pulled myself out after a while, and Charlie and I went on.

The Long Walk
Charlie’s teeth were chattering-we definitely stayed too long. We tried to run as much as we could to stay warm, but I was pretty spent at this point. I knew this last bit would be hard. Charlie also was stronger than me here, too so I wanted to tell him to go ahead, but he’s such a good dude he knew I was out of it and there were a lot of people getting lost so he hung with me. This section felt like the night portion of an ultra. I was so spent I wanted to talk to Charlie and I had interesting things to discuss in my head but I just was a shitty hang trying to survive.

So Close
When we got close to the parking lot Charlie went ahead and I do not blame him. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he left sooner. I was in bad shape.

One Anticlimactic Finish
When I got to the finish it was Charlie, Q and a few saint-like volunteers. I wish I could have been more friendly and hung out some, but I was soaked and needed to get the wet clothes off.

Thoughts on EF
This is a really hard race. I don’t do good in the rain. I’ve DNF’d many races due to rain but if you consider doing this race, think hard on what your goals are for it and use that to prep for the gear you will use. I picked a pretty good setup, but I should have brought gloves(that was really bad on my part).

Overall, I did what I wanted to do and got a finish I’m extremely glad I didn’t stop at aid station 2 and that I had Charlie with me (if anything I give him this one because he definitely could have left me sooner I was slow and again just a tough hang out there).

Thank you!
Thank you VHTRC especially the volunteers that stood out in the rain to take care of us. It was rough but for better or worse this is the stuff I love doing and I’m so grateful I’m in a club that supports my questionable judgement.

Photos