A Report on Ring Redemption

The 2023 Ring Race Report - A Tale in Multiple Parts, By John Calabrese

Intro

Last year, I DNF’d The Ring in a horrific fashion. I was ready to tap out early on due to the heat. I couldn’t ration my water or get comfortable; it was just a brutal day. I made it to the aid station after Kearns with no intention of proceeding.

The Ring is a difficult challenge because it’s hot and the terrain is hard and time consuming. There’s 13 miles to cover before the first aid station. Then it’s 11 miles before aid station 2. After Aid Station 2 you go through an exposed section called Duncan Hollow where it is extremely easy to get into DNF mode if you weren’t already there after the first 2 sections. In addition, after Duncan there’s a really difficult climb called Waterfall, that in many cases KOs runners or puts them into damage control mode so that the goal of the rest of the race to try to survive.

Going into the 2023 Ring I was 1-1 and ready but not cocky. It’s okay to fear this race because every phase is hard and many people drop, even legends.

Leading Up To The Race

The week of the race I ran 3 miles every day. I was real busy but I did my best to eat well, hydrate, and get proper rest. I had just DNF’d Eastern States 100 a few weeks back and really wanted to get a finish at The Ring. Luckily the two nights before the race I was able to get my drop bag and gear together.

Race Morning

I got up around 3:30 am and got my pre-staged gear ready, ate, dressed and got out the door. I got to the start at 6 am. I dropped off Denise’s homemade bagels (thank you, Denise! [Editor’s note: Thank you, Denise!!]) and my Gatorade contribution. The Ring is heavily sponsored by the VHTRC, but in true fat-ass fashion all runners must do their part and contribute to the cause.

I put on a chipmunk costume I have in the trunk of my car (Alex P I will return…I’m so sorry I keep forgetting but I will be wearing it at The Woman’s Half volunteering!) I then took pictures with people and hung out for a bit.

Close to 7 am, we all gathered around and paid respect to Q and Bur. This was the last time they’ll be race directing The Ring. A lot of the amazing vibe of this event comes directly from these two legends . They will be missed but VHTRC always has others highly capable in waiting and this race will live on always. (I know I plan on doing it as many times as I can.)

Go!

I ran with these two guys for a bit talking about highly inappropriate medical conditions and worms coming out of random orifices…it was entertaining but they got ahead of me. I then ran with John Hord but noticed Tonnie Warfield had a good strategy pace-wise so I passed John and hung out with her.

This year was warm for the first 13 but nothing like last year. I had a lot of leftover water in my bottles close to the aid station so I downed the remaining and fully refilled them. I ate cookies, chips and more cookies. I felt pretty good at this point, and I was on top of gels and salt.

Things Start Getting Rough

I started having problems between miles 14-24 once the temps started rising. I took gels every 45 min to an hour and was taking in salt and hydrating but I was still struggling. I was running mostly with Tonnie but here I think we got separated a couple times though we pretty much stuck together. I want to say around mile 20 or so our buddy Erin Altemos caught us and we all ran together. Erin went ahead when we got close to aid station 3 but waited for us there.

My plan at the aid station was get fully right before Duncan Hollow. I was already having issues and that really worried me going in there because it’s hot and very exposed. I drank an Ensure, pickle juice, lots of water, fruit and a little candy. I felt much better but not confident for Duncan Hollow.

Things Go Awry

Tonnie, Erin and I move from the aid station and head into Duncan. It was hot but much better than last year temp wise. There was even a breeze at times but it still was rough. I was tailing Tonnie and Erin most of this section. Usually Duncan Hollow is more wet but it wasn’t as bad this year.

The closer we get to Waterfall, I’m getting worse. I’m extremely dehydrated. About a mile or two before Waterfall, Erin goes ahead of us. Charles Salsgiver runs with us for a bit. I ran the Reverse Ring with him for a while this year. He saw me fall off a log and completely fall into a creek. It was so cold out. We told Tonnie the story to pass time. Tonnie went ahead of us some and I started really struggling. Jessie Parker setup a camera and got me looking rough on top of Waterfall. I was close to passing out.

Crisman Hollow Aid Station

I needed help badly here. I owe a lot to Jamie Austin, Jessie Parker, Jose Cardenas, Frozen Ed and I’m sure I’m forgetting others but I was rough. I drank close to a bottle of seltzer, an Ensure, ginger ale lots of fluids. I tried to eat solids and instantly felt like I was going to throw up. I got myself right and Erin and Tonnie both were waiting for me so we headed off together. Charles somehow left the aid station fast. I don’t know how he did it but I needed some time there to get myself right. It was bad.

Recovery

I really owe Tonnie and Erin a great deal. Going through Kearns they set a great pace and I was having major issues recovering from the previous parts of the race. My stomach was not happy but I was able to maintain here. They were far ahead of me most of this section but I did my best to stay close and get myself together through there.

About a mile to the next aid station Erin went ahead and I ran with Tonnie. It started to get dark but we were thrilled to be done with Kearns before dark. (Aim to do this always when running the Ring.) Normally when the sun goes down the weather gets cooler. I had packed multiple long sleeve options just in case but you know what? I didn’t need any of that stuff because it didn’t get cool. There was little airflow out there, just hot and stagnant.

Much Needed Rest

We got to the aid station in pretty good spirits. I tried to eat a burger but could only stomach 2 bites but this was progress. I drank a seltzer and put one in my drop bag. This was much needed my stomach was so sick of water and Gatorade at this point. We get ourselves together and head out.

Short Mountain isn’t that bad, it’s not even long!

I forgot how miserable this stretch was. Tonnie started having problems immediately. Erin and I made it a point to not get too far ahead because they did it for me it was only fair. Everyone has a part of this race they fall apart on because it’s that hard.

Erin was an extremely valuable friend on this portion to Tonnie and me. We talked about the writers strike, Baltimore, The Wire and a lot of other topics out there. As bad as Short Mountain is it’s really nice being out there at night with friends. This was my favorite part of the race.

Erin and I got a little ahead of Tonnie once we got close to the aid station but we waited for her at the aid station.

We took some time here and got right. I was in no hurry to leave and Tonnie needed a min after that section so we took a break. Runners coming in were DNFing left and right.

Things get weird

Almost immediately after we left I got massively tired. Erin went ahead, I believe pretty early on in this section, and Tonnie and I just toughed it out. It wasn’t pretty and I remember thinking it would never end. Both of us were very tired going into the next aid station.

The volunteers were nice but we were really out of it. Erin had already left because we had really slowed down.

Sleep running

Tonnie and I got even worse on this section. I told her many times that I was falling asleep and I kicked a lot of stuff. Also, we questioned if we were going the right way around areas that had a lot of fallen trees. It is almost funny looking back on it now (definitely not at the time) we were just looking around for orange blazes as best we could. This part was tough, it took a long time but when we got out to the road we knew the aid station was close and daylight would be back. It took both our brains to get through this stretch!

Final aid station

We saw our buddy Guy and the other volunteers and they had a nice little setup. We got what we needed, got some much needed encouragement and off we went.

Tonnie and I both were pretty delirious as we passed the turn to the wetland and kept going straight so we had to turn back and find it. Didn’t waste too much time though. We proceeded through the trails hoping the gravel would come soon. When we got there and started making the final climb a bear ran across the road. We were pretty shaken. Kept hearing noises too but we pushed on and got to the overlook. Tonnie took a lovely picture and we proceeded to the final descent.

A rocky goodbye

Signal Knob is beautiful. Under different conditions it would be pleasant but our feet were looking rough, we were tired and just ready to be done at this point.

I didn’t sugarcoat what we were about to do to Tonnie. I wanted her to be aware it wasn’t going to be easy but it was almost over. We plugged away the best we could through here. Another runner passed us and we were both happy to see someone else! It had been many hours! We kept hoping rocks and doing the best we could on cruddy feet. We started to see people waiting on other runners. We saw Sam N and Shelia V. It was nice to see friends. We wanted to be done so badly.

About a mile from the finish Tonnie told me to go ahead. I didn’t want to but we were right there so I told her okay and I went as fast as I could to the end. When I saw VHTRC at the end I was so happy. I talked to everyone, bullshitted, and ate the most amazing breakfast burrito in all my life and had a delicious cup of coffee. Thank you Tracy Cooley for taking pics.

I couldn’t stay long because I needed to get back home to my daughter. I got home showered and was so sleepy I took a long nap with my daughter (who wasn’t feeling well and needed the rest, too).

Thoughts on The Ring

I love this race so much. I plan on going back next year again.

If you do this race respect it and the people that work hard to make it what it is. I am so thankful for VHTRC putting on The Ring. The trail community is truly lucky to have such an amazing club and have had Q and Bur do this race for so long.