This was the
14th Annual New River Gorgeous Trail Half Marathon held by Ace Adventure Resort and Tri State Racers in Minden, WV, just outside of ‘the
coolest small town’ of Fayetteville.
Camping and
running around a lake, with a race that offered ‘free’ camping for race
weekend, all with a low registration of
less than fifty bucks? Who wouldn’t jump on this?
The flight
into Charleston, WV is just an easy hour drive away. But apparently the actual
arriving/departing flights are always an issue, as both my flights arriving and
departing were delayed.
Luckily I
arrived just in time (literally only 10 minutes to spare) for my first
excursion of The New River Gorge Bridge Walk. Yep you guessed it, I got to walk
the steel under the bridge 876 feet up and over the New River! Seemed like a pretty calm thing compared to some of
my travel adventures, but I thought it would be a cool introduction to the area
as the race is in fact named New River Gorge-ous. (it wasn’t until later I
learned the race course goes nowhere near the bridge). Once it was all said and
done, I walked away really enjoying the experience and highly recommend
checking it out! Not only was the guide and tour informative, but it was a
whole other feeling. I mean, the bridge literally shook, and the sound of the
traffic was intense. We had a couple opportunities to actually sit down and
enjoy the view as well, watching the white water rafters below, which was
exciting as I was going to be partaking in that the day after the race.
I finally
got to settle into my home away from home at Ace Adventure Resort in the early
evening.
Although
there was free camping for the runners, and you could actually rent
tents/sleeping bags, I had decided to upgrade to the ‘tent cabin’ (a YURT of
sorts on a wooden platform with a roof and 3 beds) because it was still cheaper
than any hotel. If you just can’t handle the camping experience, no worries,
there are regular cabins to rent, or you can bring your RV.
The
bathhouse in the tenting area was bare minimum and really not a place I could
picture myself getting clean. However, there was a huge and ‘new’ bath house in
the trip departure area that was much nicer, except the one cold shower.
Ace
Adventure Resort is located on a small lake which is packed full of not only
inflatable fun, but also a zip line, a BOB, and a cool slide. You can buy day
passes to play all day or part day.
There are a
wide range of other activities including but not limited to zip lining (day and
night), horseback riding, and rock climbing,
Fayetteville
is a short15-20 minute drive to town where there are a few other very good and
unique restaurants to try out, such as Pies and Pints and Secret Sandwich
Society.
Firewood and
supplies are located right at the Ace check in. There really is no need to
leave once you are there.
PACKET
PICKUP
Packet
pickup was done the morning of the race at 930a. The race was set to start at
11a, but because it seemed most volunteers did not show, it took them longer to get
everyone checked in and registered….yes they even allowed same day
registration. We started about 20 minutes late.
We received
a shirt in the packet as well as coupons.
There was no opportunity for any fuel/gear/race souvenir purchase.
COURSE
The race
includes a half marathon, 8.5mile, and 5 mile option which runs the trails
surrounding Ace Adventure Resort. The 8.5 runs the same exact course as the
half until the very end. All three start at the same time, and there is no
official line up, which lead to very tight quarters in the first couple of
miles. Once we were into the woods (which was very soon and up until the very
end) the paths were single file, making it difficult to pass slower runners and
also made it hard to see your footing if you ran too close or did try to pass. Because the race reporting was messed up, I do not know the actual number of runners, but I assume it was less than 500.
The
elevation difference was about 1700 overall according to my Garmin. The course
is a very technical trail with lots of turns, steep hills, cliffs, dirt, tree
roots, and big rocks. You constantly have to pay attention to foot placement to
avoid falls and twisted ankles.
COMMUINICATION
There was an
event page on Facebook and Ace Adventure had a page as well in which they put out
limited information the couple of weeks before the race. The actual website is
very limited information however, and I never once received an email with any
direct race details.
HYDRATION/FUEL/PORT POTTIES
There were 3
water stops for the half marathon. Being a late start and knowing that the
temps were going to rise to 80, I made sure I carried a water bottle with me,
and I am glad I did. I was able to fill it up at each stop, which consisted of
one volunteer manning a cooler and cups of water only. Not once was there
Gatorade or fuel of sorts.
Surprisingly,
I never over heated or dehydrated, as almost all of the race is in the
wood/shade and I never ran out of water. Breakfast was coffee and left over
pizza, which probably wasn’t the best of decisions, but I just wasn’t hungry. 11am
race time is a very weird time for figuring out eating. I brought with me 2
leftover GU chomps, but unfortunately I did not have enough fuel to keep me
going. I absolutely was not prepared to have no Gatorade/fuel provided.
We were also warned at the start that there would be no porta potties on the course, that you would just have to go on trail.... welcome to West Virginia!
We were also warned at the start that there would be no porta potties on the course, that you would just have to go on trail.... welcome to West Virginia!
RESULTS
Before I go into my results of this race, I’m going to take you back five years to my first year of doing the ‘half marathon a month’ when I travelled to Miami to do my very first and only ‘trail’ run. I walked away from that race, the only DNF race in my life, and swore I would never do another trail run. It was also in August and I knew absolutely nothing about trail running. Which also meant, I had no idea how much longer it takes to run on trails vs road. I scheduled my flight out that day entirely too close to what I thought I should be finished, and I had to DQ myself. I left that race so embarrassed and defeated. I really had no desire what so ever to do another trail run again.
Well, then
came WV New River Gorgeous half. I jumped on it because I thought it sounded
fun, inexpensive, and I knew the area had some great whitewater rafting for
afterwards! It was quite funny as I opened my running magazine on the airplane
and realized it was focused on trail running. I took away tips from experts that
actually helped during the race. But little did I know just how much of a technical
trail this was going to be. It was very exciting in the first few miles and we
even came out to an overlook of the River. At about M6, I was about ‘done’ with
hills. It seemed we were constantly going up and never coming down. Every turn,
there would be another incline. Before the half way mark, I was definitely down
to walking the inclines, then running the straightaways, but also having to
walk a lot of the downhills as there were huge rocks to avoid slipping on. I just kept
telling myself, I could not get injured as I will be hiking the Grand Canyon in
a few weeks! We got really spaced out on the 2nd half of the course,
that I literally only saw 1 or 2 people for the rest of the race….and then I saw no one. We came across
a small waterfall and creek on the 2nd half and I kept forcing
myself to focus on enjoying the scenery (vastly different from Florida beaches)
and not focus on the lack of energy. By about M10, even walking the inclines
were exhausting. I had to stop and latch onto a tree as my breath had escaped
me, I felt faint, and I started to panic because I was all alone. Luckily, I calmed
down, continued on, and shortly after, one of the guys in charge came up on a
4wheeler making sure I was okay. I asked if I was last and to much surprise, he
said no!
FINISH
I crossed
the finish line with another runner right behind me, but there was literally no
race people at the finish. The Finish Line sign was still up, and the clock was
still ticking, but no water, no medal, no direction, no one to make sure I was
ok.
A lot of
families were enjoying the lake amusements, but I felt they also got an
amusement of me staggering in too. It took all the effort I had to make it into
the restaurant, where I knew they were going to have a burrito buffet for us
and that is where I found all the runners as they were waiting for the last
runner to do awards. I immediately cramped up, yet still could not find any
Gatorade….well, that was because there was none. Still. You had the option of
sodas or water. No orange juice, no chocolate milk, no fruits, no bagels, no
chips, no nothing. Beer was $1, which if I had known, I would have ran with
money. Thankfully the bartender was nice enough to let me have one as I offered
to leave my Garmin behind. Highly disappointed, I grabbed my medal, and forced
myself to eat a couple of tacos.
Come to find
out, the race did not announce a ‘cut off’ time, yet results are not posted
past 3:11
SHIRT
The tech shirt
is unisex and matches the medal.
MEDAL
The medal is
generic without a mention of date
OVERALL
THOUGHTS
I had an
absolute blast the entire weekend and despite the piss poor results, I thoroughly
enjoyed trying something not only new, but out of my comfort level. I highly
praise trail runners. It is a whole other level of the word ‘runner’ or ‘athlete’!!
Not only running at elevation, but running on uneven terrain steadily for 13.1
miles is exhausting in itself, but add in the mental strength you need to
constantly be planning and focusing where your next step will be so you do not
get injured. Trail runners are BADASS. Bottom line.
I love the
concept and location of this race, but the execution could be much better. First
off, better/more communication of race details for out of towners would be
nice. A different race start time for each distance would help the crowdedness.
An earlier start time would be nice to avoid the heat. Gatorade or a fuel drink
on the trail is a must. More volunteers for check in would get us to start on
time. The burrito/taco/nacho buffet was awesome, but would be nice to have more
after race friendly food/drink. (aka bananas, oranges, recovery drink, beer). Despite
all of that, I would recommend the race if you don’t mind all of the above, but
you are also looking for a challenging course combined with an activity filled
weekend. Once at Ace Adventure Resort, you don’t have to leave the property the
entire weekend, you get to embrace with nature during the race, and try some
exciting excursions in the area all arranged by the same resort. Overall, since
the course itself and the partnership with the resort is the only great thing
about this race, I would have to give it a C- in my books.
THE NEXT DAY
The next day
since my flight wasn’t until late, I did a full whitewater excursion of the
Lower New River. I had a fun group of girls on my raft and it was a beautiful
and exciting day.
State #23
Half Marathon #53
www.donate.breastcancermarathon.com/2016-marathon/melissajohnson
