Smith Mountain Lake Dam 50K

New race! It'll be fun! Dr. Horton is helping direct it!

That's pretty much all I had heard about this race when I signed up. That in itself was a very different experience. I have been spoiled by being late to the game with trail running, and benefiting from many, many race reports and friends who shared their course knowledge. Even if I hadn't been on the course before race day, every other race I at least knew something about what I was getting into.

Not so with this race.

I didn't know exactly how long the race was (well, that's not terribly unusual for a Dr. Horton race). Until about a week before the race I didn't know how many aid stations there were, how far apart, how much road in the race, etc. All I knew was there was some infamous "death climb" that Dr. Horton was excited for all of us to experience.

It certainly added an interesting element of mystery and intrigue to run, guessing as best I could where to push myself and where to hold back, since I knew so little of the course. It was a different sort of challenge than I usually get at these races and I enjoyed being a part of an inaugural year for a race.

But I know there are plenty of other runners out there like me who love to plan ahead and read race reports and course descriptions before deciding to run a race. So in the interest of giving back, I am writing a course description, as best I can remember, of this race, hopefully benefiting future runners.

Course Overview

Link to Course on Garmin Connect

Total Distance: 32.33 mi
Total Elevation Gain: 5,000 ft
Total Elevation Change: 10,000 ft

The course is a figure 8 style course. The first loop is almost 21 miles long, and the second loop is a little over 11 miles long. The only repetition in the two loops is approximately 2 miles before you come into the main start/finish area.

The race was well-organized. You come into an area closed off by barbed wire and actually need to sign security clearance papers before entering the parking area (which is behind lots of interesting signs, like "Hard Hat Area" and one describing how the magnetic fields will interfere with pacemakers). There were plenty of parking attendants and signs, it was very clear where to go. Checkin was quick and easy. The bathroom building at the start/finish was not functional but there were several portajohns set up for runners and aid station workers.

Start to AS 1 (Mile 0 to Mile 4.2)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Cross the bridge and head up the hill towards the Visitor Center, at .6 mile turn right at the top of the hill on a road to the right, go steeply up the hill. Reach the top of the hill and go around the gate onto Silver Dollar Road. Pass the tower on the left at 1.55 miles. Continue on the gravel road to the paved road. Reach Toler's Ferry Road (608) and Aid Station 1 at mile 4.27. Turn right and follow Toler's Ferry Road."

My thoughts:
There was little to no warmup in this race. We ran across the bridge and started climbing almost immediately. Dr. Horton had mentioned a "good climb" near the start, but none of us knew how steep or long. The answer? Very steep and fairly long. The first mile took us almost 18 minutes. We gained almost 1,000 ft in the first mile and a half. The first half mile is uphill on a road, and then once you reach the Visitor Center you turn right onto a steep and rocky trail. Then you climb and climb until you're starting to wonder if signing up for a 50K was such a great idea, and whether you will be able to run another 30 miles on these legs. Then you climb a little farther. There was one place where you come to a sort of clearing near the power lines and it looked like maybe you were at the top, but then you turned right and continued to climb for a few more minutes before it levels out. There were some beautiful views running along the ridgeline at the top.  The next few miles were quite nice, on various dirt and gravel service roads. The trail was mostly down for the next mile and a half or so, and then it was rolling with some very runnable ups and downs until reaching the aid station at mile 4.2 or so.

The first climb, after turning at the visitor center

View from the ridgeline

Service roads leading to AS 1

AS1 to AS 2 (Mile 4.2 to Mile 8.5)

 Dr. Horton's description: 

"Turn right and follow Toler's Ferry Road. Green Gate on left side of the road at the bottom of a hill is AS 2 at mile 8.58."

My thoughts:
After the aid station, we immediately turned right onto a paved road. This section was mostly down with a few short climbs until the trail bottomed out shortly after mile 7. The roads were pavement but very pretty and very runnable, especially so early in the race. Around mile 7.2 we started to climb again, but it was still a lot of rolling hills. The climbs were easy to run/walk, and the downhills were runnable and not steep. We reached the aid station at mile 8.5 right on this road. Shortly before the aid station, on a downhill section the landscape opened up a bit, and instead of being heavily wooded there was a large clearing. When you see this you know you are close to the aid station.

Paved road section

Run/walk climbs

Glimpse of the lake about .75 miles before the aid station

Looking backwards at AS 2-note the landscape

AS 2 to AS 3 (Mile 8.5 to Mile 12.7)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Continue on this paved road. Reach AS 3 at intersection of 608 and 672, Ridgeville/Pittsville Roads at mile 12.75."

My thoughts:
 Road, road, and more road. By this point, I was truthfully getting a bit tired of roads. Admittedly I rarely run roads and that certainly factored in. But after almost 5 miles, all the rural roads, turns, farmhouses, and abandoned outbuildings were starting to look the same. These miles can feel a bit tedious. There weren't many landmarks in this section, except for a long bridge. The roads were still rolling until approximately mile 11, then there was a longer climb for a little over a mile. The last half mile before the aid station had a small descent and then a section that was relatively flat.

Most of this section looks like this

A bridge with some nice views (and graffiti)

AS 3 to AS 4 (Mile 12.7 to Mile 16.5)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Reach intersection of 608 and 771 at mile 12.9. Turn right on 771. Reach intesection of 771 and 605, Toshes and Court Roads at mile 14.4. Turn right on Toshes Road. Reach AS 4 at intersection of Jasmine and Toshes Road, 778 and 605 at mile 16.57. This is next to church and cemetery."

My thoughts:
This section starts out with a nice runnable descent (assuming your legs aren't hurting too much from the pounding pavement yet), until bottoming out around 15.2. Where this bottoms out, there was a portajohn next to a construction crane, right before a bridge. I have no idea if it was supposed to be a part of the race, but for many miles before it, there was either barbed wire or people's yards on both sides of the road. It would have been very difficult to find a place to relieve oneself (although men certainly have an advantage in times like these). At any rate, the portajohn was open and frequented by several runners. It was a wonderful site at approximately the halfway point in the race. Aside from the portajohn highlight, it was mostly just more country paved roads, nothing especially memorable. After bottoming out at the bridge, the road climbed steadily to the aid station.

Many miles of country roads and scenery

AS 4 to AS 5 (Mile 16.5 to Mile 21.2)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Turn right on gravel road which is Toshes Road. At mile 17.38 turn left on Yorkshire which is a paved road. At Ford Road which is mile 19.04, turn right on Ford Road (908) and proceed back to the starting area. Reach AS5 and the starting area and the restrooms at mile 21.30."

My thoughts:
After aid station 4, we turned onto a more gravel/dirt road, which offered a blessed reprieve from the pavement. There was a sign about a sandwich shop which sounded delicious at about this point. We ran mostly downhill on this gravel road. Sadly, the gravel ended after less than a mile, as we turned onto another paved road. On the bright side, I knew this meant we were getting closer to where we had started and therefore the end of the loop. While the first mile of this section was downhill, the next two miles saw us steadily climbing back towards the road we had driven in to get to the start. At the sharp right, there was a police car blocking the road and an officer directing us to the right. Definitely won't be missing that turn! From there we climbed for another mile. This road was much busier than any of the other roads we ran on so far, but there was plenty of room to run on the shoulder for most of the way and the road was wide. After a mile on this road, we started to descend. This was a nice runnable descent, and it felt good to stretch the legs out. At one point there is a sign warning of sharp turns and a 25mph recommended speed. From this sign, it's less than a mile (around 0.8 miles I believe) back to the starting area. We ran down for a half mile after this sign, around the curves, until we saw the entrance to the visitor area. Around the corner to the left, and we were soon directed to move to the bike path on the right side of the road. A short stint on this paved bike trail brought us back to the starting area and the aid station at the conclusion of this first lap.

It doesn't actually go on forever. But close.

AS 5 to AS 6 (Mile 21.2 to Mile 22.5)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Turn left in front of the restrooms and go straight across the road onto a single track trail. Ascent the mountain on the DEATH CLIMB. Reach AS 6 at mile 22.7 at the top of the Death Climb."

My thoughts:
Leaving the aid station, we crossed the road onto a trail. Hooray! It was a refreshing change of pace (literally) from the last 17 miles of road. The trail started out very pretty, wooded along a stream. We crossed back and forth across the stream a total of 8 times. The footing was challenging at times, but it was fun. The stream was deep enough to get your feet wet in a few places, and deep enough to splash some cool water on your face if it's hot. Then there was a short section that didn't look like a trail at all, but a clearing where a storm had knocked down several large trees. And after that began the infamous Death Climb. I had been hoping/expecting that Dr. Horton was exaggerating his claims of this climb. He was not. It most certainly lived up to its name. This was the most difficult climb I have ever done in any race. According to my garmin, we gained over 1200 feet in exactly one mile. That's insane. That's approximately a 22.7% grade. Like a ski hill. Only covered in thick trees, roots, and rocks. I saw many runners simply sitting down at this point. I was afraid to stop and catch my breath without holding onto a tree; I really thought I might just lean back and fall off the mountain. I've done longer climbs than this in a race. I've done climbs that gained more elevation. But never have I climbed something so intense for so long. It was almost comical, how ridiculously steep it was. Pictures hardly do it justice, but I tried. There were some nice views looking back as we climbed.

Entering the trail after the aid station

One of the 8 stream crossings

Trail or natural disaster zone? You be the judge

Up, up, up

Yes, they really are about 50 feet above and 10 feet in front of me

Talking to Dr. Horton after the race, he let us know that his first choice was actually for us to cross the dam and take a different trail up the mountain. A steeper trail. But the race organizers didn't believe him that it was actually possible for people to climb the mountain on that trail because it was so steep. So take heart friends, it could be worse.

AS 6 to AS 7 (Mile 22.6 to Mile 26.2)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Continue on the gravel road along the ridge with GREAT views to the right. There are several climbs and descents along this ridge. Reach AS 7 at mile 26.35 at Lakeview Gap still on the gravel road and the ridge."

My thoughts:
After such a long and difficult climb, we at least deserve some great views, right? This did not disappoint.

View from near AS 6

 From there, we started running down a gravel road, but before we could really even get into a stride, we saw another climb. At this point it felt like the aid station workers should have been handing out bottled oxygen because surely the Death Climb was at least 20,000 feet of climbing, how could we seriously be going any higher? But climb we did. There was a series of four good climbs along this ridgeline, each followed by a descent. After the fourth climb, we finally peaked out at the highest point in the race, and started our long and very steep descent on loose gravel roads. The peak was about 1.5 miles before the next aid station, and it was almost entirely down except for one very short climb shortly before the aid station.

Dirt road leaving the aid station

We are going up again??

Very pretty descents

AS 7 to AS 8 (Mile 26.2 to Mile 29.4)

Dr. Horton's description:

"Reach bottom of hill and Jasmine Road (778) at mile 27.50. Turn left on Jasmine Road which is still a gravel road. Go to AS 8 at the intersection of Jasmine and Yorkshire Roads (777 and 778) and mile 29.55."

My thoughts:
We continued our long steep descent down the mountain. Altogether, we descended about 1000 feet in under 3 miles, all on loose gravel roads. We went down for over a mile before encountering any sort of climb at all, and even then there were only a few very short climbs to mile 29. This was not an easy runnable down, it was steep and the gravel was loose, so it was the sort of downhill that took concentration and cooperation from your quads. After hitting mile 29, we climbed for a short ways up to the aid station. I don't have any pictures in this section due to a camera malfunction-sorry!

AS 8 to Finish (Mile 29.4 to Mile 32.3)

Dr. Horton's description: 

"Turn left on the paved road Yorkshire (777), go to intersection of Ford and Yorkshire. Stay left on Ford Road and continue to the finish at mile 32.47."

My thoughts:
Immediately after the last aid station we turned left on yet another paved road. We went steadily downhill on this paved road for almost a mile. There were a few small creeks and a lake in this section that were accessible for splashing our heads and faces in the heat. Then we began climbing again, a climb that would have been runnable in the first ten miles but was definitely a run/walk hill for us at this point. We climbed up to the intersection where the police officer directed us to turn at the end of the first loop. We ran the same road in, steadily climbing for about a mile before starting to descend on that road to the visitor center. At last we saw the 25mph sign, and knew we had less than a mile to go. Around a few corners, over to the bike path, and the finish was just across the small bridge on the bike path.

Steady climb in the last 2 miles of the race

Overall Impressions

This was a well-organized race, especially for a race in its first year, with multiple distances (there was also a 5K event). There were many aid stations, with the longest distance between aid being only 4.7 miles, which made it easy to just carry a handheld water bottle. The volunteers were friendly and helpful at every aid station. The course was well-marked. I would have appreciated a few more confidence streamers in places, but every turn was easy to spot and we had no trouble staying on course. It was exposed though-I wish I had worn sunscreen. 

If there's anything to improve on, it would be small details. The aid stations were like candy stores-lots of chocolate candies, M&Ms, gummy bears, cookies...with very little substantial food, fruit or salty snacks. They did have potato chips at most aid stations. I would have appreciated some PB&J, pretzels, grapes, etc. And the soda was in cans, not opened-I'm sure that the volunteers honestly thought we would prefer fresh fizzy soda, but most of us find it much easier to drink soda that's a bit flat. And maybe skip the diet soda in favor of something with more calories and caffeine. These are very minor things though that would be easy to adjust. The aid stations all had ample helpful volunteers, plenty of water, and lots of food.

I would also have appreciated more restroom access. Many many road miles with no official portajohn stops can make for an awkward race. Perhaps one of the small churches we passed would be willing to accommodate future runners on the course. And there was a nice restroom building at the start/finish, but for some reason it was not functional. It would have been nice to have a real restroom and changing area at the finish.

There was no post-race food included in the price of the race, although there were some food trucks at the finish with food available for purchase. I wish I had known to plan for that, and what options would be available with approximate costs.

The finishers' shirt was a very nice tech t-shirt, plus we received a regular cotton shirt when we checked in. I especially like how the finishers' shirt is extra long and fits nicely.

The Top 10 awards were also very unique and specific to this race. They were special trophies made to hold one of the core samples they took when building the dam. Admittedly, part of why I think this is great is because I am not normally a top 10 finisher. It was pretty fun to win an award and be in the top women's picture, since I am usually in the mid to back of the pack. So thank you to all the women who didn't run, I owe this trophy to you. :)

Would I run it again next year? I'm not sure. There were an awful lot of road miles for this trail runner. I don't train on roads, and found it tough to deal with so many miles of pavement. Yet I'm not sure this would be a road runner's favorite either, because the trail sections-while relatively short as far as mileage-are quite rigorous and demanding. I did very much enjoy the challenge of the two big climbs, the one at the start and the Death Climb, and the views were gorgeous.

If they created a 25K option, by combining the 5K course and the 2nd loop of the 50K course, I would definitely run that. I think a middle distance option here would be very appealing. The Death Climb would be a bit gentler on relatively fresh legs, and the 10 miles of gravel and paved roads would be far less pounding. Another good suggestion was to make the second loop just a little longer and turn it into a half marathon. A middle distance like that could appeal to either road or trail runners. Just my opinion though.

I'm grateful for a well-organized race, a beautiful day in the mountains, gorgeous views to enjoy, friends to run with, and a chance to be a part of something new. 

From left: Myself, Rhonda, Dr. Horton, and David

Terrapin 1/2 Marathon

I love the Terrapin half course.

Nowhere else I know has such variety-demanding climbs, long technical descents, incredible views, water crossings, and plenty of boulders-all in such a short course.

The first time I ran this course was in 2012. I had just started running and really had no idea what I was doing. The next two years, I ran the 50K race. And last year, I did the half course with two ladies doing it as their first trail race-we were not racing at all, but enjoying the day and taking lots of photos.

Since running Hellgate a few months ago, I've been just running for fun. I've stayed in shape but haven't trained rigidly like I do before big goal races. Still, I thought it would be fun to try to beat younger me. My 2012 time was 3:22. I was hoping to do it in 3:20 this year. Our last training run was closer to 3:30, but we weren't racing and there were a few places we had stopped for pictures, so I was hoping to be able to make up the time.

The morning started off comfortably cool, in the lower 40s. As we stood around checking in and waiting for the prerace briefing to start, it seemed to be getting colder. I changed into my cold weather contingency clothes, switching out shorts for capris and my tank top for a long sleeved shirt, plus my prized Hellgate jacket. I was wearing a pack, but without the hydration bladder, mostly just for the convenience of pockets for snacks and my Salomon soft flask, plus the option of stashing my 12oz water bottle when I needed my hands.

Soon we lined up near the start, and the gong sounded-what a great way to start a race! We all headed out down the road. It was about 15 minutes before sunrise and there was just enough light to run up the road without headlamps. Several friends were nearby and it was nice to start out together. My first goal of the day was to run the first mile without walking. It's mostly flat or slightly uphill, and followed by a long climb, so I wanted to get some running in while I could. I made that goal, and finished the first mile in 10:30. Then we set in to run/walk (well, mostly walk) the long climb up to Camping Gap. There were still a lot of people close together, which made the climb go by relatively quickly. The sun came up and it was a beautiful morning to be out. I started to feel warm at a few points up the climb and wondered if I had overdressed. Before I knew it, we were taking the hard right turn off the fire road and arriving at Camping Gap at 1:02. I was very pleased with that time, knowing it was several minutes faster than we had done on the training run and I was still feeling good. The aid station crew there was great, very cheerful and helpful.

From there it was on to the toughest part of the climb, the better part of a mile up to the Terrapin summit. This part is always tough on the legs, but every time I climb it, whether training runs or races, it does seem to get a bit easier, if only because it gets more familiar. Even though it felt like forever, it actually took less than 20 minutes to get to the summit. There was a line at the bib punch and I had to wait for 5-6 people to punch their bibs, but it was nice to rest for a few minutes and catch my breath.

From there, we ran along the ridges towards Fat Man's Misery. It was nice to be able to stretch the legs out a bit in between rocky patches, and remember what it's like to run instead of just climb.  Now I was not only glad I'd chosen the long sleeves, I started to wish I had added gloves. Before long, we were at Fat Man's Misery. Once again, a bit of a traffic jam. I was pretty tickled to have to wait; when I ran it as a 50K, or ran/hiked last year, I was pretty far behind the pack by this point and had it all to myself. I was quite flattered that I was in the mid-pack still at this point in the race. It didn't take long and we were all through and back on the trail, ready to take on the pounding downhill.

There are a LOT of rocks in this section, and it's very steep. I tried to run hard enough to push myself, but still concentrate on not tripping. Going through the rock garden, I found myself wishing someone would come and paint a few rocks that wouldn't move as you stepped on them so I'd know where to step. The part afterwards feels especially precarious, and is the most challenging section of the course to me, when it's so steep that I often find myself sliding down more than running. Thankfully, the recent rain had given the ground a bit more grip than when it's dry and dusty, and my legs were able to just keep up. I arrived at the last aid station at exactly two hours into the race. I was thrilled with that time. I knew I had run the downhill much stronger than I had any previous time on the course, and yet my legs did not feel trashed and I was looking forward to running strong on the last section.

I was trying to remember exactly how long the race was. My watch said I'd only gone a little over 7 miles by this aid station, but I thought it was pretty close to 13 miles. I decided to do my mental math with 6 miles to go. I was hoping to run 6 miles in 80 minutes, which sounded very doable. I started to get excited about beating Younger Me.

My main goal for this section was just to run as hard as I could the whole time. I'd kept that up so far today and wanted to finish knowing I'd really given my all the entire day. If I did that, I'd be happy with any finishing time. Coming in and out of the last aid station, I'd seen many of my running buddies-Ruth, Rhonda, David, Joe, Tim...it was fun to know that we were all having a good day out there. I chased Rhonda down during the first part of this rolling section and chatted with her for a few minutes. I was experiencing Selective Runner Memory, whereby I remembered this section as having much more downhill and much less uphill than it actually had.

Eventually, we did get to the boundary signs about the edge of the forest, and it started to go downhill. Now this was the running I remembered! It really felt glorious to run hard again, after many miles of challenging climbs and treacherous descents. We blazed through the rest of the swoops in and out of the mountain, and through the last big stream crossing. I ran hard down the rocky road, faster than I normally would but feeling confident and strong and trying to eke out the best finish I could. I ran with a few guys during those last few miles and we really pushed each other to keep going strong. Finally, the picnic table! One more mile. No walking now! We came out to the paved road and headed over the bridge. My last miles friends took off here and I couldn't catch them anymore. There's one last hill that's not big, but just large enough to be annoying when the finish line is so close. Then you can see the finish line, only it's still almost half mile away and you have many cows to run past before you get there. Finally, finally, we came around the corner to the gate. Another girl and I turned the corner at the same time and we both turned on the jets for a sprint across the field. And we were done! 3:02. Twenty whole minutes faster than Younger Me. So much better than I had hoped for!! I was thrilled with my time. It was a great day out there!

The best prize of all was finishing before the freezing rain and snow began. The 50Kers and slower half marathoners definitely had a tougher day as far as weather conditions. Hats off to them.

It was great to watch so many friends finish. Lots of us had set PRs for the course, and everyone seemed to have a good experience out there. We enjoyed a delicious post-race meal of bbq sandwiches, and as icing on the cake, I won a pair of socks in the giveaway.

All in all, it was a magnificent day on the mountain. Can't wait to come back next year and try to break that three hour mark!