Walton Rea's Staging Area

This race truly has it all, from challenging terrain to breathtaking views, spectacular support, and runners with great energy. You’ll be left both wishing you boogied a little faster to catch the next person in your age group and regretting not slowing down more to take in the views. TL; DR: I’d recommend this race in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a serious challenge with huge rewards. Hope to be back next year!

The trails range from wide gravel/ cinder with gentle (and not so gentle) hills, to technical and rooty with steep climbs and treacherous descents, to sunny rocky outcroppings. The elevation gain is not to be taken lightly (though if you really build it up in your head to impossibly difficult and all directly up the side of a mountain the way I did, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how “gentle” parts of the course actually are).

The other runners were what made this race unforgettable to me. So many kind folks who were ready to lend a hand if you were in a rough patch, chat and get to know you, and guide you in the right direction through the tricky route.

When they say study the map, they mean study the map! The trails were painstakingly marked with tags, there were cones at nearly all the turns, and kind folks pointing the way at the really tricky spots. But despite all of that it was entirely possible to get turned around and off route if you didn’t have a pretty decent understanding of where you were meant to be. Study the map well or stick to a local like glue 😉

The supporters had a lot of love for the locals they knew and plenty of extra energy and cowbells for the folks from out of town. Thanks to everyone who cheered us on.

The organizers and volunteers were incredible. Both hyping you up and telling you looked great but also looking you in the eyes to make sure you were actually feeling as “fantastic!” as you claimed.

Aid stations had plenty of goodies: “real” food (like peanut butter crackers, bananas, and a special shoutout to the PB&Js at the Maiden Cliff aid station), “fake” food (gels, electrolytes to add to your water), and sweets (m&ms, starbursts).

Thank you so much to everyone involved in making this race so spectacular, I had an absolute blast!