Ring 2013- Neotrail batting 1.000!



Cam, Slim, Coach, Kimba and The King

 

        5 Neotrailers made the trek to Virginia for the Ring Labor day weekend. Not bowing to the 50% attrition rate all finished. Cam led the way with Slim battling stomach issues a bit further back. The King started at a crawl and finished at a dead sprint over the last half of the course. Kimba posted another stellar finish and Coach swept the course. Allison came down and did a super job bouncing from aid station to aid station throughout the event. Great time was had by all! Hope to see more Neotrailers down at the Ring next year. Coach's race report tacked on to give an idea of how it went.

 

Coach Hanks Ring 2013 Report

 

 

  Here's my race report from Ring 2013. First some history. Ring 2012 finished with me cramped up and staggering into Edinburgh at mile 48. Here's what I now know. I could have finished but through a combination of being too much of a wimp and a lack of knowledge I quit. Learned a lot this year and here's how it went.

   Neotrail contingent of Allison, Cam, Kimba, King, Slim and Coach spent Friday night at Portabella. Got my prerace briefing from Cam. Went something like this: "Stay behind Kimba" Not exactly "Win one for the Gipper" but whatever works and it seemed to, even if not exactly as planned.

   Fueling plan was Perpetuem supplemented with salt pills and endurolytes and very little solid food. This needs tweaked. More to follow.

    Foot care was pretty much throw a pair of trail shoes in drop bag and throw them on before Kerns. Start in road shoes. No fancy socks, no tape and no lube. Felt guilty watching everyone taping and working on their feet. So how did my plan work. Outstanding! No blisters at all! No out of the ordinary soreness. Blaming blistering at MMT 2012 on shoes and running downhills too hard. No gaiters either. Very happy!

    Chaffing. Nipples figured out long ago with big ass, wide band aids. Early summer has been killing me, especially on the end of my pee-pee. Seen plenty of others wearing compression shorts and bought a pair about a month ago. Put a little Vaseline on before Ring and did nothing else for rest of the day. Absolutely no chaffing. Feel like I hit the lotto.

    On to the run. Stay behind Kimba. That's what I did. Stayed behind for 71 miles and finished. Here's the highs and lows of how it happened.

     Kathleen, the freak of nature from the planet Krypton, ran a double ring with a reverse ring Friday and regular ring Saturday. She wanted to meet Kimba so said hello as she ran by us on an uphill. Unbelievable! Kathleen crushed a double ring!

     Guy in a kilt, with what appeared to be a bagpipe inflating under the front of it, ran into us and was astounded to meet Kimba. Shouted "Hey, you're the girl I see whenever I Google MMT". Think Kimba was tickled and he definitely was.

     Ran in front of Kimba at Duncan hollow. Gnats were so thick that my hand was operating like a windshield wiper. Every pass caught a full handful of nastiness. They were in every exposed body orifice. Hard walking and running to get out of them. Waited for Kimba at the top where they weren't quite as bad but never lost them until Waterfall.

      Waterfall no issue at all. Took our time and just steadily climbed. Hit the switchbacks and had a little cheering section of 20 somethings. That was awesome! Not sure where they came from. Started catching people and at Crisman Hollow there was carnage. One guy was sitting in a chair shivering uncontrollably. 90 degress outside. Yikes!

       Turn for the worse. At Moreland I ate a few bites of a sandwich and my stomach knotted up. To that time I had eaten a popsicle, small triangle of quesadilla and one pierogi. Lots of water and Perp with the salt and endurolytes. I think too much fluids and Perp. From Moreland to Woodstock was miserable. Coming off Short I told Kimba I was going to sit for a while and get my shit together. She was concerned how Slim would take it if she left me and when I told her not to worry she was off. Sat for a while but still felt like crap so got moving. Heard someone coming fast so stepped aside. The King blew by me at 5k pace. By the time I realized who it was he was gone into the darkness. Staggered into Edinburgh feeling like crap and wimpy. Sat in a chair and tried to sleep. Beautiful lady who smelled like heaven chatted me up and offered food and fluids. Even offered to pace me rest of the way. Turned her down because figured I'd be crawling. WTH! Think I'm really slipping. Got offered numerous rides out and aid station thought I was done. I quit there last year and was going to crawl to Woodstock if need be. Shelly and Diane getting ready to leave so I hopped on the back of them. Interesting strategy. When they climbed they would sit and take a break every so often. I was way on board with that strategy. Stayed with them until about 2 miles out of Woodstock where I turned into a staggering, whining mess. Hadn't eaten or drunk anything since Moreland. Washing my mouth out with water every so often, Made up my mind I was quitting and staggered into aid station.

      Allison was at Woodstock. Very cool to see someone I knew. She's too nice to say but I must have looked like hell. Sat in the chair and I was done. Figured Allison would drive me out. She got me a half cup of chicken broth and ice water in my bottles. Drank the broth and sat there felling sorry for myself. Heard that Shelly and Diane were leaving and hopped out, hopped out might be a bit strong, of the chair and headed down the trail. Started using the mantra. "Don't be a pussy, Don't be a pussy" Felt miserable but my mood was better. Halfway to Powell my stomach unknotted and started grumbling. It was awesome. By the time we got to Powell I felt a hundred percent better and was starving. Had some fantastic oatmeal. Chatted with the aid station folks. Met Caroline and she took a picture of this handsome guy. Her words. Think "Hot" may have been in there but not sure. Shelly was suffering so took her a while to get going. Enjoyed the fire and oatmeal and Bur stopped in. We were the caboose of finishers so they could shut down.

   Made the hike up to Signal Knob and the scramble down. It sucks just like everyone except Cam says but it's also the end so not too bad. The girls wanted to hold hands and skip into the parking lot. Held hands but didn't skip. Women. Finished as a threesome and had a great time. Great food at the finish and after suffering and slowing down I was pretty much recovered. Grilled cheese with bacon was out of this world. Got a "71" sticker and cool "Pee'd on the electric fence" pin and invited to reverse ring. Slim thinks that's a given. Fricker is probably right.

Diane, Coach and Shelly on Signal Knob

ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!