Rattlesnake 50k

Charleston, West Virginia

July 10, 2004

 

 

It all started wanting to go to something new and different. An ultra runner, who I’ll call Mud Runner, suggested doing the Rattlesnake 50k. Of course, the name concerned me, living in an area that has some rattlesnakes almost as big around as a car tire and I was worried that being in the wilderness during the summer brings those jammies out in the open. Mud Runner told me that there were no rattlesnakes and that the race was not named for the abundance of the reptiles. However, I was still skeptical and questioned the cabbie, who gave Iva Lightsey, who has been renamed Iva Livingston, a ride from the airport to the hotel. He says that they do have rattlers and a lot of Copperheads.  I really got happy when I heard about the bears. If that wasn’t enough, I was informed that the course was inhabited by Yellow Jacket bees at a certain point and had been notorious for attacking runners every year. I had been stung by several Yellow Jackets at Stump Jump in Chattanooga, TN last October and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the bees on this course. Sheer dread.

 

Mud Runner had secured rooms by visiting the Internet often. Promise Keepers were having a convention and had all the hotels from dog cheap to sky-high hotels full.

 

He instructed the hotel that Raz Estridge and Iva Livingston would be staying in one of the rooms. We had lots of fun trying to persuade the desk clerks that Livingston and Lightsey were the same person.

 

Mud Runner arrived unexpectedly and Iva gave him a lesson on what her name is. I thought I was going to fall on the floor laughing. She pointed to the lights above and said, “Light,” while making a C with her fingers as she said the last syllable of her name.

 

The trail was straight up and then straight down. Some of the down hills, in my opinion, should have had switchbacks and some of them did.

 

The trail was well marked. Iva once again insisted on getting lost. Says she was distracted helping out another runner who was in distress. I guess that’s as good as an excuse as you could come up with.

 

It had been warm and humid just like home and heated up as the day wore on. Thank goodness for the thick canopy overhead to help protect from the sun. An afternoon storm came up with the works. Lots of lightning, thunder and tons of rain. Ahh, the rain was refreshing. The trails became flooded in no time. There were a lot of puddles that formed that we got to splash through. Made me feel like a kid again. I wasn’t too concerned with the lightning due to all the cover the forest trees provided. Iva took cover under a rocky ledge. I have no idea how long she stayed there. The storm had settled in for a long while and I was having too much fun in the rain to pay attention to how long it lasted. I got cooled off and did a lot more running.

 

Rob Apple’s time was slower than what it would have been. He was running with a cute blond helping her finish the course. Wesley Fenton, Rob’s best friend ran the course with me which slowed him down.

 

We had a great time chatting along the way until the storm came. It was too loud to carry on a conversation. It was great running with someone who had run the course before. I kept getting updates on our whereabouts and how much further we had to go to the finish.

 

The flooding rain flushed out a baby snake. Wesley said that I almost stepped on it. We backtracked to see what kind it was. All I know is that it was about four or five inches long and solid brown.

 

The Yellow Jackets had found another place to live. Turns out, no one got stung this year. The volunteers were prepared with Benadryl capsules. 

 

Andrew Colee from Florida was present celebrating his birthday.

 

Dennis Hamrick, Jr., did a fine job race directing. He had excellent aid station workers that were very friendly and helpful with plenty of eats and drinks. A very nice post-race dinner, too, of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixin’s.

 

The course is beautiful, tough and well marked.

 

I hope to return next year with more Mississippians in tow.

 

C’mon, ya’ have ten hours to complete the course and you get a very large, heavy medallion for doing so!

 

Raz