One of my Strava friends posted that the Night Train Half Marathon was the least fun you can have in a half-marathon. I told her to multiply that by 2.5 and you would get the least fun you can have in a 50K. This isn't a race-bashing post. Although I can be critical of races I know how hard it can be to organize, direct and time a race. The "least fun" label actually relates to the course, not the race organization.
Just two weeks after running the Windsor Castle 10 Hour, Cindy and I ventured to Farmville, VA to do the half-marathon and 50K respectively. I wanted to get a long run in at night for training and Cindy, at the last moment, said that she would do the half-marathon.
Farmville is a quaint university town in Virginia, home of Longwood University and Hamden-Sydney University. The 31 mile High Bridge trail runs through the town, the site of the races. Greenfront Furniture and Rugs was born in Farmville and is the center of commerce in the town beside the universities.
Night train means that most of the 50K runners would run the latter part of the race and finish at night. This meant that the race would start in the evening, specifically at 5:30. Except for a few 5K's I had not run a race that started in the evening, especially an ultra. I have run an ultra into and through the night but had not had to wait around all day to start a race. Waiting around was a challenge. We didn't want to go out and hike around or be too active all day but sitting around would make us a bit more anxious. It was also a challenge related to eating. After having run hundreds of morning races at all distances, I had the morning eating routine down to a science. But, with an evening start, I needed to determine breakfast, then lunch, and even a light afternoon snack.
Now let's get to the weather. It was early summer in the middle of Virginia with a start time of 5:30. So, it was the hottest time of the day with the temperature being 90 degrees. OK, so this is expected. I chose to run this race during this time knowing darn well it was going to be hot. Of course, being the highest temperature of the day meant that it was going to get cooler, relatively speaking. When I finished after midnight it was around 72.
The least fun part comes with the course. Running over one of the longest, highest bridges in the country was appealing and it was beautiful, although the only thing you could see were trees. Due to Covid, the start was moved to a section of the course called Camp Paradise which was just a half-mile or so from the bridge. We would cross it early and then cross it just before the finish. The high bridge trail is 31 miles long. For most of the trail, trees and bushes enclose the trail so there are no views of anything. However, the trees provided shade and protection from the piercing sun. Five miles from the start and five miles from the finish, we would run through the heart of Farmville and past Three Roads Brewery. How I wanted to stop there and join the patrons cheering us on and having a nice cold one. We did have a cold one there the evening before and it was quite tasty.
Aid stations were between 5-6 miles apart, nice volunteers, well-stocked, had popsicles and ice, watermelon, and coke. I love coke in an ultra! I am not sure why but this course was measured to be 16 miles out and 16 miles back for 32 miles. I am not sure if the RD didn't know that a 50K is 31 miles or not or why it was measured that way. It was a straight, flat out and back course. It doesn't matter in the long run since we all had to run the same distance. The course was monotonous, straight, flat, encompassing trees around the trail. It was like running with blinders on.
"I will tell you when it happened in the race but to be honest it happened before the race." This was a quote from someone on a podcast and after my epic equipment failure in this race, it was all that I could think about. I decided to use a minimalist pack to carry a few items. For water, I carried a handheld but wanted something to carry a buff, collapsable cup, gu, and lights. The pack had an issue with the clasp which I thought that I fixed a week before the race with duct tape. Hey, duct tape fixes everything, doesn't it? Well, later in that week the tape was not working so I decided to try velcro. That seemed to do the trick as long as I opened it gently.
So, a mile into the race, the velcro came undone and the small pack was hanging loose on my shoulders. Cindy mentioned using a safety pin to try and pin it. I tried, and it worked for a little bit but in the process of trying to pin, I dropped my buff and later found out my collapsable cup. Then I had to try and find a way to tie it but still allow access to and use of the pockets which had my gu and lights in. It worked but when it got dark I tried to get my handheld flashlight and I had tied one of the strings through the string of my flashlight and could not get it out of the pocket. I also could not untie what I had tied because I had tied everything in knots. So then I tried to get my headlamp out and again it was in a pocket that was tied shut but with enough opening to struggle and retrieve it. Finally, I get it onto my head and can see where I am going although I only needed to go straight. The last miles, maybe even 10 miles, were miserable. I usually feel decent after completing a marathon or ultra but with this one, I was just glad it was over and I could go back to the hotel and sleep. It was not fun. It wasn't fun at any point.
Cindy met up with a family of raccoons on her journey. I don't think she had much fun either but it was a weekend away in a new town and we did something active. So, from that perspective, it was a good weekend, but just not a good race.
The organization and the volunteers were great and I am not complaining about any of that. For me starting a race at 5 PM with 92 degrees didn't agree with me. I am a morning runner and the later it gets in the day to start running, the worse it gets. For you evening runners, this race might be right up your alley (or your trail). There is also the Freight Train Ultra 50K and 100K on the same trail. Just know what you are getting into, straight out and straight back, flat course. It might sound good. It's not!
