This race brought out the best (and the worst) in everyone, depending on how you look at it. Roadies loved the repetitiveness of the miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was blanketed in a thick fog for most of the race. The solitude of those sections of the course lulled me into a zen-like state in which my legs seemed to move effortlessly and with no conscious thought. By contrast, the trail monsters loved the exhilaration of bombing down the rougher terrain. I think everyone out there felt that both their strengths and weaknesses were exposed, resulting in no one runner being able to dominate all sections of the course.
In the men’s race, it was Geoff Roes who brought home the victory after early leader Michael Wardian took a wrong turn and created a detour for himself and Dave Mackey called it a day after 33 miles. Wardian never gave up, finishing in a solid 2nd place, followed by Matt Flaherty. The women’s race was won convincingly by local (D.C.) resident Ragan Petrie, who took the lead at 41 miles and never looked back. Second and third were Devon Crosby-Helms and myself. More on my personal race experience next week.
(photo credit: Competition Imaging)
