Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/4269422540
My friend Amie Martin had run the Mohican 50 mile ultramarathon several times and her enthusiasm for this race encouraged me to register in 2020. Due to the pandemic and issues securing event permits for Mohican State Park, the course was altered to follow roads and private properties in the hilly land surrounding the park and rescheduled from June to October 31. In the weeks leading up to the new event date I decided to upgrade from the 50 mile to 100 mile distance. I was able to talk Amie into doing the same. We trained together and typically keep a similar pace on trails, so we decided we would stick together in the race until or unless one of us felt the need to slow down or run ahead based on how this were going. A lot can happen over the course of 100 miles.
I drove to Ohio two days before the race so I wouldn’t be traveling all day right before the big run and stopped at Cuyahoga Valley National Park on the way to enjoy a casual 3-mile hike in the rain.
I admired the fall colors and a couple of water falls before heading to Loudonville and checking into the Little Brown Inn, conveniently close to packet pick-up and the start/finish line.
I took it easy and checked a couple of the scenic overlooks that I could drive up to at Mohican State Park on Friday morning. Later that day I made a last stop at the grocery store, picked up my packet, and met up with Amie, Jason, Ed, Misty, and Tim for dinner at Landoll’s Mohican Castle. After receiving a really nice pep talk from a friend, I hit the hay early.
RACE DAY
My alarm went off at 3am. I ate a banana and some avocado bread before riding from the hotel to the start line with Jason and Amie. We sat in their truck with the heat on, sipping coffee until it was about time to start.
The first ten miles of the revised route followed rolling paved and gravel county roads. We walked the ups and ran the downs, keeping a careful eye the ground for rocks and potholes. At around mile ten we reached Mohican Wilderness and a stretch of about six miles of singletrack trail. It was steep, with rocks and roots, but the sun was beginning to rise.
After five miles of trail running through the hilly forest and a short stretch of paved bike path along the Mohican River, we reached the first crew stop at mile 15.
Jason was there with some hot vegetable broth and encouragement (Tim slept in since the plan was that he’d be up all night pacing me the final 38 miles of the race). Jason also sent us along with baggies of PB&J sandwiches.
After leaving the crew access point we ascended a grassy hill and then were back in the woods. It was about 9am and the morning light through the forest was magical.
After winding up the hill through the woods for a couple miles we were back on roads. Miles 17-22 were relatively flat and followed the Mohican River. We struck up conversation with other race participants as we made our way to the next aid station at Camp Mohaven.
At the Camp Mohaven aid station (mile 22.5) I ate some ramen, refilled my hydration pack, and wiped the sand off my feet and changed into a fresh pair of socks. Then we followed two-track roads through the woods for a few miles, which were muddy in spots and sandy in others. Those roads stayed up high on the hill for a while before descending to connect with some hard-packed gravel roads that we would follow until the next crew access point at approximately the 50K mark.
Unfortunately, my left knee was acting up around mile 25 and it was an uncomfortable combination of running and walking to reach mile 31. The off-camber and hard road surface was taking a toll and I could only push through the discomfort so long before I needed to switch to walk breaks. I hoped that after a rest and stretch break things would improve.
The next ten miles followed a flat, paved bike path all the way to the small village of Glenmont. I attempted to run, but acute knee pain quickly hobbled me and forced me to slow to a walk every time. So, Amie and I walked that whole part of the route, and unfortunately everything thereafter.
Amie and I walked with a couple other women for a long stretch of that pathway, which was helped pass the time and distance. I was frustrated that my knee pain was so sharp that I was forced to walk, but fortunately walking didn’t hurt.
We were excited to reach the Glenmont crew and aid station.
Despite my injured knee, I was still planning to “walk it in.” But at that point Amie and I didn’t know the path ahead. Up next was a 21-mile loop of treacherous terrain and brand new trails on private land, which the landowner generously provided access to so that the 2020 event could happen. Two laps of this loop (42 miles total) were required before we would finally be allowed to follow rolling roads the final 17 miles back to the finish line.
I had trekking poles but opted to save them for the second lap. I hadn’t trained on them and though it would be best to save them for the final 38 miles. After a lap of the loop, I would pick them up along with my pacer, Tim. In hindsight, I should have tried them right away.
We left Glenmont and were met with a very steep paved road to the top of a hill, which was quite a climb. After cresting it, the trail then went all the way back down, through some mud at times, and I learned that the descents were going to be really rough on my knee. And there were a lot of them. When we weren’t going straight down slick mud chutes, we were climbing steep, rocky hills. Even the “flat” sections were rooty and rocky, with lots of mud, a few creek crossings, and some off-camber grass. We did not take a lot of photos from the 21-mile loop from hell, because we had entered survival mode.
We hit mile 50 late in the evening and celebrated a small victory for Amie since run had become a new distance PR for her. If we could match our pace from the first half of the race we’d have plenty of time to spare, even with 19 miles of walking, but of course that didn’t seem likely. Nevertheless, we decided to get as far as we could and so we pushed relentlessly forward, albeit slowly.
We fished our headlamps out after the well-stocked Annie’s aid station and pushed on through the night. By this time, Amie had knots of pain behind her knees and was loathing the climbs, whereas my knees felt best going up but were sharply painful on the downhill sections. The miles, and hours, stretched on in the dark. We were only achieving 25 to 30 minute miles at that point, and it was hard to imagine going any faster. Or even duplicating that on the second lap.
It seemed like an eternity of slogging through challenging terrain in the darkness before hitting the Annie’s aid station again (the route was set up to pass it twice per loop). This time I set my vegan diet aside and accepted hot cheese pizza and quesadillas (with no regrets).
We were on pace to just barely reach the Glenmont aid station before cutoff. Just in time to pick up Tim and go out for a second lap, which was intimidating and seemed like a rather awful idea. At mile 59 Amie told me she was going to call it and I thought I was going to fold, then, too. But I churned it over in my mind and abruptly decided I would push ahead and at least begin the second loop. I was still able to walk, and I had trained a long time to get to this point. If my race ended, I wanted it to be because I was forced to withdraw by missing a cutoff. I wouldn’t let myself quit when continuing was still an option. So, I decided to power walk off ahead of Amie to make that cutoff and try for lap two.
Unfortunately, I ended up getting lost. The road I was following led perpendicularly to a highway. A left arrow was spray painted on the pavement, so I went that direction. What I failed to notice was a sign just 100 feet later indicating a right turn, across the highway, where the trail cut through a farm field and then turned right again, making a 180 degree turn from the direction I was headed. I continued along the highway shoulder for 1.5 miles, thinking that this road led into downtown Glenmont. The moon and stars were out, so I shut off my headlamp and walked through the peaceful night, alone. I was headed the wrong way, and concerned that I hadn’t seen any trail markers, but there were headlights behind me so I figured I must be on course. I eventually checked my map and realized my error. I doubled back and passed two other runners that had made the same mistake. I also texted Tim and let him know what I had done.
Back on the trail, I knew my race would be over soon. I was both frustrated and relieved (going back to shower and sleep had some appeal). But I hated ending the night that way, and I felt especially disappointed that Tim never “got” to experience the nightmare loop. Our friend Jeff had also driven down to pace Amie for about 19 miles (Jason was going to pace her the other 19 to the finish). But that’s how things went down. A silver lining was that Amie had just completed her very first 100K run, twelve miles longer than her previous longer run ever. And I had completed nearly 65 miles, making it my second-longest run (after my 75-mile run to the Mackinac Bridge).
Tim had started walking the course in reverse when I had texted him about getting lost, so we at least got to walk about a mile together until we reached Glenmont. I walked to the aid station and turned in my bib. Then we headed back to the hotel (it seemed like a long drive!). Tim handed me a beer. I did not decline it.
Mohican 100 (2020 edition) is the first race I’ve ever failed to finish, and it’s still my only DNF (as of October 2021). It was a very tough course, with about 12,000′ of elevation gain (and I didn’t train specifically train for hills), and much of that was on either over hard pavement or really technical trails with a copious amounts of slippery mud, sharp rocks, and roots. Without the knee injury I would like to think I would have been able to finish, but of course I’ll never know.
A lot of things did go right. Running with Amie was great, our crew/pacer team was amazing, the weather was excellent for Halloween, the course was scenic (and mostly well-marked), and I feel like I really had my hydration and nutrition dialed in well. Finally, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, simply being able to run a real race was not something to take for granted! It didn’t take me long to register for the 2021 Indiana Trails 100 for another attempt at that distance.
***
The following day I visited the Ohio State Reformatory (featured in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption) and did a self-guided tour as my shake-out exercise. I appreciated that all those flights of stairs had hand rails! Here are a few photos from the tour. I really like that movie, and I found it interesting to explore the reformatory in person.
***
