Bel Monte 50K

The month of March didn’t go like I had pictured it would...my boyfriend got a cold the first week of March and I thought my immune system had successfully fended off catching the illness but I guess 4 hours in the mountains in temperatures around freezing trying to not slip and fall to your death and having to traverse icy cold streams multiple times will really weaken your immune system...

So to back track a bit while my boyfriend had his cold I felt fine and was ready to head out to away Waynesboro VA to run the Bel Monte 50K. I don’t know why it never occurred to me that the beginning of March in the mountains would be cold and possibly snowy which it was. 

My friend Josh (he was running the 50 miler) headed to Waynesboro Friday early afternoon to beat rush hour traffic and have sometime to kickback before heading to bed early for our 430AM wake up so we could drive the 30 minutes to the race start and get our race packets. Friday later afternoon we headed to Basic City Beer Co. which was a surprisingly good brewery. The atmosphere was great, the beers were pretty good, and the food from the Hops Kitchen was surprisingly gourmet and they offered healthy options...so if you find yourself in Waynesboro checkout Basic City Beer Co.

If you plan on running Bel Monte I recommend signing up early and renting a cabin ASAP before they are all booked. The drive to the race from Waynesboro isn’t bad since I have an AWD vehicle and the snow wasn’t terrible...non 4WD or AWD vehicles did have some issues parking. Getting a cabin at the race start will allow you to sleep in a little, stay warm before the start, and shower after your run...all things I wish I had.

I’m not a very good trail runner...I’m a klutz and get very uneasy trying to find the right footing but I will shuffle along the trails and enjoy nature...when the weather is pleasant...race day weather stayed around the mid 30s and since it had snowed the day/night before there was about an inch of snow on the trail which quickly became packed down and very slippery as runners made their way through the race course. The first 8 miles of the race took almost 2 hours for me...not just because I was slow but because a lot of that portion was single track and lines of people quickly formed as we tried to get past particularly slippery sections that required very careful footing and for you to hold onto a tree and I can’t forget to mention that most of the race’s elevation gain was in the first 8 miles. After mile 8 things flattened out and the ice was pretty much gone but now bring the muff and multiple calf deep freezing cold stream crossings..after mile 8 for about a mile or two I was finally feeling good again like I could continue on with the race but once I hit the 4th stream crossing my feet were freezing and eventually the rest of my body tightened up. I’m a fair weather runner and if  I’m not feeling the run I will not continue especially in this instance knowing I would have to cross those 4 streams again and go back through those 8 icy hilly miles so at the mile 14 aid station I DNFd. Josh, who is a much stronger runner than I will ever be, pushed through 48 miles only to miss the last cutoff by 15 minutes and  DNF. Tough weather conditions and a tough course (curse you whoever told me this was a good beginner race) made for a tough race. The post race festivities were also lacking especially if you’ve run races put on by  EX2 and  Rainshadow Running or done trail races like Devil Dog 100 where there is tons of post race food and merriment and in the case of Rainshadow tons of post race beer. 

Would I try Bel Monte 50k again...probably not...would I recommend it...yes if you’re up for a challenge.