Bad Weather Running Club

 Enjoy 6 fun runs and a T shirt for $40! Join our group as we build from 2 miles to 10k in January & February!

FANNY PACK 50k - fat butt style

 FANNY PACK 50k (and 20k)

...a fat butt style fun run for people with fanny packs.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2021

8:00 am - 4:30 pm

Ohiopyle, PA

COURSE: A sequence of 2 different 10k loops. They will include some of Baughman, Sugarloaf, Great Gorge, and Ferncliff Trails.

FOR THE 20k: flat loop, then steep loop.

FOR THE 50k: flat, steep, flat, steep, flat.

START LOCATION: Main st and Lincoln 

MARKINGS: None. The course will not be marked with streamers and arrows, but good turn-by-turn directions and maps will be emailed, with GPX also available. The trails are well-marked and well-defined in the state park. When you don't know the way, AllTrails does...

CAP: 50 runners. 25 in each distance. Gotta keep it small. Gotta commit. Gotta earn your fanny pack.

REGISTRATION: Email Whatultra @ yahoo.com, and provide your name, age, city, and phone number to sign up. Waivers will be signed at the start. 

No packets, shirts, or numbers. Only fanny packs for finishers.

REGISTRATION ENDS OCT 8 at 9pm!

AID: We will have a self-serve aid table set up with food, water, and timing sheets. Bring stuff for yourself and/or stuff to share! You'll probably be close to your car, too, unless 2,819 other cars drove down from Pittsburgh to see the leaves. But you'll probably get there earlier to get a spot because you're running an ultra that day.

CUTOFF: 8.5 hours

LODGING: The woods. There's free camping available in nearby Forbes State Forest. DIY.

ELEVATION: 2000ish for 20k if you're lucky, 4000-5000ft for 50k. No biggie.

RDs/VOLUNTEERS: The race directors will be running (7-8hrs). There may be volunteers that show up. But you can also bring a human volunteer if you want! It's allowed. They'll need to bring a fanny pack from home, though.

FINISHER AWARDS: A fanny pack. This is serious.

FINAL NOTES: It will be gorgeous and fun and tough. And you and a friend should definitely run it. Can't complain though. It's not allowed. You can contribute a couple bucks if you want. It's allowed. Or bring Oreos... 

Now Offering Coaching Services!

I’m a certified running coach now taking clients. I have coached dozens of road runners and trail runners. Contact me today about custom training plans at an unbeatable price!                            WhatUltra @ yahoo.com 

Downhill Dirt 50k - 15 days away!!!!!!

DOWNHILL DIRT 50k - It’s Free!!

 DOWNHILL DIRT 50k is a laid-back ultra with a marathon option that costs $0.

Location/Date: Morgantown, WV on Saturday, May 8, 2021. 

THIS IS NOT AN ANNUAL EVENT!

Start Location: Reedsville 

Finish Location: Marilla Park

Start Time: 7:40am

Cutoff: 7 hours (2:40pm finish)

Cap: 50 runners total

Choose your distance ahead of time: downhill marathon or downhill 50k. 

This free fun run is SELF-SUPPORTED and requires participants to:

1. Have another person with them for transportation. Someone has to pick you up at the finish. Or find another runner and drop one car at the finish and ride together to the start. 

2. Carry your food and water. Or have a crew member do this. There will not be food or clean water along the way. 

So, that’s the hard news. 

Here’s the good news (besides the already phenomenal fact that this costs $0):

The course features an out and back on Deckers Creek Trail followed by a point to point gradual descent. The crew member will have to drop off their runner and pick them up at the end. The crew member may provide aid and support along the way so that their runner doesn’t have to run with 800 pounds of water. 

The surface is smooth, groomed limestone. The last mile will contain some pavement. The first 13 miles will be basically flat, and the rest of the run will be a gradual downhill. The course will not be marked besides with the permanent mile markers. Detailed course instructions will be emailed to each runner. It’s a linear trail, so you won’t get lost going straight. Just gotta make sure you get in the miles in the right order. 

REGISTER: email Mountain State Ultras and instructions and information will be provided promptly. If you do not hear back, the race is full. 

Wear a watch or GPS device to keep track of things. A good turnout will allow us to post results on some major ultra sites. (Also, we must start right on time -shoot for arriving at 7:20!)

Results: a volunteer and/or a sharpie will be waiting for you at the finish, depending on your speed. Write down or have them write down your elapsed time from the official start time. 

Can’t complain-cause it’s free. Don’t put the ‘Rona on the Sharpie. Don’t blame anyone else for any injuries or sickness or the weather. And we are all good. 

It’s gonna be fun! The race director is running, too. So let’s do this thang. 

TRAIL MAP: https://montrails.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MRTC_Brochure2016_FINAL_Web-1.pdf 

Perfect Timing for a Flesh Wound

ABOUT ME:

I’m an ultrarunner of 15 years, certified running coach, writer, and race director living in the state that claimed the best nickname. My brainchild was a race in the Deep South with 110 starters and only 35 finishers—but don’t worry—the runs aren’t all like that one! I've brought a bunch of people into the sport, I have an FKT, and 6 ultra podium finishes. I definitely look at maps in my spare time, but I don’t admit this during first impressions.

Here’s one of my running accounts:

I ran some hilly trails with 3 other ladies last winter. It was awesome. Raining and 40 degrees says it all. Plentiful Mud. Roaring waterfalls. Slippery downhills. Thorny bushes that sauté your ankles right where your pants end because that’s how this decade’s fashion treats its victims. 

My friends departed after 5 miles, and I trudged on for more distance (not because that’s hardcore, but because they had run like 300 miles the day before.)

I didn’t want to just cover these last obligatory miles, I wanted to throw some adventure in there. Some pizzazz. I found a way to cross the swift, bustling, take-your-uncle-out-at-the-knees cascade of deeper than usual water. I climbed an insanely muddy and steep ascent that probably wasn’t even a trail and maneuvered my way onto the forbidden dam/spillway area. Catching a new glimpse of the waterfall from directly above of it, I snapped some photos, read the “keep off the dam” signs, and departed the grassy partition. In that order. I discovered the top of another steep, straight down waterfall and stood in the edge, thankful it wasn’t an icy ledge today despite its home on the dark side of the cold forest. 

I climbed back up loose boulders stacked uncertainly in the construction-colored mud and headed back on the trail, with 5 pound dirt clods flinging off my soles. 

Having found a way to get to the nearest road and avoid another mile of impossible mud, I flew down the gradual descent with cars whizzing last me probably wondering what in the world a crazy lady like me was doing covered in mud and sprinting through the January rain. 

Weaving back to the park, I passed an ice arena where adult hockey players were exiting the facility after their game. And it was the perfect timing. My nose began to bleed-a result of the dryness of winter and high levels of particles hanging out in the air this week. The Accuweather app described the reason for my diagnosis with seemingly harmless words that belonged in children’s poetry: “Dust and Dander Levels Extreme.” Oh, so that explains my face gushing with blood. Got it. Nosebleed forecasting warrants awareness.

Nevertheless, the victory was mine as I owned the situation and ran past the players of a violent sport. As the uninjured hockey players dispersed from a mild, routine, bloodless game, I had clearly been high-sticking it in the woods.

I came to the end of my parade route and wrapped up the completed long run, shoving a cheap, brown, sodium-flavored fast food napkin up my tired nose. 

Score: 

ME: 1      HOCKEY DUDES: 0 

No overtime.