Old Dominion 100 Race Report

The Old Dominion 100 is the second oldest 100-miler. Despite it being in my backyard, my schedule has never worked out to run it.

Well, the schedule wasn’t ideal this year either with Hellbender 4 weeks before, but on a whim I threw my name on a long wait list. I had forgotten all about it when my named got pulled – surprise! Recovery from Hellbender went well, so I decided to give it a go.

Steph Hill (last year’s champ!) kindly offered to crew me throughout and pace the “safety runner” section from mile 75 to 87. Her husband, Matt, would come out to help crew the second half.

I loved the old-school vibe at the pre-race meeting. You can tell the organizers who put it on truly love the event. It is steeped in history from when it started back in 1979, and I was looking forward to what they call a “fair test of endurance.”

Pre-race briefing. Quite a high-tech presentation on how to not get lost!

Hanging at the Airbnb pre-race, looking out onto the course

Start to Edinburgh Gap, Mile 56

It poured the day before the race and was raining as we started. It promised to be a challenging day.

We started with two laps around the fairground since the traditional horse track wasn’t available to us. The second lap would allow us to finish when we got back to the fairground without having to do a random bonus lap.

Andrew Simpson took off like a rocket, a man on a mission after getting lost last year. He would go on to run the second fastest time in history, on a day with far from ideal conditions.

Andrew was so fast that the police escort didn’t see him. I was in a chase pack of about five people, and we ended up with the escort out of town and up to Woodstock Tower.

I was ahead of schedule into Boyer’s at mile 10.5 in just over 1h30min. I decided to start in road shoes, so I figured the next section of the Massanutten trail would be slow. I was right. I used the climb to chill out and dial back. The descent was tough with slick, muddy conditions and unstable shoes.

But soon we were back on the road, and I steadily clicked off mid 8 minute miles. I hit the first crew point at mile 20 and did a quick pack swap with Steph. This aid station was run by Happy Trails, and it was great to see friends out there, including good buddy Alex Papadapoulos captaining the aid station and the legendary Marty Fox.

Over the next few miles, I felt my stomach starting to go south. I had resolved to start eating solid food earlier this time, so I grabbed a few things at the mile 25 aid, hoping it would settle my stomach. I felt worse though and was struggling more than I wanted this early.

Scott (2nd OA) and Whitney (1st, 3rd OA) caught me on this section. I ran with them for a bit, and it was great to have company, but I had to dial back to sort myself out. I slowed down a bit, upped my electrolytes, and backed off calories. While I still didn’t feel great, I was improving and moving better coming into 4 Points at mile 32. I remained optimistic that with a crew point and then some slower climbs, I could turn things back around.

Sharing some miles with Whitney, who crushed it and ran the second fastest time ever on the course

Steph and I did another quick transition. This time I drank some soda and brought a baggie of chips with me. I steadily forced in calories on the climb and was feeling a bit better by the time I hit the descent.

I linked up with John in Duncan Hollow and enjoyed having some company. I knew this section would be a sloppy mess with all the rain, and I wasn’t disappointed. I trudged on in my silly road shoes and had the added bonus of a bunch of blowdowns. Despite all that, I was moving well and feeling pretty good at this point.

I motored up the steeper part of the climb and felt good on the descent, soon hitting Crisman Hollow road with the aid station and weigh-in point. I kept it controlled on the descent, low 9s, and rolled back into 4 Points at mile 47. Despite feeling rough on my first trip through here, I was ahead of splits on the previous section and actually feeling really good now.

This was a bit longer stop with icing me down, a shirt change, more solid food, and some body glide reapplication. I stormed out of there on a mission. I felt great on the climb up Mountain Top. But as I made my way to Edinburgh, the exposure, heat, and humidity caught up to me.

I came into Edinburgh in one piece and a bit ahead of schedule. Steph and I swapped packs again and got me iced down. A local friend, Pete, came out to see me and cheer for me here. It was a great pick-me-up and really good to see him.

Josh Thomas caught me on the last section, and we set off to the ATV trails.

Edinburgh Gap to Elizabeth Furnace – Mile 56-75

I did not feel good on the steep climb out of Edinburgh, and Josh quickly pulled away. My road shoes were no match to the muddy trail, and I barely stayed upright.

Things were getting worse on the back half of this section. I tried upping electrolytes, but I couldn’t tell if it was helping or hurting. I was bonking hard and felt miserable as I worked towards Little Fort, the next aid / crew point at mile 64.

After an eternity, I finally got to Steph and flopped down in a chair. I told her I felt terrible and needed to reset. Steph lied through her teeth, telling me I looked great and was ahead of splits. That is some veteran crewing right there.

We got ice on me, and I drank some cold ginger ale. Steph got solid food for me to try. A crew for another runner hooked us up with more electrolyte pills and Tums. It is always amazing how many people go above and beyond to help out strangers in an ultra.

I took a bite of pierogi, and uh-oh. I barely got to the woods in time to violently vomit, completely emptying my stomach. I haven’t puked like this in at least 5 years. While I am a smarter and stronger runner now, whenever it happened before in a 100 miler, it ended in a DNF. That thought rattled around in my mind as I contemplated the remaining 36 miles.

We got more ginger ale in me, and Steph packed me up with a variety of food options, as we didn’t know what would go down. We filled a bottle with soda, and I set off desperately hoping I would feel better.

The first mile or two was pretty good as I rebounded, but things went south again quickly. I was depleted and had no power. My stomach was still not good, and I couldn’t get much down. I finally trudged into the Mudhole Gap aid station and sat down on the cooler. I was super needy here, and they were very kind and patient with me. They helped ice me down and got me more ginger ale and some bug spray.

Mudhole Gap was, well, muddy. There were lots of stream crossings until we hit the doubletrack section. I was hitting a new low point and running out of ideas. I tried a pierogi again to see if solid food would work now. Oh no, not again. More vomiting, and my stomach was completely empty again.

I wouldn’t say I was planning to quit yet, but I was running out of ideas why I should keep going. I had a great run at Hellbender 4 weeks earlier and at Rocky Raccoon not long before that. I had nothing to prove. My stomach was a wreck, I was completely depleted, and I was chafed / blistered.

I just sat down on the side of the trail, trying to summon either the will to continue or the conviction to quit. Right at that moment, Johnny came up. We had shared miles earlier in the race, and he checked on how I was doing. I got up and tried to hike with him to have some company. He slowed for me and shared some positive words and motivation.

We started running more, and his friend Mike caught us. We were now a posse of three, chatting about the day, the tough conditions, their previous strong runs at OD, and other races. I took in a gel, some soda, and a lot of water. I suddenly realized I felt … ok. Not great, but maybe good enough. I can’t thank Johnny and Mike enough for their kindness and company, pulling me out of my death spiral.

Then I noticed I had pulled ahead of them without realizing it, and we were getting close to Elizabeth Furnace now. It looked like I would be about an hour behind schedule. I didn’t know if my stomach would hold together, but if it did, maybe I could find some magic and salvage a good day?

Jade made a surprise visit, and Matt had brought and army’s worth of supplies. Steph was going to pace the next section. I was fired up now and getting back into race mode. We changed my nutrition plan completely. I went with water, soda, and Skratch high carb along with neutral, low-sodium gels.

We had 5.5 hours to cover 25 miles on the toughest section of the course and still hit my A-goal of sub 20. I originally thought it would take 6 hours on a good day. I didn’t know if it would be possible, but I was willing to try.

It was so good to have Steph with me on the trail. She was super encouraging and kept me entertained with good stories. We made great time up Shermans. It was tough to get the wheels spinning on the descent, but I eventually hit a good groove.

We got to the road section leading into Veach East, and I started hammering. We stormed into Veach East and resupplied at another VHTRC aid station. I dug deep on the climb up Veach, running a good chunk of it. My new modified nutrition plan seemed to be working. Between soda, Skratch, gels, and a bit of fruit, I was getting in enough calories and able to keep my stomach reasonably happy.

I opened it up and hammered the Veach descent, or at least it felt like I was hammering at mile 85. We passed another runner, and I finally had to turn on my headlamp as we approached Veach. Matt and Jade were ready, and we did a quick transition with the new nutrition plan.

That section had gone better than I could have imagined, getting me a top 10 on the Strava leaderboard. Sub 20 was very much within reach barring disaster.

The final 13 miles was all on roads with 2,000 feet of climbing. I dug deep and ran nearly every step, averaging just over 11 minute miles. Matt and Steph resupplied me with another bottle of Coke around mile 93. Otherwise it was lonely out there, and I didn’t see a soul on the course.

I finished in 19:36, good for 5th male and 7th overall. I couldn’t believe how much I turned it around from the lowest low I can remember in a very long time. I was so lucky to have an all-star crew and pacer on this one. I absolutely could not have done it without Steph’s help all day and Matt / Jade helping through the back half. The volunteers took such good care of me when I needed it, and the support of friends and other runners out there was huge.

I would absolutely recommend Old Dominion, and I would do it again. However, I am beyond excited to get back to big mountains now. With the course changes at Hellbender, I’ve had three runnable 100s in a row. I am a big believer in changing things up, but it’s time to get back to my wheelhouse now. After a good rest and recovery, it will be full steam ahead for Swiss Alps on August 8th.