State # 14 Race Recap: Kanawha 50k Trail Race, West Virginia

This was a tough race with all the different aspects that makes us love and hate trail running at the same time and it was amazing.

It was a point to point course, which is my personal favorite but I do tend to get lost.

This time was no different. Me and a couple other runners missed a split somewhere around 20ish miles and ended up doing a 3.5 mile loop to meet back up with the course. We did not miss the split the second time.

There was all different times of terrain ranging from rocky and technical to muddy or water logged. The trail was really well marked aside from the split I missed though and it was fun when I didn’t feel like my heart was going to explode from the elevation.

Being a middle to back of the packer during ultras I was surprised when I made it to the last aid station and they said there were still over 40 runners out on the course and I was in third for females overall.

I don’t race for pace or to even win anything but that was some good motivation as I was feeling pretty worn out from the major elevation gain and loss. Who knew races you and down mountains was going to be so tiring?

We were able to finish strong though and kept our third place overall female through the finish! They gave out a painting from a local artist instead of medals and that was really cool as it was a painting of the trail.

Aside from 3 wasp stings I got early on at mile 6 and the typical scratches and bruises from the trials, I felt really strong finishing. I also finished not long before a girl who I had talked to out on the course and was running her first ultra! It’s always exciting to see people cross the finish line but extra special when you know it’s their first one.

Josh and the kids were able to easily see my several times throughout the course; which was great since the aid stations were kind of far apart for the 50k. They were well stocked but I typically can’t eat a whole lot from them due to my allergies.

Overall it was a really fun race and originally we thought I would be running in storms most of it but that turned out just to be some rain for a couple of hours.

This race was not far from home so I imagine we will be back, they also had several different distances which was fun. I probably won’t take the bus from the finish line to the start in the morning if I do this race again as it had us get to the race really early and I am kind of a grump in the morning so lots of excited runners on a bus at 4am was a lot for me, but it is a great option if you’re racing without a crew or your crew doesn’t want to take you to the start. It’s also a unique race in that it’s not a state trail system but a course that goes through a lot of private properties, but all the owners were really nice and you got to see some farm pups or animals really up close along the course.