Todd Dishong:

CHEAT MOUNTAIN MOONSHINE MADNESS 50 MILE

June of 2006 was the last time I actually ran anything past 50 miles
(Laurel Highlands). I had been dealing with an unidentifiable
injury in the lower left quarter of my back. It would be aggravated
by running thus the respite from running longer distances. A
combination of a fairly successful 50K last October and the
doctor's "okay" prompted me to begin seeking out a longer distance
to race (not to mention I was beginning to feel like a huge slug).
In the early spring I saw a new race was being run in Beverly, West
Virginia: The Cheat Mountain Moonshine Madness 50 Mile. Being a
huge fan of West Virginia and her lovely, rugged mountains, the race
piqued my interest; as well as did the start time of the race – 9 PM
on Friday, August 22nd. The invitation -to come and run through the
night- and the distance of 50 miles didn't seem so threatening in
early spring. In fact, thoughts of: This will be a "fun" adventure
and I have plenty of time to train, and it will be decent not to
have to run through the heat of the day etc. filled my mind. These
thoughts were replaced gradually as August 22nd came closer and were
completely overtaken on the trip down to the wild and wonderful
state in the afternoon of the twenty-second of August. Thoughts of –
I don't think I trained enough, Run through the night? (Sleep?)
When should I eat my last meal? What am I doing? What was I
thinking? etc. etc.

These thoughts brought us into Davis, West
Virginia. The place we stopped to eat around 4 PM, Sirani's – an
awesome Italian, pizza, hoagie kind of place. I had the traditional
pasta type meal – hoping that which I ate would digest reasonably
well by 9 o'clock. I wanted to eat more and eat pizza, and eat
dessert – but thankfully I resisted the temptation. We made our way
to Elkins and then a few more miles south to the race headquarters –
a 4H camp outside of Beverly, West Virginia. A beautiful setting,
blue sky, sunshine, and the smell of sweet, fresh cut hay filled the
air. Ridges and mountains loomed around this serene and peaceful
place as runners, family, friends, and race workers milled about as
the anticipation, nervousness, and pre-race jitters built as time
drew closer to 9 PM. 8 o'clock brought our pre-race talk regarding
aid stations, course markings, and crew directives. The Star
Spangled Banner and a prayer by the race director sent us forth off
into the darkness.

The first 12 miles or so were all on state forest
roads – which primarily climbed up Cheat Mountain. Most folks were
cautious during this stage of the race – being sure not to let
adrenaline and excitement cause anyone to sprint out too fast.
Sounds of feet hitting the gravel road and headlights bobbling about
soon became spread out as the 12 miles of state forest road
dispersed the entrants by the time you entered the trail sections of
the race. Let me introduce the trails to you this way - In
discussion after the race, my sister had mentioned as she sat with
my wife and parents at aid station 4/6 (23 and 33 miles) that many
people came in and mentioned how "beautiful" the trails were! She
thought this was rather humorous do to the lack of visibility in the
dark to actually see the beauty of the trails and surrounding
mountains and forest. My translation of these comments by runners
who said the trails are beautiful is this: "I am feigning bravery
here, you see – I'm terribly shaken by the rather technical nature
of these trails which are strewn with roots, rocks, and ankle deep
black muck holes that want to suck the shoes off my feet when I step
in them. I'm also rather alarmed by the spooky, black darkness of
the trails due to the multitude of big and little spruce trees that
are reaching out and hugging the trails so tightly that they are
like prickly fingers grabbing on to you as you brush by the hundreds
of them. Not to mention, the twisty, turny, and gnarly nature of
these trails overall rather frighten me because they could cause me
to turn my ankle, fall, break bones, or smash my face or head should
I fall and I'm miles away from help!" Please don't get me wrong
here – the part I love about ultra running is technical and remote
trials. And you could truly love (or should I say appreciate) that
part of these trails in this race. I also tend to do better on
trails then I do on other surfaces – and I did like the trail
sections of this race – but… for the most part, they were pretty
technical for night time running! No complaints on my end about
them – but to say they were beautiful while running on them at
midnight?

As in most ultra's, moments of madness/temporary
insanity do set in – mine came about half way through the race at
aid station 4 - 23 point some miles – it's where I first met my
family. I told them things they heard me say before – What am I
doing? I'm an idiot – Remind me not do this again – This is stupid…
and then, "See you a little later" (as I shuffled back off into the
darkness). Two or three more trail sections were connected by road
segments. The second to last trail section was probably
the "nicest"/easiest or least technical of the other trails. This
part of trail led into aid station 5 where I changed batteries, had
a little soup and a piece of grilled cheese. I might mention here
that the race director, workers, aid stations and everything about
the race from the headquarters and meals were excellent. Things
were run very well considering this was the first time this race
ever took place (If anything was out of order, I hadn't noticed).
It was at aid station 5 that one of the ladies there reached out and
touched my shoulder as I was heading out and said, "You're doing a
good job" – something so simple was so powerful at that time in the
dark, early morning hours on a mountain in West Virginia.

After aid station 5 we had a state forest road
take us to another trail section and another piece of gravel road
took us into aid station 6 (which is the same aid station as number
4). It's here again that I met my family (which also has to suffer
through waiting up through the dark and chilly night) – this time
the "madness" that I experienced earlier settled into a simple
acceptance of I have to pound my quads up and down state forest
roads for another 17 miles. The question now is simply how fast am
I going to get it done? I bided them goodbye and see you in 17
miles as my wife handed me a ham and swiss sandwich (something I
found that works for my stomach) which I nibbled on slowly over the
next few hundred yards of state forest road. I was able to run at
times with my light off on some of these roads due to the
illuminating moonlight. Goals of making it in between 8 to 9 hours
turned into beating the 10 hour mark. Two more aid stations and the
finish were ahead. The second to last aid station came up time wise
as expected. The last aid station was a little over 7 miles away –
and these seven miles seemed like 12 as I ran towards the dawn under
a starlit sky.

The last four miles or so, I really began to open it
up – a freshness sprung into my legs as the sky began to brighten
with pre-dawn light. The conversations and support that me and
several other runners gave each other through different times of the
night filled my mind as did the support from aid station workers and
my family and the thought of within a half hour I'll be at the
finish fueled my tank. The rush and exhilaration one gets crossing
the finish line after a hard fought out battle filled me from the
top of my head to the tip of my toes. Experiencing this with my
family, smiles, laughter, joy, and an awesome sense of
accomplishment makes all the moments of "madness" worth the while.
In addition, I feel by doing this it is an outward sign of active
worship to my Lord God that he has given me the ability and has
allowed me to accomplish this task – I give him all glory and thank
him for his marvelous blessings which he has bestowed upon me and my
family!

Whether you were one of the 73 that crossed the finish line in 7:30
or closer to 13 hours – all of us got to experience the madness of
Cheat Mountain together and we can say we were the first as a united
group to run this course officially. I can honestly say as me and
my family headed up to Canaan Valley to spend a few days, I
definitely felt a little more wild and wonderful as a result of this
experience. Ultra-Running… where else can you get all this and
more?

Go the Distance

Todd Dishong