This past weekend Barry and I headed over to Tazewell for the 21st Annual Varmint 1/2 Marathon in Burkes Garden. It was our third time running this race, and I was excited. I like going back to races I have run before, because I know the course and all of the logistics (where to park, restrooms, etc.).

This year they had packet pickup on Friday night at a local restaurant in town. I’m not sure if it was the first year this was offered, but it was the first time Barry and I have taken advantage of it. The restaurant was also offering a pasta buffet for runners, so we decided to take them up on that as well.

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early to make 25 minute drive from our campground into Burkes Garden. The race has grown significantly since we first ran it in 2012, so there was a bit more traffic getting there (there’s only one main road going into Burkes Garden and it’s curvy and goes over a mountain). Parking was tight, but luckily we arrived about 10 minutes before they were full. Once there, we did the typical pre-race stuff: pinned on bibs, used the porta potties, etc. We also checked out this year’s black sheep, which were ready and waiting for their new owners. Every 7th year the race has black sheep instead of white for the overall and age group awards.

Barry’s parents had also driven up to cheer us on and hang out in Burkes Garden. We hung out with them, and then made our way to the starting line just before the 8 AM start.

The race ended up starting about 10 minutes late, but before we knew it we were off! Barry’s mom snapped this picture of us with her cell phone as we ran by. She’s quite the photographer! (I think Barry was coughing…?)

 

Burkes Garden is a unique place for a road race. It definitely doesn’t look like what you’d typically picture for a road race. It’s on the smaller side (about 370 runners total between the half and 5K), and it’s a very rural area with beautiful scenery. The half marathoners get to run a full loop around the Garden.

The first mile starts out slightly downhill on the main road, with one heart pounding climb. Then runners hang a left onto East End Road and encounter another serious climb before mile 2. There’s plenty of shade during this section, though.

I was feeling alright during the first two miles. The hills definitely got my heart pounding and my calves burning, but that’s the way this race is. You can’t panic when your legs already feel like lead as you pass the mile 2 marker. You just have to keep chipping away and try to make up time and catch your breath on the down hills. And that’s what I tried to do, until I hit mile 3.

There was another mean climb between miles 3 and 4 that I had to really fight to get up. But once I got to the top, I took my first walk break of the day. I felt like I had just done a 400m sprint around a track instead of slowly climbing a big hill. Once I caught my breath, I tried to get my head back in the game as I began running again on the rolling hills through miles 4 and 5.

Sometime before mile 6, we hung a left on Banks Mill Road to run the backside of the loop around the Garden. This section isn’t as hilly as the first, but it’s never flat either. There is also very little shade during this stretch from miles 6 through 9. Luckily, it was only in the mid-60’s with about 75% humidity. But as you can see from the pictures, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. That makes for a gorgeous view, but it also gets hot with the sun beating down on you.

Since this race is a small race in a rural community, there are very few spectators. A few of the residents of the Garden will sit at the end of their driveways and cheer on runners. It’s always fun to see them and I always smile and wave. Other than that, your only spectators are people manning the water stops and these critters:

So with curious cows looking on, I worked on covering the stretch along Banks Mill and Gose Mill roads. We were nearly to mile 10 when we crossed the bridge and turned left back onto Burkes Garden Road, which we had started on.

This part of the race is always really tough for me. There is a long gradual hill that curves so you can’t see the top. Plus if you’re familiar with the race course, you know you still have an out and back on Litz Lane before you can continue on to the finish. But you do get to run past things like the Burkes Garden Directory, as I refer to it.

Just before mile 11, I made the right turn on Litz Lane for the out and back portion that is a little over a mile. This section is very mentally tough, as you watch all of the people headed back up the road and towards the finish.

All you want to do is get to the turnaround so you can head for home. But here’s the thing – as much as you want to get to the turn around, it’s also mostly down hill to the turn around. You know what that means. When you do finally turn around you’ll have to climb to get back to the main road. It’s tough, but finally I found myself approaching mile 12 and about to make the turn back onto the main road where the start and finish line are located.

The Varmint doesn’t let off during the final mile, with two more hills (including an uphill finish) that will try to break your spirit. Despite having a tough time that day, I was not going to walk in that final mile.

As I approached the first of the final two hills, I saw Barry sitting at the top of it waiting for me. I fought my way up the hill, where he joined me to run me in the last half mile or so. I had my iPod on and I was in a world of hurt, so I didn’t hear him asking me for my camera so he could get a picture of me. Oops. I climbed the last hill and ran towards the finish line, which seemed to keep moving away from me. Finally, I crossed it!

My official time was 2:31:16, which is my third slowest time at this race in as many years. It’s kind of strange though, because I felt better this year than I did last year when I ran 2:24. I think I could have fought harder on the hills during the middle of the race, but at the time I really felt like I was doing the best I could.

Every single hill made my calves feel like they were on fire during this race. Maybe my legs haven’t fully recovered from Carvin’s Cove two weeks ago, which was a really tough race. Nevertheless, I’m proud to have finished The Varmint for the third time.

I grabbed some post-race food (bananas and oranges) and got some ice cold Gatorade, and hung out with Barry and his parents at the picnic shelter. There was a live band there playing everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to “oldie but goodies” songs. I caught up with Barry and got the scoop on how his day went. He had a solid race, and exceeded his own expectations by running 1:45:44, good for fifth in his age group. Unfortunately, neither of us got to take home a black sheep.

After hanging out for a bit and watching the awards, we stopped by the Burkes Garden General Store. I know the owner, and she had a strawberry pie waiting for me. Yum! Then we had to hurry back to the campground so that I could grab a quick shower and make it to my friend Jessie’s wedding in Appomattox. But we got held up, because they had the road closed going out of the Garden! It turns out there was a tractor trailer hauling cattle coming over the mountain, and they had the road closed until he made it. That set us back about 20 minutes. I took the world’s fastest shower, and hit the road for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Appomattox. I made it to the church just after the bride made it down the aisle, and was able to quietly slip in the back.

The rest of the evening was spent at Jessie’s wedding reception with some good food and good friends. It was great catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for awhile, and seeing Jessie so happy and so pretty! (she’s the one I met up with before the start of Conquer the Cove)

Once the party wrapped up, it was time to hit the road home. Barry stayed at the campground with the dogs, since we already had the reservation before we got the wedding invitation. So I was home alone for the night Saturday night. It was about a 2.5 hour drive home, and I got home just before midnight. After such a long day that started with a race and ended with a wedding, I pretty much collapsed in bed. Sleep never felt so good 🙂

What’s the most scenic race you have ever run?
Do you prefer loop courses, out and backs, or point to points?

This past week I took it easy leading up to Saturday’s Varmint 1/2 Marathon. I didn’t realize I had taken three rest days until I sat down to write this post. But it’s just the way things worked out this week, I guess.

Monday- Rest day.

Tuesday- Cross training: 30 Day Shred level 3 workout.

Wednesday- 2.5 mile run on some new trails in town. It was really fun exploring new trails and I’m looking forward to getting back there sometime soon!

Thursday- 3.5 mile run with Sven. I had planned on running on the road around our house, to do a short “tune up” on some hilly roads for Saturday’s race. Unfortunately there were some pretty mean storm clouds rolling in right when I got home from work.

A few minutes after I snapped that picture, the storms rolled in. It was a good thing I didn’t try and head out, because I would have been caught in a pretty mean thunderstorm!

Friday- Rest day.

Saturday- Varmint 1/2 Marathon race in Burkes Garden. We had a beautiful day for the race, but I had a bit of a tough day. Despite the tough race, I did enjoy getting to run through the Garden for the third year in a row!

Full recap on Wednesday.

Sunday- Rest day. My legs, especially my calves and quads, were very sore from the race. My shoulders were also really sore when I woke up, which I’m guessing is from all of the driving I did Saturday afternoon (a total of 6 hours, driving to a friend’s wedding and back after the race).

Total Miles: 19 miles

Sometime last year, I came across something on the Internet that said someone was developing mountain bike trails on Draper Mountain in town (very specific, I know). This further prompted me to dig for information, but there wasn’t much to find. It looked like something a group of people had been working on for years, though. I had been down the road where the entrance is located last fall, and it didn’t look finished. There was no signage or anything, just a random trail behind a gate that went off into the woods.

Then this past Sunday, after I finished running with Kim, Barry (who had come with me, but ran separately) and I decided to drive down there and check it out. This time we found a sign with a trail map! On Wednesday evening we headed back into town to check out the new trails.

No matter which trail you are going to run on, you start out down a dirt road that all of the trails branch off of. The sign didn’t indicate a name for the trail system, so I’m going to refer to them as the Draper Mountain Bike Trails, since that’s the mountain where they’re located.

Barry and I started off on a trail called Easy Street that was just under a mile long. It was a wide, two track trail that made it’s way up the mountain to a central landing where nearly all of the trails intersect.

When we reached the landing, we found that they had set up a number of practice apparatuses for the mountain bikers to practice on. Pretty neat!

From there, we ran briefly on another trail and connected onto a trail called McTwist. I think this was one of the first trails created.

This trail went mainly downhill, and had a lot of curves and switchbacks. It was pretty much all single track the whole way. It was more “traily” that Easy Street, if that makes sense, and I enjoyed it more. It was also a bit more technical than Easy Street, with plenty of roots and rocks. There was also plenty of mud, since it was raining throughout the entire run.

The McTwist trail deposited us back on the dirt road that connects to the small parking area. Just as we turned onto the dirt road, Barry spotted a turtle!

After saying goodbye to the turtle, we made our way back down to the parking lot. My Garmin didn’t start working until partway through the run, but we guesstimated we ran about 2.5 miles based on the mileage on the trail map. I’m excited to get back over there and explore more trails in the near future! I’m even more excited that we have discovered these trails in town, just a mere 15 minute drive away. Now if I can just get some trails on the mountains directly behind our house…

What should the turtle’s name be? Just in case I run into him again.
What kind of wildlife have you seen recently while out in nature?
Do you enjoy exploring new trails?  

This weekend Barry and I are running the Varmint Half Marathon for the third time. The Varmint is a race held every year in mid-June, when it’s good and hot, and it also has a 5K option. The race is run in a community called Burkes Garden, located in Tazewell County. Burkes Garden is actually the highest valley in Virginia, and is nicknamed “God’s Thumbprint” because of what it looks like from the sky.

It’s a really beautiful place to run, and I’m grateful that the Varmint race affords many that opportunity. Now in it’s 21st year, the Varmint continues to grow and attract more participants, especially now that it has been added to a local race series called the ‘Beast Series’. But it’s kind of a funny name for a race, until you know the back story.

The year was 1952, and local sheep farmers were having trouble with a large “varmint” that kept killing sheep in the valley. Reportedly, the animal terrorized the community and killed over 400 sheep during an 11 month period. It got to the point where the county brought in a big-game hunter to take care of the problem. A hunting party was formed to track down the varmint.

After a tracking a fresh trail, and a chase that went on for a few hours, the varmint (which turned out to be a large coyote) was shot and killed in February 1953. The animal was later stuffed and is still on display today in the Crabtree Orchard Museum.

Thus you have the legend of the Varmint of Burkes Garden and the namesake of the Varmint 1/2 Marathon. The race shirts always have a sheep and coyote theme, and the best part is all of the trophies for overall and age group awards are sheep.

The first year Barry and I ran this race we both placed in our age group.

Naturally, it being our first time running the race, we had to go check out the museum afterwards. We also had to get pictures with the Varmint.

Every seventh year, the sheep trophies are black instead of white. This year being the 21st running of the race means it’s a black sheep year! If Barry and I can run fast enough, we may be able to take home some black sheep to keep our white sheep company on the fireplace mantle.

Have you ever run a race that has a story behind the name?
What’s the coolest finisher’s award or age group/overall award you’ve received?
Definitely my Varmint 1/2 Marathon sheep trophy
Do you enjoy visiting small, local museums?

This week was essentially a recovery week after last Sunday’s race. I was out of town all week for work in Virginia Beach. Of course I had to get out a few days to run in the area, and I did a few workouts in my hotel room as well.

Monday- Rest day/6 hour drive to the beach day. My legs were so stiff and sore after being in the car that long!

Tuesday- AM: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred level 1 workout. One of my coworkers said she wanted to workout with me this week, so she came over to my hotel room in the morning so we could workout. It was fun to have a cross training buddy.

PM: 2 mile run at First Landing State Park (trails) with the same coworker. I was excited when I realized we were so close to the state park and I would be able to explore the trails a little bit.

We ran on the Cape Henry Trail, and saw several areas that I think were Cypress groves? They were really neat looking, whatever they were!

Wednesday- 3 mile run in the morning on the Virginia Beach boardwalk on National Running Day! My coworker joined me for the first half of this run. I had no idea it was National Running Day until we ran past a J&A Racing tent at the King Neptune statue, where they were handing out hats in celebration.

So we both got free hats and a nice morning run! I love how many people are out on the boardwalk, too. Everyone waves and says good morning, which is a lot of fun.

Thursday- Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones workout DVD (57 min.). This was an evening workout that I did in my hotel room with my coworker. Once again, I really enjoyed having a buddy to do my Jillian workout with. We groaned together during the abs circuit 🙂

Friday- 3 mile solo run on the VA Beach boardwalk in the morning. I was very tired from not resting well all week (it was noisy around the hotel, and I’m used to it being practically silent at night), but I wanted to get up and get one last run in at the beach.

One neat thing I saw on my run was all of the sand soccer fields they had set up on the beach. For the entire mile and a half there were fields set up for a tournament taking place this past weekend. That’s a lot of soccer fields! Right at the very center there was a large field set up that I think is where the final games would be played.

After some Googling, I found out the tournament taking place this weekend was the U.S. Open of the North American Sand Soccer Championships. There were teams from twenty states across the country, as well as from other countries. Who knew there was such a thing!?

Saturday- Rest day. Although I should mention I spent the entire day walking around the North Carolina Zoo in flip flops. I went down there for the day with a group of girls for my friend Jessie’s bachelorette party (she’s getting married next weekend!!).

In total, we walked at least five miles. My legs were definitely feeling it, especially since I wore flip flops!

Sunday- 4 mile run in the morning with Kim on the Dora Trail. Kim brought her baby, Hannah, along, and it was the first time the three of us have all run together (Hannah is nearly 6 months old now). I had a lot of fun running slightly ahead and looking at her in the stroller to see what she was doing.

For awhile Hannah just looked at everything, then she took a nap, and then she woke up and played with a toy for the last half mile or so. My legs were a bit tired, and it was humid outside, but it felt good to shake out my legs. They were sore from Saturday.

Total Miles: 12 miles