Jay Challenge, 2008: Trip Reports

Note: Pics are posted here. (I screwed up on the link before.) Also some guys pics are posted here on Flickr.

MadDog's Report:

1. Mr. Reems, aka a runner #85, in retrospect, I should have paid $1 to pass and rub the stache. -TammyTheTrailQueen
2. Burgers, dogs and organges at the finish were a welcomed touch and taste.
3. I owe Ray $2 for some cold drink.
4. I owe Mutha and a guy named Jeremy (who hugged at the finish) big time for some e-Caps...I was in a big world of hurt for about 8 miles.
5. Don't drink from your race bottle, before the start. Or, if you do, remember to refill it - Doh!
6. Sue (as the sole representative of the other gender) served as a great counter-balance to house of 7 male trail trompers. Thanks Sue!
7. Vicky must have arrived too late. Tmail had already rigged the game tables. We need to play again, soon.
8. Glad to see the g-$$$ express on the trail and at the house. Hopefully you got some good work done while bombing through the brooks.
9. My two good deeds on the course were to give some guy named John who was keeled over in pain in the pine forest, my last e-caps. WTF was I thinking. I then couldn't get my sorry ass outta there. The other was to haul some slob up into the culvert because he couldn't get up. Only to see him pass me after mile 24.
10. Coming off Jay, I got chatting with Captain Nate from the Army here in VT...talking about the range, rolling down the road and we're following a handful of Canadians. Shit! The Canadians turned around and headed uphill towards, screaming and pointing. We missed the turnoff. Arrrgghhh!
11. When limiting yourself to 2mins in a TA, never ask a group of grandmothers if anyone has any NSAIDs. "Rapid Response" is all relative.
12. There was one portion of the trail about 1/2 mile away from mile 19 before you cross the river, that is 30-40 above the river, straight drop. No shoulder protection and I came bombing around a turn and nearly launched myself. Who the f is in charge of highway signage on those trails?
13. Comical event #52, Gloria the Garbage Giver tries to sweet talk one Mutha and Maddog into packing out her trash. Stick it in your pants, I tell her. And Mutha suggests another proven method, stick it between the buns of her ass and carry it that way. It was then she knew we couldn't be had. She opted for the famed "cleavage carry". See ya babe!
14. I betcha Treadmill could have womped some butt out there.
15. Overall the Wampum boys made a good showing. Ray and Roland rocked the course, I thought.
16. It was great that we all saw each other through the finish.
17. On a number of occasions, a lone spectator would be cheering people on in seemingly isolated areas of the course (roads and woods). It was bizarre and pleasant .
18. I met a Mr. Cranky Pants around mile 31, who did not think my mud jokes were funny. Apparently all his mud humor stopped around mile 12. What an Ahole.
19. Tmail, what is the french word for love?
20. At the end of the race, I visited a well-suited, clean, plenty of TP, and overall respectable porta-pottie. It was heaven. At that point in time, it didn't take much (other than being off the course) to make me happy.
    

tMail's Report:

1. Arrival at Frosty's Love was a pleasant surprise...
2. Sitting in the porta - potty eating a Powerbar and someone opens the door and looks at me and says "HI"
3. I can't stand the running skirt
4. Running over gu flasks and being able to identify the flavor
5. Putting my hand on some guys ass...and pushing him up the rope section...Tip to Guy..."use the rope"
6. Losing my shoe in the mud and then having someone directly step on it driving it 3 more feet down
7. MD all of sudden appearing in front of me...never knew he passed me nor said Hi to me...
8. MD all of a sudden at the finish never said Hi to me as he passed me...trail jerk!!!
9. Running on some section with a guy from Long Island asking me is the rope section coming up...I said, "Yup in about 3 hours" he proceeded to slowly pull up and walk
10. Being in the river falling...total submerged...standing then falling immediatly again totally submerged
11. Asking the 45 year Canadian chick for bag number 218 at Drop Bag location 1 after she repeadly asked me what number I said "Fuck it and left"
12. Isolation
13. I never knew what mile I was at at any point in the race
14. Feeling like I was dead...Feeling like I was alive...Feeling like I was in limbo...having a softball size cramp in my left hammy...
15. Picking up a fuel belt flask drinking the liquid then putting it back on the ground
16. 8 E-Caps in 2 minutes
17. Seeing someone disappear for 10 seconds in the beaver swamp...
18. American shorts guy...
19. The dirt road is equivalent to the rail bed on the Wilderness Trail...
20. What is Rick and Pat's nickname going to be? Idea's for Rick = Texas Rick, Bandana Rick, Sensata Rick...Idea's for Pat...Irish Pat...Race Series Pat
21. Peeing while running its getting catchy!!!
22. Peeing into my shoe in hopes it would dislodge a rock in my sock...it didn't work...if i bent over I would have cramped...
23. What a great group of people thanks for the memories and laughs...

The Master Puppet Master's Report:

1. First Some Links: Jay XC route, Jay XC Profile, The Puppet Master , or This
   
   Let me first state "Holy sh*t you guys are fast!" Great job.
   
2. The house was a lucky strike - thanks to Craig Ross and poo to Ray for not listening to my advice about the TrailView Lodge!
   
3. The mud was special this year - a cross between butt soup, manure, clay, quik-crete, and pudding
   
4. eCaps get so much hype... what about the d and f caps?
   
5. RaceReady shorts and Helly top stayed with me the whole time - like a 2nd, REALLY stinky skin
   
6. Harry Reems, with a raised eyebrow and moustache, at mile 20 to the couple from Toronto that had yo-yo'd a few times... "Hey, you come here often?"
   
7. Talking to your legs actually can cause them to act as you want them to - voodoo style
   
8. How many cramps can one person have in a 200yd stretch of beaver slop... by my count, 17
   
9. Garbage dropping a-holes suck
   
10. A few times solo on the trail, "Where the f is everyone?! Am I lost?!"
    
11. I agree with MadDog, it was great that everyone convened at the finish (and that everyone actually finished.)
    
12. Thank the Mountain Gods for Sue and Vick to help balance our testosterone fueled conversations, ensure we ate something other than bananas, and help add to the post-race laughs.
    
13. I was at one point (mile 25-ish) cursing you guys, and myself, for putting this on the 2008 calendar and thinking this could be the last Jay race for me. However, after the crampy finish, post-race burger and pizza, the beers, the story telling/great conversation, this morning's coffee in the hot tub, squeezing the mud out of my shoes this afternoon, etc, I am ready to sign on for 2009. You just can't stop the sickness...
    

Mutha's Report:

1. The camaraderie at the house was excellent. Great mix for next year. The ladies were the icing on the cake ... or actually the cake. Good thing to remember for next year. Also to remember: don't play foozball with Vicky.
   
2. Next year? Did I say "next year"? How insane is THAT?!?
3. Running alone... with MD; with some other folks; with MD; alone again; with MD; alone; alone; alone ... from off in the distance: "mutha... mutha ... " HEY, it's MD!! Where the hell was everybody?
   
4. Being passed by MD, then being passed by MD an hour later... but I never passed him!!!! What the frick?? How'd he do that? He's Mystical MadDog (thanks for the suggestion, tMail!)
   
5. Early in the race, runners slowed or stopped to figure out how to get around puddles. If only they knew then what they eventually figured out.
6. I never had any idea where the heck I was. I just followed the polka-dot flags. The race-course map shows a figure-eight. Maybe, but I have no idea where we went.
7. Passing tMail: "you okay?", "yeh." Failed to notice he only had on one shoe.
8. In beaver swamp, having the guy in front of me drop up to his neck and totally cramp up, screaming
   "AHHHHH, AHHHHH, AHHHH, ...".
   "Dude, let me massage it..."
   "AHHHHH, AHHHH, AHHHH...",
   "... uh, okay ... good luck".
9. Dumb broad figured me and maddog would carry her trash because she asked politely. MadDog recommended she stick it in her waistband. I suggested that storing things in the crack of my ass was always effective and worth considering. She never turned around.
10. Plunging unexpectedly neck-deep into hollows in the beaver swamp - unbelievable. It can't even be described to somebody who wasn't there.
11. There was never a break. Ever. The closest thing was after pounding the mile or two on the dirt road, hitting that soft pine-forest trail. That luxury lasted less than a mile, but it was beautiful.
12. Seeing NOBODY on the dirt road, in the pine forest or anywhere near the sad-pit. I was quite sure that the event had ended and everybody but me was at a really great pub in downtown North Troy.
13. Soft mud, firm mud, deep mud, shallow mud. I never knew, and tried not to care. But taking one extra step and dropping knee deep, then the next step staying high, and the next step slipping off a submerged log ... jeezum - what the hell is a guy supposed to do? There was no such thing as pace. Course average makes a little sense, but really my pace would change from a 7min to a 30min and back again with no warning.
14. Pizza. Cold Pizza. Hot Pizza. Who cares.
15. Both big toenails separating from the nailbed. A pessimist would say "I am injured". I say, "I have two new pendants for a necklace".
16. I ate close to 200,000 calories in the 24 hours following the race. I am now called "fat man". I can hear it now: "mutha is so fat that when he sits on Wednesday, Tuesday & Thursday bounce into next week."
17. Lesson Learned: Don't drink a 12oz beer in one gulp immediately upon coming to a stop after the race. Drink water. Drink the beer later. Ohhhh, my aching large intestine.
18. Getting carried downstream by the current is faster than stepping.
19. Obi Wan MadDog on going fast in the brook (said while passing me): "Mutha, trust your shoes"
20. Learning to piss while running.