I said I was going to write posts for each race when I started the year. And then things took an unexpected turn in February, and I fell off the plan. After that, I felt like I needed to catch up with the old news before posting again. And instead, I just haven’t posted. I decided that it’s time for a new approach. I’d still like to catch up but for now I’m just going to write about current events.

Yesterday was a big day in my house. My son graduated from high school. He’s a really smart guy who struggles to do work that he doesn’t find inspiring or valuable. We’ve had lots of tough interactions over the last four years. I’m really proud of him for getting to graduation and am hopeful that his college experience will be different.

His graduation ceremony was at 8 pm. That timing was fortunate for me as I had scheduled one of our half-marathons for the same morning without realizing it. This month’s race added a new state to my list and did so with a theme. I started our plans looking for races that we could drive to in order to manage the expenses, which made West Virginia a good target. Because West Virginia is a small state and not densely populated, races are few and far between. I did find multiple recommendations though for the Hatfield McCoy Races.

For those who aren’t familiar, the Hatfields and McCoys were two families who lived on the border of West Virginia and Kentucky and had a longstanding feud in the late 1800s. You can read all about it here. The families officially agreed to a truce in 2003. That area capitalizes on that fame now, labeling the sites of notable incidents, a series of ATV trails, and an annual festival that includes the race series.

The race series includes four options: a full marathon, two half marathons, and a 5k. The Blackberry Mountain marathon is the first half of the marathon course and, as indicated by the name, includes running up (and down) an area mountain. It is also advertised as including more of the feud sites on the course. The River Road marathon is the second half of the marathon course. It does NOT include a mountain but does include traversing a swinging bridge.

When we signed up for the race, I opted for the Blackberry Mountain half. I knew it would be hard, but I liked the idea of seeing the feud sites and figured I could handle the inclines. What I didn’t know then was how tired I’d be from the races we have already run this year and that I’d be struggling with some nagging injuries. Those factors had me rethinking my choices as the race day neared.

The race was scheduled for Saturday, June 8th. I had a six-month dermatologist appointment on Friday the 7th, so we headed out shortly after I got home from my appointment. The early part of the drive was uneventful as we crossed North Carolina on highways. As we got closer to the race area, things got a bit challenging, though. Cell service was minimal to non-existent, and we lost our Google directions when we made a stop. From that point, I helped navigate us to the town where we needed to pick up our race packets as Jp had the joy of driving the very narrow, winding, two-lane roads. While our route was likely not the most efficient, we were successful in finding the town and finally got cell service back as we reached South Williamson, Kentucky.

Packet pickup was at a local high school. I had messaged the race organizers on Thursday night, asking whether switching races was an option. They directed us to ask about it at packet pickup. So the first thing we did was ask someone about changing our registration. They advised us to pick up our bibs for the race we had registered for and then come back to the registration desk to make the change. So we grabbed our bibs and shirts and then were able to swap the bibs with no fuss. We were then set to run the River Road Half.

Our next adventure was finding our hotel. I had done a bunch of searching. Marriott properties are what I always check first since I have status with them and am guaranteed late checkout (which often allows us to shower after our races). Marriott had nothing in the area. Searching a few other sites, I found a property called the Landmark Hotel, which was about a 30-minute drive from the race in Pikeville, Kentucky.

We got ourselves checked in, had some very unimpressive Mexican food for dinner, and then took a walk around the town. While it was certainly a small town in our view it includes a medical center and a university so seemed large for the area. I’m sure having those amenities is also why there was a hotel to stay in. Our walk around town included seeing a quaint historic downtown, a collection of decorated bear statues, and a local festival with food trucks, live music, a craft fair and lots and lots of motorcycles.

Our race start time Saturday morning was 7:30 am but we needed to be South Williamson, KY (the finish line location) by 6:20 to catch our 6:30 am shuttle bus to the start line in Matewan, WV. We got up at 5 am to get ourselves ready, pack up and check out of our room. We got to South Williamson on time and found both parking and our shuttle pretty easily. After our lovely school bus ride on narrow, winding roads we arrived in Matewan and stood around with our fellow runners waiting for the race start.

The weather was close to perfect for racing, which is more than I can say for our last few races. It was in the mid-50s and not humid. I imagine this is part of the advantage of being in a mountainous area. Our run started with a quick spin through downtown Matewan and then took us quickly to KY state line and the river mentioned in the race name. There was mist in the air that I thought made the scenery lovely.

Our course included paved roads, gravel/dirt roads (and some mud) and a bit of time through some grass. While the roads weren’t closed for the race, the roads were small enough and the traffic light enough that it it never presented an issue. The aid stations all included water and gatorade and many had other items in the offering. I particularly appreciated that a couple of the aid stations offered small wet sponges later in the race to help us cool down and remove a bit of the sweat. The volunteers were also very friendly, helpful and encouraging. While a lot of people talk about the amazing crowds at big urban races I really enjoy the kindness of individuals like those volunteering at this race. The majority were clearly not runners but they were eager to help and had given over their Saturday to supporting runners like us.

Course was consistently lovely until we got into town at the very end, but the highlight was certainly the swining bridge. The challenge wasn’t really about the bridge swinging, it was the bridge bouncing. It was particularly challenging when multiple people were on the bridge as we were bouncing each other with competing rhythms.

As we were waiting for the race to start on Saturday, Jp asked me what my goal for the race was. Given that I’ve had some nagging issues and that summer weather is generally not runner friendly, I told him my goals were simple. All I wasnted was to finish the race and feel good at the end. While this race was far from my fastest, I absolutely achieved those goals. As a bonus I enjoyed my interactions with the other runners and volunteers, took in the scenery and finished strong.

After the race, we took advantage of a shower offered at a local gym. The situation was a bit odd and the shower wasn’t as clean as I would have liked, but we were able to get ourselves cleaned up and get on the road fairly quickly. We made it home with time to spare before I needed to head to Peter’s graduation ceremony.