Date: 2011-05-21
From: (61) Man Week,Day 5: David Lesser Memorial Shelter

To: (62) Man Week, Day 6: Mason Dixon Line
Miles today: 50.2

~ MAN WEEK DAY 6: LEMUR LEARNS THE VALUE OF A HARD DAYS WORK ~For the start of my third 50 miler, I woke up at 3am and ate breakfast: more Ramon noodles. I was packed and on the trail by 3:45, retracing my steps from the day before with my flashlight illuminating the way. I arrived at Keys Gap and saw that someone had tied a trash bag to a post, so I decided to lighten my load. I threw away my trash, my extra pair of socks (they had holes), my worn out toothbrush and nearly empty tooth paste, dumped what was left of my stove alcohol, and ripped out the pages of my AT book that I had already passed. Then I took out all of my change and the last packet of Ramon that I would not be able to cook, and left them for the next hiker as trail magic. It was then time to begin the 4-state challenge, so I walked over to the ¢Welcome to Virginia¢ sign. I was officially done the state, having completing the Virginia Challenge in only 25 days! (The total including the night Helm and I did entering the state, the zero we took in Damascus, the zero I took at Trail Days, and today.) Challenge met!I started to feel really optimistic about the day. I had woken up early so that I would not have to hike through the dark as long, eaten lots of carbs, was carrying a light pack, and was well rested. What could go wrong? In my excitement I jumped up, tagged the top of the Virginia sign, and landed straight in a puddle. It just goes to show that no amount of perfect planning and preparation can make up for being and idiot. I resumed my hike, feet squishing as I went, and shortly after the sun came up. I ate some of my high calorie food as I went, laughing at how horrible my diet had become. My breakfast cereal was a bowl of Ramon noodles, my power bar a Snickers, and my trail mix a bag of Peanut M&M¢s.I arrived at Harpers Ferry after 6am, and took a blue blaze detour to visit the ATC Headquarters building and have my picture taken as a thru hiker, but they were not open yet and so the trip was wasted. I continued on the trail past Jefferson¢s Rock and through the town, then crossed a bridge over the Potomac River to the C&O Canal and my home state of Maryland. Already I had been in three states, now I just had to get to the Pennsylvania border aka the Mason Dixon Line. The Potomac was high from all the rain and it had washed out much of the area, so I followed the white blazes on the C&O Canal for several miles. It was all very familiar, as I had been there many times before. This is because the next 13 miles or so of AT were also the beginning of the JFK 50 mile ultra-marathon, a race I had completed 5 times. I couldn¢t help but think how poetic it was that I was doing another 50 miler on that same stretch. As I had expected it to be, the section of trail getting off of the C&O was rocky and mountainous. What I did not expect, however, were the crowds. Gobs and gobs of weekend warriors, Boy Scout troops, and runners passed me by. It was the most people I had ever seen on the trail. (By the end of the day I figured I had passed at least 200 people, which I blame on the two interstate highways that pass through the area)Around 12pm my feet began to bother me, so I took them off to find that I had finally gotten some blisters. It had taken a week¢s worth of rain, 50 milers, and worn out socks to do it, but it happened. I sat down on a rock and set to work on preventing any further problems. I performed an hour long surgery on my feet and shoes, by cutting off anything that was rubbing or covering it with duct tape (both my socks contained large holes that couldn¢t be helped). I had also been chaffing very badly in an area you can probably guess, so I covered that with tape too. I stood up, half man half duct tape, and continued.Having fallen behind schedule from my stop at Keys Gap, Harpers Ferry detour, and the operation on my feet, I hiked as fast as I could. I was doing 3.5-4 miles per hour, a pace I held from 1 to 5pm, only stopping to drink water or sign a shelter log. It was a crazy pace, but strangely enough I felt much better than I had the day before, or even the last 50 miler. Perhaps I was growing used to hurting all the time.The majority of Maryland was a great state, full of historic parks and attractions that I rarely saw in the south, but eventually the fun ended and I started hitting rock. Tons of rocks! They were covering the trail like a river bed, and it took cautious steps to navigate them, especially in my exhausted state. I had always wondered what it would be like to encounter various obstacles while doing a 50 miler, and now I knew: terrible. After a few miles the rocks stopped and the trail became smooth again. I was still behind schedule, and at the rate I was going would not finish until 1 in the morning. That meant more night hiking, and to make things worse, I was not sure my food would last the additional hours. Things were not looking good.I arrived the second to last shelter in Maryland and stopped to sign the logbook. I told a guy there that I was doing the 4-state, and he told me that I was going to be hiking the rockiest section in the dark. There was no doubt in my mind that the rocks were going to slow me down even more. It was 7:30, so I had an hour of daylight left, and needed to make the most of it while I could.I powerwalked for a mile, and then I cinched down my pack (now around 11-12lbs give or take a candy bar) and started to run. I ran and ran, through grassy fields and over rocky mountains, until the night overtook me. Then I turned on my light, and ran some more, stopping to walk when the trail hit a rough patch, and then starting again once it was smooth. I was making great time, and had nearly caught up to where I was supposed to be. I stopped once to get out my phone and call my parents, telling them to pick me up at ten, but besides that I was constantly moving forward.Nearing the end of the 50 I hit the worst rocks of the day, so I stopped running. The forest floor in all directions was buried under a sea of boulders, and I had to rely on white blazes alone to direct me through the night. Maryland was not going to let me out easy, and my tired legs screamed in protest as I continued onward. I had almost reached Pen Mar County Park when my foot caught on a rock and I fell for the second time ever, bashing my knee off of another rock and landing on my arm. I drug myself back up, knee bleeding, and finished the last mile into Pen Mar. The 50 miler was now completed, but not the 4-state. I still had an additional .2 miles to the border, so I trudged onward until I finally found the Mason Dixon Line sign, by itself in the middle of the woods. I hugged it with both arms and cried out: ¢Sweet, sweet VICTORY!¢ Then I turned around and hiked back to Pen Mar.I sat on a bench in the dark, until my Mom and Dad showed up. I hugged them, and then they took me home. Having been skeptical over whether doing another 50 miler so closely to the last was within my capability, I was feeling pretty good about myself. It was history now, forever under my belt, and I was proud.~The sixth day of MAN WEEK was 50.2 miles in 18 hours and 30 minutes while simultaneously completing the 4-state and Virginia challenges. It ended in manly hugs with mom and dad, and a manly car ride home!~