Vermont 50 Mile / 50 K Trail Run

50 Mile (Mudfest) Stephen Taylor--8 hours and some minutes
50K (mudfest+nap) Susan Howell--9 hours and some minutes



The Vermont 50 Miler is a combination mountain bike and trail running race held in late September. Vermont is beautiful this time of year, with lots of beautiful fall foliage. They have also added a 50K run to this race. On the day that we raced, it rained all night long turning the trail into a total mud bog. The race was about 60% trails and 40% gravel roads.

The pre-race meeting was very crowded, with 650 mountain bikers and however-many 50 mile runners. Everyone was apprehensive of they day ahead.


Photo: Race director announcing, "Sorry, I can't do anything about the weather. Follow the yellow arrows, and communicate between bikers and runners."

Since Susan didn't have to start the 50K until 8am, she managed to snap a couple blurry pictures before we scurried off into the darkness.


Photo: Me, "Just take the picture!"


Photo: The skinny girl standing next to me finished right behind me, 8 hours later.

The mountain bikers started in the dark, but by the 6:45am start time for the 50 mile run you could see your hand in front of your face.

Here is where I am going to say that it was fun, and it was. It was beautiful and I wish I could just go for a little hike and enjoy it. But I feel compelled to test myself, and on this day I got what I wanted. Truly I wanted the race to be over by 20 miles. My legs hurt so bad for hours, and we were literally RUNNING IN MUD for most of the day.

I finished and hobbled to the car to put warm clothes on. Hobbled. I could barely walk. I managed to wipe some of the mud off my caked body and put on every piece of warm dry clothing I had with me. I realized I had left my post-race shoes at home...damn! Thus I had to walk around in the mud caked shoes that had been hurting my feet for hours.

Next I started looking for Susan. I knew she wasn't done yet because her dry clothes were still in the car. She wasn't anywhere to be found around the finish area. After her DNF in a marathon a few weeks ago I really had my fingers crossed that she could get through this one. A few hours later (with me nervously staring up the ski slope homestretch finish, Susan came running down the hill.


Susan: "It was this big."


Photo: I was so happy to see her finish.