Heat on the Potomac & New Blood on the Trails: 2013 North Face Endurance Challenge, Washington, DC
Fireflies at 5AM I've seen some online kvetching about The North Face's decision to start the DC 50 miler just before dawn. There are maybe 40 minutes of darkness before twilight, so why not just start at 6AM? Adding to the annoyance of some, TNF race rules list as "mandatory" the possession of a flashlight or headlamp (although in three goes at the DC 50 miler, I've never seen anyone pulled out for not packing light). Yet it makes for a magical first half hour. You start out loping around a cool, dewy, grassy field. There's a line of lights snaking ahead and behind, weaving and bobbing through the darkness. Then on to the Potomac Heritage trail, plunging into the tunnel of trees, following the dangling glowsticks around the early twists and turns. Out into the "lowlands" area, through long grass, marshy, nettly country. The sun comes up by then, breaks brilliantly across the river to the east and south. Frogs in a slow boil The m...