2013 Grindstone, Interrupted
This is a race report about a race that wasn't. Not for me. As of this writing, it remains to be seen whether the 2013 Grindstone 100 will happen for anyone. Last Tuesday, 2 days ago, we learned that the race was suspended. Although the George Washington National Forest is open (a Forest is not a Park, you see), as a specially permitted event, the race needs to be supervised by USPS personnel--who, like most of the other 800,000 furloughed federal workers, are not allowed to so much as answer a work-related email while the government remains shuttered. Getting off the grid What I will miss. There is nothing in my experience like the moment just before the start of an ultra. All the better if the huddled souls at the starting line are few, the location remote, the terrain rugged. Better still if shadows are beginning to lengthen and the trail appears to disappear into the darkness of trees and mountainside. A chill in the air doesn't ...