Clawed by the Cat: 2014 Catoctin 50K Race Report
John Steinbeck said of trips that we don't take them so much as they take us. Every trip, every journey is its own character, a distinct personality with its own its own wants and its own agenda--"and all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless." I already knew from two previous finishes that Maryland's Catoctin 50K is an ornery character, a diabolically rock-littered roller-coaster of an ultramarathon--held, just for good measure, in the soggy heat of late July. It doesn't even respect the 50K distance, growing a bit each year through erosion and trail changes to its current 33-point-something length. This time I would also learn that the Cat is entirely unimpressed by any "experience" I might have gained in two previous finishes. Or with my careful planning and strategizing. Cats have their own prerogatives and don't care about yours. Old stones The race starts where it ends, at Gambrill Park in front a...