Yes, I’m still alive! What a weekend! First of all, New York saw its first snow for this year as most of you know. Not just a little, no, actually quite a lot. It started sometime in the morning while I was riding the subway, and I came out of the underground to a white wonderland. After an eventful walk home in high-heels in the evening, I thought what luck we have to leave the next day for Virginia - until Charles told me they expect snow there, too.

This Sunday, I was supposed to run my first 35 kilometers, (22miles). The race was called the Swinging Bridge Trail Runs, of which there are a 10miler, 35k and a 50k, which Firdaus was planning to run. When I saw this race I thought “why not, we get to go somewhere (what I always like!), and it will be fun!”

After a delicious breakfast at our local diner, we were on the road with Charles as our designated driver. We reached Richmond after 7 1/2 hours: a mostly snowy ride with dirty, messy roads. Luckily, Virginia did not get any snow, but that doesn’t mean it was any less cold. We stayed in one of the suburbs of Richmond with another 45 minutes to drive to the town, where the race was held.

The next morning we got up early and drove the last few miles to Cumberland, Virginia. By that time I was really psyched. My longest run until that point was 15 miles or 2 hours 20 minutes. I was not sure how I would be able to do it, but I had my mind set on it for weeks. By then and I knew I would finish no matter what. It was in the low 20’s in the morning and wasn’t supposed to get over 40 during the day. So we were layered up, standing with another 80-90 people at the starting line, with most of them doing the 10 miler.

The race went through the trails of the Bear Creek State Forest, only twice going actually on the street and then only for very short distances. In general, the single-track path would have been very pleasant with its rolling hills. But due to previous rain, water overflow from the river and the hurricane in November, the path was muddy and rocky and covered by branches, roots, and tree trunks. We had to literally jump, step, slide and crouch to get past those barriers. We particularly had to watch out for thorny vines, which made it impossible to run for a long stretches.

After two miles in the race, the first water crossing appeared. The field was flooded from the river and I was standing in calf-high water. At this point I thought that it’s not so bad, I can deal with this until I got to the second crossing. Well, when I signed up for the race I read that there would be river crossings, but at that time I thought more of a trickle than a river. I was standing in front of an actual river, which I had to cross. I saw people slipping and sliding, and one person in fact was up to his neck in the water. The water reached “only” up to my hips, because I found a more shallow part. After a few minutes of running the icy-cold experience was forgotten and my toes felt warm again until another muddy water puddle came up.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes, I reached the first aid station and I thought I did around 8 miles already. The guys told me that we were aat the 5 mile marker, and I would see them at mile 15 again, because it was a out and back course. At that moment, I knew I would not achieve my goal to finish that race in less than four hours.

In the next stage, I got lost for a short period and poked out my contact lens with a branch, which forced me to go on with one contact lens. The course went on with mud puddles and a few more little river crossings until we got to the second aid station, which was mile 10. There we saw why the race was called the Swinging Bridge Trail Race: across the river was an old swinging wood bridge, that was really shaky and which we had to cross to actually reach half of the total distance.

On my way back, I was staggering through the woods … mostly alone. At one point, got lost again, but this time I did not find my way back. I got out of a river crossing and did not see the markings for the path, therefore I went where I thought the path should be, but ended up further into the shrubs. By then I did not want to turn around and I finally found a wide dirt street made by a bulldozer. Auspiciously I packed my cell phone in my bladder pack and was able to leave Charles a message on his cell phone just in case. I figured the bulldozer had to come into the fores somehow from a street, so I followed the path and reached a road. I stopped a car, asked for directions, and made it to the 15mile aid station.

Luckily, I was not too far off the course and I only lost 5 to 10 minutes. I kept running where it was possible and started talking to myself. Maybe at mile 19, I met two guys, who where done running and I walked with them for a short distance. Unfortunately, I followed them and we got off course again, but this time it wasn’t so bad. In the end we had to jump a fence and we were back on the right path. I accompanied them for another 5 minutes, but then I had to start running again, because I felt myself stiffening up.

After 5 hours and 30 minutes I finally reached the finish line. Charles and Firdaus were waiting for me, and my first thought that occurred to me was that Firdaus finished his 50k before I was done with the 35k. Firdaus assured me that he only ran the 35k, which calmed me down; because he was teasing me beforehand that he might finish his 50k before I would be done with my 35k and this really motivated and made me focus on my run.

When I crossed the finish line, I was not sure what I was supposed to feel: I was happy that I finished the race, but I was close to tears. I was feeling all sorts of emotions and fatigue, but nothing felt better than to see Charles waiting for me at the finish. I just realized that all these sensation felt really good! I still don't know my exact time or place as I write this article, I only know I wasn’t one of the fastest and also not one of the slowest. I believe this experience is a good start to prepare me for my first marathon some time soon!

Alexandra Loewe, December, 2003