I awoke to a winter wonderland in Colorado on Friday, April 29th. My quest to add yet another state high point and another state marathon now faced the obstacle of negotiating icy and accident-strewn highways and byways along the 60 or so miles between my home in Colorado Springs and the Denver Int'l airport. Though I left a little early, it wasn't early enough. A drive that under normal conditions takes a little over an hour stretched to two and half hours. I was so late that I barely made the next flight to Philadelphia though it left one and a half hours later.

My first stop after landing and picking up the rental car was Delaware's high point. My guidebook, Charlie and Debra Winger's "Highpoint Adventures: the Complete Guide to the 50 State Highpoints" had directions for one approaching from the south. I had to consult a map to devise a course from Philadelphia Airport to the north. Not a problem. Taking the first exit after entering Delaware, I headed west on Highway 92 until I came to Ebright Road. Turning right on Ebright I could now follow the directions in the book--which were to simply follow Ebright Road for 0.6 miles to the Dartmouth Woods subdivision and turn right on Ramblewood Drive and park. The "Ebright Azimuth" sign marking the high point was on the SE corner of the intersection. I parked on the north side of the street and proceeded to the high point where I took a self-portrait: holding the camera at arm's length. As I made my leisurely way back to the car I noticed a woman vigorously walking in my direction pulled by a small dog.

I quickly learned that Doreen is the self-appointed guardian of the lore surrounding the history of Delaware's state highpoint. Indeed she is responsible for a campaign to get the sign erected, which I believe is in sight of her kitchen window in the house that occupies the SE corner. I think she espied me as I lingered by the sign, then quickly assembled her lap dog for an impromptu outing. I fell under her spell as she regaled me with tales of high pointers--when she saw an Englishman rush through on his way towards completing all 50 states in record time, or when about a year later she saw a car stop next to the sign, five men quickly bailing out and touching the sign before speeding off again, or the van full of college age kids take pictures next to the sign, then proceeding to spend the rest of the day picnicing and playing football in the large field across the way. She told me of the controversy over where exactly the highpoint resides, with some five or six possible locations. Some large rocks had been placed next to the field to prevent people from driving on it, but they were deemed "not naturally occuring", so not qualifying as a highpoint. Similarly the asphalt in the middle of the road or the graded ground beneath the trailer park also don't qualify. I decided to take the advise of the guidebook and stand next to the sign and call it "good enough".

The next morning in my stately $260/nt Hilton Estates suite (which I got for $50/nt on Priceline) I awoke to the pitter patter of rain--a pattern that would continue throughout the day, making for muddy conditions on this 100% trail race.

Following a bewildering course description by the race director, which included the caveat that part of trail running also includes occasionally getting lost, he lined us up in front of a large field of grass and directed our attention to a small red marker 150 yards away where the course would narrow to a gravel path. “If you are racing then you might want to get out in front early, because it will be harder to pass after you get on the path.” Well, of course this meant that the hot dogs (slow runners) would sprint across the field, thereby obstructing the sane pacers, who like the tortoise catch the hare—particularly in a race like this.

There were two races—one loop for the half marathon runners—two loops for the marathoners. Actually there were four races, but the 5K and 10K started later—after the half marathon—to allow runners to do the “Triple Crown”, or the half marathon AND the 5K and 10K. About 20 runners sprinted out ahead of me, but I relaxed into a comfortable pace.

It soon became apparent to me that these east coast flatlanders don’t know how to run trails. They are much too cautious on the downhill—which is where you can really pick up time. Finding myself stuck behind a group of three for too long, when we finally broke out onto a dirt road I impatiently sped to the fore. Soon afterwards I forded the 50-foot wide creek for the first of four times.

I had passed six or seven runners, but didn’t know how many were still in front of me. I caught glimpses of a pack of about five and it looked like one runner was breaking away from the pack. I slowly reeled in the pack, picking off stragglers as they fell off the pace. Finally, an hour into the race, I caught up to the pack, now only three runners. As I moved around them and took the lead I asked “How many are ahead?” I had to ask several times before one said “Oh, I don’t know”. I thought that was strange. Later at an aide station I learned from a volunteer that I was in the lead—both for the marathon and the half marathon. Since the pack of three were running the half marathon I eased off and let them go around me, taking up the back of the pack for about twenty minutes.

We forded the creek again and headed for the half marathon finish line and the end of the first loop for marathoners. One runner had broke well ahead and was emerging from other side of the creek as I and the other two began the crossing. I soon let them forge on and then another, and another, until when I ultimately completed the first loop I had fallen to eighth place and one marathoner had slipped by as well. I saw him pulling away across the grassy field as he started the second loop as I came onto the field--he had about a minute lead on me at that point.

I eased off the pace and ran comfortably to the third time crossing the stream. This time I splashed water on my face and dipped my hat in the water and poured it over my head. It felt good. I needed cooling off. I learned from the next aid station that I was about three minutes behind. As I ran the final of three sub-loops with the main loop I was surprised to see the leader coming towards me! I asked him if there were a turnaround point. The answer was an alarming "no!" Well, it wasn't until i completed the loop that I realized that I had gone the wrong way. No worries. So long as I did the loop I was "okay".

The trail had seriously deteriorated in the rain and with all the runners tromping on it and the second loop was much more difficult. After running the first loop in 1hr38min I slowed to a 2hr6min second loop. I hung on for second place though in 3hrs44min. The winner finished in 3hrs20min.

Return to state highpoints