Old Dominion 2000 
We left for Woodstock on Friday morning around 11:30 am.  Coming from
Delaware it would be a 3 1/12 hour drive or around 200 miles.  We
arrived at 2:30 and immediately checked in at the fairgrounds.  I
weighed in at 136 lbs. about 6 pounds lighter than I expected.  After
weighing in, we got out rooms at the Ramada and went to the Wal-Mart to
pick up a few things.  We then returned to the fairgrounds for the
pre-race meeting.  Mike Robertson spoke about the trail along with Ray
Waldron and Pat Botts.
The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and then we went back to the hotel
for dinner and called it a night at 7:30.  Before I knew it, it was 3am
and time to get up.  After some last minute preparations I was out the
door by 3:20.  My plan was to walk to the fairgrounds for the start but
I met up with a runner from Seattle and his family and they gave me a
ride to the start.  When I got there I realized I had forgot my
flashlight but I knew my crew would bring my backup for later in the
race when I really needed it.  There was a pre-race prayer and before I
knew it the race had started.  The first 5 miles or so are through the
town of Woodstock and some back country roads.  The only obstacle I
found during this part of the race was a large dog about a mile and a
half out.  The dog was not tied up and actually ran out on the road
greeting the runners with what did not seem to be a friendly bark.
Event though I was not happy about it I just continued to run by him and
he did not bother me.  From about mile 5 to mile 7 or so you climb
Woodstock mountain.  The first aid station is at the top.  I stopped for
a few seconds to fill my water bottle and was off.  As I was coming down
Mike Kent caught up to me and we ran together through the Lavender
Trail.  He told me he ran in under 20 hours last year and I was not
confident that I could do that so I let him go.  The next 18 miles or so
are run on rolling hills on back country roads.  When I reached the 32
mile mark my brother and mother were waiting to help me out.  They did
one heck of a job getting me in and out of drop bag/ pit crew areas.
You go from mile 32 up a steep incline to another trail section of the
course.  Its tough to estimate how long this trail section was , it may
be a couple of miles long.  I did not find it too difficult.  After
coming out of the trail you go straight downhill for another couple of
miles.  I was kind of struggling at this point because I do not do very
well at downhills.  After the downhill section you run 5 or 6 miles on
trails.  I was kind of surprised at the amount of water on the trail at
this point and there were rocks all over the place.  Little did I know
this would be a cake walk compared with what was to come.  Once I came
off the trail I was at mile 43.  I was weighed in and had only lost a
1/2 pound which was good. I continued for the next 4 miles on gravel
roads with rolling hills until I met up with my crew again at mile 47.
Once again they got me in and out as fast as possible.  As I was leaving
the aid station one of the volunteers told me I was in 12th place.  I
knew that the hard part of the race was yet to come so this did not
matter too much to me.  As I made the turn coming out of the aid station
I was greeted with a hill I thought would never end.  As I was running I
just happened to look down and notice a marking signifying the 50 mile
mark which I reached in 8 hours and 55 minutes.  The next aid station
was at 50.92 miles.  It must have been the longest .92 miles I ran in
my life.  When I reached the aid station, there was a sign that read
mountain top.  Some one should get them for false advertisement because
the incline continued on.  At this point I had been running by myself for
about 42 miles.  When I reached mile 56, as my brother and mother were
rubbing me down with Ben-Gay, another runner finally caught up with me.
A Canadian fellow by the name of Les.  Les and I ran together for the
rest of the race.  From the 56 mile mark to the 65 mile mark we ran
through some pretty tough ATV trail.  The conversation Les and I had
made things seem a lot easier.  Come to find out this guy has been on
the Canadian 100k team and has some very impressive times.  The
conversation kept my mind off of the difficult course and before I knew
it we were at mile 64. In and out of the aid station we were off again.
The goal was to reach Elizabeth Furnace (mile 75) by 6:30 so we would
have plenty of daylight to get up and down Sherman's Gap.  From mile 64
to 75 there is a mix of trail and roads, nothing very difficult.  We
had no problem meeting our goal as we arrived at Elizabeth Furnace
around 6:30. I picked up my flashlight and some warm clothes my crew had
ready for me and went to be weighed in only to find out the scale was
broke.  Les was not to upset about this because he had lost five pounds
at the first weigh in and was not looking forward to this one. We left
the aid station and were now on our way to the most difficult part of
the course, Sherman's Gap.  At first I thought everything I heard was
blown out of proportion because the incline was not so steep and the
footing was good.  As we continued to climb conditions worsened as the
rocks grew larger and more plentiful and the incline became more
challenging.  Believe or not I kind of liked it.  I just became more
focused.  There was no way this mountain was going to stop me. I got to
the top in about 55 minutes.  a couple of minutes ahead of Les.  I
yelled down to him when I got there to assure him there was and end.  I
knew he would catch up on the downhill because that is my weak area.
When we hot to the bottom I was surprised to be at mile 81.  I thought
it would be mile 78 so that gave me a bit of a lift. We reached the
bottom around 8:30 so it took an hour and a half to get up and down and
we still had a little daylight to play with.  I pity anyone who had to
traverse Sherman's Gap in the dark.  When we reached the bottom Steve
Schiller caught up with us and kept us company for awhile.  As we were
talking I found out that this was his 8th OD100 and that he won in 1993.
I now started wondering what I was doing in the company of these 2 guys.
A Canadian 100k champion and a previous OD100 winner.  Being in the
company of these gentlemen really gave me a lift and I became more
confident of my ability. Steve ran with us up Veach Gap to the 86 mile
mark.  To my amazement I once again took the lead going up the mountain
assuring those behind me the end was near and once again they caught up
on the downhill.  Les and I left the 86 mile mark together but Steve
stayed behind a little longer and we did not see him again.  The rest of
the run is now on roads and we know as long as everything holds up we
are going to break 24 hours.  At this point we already know that Jim
Garcia has won and is probably in bed sleeping.  We also know that the
only major obstacle left for us is making it up Woodstock Mountain.
Making it up is not my problem running down is my problem.  We go from
86 to 90 and it is now around midnight or so and I can tell my crew is
getting tired so I assure them when leaving the 90 mile mark that it
will only be a couple of more hours.  It seems as though the pit crew
instructions were a little fuzzy and they got lost a few times along the
way not to mention the amount of bugs they had to fight all day long. I
give them a lot of credit for persevering and not letting me know their
troubles until the end.  As we left 90 we knew we would be at the top of
Woodstock mountain at the next aid station, so as they say it was just
relentless forward motion from that point on.  When we arrived at the
top Les seemed very happy as was I but I knew I still had one more
obstacle, the long downhill.  We ran the whole way down at a very good
pace and I was hurting pretty bad but I kept telling myself that
everyone feels this way and everyone has to do it to complete the race
so I continued down.  It seemed like a much longer run down then it was
up at the beginning of the race.  Finally we could hear the water from
the falls at the bottom and we knew we were there.  When we reached the
bottom we knew it was over.  We continued on the country roads until we
reached Water Street and the final aid station where we just ran right
through and I told my brother and mother to meet me at the finish.  A
couple of miles later we were at the fairgrounds and I was feeling good.
I enjoyed running with Les for the last 44 miles but deep down inside I
am a competitor just like everyone else.  When we hit the fairgrounds I
took off and sprinted the last half mile around the track to the finish.
To my surprise, as I was about three quarters of the way around I
could see another runner ahead of me that looked like he was struggling
to the finish.  I decided I still had enough time to pass him and put it
in another gear and passed him at about 10 yards to the finish.  I
finished in 11th place in 21 hours 37 minutes and 10 seconds. I could
feel such a rush of energy at this point I did not know what to do with
it so I cocked my arm back and just threw my flashlight to the ground as
hard as I could to release this mass of energy I had left.
In conclusion, this is not an easy race by any means and I recommend
anyone running this race to take a crew along.  The aid stations were a
little sparse but the volunteers were excellent.  The weather out here
can get kind of goofy because there were times when I was cold and there
were times when I was hot.  Mike Robertson said during the awards
banquet that the temperature exceeded 90 degrees but I would say it did
not make it much above 80 degrees, 82 tops.  It seemed hotter than that
in certain areas because there were no trees to protect us against the
sun.

Sorry it is so long I would just like this to help someone who is
contemplating running a 100 mile race for the first time.

Dave Bursler
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 19:15:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: DBURSLER@webtv.net (DAVID BURSLER)