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Writer's pictureRosie Nanette Gagnon

Froggy Mountain 100 #53 Galax, Va

Updated: Apr 24



Froggy Mountain 100 Galax, Va


57 hrs to complete 100 miles on this 1.1 mile trail with approx 500 ft elevation gain and loss per loop. Flippin brutal! This race has such a great story though. My buddy Paul who's been my hero pacer through several difficult races and my companion on Dexter's anniversary run, owns Froggy Mountain in his backyard, in Galax Virginia. Named Froggy Mountain for the multitude of bullfrogs singing & whose croaks echo through the forest all night! Its a benign name for a killer trail. Back in February when we ran to Washington DC together we tossed around the idea of the two of us attempting to run 100 miles there. We let the idea sorta percolate and when I had a window of time open in mid-July, we decided to go for it. I expected it'd just be the two of us with maybe his wife Kim and Jason setting up some chairs and making sure we had food & drinks, but Paul ran with the idea and man, he created some magic and a race that should be on every true ultra runners bucket-list!



After resting up from Silverheels 100 I hit hill repeats pretty regularly @ the Cool Springs battlefield, which gave me a little under 400ft of vert per mile. I'd get in roughly 8 miles up and down that climb, and always pooped at the end! I wasn't sure how I was gonna pull out an extra 100 ft of vert per mile in 100 miles and survive, but, I just think the world of Paul and was determined to hopefully, between the two of us, get him a race on the map. I underestimated the absolute fantastic community of runners and friends that he is associated with, this ended up being probably my most favorite run to date and was not only the hardest thing I've ever done physically and mentally, but it was dang special.


I wanted to give Jason a break after making the drive out to Colorado, so was gonna head down to Galax on my own, abt. a 4 hr. drive, when my friend Margaret volunteered to come along and crew me. I was sooo excited for a fun girls weekend, and she's helped me through so many miles before, setting up an aid station at her house when I do my run to DC, and pacing me for like double marathon miles when I ran my first 200, so I knew shed be excellent crew! I thought the idea of sitting around in the muggy Virginia air camping, swatting away bugs and attending to all my needs didn't exactly sound fun to me, haha, but I wasn't gonna turn down her offer! We met Thurs afternoon and had a great time chatting the whole drive down to Pauls place in Galax. As we got close I saw some wicked steep little knobs of hills and figured that was what we'd be looking at course wise.


Paul and his buddy Kevin, the official Race RD (because Paul was running) had done a ton of work to get the place ready to be an official racecourse! I was blown away, really beautiful camping spots, a pond with a new flagpole with the stars & strips flying at the base of Froggy mountain, big firepits with chairs, a main aid station set up with canopies and propane stove to be the hub of the race, and probably best of all, we got a demo of the hot outdoor shower.



Everything looked so professional which was super cool because this little 100 attempt of ours was turned into an official inaugural racecourse. Paul and his lovely and kind, fun wife Kim made everyone feel so welcome! Paul and local podcaster Ethan helped us set up our tent which I'd bought at a military surplus, and turned out the instructions were in french, haha, but they figured it out, so Margaret had a place to sleep for the weekend.



It turned out there would be 4 people running the course, with a last minute 5th, my friend Adam Small from Ohio. Hed been in a lifethreatening car accident (hit while out running!) back in early spring, nearly lost his life. Hed been working his way back into hundreds and at the last minute thought he'd come down and run maybe a marathon on the course with us, so all in all 5 of us runners at the start line at Froggy Mountain 100. We were treated to grilled dogs & burgers around the campfire Thursday night. Beautiful cool night under the stars! Kevin shared with me the story of losing his nephew, active duty military member, and how he had supported his mother for years running the Army 10k (I believe) in his memory. It made starting this race running for my heroes, Dexter, Jacob, Taylor and Jake a little more special knowing someone there on our support team 'gets it.'

Andrew, one of the runners, gifted Paul an insanely beautiful, hand hewn race portal made from 100 yr old trees, absolute exquisite handiwork. Everyone there was up till past 11:00pm helping to assemble and get the race start/finish portal hoisted up for the morning run.

I really didn't sleep well after that. We planned a 5 am start, and I was still tossing around on the slanted mattress in the back of my suv, maybe ended up with 3 hrs of sleep. Up at 4:15 to get all taped up and ready for the long haul. We had what we thought would be a generous 60 hr cutoff, so figured I'd catch a few hrs of sleep at some point during the weekend. 5Am sharp there was a good sized crowd of folks there to cheer us on as we started the race!




The first bit of the loop didn't feel like too bad of a climb, till you hit the 'wall' which when I compared with my treadmill incline, was close to a 40% incline up the first hill, then we dropped down with some fun running steep downhills, hopping over a dozen logs, to climb what at first felt like a tamer hill but over the course of the loops really ended up being the harder climb. Once we summitted that hill, came around the corner was a nice big beautiful tree landmark before the descent to the finish, another steep downhill. Each loop was 1.1 mile. We originally intended to do 100 loops, but the steep hills ended up being so brutal after so many loops, that we all decided the race should be called at 91 loops which would put the total miles at a little over 100.5 miles. So began the longest imaginable weekend of effort, ever! I was having such a fun time honestly. The trail was soo beautiful, winding around through the woods, the soft pine sections of trail being my favorite. Keviin cooked us up the best bacon and egg burrito for breakfast!



Because of the change in terrain and how the trail wound around you really didn't feel like you were on a single loop. I think it was probably 30 miles in before I started to feel mentally weary of the fact we were just running the same killer hills over and over again. The forest changed through the daylight hours so the scenery felt like it was always changing. After about 20 loops, and prob 10 hrs of running/climbing, I could feel my quads, calves and butt muscles getting pretty worn out tired...with 80 miles to go. I wasn't sure how I was gonna do it, but quitting wasn't an option. I had my poles so I leaned into my arms on the worst of the climbs and just tried to stay in the moment. Was fun finding all the frogs along the trail.





This guy has the puke bucket at the top of the first climb


Left a rock with this guy for every 10 miles covered



Margaret was fantastic. She had my electrolyte bottle always ready, cold in the cooler, and a bottle of juice, food and nesquick all set to pick up every loop so I could just grab and continue. went the extra mile to make sure my drinks had added ice, which helped keep me cool. Throwing cold cherries in a baggie were a big pick-me-up!


The weather was just about perfect, barely hitting 80 degrees but the wind was blowing all day so it stayed pretty comfortable. I definitely dug into the ice and had it in a zip-lock bag down the back of my shirt to stay cool, it worked fairly well. I had my neck fan on for the portions of the trail that got stuffy. I'd downloaded a book about ufos for entertainment on audible so just listened to that to pass the daytime hours.

Impossible to capture the steepness of the slopes we were climbing.



I brought some macaroni and ramen to cook but really didn't plan on doing a whole lot more eating than liquid calories, cookies candy etc...but Kevin and Kim and one of the runners (Zachs) wife, Emily, got the propane stoves fired up and literally fed us better than any restaurant, and definitely better than any aid station I've ever had! First memorable meal was hot grilled cheese on this fancy seed bread with avocado... sooo good! Bagels with cream cheese and honey, peanut butter oatmeal and honey drops, also the bomb. Adam & I on Sat. Crooked hat , wasn't quite holding in the ice!



Kevin had made each of us bibs out of plastic folders that'd hang at the aid station and we'd get a hole punch after each loop, but I brough 100 heart shaped beads, carry one each loop to keep track. Things got a little messed up in the calculations and counting towards the end when our brains were mush so we mainly relied upon our watches, we were all reading within a half mile of each other which is pretty good considering all the tree cover. somewhere around 30-40 mi




I can't remember much after the first day, everything turns into a blur of loops and food and drink and drowsiness. I do know the really awesome wind we had starting out disappeared overnight and the woods got VERY stuffy and humid, and really never got better. Luckily I packed two neck fans, they kept me awake and cool and Margaret kept them charged so I had them continually. Such a lifesaver!. I got really sick of being wet, from sweat and ice, relentlessly damp the entire race. At some point had an amazing grilled chicken sandwich on toasted bread and macaroni and cheese. Real food helped me feel a little bit normal for awhile out there. Friday night just listened to lots of Imagine Dragons, the men slept at various times through the night but I pretty much plugged on the whole night without stopping except for food & hydration. I enjoyed the time alone in the dark, thinking of the families and Marines I'm running for, remembering fun times with my family, talking to Dexter, praying for strength to finish, singing out loud...awake and alone in the woods, totally in my element.


On Saturday the heat and effort caught up to me and I spent some time throwing up. Margaret said I sounded just like the bullfrogs when I was puking. Haha. My hydration was thrown off trying to figure out how much to drink with the effort and humidity, and how much salt to be taking in, so I spent most of the day peeing like every half mile. Margaret came out and did a few laps with me which was super fun, nice to have the distraction of company for awhile. There was a water station set up about halfway through which was enormously helpful, I dunked my head with bottles of water there just about every loop throughout the afternoon.

I kept pretty entertained with music and my book and podcasts but eventually late Saturday afternoon I was going cross eyed and stumbling into trees so Margaret got me a blanket and we set a time for 20 minutes and I slept for about 15 on a hammock by the pond. Just enough sleep to wake up my brain and I was able to get back to the loops.



I took a few minutes here and there to call Jason or check my messages but since I was always either climbing with poles or descending with poles, there wasnt much time to mess around with my phone. There were people from the local community running group who dropped in and out to cheer on runners and do loops or volunteer so there was always someone to have a little chat with, so I didn't worry about time and made sure to enjoy the people there who were the absolute coolest. Paul was way too fast for me so we didn't run together much at all but at least got a few minutes together out on the course.



Funny enough even on a 1 mile loop still found myself alone most of the time. Going into the second night, the air was still and stuffy. I spent what felt like most of the night, out running alone. I freaked myself out a few times with some random hallucinations. Margaret did at least 1 loop in the dark with me when I was pretty sure I saw a giant troll pooping in the woods. I also saw what looked like a dark figure, like a druid in a cape which was super spooky, but the wierdest was behind a tree I saw what looked like a 3 foot tall Bob the Builder, but he had this evil face that was super creepy. I actually ran one of my fastest loops after that, lol. The other 3 men out on the course, Paul, Zach and Adam, all took some time to sleep for a few hrs and get a hot shower. I'm so slow that I knew I'd be out there forever if I took a break, so I just slogged out the miles overnight.



Margaret & Kevin just kept cooking up more and more food and happily my stomach settled so I could eat some real stuff.... best food EVER eaten at any aid station ever, was whoever cooked me up the … I dunno, 12 oz steak ?? Cooked to rare perfection then cut into slices into a tortilla cup that was kindof like a french fry holder...man talk about race fuel. I felt so great after that steak! Took half on a loop, then the rest on the next loop and ate the whole thing, amazingly my stomach tolerated it. At some point Margaret fixed me a tortilla filled with nothing but bacon. Also best food ever. If there was anything I wanted I think they would have run to town and picked it up for me, they were amazing. Kevin was top of his game nearly every waking hour filled with encouragement and enthusiasm, just had a way of getting you fired up to want to do your best. Amazing guy!

I was running low on feminine supplies, ended up needing more than I planned just because all the sweat and melted ice made things more difficult... Margaret got Kim to run to the store and re-supply me. Plus Kim took all my sweaty washcloths that I burned through the first half of the race and washed them so I had fresh smelling dry towels. It was like aromatherapy smelling those clean fresh towel haha, mentally just made me feel great. At some point Saturday night I got super drowsy again and was stumbling all over. Margaret had hauled my foam mattress from the suv and set it out right next to the trail with a blanket. The blanket was damp from humidity but I didnt care in the least. Andrew, one of the runners and the amazing artist who built the race portal, had run all the laps he wanted to. His knee was giving him trouble so he got to chopping wood and turned into a volunteer for the rest of the race. When I said I had to nap he helped me down onto the mattress & helped get my lamps and jacket off, and I blacked out for 15 minutes. When my alarm went off after 15 min I woke up with a start and was drooling everywhere. Andrew was still right there, said I'd been snoring and mumbling in my sleep lol. He helped me get up, get my jacket and lamps back on and get moving again. I thought that was just the most amazing act of service in this race...so invested in helping me that he made sure I didnt sleep past my 15 min alarm and got me going again in the wee hrs of the morning. This moth was prob 4 inches wide, they were a bit crazy, flappin around our headlamps at night.


I managed through most of the rest of the night but did one final nap in the very early morning hours Sunday morning. Set the alarm for 15min but I was back up by 10. Though I'm much slower than Paul and Zach who had been pretty far behind but caught up to be neck and neck with Paul, I was still 2 loops ahead of both of them through the final 10 loops. Still in good spirits, felt fresh energy with the sun up.



Sunday morning there was a bunch of runners who were there to continue to cheer us on and help pace! I was really glad that two super cute female runners had jumped in to help Adam and had him going strong. I ran with 3 local guys, and I super apologize for not remembering names, who each did 2-3 loops with me. It was so helpful and kept my brain distracted from rubber legs and fuzzy head. I had no juice left but somehow, we just kept going up and down, up and down, loop after loop, able to keep my legs going with fresh legs to accompany me and conversation.

As I got down to the last few loops, I turned down pacers for 1 loop. I'd had people keeping me going all morning but being Sunday morning I needed just a little time on my own for what I explained “trail church” so I could listen to some hymns and pray and just be grateful for all my blessings, all these amazing people, the time I had to run with Dexter. It was a good time alone to be close to heaven for a few minutes...

I started my 3rd to last loop alone and after I got up the first big climb, Zach suddenly came whizzing by. He was 1 loop behind me, and Paul was only 2. I realized I was holding first place lead and could actually win, but I would need to stay ahead of Zach. That lit a fire in my feet and I picked up the pace best I could to stay ahead of him. I swear he was going double my pace though and I was worried! Ran through the aid station for second to last loop when little drops of rain starting to fall.

I felt a little guilty but I kinda prayed like God, I really want to win first place for Dexter, I wouldn't want to purposely slow anyone down but, some rain would probably slow us all down and keep me in first place. (haha) Then I chided myself for being selfish... I guess it wasn't a totally unrighteous prayer because suddenly the heavens opened and rivers of water came pouring from the sky! It was SO crazy, I don't know that I've ever ran in rain that heavy. I couldn't hardly see for all the water pouring in my eyes and the steep climbs of the trail turned into rivers of mud. Passed thru the aid station at 99.7 miles but we had to do another full loop. Andrew loaned me his ball cap so I could see (somewhat) and Kevin came running with me on the last loop. I kept looking behind to see if Zach was gonna catch up to me and kept moving as fast as I could go. It was the craziest thing though, my feet had been feeling raw for hours, all my muscles were sooo tired and sore, but running that last loop with Kevin was literally the funnest mile I have ever run in my life. The rain was pouring, we were slipping all over the place, I fell twice in the mud, was swinging from tree to tree on some of the downhills to not fall, Kevin was filming and narrating the whole loop and encouraging me like some sports broadcaster haha. The best was at one point we saw Paul through the trees and we yelled and whooped with joy at each other, of the fun and insanity of the crazy conditions and being on the chase. It was just so awesome and memorable. I'll never forget it. Ran through the finish line as 1st place at a little over 57 hrs.



Kevin helped me lay down in the snazzy $3000 rest chair and pulled my shoes off and popped a wee little blister on my big toe, and we cheered on Zach and Paul who followed through the finish soon after. Kevin and I went out and took down the flag in the rain, folded it, and Kevin presented it to me in Dexter's memory. It was a sacred moment of quiet and remembrance, and a reminder of why I was out there...for my son, and other veterans lost to suicide, the folded flag so poignant, went straight to my heart. :(




I was shivering in the cold, we took some finish line pics and had a good time chatting. Kevin and Margaret made sure I had some salty steak and ramen and aside from sore feet and shivering, I felt pretty amazing. Got to finish off the event in the steamy hot outdoor shower.



So happy and proud to have been part of the first 100 at Froggy Mountain!



Margaret was amazing, packed everything up and got me to the car and drove me home. I slept most of the way but we did stop for some fried chicken!



Just an incredible weekend. So so impressed with the turnout, the best of the best volunteers, unbeatable food and company, and the opportunity to run on and beat one of the hardest courses in the country with over 90, 000 net elevation gain and loss.


Before the race started I'd had the chance to be interviewed by a local podcaster to talk about the reason I was out running, appreciated the opportunity to tell mine & Dexters ultramarathon story, so its kindof a fun listen & recap of the event.


SSgt Taylors wife sent me this picture after my race. It just melted my heart, after running in the rain and mud for our heroes, it was just beautiful symbolism all around of how much the Lord loves each of us and comes to our rescue, it really touched me and I thought the perfect wrapup to this #53








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2 Comments


scrisp
Jul 31, 2023

Hi Rosie, somehow I missed a couple of your website announcements, but have since gone back and read those race reports along with the most recent Froggy Mountain 100 one. Wow, I cannot believe a 57 hr ultra around a 1 mile loop with so much elevation change! Way too easy for someone to quit when the going gets tough, but that was nowhere on your radar!


And congrats to you for seizing the opportunity (and cranking up the juice) to come in at #1 for this inaugural event! You must be feeling so strong these days -- it seems you can conquer anything now that you set your mind to! Congrats on #53 Rosie ... and #52 ... a…


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Rosie Nanette Gagnon
Rosie Nanette Gagnon
Aug 01, 2023
Replying to

Steven! Thanks so much for your comments and for checking in! Hadn't heard from you and hoped everything was okay!! I definitely feel so much less intimidated about pushing for big races after Froggy, but I still tend to plod along so there's definitely improvement in pace that I need to do, especially this fall. Looking for another Grindstone finish under 36 hrs as it means a lottery ticket into UTMB, my dream race in the Swiss Alps. Always great to dream big to keep the training going! In the meantime have 3 August courses running, 2 at high altitude so it'll be interesting to see how the elevation training pans out with the altitude. Anyway appreciate so much hearin…

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