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Hurricane Helene 100 #80, Galax, Virginia.

Writer's picture: Rosie Nanette GagnonRosie Nanette Gagnon

I woke up to the first frost of the year and 35 degree temps to run my  “Hurricane Helene 100” 

When Hurricane Helene came through our home at Froggy Mountain, our town of Galax and the surrounding communities like a giant crashing through the trees, we were lucky to only have part of our race course destroyed. Our little river down the road overflowed massively and flooded the houses of neighbors. Trees were down all over the community and with the power out for over a week for most folks, people lost everything in their refrigerators freezers, many lost their homes. Fortunately as far as I know, nobody here locally lost their lives. Not the case for our friends down south in North Carolina. Some of my running friends had their homes obliterated by this storm. 


I was supposed to run Sean Blanton's new 100 mile race at the Virginia Trail Festival, only a few miles home along the New River Trail, but hurricane damage was so extensive that it was canceled. 
October 18th is Dexter's birthday. It would be his 30th, if he were still alive.  This can be a difficult month for me. It starts off a season of periodic sadness with the holidays and family memories and I can feel it coming like a tsunami, starting with Dexter's birthday. It's very therapeutic to get out and run a race. When I saw a news article about Marines heading down the NC for relief efforts, I thought, why not try to help?  I knew Dexter and my other Marines would like to participate so I decided to run at our local track in downtown Galax at a place called Felts Park. Which has a paved asphalt track a little over half a mile long so I'd be pushing up towards 200 laps on this track for veteran suicide awareness and  to raise money locally for hurricane relief. I work as a personal shopper at Food City which is a great company. They've been doing fundraising effort for local hurricane victims through United Way with 100% of donations staying local, so I decided to  raise a little money and donate via work.

I was starving all night before the run and carbed up with orange slices, protein bars and licorice and was pretty well sugared out and had ingested 50 miles worth of calories, when Kevin came by my camper early Friday morning with chocolate milk and a Sheetz quesadilla. Both were amazing, I saved them for mile 30 when I was ready to start eating again, lol.  


It was chilly and a little lonely pulling up into Felts parking lot to set up my table, sign, supplies and Dexter's boot for collecting donations. Before too long, a couple of workers named Bob & James from the park came over to visit with me. They let me know they were there to help and would keep an eye on me, and would keep the bathrooms open for me all night which would be AMAZING. They also let me know the police knew I was there and would be patrolling and making sure everything was safe and okay for the night. 



I instantly fell in love with James. Not only does he share Dexter's first name, but he perfectly fit the stereotype of the “Mountain Folk” who lived through Hurricane Helene.  I've been hanging out with Kevin while he wrote a song and music for hurricane victims. Showing the generosity of Galax mountain folk, with his long beard, long hair, felt hat and blue coveralls, he gave me my first donation of $10. He didn't say much, but he melted my heart. It was chilly when I began running at 9am but I it made comfortable running conditions,and I would have felt great pushing for a 24 hour 100 miler, but I woke up the day before with a UTI. So freaking painful and annoying. Common for middle-aged women, but running a 100 mile every 2 weeks certainly doesn't help. The worst part is that I had to pee like, every single mile but felt like I had to pee constantly. SO miserable. I tried to ignore it and cranked out the first marathon keeping about a 12 minute mile pace. It was very convenient to have a flushing toilet every mile, lol.  

It really was a beautiful morning, blue sky, good music, comfortable all-day pace, cool breeze, a great way to spend the day. I loved seeing locals out using the track and had the chance to talk to a few friendly people. Mostly since it was a workday, I had the track to myself. I tried not to think about the loops and just lose myself in the music and thoughts of  life and the families of my marines, my own kids, and memories of Dexter. 

A highlight of the morning is when a truck driver drove past and waved and blew me a kiss, lol. Somewhere around 15 miles in as I was thinking about Dexter feeling grateful I have this (mostly) healthy body with which i can run on for hours, thinking about the promises of the LDS Word of Wisdom which is avoid substances that are addictive, eat healthy, and take good care of our bodies...the promise with that commandment is that we will run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. Right at that moment a Monarch butterfly landed on the grass where I passed and made me feel like Mom was out with me and reminding me that this is a gift for obedience. 

Another notable moment during the day was meeting “Pastor Berry.“ He was sitting in a truck watching me for several loops before he stopped me to ask about my pictures and run. He has a son in the Marine Corps and said he was grateful because it is a hard lifestyle, and he worries about his boy. About 20 miles in, my friends Mary and Chris from our local run club surprised me by stopping by to check on me. Mary filled my  water bottle and they offered to hopefully bring  some salty french fries! About a mile later another run club friend Ed, who has paced me at Froggy Mountain 100 twice now, stopped by with his wife. They cheered me on and she walked a bit while I was out and supplied me with some propel and Gatorade which I was really starting to need by this point. I had water, soda and salt pills, but by noon the sun on the blacktop was quite intense and I was really thirsty and feeling a bit dehydrated. The two of them made a hugely generous donation of $100. The cool breeze turned warm and sucked the fluid out of me and chapped my lips. Becca, who runs at Froggy Mountain and has done a 50 miler and the Boston and a bunch of other races, is a fast and excellent athlete, came out and ran a lap with me & cheered me on. It felt so wonderful to have the support of the local running community! By early afternoon I was struggling in the heat trying to keep up 15 minute miles & did a few 16's because my stomach felt nauseous in the sun. I had to start wetting down my sleeves, and stuck to liquid calories, mostly soda and cran-apple juice I'd picked up in the discount bin at the grocery store. 



Sam Curtis from the Curtis Bartlett fitness center, named after his son who was a veteran and fitness enthusiast who had a huge following on Instagram for his bodybuilding, and was also a local policeman, who has killed in the line of duty. Sam offers free gym memberships to veterans, and first responders. He's been a huge support to me and lets me also come train at his world class gym for no cost. He's been a huge support to me and we've done a few videos on social media together from the gym, talking about veteran suicide awareness. He took time out of his busy day to come out and do a lap with me and present me with a $100 donation. I was so grateful. Hes an amazing individual and I feel fortunate to have him as a friend. He gave me a check for $100 for local hurricane victims. I felt very grateful. 

Tony, who runs the town recreation center at Felts park, came out and ran several miles in the heat with me. I was struggling and he is a fast runner, I loved running with him because we had fun chatting and I had to force myself to keep the pace up. We made good time and I learned the rec center is free and has a shower, so that was valuable knowledge with winter coming on and Kevin and I using the outdoor shower at Froggy Mountain, lol. Great guy. I was feeling so amazingly fortunate to somehow have been blessed to know such great people and pillars in this community. 

Another amazing woman named Jess came out to run with me. We had never met in person but she saw my post about the run on the Galax community Facebook page and decided to come out and support me, as a sister Marine Corps mom. It meant the world to me and we were quickly great friends! Shed struggled with some health issues over the years so it did both of us some good I believe, to be out running together and supporting each other. It felt like a gift to have had this run bring me a new, great friend! 

Around 9:00pm we ended up having quite a party. Ed and his wife came back (apologies I can't remember her name, my brain doesn't work well in ultras, but what a special lady!!!)  They brought me more Gatorade and some food and best of all a bag of Dorito chips which fueled some of my later miles. Also Kevin came  with his music producer, John Wragg and his lovely wife Dee. They are delightful people and John has a killer sense of humor which is grossly inappropriate and hilarious. He works professionally for suicide awareness, especially among children who are bullied. We became friends quickly! He produced a short video on site and the park about suicide awareness and supporting my run, it was awesome. 

https://www.facebook.com/770403458/videos/529422200011173/

Ed made my night by bringing me a toothbrush and toothpaste. You do not understand the pick-me-up that provides after countless hours of sugar and gross food buildup on your teeth running. So refreshing!! A couple other AMAZING gorgeous ladies from our local run club, Colleen and Sandy, came, as well as my good friend Tony who runs the jewelry store in town and who has also paced me at the Froggy 100, and they and ran with me for what felt like several hours. They made me laugh because everyone was dressed head to toe in black and looked like ninjas or jewel thieves. Maybe the police should have been patrolling better, lol! We had such a good time. 


Sandy is my new favorite person. She finally got me out of my UTI misery and saved me so much suffering by bringing me some medicine, and also brought a warm coat. I hadn't quite prepared well for the freezing night.  Kevin generously brought a hot pizza, wings and onion rings with ranch to feed us all. I think he and I ate most of it ourselves, lol. The ranch dipped onion rings were the bomb, and he made sure my wings weren't spicy because he knows I complain about peppered spicy food, lol. We all hung around and talked for maybe half an hour, but it was a great time and lifted my spirits and mood. They left for a while and I got back to running with Sandy. She and I got along so well, and it was so great learning about her. It seems we've shared many life experiences and heartaches and betrayals. It felt good to talk to another woman who gets me. I really appreciated her sacrificing her time through the cold night, so much. 


It got really really cold. Sam brought me a Wendy's hamburger which was delicious, though I needed salt, lol. Sadly an hour later I vomited it up by the single park bench along the track. I hoped nobody would ind it the next morning! At some point I got sooo sleepy. Caffeine wasn't working at all. Kevin had brought his van and spent the night out along the track, supporting me and all my friends/pacers. At some point he turned on the heat and let me crawl in the back of his van which has an amazing couch bed, and I slept for a whole 10 minutes. That helped me stay awake for a few hours. For some reason, probably not getting enough sleep in the week leading up to the run, I just could not stay awake. I couldn't stop. I started weaving and falling asleep on my feet. Jess and Tony were both out with me now in the wee hours of the freezing cold morning. I was never alone, the entire night. I was very nauseous, having to pee still every mile or two, and sleepwalking so bad I could hardly remain upright. Jess and Tony let me grab each one of them by the arm and we ran with me slipping in and out of sleep unconsciousness, with my feet continuing to run. I would not have made it through the night without laying down for an hour or two of sleep without their help. People like that are such a treasure, I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude for their caring and efforts to help me. This solitary run really turned into a team effort overnight. 


As the sun came up, my hero pacer Paul Tilley showed up to run with me and Tony, with Sheila and Colleen. Everyone still dressed like Jewel thieves, lol. Paul for some reason has this magical ability to kick my efforts up to the next level, and him showing up was like a light switch. All of a sudden, I was wide awake and cranking out 15-minute miles consistently. Kevin got out of his van and the 5 of them ran with me for a while. Tony had to get going but Kevin, Colleen, Sheila and Paul stayed to support me. I kindof found my meditation zone and ran by myself, but for moral support they stayed behind me.  I wasn't really social just trying to get the job done, but they made me feel safe and supported. I felt so lucky. I've only been in this community since March, and yet all of these amazing friends and runners came out of the woodwork and showed me such kindness, encouraging me and cheering me on. So incredible. In the morning there was a Breast Cancer awareness walk going on, I had some company with Sandy running those last few miles in the sun, and the Breast Cancer folks were super nice, and even gave me one of their t-shirts. A  cool firetuck came out and was parked as well, added to the fun and sorta made my run feel a little more official, even though they werent there for me, lol. 

Winding up to the last 5 miles, Rob showed up who is a kick a$$ runner, and Chris and Mary also came back out. There was a little local drama I wont go into, lol, but going for my 100 mile finish line with my best buddy Paul, Rob and the rest of the crew running, just made my heart so warm and full of love. Rob joked about us walking the “hill” - a very slight incline- on one side of the track, haha.  I was playing imagine dragons and I could hear Paul singing “Demons” along with me, and “Im on top of the world” was my finish song. I hit 100 miles and dropped to my back on the ground the second my watch gave me that magic 1-0-0. :-D  Paul and Rob held my feet up in the air while I laid on the grass in the sun for several minutes, trying really hard not to vomit. 26 hrs and 10 minutes to complete 100 miles. Not the 24 hrs I hoped for, but considering the dumb UTI I was pretty happy with a solid 26hrs. 


A youtube short Kevin Silvey created with his original music highlighting the experience. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/SB1u4CdOMmQ?si=eyM3g9WktMWnjA48
Everyone stuck around for awhile and chatted, and someone counted all the cash in Dexters boot for me. $411. I felt so excited and grateful. Not a ton of money, but not bad for a hair brained last minute idea to do some good. I may have run the miles, but it was 100% a team effort by my local running club to get those donations and that solid finish. I am so very grateful!! 

Well, everyone eventually took off except Kevin. I barfed, and then he helped me clean things up and get into my car, and the two of us drove over to Food City. He had called in an order for Fried Chicken, so he grabbed fried chicken and beer, we found my friend and manager Arista, and made our donation to the United Way through Food City. I couldn't wait to get out of the store to break into the chicken, lol. 

I sat with Paul and Kevin for a little bit at out outdoor kitchen at Froggy and showed them the freaking cool buckle I bought for this run. It was totally inspired by the two of them, my two heroes who epitomize the spirit of the “Mountain Folk” community. 






With their chainsaws and beards and big ol muscles, when the storm came through Galax, the two of them were first out to the streets to help the neighbors with immediately moving fallen trees. Everyone in our area was stuck because the roads were blocked, but when the storms come and the power goes out, men like Paul and Kevin are at their best, talking care of folks. I feel honored to be their friend and to have earned their trust and love. I am 100% certain Dexter sent the two of them into my life to help me get my buckles and to keep me safe. I adore them and their chainsaws and their “can-do and “know how.” 


The following week, Oct 18, I quietly celebrated what should be Dexters 30th birthday with a moonlit hike, bonfire and dinner. Kevin gets loss and knew I was lonely and sad, and celebrated with me. With the Bday over, I feel a bit more like myself and am gearing up to run No Business 100 in 5 days, my epic tradition to honor Dexter in a hard as heck race through the remote and wild mountains on Tennessee. 





I feel so very grateful to all my Galax friends, and all my friends online who showed support through this run and made donations, and those local on the ground who continue to put in physical labor to help people who are still suffering from effects from the storm, especially just south of us in North Carolina. I'm grateful to have had my Marines run with me and get a chance to do some good after the storm. That's what our servicemen do. 

In memory of PFC James Dexter Morris, Sgt Jacob Gray, PFC Morgan Daly, Ssgt Taylor Wilson, Lcpl Jacob Crewson, and PFC Dillon Jutras, special forces army ranger, KIA Oct 28, 2005.  













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