This year the Gristmill Grinder turned 22 years old! And to borrow a line from my friend Scott Partlow, it came in "Extra spicy". I tend to agree with this description and I'll tell you why in a short while ;-D

 

It was another hot one this year with temps topping out in the low 80's as a field of 150 half marathoners and 30 plus 5Kers prepared to toe the line. The morning air though was still fairly cool as folks milled around and my daughter Ashton perfomed works of art and inspiration with her sidewalk chalk. The trails were in absolute primo condition and dry. Ground flowers were everywhere. Clearly we had all the ingredients for another amazing day at Babcock! 

 

Let's Go! At the sound of the gun, runners in the half sprinted down the road to get to the first trail section for the half. The 5K crew lined up next and at the blast of the horn they headed off. The 5K is a fun (not timed) event that can be walked or ran. You of course can time yourself on the big clock and most people do as they take the road to the Gristmill and back. Lots of runners doing the half let their kids do the 5k which is cool - it's a great way to see the park and a safe enviroment! All participants get race swag and finishers get Medals!

 

So now there are about 170 people moving their bodies thru the park, and down at the first Aid Station the first runners rolled through at 21 minutes at mile 3. Fast times. Then I was at Aid Station 2 and the same first runners came through at the same pace. On my way back to the Start/Finish I got a message. Injured runner on Skyline was at the first overlook needing first aid. I get there in about 5 minutes and there is this woman smiling with this bad gash on her leg! Cassidy our social media wizard was there and she was giddy over her new content. Melinda calmly just walked up to my truck as I asked the Park Superintendant on my cell to bring a major med kit to the Start area. Melinda was just obviously dissappointed and wanted to finish the race. She was running a fast pace and I really didn't know what to say because she seemed fine except for a bad gash that looked life a knife cut and she still had 9 miles to go. We kind of agreed it was probably best not to continue today. We got her bandaged up and she stopped at an urgent care where she was able to get 7 brand new stitches. It's healing very well! 

 

Meanwhile, after Aid Station 2, two college kids - well they were in the lead group. They missed a turn that was marked well I thought on the Narrow Gauge with both an arrow and flagging. It's easy to happen really - head down, hurting and running fast. When they got to mile 15 (in the 13 mile race) they realized they were alone. One of them called his buddy that was up at the finish. They put me on the phone with him to try to figure out where he was. I asked if he had ever made it back the gristmill and he said no, but he HAD gone over the bridge on Glade Creek. He said he was on a gravel road going downhill so I deduced he was on old Sewell Road and almost at the New River. They had ran 9 miles in the heat with no water since Aid Station 2 and were 8 miles from the Gristmill. Apparently, there was a house down there, a guy named Rocky lived there and he gave them some water. They were so lucky they had a cell signal. Phew-

 

Meanwhile as all these other adventures were taking place runners were racing into the finish! First Overall Male was Charles Edwards III, followed by local runners Matthew Bailey and Aaron Walker. First Overall Woman was Shannon Shrewsbury followed by Kimberly Latone and Caroline Jette. A huge congratulations to you and to everyone that came out to Babcock!!

 

And to all the amazing volunteers - Thank You from the bottom of my heart. Without you there would be no race. Thank You.