2007 Catherines Fat Ass 50k Has Three Hills!

The 2007 Catherines Fat Ass 50k had another great year and a good time was had by all. The weather was below 75 degrees and the times showed it! Russ Evans ran with his GPS and produced an elevation chart that proved what I have been saying all these years, Catherines only has three hills. For you map geeks, here is the KMZ file as well. (To use, change the extension from txt to kmz.) The distance that Russ GPSed was 30.5 miles, a bit short but I have heard no complaints.

Thank you to my fellow race directors Mike Bur and Quatro Hubbard, and especially to all the volunteers who came out to spend their day helping out. Next year will be year number 10 for Catherines. Look for it to be better than ever!

As we head into the mountains it makes sense to keep aware of the others who are in the woods. The locals have been spotted at nearly every CFA. If you see them, be sure to wave.

Remember the Offical Catherine's Fat Ass Blog. It has some semi-useful information and photos in some way related to Catherine's. You can add the CFABlog to you MyYahoo or RSS feed to get the quickest update. It has no updates for this year yet, so sign up now to ensure you see all of them!

Being a Fat Ass means there is NO entry fee for the runners, but do not signup unless you are ready to have a good time running a slightly warm, hilly, humid summertime 50k! There is, of course, no whining allowed, except during the top third of the Purple Trail and it has to stop prior to the upper aid station.

What is Catherines Fat Ass?

There are only three hills, but they tend to be kind of long. The course is over a widely varied collection of trails and dirt roads. We have five complete aid stations and a fully marked course. Catherines is a glorified Fat Ass race, so don't set those expectations too high. We do a good job with the run, but there are no awards, t-shirts, goodie bags, or other race stuff. There are excellent aid stations and a mostly marked course. Here is the full, newly updated course description.

The CFA course is tough, and the weather can be brutal. If you are looking for flat and fast, keep on looking. This is NOT a run for those hoping for a PR. If you are looking for a fun summer challenge - come on out.

How to Get to Catherines

Driving Directions

For customized directions from Google, enter your address here.

The highways are -- from the Washington, D.C. area -- 66 west to 81 south to 211 east to the "211 East parking lot" (race start location).

And now with more detail:

Drive West on I-66 from Washington, D.C. -- go past Front Royal, Virginia (about 6 miles) to Highway I-81 southbound. Drive I-81 southbound to New Market, Virginia. At New Market, the exit will be on your right. Turn left and go into the city (very small city) east from I-66. You should follow the Highway 211 signs for a left turn, then a right turn into the mountains. From New Market, once you are on the highway heading into the mountains, it is somewhere around 5 miles (over the gap, past the Visitors Center and past the Picnic Area). The 211 East Parking Lot is on the right. It's a big clearing, and plenty of room to park if you get there early.

Another good option is to take Rt. 340 South from Front Royal, turning onto Rt. 211 just prior to the town of Luray.

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