Posted on 12/06/2016 2:43:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
Melissa Kitcher ended up six to seven miles off course — with no phone
Melissa Kitcher had full intentions of completing her first half-marathon Sunday, but it's safe to say she pictured it ending a little bit differently. Kitcher went missing for nearly 12 hours after running off the trail during the Trail Hog Half-Marathon at the Carlton Reserve near Venice in Sarasota County, Florida.
"I kept thinking to myself, 'Wow, how do people run these trails? I can't even walk them,'" she said. "When I hit the power lines I said, 'Yes I'm definitely way off course. I'm lost.'" But how did she manage to get lost?
Kitcher said there was no marking to indicate or properly direct her. “The website says you're supposed to be on Jeep trails. So when I came out there was a Jeep trail and I figured that was the path I needed to be on," Kitcher explained.
The runner ended up six to seven miles off course with no phone — it inconveniently froze up two minutes before the start of the race, she said.
Race director Thierry Rouillard had this to say about the situation: "It's the worst nightmare for a race director. I love what I do and want everyone to be happy. That was her first half-marathon. That was her first trail run. She learned the hard way.”
Kitcher ended running over 16 miles before the park’s department located her in the reserve about 7:30 p.m.
She was uninjured. Thirsty, of course, but just happy she could go home.
“She was happy when we found her. I'm going to send her a gift package with racing stuff. A finisher's medal and award for the longest Trail Hog half-marathon in the history of the event," Rouillard joked.
Despite going a little off course, Kitcher already has sights set on redemption.
"There's the Sarasota Half Marathon on March 19th. I already have that in my head," she said. "Everybody keeps telling me no more races, I said I'm lucky this one's on the street."
she said there were no markings. Well it seems no one else had a problem and got lost, just her.
Maybe she needs to blame her stupidity , not others.
Maybe many others are still out there, lost.
LOL now that would not be good.
“This is my worst time ever!”
Assume the original Greek Marathon runner just had to follow unmarked trails and roads and he made it. Didn’t even have water tables set up for him.
True dat’. Reminds me of an acquaintance of mine who was supposedly heading to Pomona and ended up in Vegas.
Well, it could have been worse. She could have tried to pull a John Kerry, or even a Rosie Ruiz.
She was probably one of the slower runners and sponsors may have removed the signs a bit early.
Or she could have been dehydrated and thus a bit spaced out and missed a sign.
It actually happens all the time in events like this
Ha! Reminds me of my first Orienteering Class back in the ‘90’s. The final was a trail, taken individually. I, too, ended up under the power lines. Stayed put and hollered like heck. I feel for her, but I think she’ll be just fine.
Yeah, but he had that guy sense of direction that most females lack.
Didn't he die right after he gasped out the message to the Greek troops? Or is that just legend?
Hey, she DIDN’T get eaten by a ‘gator. She should be MOST THANKFUL.
Hahahahaha!
Holy cow. That had to hurt.
OMG... I live here in Sarasota......there are NO TRAILS that are difficult....we are like 10 ft, above sea level!! if that!
>>Yeah, but he had that guy sense of direction that most females lack.
The running joke in our household is that whichever way my wife is facing, is north.
Needless to say, we don’t follow her sense of direction very often.
The first was the first rally event I volunteered for. It was in the late fall, cold and snowing.
As a new volunteer, my job was to block a road so no one would come on the race course.
A team from Ireland had a shifter cable break just as they arrived in front of me.
I quickly hitched on and yanked their car off the road before the next competitor arrived.
This was rather important as the cars were coming over a blind crest of a hill at over 100 MPH.
I got permission to pull him back to the service area after the stage ended.
The sun had set and it was pitch dark in a winter wonderland.
There was going to be another stage on the same road shortly, so I had to detour on logging roads for over 50 miles.
Every few miles I stopped so the driver and navigator could switch off and warm up.
After a couple of hours of dragging them through swamps and over mountains, the driver asked me if I knew where I was going?
I responded, yes, precisely. I was taking the shortest route possible while avoiding the race stages.
He asked, my God, just how big is this forest?
I said, roughly 450 by 900 miles or so.
My God! That's bigger than Ireland he said.
I told him, yes, and if you had taken a wrong turn, you could have been off on some little used spur road. Maybe in a few years hunters or loggers might have found their bones.
He was quite amazed at the situation. The lights of Berlin (New Hampshire)then began to glow in the distance.
In another 45 minutes or so we were at the service area.
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