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."
I think she skidded across the finish line. Give her a ribbon.
(Or is she down where her knee touched?)
“Didn’t even have water tables set up for him.”
Yes but he DIED.
“Reminds me of my first Orienteering Class back in the ‘90’s.”
==
Pro-tip if it’s daytime: The sun goes from east to west.
We were setting up spectator areas beside logging roads in the middle of nowhere.
We had dinner in Errol, New Hampshire, and were supposed to follow Ted to the next area, somewhere in the Success Pond area.
Ted took off in his SUV up the hill into Maine at a high rate of speed.
Our Mercedes 404 Unimog radio van doesn't do "speed" up hills, so we lost sight of him.
The Mog gets 12 MPG. Both tanks (32 gallons total) and two jerry cans in the racks were full.
We did a grid search through most of the logging roads in that area, and finally, well after dark found where he had been.
So we drove over to Berlin to fuel up and go home. We had one jerry can left, and the tanks on fumes as we pulled into the Berlin Irving.
Come on, now, it's only 500 miles from Caribou, Maine to Stamford, Connecticut!
My grandma started walking a mile a day and no one know where she is now.
Which is correct.
The forest goes up to the Saint Lawrence Seaway, in Quebec and New Brunswick.
Yeah, but he dropped dead at the end of the run.
The first time I did the Manchester (Connecticut) Road Race, I missed a sign and I ended off course. It does happen, so I won’t say anything.
I know the area...
Not to lambaste all women, but I bet she needs directions going to the mall...
Pretty hard to get that lost....
As in most races, there is a lead pack and this race was no different. About 6-8 guys were bunched together in the lead pack and the 9th place runner was quite a bit back from them.
At some point, he lost sight of the lead pack and took a wrong turn. Unfortunately, every runner behind him, followed his mistake, assuming he knew the correct route. But he did not. The remainder of the field (almost 60 runners, including myself) ran an additional 2.8 miles, turning a 6.2 miles race into a 9 mile run for most of the field.
I remember thinking something was wrong because I kept looking at my watch, expecting the finish line to appear anytime. But then people running near me started making similar comments and it was then we realized that we were not lost, but definitely off track from the original race route. We all finished but not in any record-setting times.
I still got my souvenir t-shirt. :-)
It’s only because she was so far out in front of everyone else that there was no pack she was running with.
This girl is lucky I don’t get lost inside my own house. :)
Nope...The Irving gas station in Berlin, NH.
I was joking...I was listening to White Christmas when I replied to you....
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