Start time for what is affectionally known as the WTF 50k is 8 am, so you can sleep in for the full day on the trails that will await. Waterfall is a tough, rocky, winter-time run in the central Massanutten Mountains near US Route 211. In the past, this slot on the trail running calendar was filled with a variant of the “Gap to Gap” run at the southern end of the Massanuttens. This 50 km is yet another variant on that theme, but with a mighty kick. And oh what a kick it is…

The course is a figure-8, the centerpiece of which is the chin-scraper climb up Waterfall Mountain, which runners do early in the run and then again about halfway through.