Decker's Creek Half'13 in West Virginia

Although it happened a while ago, but I cannot ignore that fabulous trip to the jungle of West Virginia.

Wild and wonderful. Agreed.

My humble role that weekend was to pace my friends and be awesome. The former was a novelty, while the latter is a second nature to me. Let's first take a look at the overall landscape, and then at the Decker's Creek half itself.

West Virginia

WV is a surprisingly untouched state. Looking at the pristine photos in this post, try to realize that the US has a lot of space for (im)migrants.

In west virginia it's ok to drive the wrong way.

Cows visible: 0.
But they exist!

The souls of those who died overnight are traveling down the river.
At least, that's what a local belief says.

A nice place for a shopping mall, thinks someone in 50 years.

Most of the time I cannot hold my camera straight.
Too overwhelmed by the open space.

Sometimes I can.
The open space is still overwhelming, though.

You look above, and still cannot escape all those trees.

We camped at Cooper's Rock. American camping is interesting. I think having a hot shower and an electrical outlet (!) in the middle of a forest deserves a separate word -- not camping.

Coopers Rock.

This lawn hosted us for a night.

They cooked food on fire.
My friends have proved can survive a zombie apocalypse.

Corkum being eaten by a tent.

To remind everyone that West Virginia is still an American territory -- not some Vietnamese jungle -- tree-sized stars-and-stripes wave in the wind.

The flag actually stands on George Washington's real grave.

The Monongahela river runs through West Virginia. It goes through Pittsburgh and flows into the Ohio river.

Ew what is this color?

If a river has no banks, it is less likely to attract homo sapiens.

An occasional bridge rips apart its natural surrounding.

As my experience has shown, bridges -- along with cars and roads -- are pretty much the only widespread structurally significant artifacts in West Virginia.

This looks so very Russian.

This looks so very rural.

Normal fauna: geese, ducks, one single beautiful horse, and a BAMF bug.

Geese-geese, do you want to eat?

Enough ducks to make a duck salad. It consists only of ducks.

Ducks, do you fully understand your final destiny?

Shocking news: ducks understand the concept of shade.
(but not their final destiny)

A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!

The BAMF bug. It used a kettlebell and grew so huge.

Morgantown, the city around which we've been, hardly ever has a skyline with its 30k inhabitants.

The main street of Morgantown.

The skyline is partially formed by trees?
So west virginian.

They say it's impossible to take an outdoor photo in WV
that would not capture at least one tree.

A major sight in Morgantown is a fountain.

Verdict: If you're a dendrophile, move to West Virginia asap. Otherwise, it's nice to visit for a weekend. The author is not liable for any damage to your values and understanding of the world that could occur after staying in West Virginia for more than three days.

Decker's Creek Half Marathon

The decker's creek trail runs through the woods along the river, making it one of the most humid areas in the contiguous US. The course is very downhill, but this is compensated by an unbelievable humidity. Literally, it feels like in a jungle (not that I've been in jungles much).

Too picturesque for me.

A wall of green?

The sun sometimes came out and burned relentlessly.

Before the start: I'm not fat.

After the finish: I'm fat.

Realizing that I'm fat, I refused to be photographed.

I ran around 5.5 miles with Jamie.

White people surrounded by the green mass.

And then 0.5 with Jeremy.

More white people (and, inevitably, green mass).

You can now recruit me as a pacer for $2 per mile.

I will come to you in this van, and you will regret your decision.

The Hounds did a great job there, stealing all women's top places (!) and men's 3rd.

Post-race calisthenics in a shade.
Only Jeremy raced hard enough to not want any extra exercise.

The decker's creek race was one of the largest events in Morgantown. Compare:

Before.

After.

Verdict on my Decker's Creek experience: racing > pacing (comes from a personal emotional experience not described here).

A good thing about any trip is, it comes to an end (this applies not only to trips).

I learned that PA has one of the most banal welcome signs.