OSS 50 Miler
The Strange Powers of the OSS/CIA 50-Mile Night Run
This is a redacted report of the 2025 OSS/CIA 50-Mile Night Run. Stuff went down that cannot be discussed due to matters of National Security but I’ll write as much as RD Alex P has authorized me to make public. Buckle up because things are about to get weird.
I’ve started this race a total of five times with four finishes. The 2025 race (held on June 14-15) was by far my craziest time out there (and maybe of any race I’ve ever done).
Prince William Forest Park is an enchanted forest and the giant frog is but one of many things that cannot be explained. Time is warped. You want to DNF but strange powers will not let you. The woods there summon you and like to play games with your head.
Race Day
I forced myself to sleep until 1:00 pm to be well-rested for the night run. I highly recommend this, or a similar strategy, if you choose to do this race. In addition, I had all my gear prepped the night before so I had an easy time leading up to the start. I left my house at 3:00 pm and picked up some food on the way there, and I was able to get to the start around 4:00 pm. I spent the next hour or so catching up with friends, then putting on gear and making my way to the start. At the start line, RD Alex offered us some words of wisdom and “final mission parameters.” 6:00 pm and boom… we were underway!
I linked up with my guy Charlie Poffenburger, who I’ve run a number of previous races with and I quickly learned that we had similar goals for this race. My hip almost immediately felt bad and I couldn’t run fast. Not to mention I’ve never been a good PWFP runner. I always struggle, but for some reason I always sign up for races here… maybe I just love suffering!
Prince William Forest Park Is A Gateway To Another Dimension
Something to consider about this race is there’s only two full aid stations. One at about mile seven, then you hit it again at mile 10, and then one at the end of the loop. That’s it… the rest of the aid points on each of the two loops that make up this course are water stops, so you really need to have what you need on you or in drop bags at the aid stations.
PWFP in June is its own ecosystem, since there are pockets of heat but those can quickly turn cold, and there is often a threat of rain and storms. On this particular night, it was in the 80s and didn’t get lower than the mid 70s.
These conditions (for late spring/early summer) are tough and the challenge of night running adds another layer to the challenge. The trails of PWFP generally are not technical, but it can still be hard to navigate when you are tired and making your way in the dark, with only a headlamp to illuminate your path.
Struggling
At about the 15-mile mark I repeatedly told Charlie to go on without me, because I was slow and I knew I was creating a problem for his chance of finishing. Charlie is too good of a dude though and he wouldn’t leave me. I was also extremely worried because my guy James Robinson was going to pace me loop two, so I couldn’t DNF because it would totally mess him up to drive out ready to run 26-miles and get nothing. It’s happened to me before and I understood, but it’s also really tough on the pacer to not get to run.
The Sum Of All Fears
I think it was about mile 20 when we began to worry about the loop one 1:00 am (7-hour) cutoff. Charlie and I never were in that much danger, but we thought loop one was an 8-hour cutoff. It is not. Here’s a pro tip if you run this race: check the cutoff times because it can be a little tight!
With sheer terror, Charlie and I got to the end of loop one and basically had to turn around and go back out immediately to avoid being cut off.
Enter James And No Time For Jana’s Kitchen
As I barreled into the aid station Jana Fridrichová was so nice and welcomed me into her glorious ‘kitchen.’ I told her that we had to jump back out because we were right up against the cutoff! I grabbed a coffee and an Ensure out of my bag and turned right back around, headed for the trail. It was so stressful I forgot all kinds of stuff I needed, but we made that cutoff and were now on loop two!
I felt bad for James Robinson to enter this disaster of a situation but at least he was running and didn’t come all this way for nothing!
I changed the battery in my headlamp, then James helped me with trail math. We now had to hold a 20-minute pace until finishing the Farms-to-Forest Loop from the start of the second half of the race. As easy as that sounds… it wasn’t!
The Frog King
There were an insane number of frogs out there. We stumbled on to the biggest frog I’ve ever seen in my life. We initially thought it was a cat. When I tried to get close enough to take a picture, he left and I knew that I was too greedy. We should have just taken the picture from where we were and now none of you will believe that we saw the king frog.
Deeper Down The Spiral
James revealed a horrible truth to me. After the Farms-to-Forest Loop, we were going to have to do a 14-minute pace to get an official finish. That suddenly-discovered fact deflated me. It seemed impossible. I pushed myself and thought about my friend Mona and her Dad who served in the OSS. I kept saying his name in my head… Arthur. This brought me comfort and I was able to start running faster.
The sun started coming up and somehow we were able to start running an 11-minute pace. If you look at my Strava splits, it’s actually pretty incredible. This is perhaps the only time in an ultra that I’ve actually run a negative split! At this point in the race, if you are going that fast you will be catching people and it’s tough. I felt how they looked like they were feeling in loop one and our group tried to motivate everyone we passed as best as we could.
This race wipes people out. Normally, Charlie and I are much more talkative when we run together, talking about sports and pop culture, but there was very little talking during this race. I can’t fully speak for Charlie because I feel like he was feeling much better than I was, but I had to just straight up focus on making cutoffs. If you’ve ran with me or hung out with me, you know I’m a talker and it says a lot that I didn’t want to say anything. I was deep in my head and focused on eating handfuls of James’ gummi bears.
10 Minutes Left!
James yelled back at me that we only had 10 minutes to make the cutoff. I ran absolutely as fast as I could up hills toward the finish line. When I saw the parking lot, I almost cried and as I reached the finish, everyone was cheering for me. It was like I was a gladiator or something and it was incredible. I had to rest on people and lay down for a while afterwards because I was totally wrecked. I think I finished with 1 minute to spare, and I wasn’t even the last finisher. That’s how hard it was this year!
What a challenge!
I suggest looking at the results for this year's race because it truly is insane. If you want a challenge, sign up next year and you will not be disappointed. This race was my favorite ultra so far, it was that crazy.
Charlie summed it up best saying: “We did a 22-mile warm up followed by a 30-mile fitness test and we were up against cutoffs on the second half of the race, which progressed into a speed run workout. Somehow we managed to pull off a negative split between loop one and loop two.”
Huge Shoutout To James Robinson
James saved Charlie and me big time. I take responsibility for getting Charlie in the hole but James totally bailed us out. Eventually, I eased into running faster but if James hadn’t been there this would have been a DNF, for sure.
Kudos
Thank you to Alex P and all of Athletic Equation, the VHTRC, the volunteers, spectators and my fellow OSS/CIA night runners who made this event special. The race is pure genius - every aspect of it is hard and designed to make you fail. I’ve never had a ‘good feeling’ race at OSS/CIA. Maybe it’s just my kryptonite but I truly feel like if you can finish this one you are ready to tackle the 100-mile distance. I consistently hear OSS/CIA is harder than some 100s and I agree! My suggestion… signup for this race!
Photos
