A first on Mason-Dixon Trail

By KEVIN TRESOLINI The Delaware News Journal
October 14, 2008 10:46 AM

Paul Melzer went out for a run Saturday morning.

He finished Tuesday night.

The 51-year-old Chesapeake City, Md., ultramarathoner wasn't just tackling any course. His ambition was to cover the Mason-Dixon Trail from start to finish, most of it running, as quickly as possible.

That's 193 miles, connecting the Appalachian Trail to the Brandywine Trail.

"This is sort of what runners call their marathon season," said Melzer of the autumn and what possessed him to do what nobody has done before.

He went way beyond the 26.2-mile distance of a solitary marathon.

"I was actually considering running the Steamtown Marathon [in the Scranton, Pa., area]," Melzer said. "This just sort of appealed to me. Coming back from a knee injury, it just feels so good to be back on track."


Melzer's appetite had been whet by running the Mason-Dixon Trail Longest Day Challenge, a 100K (62-mile) trek upriver along the Susquehanna from dawn to dusk on the first day of summer.

One of his running mentors, Temple University director of human resources Hunt Bartine, had attempted to cover the entire Mason-Dixon Trail from east to west in 2004, but was done in by physical and mental fatigue after 130 miles.

"I'd been thinking about attempting this, and I feel good enough to do it," Melzer said last week. "I've been ramping up to 60 or 70 miles per week. We'll just see."

Melzer set out Saturday morning at Whiskey Springs, southwest of Harrisburg, Pa., running eastward toward the Susquehanna River, and spent the night with friends in Wrightsville. He had covered 65 miles.


On Sunday, he followed the river along often difficult hilly and rocky terrain to where it emptied into the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Md. He ended up going through the night, needing almost 24 hours to cover another 65 miles before arriving at a Havre de Grace hotel for some much-needed rest and a shower after sunrise Monday.

Later that morning, he was on the move again across the U.S. 40 bridge into Perryville, and traveled through Cecil County to Elkton, where he had left his car. Once he reached it, he drove to his home for a good night's rest, having put in about 20 miles.

On Tuesday morning, Melzer returned to Elkton, set out again and entered Delaware, where the trail traverses such parks as Iron Hill, Rittenhouse and White Clay Creek in Newark. After crossing into Pennsylvania, it ends near Chadds Ford along the Brandywine River.


"I've cursed this trail several times," Melzer said as he hiked through White Clay Creek State Park on Tuesday afternoon. "There were sections where I thought, 'I hate the guy who designed this. Why am I climbing up this hill that goes on forever in the middle of the night?'

"There have been highs and lows, but at no time have I regretted doing this. You can be angry, but you have to be moving."

Melzer estimated that he ran about 60 percent of the time and walked the other 40, and he was thrilled to not have any blisters on his feet.

Amazingly, Melzer didn't even take up running until about five years ago. The lifelong Californian was in the rare books business before he moved east to become an editor and webmaster for Hassler Dressage, an equestrian and sporthorse breeding operation.


"I'm not the first person to blaze this trail," he said, "but I'm the first person to complete it with the object to complete it quickly. People have hiked it, but that takes seven or eight days.

"I wanted to make it enough of a challenge for the next person."

He left that next person a tough act to follow.

"I feel good," he said after concluding his expedition at 7:25 under the welcoming light of a full moon in three days, 12 hours and 40 minutes. "I feel good. The pain hasn't quite hit me."

The satisfaction in the accomplishment will likely provide the necessary soothing.

Fellow ultramarathoners Pete McLaughlin of Newark and Nate Regouski of Chadds Ford joined Melzer for the final portion of the trail.


"I've run a fair amount of the trail myself," said McLaughlin, a senior scientist with the Delaware Geological Survey and a UD professor. "It's more than just running 193 miles. It's very difficult terrain that, in many places, is overgrown and poorly marked. And he's had to contend with all the elements of nature while covering 50-plus miles one day after another.

"I'm really impressed. He's something. He's tough."