Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 3 Signal Mountain 06.16.13

3 days, 3 mountains, 3 stages. Only appropriate that I ran with #33 all weekend.

Gosh! Where to start? I'm sitting here, showered, fed and relaxed but trying to look back at a jam packed weekend with old and new friends doing something that I love to do...trail running. "60 miles, 3 mountains, 3 days" with good camaraderie and wonderful trails is hard to beat. Before diving into today's recap of stage three, I have to thank Rock/Creek, Wild Trails, Randy and Kris Whorton, Jeff Bartlett, Mike Scott, the Ultrasignup crew, Tim Titarka from Salomon and all of the race volunteers, staff and fellow competitors for yet another fantastic Chattanooga Stage Race weekend! I am looking forward to doing it again soon, whether it's the Stage Race again or another of the Rock/Creek race series. Top notch!

Coming up the steps at Signal Point.
Photo Jeff Bartlett, Rock/Creek

Day three didn't start much different from the other two days. I showed up, picked up my bib number, visited with friends, stopped by the Salomon tent to pick up the test pair of Salomon Mantras and got ready at my car. Everyone was walking with a little stiffness, some more than others. My quads were sore from all the downhill running yesterday, but otherwise I was feeling pretty good. Everyone seemed ready to tackle day three. There was talk about the difficulty of today's course. The veteran stage race runners were explaining to the new ones that while today's stage was technical and difficult, it was easily also the prettiest of the three stages. With a few minutes to go, everyone gathered at the start and once again at 8am sharp, we were off!

We started off through the gravel parking lot and immediately onto the trail. Although it did bottle neck some, it wasn't the same traffic jam of day one. There was a bit more room on the trail and somehow things spread out pretty quickly. I did notice right away that the poison ivy was out in full force and it would be something to be watchful of over the rest of the course. The first few miles are a long descent past Mushroom Rock and down to a cable bridge. At first I ran with Brian from Indianapolis who I had run several miles with on both days one and two, but once we crossed the bridge and started the climb over the ridge to then go down into Suck Creek, we got separated. This portion of the trail is an out and back from Suck Creek back to Mushroom Rock and it wasn't long before we saw the front runners led of course by David Riddle. This guy is impressive to watch as he looked liked he was gliding along the trail. He set the course record on day one, barely missed it on day two and I would learn later that he would set a course record for day three. The guy is an unbelievable athlete. The guys behind him were cruising as well. I arrived at the first aid station at the bottom at Suck Creek, refilled one of my hand held bottles (I stuck with my two bottle strategy all weekend and I'm glad I did) with water and turned around to make the climb. It was fun to see everyone coming down and to cheer each other on. Lots of "Good job!" and "Looking strong!" comments being exchanged.

I made it back over the ridge and I was by myself when I heard some singing behind me. I knew right away that it was John Dove and he caught up to me in no time but then settled into my pace. I really respect John and I also enjoy hanging out with him, so when he decided to run with me, I was happy for the company. We made our way down to the bridge and John and I started talking and exchanging stories. We made it across the bridge and then back up to Mushroom Rock and took the right turn onto the trail that led to Emerald Point.

This part of the trail is beautiful with incredible views of the valley to our right and with trails that while having some degree of technical difficulty were still very runnable. We caught a few runners while we continued to talk and catch up about various things which made the miles go by relatively quickly. The weather was cooperating and I was glad it was. Earlier in the week, the forecast called for hot temps in the 90's but it would never get above the low 80's at any point of the race. It was definitely a bit more humid than the previous two days, but it wasn't suffocating.

We were cruising along and when we were starting to wonder when the next aid station would appear, we strolled into it at Emerald Point. I was feeling good and enjoying running with John, but I was also anticipating what was coming next. In 2011, it was at this point that I started feeling crappy and I was hoping to avoid that this time around. I had kept up my hydration in these first nine or so miles, but I hadn't been paying attention to my eating. I ate a salty potato, a small PBJ and a gel at the aid station. John and I then headed out on the next section of trail.

We heard church bells from the valley and realized it was ten o'clock. We were two hours into the race. I didn't forget my watch this time, instead I left it in my bag on purpose. I found from the first two days that running without the watch helped me run my pace and didn't stress me out to try to run a certain time. This was working well for me. It wasn't long before we hit some of the more technical parts of today's course. John was in his element and he soon took the lead in front of me and then proceeded to drop me. He got farther and farther away from me until he disappeared around a turn. I saw him briefly at the next aid station and then I didn't see him again until less than a mile to the finish. I found myself alone, but in good spirits and even more importantly feeling strong. The rocks along this part of the trail are huge and tough to navigate, but I was making my way over them pretty well. I caught a few runners before the climb up the stairs at Signal Point where the next aid station was located.

Me and Blaine on the short road section.
Photo: Jeff Bartlett, Rock/Creek

Once at the top of the stairs, my buddy Jason was there to greet me and refill my water bottle. It was good to see him (you should check out his blog sometime, click here). I refueled on some potatoes and fig newtons and took off up the road. It was on this road in 2011 that I went straight across and ran a few minutes off course with another runner, so I was sure not to miss my turn this time. I caught up to a runner from Johnson City named Blaine and together we ran for a bit. We ran in front of what seemed like an assisted living home and there was quite a crowd on the porch. Everyone cheered us on and it was uplifting since it's unusual to get any cheering while on the trails. After passing the cheers, the turn back onto the trail came up quick. Blaine got out in front of me while the trail stayed relatively smooth, but once we ran along a creek bed, the trail became much more technical and I was catching back up to him. We crossed a couple of cable bridges and then I passed him. The next couple of miles were tough due to the terrain. It's funny how in my head I was dreading the section between Emerald Point and Signal Point, but I had forgotten about the difficulty of this section along the creek. I caught up to a couple of other runners and as I passed them, I also went by these cool cliff sides that were dripping with water. It really was amazing to run by them. A creek stayed to our right for the rest of the way before the next aid station. I did a gut check and all systems were running fine. Maybe the conservative running of the first two days was paying dividends now.

I arrived at the last aid station. Refilled my water bottle and asked how much was left. I was told 3.6 miles. Sweet! Not much left to go. I was now on a double track trail that climbed up and I knew that meant we were heading back to the school where the finish was set up. I was still running much of the climb which gave me some more confidence. The double track turned onto a single track trail and I caught up to two more runners. I didn't pass these two guys right away, but I could tell that neither of them was feeling all that great. We also kept climbing until we came out onto the last section of trail which was identical to the Stump Jump finish and so it was very familiar. I managed to get by one of the guys and the other one was staying out in front of me. We crossed a road turned onto the last section of trail. I saw a tall guy a few yards ahead and realized it was John. I caught him and we both patted each other on the back. The other runner that was in front of me then all of a sudden stopped and put his hands on his knees. He was taking a quick breather I guess as I went by him. I knew the finish was really close. I could see two female runners in front of me and although I thought I could catch them, I never did. We came out from under the tree canopy, crossed a road and ran on the grass along the soccer field fence towards the finish. I crossed it with my arms up in the air. I was tired, but happy.

At the finish holding my sweet Marmot finishers jacket.

This year the race offered a new finishers award, a sweet Marmot ultralight running jacket. You even had a choice between two different colors, black or off white for the guys and blue or green for the ladies. I gladly picked mine up and then went to grab a bite to eat and something to drink before making my way to the kiddie pool with ice water to dip my tired legs. What a great day on the trails!

I finished the 20 miles in 3:53 which was almost 20 minutes better than my 2011 stage three time. However, I only beat my 2011 cumulative time by three or so minutes. I finished with a cumulative time of 10:23.

I'm leaving the stage race with several positive things going into my next event, the TransRockies Run in August. I learned to manage my effort better over consecutive days of running and finished feeling well on day three. I also learned that I could run on tired legs which will serve me well in Colorado. The next few weeks are going to be tough with lots of miles, but my confidence is high with just about two months to go. I just have to hang in there, train well and stay injury free.

My race results for stage 3: 3:53:16, 67th overall, 61st male, 168 official finishers
My race results for all three stages: 10:23:02, 81st overall, 72nd male, 168 official finishers

Stage three course map and elevation chart, click here.
Stage three race results, click here. 3-day cumulative race results, click here.
View race photos courtesy of Jeff Bartlett and Rock/Creek, click here.

Other 2013 Chattanooga Stage Race reports:
Hot Wing Runner: http://hotwingrunner.blogspot.com/2013/06/chattanooga-stage-races-2013-pool-balls.html
The Ale Runner: http://thealerunner.com/2013/06/19/chattanooga-mountains-stage-race-recap/
Run, Lala, Run: http://runlala.blogspot.com/2013/06/joyful-chattanooga-mountains-stage-race.html
Jason Green: http://bestpacescenario.blogspot.com/2013/06/dnf-chattanooga-mountains-stage-race.html
David Riddle: http://riddleruns.blogspot.com/2013/06/rockcreek-chattanooga-mountains-stage.html?showComment=1372079863291#c2630176842924214721

Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 2 Lookout Mountain 06.15.13

Good day on the trails. Me shortly after finishing.

Day two is done. I'm feeling it, but after a good half hour in the creek I cooled off and my legs are not too sore. Today's stage was fun and I always enjoy the variety in the terrain, especially after the gentler, more rolling course from yesterday. Here's how it went...

Test drove the Salomon Mantras

After taking a wrong turn on my way to the Lula Lake starting area, I arrived around 7:10 with plenty of time before the start. Every day we have to pick up a new bib. It's the same number, but a different color. Yesterday's bib was black, today's was blue. We'll see what we get tomorrow, but it'll probably be red. I got my number and bee lined toward the Salomon tent. Yesterday's experiment with a pair of Salomon's turned out alright and since my current shoes that I brought are trashed, I thought why not try another pair for today's stage. Tim from Salomon put me in a pair of Mantras and immediately they felt better than the Cross Max's I ran in yesterday. A much lighter shoe but not missing out on the tread and cushion. With bib number and shoes in hand, I went back to my car and got ready for today's stage. I stayed with my strategy of two hand held bottles and I'm glad I did.

Action shot. Courtesy of
Jeff Bartlett and Rock/Creek.

We lined up and took off right at 8:00am sharp. There were 205 official finishers in yesterday's stage, so I can only assume that the same number lined up today. We had about a mile of gravel road to stretch out which was nice. We passed Lula Falls on our left and it was a gorgeous sight. Once passed the falls we hit our one and only bottle neck. There's a steep, rope assisted climb up a cliff and it takes a bit for the single file to get up it. The last time I ran this race, there was a wasp nest wreaking havoc but they were no where to be found today, thankfully. Anyway, we made our way up and over the short cliff and got on single track up onto the ridge. I was running with Brian, who I finished the race with yesterday, and Brendan (@thealerunner on Twitter). We some what were together for most of the portion along the ridge. The views to our left were stunning over looking the valley below. Brendan even stopped at one point to snap a photo. Several people were still jockeying their position, but I felt like I had found my pace and I wanted to stick with it. It wasn't long before we were on our way off the ridge, down Turkey Trail and towards the creek. I had forgotten my watch again for this stage, so I had no idea on time. I'm learning that this may be a good thing if I'm trying to run conservatively. We made it down to the creek and ran along it for a short time, soon coming out at the first aid station which is the start/finish area. The first loop is 5-6 miles and I was feeling pretty good. I ate a salty potato, refilled one of my hand helds and took off up the hill.

This portion of the race is all on the same course as the Lookout Mountain 50 that I ran back in 2010.  That day, I took a wrong turn right at this point except that was about 40+ miles in on a 50 mile course. I was not about to miss my turn today and even shared that past experience with another runner. So we made our way up to the road, crossed it and kept going up hill. We crossed a creek that I didn't recall and then stayed with three other runners while we made our way up to the first powerline cut out. When we reached it, one of the runners mentioned that we were about an hour and a half into the race. In my head, I was thinking that I was doing pretty good since we were probably 8 or so miles into it.

We crisscrossed the power line cut out a couple of times, took in a couple of hefty, but short climbs before coming back out onto the powerline cut out for a climb up to the second aid station. The sun was out, but despite my fears it actually wasn't too hot. My friend Jason was at the top and it was good to seeing him. Unfortunately, Jason missed the cut off of stage one, but he was out here cheering other runners on and volunteering as well. You have to admire that. At the aid station, I refilled my hand held, ate another salty potato and grabbed a PBJ and a piece of apple before heading down the trail.

A guy I passed at the aid station soon caught up to me and he introduced himself. His name is Mark and he also lives in Atlanta. He mentioned that he had ready my blog (I'm glad some one reads this. Ha, ha!) I thanked him and we ran together for a few miles. Somehow I forgot that we would skirt Covenant College (the start/finish of the Lookout Mountain 50), until we ran along a technical trail along a creek and came out to a different powerline section. Then I realized that we were on the 50 miler course again. Once back under the tree canopy, we made our way down. At this point, we were about 13 or so miles in and I thought to myself that I needed to just cruise down this long descent. Mark got out in front of me and Lara who I had run with earlier (and who crossed the finish line just ahead of me yesterday) passed me as well. I would never totally lose either of them out of my sight, but it was enough to where I wasn't catching back up to them.

We finished the descent, crossed a road and then kept going down back to the first aid station. While descending, we could hear the PA announcing the faster finishers and as we came out into the clearing we could see runners finishing while we still had to finish up a 6 mile loop. I fueled up at the aid station, crossed the foot bridge and ran along the creek. Some where along here, I kicked it in to a higher gear. We ran a single track for a while where I put a little distance between me and some runners and then started the last big climb of the day. I actually ran most of it, only walking the last few yards at the top before getting on the ridge. Again, it was hard not to look to the right and enjoy the amazing views. Mark who had stayed in front of me was just a few dozen yards ahead. I wasn't sure if I would catch him. I arrived on the thin trail that led to the cliff with the rope and all of a sudden I passed Mark and there was another runner just in front of me who I could tell was not running at his best. We all used the rope to get off the cliff and when we hit the gravel road near the falls, I took off.

In 2011, this part threw me off because I thought we would finish on the gravel road, but I was prepared this time for the detour. The course took us on a more technical trail along the creek. Here I caught several people to my surprise, even my buddy John Dove. I had pep in my step and decided to finish strong. I crossed the creek and knew that I had half a mile at the most left. I was surprised at how well I felt and inside was hoping that it wouldn't come back to bite me in tomorrow's stage but we'll find out then. I crossed the finish line at 3:31 and then stuck around to high five a few of the runners that I had run with in the latter part of the race.

I found out that David Riddle won today's stage as well although he did not set a course record this time. I'm sure if he runs it again, that it won't stand for long. I had a chance to chat with him after the race and thanked him for the Q&A he did a few months back for this blog. Very nice guy!

Hanging out in the creek.

Because this stage is on private property, there are no park rangers to discourage alcohol, so the race provides several coolers of beer as well as water and sports drink. I grabbed an IPA, a bowl of pasta and headed to the creek to sit in the cool water for a while. I wasn't the only one.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's stage. I feel like I did reserve myself pretty well today even after picking up my pace in the last several miles. I just want to do better on day three than the first time I ran this event. We'll see.

My race results: 3:31:08, 84th over all, 74th male, 195 official finishers (under the five hour cut off)

Stage two course map and elevation chart, click here.
Stage two race results, click here.
View race photos courtesy of Jeff Bartlett and Rock/Creek, click here.

Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 1 Raccoon Mountain 06.14.13

Stage one race start. Photo courtesy of Jeff Bartlett and Rock/Creek

First day is done. I purposely did not go back and reread my race report from a couple of years ago, the last time I ran the stage race. Just so that I would have a fresh perspective for today. But once I got out on the course, I couldn't help reliving some of it obviously. It was a better than expected morning on the trails, much of it because I feel better prepared going in than I have felt for any race in a while, but also because the weather gods were a little on our side and didn't crank up the heat until after the stage race was over.

Bib #33. Cool Marmot race shirt too!

I've learned that in Chattanooga distances are not that far. So this morning I took my time getting ready and leaving the hotel. I had picked up my race packet the night before so I had everything I needed. My bib number was 33. A good number since it made me think of Larry Bird and Tony Dorsett. Good company, I thought. I arrived at the first day's start line area with plenty of time to kill. I'm a little bummed that my friend, Mike, couldn't make it, but I stopped by the packet pick up and got his race shirt for him. I hope to give it him in Colorado when we see each other in August for the TransRockies Run. After picking up his shirt, I ran into another buddy who now works for Salomon and realized that he was letting people try on a pair of shoes on the course. Normally, I wouldn't try anything new on race day, but being that my current trail shoes were pretty trashed and that I haven't had a chance to get a new pair, I slipped on a pair of Salomon Cross Max's and that's what I ran the race in hoping that I wouldn't regret it. I dropped off Mike's shirt at the car, chatted with other runners for a bit and then timed the trip to the porta-john with just a few minutes to spare for the race start.

Me before the race.
Photo Jeff Bartlett.

If I have one complaint about this particular stage, it's the start. I've run several of the Rock/Creek races and I love how well they're organized, but man, it sure would be nice if they made us do a lap in the parking lot or something before putting us all on the single track trail. There's probably less than a hundred yards before the trail and well, it bottles up instantaneously. Every one kept calm and just did their best to single file it onto the trail. Surprisingly, the portion of the trail convoy I ended up in turned out to keep its pecking order for a good while. I didn't pass anyone and very few passed me. I was behind two runners who I would share the trail with for the first hour or so. In fact, I was appreciating the pace and I was trying hard to keep it easy and steady. I forgot my running watch back at the hotel, so I was clueless as to the time. While approaching the East Overlook aid station at mile 4.7, I asked the runner in front of me what his watch showed and he said 52 minutes and change. I liked what I heard. That meant I was running 11+ minute miles. Nice and easy.

We went through the first aid station. For me, just enough to refill one of my hand helds. I was concerned about the heat, so I was running with two bottles, one with nuun and the other with just water. I stuck with the water for most of the race. I finished with some still left in the nuun bottle. I did a  good job with hydration for this race which I hope will pay me back on the next two days. Anyway back to running, I stayed with the two runners from the earlier section and we picked up a few more folks. We all stayed pretty much together for the next few miles until the next aid station. I was feeling strong and still feeling like I was conserving myself. We came off the single track trail and crossed a lawn towards the aid station at mile eight. I popped a GU, drank some Coke and jumped back onto the trail.

The next section is a lot of fun. It's called the small intestines and it's easy to see why. It's twisty with lots of turns and little switchbacks. At one point, you can look up and see runners to your left on trails above you and runners to the right on trails below. At this point, I had some how picked up other runners and we ended up chatting for a while. This went on for a few miles until some where along the way, I think just after the small intestines section, I passed the runner in front of me while she decided to walk a hill and then I was alone for a while. I was feeling good and decided to pick up the pace a bit. That's when I started passing people at first only by coincidence, but later by design.

We hit a long climb, the only one in this stage, and I ran most of it. I knew that I had to hold off a bit, but I figured I had been good for the first half and thought why not have some fun on the second half. It wasn't long before I arrived at the last aid station at mile 13 or so. Less than five miles to go. "Let's do this!", I thought to myself. It seems that there was another guy who had the same thought I did. His name is Brian and at first I was just tagging along behind him, but as we both passed several people together, we started to chat a bit. While talking, we came in and out of the tree canopy by the dam and I was commenting how grateful I was that we didn't have to run for long out in the open. The sun was up high by now and it would be miserable to stay exposed to it. Back under the tree canopy, we could see a female runner a few dozen yards in front of us. I mentioned that we were near the finish and both of us picked it up to catch her. We caught her but didn't pass her, because we came off the trail and were back on the asphalt. Knowing that there were just a few yards to go, we all stayed together. Lara was the female runner's name and she ran out ahead of us a bit right before the finish line. Brian and I came in side by side.

I looked back at the clock and I realized I ran a sub-three hour race. Then I tried to think back on two years earlier and I thought that I may have beaten my previous time. That sounds good normally, but when you have two more days to race and last time I burned out on day three, I immediately got a little worried that maybe I went too fast. However, I looked up my time from 2011 and I ran a 2:40 (it was much cooler that year too) and this year I ran a 2:58. Hopefully, I kept enough in the tank for days two and three.

David Riddle won the day's stage and annihilated the course record with a blazing 1:52:51! He wasn't the only fast guy though, up to five runners came in at sub-two hours.

I hung out at the finish line and saw several friends among them John Dove, Todd Henderson and others. I returned the Salomon shoes I ran in (just one little hot spot), grabbed something to eat and then sat in one of the kiddie pools for an ice bath. Capped it all off with a couple of beers. I had a good time on the trails, met some really cool people and I can't wait for tomorrow. My only disappointment was that a few friends didn't make the cut off.

My race results: 2:58:38, 109th over all, 92nd male, 205 official finishers (under the four hour cut off)

Stage one course map and elevation chart, click here.
Stage one race results, click here.
View race photos courtesy of Jeff Bartlett and Rock/Creek, click here.

Race Preview: 2013 Rock/Creek Chattanooga Stage Race

Three days on the trails with a bunch of other trail runners sounds like fun, right? Well, that’s what I’m in for this weekend when racing in Chattanooga at the Rock/Creek Stage Race; three beautiful, but challenging, stages on the best trails that Chattanooga has to offer. I ran this race back in 2011 and I knew then I’d be back. This year I have extra motivation to run it since it will be a good tune up for my TransRockies Run training.

Day one is 18 miles at Raccoon Mountain. It’s the easiest of the three days but not just because of the distance, but because the terrain is the most forgiving of the three locations. The course is mostly single track trail, some of it mountain bike worn, along rolling hillside around the reservoir. The tendency is to race this stage hard, but the smart stage racer will go conservative and save some for day two and three. View course map and elevation chart here.

Day two is 22 miles at Lookout Mountain. The highlight on this day is running past Lula Falls. It’s rained quite a bit this spring, so hopefully the falls will be going strong. We get to run by them twice, so it will become a familiar site. This day brings a lot more climbing than the day before. The quads will be hurting at the end of the day with all the down hill running. The best part is the dip in the creek after crossing the finish line. View course map and elevation chart here.

Day three is 20 miles at Signal Mountain. Not the longest of the three days, but undoubtedly the toughest. When I ran this in 2011, it took me an hour and a half longer to run this stage than day one did and it’s only two miles longer. Now granted, I also had 40 miles on my legs from the previous two days, but this day’s stage has some tough rocky trails in sections and if it’s hot, you pay for it. View course map and elevation chart here.

The weather forecast is not looking favorable for me. In 2011, we had unusual cool temperatures, especially on day one. This weekend calls for mid to high 80’s for a high with day three pushing into the 90’s. I’ll be running with two hand held bottles, but still relying on the aid stations heavily for hydration.

Despite the warm temperatures, my training has been good and I just need to remember that this is more of a training weekend. I have to keep my eye on the bigger prize which is the six day stage race in Colorado in August and my hundred in November. Check back as I’ll be blogging after each stage race this weekend.

Check out the official Rock Creek Chattanooga Stage Race video:

"Where's my f@#king water bottle?" Stump Jump 50K 10.1.11

Coming into the finish at the 2011 Stump Jump 50K. My friend Robin right on my tail. (photo by checkpointphotos.com)

I was standing there in front of Signal Mountain High School surrounded by hundreds of other trail runners anxiously waiting for the Stump Jump 50K to start, when it hit me. "Oh shit! I left my hand held in the car. Crap!" Immediately my mind was racing. "I still have my phone. I could call Stacy (my wife) and ask her to come back.", but that was not a realistic option. Stacy had dropped me off twenty minutes earlier and was well on her way back to the hotel. Besides, by the time she made it back, the race would have started. What was I going to do? The thought of running the whole race without a handheld passed through my brain for a nanosecond, but it was shot down faster than it made its way through my grey matter. There's no way I was going to run 31+ miles on rugged trails through Tennessee without my water bottle. I don't care how many aid stations the race had set up or how amazingly perfect the weather was turning out to be (40's for the start, sunny and no humidity...yes, perfect). I looked around and several of my friends were already in the start group. Others were milling about, minding their own business. Then I saw the Zulu Racing trailer and thought that maybe my buddy, Mike, from Zulu would have a water bottle.

Tim and me before I realized, "Where's my water bottle?"
(photo by Jeff B./Rock Creek)

I jogged over and caught his attention. Imagine it as he's trying to make sure everything is ready for 700+ trail runners to cross his starting mats, I'm bugging the guy for a freaking water bottle. "Hey Mike, you gotta help me out buddy! Would you happen to have an extra water bottle laying around?" He didn't even hesitate and quickly got on to the business of finding me one. He said, "Hold on. I think I may have one in the car." He trots off. There's only minutes left for the race to start. Maybe less. he soon comes back with what would make my day, a cheap, giant 30-something ounce water bottle. The thing looked like a baby bottle on steroids, but I couldn't have been more excited. Mike asked, "Will this work?" Without even thinking twice I said, "Hell yes! I'll take it." I gladly took it from him and he went back to do his thing while I jumped in line to do mine. Luckily, there was already about a third of the water bottle filled with what I hoped was water (it was).

Runners at the start.

We got through the announcements with Diane Van Deren wishing us all luck and we were off. I didn't care how my first few miles would go. I was just happy to have saved a potential catastrophe. The 11-milers and the 50K runners were split off within the first quarter mile while a helicopter flew over head assumingly filming the start. Soon after, all of us 50K runners were on single track trail behind the high school. I knew these first few miles well from having run the race last year and also from having run stage 3 back in June of the Rock/Creek Stage Races. It's a mostly downhill jaunt to what's called Mushroom Rock. Everyone was finding their own groove as we made our way down. I was thinking of a couple of friends of mine who were running their first 50K, but more on them later.

In last year's race, I went out feeling good and even made it to about mile 26 with thoughts of breaking 6-hours. But the reality of the return climb of those last five or six miles just took it out of me along with the warmer than usual temperatures that day. Today's forecast promised for better results, but I still decided to go conservative for the first half of the race. At the first aid station, just before the steep descent after Mushroom Rock, I filled up my Frankenstein water bottle about two-thirds full. I didn't want to fill it up all the way, because it would weigh a ton. Making my way down, I shifted the bottle from one hand to the other, trying to determine which one was more comfortable. It wasn't going to matter. I soon learned that during some sections of the course, I would have to carry it like a football. Yep, the ultra-trail runner version of the Heismann pose.

We came to the suspended bridge and remarkably traffic was light. There weren't many runners with me crossing the bridge. There were some campers hanging out nearby next to a fire sipping on their morning coffee and I can only assume that they were less than amused with the hundreds of people that were ruining their "one with nature" morning. Oh well! I conservatively walked the climb after crossing the bridge and made my way down to Sucks Creek and the next aid station. Refueled on a banana and some Pringles and continued across Sucks Creek road, up some stairs and then up the single track towards the bluff. This is by far my favorite part of the course. Once you make it to the bluff, you have these amazing rock outcroppings jutting out of the ground to your right and a fabulous view of the valley below to your left. I'm sure if you read my blog report from last year's race there is a similar sentence in there, but it really is beautiful. I found myself running with a couple of other runners and we would stick together until the mile 10 aid station.

Some of the leaders early on.
(photo by Jeff B./Rock Creek)

There were a ton of family and friends waiting at this aid station and you could hear them a good half mile before arriving there. Plenty of cowbells and cheering. It was pretty nice despite not having anyone I knew there. I didn't waste much time at the stop. I refilled my giganto-bottle again, grabbed a few apple slices and took off. I was determined to keep up my nutritional intake for this race, so I was also supplementing my aid stop grazing with GU Roctane gels every 45 minutes or so. I was feeling pretty good!

Leaving the station, I caught up with another runner who seemed to already be having some trouble. He was walking the uphills, but not in a purposeful way, so much as in an inefficient, "wheels are beginning to fall off" kind of way. I passed him for a moment, but then on a decline, he flew by me and the next guy in front of me like a man on a mission. I thought that was weird and I also figured that there was no way he was going to maintain that pace. Sure enough, about a mile later, we both passed him and I never saw him again. A short while later, I heard a thud like the ground shaking, followed by an "ah, mother f@#%$#r!" I wondered if that was him and that maybe he had fallen and hurt himself. I would never find out. Meanwhile, I fell into the same running pace as this guy from Wisconsin and we were soon joined by another runner, Andrew, from Franklin, TN. We stayed together until the mile 16 aid stop and made good time together. We started chatting and it really helped the miles go by. Both of them had never run this race before and the guy from Wisconsin was running his first 50K. I warned them to save some in the tank for the last five miles. We got to the aid stop and we got split up. Leaving the stop, you have to go up a major climb before settling back into some very runnable ridge line trails and before hitting the dreaded, so-called Rock Garden around mile 18. I had started the race with gloves and arm sleeves, but had taken them both off earlier. However, the wind was blowing pretty good and it was chilly, so I put the arm sleeves back on.

I made it through the Rock Garden and soon came out at the mile 19 aid station. I looked at my watch and I basically had two hours and fifteen or so minutes to finish this thing in less than six hours. I felt good and I knew that if I could just keep my pace for the next few miles, I would only have the two big climbs after Sucks Creek to deal with before the finish. I left the station excited about my possibilites and went on down the trail. I ran much of the next section by myself, which was fine by me. I did pass a couple of guys and that just helped my confidence. About a mile before reaching Sucks Creek again, Andrew and a female runner started catching up to me. I thought I could stay ahead and so I picked it up a bit. Not a good idea! At one point, I had to pick myself up off the ground and fetch my 'football' water bottle that had landed a few yards ahead of me. I had tripped on a root or something, but luckily it was on a soft portion of the trail. No rocks, phew! Anyway, it wasn't long before those two definitely caught up and we made our way down to the road together.

Once back at Sucks Creek, it was just about a 10K left, but with some mean climbing still left to do. Last year, this is where it started falling apart for me and I was determined to not let it happen again. I walked the climbs, but I didn't lose pace due to fatigue. I kept it steady and purposeful. I made it up and over the first climb and quickly found myself crossing the suspended bridge again. Just Mushroom Rock left. I was certainly feeling it at this point, but I wasn't drained and that again boosted my confidence. I once again kept a steady walking pace up towards Mushroom Rock. The female runner that had been behind me earlier on the descent into Sucks Creek passed me and I would only see her again briefly at the next aid station. One foot in front of the other, I just kept chugging up the hill. I saw Mushroom Rock and was happy to hear the chatter at the last aid station. They had beer! It was Stroh's, but who cares. It was beer! I had a shot of that and some other goodies and looked at my watch. I had about 40 minutes or so to get it done under six hours. I better get a move on.

Me, my finish medal and my hilariously, extra-large
water bottle.  I couldn't have done the
race without it.

The last few miles of this course feel endless. I felt decent and I was keeping pace just fine, but it still seemed like it was taking forever to get this done. I did manage to catch a couple of other runners, but I was also passed by a few as well. The last little bit is on the XC trails of Signal Mountain High School, so it's pretty manicured. I came out to a road crossing and one of the volunteers there said there was only .8 miles to go. Liar! It was much longer. I kept looking at my watch. 5:55, 5:56, 5:57...there was no way this was only .8 miles left. Finally, I came out on the last bit of road and I knew I was almost there. I did get passed in that last half mile, but only by one other runner. As I made my way into the finish, I almost missed my wife and a friend cheering me on. I looked up at the race clock and saw 6:03 and change on it. Oh well, I tried, but I ended up with 6:03:33 officially. Not bad at all. It beat last year's time by nine minutes. So I was happy! I got my medal and some grub and kissed my wife. Then I high fived the guys from Zulu Racing and thanked them profusely for letting me borrow the water bottle. I would have been miserable with out it, even though it was awkward and it weighed a ton.

Jessica and Amanda with their finisher's medals.

Next I pulled up a camper chair with my wife and others, a cooler full of beer and we cheered other 50K finishers on while waiting for Amanda and Jessica to finish their first 50K. It was fun to see everyone coming in and it was also a good time catching up with other finishers. It was really good to see some fellow GUTS runners, Sean O., Robin, Wayne, Jason (read his race report) and Joel. As well as some fellow Twitter runners like Tim, Cathi and Dan (good sharing a beer with ya, Dan). Amanda came through at 8:29 and then Jessica made it in 9:22. Both of them smiling. I was very happy to see them finish and I was proud of their accomplishment. Here's Jessica's race report.

I really enjoy the Rock/Creek races. Stump Jump 50K has to be one of the most beautiful trail courses in the country. If you have stumbled upon this blog and are contemplating running it, I highly recommend it.

What's next for me? Another visit to the Pine Mountain 40-Miler in December. Stay tuned. Cheers!

Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 3 Signal Mountain 06.19.11

All smiles before the start!
(photo by jeff@rockcreek.com)

What a day! I write this and I'm trying to organize my thoughts looking back on not just day three of the Rock/Creek Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race, but on the whole weekend of trail racing. I'm exhausted, but I am not spent spiritually. For me, this has been a weekend of comraderie with other people who share the same passion for a sport we love. It is going to be hard to come down from this experience. I'll try to capture day three in words...

I was sitting in my car parked at the start/finish area in Signal Mountain, TN and thinking to myself, "Well, this is it. Last day of running through the woods with 160 of your new found friends, Javier." While I was putting on my trail shoes and adjusting things, people all around me were doing the same. We were all gearing up for one last day of trail racing. This time on the hardest stage of the three. Nobody seemed nervous really. If anything, the look on people's faces was one of anticipation, maybe even excitement. I know I was. I was doubly excited too, because my wife and son drove up from Atlanta the day before and I knew they would be at the finish to see me in. Best Father's Day present I could imagine, that's for sure.

Before the start of the race, some other friends had come up from Atlanta to participate in this stage and it was good to see them and exchange best wishes with them.

It was overcast to start, but the forecast was for hot and humid by mid-day. Also, a wicked storm blew through the night before which would add a degree of difficulty to the day's stage with tree limbs fallen on the trail and damp, wet rocks through certain sections. I'll get to the rocky sections in a moment.

Once we were all ready, all the runners gathered again to hear some announcements by Randy, the race director. He mentioned something ominous that would stick in my head during the stage. He said, "The technical stuff doesn't really start until mile 9 or so. You'll know it when you hit it." As he said this, he said it with this wry smile on his face. He knew what was in store for us. And with that, he let us go right at 8:00am.

The first part of the course follows much of the same route as the Stump Jump 50K in October. When I did that race last year, I remember the last few miles coming back very well. They almost finished me. It consists of two long climbs. For the stage race and just like the Stump Jump race, the first few miles are mostly down hill past a rock formation called Mushroom Rock and down to a suspension bridge crossing a creek. Then back up a steep climb over a ridge and down again to a road. For Stump Jump, you cross the road to continue on the race route. For stage races, this is a turn around point and you head back the way you came, back up the long climb while slower runners were coming down. After some initial shifting in the order, I got on the heels of a couple of guys from Nashville. They were keeping a pretty good pace and I felt like I could keep up with them. This may have been a mistake, as I later found out.

We made it back to Mushroom Rock in good time and this is where the race route breaks off from the Stump Jump course. We hopped on a singletrack trail that made its way along the edge of a ridge and we would enjoy this for several miles. It wasn't overly technical, but it had enough rocks and tree limbs on the trail to keep you watching your footwork. We had several miles before aid station two, so we just maintained the pace and worked our way ever closer to it. At a couple of points, we saw amazing rock outcroppings where you could look out into the valley below, but we didn't make time to stop and enjoy it. One of the the guys in front of me invited me to get ahead. he said, "Go on, if you want. I don't want to hold you back." And I said, "Don't worry. I'm just trying to hold on. You're not holding me back." Both of them had run the stage last year and they were commenting about how they were going to finish. One of them mentioned that if we finished in three and a half hours that we were doing good. That made me hesitate because in my head I was giving myself less time than that to finish, but clearly I had no idea what was in store.

A couple of the front runners on the stairs.
(Photo by jeff@rockcreek.com)

The trail in this section was rolling with no major climbs or descents, so we made good progress. Soon we reached the aid station. I had to tie my shoe and by the time I did that and replenished my water bottle, the guys I was running with ahd already taken off. I hit the trail behind them, but never saw them again. Earlier, we had passed my buddy, Tim, who was once again easing off his pace. I should have followed his example. I wasn't by myself, there was a runner behind me that I managed to stay in front for some time. The trail between aid station two and three was only a couple of miles long, but they would end up being the toughest couple of miles of all three days of stage racing. Again, Randy's words stuck in my head, this was technical stuff indeed. Most of these two miles involved getting by long sections of rocks. With the storm the night before, much of it was still damp which made me even more cautious in dealing with this section. The difficulty of the terrain and the quick pace I ran for the first nine miles of the day were catching up to me. Hell, it was probably the fifty miles of cumulative running over the last couple of days that were also catching up with me. I started to slow down. The runner that was behind me, was in front fo me before long and I was left alone until we came to a series of stair climbs. Up and up they went and these steps did me in.

Another runner caught up to me on the stairs and together we came into the third aid station. I was wiped out. He was fresh. We got what we needed from the aid station and headed out. We went up a road for a bit following the flag markers. When we came to an intersection, neither of us was sure which way to go, so we went straight. He was stronger than me at this point and got ahead. I was looking for markers after a while but didn't see any and I thought it was weird that we would run on asphalt for this long. I turned around and headed back to the intersection. I turned right and finally saw another marker. I was back on track. I also picked up another runner and and together we were back on single track soon. This runner had been at Western States the year before and she was telling me about her experience. This helped me forget how crappy I was feeling at the time. Down we went and it wasn't long before we were following the trail along side a creek. The trail wasn't as tough as the earlier section, but it still had its share of rocky segments. It also had a series of suspension bridges to cross which were a bit slippery and we had to be mindful of our steps.

The guy that had run ahead of me on the asphalt, soon caught up and passed us. He was upset about the "detour". Actually, he was really upset. My thought was that although I didn't care to lose time going the wrong way, I feel that it's just part of racing. Not much you can do about it.

The female runner I was running with also dropped me and I was again alone getting by on the trail. I was walking anything that remotely seemed like an incline and I was walking through the more technical sections. A couple more runners started catching up and passing me. A clear sign that I was toast. I tried to not think about it too much and take in the beautiful scenery of the trail. It really was spectacular running through the woods, along a creek and the weather was cooperating even though I could feel the temperature rising some and the humidity was high.

I was glad to reach aid station four and I knew I only had a handful of miles to go. The trail became much easier at this point and I just kept moving. I tried to latch on to a couple of runners that caught me, but it was futile. They dropped me too. This was it, I just had to finish my own race. The last couple of miles were endless. I was ready for the finish line. More runners caught me and passed me and I got "chicked" a couple of times in the last couple of miles.

Finally, I could hear the music of the finish line and Randy making announcements. When I came off the trail and out into the open, I turned to the finish. As I came near, I could see my wife and my son with big supporting smiles on their faces. I picked up my step and came through the chute exhausted. I'm not sure I could have gone another mile. I ran really well on the first two stages and for the first half of the third day, but it wasn't pretty for the second half of this third stage.

I high-fived some of the other runners that had finished before me, grabbed something to drink and a seat at a picnic table while my family made their way towards me. I gave my wife a kiss and my son a big Father's Day hug.

Me and my son.

Once I recovered some what, I picked up my finisher's award and my free pair of Smartwool socks. I then took a look at the results. I finished stage three in 4:12. It took me almost an hour and a half longer to finish the 20 mile course compared to stage one's 18 mile course. That shows you just how hard is day three. The cumulative results were also posted...my time for all three days was 10:26:55 and I came in at 37th place overall. Not bad, I was really happy with that. If this was one continous ultra-race, that would have been one hell of a pace for sixty miles at a 10:43/mile.

I had never before run a stage race, but I am really glad that I ran this one. Like all Rock/Creek events, it is an extremely well put together event. I'm already looking to see if there are others like it around the country. The Gore-Tex Transrockies has been on my short list for some time. Maybe I need to figure out how to add that to my race calendar sooner versus later.

I'd like to thank Randy and Kris Whorton for all they do to put these races together and to Rock/Creek for supporting them. I'm looking forward to running Stump Jump 50K again in October.

*Visit the official race blog with updated results and photos for stage race day three.

Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 2 Lookout Mountain 06.18.11

Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race Day Two
about half a mile from the finish.
(Photo by jeff@rockcreek.com)

Day two started the same way that day one did, overcast and almost cool. Praise the running gods! The difference being that the humidity had increased over the day before, but the overcast skies would be much appreciated on another long morning of running on the trails.

The course for stage 2 travels through the Lula Lake Land Trust Preserve. It consisted of a five mile loop then a twelve mile loop and then a repeat of the initial five mile loop but in the opposite direction. Along the way, we would experience significantly more climbing and descending than what we did on stage 1.

I carpooled with the race directors that morning, so I arrived much earlier than most of the other runners. I was able to watch the start/finish area get set up while the volunteers showed up and then of course the runners. I was feeling good about this stage. I woke up with not much to complain about from day one's run. I was happy with my performance and I was still wondering if perhaps I had run it too fast. There was only one way to truly find out and that would be once the race started. After much sitting around, it was time to get this stage started. We were off right at 8:00am.

Unlike yesterday, we had almost a mile of gravel road to stretch the field and get folks into place before hitting any single track. This was nice, and it allowed me to feel out my legs and other than a slight tightness in my right abductor, I felt good. It would quickly loosen up within the first couple of miles. We made our way past the beautiful Lula Falls when we arrived to the first bit of singletrack. All of a sudden, I felt this sharp pain just above my right knee, then I felt it again on my shin. I reached down and smacked at what ever it was and I realized that I had been stung by a couple of yellowjackets. A couple of other runners cried out too. Seems we pissed of a nest as we ran by. Not how I wanted to start my race.

This occured right before a very, steep climb that I was familiar with from my experience at the Lookout Mountain 50-Miler last year. In fact, much of stage two's trails are part of that race, so it was familiar to me. Back to the climb, the race organizers set up ropes for the climb and there was a slight bottleneck as runners made their way up. Once at the top of the ridge, we thinned out again. I tried to get into my own groove and I wanted to run on my own, but I ended up running with a couple of runners along the ridge and then on the way down off the ridge. Before we descended, I tried to sneak a few peeks to my left into the valley below. Many of the trails in Chattanooga have great vistas and this one is fantastic. We ran the ridge for a while, descended down a long wide trail, then a single track down to a creek and made our way back to the start/finish area where we would hit our first aid station. First loop done and I was feeling good except for my yellowjacket stings. I had a little swelling, but it wasn't bothering my running. At the aid station, I grabbed a couple of apple halves, downed some Coke and headed off.

The next five or six miles were mostly uphill. The first section appeared to be a really abandoned forest road that was overgrown with small trees and we had to duck in and out of them. Once through that, we crossed a road, ran up a trail with mossy, flatrocks that were a little slick and then hit some singletrack. We climbed but the grade was gradual enough for most of it, that we could run. While we ran, we kept coming across debris that had landed along the trail from the tornadoes that hit this area back in April. There were a number of trees down too and the ones that had fallen across the trail had been cleared by chainsaw. I guess nature has to show who's boss every once in a while.

We reached a powerline cut out and did a short series of zig zags in and out of the woods and the cut out. On the last time we ran back into the woods, we were confronted with a mean climb straight up on single track. This was one of those, put your hands on your knees and push type of climbs. At this point, I was running with a female participant that had caught up to me and passed me, and I tried to keep up with her for a short while before getting dropped. We came back out to the power line section and this time walked up a long climb along the cut out. It wasn't long before we hit the aid station. I was still feeling good, but it had started to warm up and I needed to top off my water bottle. I left the aid station and enjoyed a wide, forest road for a while. I caught up with another runner, Robert Lewellen. Robert is one of the race directors for a new 50K in Georgia that will take place on the Duncan Ridge trail and the Coosa Back Country trail. It's the Duncan Ridge 50K/30K. That race is going to be a beast! Anyway, I ran with Robert for quite a while. Chatting with him made the time go by and we were making good progress. He decided to take a quick nature break and he told me to run on ahead of him. At this point, I was back on the same trail we had come up earlier but enjoying the descent. One of the Texas runners, Dat, that I had met caught me and passed me. He was looking strong.

Down past the mossy, flatrock, across the road again and down into the start/finish area. As I came in to the aid station, there were a number of spectators waiting around for their runners, but they cheered me on in. That was an appreciated ego boost and I picked up my step after grabbing something quick at the aid station. Only one more loop left and I knew it well by now. We ran along the creek, then up a quick incline to reach more single track that would take us back to the another gradual long climb that we had descended earlier in the day. I walked almost all of this until we hit the top of the ridge. I knew that was the last long one of the day and I was glad to be on the ridge again. I caught up and passed a couple of other runners and soon came up on the steep, rope assisted climb down and I was getting anxious about more yellow jackets. I joined a couple other runners who had bottlenecked on the rope and we made our way down. We went past the area where the yellowjackets had been earlier unscathed. Phew!

We were almost done. The rest of the way back was slightly different than the start earlier that morning. Instead of running back on the gravel road, we were directed off of it and made to run alongside a creek. Up and down short three and four foot little hills along the creek. It was tough on the legs. Ran that for over a mile when we then crossed the creek, the only time we truly got our feet wet on the course. Just a couple hundred more yards and there was the finish. Randy was on the mic and I heard, "Here comes number 24, Javier De Jesus, from Atlanta." I gave him the thumbs up and came through the chute. 3:33:34...good enough to crack the top 50.

I grabbed something to drink and got in the creek with the other runners that had finished before me. It felt really good to cool off in the stream and exchange "war stories" with others. After some time in the water I grabbed a bite to eat and got in line for a massage. Tomorrow was to be another day. The toughest yet of the three. I was looking forward to it.

*Read official race blog and find results and photos for stage two. 

Rock/Creek Stage Race: Day 1 Raccoon Mountain 06.17.11

Start of today's stage one with Randy Whorton addressing the runners. (Photo Chattanooga Stage Race Facebook page)

For weeks, I have been worried about the recent heat we've been experiencing in the Southeast. Record number of days in the 90's this month of June and even back in May. I was anticipating three days of scorching, humid, energy-draining trail running during the Rock/Creek Chattanooga Stage Races, but day one couldn't have been any better. We woke up to temps in the 60's and overcast, and even when we lined up at the start it was still in the 70's with the occasional brief drizzle. Not perfect, but way better than expected. Add to that, today was the so-called "easy" day with 18 miles of rolling terrain without much technical difficulty or major inclines and we have a winner! That's all in store for us tomorrow, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've met some great people already. There's about a dozen or so, Tejas trail-runners that are nice as can be and I've also met Tim Waz from Bluffton, SC and owner of Palmetto Running Company (thanks again for the shoes and the shirt, Tim!) We all met in the parking lot, exchanged "good lucks" and lined up at the start. Randy Whorton, the race director, made some announcements and we got started at 8:00am sharp. With only about 500 yards of asphalt to semi-thin the crowd, we bottle necked right away on the single track trail. It took some time to settle an order and even then, it was well over an hour of running before I felt like I had found my spot in the pecking order of things. The trail follows along a dam reservoir with over looks into the valey below. At one point early on, you could look over to our left and see Chattanooga below. You could also look across to the site of tomorrow's stage at Lookout Mountain. The first hour of running was just trying to pull back the reins and not get too fast, but it's hard when you get caught up in the excitement. Once things thinned out, this was harder still. Since the temps were comfortable, I wasn't running out of water and I was still able to maintain a good level hydration. We hit the first aid station and I felt good.

The next few miles went by quick with a small stretch on a gravel jeep road. Normally these stretches get hot, but since it was overcast, we were fine. A couple of guys passed me here, but once we were back on the single track, I stayed with them pretty well. Soon, we hit aid station number two. I try not to spend too much time at the stations. One of the volunteers asked me more than once if I needed my bottle topped off, but I still had more than two-thirds of a bottle and I thought I'd OK. He said, "You sure? It's five miles until the next station." Which made me hesitate, but I decided to go on. Luckily, I didn't have to regret my decision.

From here, we had quite a bit of downhill which was quite a bit of fun and then we hit a section called "the small intestine". And rightly so. It was twisty, windy and covered just a few acres with a few miles of trails. It was in this spaghetti of trails that I took a good spill. My foot caught a root and down I went. I was in a train of runners when it happened and only a couple looked back. I jumped up and caught up with them as quickly as I could. My bib number hung by one safety pin the rest of the race.

Runners started showing some strain and many were dropping back. I did a gut check and asked myself if I was going too fast but I was feeling good and decided to just maintain my pace. I caught up to a couple of the TX runners and soon passed them. Pretty soon, we hit aid station number three.

I didn't stick around. I refilled my bottle, grabbed something to eat and headed out. When I exited, a couple of the guys I had been running with stayed behind. I then also caught up with another runner who had passed me earlier on the gravel road and I soon put distance on him. The rest of the way, I spent it mostly on my own with no one to see ahead of me or behind me. This probably lasted for more than a couple of miles which allowed me to settle into a groove and get my breathing to where it should be. I caught up with Tim and he had decided to ease up since this is really a training weekend for him as he's getting ready for the Arkansas 100 later this year.

Nothing like an ice bath in a trash can.

Things were going well, and I knew there wasn't much left to go. I came upon the race photographer and instead of giving a smooth, strong looking runner to photograph, I almost ate it in front of him. I can't wait to see that one. With about a half mile to go, I came upon another trail runner and when I came up behind him, instead of letting me pass, he picked it up. I thought, "OK, I'll stick with ya." But then we came out onto an ashpalt path and I knew we were almost done. I passed him. I thought he was behind me, but when the finish line was in view, all of a sudden I could feel him trying to sprint by me. For a split second, I thought I'd try to sprint in, but then I thought, "That's stupid. We have two more even longer days still to race. Let this guy go." and I did.

I finished in 2:40 and 38th overall. Not bad, but I hope I didn't cash in all my chips. There's still two more stages. I took an ice bath in a tub and got something to eat. I hung out with other finishers for a while and the gang from Texas and then made my way out. I feel good, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Lookout Mountain awaits with lots of climbing and way more technical trails. Until then, happy trails!

Rock/Creek Stage Race Preview

Only four days to go and I'm chopping at the bit to get started at the first stage of this weekend's Rock/Creek Stage Race. It's three days of challenging running on trails in Chattanooga, Tennessee with a couple hundred of my fellow trailrunning nuts. I've run all kinds of long distance races, but I've never had to string three separate consecutive days of it. The concept is very popular in Europe and the good folks at Wild Trails and Rock/Creek thought that it would be fun to host something similar here in the good ole US of A. Thank you Randy and Kris Whorton, the race directors, for adapting the concept here at home!

Each day gets progressively harder. Day one is 18 miles on and around Raccoon Mountain, home of the Scenic City Trail Marathon in May. Day two is 22 miles on the trails at Lookout Mountain and in the Lula Lake Land Trust claiming an elevation gain of about 2,800 ft. Lastly, day three is 20 miles on Signal Mountain and probably the toughest with the first six miles showing absolutely no mercy to the race participants.

Following are the course maps for all three stages and elevation charts for two of the stages:

Day One - Raccoon Mountain, TN - Friday, June 17, 2011

Day Two - Lookout Mountain, TN/GA - Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day Three - Signal Mountain, TN - Sunday, June 19, 2011

Stay tuned to my blog as I'll try to post daily race recaps starting on Friday. If I can figure out a way to record some video, I'll post that as well. In the meantime, check out this promotional video produced by the race organizers:

Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race: 3 Tough Days of Trail Running from Rock/Creek on Vimeo.

Happy trails!

Cloudland Canyon Fat Ass 04.23.11

At the top looking down into Cloudland Canyon.

I received an email from Randy Whorton a couple of months ago forwarded by my friend, Roxanne, that described a Fat Ass-style race that was planned for April in Chattanooga. Many of the people addressed in the email are the who's who of ultra running in this area, so it immediately peaked my interest. Randy's the mastermind behind many of the Rock Creek races in Chattanooga and after having personally enjoyed Rock Creek events like the Stump Jump 50K and the Lookout Mountain 50-Miler, I figured I had to check this out. Of course, it didn't hurt when my usual running buddies, Woody and Doug, were also thinking of participating. So we all contacted Randy through Rox and got our names on the list. It's been in ink on my calendar since then.

I love the low-key nature of Fat Ass races and knowing that there were only going to be a handful of runners participating in this run, I was really excited about it. The course was set to start in Cloudland Canyon, a beautiful bluff area in Northwest Georgia, and was to end on the East side of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga at Randy's house.

Bus ride to start.

Woody picked me up at 4:30am that morning and we headed up to Chattanooga, picking up another friend, Kirk, along the way. Unfortunately, Doug had to pull out almost last minute and couldn't come along. We arrived around 7:00am just in time to get on the school bus that Randy and his wife, Kris had rented to transport us all to the start. I met some great people on the bus, a few runners from Huntsville, AL, one guy who also drove up from the Atlanta area and the rest were all from Chattanooga. There were about sixteen of us total. We didn't see Randy because he went ahead an hour earlier to start marking the course. After stopping at Covenant College near the top of Lookout Mountain to pick up a few more runners, it was a short ride to Cloudland Canyon. Driving in, it was hard to see down into the valley due to the fog, but we would get to enjoy the view a little later on our way back on foot.

Cloudland Canyon

If you ever get a chance to visit Cloudland Canyon near Trenton, Georgia, you should take advantage of it. This gorge area is cut out by the Sitton Gulch Creek and it is spectacular. The state park covers a huge area and the Waterfalls Trail that we would hit to start the race, takes you from the bottom of the gorge along Daniels Creek and by two major waterfalls up to the top.

Great group of runners at start.

The bus dropped us off at the trailhead and after some brief announcements by Kris and a couple of quick photos, we headed out with a very discreet, "OK, you guys can go now.", by Kris. Right away, we were on single track surrounded by newly green forest (it is Spring time) and following the creek upwards. About a mile and a half into the run, we climbed the long 600-step stairway to the top. Nothing like steps to warm up your calves! It reminded me of Amicalola Falls in North Georgia and the long stairway there. On the way up, we took in the waterfalls and once at the top, we enjoyed amazing views into the valley below. You can clearly see the layers of limestone and sandstone along the bluff. It must be amazing in the Fall. So far so good.

Getting ready for creek crossing.

At the top, we took a short overlook trail by some cabins and campers and then made our way out of the park and onto a much more rugged trail, the Backcountry Trail. Now the Backcountry Trail is well blazed with orange markings, but it is obviously not well traveled. The further along this trail we got, the more it was covered in dropped leaves, fallen trees and branches, and overgrown with briars and saplings. We made our way down the opposite side from the overlook and eventually came to a creek crossing. It took a few minutes to find a good spot to cross as the current was pretty strong and the water was about knee deep. I'll always praise my Smartwool socks, no matter how soaked they get they never fail. Anyway, once across, we started slowly climbing back up, but still searching out the orange blaze marks on the trees. The trio of Huntsville runners caught up with us at this point and we would stick together for much of the way from this point forward.

A little blood.

The going was slow because of the lack of an obvious trail on the ground. We would run a few paces, hesitate, look around for the next orange blaze and continue, then repeat. Meanwhile the briars were doing a number on everyone's ankles and shins. We followed the pattern for about four or five miles until we came onto another bluff. We started following blue ribbons and would soon learn that we made a wrong turn somewhere along the line. We hadn't seen any of Randy's flour markings for a while, but we didn't realize it until we ran out of blue ribbons to follow and realized that we were literally in the middle of nowhere with no clear trail or markings to follow. Thankfully, I brought my cell phone and dialed Randy. He came on the line and when I explained what we had done, he was puzzled until I told him that we had kept the bluff to our right and he said that we should have kept it on our left instead. Also, we should have never followed the blue ribbons. Oops! So we gathered up the six of us and headed back to try to find where we turned off and hopefully, pick up Randy's flour markings again. On the way back, we picked up to other runners who had made the same mistake we did. Eventually, we came back to the point where we should have gone in the opposite direction. We probably added about two miles to our day and lost about 40-45 minutes taking the detour. Shit happens!

More killer views.

We came upon another great overlook with wonderful views into the valley below. The scenery is simply beautiful and we were all glad to be rewarded for our efforts with it. From there, we came off the trail and onto an asphalt driveway of sorts. We then turned off of that onto a forest road and through some open fields and eventually dumping out onto a highway. We saw a flour marking on the edge of the road and for some reason we turned left onto the road and began to follow it for a while.

Lookout Scenic Highway

We figured out that we were on Highway 189 and it didn't dawn on any of us that Kris and Randy had made no mention of following a road. We ran on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic and did it out in the open sun. Needless to say, this was my least favorite part of the day, but it didn't occur to any of us to check where we were until we had gone about two miles or so down the road. We kept expecting to see some marker telling us to turn into the woods at any moment. Another phone call to Randy, this time he told us that we should have gone straight across the road and that there were five flour markings showing the way. Somehow we had missed it and it was our bad. I didn't really want to run back the two miles and I was sharing the bad news with Woody when one of the Huntsville runners suggested that we stay on the road because it was going to eventually hit Covenant College and we could hop on the Lookout Mountain Trail  and pick up Randy's course from there. All good, but the college was another five or six miles further up the road. Our day of trail running immediately had gained a few miles of asphalt running. Not such a bad thing, but it was clear skies, the sun was out and we were going to miss any water that had been put out for us on the original course. Plus, I was looking forward to revisiting parts of the course from the Lookout Mountain 50-Miler I had done a few months ago which included Nickajack and Lula Lake. Bummer!

View from hangglider launch pad.

There was one highlight running on the road and that was coming upon a handglider launching station from the side of the road. Everything to our left was looking down into Look Valley and there's a drop off a several hundred feet. Handglider newbies and veterans use this launching station to hop off the top and start sailing along the open skies. I tell ya, standing on that launch pad and looking into the valley makes you appreciate that sport. Those guys have some cojones!

Other than that, there's not much to write about for this road running section. We started stringing apart. I ended up running most of the road section with my buddy, Kirk. The girl runner we had picked up earlier at the last detour was picked up by two other runners that had called it a day and hitch hiked back to the college where they had parked there cars and met the bus earlier that morning. Woody and the three Huntsville guys were up ahead and arrived at the college before me and Kirk. We came into the main parking lot at the college, topped off our water bottles and anxiously headed out to find the trailhead for the Lookout Mountain trail.

Lookout Mountain

Woody on Lookout Mtn Trail

I was familiar with this part from the 50-miler race, but even then, we appreciated the help of Mark, a local runner that had started with us that morning but who had also called it a day. He got us on the right trail and it was nice to be off the road. Almost immediately, I felt better now that we had a tree canopy over us again and the trail below our feet. From here to Randy and Kris' house was about ten miles and almost all of it would be downhill. Even though we missed a large section of trail by taking the road, we figured out that we were going to end up with about 31 miles after all. Which made us think that maybe today's course was longer than a 50K and we would later learn this was the case, but more on that later.

Woody and I pulled ahead from Kirk and the Huntsville guys a little bit. The trail along the side of Lookout Mountain is a well traveled single track but it can be a little technical in some spots with plenty of rocks and sharp, sheer drop offs to the left at a couple of spots. We kept running by these huge rock formations and big cliffs with limestone layers on our right. It wasn't long before we started seeing ropes and rock climbing equipment at spots and all we had to do was look up to see climbers enjoying their sport.

Coming down the mountain!

We came to a split in the trail and while we paused to figure out which way to go, the Huntsville guys caught up to us and decided to wait for Kirk who was trailing a little behind. They were debating which way to go but Woody and I decided to take the right trail that continued around the point of Lookout Mountain. They ended up taking the left trail once Kirk caught up to then and they would beat us back to Randy's house that way. Meanwhile, Woody and I made it around the point of Lookout Mountain and started heading down off the mountain ourselves but on the other side. We hit a couple of switchbacks, crossed under a rail line that goes straight up the mountain taking tourists to the top, climbed briefly back up and then descended for good down to a road. We found a stash of water gallon jugs Randy had left the night before and topped off our bottles. I got us to this point from my memory of the Lookout Mountain 50-miler, but from here on we had to check with Randy by phone a few times since we were now ahead of him due to our road detour. With no flour markings to follow, we weren't sure how to finish up the last remaining miles back to his house.

We crossed the road per Randy's instructions and this is where it finally dawned on me that when he says, "It's fairly straight forward from there." What he actually means is, "You are going to bush whack like crazy or make your way through some heavy duty briars or poison ivy." Ha, ha! Man, I think he has a little Dave Horton or Laz in him. Anyway, we ran down what you could barely consider a trail through a bunch of poison ivy until we came upon a slightly more obvious single track, the Glen Falls trail. Once on here, progress was steady again and we came across a really cool waterfall and pool. Woody and I decided to take a break and we took off our shoes and dipped our feet into the greatly alleviating cool water. After a few minutes, we got our shoes back on and continued down the trail. We came out onto a gasline cut out, picked up another trail and finished up the last couple of miles of trail before coming out onto a street that would turn out to be the one that their house was on. Somewhere in that last mile, Woody's Garmin finally died showing 30.6 miles. We figured by the time we got back to the house, we had our 50K in the bag. It took us over seven hours to get it done.

Kris and some of the other runners welcomed us back. We were surprised to see Kirk showered and relaxed, but that's when we found out that the route they took from where we had last seen them was slightly shorter and easier than the way Woody and I had taken. We cracked open some celebratory beers and exchanged some stories with everyone there. We learned that Randy and another runner were still out on the original course and that just about everyone had either taken the road detour by mistake or had cut it short at the college. Kris was super nice to let us use their shower and we hung out for some time on their porch. We were hoping to see Randy return, but we had to get back to Atlanta and had to leave.

All in all, it was a great day of running even though we had that road segment and missed out on a big chunk of trail. We later received an email from Randy explaining that he recalculated the distance and realized that it would have actually been more like a 60K than a 50K, if we had all run the intended route. Oh well, Woody and I were happy with our 31 miles.  We'll be back next year to get it done right.

My most sincere gratitude to our wonderful hosts, Randy and Kris. Randy's "straight forward" trail marking and race course were anything, but boring. I also have to put in a nod to our Huntsville running friends, Eric, Rob and Blake, and of course, my running mates, Woody and Kirk. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Randy Whorton is also the Executive Director of Wild Trails, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to promote the use, protection and expansion of trails in greater Chattanooga. If you'd like to learn more about Wild Trails and how you can support this great cause, check out: www.wildtrails.org.