Chattanooga Mountain's Stage Race

Day 1-

Racing in East Tennessee has always been an enjoyable and memorable experience over the past year and day one of the 4th annual stage race was no different. I started my day off with a grande americana an hour before the race start. This being the first time I had coffee before a race, I was a little concerned on the potential negative effects, but this wasn't something I hadn't done before.

My running buddy from Birmingham and all round good dude, Jay, and I made our way up to the starting line (much faster than I had made it up there on my own when I didn't know the way last year) and donned our racing bibs and hydration packs.

The weather at this slightly higher elevation, as it stayed a few degrees cooler than in the valley, though it did stay in the mid 80's range most of the morning. Myself and a significantly larger number of runners compared to last year toed the line and listened to some last minute announcements before we were off. I made myself comfortable in the upper mid portion of the pack and pretty much maintained my position there the whole day, passing only about 5 people once the race was well under way.

Today I really just wanted to relax and enjoy my time on these now familiar trails. There would be no getting lost today, for me anyway. (I later found out that several people made the same faux pas as I did last year with a wrong turn.) A little over 10 miles in and I arrived at the Covenant College aid station. It was kinda strange to see this spot of earth again since the last time I was here I was cold, wet, tired and about to finish my second 50 miler (see "Battlefields" blog). Thankfully I was feeling much better now than I had then. Before I knew it I was back at the starting line about to finish the final 6 mile section of this 22 mile figure-8 style course. I felt pretty well for having not eaten more than a few orange slices and a single GU the whole day. I probably could have done a better job in the hydration department (namely more S!caps) but nutrition wasn't too big of a deal. I had eaten plenty over the last 48 hours. With a little over two miles to go I felt like I was starting to hit my first low point of the day. I was starting to experience the all too familiar muscle pain one gets from ultra running, albeit even if it wasn't very severe. But I just ignored it cause I knew I'd be done soon. And, indeed, about 3 hours and 30 somethin minutes after I started, I arrived back to the start where fruit, beverage and a much anticipated soak in a cool mountain stream awaited.

I felt like I could have kept on going when I finished, but that was the whole idea of my strategy. Day two, here we come...

Day 2 -

The second day of racing started out a little more promising than last year as I didn't feel as tired during the first couple miles. Strangely, today I felt about the same when I started the race as I did near the end, save for slightly more tired legs. Again, mentally, I felt like I completed the loop around Raccoon Mountain pretty quickly as I had a good feel for these trails and where I was.

After just 10 minutes of racing I knew hydration was going to be key today. My sweat glans were doin their thing pretty well, keepin me thoroughly drenched all day. Yesterday I had purchased a new fuel belt by camelbak at Rock/Creek that had a bottle strapped around my waist and a conveniently located front pouch for S!caps and figs. It worked out pretty well. I think I'll be using it tomorrow.

The small intestine section was once again an infuriating little piece of trail as I ran past other runners 10 feet away but half a mile ahead. (This section is very well named.) I muscled my way threw these next few miles, running on the tails of other runners, often leap-frogging for position. 12 miles in I hit the last manned aid station and had some orange slices and other stuff.

For some reason, my mind was playin games with me. I listened a little to often to that voice that wants me to walk. Physically I was stronger than this; I still had plenty of energy. Sure I could have gotten a little more sleep last night but I was getting mentally lazy. I gotta work on that. Tomorrow will be better.

Six miles left and my feet were really soaked from sweat and I was a little worried about blistering, but I remembered that I've done 50k's where there was a creek crossing at mile 3 or so where my entire lower body got soaked and I just kept on truckin without a shoe or sock change until I finished the race. At the end of the day, my feet were pretty water logged but no blistering, thankfully.

After a hot 18 miles, even in the shade, I enjoyed another post-race massage and an amazingly cold ice bath before some thundering clouds came a rollin in and ushered us back to our cars.

Back at Jay's buddy's house, we each took a nap and a shower before heading over to a local coffee joint. As I was walking toward this trendy local favorite with my laptop in my shoulder bag wearing a north face shirt I won in a raffle yesterday that says "Keep it Green" on the front with a recycling symbol and surrounded by vegan friendly hippie snacks (and hippie type people), I suddenly got the urge to eat a large steak, shoot some weapons, and drive a big truck to counteract my time in this place. But for now I think I'll keep sippin my green tea and enjoying some organic snacks.

Day 3 -

I'm almost starting to get a little superstitious about these races. So far, I don't really have a strict morning routine before a race, but most commonly it involves too few hours of restless sleep, an early wake up call, the ingestion of some fruit or granola, and maybe a trip to waffle house before heading to the starting line. Today, unlike days 1 and 2, started out much like this. Last night, an ultra buddy of mine from Atlanta, Sean Blanton, rolled in to crash at the house I was staying at. Sean and I decided to go on a long walk out to experience the Riverband festival on the other side of the Tennessee river. As we were leaving at about 9:30 pm, I was hoping I would not regret this decision tomorrow morning. I mean, I took a nap earlier in the day so I should be fine, right?
After an entertaining night of people and firework watching, I finally made my way to bed around midnight.
5:45 the next morning. I gather up the few things I was going to need for the final stage before Jay, Sean, and I headed towards the nearest waffle house en route to Signal Mountain. I ordered myself a cheese omelet a la my last visit to a WH before a race, and we headed up the hill.
Shoes on my feet, fuel on my belt, and sunshine on my face, the starting whistle sounded to begin the final 20 miles of our 60 mile adventure.
This being the final race and given the fact that my body was holding up pretty well from the past two days, it was time to put the hammer down. The first couple of miles consisted of an out n' back section starting from "Mushroom Rock" with two significant descents and climbs. I felt pretty well so far and made sure to keep a steady intake of hydration. I knew that that would be the biggest issue for me today. Shovel in enough coal and the trail would keep a goin. Descending toward the first aid station, I saw the current race leader, two years older than me, truckin it back up the hill I was currently going down like it was hardly there. Impressive.
Back to Mushroom Rock, the route took us along a pretty flat and easy ridge line trail for several miles before dumping us out at my all time favorite aid station. The aid station itself wasn't particularly special, but the incredibly scenic view from that point on the mountain made it well worth the run to get there.
I didn't want to spend too much time here, though. It was time to get movin. I caught up with some people as I descended down the mountain towards the creeks below. This next section got incredibly rock to the point where running was almost out of the question. The aptly-named rock garden section fortunately did not last for too many miles. After negotiating a myriad of jagged rocks and a few mini suspension bridges over the brooks and streams, the trail started to take us back up to the mountain to the next aid station. This particular section was new from last year so it was a bit of a surprise, something that you don't see all that often in ultras: stairs. Lots. And steep. Wow, they were steep. Using my arms almost as much as my legs I clawed my way up the mountainside to be rewarded with another refreshing aid station. Again, I did not want to make my stay here too long but it was tough not to. After all, they had watermelon slices. It might of well have been crack. The juicy red fruit was just what I needed: full of vitamins and juicy goodness.
To get to the next trail head, we had to run down about a half of a mile worth of residential roads. During this half mile I passed a nice, large, red brick, southern-looking building with a wrap around type porch. I guessed it was a hotel of some sort and I noticed an old woman in a motorized chair sitting on that porch watching us runners do our thing, no doubt curious what we were all doing up here. Personally, I was counting my blessings and enjoying not being old.
Me and my young legs trudged onward to my least favorite section of trails. These trails weren't marked super good but since I had found some others to run with, we got it all figured out. The trails also weren't well worn either. Several bits of it looked like someone had just hiked along with a shovel, scraping the earth as he went to make a path in the woods. After about 2.5 miles of this, the trail thankfully opened up to some double track where the next and final aid station awaited. A refill of my camelbak water bottle and a few orange slices later and I started the last 3 miles of the race.
I really wanted to run this last section more than I did but my quads were threatening mutiny. Though I managed to abet some of their stubbornness with an extra dose of S!caps, the normally moderate hills turned to annoying climbs. When I did hit the last mile of gravel single track, though, I was runnin like I was about to finish a 60 mile race. The last few hills hurt to get up, but I pushed threw it and managed to finish off my 20 mile outing on the Cumberland Trail in 3 hours and about 48 minutes.

After 3 days of mountain racing, I placed 14th out of something like 160 racers, though right now I'm not entirely sure how many actually finished all three days. It placed me just ahead of the well accomplished first place female finisher, Emily Ansik, whom I had the pleasure of running with sporadically throughout the weekend. Satisfied with my top 10% placement, I said my goodbyes to fellow ultra buddies I probably wont' be seeing for a while and started my 3.5 hour drive back to Auburn, contemplating my upcoming training at Ft. Benning.