This impressive mug is nothing less then the award given to the 2st Place Finisher in the coveted and highly competitive 60+ Men's age group for the Bay's Mountain 15-mile Trail Run this last Saturday.  That's right friends and neighbors . . .  I kicked some competitive ass and walked away with the 2nd place goods!

Okay . . . so maybe this year it wasn't so competitive.  But it could have been!  Very easily!

Bay's Mountain is my favorite place to run ... period!  There are definitely some tough hills!  But the trails are so great!  And it is so pretty!

Last year there were five RMECer there, but the East Tennessee yellow jackets must have scared off all the others. Last year, a hive of yellow jackets stung almost everyone!  Eric Pate must have been especially tasty as he got stung over 50 times!

Before the race I hooked up with Iron Mountain Trail Runners members Tammy and Rick Gray and also Beth Minnick, all from the area.  Missing was Jennifer Nichols, another of the IMTR crew who was injured and decided to pass on this race.  Nice to see some familiar faces (even though I grew up in Kingsport!).

Beth, Rick and Tammy

 

I had no real plan for the day ... other then to finish.  My training as been pretty slack recently and I was just trying to get in a good training run. Like last year, I pretty much wilted at 10 miles.  Unfortunately it's a 15 mile race.  The last five miles are not hard miles at all.  Actually they are fairly easy trail miles.  It's just that I was already spent.  Honestly, at the end of this run I felt like I had finished a marathon rather then just a 15-miler.  What a wimp!

I do love this race!  It's hard! But it should be! Hope I can come back next year too!