What a Day!

I'm was in Tennessee for a long Easter weekend and needed to get in a long run. My favorite place to run . . . ever is Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport. So, the "where" was a no brainer!

http://www.baysmountain.com/

There is a terrific 10-mile park loop that I run every time I'm in Kingsport, but this time I needed more mileage, so I added in some of the less used trails for a 13.5 mile loop . . . and I needed 26 at least, so this would be fine!

The park opened a little early and I headed out at about 8:15, straight up the mountain to the sounds of thunder and a pack of howling wolves!! . . .yes . . . wolves! The park has a has a large fenced natural area with a pack and they were tuning up with the sounds of thunder from the coming storm. A line of thunder storms was coming in from the west and this presented quite a delima for me!

There are about 10 tall radio towers along a 1 mile section . . . just where I got to when the storm hit! Should I stop and wait out the lightning, or do I try to beat it? I decided to keep running and try to beat it. In retrospect, this probably wasn't one of my best all-time decisions. My plan was going to run FAST as I passed each tower. But those of ou that really know me realize there are no fast bones in my body! Lightning was all around and hit several of the towers, but none when I was close! Man, was I glad to pass that last tower!

This run is really a spectatular run. Once you get to the top of the mountain, you run along a "knife edge" on a jeep road. Essentially, the mountain looks like this: " > " Two ridges join together at one point. Fantastic views to the right (my hometown of Kingsport) and the left, the next ridge I'll be running. These two ridges meet and you head west on the other. While the ridges are straight, they are far from flat! You are either going up, or down . . . almost never flat. At about the five mile point you pass a cool fire tower (again incredible views!!). After the fire tower, the ups/downs settle down some and the running is pretty easy but the views go away. Not really great views in the rains we were having anyway!

Finally, I took the trail that dropped off the ridge and down to Back Hollow and on to the "road." Guess at one point this really was a road, but now it was a creek/bog/mud pit! For every 100 yards of dry land there is at least another 100 yards of creek to run down! You ford the stream several times and at several points you go through a bog . . . the mud was "shoe sucking!" Once, it literally sucked my trail shoe off my foot! Lots of fun reaching down and trying to find your shoe in a foot or more of mud! Then, hobbling to the stream in socks to "wash" the mud out and get your shoe back on!

I continued down the stream / road until in intersects with Front Hollow "road." This really is a somewhat passable road . . . if you have a non-stock jeep set up for impossibly hard off-road!! The rain stopped by the time I got to this section, but the mud holes were full. This was a long, slow sloppy uphill section to Ledbetter Gap, then a long, slow downhill to where I started . . . about 13.5 miles done and one more lap to go. I re-supplied with Gatorade and had a bowl of chicken noodle soup then headed out again. The weather was now clear and the views were GREAT! I took it easy, walking the uphills and running the downs (very few flat parts, but I ran the few that were there!).

After the fire tower I took a little longer route and tried a trail that was new to me. While the trail did have blazes, it had probably been a couple of years since anyone had been through . . . down trees everywhere, no footprints ever and the trail was REALLY hard to follow. Plus, whoever put the trail in had never learned of the concept of a switchback. This trail went STRAIGHT DOWN the mountain! (more on this part later!). Finally, I came to Back Hollow and continued on. I struggle up Ledbetter Hollow to the gap and a nice, slow run back to my car in about 7 hours! Not a great time, but if you adjust for elevation changes and mud bogs, it wasn't too bad!

After I got home and showered off the mud, I realized that the downhill trail without switchbacks I had really done a number on two of my toenails . . . black and blue, painful as hell and destined to come off! Damn! I'm really sore after this run . . . WAY worse than my 50-miler!

Still, this was a spectacular day. I love running alone in the woods! All day long and I never saw a person! Seven turkeys, one squirrel but no people! What I really miss though, is sharing this super run with my running friends!

ps - It is now Monday afternoon . . . and I'm still sore! What is up with this??

Umstead Trail Marathon 2009

It is so much more fun to be at races with friends!!! Dave Lavely, Scott Wingfield, Michael Forrester and Cam Kelly all ran (see above picture)! Got to spend a bunch of time together before the race! Friends just makes it better!

Talk about tough . . . this marathon was a tough one! Two factors: 1) hills and 2) temperature.

Umstead is a great place to run and it has it all! Single track trails, fine gravel roads, flat areas and, of course, hills . . . lots of hills. The first half of the race seemed to be a tad flatter then the second half. But it maybe I just got tired for the second half.

The hills were hard but really not that bad, I've run much harder hills.

About half way, we went through a section called Turkey Creek North. Three tough hills in a row, hit a flat section for maybe 1/2 mile, then turn around and go back the way we had come. Really hard given the temperature . . . by this time the temperatures had climbed into the low 80s. For the last three weeks, we have had temperature daily highs in the 20s, 30s and low 40s. Snow the previous weekend. Just no time to get use to higher temperatures!

When I finally got back to the RMEC (Rocky Mount Endurance Club) manned aid station a little past mile 19 , the race official told me I had missed the cut-off by seconds. I talked him in to letting me try to make the next cut-off point. Not sure how far it was . . . maybe 1-1/2 miles. But I gave it all I had (which really wasn't all that much!) but I can't remember when a ran that hard! And I made it! So, from that point on - no more cut-offs! All I had to do was finish. Got to admit I really struggled and was spent at the finish. But I finished . . . the last official finisher!

A special thanks to the RMEC members who gave up a beautiful Saturday, drive from Rocky Mount to Raleigh and man the aid station! Ryan Bullard, Steve Cooper, Larry McKeel . . . I remember seeing all you! Believe Ursula Forrester was there too, but I don't remember seeing her.

And another special "thank you" to the Godiva Track Club and all the incredible volunteer out! Aid stations were great! Smiling and encouraging folks at every stop! Especially liked the "South of the Border" stop on Turkey Creek trail . . . they cracked me up and picked up my spirits! All through the race, but especially after mile 16 or so, volunteers on bikes were constantly coming up and asking if I was okay and if I needed water, gels or electrolytes (I'm sure they were worried when they saw me . . . I probably looked like hell and was moving at a snail's pace!) I've done a number of marathons on warm days, but I've never been to a race that was so supportive to the runners! THANK YOU ALL!


Here are some more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/triple_f/sets/72157614892534807/