Race Recap // Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 Mile Trail Race

Every now and then I go into a race completely unaware of how things will shake out. There's always a little bit of uncertainty about how things are going to go, but I normally have a decent grasp on my fitness and how that will match up with the course and competition. Traditionally, River Gorge has not been one of those races. I've probably run what I thought I would go in once, maybe twice in five attempts. Admittedly, the first year that was due to some hubris but other than that it's been a mixed bag. It's still relatively early in the year, it's a tough course, and there is always very good competition.

This year was certainly no exception. I felt like I had good training going into the race but I was unsure of how that would translate to the difficulty of this course. You need to be able to stay up front in the early part of the race and then you need to stay strong in the later stages when things get tough and fatigue sets in. That's probably why guys like Nate Holland have been so successful here. Ultra runners that are training for/running long events but also have the ability to throw down on the more mild terrain.

I knew that I had better training going into this year's race than I did going into last year - my worst showing in five trips - but I wasn't sure how it stacked up to a couple of my better performances where I had more strength based work under my belt. With that in mind - and the struggle of last year lingering - I went into this year's race with no expectations. Not low expectations. I wasn't sandbagging and going into it thinking 'Oh I'm going do so bad...' or something like that. I had no expectations. I had my mind set on going out and running my race and letting the chips fall where they fell. Just run. Don't worry about what anyone else did. Maybe I would get back on the podium, maybe not. Maybe I'd bomb or maybe I would win. I was nervous but ready to just go run.

Oh yeah, a few days before the race Rock/Creek announced that Rob Krar - the two-time Western States 100 winner - would be at the race. I didn't know if he'd be really racing it but it was pretty cool that they brought him in for the race. Last year, Ricky Gates stopped by and ran the race as part of his trans-America trip, so it was cool that they've continued to build on their sponsor relationships (Salomon & North Face). I think it gives a good idea of the prestige of this race.

// The Course //
The River Gorge course starts on a gravel road at the Mullins Cove Loop trailhead in Prentice Cooper State Forest. After a short climb up the gravel road, the course takes a sharp left onto a Jeep road then drops down to hit the single track. The first half of the race is pretty runnable. There's a good balance of up and down and most of the trail is pretty straightforward. There are a couple of creek crossings and rocky sections but for the most part, it's the kind of stuff that you can get into a groove on.

The first few miles of the course run along the bluffs of the Tennessee River Gorge and spectacular views of the river below. There are a few spots that are a little precarious, as in a wrong step and you are tumbling off of a cliff. It's more technical than what I am used to but it's a good warm-up for what comes later.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

You reach the first aid station at Snooper's Rock at 3.5 miles then begin the first sustained climb of the day. It's not steep, more of a grinder, but you definitely feel it after all the downhill in the early going. Once you reach the halfway point things start to get more difficult. The terrain features more rocks and less straightforward trail. There are a couple of spots that you have to be attentive for the markings to keep from wandering off into the woods. This is when the race really begins.

When you hit seven miles you climb up onto a washed out Jeep road (Haley Road), which is steep and usually a mess of ruts, mud, and loose rocks. After you reach the second aid station you make a left back onto the trails. This is the toughest climb on the course. It switchbacks up for what seems like an eternity before finally leveling out again. Things are fairly mellow after that before you plunge into the rock garden - a boulder field in a small ravine along a creek.

After fighting your way through the rock garden you face gradual, climbing single track all the way to the finish line.

// The Race //
One of the best things about this race is the pre-race packet pickup. Local outdoor outfitter and race sponsor, Rock/Creek hosts packet pickup on Friday night at one of their stores. Not only does it make things a little less stressful on race morning, it also gives me the perfect excuse to leave work early on Friday and get settled into the hotel to have a restful night. When I arrived at the trailhead on Saturday morning, I spent a couple minutes catching up with my cousin Greg before setting out for my warm up.

After a quick warm-up, I switched into my race kit and made my way to the start line. The night before Amanda commented on how a lot of the people at check-in looked legit and that there was a guy signing autographs - a.k.a. Rob Krar. That's definitely true at this race, there are plenty of legit runners on the starting line. Rock/Creek fields an All-Mountain Team of local athletes, plus it always pulls in strong runners from around the Southeast and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

I ended up settling in right next to Rob Krar. It wasn't by design, he just happened to walk over next to me where there was some space. I got a chance to meet him and chat for a couple minutes before the start, which was pretty awesome. Like I said in the course layout, the race starts with a long climb up a gravel road for the first 400 or so. This makes things a little tricky. You want to get out and get in the front group but the climb can burn out a lot of the overzealous starters, so you don't want to find yourself in that boat.

As I have in the past I settled into the group for the early climb as everyone kind of looked around and tried to figure out if the guys off the front were worth chasing. As we came over the top of the hill and made the left hand turn onto the Jeep road to guys from Rock/Creek made a move to separate themselves from the pack. I figured they were worth following and settled in behind them. We rolled along the long descent, shuffling back and forth for the next couple of minutes. As we approached the singletrack a four-man lead group established with the rest of the field stringing out behind.

At this point, I was thinking that I was in perfect position. I was second onto the singletrack with the two Rock/Creek guys (Johnny Clemons & John Wiygul) behind me and an unknown guy up front. I followed the leader through the split rock, which he kind of struggled to move through. I didn't think much of it at first. I'm not a great technical runner, so I figured that I probably looked the same trying to navigate that feature.

Despite my attempts at being more patient in races, I found myself running right on the heels of the leader pretty quickly after getting through the split rock. I tried to ease off and give him some room, but it seemed like I was yoyoing back and forth. Drop back a few yards, then close right back up on him. That made it really difficult to see the trail in front of me and I felt like I was going to burn myself out from all the back and forth.

"Don't do it. Don't do it. Forget it. Just go."

That was my thought process. I had zero desire to lead but I had to get some clear trail in front of me, so I took a few quick strides through the side brush and took over the front of the race. Johnny Clemons and John Wiygul got held up for a few seconds as they moved past the early leader, which stuck me in a little bit of a weird off the front no man's land. I fought the urge to surge, seeing as we were only about a mile into the race at this point and tried to focus on settling into some kind of rhythm.

To my surprise, they just kind of left me out there. I'd gain a few seconds on a downhill and then give a few back on an uphill but they were always just a little bit behind me. That odd distance where you can let the person dangle a little because you have plenty of time to reel them in or with one short surge you could close the gap. Things stayed that way for a long time.

While I had an initial moment of concern about going too early and not being able to run away, I spent the next few minutes trying to relax and settle down. I told myself that I was still following the plan. I might be out front but I was just running my race. I didn't need to try and run away from them. All I needed to do was run my race. If they caught me, I would try and go with them and if they let me go, well that would be quite alright with me.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

By the time we hit the first aid station at Snooper's Rock, I had successfully gotten myself to chill out. I was focused on the trail ahead and not what was going on behind me. I actually felt pretty comfortable for the next couple of miles. I was running a good tempo but I wasn't burning myself up with an ill-fated attempt to run away from those guys. I was following the plan.

I made it through the first half of the race pretty smoothly. I remember thinking that it was much more runnable than I remembered. I felt like I was running well but smart. Things felt controlled. It continued that way until just before the second aid station. Johnny Clemons had started to eat into my advantage as the course started to toughen in the second half. After one of the creek crossings, I made a slight misstep and when I got back on track Johnny had pulled even. I'll be honest. I had a moment of weakness at that point. He initially was going to let me retake the lead but I slinked back and ceded it to him.

Rob Krar (Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz)

I dropped back a few meters at first, starting to feel a little sorry for myself. At that moment we popped out onto Haley Road. I fought the urge to ease off and set out on grinding my way up the first part of the climb. Despite losing some ground on the hill, Johnny dipped back into the woods just as I passed the aid station. He was still right there. All I had to do was get through the second part of the climb and I would have a chance to sort things out.

For once in my life, I actually gained on someone while running uphill. Johnny was power hiking some sections of the trail, which allowed me to close the gap and make contact with him. However, what I learned about power hiking at that moment was that when he switched from running to hiking, he instantly gained four or five strides on me.

"Just keep grinding!" is what I told myself as I tried to claw my way to the top within striking distance.

When we finally made it to the top of the climb, Johnny had opened a small gap, somewhere in the 5-10 second range and I had maybe 30 seconds on John Wiygul. This was the make or break moment for me. I could either take a short spell to recover and then go after Johnny or I could sink like a stone. Chase back to give myself a shot at the win or drop back into third and try to fight my own personal battle to stay on the podium.

With about a mile until the rock garden, I felt like I could get back to Johnny. It took a while for me to get there but as we started to descend, I began to eat into his advantage. Once we hit the rock garden I was right on his heels. Unfortunately, this was also the exact moment that the cumulative fatigue of the race started to set in.

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

I would find myself back in contact one minute but then as soon as the trail tilted up, I'd lose ground. Back and forth, back and forth, this went on for what seemed like forever. Every time I would lift my legs gravity felt a little more difficult to defy. As we exited the rock garden with one final uphill push I lost contact with Johnny. My legs were toast. It's a long run into the finish from the end of the rock garden though.

I did my best to recover and hoped that he went too early and would fade. My mind was in it for one more effort but my legs didn't want to respond. After a few minutes on the struggle bus, they started to come back to me. I gave it one final surge but it was too little too late. We made a big sweeping hairpin left hand turn then wound through the trees to the finish - Johnny Clemons taking the win in 1:16:36 with me grabbing second in 1:16:53 before John Wiygul in 1:17:20.

Less than a minute separated the top three after 10.2 miles in one of the closest trail races I've been a part of. While I definitely faded over the last couple miles, especially in the final mile, I was really happy with my performance. Coming in with zero expectations and getting back on the podium was a great feeling. It really felt like redemption after having a tough go of it last year. Even though I've run faster in this race before, this felt like it was everything I had on that day. Sure I wish I didn't fade at the end and I would have loved to have won, but I went out and I raced. I could have packed it in on the Haley road climb and spent the next couple of miles feeling sorry for myself but I didn't. And that's something to be proud of no matter the final place or outcome.

Photo courtesy of Fred Doss

You may notice that Rob Krar isn't in the top 10. He finished 21st. Clearly he was just chilling, but still, it's pretty cool to be able to say that I beat him. In all seriousness, though he was a cool guy and it was awesome to see him hanging out just chatting with everyone after the race. He's definitely down to earth, which I appreciate.

Post-race, I talked to Johnny and John for a bit. Turns out Johnny is training for the Western States 100, so he's obviously super strong. He was worried that I was going to claw back but felt like he still had good legs for a sprint. That would have been pretty crazy. A two-up sprint after 10 miles. If only! I tried to cool down a little and then curled up in a ball in the back of the Renegade (everytime I see the wording on the side of the Jeep I sing the opening of Styx Renegade in my head - don't judge me) for a few minutes before heading back to the finish to cheer on my cousin Greg - who's finish I somehow missed. After that, I went back to the hotel to grab Amanda so we could go to Mean Mug and I could drink all the coffee and eat all of the biscuits.

// Recovery Beer of the Week //
This was a tough one. I won an awesome River Gorge Growler from Chattanooga Brewing Company but because of an awards snafu I didn't get it after the race and we ended up going to Hutton & Smith.

Hutton & Smith - Belay On!
A slightly hopped up version of their blonde ale, Belay On! is light and refreshing with just enough bitterness. It's a solid post-run session ale that reminded me a little bit of Terrapin's Recreation Ale. I put it to the pizza and beer test at Community Pie in downtown Chattanooga that night and I'm happy to report that it passed with flying colors.

// Closing Thoughts //
I was thrilled with the way the race went this year. Plain and simple. I went out and I raced on the day and I had a little bit of redemption from last year. There is no way I could have expected anything more. While I still feel like I have a ways to go to get where I want to be as the year goes on, but I certainly feel like I'm progressing. I need to work in more sustained effort work, tempo runs, fartlek runs, those kinds of things, but all in all I feel like I'm in a good place.

After the race, Amanda and I went to Mean Mug for coffee and a bacon and egg biscuit then we spent the rest of the day walking around Chattanooga. We ended up at Hutton & Smith where we had a flight and a pint before heading to Community Pie for pizza and more beer. My brother has been raving about Hutton & Smith for a year and this was the first time we went. It definitely did not disappoint. It's a small spot but had a cool vibe.

Sunday morning I woke up and did one of my favorite Chattanooga runs. From the hotel I ran out to Stringer's Ridge - where Amanda and I got engaged - and then I ran across the Walnut Street Bridge and back to the hotel for a nice and easy eight miles. My legs were a little cooked from the race, so I kept it short.

Next up I'm back on the Dirty Spokes train with the Road Atlanta trail race. That should be cool. It's the first time the trails will be open to the public. After that it's Ragnar Trail Atlanta, which should be an adventure, and then Tuck Fest. April is going to be a very busy month, but it should be fun.

Race Recap // Dirty Spokes Charleston Park 10k Trail Race

Charleston Park was the third race on the Dirty Spokes calendar this year. It's held on a fairly new mountain bike trail system on Lake Lanier. It features a little bit of everything. It's got a couple of grinder hills, some short punchy whoops, some technical/rooty sections, and a few longer sections that you can stretch your legs and get rolling.

I didn't really know what to expect going into this one having not raced since the beginning of February. I figured my best bet would be to approach it the same way I raced at Heritage Park last month. Ease into things and try to focus on racing the sections that fit my style. It worked well the last time out, so why not.

// The Course //
The 10k course utilizes the entire trail system on the map above. It starts out on the left side of the orange trail until it meets with the purple trail. The course runs counter-clockwise on the purple trail as it winds through the woods before meeting back up with the orange trail for the final mile or so. You finish by following the access trail back to the main parking lot.

This is a difficult race to figure out. It gets right into the trails with little room to stretch things out, similar to Mayhem on the Mountain. It's very punchy early on. The first mile is full of short steep ramps and quick downhills then ends with a long grinding climb. After you pass through the first mile you drop back down towards the water. The section that follows is more level but features a root covered low-lying trail that forces you to be nimble and quick-footed.

Photo courtesy of Dirty Spokes

Once you get through two miles things mellow out a bit though. The middle miles are firmly in my wheelhouse. They feature rolling terrain and longer, more straightforward sections that really allow you to get into a rhythm. Before the course reconnects with the orange trail you have one last climb to contend with. It's a long but gradual climb that works its way up from the shore to one of the higher points on the course.

After topping out on this climb you drop down to the orange trail where you finish things out with more short and steep up and downs. After you make your way through the ups, downs, twists, and turns you cross a concrete bridge and climb one final short hill before racing the final 400 or so meters to the finish.

// The Race //
Given that this race gets onto the trails so quickly with little room to spread things out, the shorter four-mile race started 10 minutes before the 10k. While this lead to some congestion in a couple spots later in the race, it made the start much easier to navigate. First, I knew everyone on the line was in the 10k. A lot of times it can be difficult to figure out who to follow and who to let go when both the short and long races start at the same time. Although now that I'm getting older and more mono-paced I should probably just be patient all the time.

I took the lead pretty much right away and was only followed by Jay Kolodzinski. He is a strong runner and I knew that if I let off the gas he wouldn't be far behind, so I needed to stay focused throughout the race. I wasn't quite prepared for how hilly the early part of the race was. I tried to settle into a rhythm once we got into the woods, but the early hills really took a toll. I tried to focus on trying to stay relaxed and find a comfortable effort level. The first two miles were pretty uneven and uneasy for me. I knew I needed to relax and stay patient until we going into the middle miles where I could start to pull away.

Fortunately, the root covered, twisty section around 1.5 miles allowed me to gain a little ground. It seemed like everyone let off the gas a little bit and, even though I'm not a great technical runner, I felt like I moved through that part of the course pretty smoothly. As I approached the two-mile mark, I finally felt like I was starting to settle into the race. I made one bonehead move at one of the course splits and nearly went the wrong way - fortunately, the volunteers set me straight. Once I got back on the right trail I started to really get into a groove.

Like I said, this section of the race really suited my running style. I was able to press the pace but remain comfortable for next 2.5 miles and that's where I really stretched out my lead. I knew that the last mile was going to be difficult, but I completely forgot about the final climb before you cross back over onto the orange trail. It's one of those climbs that levels out and then kicks back up a couple times before to reach the top. Two or three times you think you've topped out only to realize, nope it keeps going.

Grinding up it was definitely a challenge, especially since it threw me out of the groove I had been enjoying so much. Note to self: No Roots by Alice Merton is a good song to have stuck in your head while racing. I wasn't super happy with my effort level in the final mile. I relaxed a little too much. It was a case of building the last mile up to be more than it was in my head. I had these visions of struggling through it and my legs screaming, so I backed off going into it. At one point, I actually said out loud "What are you doing? You aren't as tired as you are thinking you are?" and at that moment, I saw the concrete bridge that signaled about a quarter mile to go.

After crossing the bridge and quickly tackling the short steep hill after it, I tried to open my stride up a little bit and finish the race out strong. I ended up stopping the clock at 38:14 to get the win, which is the second-fastest time I've run on this course. It turned out that I was only 15 seconds off my PR - and official/unofficial depending on your opinion on Strava course record. I don't remember what I had done going into this race that time, but I was pretty happy to take the win and run a solid time. Especially considering I wasn't really expecting much going in.

After hanging out at the finish for a bit, I cooled down and chatted with a few of the Dirty Spokes regulars. Mitch Novy won the short race in a PR and Jay ended up finishing second in the 10k. I was pumped for both of those guys to have good days. I ended up winning some awesome stuff, a six-pack of beer from Reformation in Woodstock, a box of blueberry nut butter Clif Bars - which are the best Clif Bars - and Tifosi sunglasses.

I also managed to pull off the age-graded win. I'm normally in that perfect spot where I'm not quite fast enough old enough to win the age-graded category but this time it ended up working out. For that, I got a really cool, handmade wooden medal specific to this race. Don Burkett handcrafts these for each of the eight Dirty Spokes series races. It's definitely one of the coolest medals I've ever won.

Here's what the race looked like on Strava:



// Recovery Beer of the Week //

Reformation Brewing - Sabine The Seeker
I know it kind of sounds like a character from Guardians of the Galaxy but since I won a six pack of it at the race it seemed like a fitting choice. I am always a big fan of breweries that sponsor races, especially those that give away beer. Reformation lists Sabine as a dry hopped French saison with notes of cantaloupe, orange blossom, and mild white pepper. It's definitely a solid spring beer. It's not too bitter and not too sweet, but most importantly does it pass the 'can I drink it and shovel this pizza in my mouth after the race?' test. Yes, yes it most certainly does.

// Closing Thoughts //
Considering the fact that I really didn't know what to expect going into this one, I was more than happy with the result. Early on, I wasn't feeling super confident and it seemed like I might have overcooked it on the early hills but I think I did a good job of staying calm and letting the race come to me after that. I really attacked the middle miles well and my overall pace was solid. I'm still not exactly sure where I stand when it comes to race fitness but I always seem to figure that out by racing a bunch in the spring.

In my efforts to continue to build my fitness, I did end up overcooking it the following day on my Sunday long run. I opted for 15-16 (it turned out to be 16) but that was a big mistake. I would have been good with 12 or 13 but 16 was too much. I was fried for the next couple of days. It pretty ended up taking me almost a week to get back to normal and I had to take a day off. I think I underestimated how much the race took out of me. Lesson learned there.

Next up is Rock/Creek River Gorge. I wasn't going to sign up for this race since it's all but certain I'm going to get throttled. Amanda and I have enjoyed using it as an excuse to take a long weekend trip up to Chattanooga though so I booked the hotel and signed up for the race. We'll see how it goes but I'm going into it with less than zero expectations this year.

Trestle Run // Unplugged

Realizing that you need to unplug every so often is not exactly a ground-breaking notion. Actually doing it though, that's a different story. Except for my runs, I am almost always on my computer or have my phone within reach. Most of the time it's necessary, but like everyone, I'm guilty of being glued to it for long stretches. It's something that I've been working on, leave my phone across the room at dinner, don't check work emails over the weekend, stop scrolling all the horrible takes on Facebook. You know stuff like that.

Amanda and I recently took a week off from work to go home and spend some time with family and while I didn't intentionally plan to unplug it turned out that was just what I needed. Now, I didn't lock my phones and computer away for the week but I did find that I spent a lot more time engaging with people and experiencing things then I did scrolling Twitter or Instagram.

I still spent some time on social media but I didn't find myself reaching for my phone every few minutes like I normally do. Maybe that's because we were in a different surrounding, or maybe it's because we were spending time with family we don't often see. Heck, maybe it's because I spent chunks of time driving the car to New Hampshire, Maine or Massachusetts. I'm not sure of the reason, but by week's end, I really believe it helped me feel refreshed.

A few things that made this possible, I left my computer (read: work computer) in my backpack. Save for one or two things - i.e. ordering lift tickets - I didn't turn my computer on after the first three days. I had planned on doing some blogging but since it didn't feel like we put ourselves in many time-wasting situations, I was okay with not writing.

Number 2, Do Not Disturb. Perhaps the greatest invention of our time. I put my work phone in Do Not Disturb for days at a time. I have an unhealthy habit of checking my phone all the time, to the point I feel phantom rings. It was massively reliving to forget about it for a few days.

Third, reduce the aimless scrolling. Often times I'll finish a run and grab my phone to upload the run to Strava while sitting on the steps. It's not uncommon for me to sit on the steps for 10 minutes scrolling Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. While on vacation I tried to limit that. I still checked in on Instagram every now and then but I kept those sessions short.

The one overriding thing that really helped me with this though, was trying to be more present and actually spend time with people. Whether that was my Dad, my brother or Amanda. Focusing on being engaged with the people I was around made unplugging easier and unplugging left me feeling refreshed when we got back to Georgia.

Here were some of my favorite things from our trip home...
Skiing at Loon 
I finally got my day on the slopes. Danny, Amanda, and I drove up 93 to Lincoln, NH to spend a day at Loon and it was awesome. Despite gray skies in the morning, it was bluebird day by lunch. Amanda and I ended up renting skis, which while slightly expensive was definitely worth it. I love my old K2's but having freshly tuned equipment for a change was nice.

We hit the road promptly at 6 am and were on the first chair at 9. Danny and I ended up squeezing one last run in just before they shut the lifts off, so my goal of first chair, last chair was a success. I stuck my GoPro session on my helmet and then spent the flight back to Georgia playing with the Quik app to make this fun video of the day.




Running with Friends
I don't get a lot of chances to run with people while doing regular training so I was excited to get a chance to catch up with my former roommate Joe Reynolds for an awesome 11 miles in Portland, Maine during the trip. We ran at Bradbury Mountain State Park over the summer but with the snow on the ground in Vacationland, we opted for a road route from Rising Tide Brewing in Portland's Back Cove out to Portland Head Light on Cape Elizabeth.

The lighthouse is pretty awesome. It's a very postcard-friendly spot. The best part about this run thought was having Reynolds tell me random historical facts about Portland the whole way. Did you know that it was commissioned by George Washington himself in 1787? True story.

The Olympics are over...sad face emoji
I am apologetically an Olympics guy. I'm a big fan of both the summer and winter games, but I think I enjoy the winter Olympics more. That sounds like it's probably recency bias, but I like getting a chance to see some of these different events that you really only get a chance to see once every four years and it seems like the winter games have more of that. I could do without a figure skating event every night though.

While the time difference made viewing this year's games a little tricky, I still found myself watching a lot of the prime time coverage and I really enjoyed being able to use the NBC Sports app to watch event replays on things I missed. I know that overall viewership was down and there are a ton of factors that go into that, but I think having access to live streams and full replays have really improved the overall experience of viewing the games at home. It's nice to not be beholden to what the prime-time broadcast has deemed as interesting.

Favorite Moment
Jessie Diggins & Kikkan Randall win gold - This was an incredible moment. Not only was it the first medal (and first gold) for US women in Nordic skiing, but it came at a moment when everyone had kind of written off the US team. There was a lot of talk about how the US was underperforming. Some of that was probably warranted, but in my opinion, much of that was due to NBC's expectation building and the fact that we were relying on a lot of older athletes like Shaun White Lindsey Vonn and a lot of very young athletes like the Shib Sibs and Chloe Kim.

When American's are billed as gold or bust and they don't win gold we have a tendency to look at it as a letdown. It's kind of how we are wired, but it stinks for some of these athletes that only have a chance to make a mark on the general public once every four years. I was so happy for Diggins and Randall to win gold and put a real stamp on what had been a strong performance for them. I'm enjoying their tour of all the morning shows and hope they're success cross-country skiing a little boost.

I think I've seen the video clip of the end of that race seven or eight times and it's given me goosebumps every time. Chad Salmela's call was incredible. He really captured the emotion and excitement of that moment. Even if you weren't aware of the history being made, it was impossible to not feel the emotion and weight of the moment while he's screaming "Here comes Diggins!"

Awesome.

Worst Moment
Olympic Athletes from Russia - Why did they even bother with this? Russia was banned except for 160+ athletes - and still had one of those athletes test positive - they only real punishment was that they didn't get to display the Russian flag. For some reason, they were allowed to compete in team competitions. That I really didn't understand. I can make peace with allowing athletes with clean bio passports to compete.

I can accept that, begrudgingly, but how can a group of those athletes compete in team events? At that point, they are no longer Olympic Athletes from Russia. They are a Russian team. If that's going to be allowed, then just call them Russia. Which is exactly what happened. NBC billed the USA vs. OAR hockey game as the USA vs. Russia with clips of 1960, 1980, and 2014 games playing during the run up to the broadcast. That defeats the purpose of the ban, doesn't it? This isn't a USSR/Russia thing. Those are essentially the same countries. They were OAR because Russia wasn't being recognized, except they were.

On a less frustrating note, the alpine skiing team event was awesome and I hope we put our best skiers into it next time.

What I've Been Into Lately
Norway is dominating these Winter Olympics with a unique approach to sports // USA TODAY
This article from USA Today was pretty intriguing. It came out in the middle of the Olympics as Norway was on its way to winning both the overall and gold medal counts in Pyeongchang. It's an interesting story about Norway's approach to youth sports and developing young athletes.

Unlike the U.S., where we keep score of everything all the time, Norway puts kids in sports but doesn’t let them keep score until age 13. The idea is to make sports part of their social development so that the motivation to stay involved is to have fun with their friends, not winning. Eventually, of course, the Norwegians introduce competition and the most advanced sports science techniques they can develop to pump out their medal-hoarding biathletes, skiers and ski jumpers. But the idea, Ovrebo said, isn’t to have the highest-ranked 10-year-old athletes in the world but rather the most mature adults.

Weekend Getaway // Territory Run Co.
I talked about Territory and their Runners of the Wild club/team a little bit in one of my last blogs. This is one of the reasons why I was drawn to join ROTW. They do an excellent job of telling stories that align with their products and share their mission. This short story serves as an ad for a new hoodie they've released but instead of just sending an email with a few photos of the shirt, they tell a story around some local runners and their weekly weekend run. It highlights the inclusiveness of this community and encourages others to develop something similar. I've talked a little about my enjoyment of this style of marketing in the past, but I really do like when companies create something that stands on its own, with or without a call to action to buy something at the end. I am much more likely to spend my money with a company that story tells around its gear like this.

Photo courtesy of Territory Run Co.

We Love Winter: Backcountry Skiing & Ice Climbing // NHPR // The Exchange
I caught some of this New Hampshire Public Radio show on our way home from skiing at Loon but ended up downloading the podcast to listen to it in its entirety a few days later. Hosted by Laura Knoy, this hour-long discussion show featured Andrew Drummond of Ski the Whites (and my last blog) and Tyler Ray, president of the Granite Backcountry Alliance, talking about the growth of backcountry skiing in the White Mountains. It was really interesting stuff. I especially enjoyed Tyler's revelation that skiing in New Hampshire got started when the CCC went town to town building ski trails and that one of GBA's goals is to try and resurrect some of those trails to turn them into glade skiing. I'm a big CCC nerd, so I thought that was pretty neat.

Photo courtesy of NHPR

Under An Arctic Sky // Netflix
This is an epic 40-minute film about cold weather surfing north of the Arctic Circle in Iceland. I'm not a surfer - there is no way that I'm cool enough to be a surfer - but I've seen this while scrolling through Netflix a few times and have been wanting to watch it. As luck would have it. I had a 90 minute flight from Indianapolis to Atlanta the other night and Delta had it in their in-flight lineup so I decided to finally watch it. It's quick but impressive. The scenery, shooting, and surfing were awe-inspiring throughout the movie. It made me want to try this out until I saw how quickly everything froze when they got out of the water. Nevermind. I'll pass.

Under An Arctic Sky - Official Trailer #1 from Chris Burkard on Vimeo.

What's Poppin' On IG

You have all been incredibly patient. The time has come. In 5 days - Monday, March 5th - my documentary, WHERE DREAMS GO TO DIE, following @garyrobbins the last 2 years at The Barkley Marathons, will be released for advanced download (just through March). Mark your calendars, set those alarms, and get ready to find out where dreams go to die. #WDGTD #NoBugles2018

A post shared by Ethan Newberry (@ethannewberry) on Feb 28, 2018 at 10:33pm PST

The Ginger Runner is releasing his Gary Robbins Barkley movie for download in five days. I'm really looking forward to checking it out.

There are only 22 days until #spring! This photo was taken during the snow storm on Sunday in #CumberlandMaine. #MaineWinter #SignsOfSpring #Bluebird #WinterStorm DM us your #MaineLife photos. 📷@alexandra16_16

A post shared by Down East magazine (@downeastmagazine) on Feb 26, 2018 at 7:42pm PST

We always had colorful birds in our front yard growing up. Mostly cardinals and blue jays, but whenever I see a colorful bird it reminds me of my mom and being at home.

I haven’t peed my pants with this much excitement since the 4th hottest member of New Kids on the Block almost looked directly at me during their concert! Fantastic race!! Gigantic congrats to @jessiediggins & @kikkanimal 🏅🎉🏅🎉🏅🎉🏅🎉 #gold #nordicstars #xcskiingrocks #btw #theconcertwastwoyearsago

A post shared by Rory B. (@rorybosio) on Feb 21, 2018 at 1:48pm PST

It was great to see the outpouring of support these two got on social media

Trestle Run // Don't Feed the Bad Wolf

Since being more mindful is hot in the streets right now I figured I would share something that kind of spoke to me the other day. I was listening to/watching a recent Ginger Runner Live episode with HURT 100 winner Yassine Diboun. If you don't know anything about him I encourage you to check out the episode below or the short film the Ginger Runner did about him in 2017. In short, he overcame various addictions through running to become an accomplished ultra runner.

In the GRL episode, Diboun is talking about the HURT 100 and grinding through some of the tougher parts of the race and he says "Don't feed the bad wolf" in regards to how he overcomes those difficult moments. This jumped out at me because it reminded me of an anecdote in a story about how Coach Quinn dealt with losing the Super Bowl. He hung a framed version of this parable called 'The Tale of the Two Wolves' in his office. The story features an old Cherokee telling his grandson about a battle that wages inside of him, and everyone else, between two wolves. Essentially, one is bad - full of anger, doubt, sorrow, regret etc., while the other is good - representing love, joy, peace, and hope. At the end of the story the grandson asks "which wolf wins?" to which the grandfather responds "the one you feed."

Mind. Blown.

In all seriousness, I've heard a million different ways people have dealt with difficult situations. That was sort of the theme of early 2017. But when I heard Diboun say "don't feed the bad wolf" and it reminded me of this story about DQ it all clicked in my head and I felt like I knew exactly what they were talking about. Along with everyone else, I'm trying to be more mindful and "don't feed the bad wolf" has sort of become my mantra when trying to do that. Whether it's running or work or just life in general whenever I start to go down that negative path in my head, "don't feed the bad wolf."

I know it probably sounds a little silly like I had this eureka moment of clarity while listening to a podcast, but I do find that having a little mantra that you can go to can make a difference. I've taken a lot of small lessons from Coach Quinn. It's a perk of my job and a lot of them apply to running, controlling what you can control, not worrying about what others are doing or not feeding into negativity. Sure, a lot of this stuff seems like bumper sticker material or bromides, but they can work if you give them a chance.

It's taken a month or so, but that's my motto for 2018 - I'm going to try to stay positive. I'm not going to feed the bad wolf.

I really want to listen to that AWOL Nation song Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) now.

Here's the GRL episode and the ESPN article about DQ's Cherokee Parable

Ginger Runner Live // Yassine Diboun




Microadventures of Amanda and Matt
Last weekend Amanda and I jumped in the Jeep and drove up to Helton Creek Falls. I got the idea from Wander North Georgia when I saw that it was a short hike and you had to drive through two smalls streams. Despite the rain, it was well worth the drive. There was virtually no one there and the falls were fully rushing. Because I'm 12 I was climbing all over all of the rocks and trying to take cool pictures the whole time.

After about an hour of wandering around the falls, we had a PB&J/Fluffernutter picnic in the back of the Jeep before driving up to Brasstown Bald. Even though the summit was socked in with fog and clouds - the visibility was maybe 30 yards - we decided to make the half-mile hike up to the observation tower. I've been there twice and both times it was the dead of winter and I/we were the only ones up there. Which, when you think about it is probably for the best. It was pretty cool to be the only people on top of the highest point in the state. Even if it was windy and raining. I bet there aren't a lot of weekend afternoons that you could be alone up there.

What I'm Reading/Listening to/Watching
Outside Online // The New (Bipartisan!) Conservation Corps Is a Win-Win
I came across this story on Twitter the other day about a modern Civilian Conservation Corps. Now, I have been fascinated by the CCC for a long time. I think it was an incredible program that not only helped to create the backbone of a lot of the outdoor places that we all enjoy but also helped a lot of people during a downtrodden time. The prospect of potentially creating a 21st-century version of this for young people just getting out of school is really interesting to me. It would be a great opportunity for kids to get practical experience and have a little adventure before settling into the real world all while tackling much-needed maintenance and repair in National Parks and other public lands. This really has the potential to be a big win for everyone involved.

One piece I found particularly interesting in the story was the potential for reducing unemployment among young people and veterans. It seems to me like this could be a great opportunity for service members when they return to the US or finish with their service. We can do so much better for veterans and giving them housing, food, and additional job skills sounds like a good place to start.

Messenger's Run // Bears Ears
I am a proponent of the National Parks. I agree with Ken Burns and think they are America's best idea. One of my greatest memories from growing up is the month-long cross-country road trip my family took, during which we spent time at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. These were incredible places that I cannot wait to share with my children someday. It's no secret that the future of our public lands has been a hot-button issue as of late. The reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments is concerning and complex.

It's easy to say you support something, but it can be hard to fully understand it when you are far away from it. That's been a concern for a lot of these public lands. Sure there will be plenty of people to stand up for the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but will there be enough to stand up for smaller or lesser known ones? That was a long intro to a short video.

In January, 17 people got together and ran 250 miles in six-mile relay segments across Bears Ears and Grand Staircase in an effort to - in their words - 'carry a message that wild places are worth protecting, and sometimes the first step in doing that is to take another.'

It's pretty powerful stuff.

MESSENGERS - A Running Story of Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante from Yeehaw Donkey on Vimeo.

It was cool to see a bunch of people that are pretty well known for their running (I mean Magda Boulet ran) or their cool AF Instagram accounts come together and do something epic to try and help a cause they really believe in.

Forward Podcast // Part 1 | Part 2
Lance Armstrong had 'Icarus' director Brian Fogel on his podcast to talk about the hit Netflix documentary recently. If you haven't seen it, go watch it right now. I'll give my login if you need it. The movie is crazy. I wasn't sold on it at first but about a third of the way through all hell breaks loose. It's gripping. Anyway, Armstrong and Fogel talk about the documentary in this two-part podcast and it's really interesting to hear some of the things that Lance has to say about it. I can't remember him ever really being as forthcoming about some of the things he did as he is in this discussion. Some of his revelations are treated as just him saying something in passing but if you listen it's interesting to stuff.

For example, there are all kinds of things that Fogel takes in addition to EPO, some don't seem so crazy, but when you hear Lance say "and you need that for the EPO to take" or "You don't need all of that" I thought that was pretty interesting and surprisingly candid for him. Now, with that being said, he's still pretty coy but for Lance, I thought it was really interesting. And while it certainly doesn't let him or USPS off the hook in anyway, it does put what he did into perspective and shows that we have a long way to go in the fight against doping.

What's Poppin' on IG

Mid-winter on Mount Washington feels like a different planet. #superbluebloodmoon #whitemountainsnh #skithewhites

A post shared by andrew drummond (@sr_drummond) on Jan 31, 2018 at 8:05am PST

Mount Washington is incredible in the Winter.

Walking on Water! #dirtyspokes

A post shared by Tim Schroer (@dirtyspokes11) on Feb 4, 2018 at 12:25pm PST

James Wade getting radical at Dirty Spokes.

Last night’s “super blue blood moon” was the second full moon of January and appeared 14 percent bigger than the usual full #moon. The reddish color is an effect of the lunar eclipse, when the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. It’s the first time this has happened in 150 years. Did you see this rare and spectacular event? Photo from the Pony Express National Historic Trail in #Nevada by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management (@mypubliclands). #SuperBlueBloodMoon #usinterior

A post shared by U.S. Department of the Interior (@usinterior) on Jan 31, 2018 at 8:22am PST

An incredible shot of the Super Blue Blood Moon from last week. I was treated to some cool views of it for my morning workout at the track, but didn't really get the blood part. It was massive and lit up the whole track though.

Hey guys. A bunch of us made a film and we're going to share it on Thursday. It's not about us. It's about finding the things that unite people in this divisive political landscape, having uncomfortable but respectful conversations, and learning from each other. Also, there are dogs in it. #MessengersRun...coming soon.

A post shared by Johnie Gall (@dirtbagdarling) on Jan 29, 2018 at 10:35am PST

This shot is from Johnnie Gall, one of the producers of the Messenger's Run film. She's a good follow on Instagram if you are into daydreaming about cool places and like random Star Wars quotes.

Final Thoughts... 
I'm kicking around the idea of riding Southern Cross. It's a 55ish mile gravel bike race in the North Georgia mountains that I've wanted to do for a few years now. I'm not 100 percent certain my bike could handle it but it sounds like it would be a difficult yet fun day. I rode Fools Gold 50 a few years ago, which was brutal but talking to a few people this sounds like something that would be more up my alley. After all, I'm not going to be riding fast. I just want to finish the thing. I don't know. We'll see.

Trestle Run // Restlessness

I had a minor crisis the other day. Well, I guess it wasn't so much a crisis. It was more of a bout of restlessness. This isn't all that uncommon. I don't know if it's work, the time of year, or if it's just all in my head, but every now and then I drive myself a little bonkers with restlessness. I'm guessing this was triggered by the time of year. It seems to happen at this time regularly. Work slows down in January or February and my brain goes into overdrive trying to come up with things to do.

It's like my mind can't bear the notion of relaxing and taking a breath for a minute. Once work slows down the clock starts ticking to it heating up again and I feel like I have to cram as much fun stuff in as possible. I can't just enjoy the downtime and play it by ear. I have to turn into McPlansalot and have some grand adventure set for every waking moment. Which is obviously not possible.

I thought that planning a trip home for February would mitigate some of this, but if anything it put me into overdrive on the trying to come up with plans front. Fortunately, as usual, Amanda snapped me out of it when I realized I was driving her nuts. I took a few deep breaths and told myself to relax. I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off from work to deal with some stuff around the house and get in a couple of local adventure runs to assuage my restlessness.

Okay. I feel much better now. What else is going on?

Territory Run Co.
To kick off the year, I joined Territory Run Co.'s Runners of the Wild team. Well, technically I joined in the late fall but they sent out kits and gear in mid-December and I'm a little behind. There was a cost to it, but I got a jersey and a few other pieces of gear - a sweet hat and buff - so the cost was really just for the gear. I've been following them for awhile now and despite the fact that I'm not an ultra runner, I thought it seemed like a cool group of like-minded people and figured it would be a good place to get some inspiration and possibly meet some other interesting runners.

I've picked up a couple of additional pieces of their gear, which I like, but what I like better is what they are doing to promote the sport of running. They just released an online course on improving your hill running technique - which I might need to check out. Even better than what they are doing to promote the sport is what they are doing to build the community. The trail running community as a whole is incredibly supportive and it's good to see a company that's trying to grow that in different ways.

I Really Want to Go Skiing
I mean, I really want to go skiing. I think that was the thing that made me realize I was driving Amanda crazy the other night. I was talking 100 miles an hour about possibly doing a ski weekend in North Carolina, or whether it was a better idea to wait until we go home and try to take a trip to Loon or Sunday River or somewhere in Vermont. Here I go again. I blame this on the inch and half of snow we got a week or so ago and the fact that the Olympics are coming up. I've spent far too much time watching ski videos on YouTube and playing Steep on PlayStation.

Sadly, iconic ski filmmaker Warren Miller recently passed away, which only made me plunge deeper into the youtube ski video rabbit hole. I actually found a few Warren Miller films on there. I remember being 10 or 12 and sitting in my basement watching his movies when they would come on TV. I can't remember the network, maybe NESN, but they'd always show a few every year and it would get me so amped for the ski season.

I wanted to be a big mountain and freestyle skier so badly when I was a kid. I used to love when my parents would take me to the Boston Ski Show so I could see all the cool new gear. We went skiing at Breckenridge and Whistler, which was awesome. Once I got to my sophomore year I didn't ski as much since I was focused on track, but I reconnected with the sport during my senior year of college thanks to Joe Reynolds and a few other teammates. Amanda and I have tried to get a day trip to the Whites in at least once a year when we are home, but it's definitely one of the things that I miss about New England.

What I'm Watching, Listening to, and Liking
Ski the Whites // I told you. I really need a ski trip in my life. I've been binge watching Andrew Drummond's YouTube channel about backcountry skiing and ski touring in the White Mountains a bunch lately. This was another thing that had me restless. I was googling everything about alpine touring and skinning trying to see if there was a way I could try it when we're home in February. Drummond's YouTube channel is full of cool GoPro videos of him and his dog - Squall - skinning up and skiing down awesome spots in the White Mountains, like the iconic Tuckerman's Ravine. If you are ever in the Jackson, NH area, check out his shop at Black Mountain and give skinning a go. I'll let you know how it goes if I get a chance to try it.

I've also found his channel to be inspirational for my own video making purposes. I'm hoping to do some GoPro videos this year. And in an interesting twist, he was on a Ragnar Relay team with my buddy Josh this past summer.




Salomon TV - Becoming History // The New Canadian Air Force was so sick. I remember watching those guys throw insane tricks and pretending I was doing the same. When I was in ninth grade my family took a trip to Whistler-Blackcomb which was the most amazing place I've ever skied. I remember buying a bunch of skiing magazines for the trip and reading about the NCAF guys on the flight to Vancouver and the drive up to Whistler. I told you, I'm on a big-time ski kick right now.




Outside Podcast // Red Dawn in Lapland - This was a really interesting story that appeared in the December issue of the magazine and they did a nice job with it on the podcast. The story is about how a small group of Finns fought off an invading Red Army because of their ability to maneuver and survive in the frigid conditions north of the arctic circle. Essentially, Stalin wanted to create a buffer between Russia and the expanding Nazi control of Europe. They didn't take the conditions into account and lost massive numbers of men to the cold. The story also touches on how the Finns are still preparing to fight in the Arctic today, just in case.

What's Poppin' On IG

I’ve been pretty focused on public lands of late, a nod towards their enduring significance in my life. From hard lessons to big laughs, wild places across the country have played a pivotal role in my growth. I hope future generations get the same opportunity that I have had. I recently got a chance to write about this passion for @teva. Link in my bio. #tevaexplorercollective 📷 @dirtbagdarling

A post shared by Andy Cochrane (@andrewfitts) on Jan 25, 2018 at 11:45am PST

The whole skiing down sand dunes things looks really cool. It's probably really hard, but it looks so cool.

Goodnight moon.⠀ ⠀ 📷: @daniel_ernst #seeyououtthere

A post shared by Huckberry (@huckberry) on Jan 24, 2018 at 4:25pm PST

I could definitely relax by the fire in this cabin for a weekend.

Sugaring season is just around the corner, y’all. #maplesyrup #sugarmaple #sugarbush

A post shared by Outside/In (@outsideinradio) on Jan 23, 2018 at 3:13pm PST

Now I want pancakes. A lot of pancakes.

“Some idiotic things are well worth doing.” ― Richard Ford⠀ ⠀ 📷: Huckberry Ambassador @nick_lavecchia #seeyououtthere

A post shared by Huckberry (@huckberry) on Jan 20, 2018 at 8:31am PST

I don't think I could do winter surfing in Maine, but I really liked this shot from Short Sands Beach in York, Maine during the winter. It's a complete ghost town up there during this time of year and I loved seeing this one guy surfing with everything covered in snow.

There’s something pretty magical about a snowy path and beautiful red barn. ❤️❄️ | 📷: @gotsarah via #mynewengland . . . . #yankeemagazine #appletonfarms #ipswichma #scenesofma #scenesofnewengland #mynewenglandwinter #redbarns #magical

A post shared by Yankee Magazine (@yankeemagazine) on Jan 18, 2018 at 1:58pm PST

I might be a little homesick. That might be part of my problem lately. Either way, I want a barn. Not a barn in the traditional sense, but a finished barn that would serve as an office slash gear shed slash hang out spot. Someday. If I win the Powerball or something.

Another Trestle Run in the books. That's two posts in like 10 days...of to a good start.