Editors note: This race was in March and I wrote the recap shortly after the race, but I took my sweet time posting it since work has been so busy lately.
I’ve been itching to get back up to Chattanooga ever since Amanda and I spent a weekend up in the Scenic City last summer, so when I came across the Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series I figured that would be a perfect opportunity for a return visit. After taking a look at my tentative 2014 race schedule, mostly Dirty Spokes & XTERRA races with a couple of other things sprinkled in, I saw a couple Rock/Creek races that would work for us. I settled on the River Gorge 10.2 miler that kicks off the Salomon Rock/Creek series last weekend. Week booked a hotel and I scoured Roots Rated for some stuff to do and next thing you know we had a whole weekend planned out.
I’ve been itching to get back up to Chattanooga ever since Amanda and I spent a weekend up in the Scenic City last summer, so when I came across the Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series I figured that would be a perfect opportunity for a return visit. After taking a look at my tentative 2014 race schedule, mostly Dirty Spokes & XTERRA races with a couple of other things sprinkled in, I saw a couple Rock/Creek races that would work for us. I settled on the River Gorge 10.2 miler that kicks off the Salomon Rock/Creek series last weekend. Week booked a hotel and I scoured Roots Rated for some stuff to do and next thing you know we had a whole weekend planned out.
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| River Gorge Podium |
The night before the race (Friday) I picked Amanda up at work in Sandy Springs and we made our way up to Chattanooga. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out of work as early as I had originally planned and we ran into brutal traffic on 285 and 75. It ended up working out pretty well though as we got to the hotel around 7:15. We missed packet pick up but it gave us enough time to grab dinner from Provino’s, relax in bed, and get a good night’s sleep before the race.
I still woke up around 5:15 a.m., because I still had to do news clips for work, but that gave me some time to eat something, I brought almond butter but forgot English muffins (FAIL!), so I went with a cliff bar. We actually left on time which allowed us to find a Dunkin Donuts, Amanda was obviously pumped, and make it to the race venue with plenty of time to spare. Getting to the race venue early was nice for a change, since lately I’ve barely had time to loosen up before the start.
The race was held that the Prentice Cooper State Forest about 15 minutes from downtown. We pulled in to the main entrance with a line of about 10 cars following us along the dirt road to the start/finish line at the Cumberland Trail trailhead. I grabbed my number and had Amanda pin it to my Strava kit while I checked out the first mile or so of the course and loosened up for the start.
The race started on the dirt road right next to the trailhead and climbed a short hill before turning left onto a jeep road that led to the single track. I didn’t really know what to expect from the field. Having never raced in Tennessee or run the trail before I had no clue who would be a contender and who wouldn’t or if I would really even be a legit contender for that matter. I settled into the group as we made the early climb but once we reached the top I decided to make my intentions known.
I took the lead at the top of the hill and used the long gradual decent down to the entrance of the single track to stretch things out and see how the others would respond. I’d read that the race was technical, but didn’t have a ton of climbing so I felt like I needed to run hard on the places that where runnable and just survive the more technical parts. I charged onto the single track and focused on trying to stay light and quick on my feet to pick my way between the roots.
Shortly after entering the single track, I was greeted by a crazy staircase that sits in between a giant crack in a massive boulder. I can’t even do it justice describing it, here's a picture.
Somehow I made it through without incident and then tried to start rolling. Paul Patterson (the eventual race winner) settled in behind me and while I was hoping we’d work together a little bit he just sat on me for first seven or so miles then ended up passing me on a brutal climb. I felt like we were rolling pretty well, but this was a true trail race, so it was tough to get into any kind of rhythm. There were a lot of changes in direction, slight ups and down, and a bunch of short steep descents, sharp turn, creek crossing then short steep climb. These took a toll on me as the race wore on, but I didn’t notice until it hit me all at once around 7 miles or so. We came out of the woods for about 400 meters and climbed up an old jeep road before the second aid station, then turned back into the woods and began the climb of my doom. I actually felt really good on the climb up to the aid station and put a little time on Paul, but the steepness of the next climb just killed me. I tried to recover and rally on the long descent but then came the Rock Garden.
Holy shit, the Rock Garden sucked. I felt like it took me a week to get through it. Nate Holland (a local Chattanooga ultra/trail beast) buried me and while a small part of me just kept saying get through it and then hammer to catch back up, most of me knew it was over. Once I got out of that nightmare I tried to rally and I did feel like I was gaining ground there just wasn’t enough race left.
I ended up finishing third in a respectable 1:13:49, which turned out to be the 10th fastest time in the history of the race. I like to think that even though the suffered at the end and fell apart I made the race by getting out and pushing the pace. I’m looking forward to getting back to this race next year and trying to improve on my result.
River Gorge Trail Race Top Times
'11 Aaron Saft - 1:08:32
'11 Jacob Bradley - 1:10:08
'02 Rodney Stoker - 1:10:35
'14 Paul Patterson - 1:12:25
'10 Nicholas Selbo - 1:12:30
'03 Joel Stewart - 1:12:41
'14 Nathan Holland - 1:12:49
'04 Nicholas Wilkinson - 1:13:03
'05 Bryan Dayton - 1:13:28
'14 Matt Haley - 1:13:49
After the race, Amanda and I
hung out for a bit and talk to a few people. I won a sweet North Face shirt and
a Salomon waist pack. We made our way back to Chattanooga, stopping at a Dunkin
Donuts to grab a Tennessee mug, then after a quick shower we spent the day eating
and exploring some of our favorite spots via the cities bike share. We ended up
at Buffalo Wild Wings watching college basketball then passed out at the hotel
at 9:30. The next day I ran up to Stringers Ridge to check out the trails
before we made our way back to Georgia. Overall a great weekend even if I was a
little disappointed I ran hard and tried something outside my comfort zone.
A big thanks to Rock/Creek for
putting on the race and Roots Rated for a ton of great ideas of things to do in
Chattanooga, including my Sunday run at Stringers Ridge and some excellent
burritos.
Here’s a story about the race
from Roots Rated.
