Trestle Run: Shut Down & Reset

Shutting It Down
For the last couple of years, I’ve taken the first week of December as my week off. It seems to work out pretty well for me. My last race is usually early in December, so after that I try to shut it down for a week and let my body take some “extended” recovery time. I’ve been fortunate to be relatively injury free so that’s allowed me to run pretty much year round. The fact that I’ve been running races from January until December keeps me going year round but as I get older, I’m definitely seeing the benefits of taking some down time every now then.

I did a better job of working in cross training this year, at least I biked more and ran fewer doubles. However, I still should have backed off a little in the spring. I strung together about 10 weeks of 60+ mile weeks and I think that ended up contributing to some cumulative fatigue, which slowed me down some in the summer. I should have stuck to the plan of building three weeks then backing off a little bit until I was really ready to pile on the miles. I didn’t build up as slowly as I probably should have and then instead being smart, I just said ‘well I don’t want to ruin it by backing off’.  I can be a little OCD when it comes to getting miles in sometimes.

That’s a little bit of a long winded intro to what I’m doing now, “resting”. I say it quotes because I don’t exactly feel like I’m resting and that’s probably part of my problem. A lot of times when I should probably    take a day off, I say that I’m not going to be any less tired after work if I skip this run so I’ll just go out and get something in. I’m sure that’s mental more than physical though, so this week I’m really working on taking the week off from running and allowing my brain to be okay with that. I’m heading to LA for work so I’ll probably run a little out there, but other than that no running Monday-Friday. Then I’ll start back up with some easy miles through the end of the month. After that I’ll figure out my 2017 race schedule and start training for whatever my first goal race is (either River Gorge or Chattanooga ½ marathon).

That was a little rambling, but whatever. It’s my blog.

Race Recaps
Little Mulberry Park 10k
This is always one of my favorite races of the year. It’s always cross country weather, it’s one of my favorite courses, and it’s usually the last vestige of my summer/fall sharpness. This year’s race was all of those things. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. The course was in great shape. Huge shout out to whoever blew all the leaves off the trail (probably Tim and Johnny).

I didn’t feel awesome at the start, but I was coming off of some really solid workouts that were building 10k strength, so my plan was to relax for the early part of the race and wait till be were through the first section of cross country course (grass field) then pick it up on the long gradual paved downhill and go from there. That plan lasted about three quarters of a mile. There were a bunch of high school kids running the 5k, which shares the same course as the 10k until 2.5 miles, so naturally they went out really fast. I stayed relaxed and hung out in fourth or fifth just kind of surveying what was going on out front. I moved up to third when we started the first little climb. It’s not much of a climb but it can be a little rough if you aren’t quite warmed up yet.

When we hit the grass I was in third, but moved up to second to close a little gap that had opened up. Admittedly, I got a little antsy at this point and instead of waiting and steadily increasing the pace, I surged once I hit the front. I instantly opened a small gap and at that point there was blood in the water so I went for it. I pushed the first 2.5 miles pretty hard and had a sizable lead but I tried to keep on the pace once I got onto the equestrian trails, thinking that I could take a shot at one of my better times on the course. I struggled a little bit in the final mile and a half – which features a real grind of a climb – but ended up running my second fastest time on the course and my fastest time on the current course. I was really pleased with the result. It was nice to feel like all the workouts had come together for a good race. It’s easy for me to just kind of fall into the rhythm of going through the motions this time of the year, so It was a rewarding race.

Victoria Bryant State Park 10k
From one of my favorite races to one of my least favorite races. Victoria Bryant has been my last race of the year for the last three years or so. It’s not a bad race. It’s difficult. The course is constant up and down with very little room to settle into a rhythm. It’s also usually either super muddy (which can be fun) or treacherously leaf covered, or sometimes both. It’s also difficult for me to get into the race mentally. I almost always just want this race to be over. All that being said, it’s probably the least popular Dirty Spokes/XTERRA/Georgia State Parks race – this year it was part of the GA State Parks series, next year it’ll be XTERRA and it’ll be in April – so I feel like it’s a race I mainly go to in support of Dirty Spokes.

I ended up winning by a big margin, which had I known I probably would have eased off, but I was convinced that people were going to catch me because I was driving the struggle bus for the whole second half. As it turns out, most of the guys that would have been nipping at my heels ran the shorter race. Ugh, I don’t even like thinking about this race. It’s seriously all either up or down. And the it’s all short steep ups and downs. The ups grind you down and the down just blast your quads. The last mile feels like three. That’s all I’m going to say. Anyone that showed up for this race deserves kudos. It’s just a nasty one.

What I’m Reading
Phil Gaimon makes another appearance. Now that he’s retired from the pro peloton he’s set his sights on taking KOMs back from dopers. I read another story a few months back about how prevalent doping is among masters and age group racers and at first that kind of blew my mind. But as a read more I saw that a lot of it came from anti-aging clinics and supplements that I see commercials for on TV every day. “Boost your natural testosterone” is bullshit.

This thread on LetsRun caught my eye a few weeks ago. The poster was asking how/where people get their miles in when they have a full time job. Great question. This is something that took me a long time to figure out. Part of that is due to the fact that I changed jobs a bunch early in my career. There was even a time that I barely ran because of my work schedule.

When I was in grad school I’d run 5-7 every day at lunch and occasionally make an appearance at Phillips Andover for a Whirlaway workout. When I was interning, I’d get three in on the treadmill at the gym across from work two days a week, three if I was lucky. When I moved to Philly I finally settled back into a groove and ran almost every day. I moved back home and kept that alive (it helped I was working at a running shop) then I moved to Georgia and ran maybe 10 times in the first six months I lived here. It wasn’t until I stumbled on Dirty Spokes that I really started training again. And even at that it took me two years at my current job to find a rhythm and schedule that worked for me on a daily basis.

That’s what I’d say in response to that post. Find a rhythm that works for you. You also have to prioritize running to get it done. If it’s important to you, you’ll figure it out. Of course that doesn’t mean every run is going to be Instagram worthy. I was fortunate to go to college in a great area for running. Tons of trails and varied terrain. Now, most of my run are done on the same two or three loops either near my house or by my office. I mix it up when I can but I found a couple routes that work and those are my go to ones. Maybe it would be different if I lived in Marin, or Boulder or something like that, but I live in the suburban sprawl of Atlanta. Don’t get me wrong there are some awesome places to run here, but a lot of my running is pretty plain. I’m okay with that. Sometimes getting out with a headlamp on is tough on the motivation, but for me, having a routine is the basis of my training.

What I’m Liking/Following

Start 2017 off on the right foot. #TuckFest registration is now open at https://t.co/ubFwHlxKpJ pic.twitter.com/45JAqqAdcI

— Tuck Fest (@USNWCTuckFest) December 7, 2016

Tuck Fest is back on my race schedule again. I mean, I have to go back if they are using me in the promo tweets right?

This race may have just made the bucket list... https://t.co/llVmF2pv0l

— Matt Haley (@mattmhaley) December 2, 2016

The story of the Millinocket Marathon from Down East magazine is a really cool one. I recommend giving it a read. The idea behind it is incredible. I makes me want to jump in the car and head up to Gaitlinburg and spend some money at local businesses after the crazy fires they’ve had up there. I realize that’s not some amazing noble thing, but I think the idea of trying to revitalize Millinocket that way is different and I’m always interested in people who are trying to re-think the standard way that things are done.

Wrapping it up here. I love that I start these and then three weeks later I realized I never post them. I need to start working on my 2016 wrap up now.

Trestle Run: Round 2

Originally, my intention was not to do these as back to back blogs but I got nothing else. Also I'm a week late in posting it...Here. We. Go.

This One Time at a CX Race...

Last week was Thursday Night Football, which is not super conducive to running - especially since we played in Tampa - but after the game we get what Amanda has dubbed the "mini bye", aka a full weekend off from work. It's glorious. I got runs in early in the week and even had a solid workout on Wednesday. We went 8x400 with float 400 rest so basically a four mile tempo run. I averaged 5:35's so it was pretty much right on goal pace for this time of year. After the workout I headed to the airport to go to Tampa where I got in a meh out and back five miler before the game. 

Friday I was on little sleep so I went for a quick ride after work and then I took Saturday off. It was a little weird to take a day off when I had time to go somewhere do a different run, but I felt like I needed a little rest. Sunday I woke up and headed down to Boundary Waters Park to pretend to be a cyclist.

I like to mix it up a little and "race" my bike every now and then. It's a nice change and, since I stink at it, there is very little pressure to preform. I'm really just out there to have fun, push myself, and get out of my comfort zone. I'm not sure what place I finished - I never saw any results - but I know that I didn't get passed at all, except for the start. Man, did I get left in the dust. I ended up settling in and working my way up past a pretty good size group after the first half of the first lap. A lot of people went out too fast. After that, I think I passed two more people so I'd say it was a solid race. I didn't get caught by any of the women or juniors either, so definitely positive results there. 

I still struggle in some of the tighter sections, because I'm a terrible bike handler, but I was able to hawk a few guys down on some of the sections where I was able to mash the pedals. I guess that's what happens when you have decent 10k fitness...even if I was on the least expensive bike in the entire field, $500 mountain bikes for the win...or like 10 or 15 place.

Why Can't We Have Nice Things?

Maybe it's because I have cyclocross on the brain, but can someone explain why cross country gets no love? If we are always looking for ways to popularize running for the masses, why not use cross country? It's the perfect event. It utilizes the fact that running is a mass participation sport, something that USATF seems to want to distance it self from, but also provides a spectator friendly product for the elites. 

Think about it, imagine a national cross country league - for lack of a better term. You have teams, say 10 franchises that are regionally based, that roster 10 runners with seven competing in the series of meets. These meets are run on spectator friendly courses and utilize existing iconic courses/meets - Franklin Park & Van Corlandt come to mind. Prior to the "pro" race you hold an open race for all comers. Anyone that wants to race, signs up and races. Teams are scored three deep and age group results are kept. Some places you could even hold a high school invitational before that. Following the open race, the racers become spectators and watch the pros duke it out on the same course they just ran thereby allowing everyday runners to see the pros up close and personal and see just how incredible they are since they are running the same course.

This whole time you have an expo/trade show/carnival going on providing sponsors with the opportunity to get out in front of the people who are buying their products. The season could run from August to December with a championship meet in January two meets per month spread out across the country. I know it would take a lot of money and it's a pipe dream, but I really believe cross country is the best way to create excitement around professional running beyond the 'once every four years' situation we have right now. How many people that ran cross country in high school never ran an xc race after that? How many new runners that didn't have the chance to run in high school have never run it? It would create an amazing atmosphere and most importantly, would be perfect for broadcast/streaming. I could go on about this for days. I actually went on a 40 minute diatribe about it the other afternoon. I really think it could work. Now who wants to spot me the cash to get it started?

NYC Marathon - Molly Huddle and Gwen Jorgensen are bosses oh and Michael Wardian is not human...

Molly Huddle finished third in her marathon debut, which is impressive but according to LetsRun.com, she ran the fastest final five miles of anyone in the race. That's unreal. Having never run a marathon before that's where you'd expect her to suffer the most. Nope, she killed it. It sounds like she's going back to the track - and she should, being the American record holder at 10k - but I am looking forward to seeing the eventual Molly vs. Shalane vs. Amy Cragg vs. Desi marathon battle. 

Gwen Jorgensen is amazing. She finished 14th and ran 2:41 off of triathlon fitness/training. I know that running is her strong suit - and by strong suit I mean she dominates people - in tris but still, the marathon isn't something you just jump in and preform well at. She is a boss. 

What I'm listening to...

One more from Phil Gaimon's Real Talent podcast...Phil sat down with cyclocross stud Jeremy Powers in a wide ranging discussion in a recent episode. The thing that really stood out to me was their discussion about Jeremy hustling and learning to make himself marketable in addition to being a great rider. I found this particularly interesting at both a personal and professional level. Personally, it obviously an interesting topic. I definitely try to make myself somewhat marketable on a local level with this blog and on social media. If I'm an interesting follow maybe I can get a small level of sponsorship from a local company  - like Dirty Spokes - or even something larger like when I was on Saucony Hurricanes. Working in sports, I find it interesting because it's something that I see many pro athletes go throw. How can you add value in ways other than just your performance? Or how can your performance open doors for other ventures.

East Coast Trail and Ultra Podcast

It’s partially informative and partially irreverent, but I would expect nothing less from Sean “Run Bum” Blanton. The show generally focuses on trail and ultra running on the East Coast but I stumbled on this podcast because they had my cousin Greg Haley as a guest on their latest episode. Greg is a really interesting guy. I won’t spoil too much for you since you should give it a listen, but he’s a legitimate mountain man, living in the woods in Tennessee. He just started running a few years ago and now he cranks out trail 50ks left and right. That’s only a slight exaggeration. He also recently started a small business called Frontier Trail and Mountain Division, everything from buffs and neck gaiters to hydration pack add-ons. Give it a listen if you want to hear from a true mountain man. 

What I'm reading...
Michael Wardian is inhuman. I read an interesting New York Times article about Wardian and Dean Bell completing all six of the World Marathon Majors with Wardian setting a record for average pace, finishing in under 2:31 (on average). He ran nine marathons in 2016, in addition to 10 ultras...lite work. He is an incredible example of pushing yourself to the limits and finding out that those limits aren’t what you thought they were. The human body is seriously capable of some amazing things. You can check the article out here.

In other election news…
Not super psyched about the election results, but there was a bit of a silver lining here in Atlanta. With a new transportation vote passing a sales tax will send money directly to green space and public recreation. I’m not a big tax guy but I am a big outdoor recreation guy, so I’m really happy to hear that Atlanta is moving forward with its urban redevelopment efforts. The most exciting part of this vote passing is that it will give the city enough money to purchase the remaining right-of-way to complete the Beltline – a 22 mile rail-to-trail loop that will eventually circle the city with new parks, greenspace, and pedestrian transportation options. A two-mile section of the Beltline is complete and runs from Piedmont Park in midtown through the historic Old Fourth Ward to Krog Street Market. It’s a fantastic place to run, walk, bike, or just hang out. Amanda and I spent some time down their last weekend hanging out at Ponce City Market. It’s an old Sears building that’s been re-imagined to feature a food hall, shops, and a roof top carnival. It’s a must see if you are in Atlanta. You can read more about the future of the Beltline here. If you are in Atlanta, I absolutely recommend checking it out. 

What I'm following, liking, and retweeting...

Beautiful views of the New River Gorge Bridge. 📷 Fred Wolfe | #RootsRated

A photo posted by RootsRated.com (@rootsrated) on Nov 2, 2016 at 12:07pm PDT

Roots Rated is the absolute best site/app for finding things to do outside. When we have a free weekend or plan a trip somewhere it's the first thing I check for suggestions of where to go.

East coast trail. May be rocky in areas, some tree roots might impede progress at times.

A photo posted by Jobie (@jobiewilliams) on Nov 2, 2016 at 8:45am PDT

Jobie Williams is a southern trail runner who doubles as an awesome photographer. He snapped an epic shot of me at River Gorge last year and always provides some really cool trail running photos.

Finally getting comfortable with the serger

A photo posted by Greg Haley (@bulldogger72) on Oct 25, 2016 at 8:30am PDT

In honor of his apperance on the East Coast Trail and Ultra podcast, and his race win this weekend, here's one of my cousin Greg tinkering with his Frontier Mountain and Trail gear. I love the Made in Appalachia tag.

It's not much, but we want to try and play our part by connecting our audience with some of the current needs from the wildfire effort and raise some money for the hardworking firefighters on the ground in North Georgia. Please check the link on our Facebook page for full details. ALL profits from this sticker and 10% of all sales this weekend will go directly to the front line in Rabun County to help buy items like water, eye drops, cough drops, bandanas, granola bars, and more. If you know of donation needs in the Cohuttas, please send us an email with a link for information and we will get that information included. Link in profile.

A photo posted by Wander North Georgia (@wandernorthga) on Nov 11, 2016 at 8:22am PST

Wild fires are doing serious damage in north Georgia, Tennessee, and the western Carolinas. The smoke spread was so bad we had to move practice inside one day last week. Wander North Georgia is trying to raise money for the fire fighting efforts.

Back roads of Vermont. Photo by: @tylertheblair Tag #TheNortheastCollective to be featured.

A photo posted by The Northeast Collective ↟ (@thenortheastcollective) on Nov 10, 2016 at 7:13pm P

I'm coming home. Amanda and I are heading north for a few days of RnR this week.

Trestle Run - it's a working title

The Trestle Run was a pancake flat three mile run that we used to do back in college. It was the perfect quick shakeout in the morning before class or if you needed to add on a little extra in the afternoon. The run left campus and cut through the athletic complex before you jumped on an old rail road bed until you reached the trestle bridge. I've been trying to come up with a quick and easy blog that more than a race recap. Those get kind of repetitive when you do a lot of the same races each year. That's what the Trestle Run (working title) is, hopefully, going to be. It'll mainly just be a brain dump of what I've been reading, listening to, following, and or thinking about. Here we go...

For starters I'll give a brief recap of my running lately. Travel, travel, and more travel. I spent 10 days on the road for work, traveling from Atlanta to Denver and then on to Seattle. I got an awesome run in out in Boulder, Colorado as you can see in my last post. I actually ended up running nearly 50 miles for the week that I was out in Seattle despite some truly miserable weather, We stayed outside of the city, so I didn't get to make a trip to Gas Works Park, but I got some really nice running in around the Bellevue area. Despite the crappy weather it was really beautiful. We got two great days of 65 and sunny but after that it was nothing but rain until we left. I also ate one, maybe two, too many donuts (sorry that's how I'm spelling it, don't care) at Top Pot.

Still working on the GoPro photos

The trip was fun, but the 4 a.m. return to Atlanta, not so much. It took me until the Thursday after we got back before I felt normal and it took me another five or six days before I was fully back on schedule. I skipped a couple days of running to opt for some extra sleep and got in some afternoon mountain bike rides before getting back on track. I had to skip a track workout, but got back out there this past week for 3x 1.5 miles, which was solid if unspectacular.

This week also marked a return to racing for me at the XTERRA Battle at Big Creek. I know I've recapped it in the past so I'll keep it short. I finished the 10.3 mile race in 1:05 and change, which is one of the faster times I've run on that course. I was pretty pleased with the finish despite taking second place. I lost to Matt Johnson, who is training for TNF 50k in about a month so I'm not really too upset. He's fit. Like really fit. He looked like a Ferrari and made me feel like I looked like an old beat up F150.

What I'm Reading...
I sort of stole this idea or adapted this idea from Mario Fraioli's Morning Shakeout newsletter. Every Tuesday he goes through a few different things that are going on in the world of running. He's a coach, former editor of Competitor Magazine and All American at Stonehill who brings smart and insightful commentary on what's going on. I look forward to getting his email each Tuesday morning. You should too. The Morning Shakeout

Sometimes it's hard to find the time to get my running in. Other times the difficulty comes from feeling like all I do is run-work-sleep which can make running feel like a chore. That's why being part of a running community is important. Even if you only see people at races, it helps to know that other people are facing different struggles when it comes to getting their running in but they're still doing it. This post on Level Renner - 5 Ways to Fit Your Training into a Busy Schedule - is a great reminder that it's not always easy, but there are ways to make it easier. I pretty much live by the first two things on this list and they are probably the two biggest factors in going from someone that maybe ran twice a week during the football season to someone who runs 6-7 days a week for the entire year.

What I'm Listening to...
Like most of America, I've become a huge fan of podcasts over the last year and half or however long it's been since Serial came out. I like to mix up what I listen to and I still haven't quite found a running podcast that I love, but I have really enjoyed pro cyclist Phil Gaimon's Real Talent podcast. Gaimon is a pro rider for Cannondale-Drapac and he wrote an incredibly entertaining book about his journey from being an overweight kid to a WorldTour pro called Pro Cycling on $10 a Day. In his podcast he sits down with pro cyclists, triathletes, and a few non-athletes about how they got to where they are today. In a recent two-part podcast he sat down with former pro Mike Creed. I found this episode particularly interesting because Creed had some really interesting insight on routines. He spoke about how routines have a place but you can't allow yourself to become a slave to your routine. He talked about how some of athletes that he has worked with have self sabotaged themselves with their routines, allowing the routine to become a built in excuse if they didn't stick exactly to it. I thought that was really interesting. It bordered on OCD or superstition but I know that I've gone into races sandbagging because I was a little off my routine. It's difficult but it can be a little freeing to think about things that way.

If there is a way for me to keep my connection to New England alive, you know I'm doing to do it. In the spring I stumbled on Outside/In, a podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio about the natural word. It quickly became a favorite of mine. I've fallen a little bit behind on it but I definitely recommend giving it a listen. The host, Sam Evans Brown, is an environmental reporter for NHPR that brings enthusiasm to each topic and has a real knack for storytelling. The format they've created for this show has had me locked in on topics that I normally would have skipped over. Since it's Halloween, I recommend giving a listen to the episode about the downfall of Keene's Pumpkinfest. Obviously, this topic hit close to home for me so I was immediately interested but I thought Sam and crew did a good job of explaining what happened. It was a little hard to hear some of the residents that were disappointed that it was cancelled right after you hear from some jackass kids that thought the whole thing was hilarious and awesome (goddamn millennials!), but it's definitely worth a listen, especially if you've ever been to Pumpkinfest.

What I'm Following/Liking/Retweeting...
In the spirit of keeping this "short" here are a few of my favorite recent people/posts from Instagram.

#Cyclocross #project because I can't #afford a #cannondaleslate #cannondale #lefty #gravelbike #retrobike #cannondalef

A photo posted by Steve Kirby 🇬🇧 🚵⛳️🏞 (@skirby1234) on Sep 30, 2016 at 10:06am PDT

I stumbled on this one when I was looking at pictures of Cannondale Slates. This guy took an old Cannondale mountain bike and turned it into a Frankenstein Stale, which is awesome. I been seriously contemplating trying to make one of these myself, however I know there is no way that I possess the necessary skill and or funds to do so. I'll just keep day dreaming.

☕️🎃🍁 Anything but basic. The @sauconyoriginals #PumpkinSpiceGridSD will be available today at 12 PM EST on saucony.com only. Hit the link in our bio to learn more about the design details!

A photo posted by Saucony (@saucony) on Oct 21, 2016 at 5:06am PDT

I'm a little bit of a sneakerhead but only when it comes to running shoes. I've got five or six pairs of Saucony DXN Trainers and a few pairs of New Balance 574's scattered around the house. When I saw these, it took everything in me to not order them. Thankfully they sold out before I got home from work, otherwise Amanda and I would have likely had matching pumpkin spice latte Sauconys. Go ahead, call me basic, but that tongue artwork is (fire emoji).

It's Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday. @jecht360 with an insane shot at @fortmountainstatepark_. Great shot Ryan and thanks for tagging us!!

A photo posted by Wander North Georgia (@wandernorthga) on Oct 21, 2016 at 1:15pm PDT

People outside of Georgia, myself included when I moved here, don't realize that Georgia has some awesome mountain terrain. It doesn't have all the 4k footers of the Whites or the above treeline stuff, but the North Georgia Mountains are really spectacular. Wander North Georgia is a great place to get ideas for adventures up there.

I'm sorry TLC. I went and chased a waterfall.

A photo posted by Joe Reynolds (@reynoldsjosephp) on Oct 21, 2016 at 4:45pm PDT

My good friend Joe Reynolds has been traveling lately, which means some great landscape photos like this one.

Yesterday in beautiful New Hampshire... thanks @napaknowhow and @timoneilrally !! #LiveFreeOrDie #rallyon

A photo posted by Tanner Foust (@tannerfoust) on Oct 23, 2016 at 10:45am PDT

Tanner Foust was up in New Hampshire recently and I'm a sucker for some foliage and a gravel road.

Feathered with hoarfrost, skeletal trees loom closer. #appalachiantrail

A photo posted by Zachary Andrews (@zeeger6) on Oct 25, 2016 at 5:19am PDT

Zach Andrews is an ultra runner from Alabama. I raced against him up in Chattanooga a few years ago and I've been following his runs through Instagram for a while now. He does a lot of epic stuff in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina as part of the East Coast Ultra crew.

That's all for the first Trestle Run. It wasn't quite as short as I'd thought, but I'm long winded. Hopefully, I can keep cranking this out weekly. I haven't done anything like that since back in the Red Seat days, but we'll see. If you know what the Red Seat days are then you are truly a friend...or my mom.  

Rad Run: Green Mountain - Boulder

I hopped on a bus up to Boulder and ran up Green Mountain. 8,100 feet at the summit. Woof.

Back to the Recaps

After taking about a month off from racing during training camp and the preseason, I've gotten back out there with a couple of races over the last few weeks. The first was the Back to Football 5K at the Georgia Dome, my first road race in about a year. The race is put on by the Falcons and the Atlanta Track Club and kicks off the NFL season by finishing at the 50-yard line inside the Dome.

The Back to Football 5K is a race I've done a couple of times, mainly because a bunch of people from work do it and you can't be the guy at the office that runs all the time and not do the 5K that everyone in the office is doing. Plus, I figured a 5K would be a good fitness test to see where I was after some steady running and decent workouts but no racing. Leading up to race day, I'd been averaging around 40 miles per week with a day off mixed in due to travel and/or late nights working with one track workout each week.

The workouts had been decent, nothing spectacular but I figured that 5:00 to 5:10 pace would be doable as long as I didn't go out too fast. Having run the race a couple of times in the past, I had a pretty good idea of the course. It's flat to mildly rolling with a nice downhill into the mile mark, a flat second mile, and a few rollers in the third mile. They did make slight change to the route with the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, forcing an alternate finish from what this race has had in the past.

Starting at Falcons Landing, which is just outside the Dome, the course took us around Phillips Arena (home of the Hawks) and then down through a couple of neighborhoods. The new route featured a shorter run away from the Dome and got us onto Northside drive a little bit earlier. As a result of the change to the first two miles of the course, the race followed Northside all the way up to Ivan Allen before turning into the service entrance for the Dome and running underneath the World Congress Center.

Here's a better look...

Based on the workouts that I've done over the last few weeks, a lot of 5K & 10K pace stuff, I figured that I had a shot at running under 16 minutes, so that was my race plan. Try to go out around 5:10 pace and work the downhill sections. When I got to the start, I was blown away by the number of people there for the race, over 3000 total. Saw a few guys on the line that looked pretty legit, so I was a little nervous when everyone from work was asking me how much I was going to win by, or when my boss told me not to come into the office if I didn't win. I did a few strides and just told myself to relax and run my race. I knew what I was capable of running and I felt like that would at least keep me in contention.

I got out well at the gun but eased back on the throttle a little bit. As I get older, I need to be more mindful of how fast I go out. it makes zero sense for me to go out in 4:50 pace and then come home in 5:30 pace. The law of diminishing returns is for real. Anyway, I settled in at towards the front of the group, running in second or third for the first 400 meters before settling into second. I stayed there for the first half mile before glancing down at my watch and seeing that we were running about 5:20 pace. I felt confident that I could pick it up a little bit, so I eased into the lead just before we started to head downhill toward the mile mark.

The acceleration opened up a little bit of a gap, so I tried to settle into a good rhythm and keep stretching out my lead. I went through the mile around 5:05, perfect. I can't overstate how important the workouts I have been doing were to this race. Having done a bunch of work at 5:00/5:10 pace, I was confident that I would be comfortable running that fast, or at least I thought I would be and sometimes that's all you need.

I split two miles at 10:11, 5:06 for the second mile and that really bolstered my confidence. I also stretched out my lead and really took control of the race by that point. After two miles, I knew that all I had to do was maintain and I'd get the win, but I also knew that I'd have to stay on it if I wanted to get under 16 minutes. As we passed the Georgia Dome on our way up Northside Drive I was still feeling pretty strong, that was amplified with the ensuing downhill, but as I made the short climb up to the service entrance I started to feel the effort.

I took a quick glance back and saw that I had a big enough lead to win the race, but tried to focus on staying in a groove to finish as fast as possible. The service entrance was brutally long and just when it felt like the finish was never going to come, I dipped under the GWCC and made my way up the loading dock. I probably had a little too much fun coming out of the tunnel and into the final 50 meters, but I broke the tape at 15:53. I was pumped to get under 16 minutes, which I'm pretty sure is a 30+ PR for me.

Here's a quick video of my finish. Unfortunately, I didn't save my buddy's snap when he was yelling "First place alert! First place alert!"

Getting the win for @WildEnduranceVT in the Rise Up and Run 5k #RunAllOut pic.twitter.com/s96KwMNZkJ

— Matt Haley (@mattmhaley) September 26, 2016

This is what the race looked like on Strava. I didn't stop my watch for about 15 seconds after the finish. That was one of the first times that I'd gotten to physically break the tape, so I wasn't really sure what to do with myself.

Race #2

The XTERRA Georgia series kicked off with the Harbins Park 10K last weekend. XTERRA has been one of my goals over the last couple of years. It's a fun challenge because the series stretches from September until August (it used to be May), so it's good motivation to try and stay in shape for the entire year.

Harbins Park kicks off the series and generally kicks off the beginning of Fall here in Georgia. I say generally kicks off Fall because by the time I finished the race it was nearly 90 degrees, but the last two years it has been cool and rainy. I've probably recapped this race three times already so I'll keep this one pretty brief. The course follows the hiking path, which is 4-6 feet wide for its entirety. It starts out fast, being mostly downhill for the first 2+ miles. The trail features a decent climb around the half way point, but it's pretty gradual so you just kind of have to grind your way up it. After that it's rolling and net uphill to the finish, which makes for a rough second half.

I need to talk to Ferenc about a longer singlet #croptop

I felt pretty confident going into this race. It's the kind of trail race the suits me well with wide trails and rolling hills that allow me to stay in a rhythm. The trail races I struggle with are the ones that have a lot of punchy climbs or a ton of tight twists and turns. Also anything with monster climbs. I'm not so great that those either. Coming off of the 5K and knowing the course, I felt like I had a good shot to run pretty well.

As is custom at most of these races, everyone let me go right to the front. I wasn't overly excited about that as there were a couple of guys there that I didn't recognize, but sometimes that's the kick in the ass that I need to snap out of 'I just want to cruise through this' mode and into race mode. I had a few guys nipping at my heals for the first half mile or so, which is run on a paved path, but things started to string out a little bit once we hit the trails. There were still two or three guys right on me until we hit the mile, but shortly after that I could feel them start to back off a little. The risk here is going out to fast with the first half being downhill, but I thought if I could get away by the top of the half way climb I'd be able to cruise the second half and get the win. Once I felt them let me go a little bit I decided to push on.

This strategy worked out pretty well. I tried to grind out the rollers really work the flat spots by getting into a good groove. I opened up a nice lead going into the climb and worked on maintaining my effort level to the top. Once I crested the climb, I tried to relax and recover a little bit before I started working my way back up to the finish over the second half. I started to feel the effects of the fast start around the four mile mark and really struggled to hold onto my form. I ended up hanging on for the win, but the last two miles were a real struggle.

As you can seen in the photo above, I was pretty gassed at the finish. I think the combo of a fast start and hotter than usual tempurature took a toll on me. I crossed the line in 36:45, averaging just under six-minute pace. Keeping the average under six was my goal going in and it's always great to be able to get a win. I actually ended up beating a guy from Colombia, so go USA. 

Here's the Strava info...

If you look at the pace analysis, you can see how the fast start changed the end of the race.

My next race won't be for about another month as I've got back to back road games with work, including a week long trip out to Seattle, so I'm missing the next race on the Dirty Spokes calendar. With trips to Denver and Seattle coming up, hopefully I'll get a few fun runs in that are worth writing about, so I'm not just recapping the same races over and over again. I've got a post coming on my recent trip to San Francisco and my impromptu 15 mile excursion to the Golden Gate Bridge soon, I swear.

Wedding Photos

Since we've been married for a month I guess it's time to share some photos.

Rad Run: Mt. Monadnock with Ferenc

There is a lot more where this came from but I put together a video of my adventure run with Ferenc up Mount Monadnock from last week. We ran up the Pumpelly trail in Dublin to the summit then descended about half of the White Arrow trail, which was the wrong trail, before getting back on track and hitting the summit for a second time. The video includes an introduction to Josh Ferenc: Snake Idiot - Enjoy!

Catching Up - Part I - Tuckfest 2016

The last two months have been pretty hectic between work and wedding planning thus...here we are again. Another long stretch with no blogs. Sad face. I actually have three or four different blogs that I've started but haven't been able to finish but I'm forcing myself to sit down and catch up on what's been going on. Mainly a bunch of races with a couple of adventures thrown in for good measure.

Three days of outdoor sports, music, and beer in North Carolina. Sign me up. Tuckfest weekend has marked on my calendar after stumbling on this gem of a festival last year. It kicks off Friday with a couple of bands and a few low key events like a family adventure race, kids races, a twilight 5k and some stand up paddle boarding before really getting under way on Saturday with trail races, mountain bike races, whitewater kayaking, flatwater kayaking, climbing, bouldering, bands, beers and probably a few other things that I missed.

All of the events take place at the US National Whitewater Center just outside of Charlotte. Amanda and I made the three hour trek from Atlanta to Charlotte on Friday night, skipping the festivities that night in order to try and get some sleep before the race. In the morning we made the short drive over to USNWC where I grabbed my number and wristband and started my prep. Tuck Fest is a really cool event in that once you pay the registration, you are free to enter as many events as you want. Obviously, there are a few events that require proof of skills - whitewater kayaking, top rope climbing, things like that.

Going into the race, I spent some time going over the course but it was pretty much that same as last year with a small exception at the start. On my warm up, I worked my way around that area and found out that the race opened with 400-600 meters on a dirt road before dipping into the woods. Good for me, since it would give me a chance to see how people were going to go out. I didn't really know what to expect from the field. Last year this was a La Sportiva Mountain Cup race so that brought out a heavy hitter or two. It wasn't a mountain cup race this year, but the USNWC has a half marathon series, so I didn't really know who would show up.

Coming off of the 1:16 half that I ran at Peach Jam, I felt pretty confident that I'd be able to run at the front, but that race was on a flat greenway. After an easy two mile warm up, I switched shoes (La Sportiva Mutants - great shoe but the course was a little hard packed for them) and made my way to the start.

At the gun, I went right to the front and quickly settled into a good tempo, which was about the same pace that I'd run at Peach Jam the week before. I felt confident that I could go out a little harder and back off once I got into the woods with that race under my belt, so I decided to go for it and try to see how the rest of the field would react. I was a little bit surprised that no one went out with me at the start and 200 meters into the race I was already on my own out front.

Once I entered the woods, I tried to settle in a little bit and just keep stretching things out. The course is definitely more challenging that it appears. Last year was a complete mudfest so I wasn't really thinking about the time I ran. I figured that I'd be way faster since it was dry. To my surprise the course had some real bite to it, or it was long. One of the two.

The course is two laps of a six point something loop, with a one lap race starting 30 minutes after the half marathon. The first few miles are very bumpy. No big elevation changes but a lot of short, steep climbs. It was also a little more technical than I remembered with scattered roots and rocks. Once things straighten out a little, probably around four miles in, it's a little less punchy. There is one substantial climb up to the power lines but other than that I found the second half of the lap to be a little more forgiving than the first.

I felt pretty strong on the first lap. I moved through the early miles well and then really got into a good rhythm on the back half. After about five miles, I took a couple peeks back but couldn't see anyone so I relaxed a little bit and told myself to try and maintain through the rest of the race. I rolled through the first lap in 50:28 with what I assumed was a substantial lead.

Despite what I felt like was a little bit of a slow lap, when considering the effort, I felt fairly comfortable heading into the second lap. It also seemed like it might have been a little long, but I'm not going to be that guy that says 'my GPS says the race is really 14 miles' I think the course has a lot more bite than bark.

After cruising along for the first two miles of the second lap I started catching up to the tail end of the quarter marathon (one lap race). This wasn't as frustrating as last year, but I still had a couple of issues getting by people. Most were encouraging and worked with me when it came to passing, but I got a couple of dirty looks and one guy (unintentionally) caught me with an elbow in the ribs in one of the narrower sections.

The up and down and constant passing really started to take a toll on me after about four miles on the second lap. Even when things opened up a little bit I was firmly planted on the struggle bus. I glanced at my watch a couple times and figured that I was in for a really slow second lap. I tried to focus on catching the people in front of me but that became more mentally exhausting than encouraging as the miles wore on.

Once I crested the climb up to the power lines I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me. I was only about a mile from the finish and as long I kept moving forward I was going to get the win. It was such a different experience from the week before. At Peach Jam I felt completely comfortable and in control for 95 percent of the race. I had a couple of short rough patches but even at the end I felt like I was running very relaxed. Tuckfest was the total opposite. Some of that is probably due to the drastic difference in courses, but mostly I don't think I factored in cumulative fatigue (that's another blog for another day).

I made the final turn onto the last section of gravel road and picked off a few more of the one lap racers ready to cross the finish and enjoy my victory for the rest of the day. I crossed the line in 1:41 , just about even splits. Not bad considering my second lap felt at least 20 minutes slower. With a smile on my face, I started scanning the crowd for Amanda when I heard one of the guys at the finish line say...

"Did you just finish the half marathon?"
"Yeah."
"Nice job bro, second place."
"Ah, what? Not possible. No one passed me."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I led from the first step and never got passed, so it's not possible for me to have finished second." - That's how it sounded in my mind but in reality it was probably more like "No. Can't. First." - Cut me some slack I just ran a half marathon.

If this is starting to sound familiar, that means you read this blog, so first thanks, and second yes this happened last year. In last year's race I was second the whole way behind La Sportiva's Ryan Woods. I ran with him for a few miles then he dusted me. He won but in the process he had to pass the guy that "finished second" some where on the second lap. When I came in they gave me third. Fortunately Ryan helped me straighten it out since the only way the guy could have gotten in front of him was to cut the course.

Flash forward to this year and we have almost the same situation. Admittedly, I was pretty salty about it. I try to be diplomatic at all times when I'm at races. I know the RD and the volunteers work hard to make sure everyone has a good experience, but two years in a row of someone cutting the course and getting away with it did not sit well with me.

I did my best to calmly plead my case for winning. I felt like I had pretty solid evidence. I was leading by a wide margin, which someone had to see, and I ran even splits, so in order to beat me this dude would have had to run major negative splits. That's not impossible, but it seemed pretty unlikely to me. I was a little worried that maybe I screwed up and ran long, but I ran even splits so again that was pretty unlikely.

The RD asked if we tracked the race. We both had, cutty mccutterson on his iPhone and me on my Garmin. He decided he'd take a look at the GPS maps and make a decision after that. I had to walk to the car and grab my phone, which turned out to be a good thing. On the way to the car, I was heated. I was ready to leave and say I was never coming back. Amanda must have really enjoyed my bitch sesh.

By the time we made it back I calmed down and showed the RD my phone. He compared the two and immediately realized that the other guy cut a section of the course. The RD says "I have to DQ you, give me a minute" and he walked away. At this point the other guy goes, "Sorry bro, the same thing happened to me last year."

Get a load of that shit...it was the SAME GUY! The same dude that cut the course last year cut the course again this year. WTF. It's not a hard course to follow either. How does that happen?

Looking back, I made a mistake by not spending the extra money to get a chip, so I'd have an official time, but I'm not running in their race series so it seemed like a waste of 10 bucks. This other guy though, he was running in the series so I got a peek at his splits. Homeboy ran 52:15 for the first lap - pretty solid - then 46:10 for his second lap. He cut out six minutes, nearly a minute per mile. According to Strava, I was 50:25 and 50:36 for 1:41.

I was happy to get everything sorted out and once I cooled down a little bit, both literally and figuratively, things were - as Local H said - copacetic. It didn't dawn on me until a little while later, because I was being selfish, but the guys that got second and third nearly got hosed too. They were definitely happy to have things figured out before the awards though.

We each got a man can of Bell's Oberon and a cool medal with the guitar logo on it. The beer was excellent by the way. It paired very well with the tacos I had later.

Here's what the race looked like on Strava:

 After the race Amanda and I walked around and checked out all of the vendor tents, played some corn hole, tried out slackline (only about four inches off the ground). We grabbed some food and beer and found a spot along the side of the whitewater course and watch people hitting the rapids in kayaks, rafts and on SUP boards.

An awesome day

We listened to some cool music and relaxed for a couple hours before we decided to hit the whitewater ourselves. I was hoping to enter the Tuckfest photo/video contest but we're still working on Amanda's shooting (she loves the vertical shot) and I didn't realize there are a few settings you need to adjust when you are shooting in slo-mo on the iPhone. Next time I'll stick to the GoPro. I did get some good stuff from whitewater rafting that I'll have to put in a video later, but I digress.

Whitewater rafting was AWESOME. Amanda was a little nervous when they started telling us to expect to fall out of the boat, but we ended up with a good group and some how all stayed out of the water. We started off with a couple of runs down the class 2 and 3 rapids, which were like the green circle sections. We got soaked pretty early on, but once that was done with it seemed like everyone relaxed a little.

After a couple runs down the easier sections we tackled the black diamonds. I'll admit I was a bit nervous going down those. I figured I'd probably end up in the water and told myself to remain calm if that happened. I was the only guy in the boat, so I wanted to make sure I didn't look like an idiot if I fell in. Fortunately, we rocked it. We blasted through the rapids and drops with only a minor stall in an eddy. If you are ever in the Charlotte area I highly recommend going to the USNWC and doing the whitewater rafting. It was awesome. Next year we are planning on hitting it two or three times throughout the day.

Next we made our way to the ziplines, but a two hour wait was not our idea of a fun time, so we decided to try out one of the ropes courses. This was a poor choice. My legs were toast, the wabble factor was cranked up to 11. Also I'm not a huge fan of heights. I do okay on things like that when I'm moving through them but I got stuck behind one kid that was having a bad time, so I was stranded 30 feet in the air on a swaying tree platform. Not cool. After that I had to rescue a little girl that couldn't reach one of the little switch points. This meant I had to take the black course aka the hardest one on my shaky legs. I was done with the ropes course pretty quick.

Following our misguided adventure on the ropes course, we made our way back to the whitewater channel and stage to grab some more food and beer. We hung out long enough to catch Red Bull's Alex Morgan do some slackline over the whitewater, which was pretty gnarly. He ended his...session...sesh...I don't know...back off Warchild...with a back flip into the water so that was cool.

We had a blast at @usnwctuckfest this weekend. Check out @alexomason slacklining over the river from Saturday night @redbull #tuckfest #usnwctuckfest

A video posted by Matt Haley (@mattmhaley) on Apr 25, 2016 at 4:18pm PDT

After the slackline performance we decided to stay for a song or two of the headliner, Langhorne Slim and the Law (the song in the instagram post above) then headed back to our hotel. It was a long day but definitely an awesome one. Staying the extra night was a great call. We zonked out at the hotel as soon as we got back, but we were able to relax in the morning and take our time heading back to Atlanta instead of getting back super late on Saturday night.

Two trips to Tuckfest are in the books and it's starting to become one of my favorite weekends of the spring/summer. The race is pretty tough, but it's good work on some challenging terrain, plus it brings in an element of unknown when it comes to the competition, which is nerve racking but good.  

Race Recap: Dirty Spokes Olde Rope Mill Trail Race

Race number four on the Dirty Spokes Trail series was held at Olde Rope Mill park in Woodstock, Georgia. The course is a mix of nice flowing single track and relentless switchback climbs and descents. This has always been an interesting race for me. I've won it a couple of times and I've also finished off the podium here before. I've had a mix of good races and bad races. It's one of those courses that it just depends on the day. Sometimes you feel great but still don't run great and others you feel like crap but run well. It's really all about the final section of the course.

It's a little hard to see on the picture but the course is laid out on the the Avalanche trail south of the river. Typically the race follows a concrete path then joins with the trail on the blue section above. You run the blue then the red sections before finishing with the green loop. That's where all the switchbacks and punchy climbs are.

Due to some heavy rain the night before the race, Tim had to re-route the course to start on the green section then continue onto the blue then red, then back up the other side (red, blue, green). It resulted in a slight shortening of the course - dropping it from 6.5 miles to 6 miles, but it put us on the trail a little quicker. That also meant we had to run straight up a short steep hill to get on the trail, which had a lot of people freaked out, but it really wasn't that bad.

I got out well and had about a 10 or 15 meter lead when we hit the trail. My plan was to get things rolling on the blue section of the Avalanche trail and try to stay on it until I got to the switchbacks. That worked out pretty well for the most part. I felt good early on so I really tried to work the flats and downhills and then just get up the climbs. There really aren't many of note in the early going, so I felt like I had settled into a pretty good rhythm once I hit two miles.

Once I hit the back side of the red trail (explorer trail) I realized that I had to back off a little bit. There were a bunch of corners that were wet, no puddles, but definitely slick. I ran in Scott Trail Rockets, which were fine on most of the course, but I didn't trust them in those wet corners. I tested the footing a couple times, but whenever I tried to drive out of the corners I'd slip.

Slight slipping aside, I didn't really have too many issues in this race. I struggled a little bit once I got to the switchbacks, but I was able to build up a good size lead in the early going and ended up running most of the rest of the race fairly relaxed. As much as I wanted to go completely into cruise control in the last two miles, Tim has put in an age graded category into five of the seven races this year. That gave me a little shot in the arm late in the race.

The first age graded race was UNG, I finished second there. I'd like to get the overall win and the age graded win for the series, so that little extra bit of motivation was helpful in the last couple of miles. I ended up crossing the line in 37:32 to take the win, Jeremy Shirey finished second (39:40) and Wayne Goff (39:44) took third. I was a little surprised that I won by as much as I did. Jeremy has been coming on really strong lately, especially at UNG. He was pretty much right on my heels during that race, so whenever he shows up, I know I have to be on it.

I ended up finishing second in the age graded results again, but since you have to run all five of the races I still have the overall lead.

Here's what the race looked like on Strava:

I'll keep this one short and sweet, but a quick little post-race recap. Amanda and I hit the Woodstock outlets for a bit. I scored a nice pair of New Balance shorts for 20 bucks, which is nice since most shorts I come across are 50 bucks now. After that we walked around downtown Woodstock for bit then made our way to Reformation Brewery. I won a six pack of their Belgian white ale at the race, so we decided to check it out. It was a cool spot. They had a five or six different beers. We each tried a few different ones, I enjoyed the Belgian white and the Prickly Pear wheat ale.

The brewery does this awesome thing where if you purchase a tour and don't use all of your pours - which I almost never do because I'm usually driving - you can trade those pours in for different stuff. I traded the three pours I didn't use in for a 22 oz. bottle of Cadence, their Belgian ale. I figured since the Tour of Flanders was the following day it was fitting. It's a great steak and potatoes beer. Amanda used hers for a half growler of the Pickly Pear.

Recovery Beer of the Week: Reformation - Union

As the description says, it's a crisp, refreshing beer. It paired wonderfully with a pizza.

#Microadventure - Lula Lake Land Trust

I talked a little bit about this in my race recap from River Gorge, but here's the video I promised. I brought my Go Pro along for the trip to Chattanooga and used it to get some cool video of Amanda and I checking out the park.

*Shot with my Go Pro Hero 4 Silver & 3-way mount 
**Edited with Adobe Premiere

Road Tripping: Rock/Creek River Gorge Trail Race

The Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 miler was my first real goal race of 2016. It's a race that's become a bit of an itch for me since the course chewed me up and spit me out three years ago. The race takes place on the Mullins Cove Loop in Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area just outside Chattanooga, TN. It's a race that is much more technical then what I'm used to, which sets it a little bit outside of my comfort zone, but it's become a race and a weekend that I really enjoy.

Amanda and I made the drive up to Chattanooga from Atlanta early on Friday afternoon, which shockingly did not prevent us from sitting in traffic. We arrived in the Scenic City around five, allowing us to head over to Rock/Creek - think a local version of REI or EMS - so I could grab my number. Big kudos to the race director for setting up packet pickup the night before. That made the rest of the night and the next morning a lot more relaxing for me.

After checking in for the race we made our way to the hotel to check in there and then found a place to grab dinner. Chattanooga has some great local restaurants, so Amanda settled on Community Pie, a really cool Italian/pizza place that we've been wanting to try. I went with some chicken parm and fresh made spaghetti, which was excellent. After that we walked back to the hotel and I was out cold at about 9. Considering the fact that this was a goal race for me, I was pretty surprised how smoothly the night went.

 One of the things I really like about traveling to race is that I am much better about getting up and getting things going. When I race at home (I still struggle with calling Georgia home. To me home is always going to be Massachusetts) I get up and I dick around for a while then I usually find myself running out the door 10 minutes late. Not this trip. I got up and got things going right away. Getting my number the night before led to a very mellow arrival at the race venue. I milled around for a few minutes, ran into my cousin Greg who lives up that way, and then started prepping for my warm up.

I got a good two-mile warm up in on the gravel road near the start and went over the race plan in my head one final time. The last couple of years I've been the first one into the woods. Two years ago, I hammered for seven miles then blew up. Last year, I led for the two miles before briefly missing a turn and then got dropped pretty quickly. This year, my plan was to be in the lead group but not in the lead when we went into the woods and then ease my way into the race while focusing on really racing between miles 4-8 before things get crazy in the rock garden. After the rock garden, the plan was to hang on and throw whatever I had left out there.

After warming up I caught up with my cousin again and we talked a little bit about the course. I grabbed my water bottle, I went with a small 10 oz handheld as this was a no-cup race, then made my way to the start. They ended up delaying the start 10-15 minutes because there was apparently some confusion with the start time, despite the fact that we got two emails the day before that said 8 am EST. The EST is important because while Chattanooga is in the eastern time zone, the race course sits in central time. Total mind funk. After hearing that, I tried to stay loose and kept telling myself to be patient.

As I made my way to the start I ran into Nate Holland, who is one of the top trail runners in the Chattanooga area. I was a little surprised to see him toeing the line since he'd run the 68ish mile Georgia Death Race the week before. We chatted for a little bit. He's a good dude and I've talked to and we follow each other on Strava but it was cool to talk to get a chance to talk to him for a few minutes.

There were a lot of people on the starting line that I didn't recognize, but I knew that if I wanted to win I was going to have to be able to run with Nate and in all honesty, be in the lead or very close to it coming out of the rock garden. The race starts on a gravel road that climbs for 1/4 mile before turning onto a jeep road and descending down onto the Mullins Cove Loop singletrack. At the gun, which was just a guy saying "runners set...go!" I settled into the middle of the lead group. No one got out particularly fast with a 1/4 climb right off the bat. Totally fine with me.

As you can sort of see, I was tucked in among the leaders as we crested the opening hill. Hunter Orvis (#174) ended up taking the lead as we turned onto the jeep road, I moved in behind him with Lee Wilson (Guy with the bright green sleeves) next to me and Nate Holland (blue shorts) on his heels. As we made our way onto the singletrack, I settled into second with Lee behind me and Nate behind him. Our four-man group began to stretch things out from the rest of the race and it looked like the podium would come from that quartet.

So far so good, I thought. I was well positioned but staying relaxed as we clipped our way through the first two miles. The course is very tight and there isn't much room for passing, especially in the first three miles. Once you get onto the singletrack, it's pretty exactly that, but it runs along the side of a bluff, so it's rocks and trees to your right and a couple hundred foot drop to your left. Epic views when you aren't trying to race. Two miles in I had a little bit of an anxious moment. One of those points in the race were you think 'shit, I have a long way to go and I don't feel great' I lost a little ground to Hunter on a short uphill and started to worry about the three guys running with me.

Fortunately, I was able to calm down. 'Stay patient dude. Just survive the ups'. Any ground I was loosing on the ups I was able to quickly recover on the flats and downhills. We were approaching the first aid station at Snooper's Rock (3.2 miles) and I could feel the pace starting to lag a little bit and the group had tightened up quite a bit. When things opened up at Snooper's I decided to give it a little gas and see what happened. That was in line with my plan, so I pulled even with Hunter and felt him give a little bit so I took over the lead.

About to make the pass at Snooper's Rock

I didn't feel like I put in a big move but it felt the split was about to happen. Nate quickly moved to cover my acceleration and the two of us were clear of Hunter and Lee after that. This was the section of the race were I knew I had to be on it. There is a rugged climb at seven miles and the rock garden at eight, so I knew these middle miles would be crucial. I was still in the 'grind out the hills' mindset though and Nate took advantage of that as he moved to the front shortly after we started pulling away.

I was really hoping his legs were going to be toast after GDR, but I guess that one of the benefits of training for a race like that is that you build up a ton of strength. After the race he told me he was struggling to stay in contact on the downhills and flats but he felt good on the ups so he decided to go for it. I did my best to keep my 'stay patient' mantra going and just focus on getting through the technical stuff and the climbs and use my strengths where I could.

'Just keep him in sight!'

That worked for a while. His initial gap was manageable and I was starting to bring him back in a few spots, but he just got stronger as the race went on and he is so good on the technical stuff. While he was still within sight, I watch him smoothly cruise over the rocks and float by the creek crossings. He was like water taking the path of lease resistance. Meanwhile, I was coming in like Miley Cyrus on that wrecking ball. Just careening left and right, one bad step after another. Nate was like a deer zipping through the woods. I was like Bambi slipping on the ice.

Fortunately for me, I was fully prepared to be a comedy of errors on the rocky sections and I was able to mentally stay in the race. I've had moments in this race in the past were a bad step would end up costing me a lot worse than it should have simply because I couldn't let it go. This time, I mentally prepared myself to expect those things to happen and instead of focusing on the crappy line I just took or the bad step or how much it slowed me down, I focused on what was coming up ahead of me.

As the race worn on I lost sight of Nate. At that point I was holding out hope that he'd crack and tried to stay focused on racing. The last couple of races I've done I've been wasting too much energy worrying about what was going on behind me and I wasn't in the race. I did a much better job of staying in the race this time. Looking back the middle miles were pretty uneventful. They didn't feel that way during the race. I felt like I was actually running well, despite Nate being out of sight.

Things got a little more interesting going into the second aid station at Haley Road (hey it's my name that's fun!). After running nearly seven miles of single track  with sections of rocks and a dozen or so little creek crossings you pop out onto a Jeep road. You'd think that would be a great feeling and a place were you could open it up, but when I say Jeep road I mean a jacked up, redneck, 50 inch tire kind of Jeep. King of the Hammers kind of stuff. Not only was the road pretty well washed out but its the start of the toughest climb of race.

I was all over the place. I couldn't pick a good line and kept jumping from side to side. It's a good thing I went with the La Sportiva Mutants, otherwise I would have slipped and stumbled instead of just stumbling my way back to the trail. There's no two ways about it. This part sucks. That's it. That's all I got. It sucks and I hate it. It's probably safe to say I have some work to do if I want to run Loon.

I finally reached the top of this SOB and tried to work on recovering. I was seven miles in. Nate was no where in sight ahead of me, but I couldn't see Hunter or Lee behind me either. I knew I had about a mile to go before the rock garden, so I broke the race down into it's final three miles. Race to the rock garden, get through the rock garden, race to the finish. Simple.

Once again, this section seemed like it went pretty well. I was pushing where I could and I felt like I was racing, not just out there running. By the time I reached the rock garden I knew I was running for second. No way I was going to catch Nate unless he broke something. I took a quick glance at my watch and I realized that he was going to run really fast and I still had a shot at a PR on the course. Then the rock garden decided it was going to beat me to a pulp.

It was rough going. I'm already not a great technical runner, so when you add in tired legs it was a long, long mile of rock hopping. It's such a tough section. You have to pick your line then spot your landing for each step all while trying to keep an eye on the course markings. The trees are marked with blazes and the race crew hung pink tape on tree branches, so it's well marked but constantly being unsure of where to put your foot and trying to keep and eye on those markings is really difficult for me. I can't chew gum and ride a bus at the same time, so what do you expect?

Emerging from the rock garden a bruised and battered soul, I tried to ramp it back up for the final mile as PR was still in the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, my legs were tapped out. It felt like my muscles had changed to quick setting concrete in the rock garden. By the time I felt like I was able to get back into some kind of rhythm I could see the finish arches. It was a long final mile.

I crossed the line second in 1:15:07, which was faster than last year and is the second fastest time I've run at River Gorge. Nate Holland took the win in 1:10:09, which is smoking on that course. He ran the third fastest time in the history of the race and the fastest time since 2011. I've heard that the course is a little bit longer now, but I can't confirm that. The record listed on Ultra Signup is 1:08:32 and Nate is one of four people to run under 1:12. What I'm trying to say is that he killed it.

Hunter Orvis (Atlanta) finished third to round out the podium in 1:17:08 while Lee Wilson (Nashville) took fourth in 1:17:33. Overall, I was happy with the way the race went. I was a little disappointed that I didn't run a little bit faster but this is a tough race and, like I said before, it's a little outside of my comfort zone. I also feel like I made the move that broke the race open, so I take some pride in that. I need to work on my technical skills and I know that I was missing the long tempo/fartlek runs that you need to be strong over the distance. Major kudos to Nate for crushing the course, especially so soon after GDR. Also props to Hunter for taking it out and Lee for hanging tough. This race always draws a really good crowd and some really solid runners.

One goal race down. Next up I've got a couple of Dirty Spokes races then the Peach Jam Half Marathon and then Tuckfest. April's a busy month. I have to cram in as much running and fun as I can before the draft comes around.

After the race I hung out around the finish for a bit talking with Nate, Hunter, and Lee and a few of the Rock/Creek guys. Turns out Nate rolled his ankle pretty good. I wonder what he would have run without that? I ended up getting a sweet engraved Hydroflask water bottle and a really nice Salomon half zip at the awards. This race offers some seriously sweet prize gear. I stuck around for a bit after that to catch my cousin Greg's finish. He ran 2:20:03 and that's after running a trail marathon the weekend before and he's been pulling 16-18 hour shifts at his job for like two months. These Chattanooga guys are wild dude.

He's a good guy to know in the area. He must have introduced me to 10 different people before and after the race. After the race he hooked me up with the t-shirt and hat I'm wearing in the photo above. He started a company last year called Frontier Runner and he's got a couple of things in the works, including some pretty interesting prototypes for running packs. The shirt is killer. It's a technical shirt that's made in the USA by a company called Runyon Canyon. It's super comfortable and the logo is awesome. I ended up wearing it all day after the race and for my run the next morning.

Here's what the race looked like on Strava.
Speaking of after the race...I went back to the hotel to pick up Amanda and we grabbed breakfast at Mean Mug. I had a coffee and their breakfast biscuit - scrambled eggs and bacon on a biscuit - I could have eaten 15 of them. Their biscuits are amazing. We continued our adventure weekend by driving to Lula Lake Land Trust which was about a 20 minute drive from downtown. Lula Lake is a has a few miles of trails and two waterfalls. It's a place we've wanted to check out on previous trips, but it's only open on the first and last Saturday of each month.

Lula Lake was awesome. I've got a short video that'll post one I'm finished editing, but I'll throw a couple of pictures on here because it was really cool. We grabbed a map and started making out way out to the waterfall. The first thing we came across was a trail called the Jedi trail. Obviously we had to check it out.

From there we hiked up to the bluff where we were treated to amazing views of the surrounding area. We hung out there for a few minutes to rest from the hike up. After the race, warm up and cool down I had 14+ miles on my legs so I was a little toast. We kept hiking along bluff and came across the high adventure trail. The trail lived up to it's name, following the ledge before dropping down to the river below. There was even a spot where you had to repel down a steep section of rock with a guide rope.

I am a Jedi. Like my father before me.

I've got to work on my GoPro skills

Trying to be Bear

Meandering our way down from the bluff to the old rail road bed and then down to the river we passed a ton of people out enjoying the park on a gorgeous day. From the rail road bed we made our way down to the jewel of the park, Lula Falls. It was one of the best waterfalls we've been to. It was massive and you could walk right up to it.

One of my best Instagram photos

We hung out at the base of the falls for bit. I got some cool footage on my GoPro and I watched one guy slip and fall in the mud three, maybe four times. He was really, really determined to get closer to the falls. It did not go very well for him. From there we hiked back up to the rail road bed and then to the lake and upper falls. If you are ever in the Chattanooga area on a first of last Saturday, I highly recommend checking out Lula Lake Land Trust. It's actually just across the border in Georgia but it's well worth the short, fun drive over Lookout Mountain.

After our hike we hit Mojo Burrito in the St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga for a burrito and a beer. I was pretty gassed after that so we grabbed a Red Bull before heading back to the hotel to shower and head out for the night. We settled on heading to the Flying Squirrel bar, a cool bar attached to the Crash Pad - an outdoor focused boutique hostel - which brings me to the recovery beer of the week.

Recovery Beer of the Week: Bells Oarsman Ale
A light, bright wheat ale with citrus flavors. It paired perfectly with the garlic fries we ordered. Normally, I'd pick something a little more local but we didn't get a chance to go to Chattanooga Brewing Company on this trip. Next time.

The next morning I got up and ran one of my favorite runs, the Big Daddy Loop on Lookout Mountain. It was awesome for about five of the 11 miles. Once I started the climb up to the bluff trail my legs were totally shot, but it was still worth it. I really enjoy that run, especially in the fall and early spring.

Here's how that one looked.
That was a long blog. Thanks for sticking it out.