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.