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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

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

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

Rob Krar (Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz)

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Jacob Wuertz

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Fred Doss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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