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.

Race Recap: Rock/Creek River Gorge

Rock/Creek River Gorge, my first goal race of the year. This was supposed to be my first big race of the year where I dropped a fast time on a tough course and came home with a win, but with my hamstring struggles of late I went into it hoping to salvage something rather than punish. Regardless of my training, I'd been waiting for this weekend since I crossed the finish line in last year's edition.

Setting the Stage
In 2014, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and step up to the challenge of racing against some of the guys in Tennessee. Chattanooga is an outdoor destination city and with 50 trail heads within 30 minutes of downtown, the place has some has some really good runners. When I looked at the race and saw the course record was 1:08 for 10.2 miles I thought I was going to have a chance to set a course record and win. I did not have enough respect for the course. At all. It's a really tough 10 miles, very different from what I've grown accustomed to racing on in Georgia. It's rolling, but has a lot of very technical terrain and some really punishing short steep climbs.

The last time out, I blasted from the get go and struggled with some of the terrain, then I completely blew up in the final three miles, which included major struggles in the rock garden. I ended up finishing third losing out to a college runner and a one of the top local runners. My time was solid, given the course, I finished in 1:13:49...the 10th fastest time ever run on that course.

When setting my goals for 2015, I kept coming back to this race. I was arrogant going in and I got what I deserved for that, but I still felt like I could have run better if I had run smarter. Flash forward to this weekend. I keep harping on my training, but the fact is it's not where it needs to be. Armed with better knowledge and more importantly, more respect for this course, I still felt like I had a shot at redemption. I figured I wouldn't be able to run as fast, but I still felt like I could be in the mix for the win or at least a podium spot.

The Course
The race takes place on the Mullens Cove loop trail in the Prentice Cooper State Forest/WMA about 15/20 minutes from downtown Chattanooga. It starts out on a dirt access road at the trail head and climbs up a short hill. From there you make a left onto an ATV/Jeep road and descend until you hit the single track about 400 meters later. After dipping into the single track you continue to descend, hitting the first big feature of the course very early, a giant boulder split in half with a set of wooden stairs wedged in between.

After that the course rolls along the cliff's edge until Snooper's Rock around 5k. At that point the course turns left deeper into the forest, but continues to present challenges with rolling hills and technical sections of rocky outcroppings. Just before seven miles the trail spills out onto Haley Road, another Jeep road, and throws it's toughest climb at you.

Haley Road is a grinding climb that brings you to the second aid station, after that you head back into the woods for a steep section of switchbacks that really hammers the legs. Once you reach the top things level out a bit before descending into the rock garden. A about a mile long, the rock garden is basically a boulder field along side a small creek. It's very technical and very slow going. Once you make your way through it though you have a gradual climb on nice smooth single track to the finish.

It's a challenging course but it can really tempt you with sections that are not just runnable, but fast. You have to stay focused though because those sections can quickly give way to quick creek crossings, rocky terrain, and sharp turns right along the edges of cliffs. It really is a great course, constantly taunting you and asking 'how long can you red line it before something on the course pushes you over the limit?'

Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 Mile Trail Race - Prentice Cooper WMA - Chattanooga, TN

The map above was provided by Rock/Creek a couple days before the race. It may not look like much but I promise you I studied the distances between each landmark/aid station and the contour lines very closely before the race to make sure I was as prepared as possible.

The Race

Amanda and I drove up to Chattanooga on Friday night. We each got out of work a shade early so we were able to hit the road around five. To avoid sitting in traffic and turning a 2.5 hour drive into a 3.5 hour drive we took the back roads. This route added some mileage and time but we were in Tennessee around 7:45 despite making a quick stop at Target about half way for some snacks and water. We grabbed dinner and then settled into our hotel room for the night.

I woke up at 6:30 and knocked out the news clips for work (the least favorite part of my job) and had a cliff bar while Amanda got ready to go. It was unexpectedly cold when we woke up. When I say unexpectedly, I mean that it had been 70 all week and it was 28 when I woke up. I know that's not really all that cold, but the 40 degree temperature swing is no fun. Fortunately, I had checked the forecast the before leaving and packed a hat, gloves, arm warmers, and extra layers for before and after. 

We left the hotel around 7:15 and made the short drive in about 30 minutes and got to the trail head about 45 minutes before the start. I grabbed my number from the registration tent and did a short warmup, probably about a mile and a half total. I would have liked to have done more but I got talking with my cousin Greg and one of my adversaries from last year, Nate Holland (who was out with an ankle injury he picked up in the 68 mile Georgia Death Race). The warm up worked well enough though as I was warm and my hamstring was feeling nice and loose. I was little worried about the long drive, but it ended up feeling about 80-90 percent for most of the day.

The race starts on the gravel access road before hitting the trails. photo courtesy of True Speed Photo

With the race starting with a short climb on the dirt road, I grabbed a spot on the front row but settled in behind the four or five guys that surged to the front at the gun. When we reached the top of the climb and made the left hand turn onto the Jeep road, I moved my way to the front, but there were about six of us running all the way across the road from one side of the other. As soon as I hit the Jeep road, I gave it a little gas and then let gravity do the bulk of the work pulling me along as I glided down the washed out road. Zak Noles (Athens, Ga) was quick to cover my move and settled in along side me. This was essentially the same strategy I used last year, but the difference was that this year I was just looking to get out of the traffic. I figured if someone was going to pass me early that was fine, but I wasn't getting bogged down on the single track. 

rolling on the jeep road before hitting the single track. Photo courtesy of Rock/Creek Race Team's instagram

Zak and I actually talked a little bit early on and we agreed it would be best to put a little distance on the group at large to avoid any entanglements. We were rolling pretty good on the descent, but I could tell that we were both trying to stay controlled. We hit the single track and I took a the lead. I was a little reluctant, but I was nervous about the split rock. I wanted to get through that in front and if he wanted to take over after that, no problem. The trail drops pretty sharply and is littered with roots early on. After about 20 yards of picking my way through the roots I heard Zak say "good, you're a trail runner. Nothing worse than getting stuck behind a roadie on this stuff." That made me smile. I liked this guy. All I could think of was the time I nearly ran off the trail running with Ferenc and Greg Hammett and Greg made a joke about not being good on the technical stuff. He was 100 percent right, but when Zak said that, in my head I was thinking 'how do you like them apples Greg?' 

side note: I'm still not very good on the technical stuff

We continued to run together for the first three miles or so and for most of that time we were running at a conversational pace. That was a little weird for a race, but since my plan was to run smarter and a little more reserved early on, I figured that if I was talking I was doing that, so what the hell. I also think we were both testing each other a little bit to see if the other guy was for real. 

I was thinking 'shit, this guy is chatting it up about races in California with handicapped starts like the Dipsea, this is going to take a turn at some point.' Little did I know, he when he said 'good, you're a trail runner' what he meant was 'Shit, this guy is a trail runner and I've got to worry about him.'

Shortly before we hit the Snooper's Rock aid station, I missed a turn. Totally my fault, it was marked well we just came in a little too hot and I blew right past it. I tried to signal to Zak that we needed to back track a couple steps and turn but my sudden stop caught him of guard. We avoided disaster as he wrapped his arms around me to prevent us from going off the cliff to our left. 

"My bad. We were supposed to go up to the right there. I came in a little too hot."

"No worries. It's trail running. I hope you don't mind the hug. I know we are still early on in our relationship for that."

We both had a good laugh at that as we scrambled up the rocky outcropping and back onto the single track after my misstep. As we climbed, I noticed the two guys behind us had closed things down and both Zak and I seemed to feel a sense of urgency. He moved to the front and hit the gas as soon as he got back on level ground and I did the same doing my best to keep pace. We quickly opened up a gap on the two runners behind us, but after that injection of pace it became clear that Zak had better climbing legs than I did. He opened up a gap and while I could bring it back a little on some of the downhills I decided that it was better run my race than go into oxygen debt trying to close the gap. With the third and fourth place runner still close behind, the last thing I wanted to do was blow up in the last three miles from hammering myself early on.

Wild Endurance p/b La Sportiva

From talking to him after the race, I think Zak had a similar plan to mine last year, which was hammer wherever the trail would allow it. He opened up a decent size gap early but I was able to keep it around 20-30 seconds for most of the race. I told myself not to worry about what was going on ahead of me or behind me. I knew going in that I needed to run smart and run my race no matter what. That was my best chance at getting on the podium. Oddly enough, being in no man's land was probably the best thing for me. 

Once we got through the Snooper's Rock aid station, I focused on running a good tempo and using course. I opened my stride and let it fly on the downhills, pushed whenever things flattened out, and just tried to survive the climbs by maintaining the same effort level. It was slow going on the ups, but I felt like I was making up for it on the flatter sections and the downhills. I also tried to focus on my feet in the technical sections. Trying to be quick over the rocks and avoid selling out for one normal stride only to end up going down or blowing out my ankle.

Snooper's Rock

Things worked out pretty well for me in the middle section. I was mitigating the damage that Zak was doing up front and opening up a good size gap on the guys behind me and the miles seemed to be rolling by pretty quickly. The one negative about this race is that there are no mile markers. Fortunately, my GPS was pretty close this time around and I knew that I was in for 1:15 or possibly longer, so I was able to budget my energy a lot more efficiently. I also carried water, as this is a cup less race. It was kind of a pain to carry water for a 10 miler, but I felt like taking a quick sip from my hand held bottle helped calm me down in a few of my crisis of confidence moments after climbs or technical sections. 

Somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes into the race I tore into an Untapped Maple packet for an energy boost. I cannot recommend this stuff enough. It's the perfect endurance fuel and I found out after the race that a bunch of people had issues with their GU's and shot blocks due to the cold weather. Not my pure, 100%, Vermont maple syrup. Liquid gold. 

I got a nice little moral boost from the Untapped packet and was rolling well when I came out of the woods and onto Haley road near the second aid station. You'd think that I'd be stoked running on a road with my name, that I would want to make it "my road" by running awesome on it. You would be right, unfortunately, my legs weren't really feeling that and things came to a grinding halt as I slowly clawed my way up to the aid station. Haley road was steeper than I remembered and after you dip back into the woods you face the toughest climb on the course. The climb really isn't that long, maybe 400 meters, but it's steep and switchbacks its way back up to the gorge's ridge line. I caught a quick glimpse Zak up ahead as I slugged my way through the climb and the aid station volunteers told me he had less than 45 seconds on me.

On the one hand I was excited because I was still in striking distance and with the rock garden looming I was still in the race, but on the other the fact that I was struggling on the climb made me feel like I was letting the race slip away. I told myself not to panic and just get up and over the damn thing. I had a brief mound conference with myself at the top of the climb and tried to refocus as this was where my race plan needed to kick into gear. Last year, the top of this climb was where things fell apart. It's where I lost the eventual winner and where I started to give back ground guys behind me. This year was going to be different. I settled myself down and focused on running as fast as I could on the mile down to the rock garden.

I was really trying to force the issue on the flats, but I had a brief moment of concern when I went a few minutes without seeing any course markings. I was having flashbacks of earlier in the race when I blew through a turn. I quickly made the decision that it didn't matter. If I went off course, my goals were going to be out the window, so I shouldn't bother wasting any energy worrying about it. There was a little bit of comfort in the white blazes on the trees, since most of the course is on the white blazed Cumberland Trail, but going off course was still in the back of my mind until I saw a yellow piece of ribbon clipped to a branch just ahead of me. A wave of relief rushed over me and I stepped on the gas again. 

Now I felt like I was really bombing down the trail. Knowing that the rock garden was going to be slow going but I felt like I had budgeted my energy well and would have a shot at catching Zak in the final mile. The trail begins to drop sharply as you get close to the rock garden and the forest changes from hardwoods to lush evergreens and hemlocks. As I descended rapidly my eyes started to water from the cold air and bright sunlight showing through the trees. I picked my way over the rocks on the technical switch backs that serve as the entrance to the rock garden and it instantly reminded me of another Ferenc run.

Last summer, Josh, Greg and I "ran" up and down Ascutney on a hiking trail that was remarkably similar to this one. Each step was a gamble with your life and limbs. I'd made it through unscathed and fairly quickly, hung a right at the bottom (big thanks to the volunteer pointing us in the right direction) and made my way into the rock garden. I've probably made this thing out to be worse than it really is, but it's the signature feature of this race. It's essentially my version of the fire swamp from Princess Bride. Instead of lightning Sand, Fire Bursts, and R.O.U.S. it has rocks, rocks, and more rocks.

The Rock Garden

Once I got into the rock garden I focused on quick feet, trying to keep moving forward without stumbling. The most difficult thing about navigating this section of the course is figuring out what line to take. I feel like you could run the rock garden 100 times and take 100 different lines. It would be slow going if you were hiking, never mind trying to run fast through it. You have to keep one eye on the the rocks and one eye on the blazes, otherwise you start drifting and zig zagging which wastes a tremendous amount of time and energy. Last year, I was all over the place, panicking and clumsily fumbling my way through. This year, I was much more confident and I was able stay calm. I still don't think I ran it terribly fast, but I definitely felt like I was moving better than the last time.

More rock garden

I tried to focus on quick feet and short, quick strides, picking my way over the rocks and trying to drive my arms to keep a good tempo. At this point, I sort of forgot about who was ahead or behind me and just kept working on getting through it. I really wish I would have been able to spend a little time on this course before the race to get a better feel for how long the rock garden is, but I actually felt like I got through it relatively quickly. After you get past the rocks, you are treated to a steep climb back up and out of the small ravine.

Once you pull yourself out of the ravine, you cross over another jeep road then begin the gradual climb to the finish. The race closes with about a mile of well groomed single track with a slight uphill grade. Despite the fact that you're 10 miles into the race, hitting that single track might as well be dead flat pavement. I crossed over the road and immediately went to work trying to grind my way to the finish. After the excitement of getting through the rock garden wore off the fatigue hit me like a ton bricks. I think if I had been able to see Zak ahead of me on the trail I might have been able to summon a little more but I ended up running out of gas about a half mile from the finish.

Rock "steps" in the rock garden

At that point, it became clear that I had second sewn up, but I wasn't going to be able to catch Zak so I just cruised into the finish. I crossed the line in 1:15:09 (7:22 pace), which was right about where I figured I would finish. I ended up losing a little more time to Zak over the last couple of miles as he took the win in 1:13:48, which was one second faster than what I ran last year for third. Obviously, I would have liked to have win, but all things considered I was pretty happy with my finish. This was a big goal race for me and I was a little disappointed that my trailing wasn't up to par in the weeks leading up to it. For me to come away with a result despite those struggles was pretty exciting.

After the race I cooled down with Zak, John Wiygul (3rd, 1:18:02), and John's wife Molly (2nd female finisher (1:31:13). While cooling down I found out the Zak was from Athens and often trains at Ft. Yargo State Park, so we exchanged numbers to hopefully get together for some runs in the future. After that I went back to the finish to root for my cousin, who finished in 2:16:31.

Exiting the rock garden about to cross the jeep road

I ended up winning a pretty cool Hyrdo Flask water bottle and a backpack, both of which have the River Gorge RG logo on them. After the race Amanda and I headed back to Chattanooga to grab brunch at our favorite coffee shop, Mean Mug. They have amazing biscuits. I've lived in Georgia for almost five years now and while I don't really care for country music or NASCAR there are two southern things that I do enjoy...sweet tea and biscuits. We spent the rest of the day walking around Chattanooga, which I think was good for my hamstring since it felt pretty good the next day. Amanda was totes jelly of my hydro flask so we had to pick one up for her at Rock/Creek then we met up with Greg for dinner.

L-R: John Wiygul, Zak Noles, Me

Overall I was really pleased with the race. It wasn't as fast as I wanted at the beginning of the year, but being able to stay relaxed and run my race and still get a good result made up for the uneasiness I was feeling going into this one. The one bummer about the way things shook out was that Zak bumped me out of the all-time top 10 on the course by one second. This race is going to be fast next year. Next up for me, a couple of Dirty Spokes races and then possibly the Tuck Fest 1/2 Marathon in NC (part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup).

Here's a look at the final results (top 10 overall):

Place	Name	Gun Time	Pace
1	Zakary Noles	1:13:48	07:14/M
2	Matt Haley	1:15:09	07:22/M
3	John Wiygul	1:18:02	07:39/M
4	Fynn Glover	1:18:59	07:45/M
5	Cullom Boyd	1:21:05	07:57/M
6	Neal Hanley	1:22:15	08:04/M
7	Mitchell Kohlmann	1:23:20	08:10/M
8	Baker McCool	1:25:11	08:21/M
9	Nathan Helton	1:25:24	08:22/M
10	Sam Linhoss	1:27:39	08:36/M

Shout out to Fynn Glover, one of the founders of RootsRated.com finishing fourth.

Here's what the race looked like on Strava: