Tuck Fest 1/2 Marathon - La Sportiva Mountain Cup

A few weeks ago I was checking out the La Sportiva Mountain Cup schedule to see if they had any races that I'd be able to go to. They are holding one in Georgia, and I stumbled upon one at something called Tuck Fest in Charlotte, NC. I did a little more digging and decided to make a weekend trip out of trying to nab a few points in that series. Tuck Fest, as it turns out, is a pretty rad festival held every year at the US National Whitewater Center featuring three days of outdoor events including trail running, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, kayaking, SUP, dog jumping, live music, and beer.

Tuck Fest has a cool model where you sign up (35 bucks) and you can compete in as many events as you want. You can also buy a sport pass from the USNWC to try the whitewater stuff, ropes courses, and zip lines. On top of that, admission to the festival was free. Despite the fact that this race came at the end of what would be five straight weeks of racing, I found a couple cheap hotels near by so Amanda and I decided to make the trip.

We hit the road around 4 on Friday afternoon and made pretty good time getting up to Charlotte, it's about a three hour drive from where we live north of Atlanta. We debating heading over to the USNWC for a few of the Friday festivities, but we had both had a long week and needed some rest so we grabbed dinner and headed straight to the hotel. Hotels are the big difference between when I handle the logistics of a trip and when Amanda handles them. Granted we were trying to do this on the cheap, but I booked a cheap hotel by the airport where she would have found something nicer. Not to be disparaging towards the particular hotel we picked, but I'm pretty sure it's been the setting for an episode of Criminal Minds or CSI or something.

Surprisingly we both got a pretty good nights sleep and headed over to the race about an hour before the start. I grabbed my number and wristband and got in a quick 1.5-2 mile warm up on the last section of the course. I didn't really know what to expect of this course or who would show up. I figured there'd be a few guys there since it was a Mountain Cup race. The series has been won by guys like Rob Krar and Jordan McDougal in the past. I also struggled to find much more than a basic map for what the course would be like. Those factors combined with a hectic week had me feeling rather apprehensive about how the day would go.

Here. We. Go.

As I made my pre-race prep I spotted Ryan Woods from La Sportiva. He won the series last year and finished second to Rob Krar a few years ago, he's pretty good. I figured he'd be there but I didn't recognize anyone else. I told myself not to worry about it and just run my race. Maybe I could pop a good one since I wasn't expecting much. I saw one dude that was decked out head to toe in Newton gear, but other than that things looked pretty standard on the starting line. Now about the course.

Tuck Fest 1/2 Marathon - 2 Loops

We started at the Adventure Pavilion with a parade lap around a small loop in the parking lot. After that the course dipped into the woods and onto the rolling single track. It snaked through the woods along side the man made whitewater river before looping around to run along the Catawa River. After about three miles of twisting trails things opened up a little bit with more double track, and some powerline trail before hitting more single track and then spilling out into the parking lot for the final few hundred meters. That's the quick and dirty run down of the course. It doesn't sound too bad on the surface. It didn't have a lot of climbing and it opened up in the second half, switching from tight, twisting trails to runnable double track. Pretty sweet right?

Oh wait, I forgot to mention that it rained every single day for the week leading up to the race. That made the course a little wet. And by wet, I mean sloppy and that's before everyone ran a lap on it. 

The start

I didn't get a great jump off the line. The ready, set, go start caught me a little off guard. As you can see from the photo above, Ryan Woods got out to the front right away while I was a few yards back in the middle of the scrum. I knew that he was the man to beat, so on the sharp down hill that followed the start I moved to the outside and fell into stride behind him. A couple other guys settled in behind me and we had a four man lead group featuring Woods, myself, a guy with headphones, and Johnny Newton. I swear I could write a dissertation on running a trail race in headphones but we'll get to why that's a bad idea later. On the starting line the Newton guy sounded like he was just out for a run. He had he Go Pro on and was talking about treating it as a long run. At first I thought, okay maybe I don't need to worry, but I got my doors blown off by a guy pushing a double stroller once (true story from when I lived in Philly. The dude was pretty legit though he ran like 16:30).

This is what a poor start looks like

As I was saying, our four man lead group materialized pretty early and that's how we entered the trails. Once we hit the single track my decision was easy. Hang on to Ryan Woods for as long as I could without going into the red. I figured that would at least get me clear of the guys behind me. I stayed 3-5 yards back of Ryan keeping my eyes glued to the trail in front of me and looking to see whether I should follow his lines or pick my own based on how much he was slipping and sliding.

Misty morning photo by Amanda Hein

Things weren't too bad early on. The trails were muddy and slick, but since we were the first ones to hit them we were able to find decent purchase. I stuck with Ryan for the first couple of miles but when we hit a section of trail that featured some climbing he started to open up a little bit of a gap. I took a few chances on the ensuing down hills and was able to mitigate the damage, but I decided that I should follow a similar plan to the way I ran River Gorge. Things are starting to round into shape for me, but I'm still not quite there, so I knew that I didn't want to use up too much in the early going and blow up later on. I backed off a little and made the decision to really work the flat sections and just try to say on my feet on the ups and downs. 

Headphones was hanging pretty tough for the first couple of miles but when we started to hit the ups he fell back and by four miles I was running in no mans land. The course spilled out onto powerlines a couple times and I could still see Ryan, so I tried to give it a little gas on a couple of the points, which kept me racing. That turned out to be important. Early on I didn't realize that it was a two loop race. That's my own fault for not paying close attention at the pre-race meeting. Once I heard follow the yellow signs, I was like 'I got this'. I realized it had to be two loops around five miles. I new I was getting close to the finish and when we crossed the top of a hill on the powerlines I knew we only had a mile+ to go because that's were I did my warmup.

Initially, that was a great realization. Coming into the race, I was worried about not knowing the course and now I got a good clean look at it on the first lap and could plan out exactly where I wanted to attack the course and were I could recover. If you've ever run on powerline trail you know they have a lot of up and down. It seems like you are always climbing or descending. This course featured a really tough powerline climb up to the parking lot about a half mile before the split/finish and it was super muddy. However, when I crested it I could see Ryan ahead of me and after a check of the watch, I figured he had about 45 seconds on me. That gave me a nice boost of confidence going into the second lap. I doubted that I'd be able to catch him unless he had a major issue in the second half but I felt good about where I was. I downed some Untapped before hitting the woods for the second loop and tried to go to work again.

As soon as I hit the single track the second time around I knew it was going to be a long lap. The trail was absolutely destroyed. It was a battle just to stay on the trail in some spots and finding solid ground was not happening. Early in the second lap I started passing people from the morning's other race, the quarter marathon, aka one loop of the course. This is where I started to have a few issues with the race organizers. They started the half marathon at 8 and the quarter at 8:30, I came through the start of the second lap around 45-50 minutes, which means the quarter marathoners where only on the course for 20 minutes before I started my second lap, so I started to catch them after about a mile. 

The course was a muddy disaster and there really was no way around that. Everyone had to deal with it and I made my peace with that fact on Friday afternoon. I wore my La Sportiva Mutants and even then I still struggled in sections after they became caked in mud. I was stomping my feet on the rock steps and wood bridges that were scattered through the woods. It was probably the muddiest, sloppiest races I've ever run, but that wasn't my issue. My issue was that I was hitting pockets of 10-15 people at a time on the muddy single track, which made it impossible to race. It turned into me trying to get by one group as quickly as I could so that I could recover enough to alert the next group that I was coming.

At one point, I started to get a side stitch from yelling "runner back" and "on your left". After a while it devolved into grunting sounds. This got really frustrating really fast. We've all run races where we have had to deal with lapped runners or something like a short course vs. long course situation, but I'd never seen anything like this. If this is what my guy Zak Noles was talking about dealing with out in California I don't know that'd ever run a race. It was brutal. I'm not trying to sound like a douche, I get that it might come off that way. I have respect for everyone that got out there and ran that course and I really hope everyone had fun and worked hard. I tried to cheer on people that I could, but it was incredibly frustrating to be trying to race and dealing with the mass of people in front of me. The trail would have been tough enough after it had been trampled, but deal with a slippy* (as they say in the UK) trail and trying to dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge people the whole way was miz. 

The race organizers should have run both races starting at 8. The quarter marathoners could have run one lap, finishing up the final hill while the marathoners ran two, turing left into the trails before the final hill. That would have spread everyone out, especially on the back end, and it would have been less confusing at the finish because you would have had a greater number of quarter marathoners finishing before the bulk of the half marathoners came through. The idea behind Tuck Fest is for everyone to come out and have fun and try some different stuff and that's awesome, heck most of the events were untimed. I'm not trying to poo-poo the event, I actually really liked it, but if you are going to host a competitive event like a Mountain Cup race you have to keep that in mind. 

Fortunately, I was running in no man's land so it didn't really matter in the end, but there would have been no real way to make any kind of headway on the second lap. I guess that also worked in my favor since the guys behind me were dealing with it too. It is what it is, as they say. Now normally, this is also were I'd make my case against headphones in a trail race but that kind of goes without saying. There were a few people that could still hear me and a couple of people that I basically ran into because they were oblivious. That's spilt milk at this point, but don't you worry, my anti-headphone plea is still coming.

Sorry, I got a little off track there. Mercifully I made it out of the tight single track and onto the second half of the loop. That first three miles probably took me 25 minutes and I was completely covered in mud and totally shot from clawing past people, but I tried to keep focusing on catching and passing the next person ahead of me. I told myself that if the guys behind me didn't struggle as much as I did with the crowds (not really possible) that I could be in real trouble. 

I tried to battle the best I could, but I remember looking down at my watch with around two miles to go and being at 1:17 or something like that and thinking 'holy shit!' When I crossed the final powerline section for the final time, I was toast. I passed a few people on the way down and the climb back up was hilarious. People where slipping and sliding all of the place. One guy looked like he was on skis going backwards it was so slippery. I hopped into the knee high grass on the side of the trail just to try and find any kind of solidish ground.

When I crested the hill it felt like my shoes were full of cement and the ground was so muddy it actually looked and felt like I was running in peanut butter. I took a few deep breaths and literally kept plodding to the finish. When I finally hit the finishing stretch which was a short steep climb up a gravel road I opened it up a little bit to catch one more guy before the finish and crossed the line completely gassed. 

I was covered in mud all the way up both legs and my shoes were caked, but I finished second and that was pretty sweet. Except when the guy at the finish said "nice work man, you're third." I responded, "Uh...what...no...not possible". I looked up and the headphones guy was standing there. I was so confused. I said "but I never got passed". I was a little worried that in the scrum of people I took a wrong turn somewhere and ran extra, but at the same time I was pretty certain that I followed the course correctly. I was also only about 1:45 or 2 minutes behind Ryan Woods who was the winner, so me taking a wrong turn didn't really make sense unless he did too. Luckily he came over and vouched for me saying that I should have been second and that he had actually passed the other guy later in the race.

Once I heard that I knew that the other guy must have cut the course. There's no way that he could have gotten in front of both of us without cutting off good chuck of the course. I was able to work it out with the guy and we swapped the second and third awards. The first guy from the race seemed to think that was all that was needed as he said "We don't record the times, so as long as you guys are cool that's cool. I love runners."

Normally that would have been fine. I knew the time and I knew that my time was right, so I didn't really care, but I had to circle back with another guy at the finish to make sure we sorted the finish order out. I felt a little silly and didn't like complaining about the finish but since it was a Mountain Cup race an there were points on the line, I wanted to make sure that things got straightened out. I guess I won't really know until La Sportiva posts the points but hopefully it will all workout.

Wild Endurance powered by Untapped

I talked to Ryan Woods a little bit after the race about how insanely muddy the course was and how the finish worked out. Amanda and I walked around a little bit after trying to get a lay of the land for the rest of the day and to see if they had showers. She was glad the race was over as the way the finish was set up was giving her an anxiety attack, especially when she saw the headphones guy finish second. She said "Not to be a jerk or sound mean or anything, but I knew there was no way that someone wearing headphones would finish that high." Barring another double stroller guy situation I agreed.

Normally, I'm not anti-headphones, I just think you need to be responsible if you are going to wear them. I feel like I have some run in with somebody that can't hear whats going on around them in at least half of the races I run. If wearing them gets you out the door then, go for it, but trail racing is different than road racing. Sometimes you can zone out but there are usually a few instances were you can take a wrong turn if you aren't paying attention. I think that's what happened to the guy that ended up finishing third. It's likely that he would have still finished third, but I have no doubt that he  got caught up in his music and took a wrong turn, cutting off a least a mile of the course and probably more.

Tuck Fest also hosted a couple 5ks, a kids 2k race and a family adventure race, so there were three or four different color arrows. There was one spot in particular that had yellow (the half & quarter) going straight while blue and red arrows turned left. If I had to wager I'd say that's where he went rogue. As I type this I realize it's not really that big of a deal as long as things got sorted in the end, but I felt a little bad for the guy. I think he initially thought we were saying he took a shortcut on purpose and I don't think that's the case. I think it was an honest mistake, but I also think it could have been avoided. I blame the headphones!

Here's what the race looked like on Strava:


After all the craziness got sorted out I ran a a short cool down, about a mile and made my way to the showers. It took a good 10 minutes to scrub all of the mud off of my legs and I was wearing calf sleeves so from my ankles to the back of my knees were actually pretty clean. The rest of me though, was covered in mud.

They should have changed the name to Muck Fest

Normally, I pride myself on having an efficient stride. I remember States my junior year of high school at Franklin Park was a mud fest and I had the cleanest uniform of anyone on my team. All of that went out the window at Tuck Fest. Everyone was completely covered and you could tell that a lot of people went down. There were also plenty of people that didn't prepare for how muddy they were going to get because I saw a bunch of people caked in mud and wearing the race day shirt because it was the only clean thing they had.

I showered and changed and then Amanda and I spent the rest of the day taking in the festival. The USNWC campus is awesome and the festival was great. We did a loop after the race and saw people kayaking and SUPing on the man made whitewater rivers, we saw some jumping dogs, zip liners and checked out the ropes courses as well as the rock climbing and bouldering walls. It was kind of like a mini mountain games. I was fading fast an hour or so after the race so we grabbed some food and a beer and listened to a couple of the bands which was really cool.

We spent most of the day walking around to the different events and sampling some of the different beers that were sponsoring the festival. We watched a ton of the dog jumping and even saw the number 1 ranked dog in the country. It jumped 28 feet! We also caught a mountain bike trails show which was pretty cool and spent some time just hanging out watching people on the whitewater. We made the decision to make this a two day trip next year and try out the ropes courses and whitewater rafting.

 We decided to hit the road around five with since we were looking at a three hour drive home. We ended up stopping in Greenville, SC where we just missed the finish of the USA Cycling Crit national championships. Greenville is about half way between where we live and Charlotte so we stopped at Mellow Mushroom for pizza. It's a pretty cool little city and we are going to have to check it out further another time. We walked around a little before grabbing dinner and saw a bunch of the pro cycling team cars, no Phil Gaimon sightings, but maybe next week at Athens Twilight.

Overall it was a solid race and a great weekend trip. It really felt like we got a full weekend of stuff in on Saturday but we still had Sunday to relax a little and take care of some stuff around the house. I read an article on Outside.com about MicroAdventures (there's a book by the same name that I need to get) and while it's something we've been doing, little weekend or day trips, but the article really hit home and I want to make sure we keep doing them. I guess that's the 7R gene in me #wildendurance.

The race was solid. I accomplished what I went there for, to grab some mountain cup points and to finish on the podium. I've now got podium finishes in three states this year. I'll have to try and make it to SC and Alabama at some point and see if I can keep that tally growing. I'm throwing the time out the window because of the mud, but it was a good day of work. It also felt good to finish up a block of five straight weeks of racing. My legs are definitely feeling that stretch of racing, but I think it helped get me into better shape as I was also able to string together four straight weeks of 50+ miles.

My goals for the next couple of weeks are to keep steadily increasing my mileage but also to keep things relaxed for a few days and recover a little bit. I will probably try to work in a day off as well. The next race on my calendar is the Dirty Spokes Harbins Park trail half marathon, which will be my third half marathon of the year. I'm not expecting much with the Draft and rookie mini camp coming up at work, but it will be good to see where I'm at in a couple weeks.

Quote of The Day

I will skimming through NFL writer Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback article on the MMQB.com this morning and came across this cool note, or nugget as he would say. He ran a trail race in San Francisco and had a few nice things to say about the sport.

Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week

On Saturday morning north of San Francisco, I ran a 10K trail run, the Wild Boar 10K on Mount Tamalpais, in 75 minutes and 1 second. At one point maybe four miles into the run, a little wisp of girl, maybe 10 years old, passed me on a narrow trail on the edge of a steep hill.

Not my finest competitive sporting moment.

But it was my finest day ever running out in the world.

Imagine starting a run on a road in a lovely state park 40 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge, cresting .85 miles into it with a clear view of the Pacific Ocean on a pristine morning, gawking at the Pacific for seven or eight minutes while the undulating pavement takes you up and down, then veering off to the left on a thin ribbon of a rocky trail on the side of Mount Tamalpais, at times so steep with such a sheer drop that you say to yourself, DO NOT LOOK DOWN! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOOK DOWN! And after you do that, up and down and never flat, for 15 minutes, you duck into a forest so dusky that it feels like 9 p.m. and not 9 a.m., and the temperature drops 15 degrees in a minute, and you’re not running on a rocky path anymore. Now it’s on pine needles and cones on a path underneath and through 300-year-old trees, such a soft trail that it feels like you’re running on a padded tartan track. Then, for the last mile, the grade is so steep that you have to walk most of it (my daughter Laura, a San Franciscan, didn’t; she’s incredibly fit and used to running on trails) and even thinking of making any good time seems just preposterous.

Yes. I think I’d like to do it again. Soon.

I know that King is a bit of a runner. He may have run Boston in the past, but I couldn't confirm that in the three minutes I looked on Google. Regardless, I thought it was cool to see a small note about trail running in this major NFL column. It's not often that the two worlds collide, so that was cool to see. I'm glad he enjoyed his first foray into trail running. Do you think he's on Strava?

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:

Race Recap: Dirty Spokes Univ. of North Georgia 5.5 Mile Trail Race

Editor's note: This is a little overdue, but necessary.

Winner, winner

I got my first win for Wild Endurance at the Dirty Spokes University of North Georgia 5.5 mile trail race on March 14 in Gainesville, Georgia. It's always nice to get a win but it was especially nice nabbing the top step on the podium for WE and to do it on what has become my de facto home course down here in Georgia. I've won this race the last four years with Josh Ferenc taking the win in 2011 back when he was all Unicorned (BAA) out. This year's race wasn't a particularly fast version due to muddy conditions and my so-so fitness, but hey, a win is a win.

The Gainesville UNG campus is only 18 or so miles from my apartment, which might sound far but everything is so spread out down here that's actually super close. It's also 17.5 highway miles, so that helps. I got to the campus around 7:30 with about an hour to kill before the start of the race. Because it was so wet, Tim Schroer moved registration and the finish into the parking garage, so I was able to stay relatively dry before the gun. He also moved the start from the big lower field to the road next to the field, which was great for me. Those big open field cross country starts have never been my strong suit.

After jogging around for a bit and trying to find a bathroom (no campus buildings were open...portos...woof) I found Mitch Novy doing the same and trying to stay loose in the rain. We chatted a little bit about our race plan and stretched out while we waited for everyone to make their way to the start. Mitch is contesting all of the short courses in the series, so for him this was a 2.5 mile race. His plan was to run together until we hit the split just after the mile then try to finish off anyone that stayed with him in the final long flat before the finish. Having someone to run with for a mile or so sounded good to me, so we made our way to the start to get things fired up.

The new start presented a small challenge, a narrow concrete bridge about 20 yards from the starting line, it was a little unfortunate for some of the people further back, but there was really no way to avoid it. Even if they pushed the start back, it would have been a downhill sprint and that would have been mass chaos. Mitch was a little nervous about the bridge, but I assured him that we'd be fine. I've run enough of these races and so have most of the rest of the field that everyone has a pretty good gauge on the early pace, with the exception of the occasional froggish high schooler.

At the gun, Mitch took off like Chip in that Chappelle skit. I was a few yards behind and the aforementioned froggish youngster when by me like I was standing still and instantly opened a small gap on Mitch. I my head, I said 'I'm either going to catch him before the mile or he's going to run away from everyone, so don't panic...but I kind of hope he's running the short race'.

I quickly settled into a good rhythm and started eating into their advantage on the flat double track that traces the outline of the campus along a set of rail road tracks. The double track makes a left past the track and less than a half mile into race you pass a set of tennis courts then a makeshift outdoor amphitheater. I caught Mitch at the tennis courts and the young buck shortly after the amphitheater. Despite a couple of slips on a few of the off camber turns, I pulled into the lead as we made the turn to head back towards the start where we would dip into the woods.

Mitch came around me to keep the pace high in a effort to distance the kid behind us. We rolled stride for stride through the mile and all the way to the split. I don't get to run with people and a lot of these races are single track so that was pretty cool, to be side by side rolling. I felt like I was back in college hammering back from a workout at Keene High. Mitch went on to win the short race by a solid margin over 17-year old Alex Peacock (the young kid behind us).

I broke left over a small bridge and into the woods. I was cautious over the wooden planks and in and out of the corners due to the mud but it became clear fairly early that I was out to a good lead. Once you get into the woods on the UNG course there are a lot of tight turns. It's pretty flat but the twists and turns make keeping up a rhythm difficult. I focused on trying to open up my stride were I could and trying to be quick through the tight sections. This added up to a lot of speeding up and slowing down but it worked out pretty well, since by the time I came through three miles there was no one in sight behind me.

It's always difficult to keep pushing the pace when you are in no man's land. It's a little easier when you are out front because there's always that voice in the back of your head that's worried about getting caught, so I tried to tap into that and keep pushing. I was moving well on the long down hill that takes you from the back section of trails back to double track access trail and figured that I'd start to catch the back end of the 2.5 milers before finishing the climb back up to the mountain bike parking lot. I grinded my way up the hill then started working on the few people I could see up ahead of me.

Once I was back down on the double track about a half mile from the finish I tried to open it up again. To my delight, my hamstring actually felt okay and wasn't too tight, that would change at the finish. I knew I had the win sewed up, but I still tried to catch all of the 2.5 milers ahead of me. The change in finish location left us with a nasty little paved up hill back to the parking garage, which was a little tougher than I thought it would be, so making the right hand turn into the parking garage was a relief. I strided it out and crossed the line in 34:23. That time is a little slow, but given the change in course and sloppy, muddy conditions it was right about where I thought I'd be.

After a lot of travel the week before, I was happy that my hamstring felt okay during the race. It still tightened up afterwards, but I think I am getting to the point where I can start upping my mileage as along as I stick to my work in the weight room. Right now, that's my big struggle is my lack of mileage. It's difficult for me to race well on low mileage. If I'm doing good workouts, I can run alright in the 50s, but right lately I've been in the 30s, so I need to work on that.

After the race I caught up with Mitch for a two mile cool down. We finished up and made our way to the awards where I took home a specially made Dirty Spokes Merlot from Chateau Elan winery. I'm not a big wine guy (or a wine guy at all really) but I thought that was one of the cooler prizes I've ever gotten at a race. I also got a coupon for a free VO2 Max test which I'm interested in checking out. I will keep you posted if and when I make it to the lab for that.

Mitch and I hit the trails for another three miles, which gave me 10 for the day. All in all it was a good day and a good start to the spring for me. I'm a little behind where I wanted to be, but if I can keep my hamstring in check I still think I can run well later in the spring and summer.

As always, here's what it looked like on Strava:

Rad Run: Are You Afraid of the Dahhk

I feel like this is the most appropriate way to start off this blog. I don't know the origin of the image, but I had seen it somewhere before and it was the first thing I thought of when I sat down to start writing about my night time mountain adventure with Josh Ferenc. If that doesn't set the scene for you...try this one on for size.

That's the text I got from Josh on Sunday morning as Amanda and I made our way up to Vermont from my parents house in Massachusetts. As it says, Josh proposed a night run up Magic Mountain on Sunday night. Sometimes I regret going along with his suggestions, but I thought it sounded fun, so I agreed. After spending the day hanging out then consuming a higher than recommended amount of chicken wings Josh picked me up from the Grafton Inn  at 9 p.m. where Amanda and I were staying and we made our way to Timber Ridge, a defunct ski mountain in Windham, VT.

I know this was set out to be a night run, but it was wicked dahhk dude. Josh promised an "almost full moon", but on the drive it looked more like some sort of eclipse. We parked the truck at the base of Timber Ridge and each polished off the remainder of our Red Bulls. Despite not being able to see the moon, the stars were incredible. That has always been one of my favorite parts of the New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine experience, the stars are awesome. We don't get that in Georgia. There's a cul-de-sac every 20 feed and Atlanta has got some serious lightblubs. You get the star-filled sky a little bit in the North Georgia mountains but it doesn't compare to rural New England.

We fired up our headlamps and made our way from the parking lot up to the base of the mountain on a well packed snowmobile trail. While Timber Ridge doesn't operate as a ski mountain any more it is open to snowmobiling thanks to the Vermont Association of Snowmobile Trails (VAST). We followed the VAST trail, which from what I could tell (because it was dark) used to be a groomer that wrapped around the edge of the mountain. A green circle, with a couple of steep sections, that was probably more fun to ski down or snowmobile up than it was to run.

We slogged our way up the VAST trail but after a couple of minutes I was able to settle into a climbing gear and just grind my way up the slope trailing slightly behind Josh and way off the back of Ellie and Lena, who were setting a blistering pace. The snow was actually pretty good. It was softened a little bit by a warmer day but considering we were running on top of a couple of feet, we only dealt with minimal slipping. One of the great things about this being a night run was I couldn't tell how steep the trail was in front of me. I could only see what the headlamp was lighting up and it was all snow so it just looked like a white wall.

Here's an old image of when Magic Mtn owned Timber Ridge. Our route up is in red and the way down in black 

After 20-25 minutes of climbing things started to level out a little and we came to a snow bank on top of Timber Ridge. We followed a small break in the bank made by a snowmobile and things leveled off nicely. Following a few minutes of gliding we reached the summit of Magic Mountain. We pretty much ran right up to the chair lift before I realized we'd reached the top. It was a cool feeling to be at the top of the lift at night like that. They don't have night skiing, so we were the only people on the mountain and it was a combination of eerie quiet and peaceful serenity. With the stars and a slight wind, it felt like we were miles away from another human being. Then a guy came flying up lift trail on a snowmobile and ruined it.

We studied the trail map for a minute and even Josh, who is normally pretty relaxed when it comes the possibility of getting lost suggested that we should stick close to the lift. I agreed. It was really dark and while our headlamps light up the path in front of us, it would have been really easy to miss a trail sign and end up biting off more than we wanted to chew. We ended up doing a couple of short laps under the lift. It was awesome watching the girls bomb down the trail. Lena legitimately might have been going 40 mph down the trail.

It's tough to see but we ran down White Out and up Upper Magic Carpet

I don't know if it was that I was running with Josh, the cold night air, or the Red Bull but I felt like I could have run that loop 10 times. It was awesome! While we were doing our summit loops, the moon finally started to show itself through the trees. As promised it was epic. Nearly full and with a slight pink tint it lit up the trail on our way back. I wish I could have take better pictures, but even with my GoPro set to night mode it was too dark. I've got a couple of video clips that I might try to salvage some highlights from but I haven't had a chance to check them out yet.

After enjoying the sights for another minute or two at the top of Magic Mountain we made our way back down the connecting trail to Timber Ridge. We decided to head up to the summit of Timber Ridge before heading back to the car, which was a short climb from where the VAST trail connected with Magic. We shut our headlamps off for a few minutes and let the moon light the trail as we climbed up the gradual incline along a ridge line that led to what I thought was the decommissioned lift house at the top of Timber Ridge.

As it turns out...(according to NewEnglandSkiHistory.com) It was a cabin built on the footing of the former double chair that was featured in a 2014 episode of National Geographic's Building Wild. Yup, I found the episode. I haven't watched it yet but I'm looking forward to it. From the preview it looks like it give a good view of some of the steep terrain that we were dealing with. Also Josh needs to befriend these people immediately if not sooner.

Here's the link to the video. I couldn't get it to embed.
Top of the World

From their we bombed down the well traveled snowmobile tracks that led down Timber Ridge's main trail to the base lodge, which has been converted into a cabin lodge for the people that own the mountain. We finished our run on a small section of road before dropping back down into the snowmobile parking lot. Unfortunately, as soon as the car was in sight my heart sank.

"Did you really leave the dome light on?"

"Oh shit."

I left the dome light on in Josh's truck and was 1000 percent sure it wasn't going to start. It wouldn't be the first time we've been stranded without transportation, but at 10:30 on a Sunday night in the middle of nowhere it's not exactly an adventure that I wanted to go on. Thankfully, the 1992 Forerunner proved to be the modern marvel that it is and she started right up. The girls jumped in and were passed out before we pulled out of the lot. Josh dropped me back at the Grafton Inn where I slept like a rock after the Red Bull wore off.

The next morning Amanda and I were treated to an awesome country breakfast complete with pure VT maple syrup from right down the street...highlight of the trip. We hung around the next day and drove to a couple of covered bridges and checked out Rudyard Kipling's house (did you know he was a 4:30 miler? At least that's what Cassidy said) to do a few New England things before heading home.

It was great to get to spend a few days up in Vermont with Josh. It's like hitting the reset button on my soul when I go up there. I can't wait to get back up in the summer. I know New England has been pounded with snow this year, but some times I really miss it.

Here's what the looked like on Strava:

Lookout Mountain Trail Run

As promised, here's my second attempt at a GoPro running video.

A Weekend in Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee has quickly become a favorite weekend getaway destination for Amanda and I over the last couple of years. It's close enough that it doesn't take us all day to get there, but far enough away that it feel like a getaway. It's a small city with a great vibe and an outdoor-centric mindset. I guess that's what happens when you have 50 trail heads within 30 miles of downtown, access to couple of mountain ranges and the Tennessee river flows through downtown.

We stumbled upon Chattanooga a few years ago when I saw that Outside named it one of the "Best towns ever". When I realized how close it was, I knew we had to check it out. We've been a handful of times, four or five maybe, and we enjoy it so much that anytime I run a race on the northwest side of Atlanta a day trip to Chattanooga is usually on the list of possible things to do with the rest of our day.

This particular weekend trip was a result of both Amanda and I just needing to get away from everything for a few days. We needed a little re-boot, so we packed everything up on Friday and made our way up to Tennessee that night. Our base of operations for this winter weekend getaway was the Chattanoogan hotel, it's a really nice spot and we've moved up in the world from staying at the holiday in. The Chattanoogan is a little more expensive that somewhere that we would typically stay, but we had stayed there for one night during the fall and decided that it was our favorite hotel. This turned out to be a great call, because we got a chance to explore the city's southside, which we'd previously neglected.

This is a running blog, so I'll get to the point, Chattanooga is an amazing trail running destination. I haven't been to Boulder or Bend, but I still believe that the Scenic City is a must see for any trail runner. From Stringers Ridge (a personal favorite) just two miles from downtown, to Lookout Mountain towering 2,389 feet above the city, it features a ton of great places to get out an log some awesome miles. Chattanooga hosts the Salomon/Rock Creek trail series with everything from 10k trail runs to a three day stage race and the newly minted Thunder Rock 100. The trails range from rolling double track to steep mountain ascents, and technically challenging rock and root gardens. The place really has something for everyone.

Despite taking a few days off last week, I wasn't going to miss a chance to get out on some of the local trails while we were in town, so I planned a long run on Lookout Mountain on Saturday and a shorter downtown tour for Sunday. My plan on Saturday was to get up and head to Craven house about half way up the mountain to run the Big Daddy Loop, a trail run that combines seven trails, including the bluff trail that is cut into the side of the mountain high up with amazing views of the Tennessee River Gorge.

I slept in a little bit on Saturday morning and then knocked out the news clips for work (I have to do these everyday and they are the bane of my existence). This process took a little bit longer than I would have liked and I started stressing out about getting a late start, but I had to remind myself I was supposed to be on a weekend getaway vacation and slow my roll. This is something that I've talked to Josh Ferenc about at length and I'm sure we aren't the only ones who do it. Because work and life can be so stressful whenever we have a weekend or a few days off, I feel like I have to cram as many fun things as humanly possible into that free time, otherwise I am wasting it. Then I end up stressing out about not taking advantage of every second that I can.

It's sad, but it reminds of this quote from the Scientology episode of South Park

"It's Saturday! we have to have as much fun as possible."

That's exactly how I feel on the weekends or really whenever I'm not at work. I took a deep breath and decided to venture out to one of the many local coffee houses to grab some breakfast. I scoured Roots Rated (the best website/app for things to do outside and places to eat after) and Amanda and I settled on Mean Mug Coffee, a relatively new spot just a couple blocks away from our hotel in the southside neighborhood. It was a nice morning so we decided to walk over, which was cool because we got to take in some new sights. When we walked in the Mean Mug, I knew that we'd hit the jackpot for Amanda. She's a sucker for a good cup of coffee and this place was awesome. It had a really cool vibe, just coffee house enough without being all douchey and pretentious.

They had really cool decor, wood everywhere, vintage bikes above the door, and a chalk board menu with all of their drinks. Amanda got a mocha and some steel cut oats and I had a bacon and egg biscuit and a green tea. I'm not a big coffee guy, but it was nice to order something not coffee and not get stared at like I had 16 heads. More importantly, the biscuit was freaking amazing. The best biscuit I've ever had and I live in the south now so I eat biscuits. We relaxed at Mean Mug for a bit then walked back to the hotel. On the way back we saw a bunch of people in town for a comic convention. It was pretty funny. We saw like 14 Indiana Jones.

Once we got back to the hotel I jumped in the rad wagon and drove up to Craven House to start my run. There was a "ton" of snow on the mountain, ton being southern for 4-6 inches, but there was a decent path that had been tramped down by hikers and other runners, so I set out to get 10-12 miles in. Originally my plan was to run the Big Daddy loop, but based on the snow I was a little concerned with what kind of shape the bluff trail would be in. It's cut into the side of the mountain and in some places it can be a little sketchy when it's 100 percent dry. I decided to run an alternate version of the run that only had about 2 miles on the bluff trail instead of 4 or 5.

The run starts out descending from Craven House on the rifle pits trail down to the upper truck trail. After leveling out on upper truck, I dropped down a little further on the lower gum springs trail to the skyuka trail. This is a nice long winding trail that rolls it's way through the forest along the side of the mountain. This was probably the most fun part of the run. Since I'm not in great shape, I just let the trail dictate my pace as gravity pulled me down the descents and I grinded my way up the rolling hills. The other thing that makes this part of the run cool is that you cross into Georgia about half way to the spring. When I reached skyuka springs I stopped and tore into an Untapped maple packet. I needed the energy boost because the John Smartt trail is a lung and leg buster. It switchbacks it's way back up to the upper truck trail over a mile and on a true Big Daddy loop it climbs another mile up to the bluff trail. When I got to the next trail intersection, I noticed a distinctive lack of footprints continuing up John Smartt and decided to play it smart and take upper truck. At this point, I also started making my way back to Tennessee.

Upper truck was really nice after the tough climb. It's a double track trail, a lot like a jeep road or old rail road bed, with a couple of rollers. I saw a few people out on the trail hiking, so that made me feel like I made the right call. After a few miles on upper truck I reached the split for upper gum springs. This bad boy is another leg and lung buster and it was especially tough in the snow. I did a lot of slipping and sliding and after more than an hour I was definitely feeling a lack of fitness. When I finally reached the top where gum springs meets the bluff trail I was treated to some awesome views of the Tennessee river valley.

The bluff trail was in a little better shape than I thought it would be, with a six inch trench trail that had been tramped down. There were still some harrowing sections as the trail flirts with the edges of cliffs for pretty much it's entire length. I'm still trying to get the hang of the GoPro, so I didn't get many great shots, but I did put together a video that I'll post below.

The bluff trail is what really makes this run worth it. Even if you feel like you are taking your life in your hands at times, the views are awesome and it's a big rush to be picking your way along the side of a cliff. By the time I got back to my car I was pretty gassed. The run clocked in around two hours which was probably a little excessive, but I was stoked that my hamstring felt good and I had an absolute blast.

After finishing the run, I headed back to the hotel and grabbed Amanda. We hit the Terminal brewhouse for a burger and a beer then went back up to Lookout mountain for a short hike. We wanted to checkout sunset rock but by the time we made it up there we weren't sure we'd have time so we went about a mile and half then turned back for the car. We went to Rock/Creek to check out all the sweet outdoor gear, but didn't leave with anything.

After our trip to Rock/Creek we headed back to the hotel then walked downtown for dinner. More beer was in order at World of Beer which had a live band and some good food. We hung out for a bit then made our way back to the hotel to call it a night.

Day 2:
Sunday kicked off with a short run downtown, across the Walnut Street Bridge and into the park below then I headed back to the hotel. I would have liked to have gone up to stringers ridge, but I didn't want to push my hamstring too far so I kept things nice and short. Nothing local is open on Sunday, so we hit Panera for breakfast then walked around downtown for a bit. We decided to check out the aquarium and that turned out to be a great idea. We wanted to see the Otters and last time they were napping, not this time. They were out running around, climbing and swimming. It was really cool and that was worth the price of admission.

We walked over the Walnut Street bridge (seriously one of my favorite things in the world) to Whole Foods to grab some lunch then walked back downtown to the car. It was starting to rain, so we called it a day and made the 2 hour drive back to Atlanta, ending our weekend with a pizza and some cookies from Whole Foods.

That was a great mental health weekend. It was awesome to relax, get outside, and just clear my mind for a bit. I needed that after having a stressful few months at work and being frustrated with my running. Now I'm looking forward to our trip back to New England even more.