Chattooga 50k- race report

As I sit here listening to my Red Sox pound away at the Yanks I can't help but think how life is so good. And with that in mind, here is how the day on the Chattooga turned out for me... a first time ultra runner.

I woke up early and Lynnea cooked up eggs, biscuits, gravy and bacon while Joshua supplied some high octane beans for the morning brew. We ate well and headed toward the start. The radio subtly played '3 little birds'. "every little thing, will be all right..."

After braving the john (and maybe hitting the woods a time or two) we were set to go. Terri gave us a few words and announced her intention to run as well!! and then we were off. I settled into an easy pace somewhere around 15th position on the trail. It felt right, and even as the front runners spurted out of view I reminded myself to relax and enjoy. Either they would come back or they would not, but I still had 30 miles to run, including all of the hills. Time would tell.

Soon the lead woman asked to pass a group of younger runners ahead. I took this opportunity to move up a few spots and open up the running a little bit. All systems were smooth and I wanted to see a little open trail for a few miles. I was soon alone and running on without any strain. The overall theme of the day was to be exactly this... no strain, just move ahead and flow with the land. Over then next few miles I worked my way onward. Upon the choice of high water or low water trail I decided to go for the plunge. Judging by the look on the face of the man who was fishing in that spot, I was likely the first runner to make this decision. I have seen some looks of disgust before but I swear this guy was looking for a larger hook as I ran by. I should have been paying a little better attention to my feet though. Soon I ended up fully submerged, baptized in the Chattooga, and just like that the magical waters elevated my spirit... and something great happened. I stood up and laughed... made my way from the water and back to the main trail. Now things were getting started.

Soon I was in the middle of a group of three runners. I followed those red racing flats in front of me and patiently plodded along. Feeling just right, exactly where I was suppose to be. All things had led me here and here and here... as steps faded to steps and all there was to be sensed was NOW. After a few small climbs the trail opened up to the first long downhill of the day. We swooped in a pack through this watershed and eventually made it back to the river. Around 63 minutes we made our way away from the river for the final time on the way out and up toward HWY 107.

I decided to lead the group at this point and was starting to think about who may be up ahead on the trail. How many runners were ahead? How large was their gap? In the more runnable areas I opened up and may have hit 6:30 pace for a few sections of trail. After that craziness subsided I settled back into the long climb up to the first aid station. At 10+ my split was 1:39... a minute ahead of schedule and feeling like I just got out of bed... this is going well.

Lynnea was on point at all the stops and got me everything that I wanted... and before I even knew that I wanted it. Banana... peeled. Clif bar... opened and in hand. Bottles... filled. Off I went. Aid station total elapsed time for the day... 90 seconds. Beautiful. And what a lift to see the most beautiful girl in the world... after mucking around in those woods;)

Lynnea reminded me to slow down and relax... and also that I was leading. She knew my intended splits and was aware that I was a little fast already. Then I thought... what... LEADING??? LEADING!!!! Okay... leading. Not exactly expected but, still here I am and I feel good.

The thought over the next 60 minutes is conserve. Mostly downhill... just maintain, even slow down... still two big climbs to come. Save the legs, as long as I keep it controlled I know finishing will happen. The endurance, I know now, is there. About halfway through this section a young wood pecker learning to fly comes crashing down in front of me, nearly taking me out as well. I said 'hello', saw he was off trying again and continued on down the trail. Hearing footsteps...

I reach the halfway point and see my wonderful wife again. My lead has been cut by a minute or so but I feel even better than I had at Aid #1. Mile 16 split 2:29 (50 minutes). Now I share the trail for the next 10 miles. As runners are heading out we exchange trail cliches and smiles and encouragement. Everyone looks good and strong and I hope I am too. I am feeling fairly fresh despite a small amount of sharp hip pain... mostly when I am running easily so... I decide to not run too easily. It works. From the half way point to the base of the second big climb I average 7 minute miles and my breathing is hardly affected... running with the flow of the land is working well. This is like a dance.

After being warned several times of bees I cross the infamous bridge where they supposedly nest. Honestly, I was not worried about the bees, though I had heard much buzz concerning them. As life would have it... I got stung. I was nearly home free with only a single step to complete to reach the solid ground. Then ZAP!!! Right on my right knee.

I take this on as a challenge and distraction from the work ahead. The transition to hill climbing begins and I steadily attack the hill. Halfway up I see Lynnea again at the "turnout". She offers food and drink but I tell her I'll see her in 12 minutes at the top. Onward and upward...

51 minutes from the turn around I reach the final aid station. I've been running for 3 hours and 19 minutes now... and feeling great, feeling fine. I know that this though, this final 10+ miles; is the race... this stretch of running is the reason we all came here today. This challenge validates the countless steps we have all taken along the way.

I am alone. I am relaxed and able to do some simple math... pipe dreams are entering my head now. My time goal of 5:30 is well within reach now... I need only to maintain effort... but, what is my lead? Is it shrinking? There is no way to know and ultimately this does not matter.

I know, as we all do, that the essence of what we do on the trails is simply internal. We know when we give our best, and more importantly when we do not. I continued on with this is mind. I am racing ideals and running with my soul. I attack the descents and flats, still able to open the stride fully. When the uphills meet me I smile and chuckle. I chop my way upward with small efficient steps. Occasionally I peek to the trail behind me and look for signs of activity... nothing... nothing... nothing... I am alone, at least for now.

6 miles to go. NOW, I am starting to feel tired. The trail turns technical with roots, rocks and no rhythm; this race is not done with me. With cautious urgency I move ahead. I have now run 4 hours and 36 minutes... over 26 miles and this from here is all unknown for me. My 5 Marathons are child's play now. Though, mysteriously I feel better than in any of those efforts. Fatigue is here... but not despair, just elation and that thing others call the wall is nowhere. It does not exist. I could run forever like this... I could... but I will settle today for 6 more miles without a fall... 6 more miles of bliss. In moments when I realize my fatigue, my aching I remind myself of all those times when I felt much worse than this. This is fine, this is easy. Just relax, and move.

I reach the high water trail and like most of the runner's on the day's return, I decide to avoid challenging the river for a second time. Not only did I not want to slip on those rocks but I also wanted to check out that section of trail up there. It would be a shame to do all of that running and not see the "entire" trail... even if it meant an extra hill.

At 2.5 to go I finally saw Terri. My eye had been peeled all day for her and I was disappointed at the circumstances leading to her day's events. A runner had been injured here and she was playing the hero, as she did for all of us. After all, without all of Terri's efforts we would not share this camaraderie and this beauty on the trail.

Soon I was moving on after a delay of a few minutes.

"2.5 miles to go... okay... that'll take... 10, 20... 25 or 30 minutes," I think to myself. As is policy in these times, I click a new split on my watch and prepare to count to 30 minutes. "I can always run for 30 minutes."

5 minutes at a time I move ahead. Now I am concentrating on the trail, on my steps and being absolutely SURE that I run on the Foothills Trail and only the Foothills Trail. Home is in sight and a big hug awaits! 15 minutes gone... "good... the tricky trail near Kings Creek Falls should be coming soon." I now recall the early stages of the race.

I recall the underlying anxiety of the morning and all of the months of work that have led to this race. I recall back in January, when I was running only 10 miles a week, and 50k was a near impossibility. I remember the darkness of my training run down in Linville Gorge when I was utterly defeated by the final climb. I think of demons of my past, and a lifestyle that urged me to lay down and stay down against everything that makes me who I am. I take all of this, and hold it to the light of this moment. I am alone on my favorite river to feel this fully. I take my time over this final mile. I am at peace with all that has lead to this moment.

And just like any moment... this fades. I see the face of a young girl. She is waiting at the final turn to run and give the news that the first runner has arrived. I cross the line and see Lynnea. She gives me the best prize of all... all her love. I look at my watch and see my time... 5 hours 8 minutes. A new course record.

Lynnea and I retreat to share our moment of success. We await the rest of the runners and allow the emotions of this process to finally escape after building for 6 months. I am left believing, knowing... the mind WILL achieve anything for which it can formulate a plan.

Over the next several hours we share stories, eat amazing BBQ and exchange understanding with good people from all over the Southeast. My first ultra... but not the last. See you in Goblin Valley Utah... October!

Chattooga 50k Taper Weeks, Tourists on the trails!!

Just under a week until the Chattooga 50k... I am trying to stay relaxed and rest up but the excitement has begun to catch me unexpectedly in moments. Last week was pretty easy with a couple of rest days wrapped around a 16 mile jaunt, a speed session of 6 by a mile and then a race on Saturday. I jumped into the 'over the creek and through the woods 10k'. I had hoped to average 6 minute pace and see how that felt. The results were promising, (especially for the marathon in July) as I ran a 35:18. Should make 6:45 feel nice over the longer and hillier course. (Hillier... not really an actual word?)

Anyway, the race was good, felt like a hard tempo run. Sunday I was slated for 10 miles so I set out on the Boone Fork Trail, with a Price Lake Loop for a MUDDY and extremely enjoyable 70 minutes or so. There were tons of hikers out on a beautiful day. They were all avoiding the muddy wetness but not me! I plunged into the mud with every opportunity, ran directly in the the streams and maybe gave a few tourists a little scare as they may have felt that a cougar was upon them on a few of those blind corners.

Yesterday I was able to rest and do nothing, nothing and nothing.

I will run an hour or so today, hit some pace work on a handful of 800's tomorrow and then sprinkle in a couple of 30-40 minute runs at the end of the week with a couple of hills and/ or surges. This'll take me close to 1000 miles to this point on the year... It even looks like the final mile of the Chattooga will be number 1000... coincidence? Maybe.

Look forward to the day. From what I have seen the weather should be nice. 88 degrees, sunny and clear. 10% chance of a shower... which would be a good thing in passing.

"More fitness is more better"

Last week I hit the grass circuit for some mile repeats at 10k effort. These are more directed toward the Grandfather Marathon in July and will be slightly helpful on a few of the longer climbs at the Chattooga 50k. 'More fitness is more better' is my motto and though I have stayed away from speed work for the entire year, I have just been itching to run a little faster the past few weeks. So, in the spirit of running by feel I went out for a little relaxed form speed work. I followed that up a couple of days later with an aggressive 6 mile climb and an even more aggressive 6 mile descent back to the car. This made the legs scream for a couple of days. By Monday though, I was feeling pretty normal if not a little stiff and so went out for 24 easy miles on the Appalachian Trail, out of Watauga Lake access.

I just ran and ran and ran. After my watch beeped 1:42 I turned around and ran back to the car. It was slightly less climbing on the return and I was slightly quicker as a result, though I had no goal to run negative splits, just to relax and run for at least 3 hours a final time before the 50k... only three weeks to go now.

So that leaves a couple of longish runs over the next two weekends. I will also be sprinkling in a couple of mile repeat sessions and a few tempo runs as well while cutting back a bit on the overall workload volume.

I am ready to go. Visualizing the course, dealing with the early ease and excitement as it transitions into the fatigue and ultimately the despair that must be dealt with in its lonely steps, somewhere in there learning something, remembering something... whatever the lesson will be.

What is this running all about?

A week of high intensity training this week after last weekend's dress rehersal for the Chattooga 50k. Did a few days of long, tempo-paced running and today I am reaping the benefits of the hard work by sitting down and laying down.

The dogs got out for a bit and we had a nice walk in the the spring rain, beautiful. It is dark out now and drizzly, maybe we'll go and meander in the yard. The point of this entry though-

... just the little bit of jogging with the dogs revealed a level of fitness that I am so grateful for. There have been times when I never thought I would reach this point again as a runner (as a person) and now, with experience as it is, I enjoy this running so much more, take each step and breathe it in for the amazing thing that it is.

Though I strive to run better, that doesn't not necessarily mean faster... just better. This means never running in a hurry, always running relaxed and simply allowing my body to do its thing... to let the mind settle into what it wants as well. When these two things connect, the body and the mind... and they do so in a relaxed state then great things will happen... you will feel these things deeply and know that this is what you are meant to do.

All of the miniscule moments tic away adding up to this tiny moment. But this moment is markedly different. There is no anxiety, there is no worry, there is nothing else but to maintain that momentum. The soaring feeling in your soul that effortlessly allows you to float on by your surroundings while being fully emmersed in them. These are the types of moments that I run for.

I learn from many other moments for sure, all important when payed their due attention. Still, these kinds of moments are the ones we search for each day we enter into our running ritual. We enter the domain of the run, our domain of vulnerability, adversity and victory, we wait for this state to meet us somewhere in our miles and we know that life is sweet.

Chattooga Training- 22miler (sections 1-3 of 4)

I am just back from a quick trip to the Chattooga to search out some information concerning the 50k. Lynnea and Aster joined me on the trip and we arrived at our campsite around midnight Friday. A quick sleep and breakfast and we were at the trail head for the first steps of the journey. Finals arrangements were made and Lynnea wished me good luck as I headed out with fresh steps and fresh thoughts to discover what was to be out there on a Saturday morning on the Southern Foothills trail.

I was feeling really good early and trying so hard to hold back. I was planning on running sections 1, 2 and 3 of the 4 that will be run on the 7th of June. This would amount to 22 miles of 32. The trail would down through rhododendron and pine as well as the light filtering foliage that the Chattooga seems to harness perpetually. There were a few short and steep climbs and descents but for the most part it was slow and technical running through 3 miles. The watch said I had run this section in 27 minutes and so I was feeling good about the progress to this point, hoping to meet Lynnea at Aid station #1 in 90 minutes. The trail zipped down to and back away from the river several times and around 65 finally climbed back away from the Chattooga and began the long long climb to Hwy 107.

Over the next 36 minutes (about 3.5 miles) the trail worked around a number of ravines mostly climbing with some shorter downhills on the far end of longer, wide open ridge lines. In here there was some amazing running and a good number of small waterfalls. I met a couple of older gents on their way to go fishing and we exchanged pleasantries. I was certainly stating to feel the ongoing climb and foolishly beginning to press the climb as I was losing patience by mile 9. Finally I could hear a car on Hwy 107. I had been fooled earlier by a water fall...

Lynnea was there as planned and was with a large group of people to my surprise. These nice folks were spending their Saturday doing trail work on the Foothills trail. To their credit the conditions were really clear and extremely runnable compared to what I read from last year's race. There were no obstructions or even large down trees to climb over or under. A this first aid station (race day #1 and #3) I took some gel and refilled bottles to head on to Oconee St. Park. I told Lynnea this may take 60 minutes rather than the originally planned 54 minutes. To this point I was really having to press to make the 9 minute pace (including pit stops along the trail for various reasons).

I headed out for the next 5.5+ miles and was feeling quite fresh despite the previous climb at the end of the first 10.5 mile section. The trail quickly darted downhill at a very runnable grade on a soft leaf covered surface with some sections of even more gentle pine needle padding. This downhill plummeted for about 2 miles with a couple of flatter sections mixed in before climbing back up the other side of the water shed. This climb was much shorter and less aggressive leading to mostly flat and rolling sections of trail leading to Oconee St. Park. Lynnea arrived just as I emerged from the terminal end of the Foothills Trail. I ran this portion in about 50 minutes and was feeling like I could run forever, a million times more fresh that at the 10.5 mark. Obviously I take about 16 miles to get warmed up. I did however know that the return would be an uphill climb and could take as mush as 60 minutes to complete. I set off on the final leg feeling fresh mentally and feeling a little less fresh in the legs... within a mile I had my one fall of the day, failing to lift those knees enough and catching a root on a relatively wide open sections of trail. I plopped down, bruised the hip, got covered in Earth and lay their for a moment enjoying the day. I had a laugh and off I went. "pay attention!" I scolded myself with a small chuckle. In another 1/2 mile I came upon the second and last trail traffic of the day. A few mountain bikers pulled aside for me as they were getting into a short climb. I put in a short burst up the hill to get away from the trail tag game and disappeared down the small and smooth downhill ride over the next mile or so. After a short climb and descent I came to the base of the final climb of the day. This was the test. All the previous steps of a Saturday morning and of this training cycle were to be tested at this point. I slowed my pace, back the effort and through the anxiety of future conditions out of the realm of the mind. This would be a process of the current and next steps and nothing more. Maintaining the momentum of the mind to overcome any message from the body.

The clock stood at 40 minutes and I knew that as long as I kept "running" I would be at the car and done for the day in a measly minutes. Each time I felt my body rushing with anxiety I forced my mind to slow, breathing deeper, cutting down the stride and simply sensing the smooth movements of a seasoned and trained runner. At least that was what I was trying to convince myself of. The reality was that I felt, physically, like a first day off the couch beginner trying to run an over-ambitious 5k PR. I was at the stage where I realized I had no fitness and the attempt was rather foolish but stubbornness would prevail and I was to continue this insanity. So I pushed on and on. I reached one mile to go at 48 minutes in... now the game was to run a 12 minute mile and hope the hill down. But this climb continued, levelling for a few step, turning a corner a spiking uphill again. This climb 'seemed' much more aggressive than the end of the 10.5 mile section as it just never ended. I was tired and trying to recognize where I was on the trail, but it all looks the same in this mind state. The next trick was to just run up the damn thing until I was stepping downhill to the car. A few minutes later the hill gave way having proved its point.

I reached the car and stopped running. The great reward was felt, my legs would not stop moving, the pendulum continued in the quads, the phantom of the past 3:30 and 22 miles of hilly terrain... Despite the hell-acious final climb I did feel that with a more conservative start and a less aggressive climbing technique I could run the entire 50k in about 5:30... this is not so much a goal just an idea to wrap my head around over the next five weeks. This may prepare my brain to keep on for this period of time and an additional 10.5 miles.

The quest's banking account is growing deeper by the week, this was a large deposit and come June 7th will pay off in a big way. One more long run to complete, going 24 miles. A few more tempo runs which will probably be run a little bit more aggressively at this stage in the training cycle. This was a great time at the Chattooga and we were fortunate to receive beautiful, cool weather. If race day is anything like this then all involved will be blessed. Though, thunderstorms passing once an hour could be pretty cool too!