2014 Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race, Day 3

Rock/Creek Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race – 3 Days, 3 Mountains, 60 Miles
Friday, June 13 – Sunday, June 15, 2014

Gear: Patagonia Air Flow Shirt, Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts, Smartwool PhD Graduated Compression Socks, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes, Suunto Ambit 2 (HR) Watch, Camelbak Handheld Bottle, Salomon S-Lab Soft Flask, Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem & Extreme Endurolytes

Day 3, Signal Mountain (20 Miles):

Well, we finally made it to Day 3. The first two days had taken their toll on quite a few runners and for good reason. Forty miles, a little over 4,000 feet of climbing and plenty of heat and humidity. They always say ‘save the best for last’ and Day 3 is by far the best day of this stage race. These trails have a great mix of super technical trails, steep climbs, fast down hills, almost 2,700 feet of climbing, and some gorgeous views.

Just like Day 2, Day 3 has never been a ‘good’ day for me. I’ve usually been so shot by day 3 that my favorite course ends up being a long suffering day in the woods. However, this year was shaping up a lot better… Thank you Jesus. Going into Day 3 my legs still felt good, I wasn’t having any issues with cramping/soreness and was doing a pretty good job of staying hydrated and fueled up for the last day.

Stage 3 course starts at the Signal Mountain High School soccer fields and runs some of the same trails as R/C StumpJump 50k course out to the Suck Creek Road crossing. From there runners make a 180-degree turn and head back up the same steep rocky climbs they just completed to begin a big 15-mile loop.

Everyone limped, hobbled and gathered around the starting line for the last 20 miles of fun. The last few seconds ticked off of the starting clock and in no time we were off and running. A short run through the parking lot and then off down some small gravel double track for the next mile to help spread the field before reaching the single track at Mushroom Rock. 

This gravel double track has wreaked havoc on plenty of runners in the past and this year was no exception. There are plenty of washouts and areas that jump out and grab runner’s ankles and can take a runner out very quickly. Thankfully I didn’t have any issues of my own for this section. Once at Mushroom Rock (MR) you take a long sweeping left hand turn down to some fast single track that drop runners down to an awesome wood swinging bridge at the bottom the gorge. My best advice for getting across the swinging bridge quickly and efficiently is a very fast walk/shuffle. Trying to run makes the bridge oscillate and causes any running difficult and extremely awkward. 

Across the bridge runners start making their way back up the climb on the other side. This climb is fairly runnable with very little technical sections but the roughly 400 feet of elevation gain in such a short distance make it difficult. At the top runners have a short ‘flat-er’ section before dropping down another 300 foot steep technical trail to the Aid #1 (3.3mi) at Suck Creek Road. Anyone shooting to beat any of their fellow runners will like this out and back section because it gives you an opportunity to see how far ahead or how far behind you are from your competition.

Leaving Aid #1 runner turn right around and begin heading back toward Mushroom Rock. The trip back to MR is a little more difficult than the initial trip from MR. Despite having two difficult climbs and only one good down hill on the way back to MR the return trip always feels somewhat easier because of the cheers and encouragement runners give each other as they pass on the out and back section. 

Coming back up to Mushroom Rock I noticed that I hadn’t seen a couple of runners that had been ahead of me on the overall time from the previous two days. I found out from some people at MR that one had dropped and the other was taking it very slow both due to some ankle injuries. Relieved to be back up the second climb and at the MR intersection I knew that the next few miles over to Aid #2 (9.4mi) were a relatively flat. The trails over to Edwards Point and Aid #2 are a lot of fun. These trails twist and wind around through the woods running right on the edge of the ridge giving some great views. 

There are plenty of runnable trails, rocks, roots, vegetation, and all the great elements of trail running that make this a very fun section. Rolling into Aid #2 at Edwards Point there is a spectacular view of the river below and the ridge lines surrounding the river. It’s definitely worth a quick look and photo while you refill water bottles and refuel.

I was sitting in 5th place at Aid #2 and hadn’t seen or heard anyone in the last 4 miles. It sounded like the four runners ahead of me were doing pretty well and I would have to make up a decent amount of time to catch them. Everything still felt pretty good and I figured I would do my best to make up some ground but was still shooting to have a sick-free Stage Race and figured I would do the best I could with the last 10+ miles of the race. 

The trail over to Aid #3 at Signal Point is only about 2.5-miles but is some of the most technical couple miles of trail out of the entire Stage Race. There are a few wooden swinging bridges in this section and plenty of rocks for those who enjoy the technical terrain. To top this section off there is a real hard climb as you reach the base of Signal Point. There are a combination of man made wooden stairs, rock steps and cables to help everyone make the climb up to Aid #3 (11.8mi).

Immediately leaving Aid #3 everyone runs up a short road section, past some families standing on the road handing runners lemonade and coke drinks and then past a senior home where there always seems to be some elderly people rocking on the front porch and cheering on everyone. It’s great to get some encouragement from everyone after making that Signal Point climb. Just past the senior home the course turns left off of the road and runs down beside a golf course on a nice double track trail that rolls smoothly down to some more difficult creek running sections. 

The creek running section is quite interesting, there are a lot of off-camber sections, rocks, roots, loose dirt, sketchy “trail” sections, etc. I was happy that I was able to run most of this , where in years past I’ve had to walk a large portion of this section. With God’s help too I didn’t break anything. I ate it at least 2-3 times and had even more close calls. As you close in on Aid #4 you start to run up and away from the creek. At Aid #4 (16.4mi) runners emerge from the single track onto a jeep road and gather any last few supplies for the last 3+ miles back to the finish area.

These last few miles back up the finish are non-technical and consist of forest service roads and a little bit of double track once you get back toward the school. I still hadn’t seen anyone since early on in the race so I figured I would push on as much as possible and at a minimum try to maintain my 5th place position. 

This last few miles went much faster than years past but were still fairly difficult considering the uphill climb that makes up a good portion of this section. The thought seeing my wife and daughters at the finish liner were a great motivation for me to run this last section strong. I noticed if I could maintain my current pace I had a chance to break 3 hours. I talked with God a little to take my mind off the hurt, focused on maintaining a good stride and before I knew it I was within earshot of the finish. 

Coming up the last small climb I started looking for my family and found them standing down by the finish line cheering me on as I emerged from the woods. Coming up to the finish I was able to grab my youngest and cross the finish line with her. What a great Father’s Day! 

I wasn’t able to chase down any of the lead four runners but managed to hold on to 5th place for the day and with God’s help was able to do it in under 3 hours.

I found my way straight to the ice pool to congratulate the other runners and cool off. My wife, daughters and other family gathered around the pool to congratulate me and the other runners as well and I was able to steal a few kisses from my beautiful wife.

Thanks to all the good memories and laughs from all the runners. Nashville crew… thanks for the great competition and the Shaggy comparison. I love it! Thanks to God for the great trails and beautiful scenery on all three days. Thank you to my family for crewing and cheering me on for this Father’s Day weekend. Thanks to Rock/Creek, WildTrails and all of the volunteers and personnel who put Stage 3 and the entire weekend together.

Day 3 – 5th place, 2:58:57

Overall 3 Day Total – 5th place, 7:41:53

Until the next race.

Nathan D. Holland
2014 Rock/Creek Race Team

2014 Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race, Day 2

Rock/Creek Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race – 3 Days, 3 Mountains, 60 Miles
Friday, June 13 – Sunday, June 15, 2014

Gear: Patagonia Air Flow Shirt, Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts, Smartwool PhD Graduated Compression Socks, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes, Suunto Ambit 2 (HR) Watch, Camelbak Handheld Bottle, Salomon S-Lab Soft Flask, Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem & Extreme Endurolytes

Day 2, Lookout Mountain (22 Miles):

Day 2 takes place on Lookout Mountain starting and finishing at the Lula Lake Land Trust area. Lula Lake offers some great hiking/running trails with some beautiful ridgeline views and a gorgeous waterfall. 

This area is only open the first and last Saturday of each month so it’s a real treat when you get an opportunity to visit. The trails are moderately technical with most of the trails being double track or relatively wide single track.

In the past, Day 2 has never played out in my favor. On both of my previous attempts I ended up throwing up a few times during the race, struggling through to the finish, and left completely drained for the final stage on Sunday. This year I wanted to do my best to recover for Day 2 and complete this stage still feeling good. So, following Friday’s Stage 1 I spent plenty of time in the ice pool, I started refueling as soon as my run was complete, rolled and stretched my muscles numerous times, and tried to get as much rest as possible. It must have worked, because I woke up Saturday morning feeling great. My legs were loose, nothing was hurting and I felt nice and rested for the day’s run.

Stage 2 course is shaped kind of like a dumbbell. There are two circular loops that are connected by an out-and-back trail. Of all three days, Stage 2 offers the best and easiest venue for family and friends to watch the runners. The start/finish area starts at the main parking area on the Lula Lake property and runners will run through this area twice throughout the race before coming back in for the finish.

Friday’s race had been extremely humid and the late afternoon and evening thunderstorms that rolled through the valley Friday really helped knock down the humidity for Saturday’s race. The temperatures Saturday morning were in the upper-60s and were forecasted to be into the mid-70’s by noon. The atmosphere was very lively and runners were looking forward to the great running conditions and some beautiful trails. The race director, Randy had warned runners on day 1 that most runners hold back on Stage 1, feel great at the start of Stage 2 and end up blowing the wheels off, and end up wiped out for Stage 3. It was true, I had fell victim to this scenario in my previous two attempts so I was focused on not putting myself in that position again this year.

Before we knew it, it was time to start. Everyone took off under the Salomon Start/Finish Arch for a nice ~3/4 mile run down the gravel road to spread the field. Runners are treated to a beautiful waterfall on their left about 1/2-mile down the gravel road. Past the waterfall a single track trail juts off to the right taking runners over to the steepest and most technical climb of the day. There is a short steep climb that involves a few rocky switch backs and ropes for aid in making the ascent. With the steepest climb of the day complete within the first 1.5 miles of the run the single track opens up to a nice double track trail that continues climbing up the ridge line. Off to the left are some gorgeous views of the valley and usually a nice breeze. 

This easy ridge climb continues for the next mile or so with a few flat sections mixed in to give your legs a break. It can seem like the ridge is never going to end and finally you make a hard right hand turn heading back down on another double track trail. Once you get closer to the bottom of the descent the trail narrows back to single track and starts winding in and out around the trees with some fun short climbs and quick descents. The last little bit of this initial loop has everyone running beside the creek back to an awesome wooden bridge that carries you over the creek and back to the start/finish area, Aid #1 (5.3mi). Coming through this aid station I was sitting around the top 10 again and felt like I was maintaining a reasonable pace that wouldn’t have the wheels falling off midway through the race.

Leaving Aid #1 runners run through the Lula Lake parking area and begin the climb out of the Lula Lake area and take a connector trail up toward Covenant College. For anyone familiar with the R/C Lookout Mountain 50 Mile Race some of this trail is similar to a portion of that race. It is a pretty consistent uphill climb for the next 5 miles to Aid #2 (10.7mi). The trails up to the next aid consist of washed out double track, smoother more runnable double track, some easy single track, and a little bit of exposed power line trails. There are a few downhill sections throughout to break up the perpetual climb up to the Covenant aid station. 

Finally when you come out on the steepest and longest power trail climb of the day you’re almost to Aid #2. I had caught a runner on my way up to this climb and had been running with them now for the past mile or so and it was nice to have a little conversation. This Aid was stocked with all the normal aid station paraphernalia; water, HEED, sweet and salty stuff, oranges, apples, and then… some watermelon… Awesome! Cold watermelon on a hot day’s run is phenomenal! With some fresh water bottles and two fists full of watermelon we were off.

The nice thing about all that climbing up to Aid #2 is that for the next 5 miles back to Lula Lake you know that it’s pretty much all downhill! It’s the reward for the last 5 miles of climbing. About 2 miles out from Aid #2 I heard some fellow runners coming up from behind and was able to run with a small pack of 3-4 runners for about 2 miles. Just a couple miles past Aid #2 you finish the lollipop portion of the Covenant aid station loop and get back onto the stick portion heading back on the same trail that you ran on when you left Lula Lake. This is a nice motivational section because runners are now going both directions and it’s nice to give words of encouragement to your fellow runners and it’s just as nice to receive encouraging words from them as well. 

As we made it back within earshot of Aid #3 (15.5mi) the couple of runners ahead of me got an extra boost of energy and picked up the pace and I let them go as I was not concerned with running anyone else’s race and was still feeling great and wanted to make sure I stayed with the plan of finishing day 2 with plenty left for the last day of running.

Leaving Aid #3 I was in 6th place and had a new that there was just a little of 6 miles left to get back to the start/finish line and see my wife and kids. Great motivation to finish as quickly as possible! Leaving Aid #3 runners head out to run the original loop in reverse, counterclockwise. This means a mile or so of flat single track winding around beside the creek before a nice steady climb back up on the ridge. This climb has really put a hurting on me in the past but not today. Before I knew it I had reached the top of the climb and began the next 1-1.5 mile “downhill” run along the ridge line. This ridge is considerably harder than it should be for a “downhill” run… or at least that’s what my body tells me every time I run this section. 

It’s a fact, it’s definitely uphill when running it clockwise so it just make since that it should be downhill when running it counterclockwise. However, my legs always feel like it’s uphill both ways. Oh well, at least there are beautiful views off the side of the ridge which almost makes up for the difficulty to run this ridge fast. You’ll know you’re coming to the end of the ridge run and getting ready to make the quick descent back down to the gravel road when the double track ends and you jump back on single track. This single track runs for a short distance before starting a series or quick switch backs down to the hand-rope climb that will drop you down to the gravel road. Once at the bottom runners take a short 1/8-mile run up the road and past that amazing waterfall, now on your right. 

Most people will have missed the waterfall at the start because it’s behind them as they’re running down the road, but this direction gives everyone an awesome view of this beautiful waterfall. After a quick view it’s time to get back to running because you’ve only got a mile or so to get back to the finish area. At the bridge runners will take a left and up a steep climb back on to some really fun single track. This trail climbs up and down, in and all around the roots, rocks and trees all along the creek that’s feeding that gorgeous waterfall. This is a fairly technical section and with 40+ miles over the past two days it can be somewhat treacherous if you get out of control. I’ve eaten it a few times in here but never more than a minor cut or bruise. As you make your way to a clearing and usually a small crowd of people you’ve made it to the last water crossing. This calf-high water crossing is pretty fun and feels great on tired legs and feet. 

I’ve always seen these awesome pictures of people running through this creek and it looks so easy. In the past I’ve been on the verge of death and have only felt like crawling through the creek. This year I felt great so I figured I could run through and maybe get one of those “cool creek crossing” photos… Well, I almost made it. I was mere feet from the end of the crossing and I busted. So, instead of a cool photo of me running gracefully through the creek I got a picture of me on all fours clumsily climbing out of calf-high water! Oh well, it felt great. With only a 1/4-mile of gravel road to the finish I laughed off my clumsiness and sloshed off to meet my girls. 

The finish area at Lula Lake is a blast. Runners can hang out with the family/friends and cheer on runners that are finishing as well as those that still have an hour or so of running. There is a great place for kids and adults to climb into the creek and lay around in the cool water. WildTrails and Rock/Creek have music, food, popsicles, and cold drinks to help runner recover for the next day.

Recovery included another bottle of Perpetuem, pasta, ice pool, and some playing in the creek with my little girls!

I thank God for the amazing trails and beautiful scenery at the Lula Lake Land Trust and for being able to enjoy this with my family and friends. Thank you to Mary (stepmom) for coming out and supporting me all day, Jodi (step… dog?), Katy and the girls for cheering me on through the finish and for hanging out with me in the ice pool and creek. A BIG thanks to Rock/Creek, WildTrails and all of the volunteers and personnel who put Stage 2 together.

Day 2 – 7th place, 2:34:10 

Until Day 3…

Nathan D. Holland
2014 Rock/Creek Race Team

2014 Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race, Day 1

Rock/Creek Chattanooga Mountain Stage Race – 3 Days, 3 Mountains, 60 Miles
Friday, June 13 – Sunday, June 15, 2014

Gear: Patagonia Air Flow Shirt, Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts, Smartwool PhD Graduated Compression Socks, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes, Suunto Ambit 2 (HR) Watch, Camelbak Handheld Bottle, Salomon S-Lab Soft Flask, Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem & Extreme Endurolytes

Background:

Oh stage race… You have been an elusive sphinx for me in the past. The past two years I have tried to break the eight-hour mark for this three-day event, each time falling short by roughly 30 minutes. Well, God willing, not this year. 

Competition this year was pretty good, there were some fast people from Nashville, Huntsville and the surrounding Chattanooga area. Then there were some super-fast people from Florida/Colorado who came out to burn up the course. The Stage Race always seems to attract a great group of people from around the country and is one of my favorite aspects of this race.

Day 1, Raccoon Mountain (18 Miles):

The Raccoon Mountain trails are minor-to-moderately technical, very runnable single track trails that are a lot of fun to run. The very popular Rock/Creek Scenic City Trail Half and Full Marathons are run on most of the same trails with Day 1 of the Stage Race adding a few miles of different trails.

Driving up to Raccoon Mountain on Friday morning, there was an awesome cloud/fog mixture engulfing the entire mountain and temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 60s. After catching up with a few old friends and putting some faces with some new social media friends at the Laurel Point start/finish area everyone started gathering around for the start of the race. 

The start of Day 1 sends runners down a short 1/8-mile pavement section before taking a hard left onto the single track. Thus, it is vital to push hard for this first pavement section, as otherwise you’ll be stuck in the conga line of walking and jogging the first mile or so until you have a chance to spread out. 

As we counted down the last five seconds off the start cloc,k everyone put on their game face and was ready to go out and run. As we shot off the starting line I was running beside Memphis superstar Olaf Wasternack and not 100 feet into the run he abruptly pulled off to the side of the pavement and fell out of sight. I knew that Olaf was a strong contender, so I was hoping that everything was alright. 

The first few miles up to aid station one seem to fly by with all of the excitement at the start of the Stage Race. This makes it easy to get sucked in and push yourself too hard and pay for it later. Keeping that in the back of my mind I decided to focus on staying comfortable and keep reminding myself that I still had two more days. 

Within a mile in the race we were spread out from the main pack and I was running alone somewhere in the top ten. Coming through Aid #1 (4.7mi) everything still felt good except the buckets of perspiration pouring out of my body… I didn’t realize how humid it was at the beginning of the race but could definitely tell how high it was now. 

The next 3+ miles rolled by quickly as I worked my way down to Aid #2 (8.0mi). For those that are familiar with the Scenic City Trail Race, just past Aid #2 is where the course changes for the Stage Race. In the stage race runners run the Small Intestines trail before running up the Grindstone trail over to Aid #3 around the Visitor Center. Small Intestines is a nice section of trails that winds in and around allowing runners to see people in front of them and behind them throughout various stages of the section. 

Somewhere around mile 10 or so I finally heard someone coming from behind me and turned to see Olaf blistering his way up the trail. Come to find out, Olaf’s running watch was ripped off his arm only 50 feet into the race and he made the decision to stop and grab the expensive piece of equipment. This minor setback put Olaf at the complete back of the pack and really shows how good of an athlete he is to have worked his way all the way back up to the top ten despite having to pass some 200+ runners and all on tight single track trails. 

We had caught another fellow superstar, Cody Goodwin. Once the two were together they seemed to feed off of each other’s energy. I ran with them as long as I could but soon realized I was feeling very tired and decided I couldn’t stay with them as I seemed to be hitting a low. 

By the time I reached Aid #3 (13.0mi) I was almost completely out of energy. I knew the next 5 miles were going to be a little rough but figured as long as I could get through it without losing too much ground I could recover for Saturday and Sunday stages. Leaving Aid #3 runners have 1/2-to-3/4-mile of easy downhill/flat running before coming to the visitor center and getting a very fast downhill section that really lets runners fly. Once at the bottom runners begin climbing out of the other side via a few quick switchbacks followed by some rolling climbs. 

Although this section of trails offers some of the most gorgeous views of the river and gorge I was not in the best mood to enjoy the views. I wasn’t expecting to hit a low like this on Day 1… I figured holding back and taking it easy would have left me feeling great the entire race with plenty of extra for Saturday and Sunday, but it didn’t feel like that at all. I struggled to keep any kind of decent pace through these last 5-miles. About 2 miles from the finish I heard the inevitable sound of footsteps and conversation as two other runners caught me and quickly passed me.

Thanks to God for giving me the strength to push through to the finish because I managed to retain a jog/run on flat and downhill sections and a walk/suffer-fest on the climbs. Finally I found my way to the R/C flags taking me off of the single track and back onto the pavement section that would lead me back to the start/finish line at Laurel Point. Crossing the line I was greeted by my beautiful wife and daughters who came out to cheer me on.

Recovery included a bottle of Perpetuem, bananas, pretzels, ice pool, and figuring out why I bonked so bad. As it turned out “everyone” seemed to struggle more than expected for Day 1. At the end of the day I wrote it off as very high humidity and changing my normal drink plan to Skratch Labs products versus Perpetuem and some decreased calorie intake. Don’t get me wrong the Skratch Lab products are great and I don’t fault them, just my failure to play with concentration mixtures enough before the race to understand how my body would fare during race conditions. Decided I would go back to my tried and true mixtures for Day 2 and see how that played out.

As always I want to give all the glory to God and thank Him for keeping me and all of the other runners safe throughout the day. Thanks to my beautiful family for coming to watch me finish. Thank you Rock/Creek for the running gear and support. Thanks to all of the volunteers and personnel who made the first day of the Stage Race happen.

Day 1 – 6th place, 2:08:46 

Until Day 2…

Nathan D. Holland
2014 Rock/Creek Race Team

2014 Thunder Rock 100 - DNF Part 2

Continued from Part 1, published yesterday. 

Coming into Servilla Church (Aid #7, 50mi) I was pretty pumped to see my family and get some dry socks and shoes. I was still ahead of my schedule, maybe more than I wished but there wasn’t a lot I could do now other than just roll with it. 

Roughly 8 hours and 40 minutes had elapsed by mile 50, and I was feeling pretty good. I pulled off my wet shoes and socks, put some moleskin on pinky toes — not that it really mattered since they were encased in blisters from the inside all around the front, bottom and around the outside. Weirdest blisters I’ve ever had. 

I got some fresh socks and shoes, put on some arm warmers and kissed my wife. Someone offered me a jacket, but I turned it down thinking I would be warm enough since I would be running most of the next 15 miles. Mistake #3. 

As my safety runner and I headed out, we started talking about the day and what the next 15 miles would entail. I was feeling pretty good from the boost of energy after seeing my family. However, within about 10 minutes I noticed that I was a lot colder than I realized. I pulled my arm warmers up to my shoulders and pulled my cheapo $1 gloves on my hands. 

A few minutes later I was still cold and asked my buddy to pull my jacket out of my pack for me… no luck, nobody put my jacket in my pack. A miscommunication on my part. Oh well, I could manage the next few hours without my jacket. Before too long I was feeling very tired, not necessarily tired from exhaustion but it felt like I was extremely sleepy tired. If I was hiking an uphill section I was really cold and really tired. I was almost nodding off on the hiking uphill sections. As much as I could, I was running just to try and warm up and keep myself awake. 

Coming into the Iron Gap aid station (Aid #8, 54mi), I got a little bit of warm soup and a quick shot of Mountain Dew thinking that would help wake me up a little. After the quick shot of caffeine my blood sugar spiked, and I got a little jolt of energy that helped me run a little quicker. This, subsequently, warmed me up a little bit. The only issue with this was that once the sugar dropped and I started slowing again I quickly went back to being cold/tired. 

I cycled back and forth through these really cold/tired spells and short bursts of energy right up through Bullet Creek (Aid #9, 59mi) and all the way to Starr Mountain (Aid #10, 65mi). When I got to Starr Mountain I had really hit a low. I really felt like I was going to pass out from being so tired… It was a different kind of tired, and I wasn’t really sure why I felt like my eyelids weighted 15-pounds each. 

I got up to my crew and told them that I needed to sit down for just a few minutes and rest. I really felt like 5-10 minutes of sleep would do me a world of good. I didn’t want to take any more time than that because I knew that I was under a tight time crunch. Not really thinking straight, I just sat down in a camp chair and grabbed a couple minutes of shut eye. 

What felt like seconds later, one of my buddy’s shook me a little and woke me up. I was freezing. Mistake #4.

If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have grabbed some warm food and then jumped in my crew’s warm vehicle to grab a few minutes of shut-eye. Instead, I didn’t eat anything and just sat down in a cold chair with nothing to keep me warm and passed out for a few minutes. 

I got up and put on both jackets that I had, trying to warm up a little. My Dad could tell that I wasn’t doing real hot, and told me to stay for a few more minutes and warm up and eat something but I convinced him that I was fine and just needed to get moving again. Mistake #5.

As I rolled out of the Starr Mountain aid station I knew that I had roughly 10 miles back down to Iron Gap aid station. My second safety runner got out on the trail with me and we were off. Well, we weren’t off very long before I had to stop and walk. That 10 minutes of rest really didn’t do much for me. I was still freezing cold, and it wasn’t helping me warm up now that I was moving at a snail’s pace.

I hadn’t really dressed for moving this slowly, and I was paying the price. Almost immediately once back on the trail, I was nodding off again and struggling just to keep my eyes open, let alone keeping one foot in front of the other. The next few hours were pretty hazy. I know that I came to a few times with my safety runner grabbing the back of jacket and saving me from falling face first in the dirt. Things were going downhill quickly. 

Now that I was struggling just to stay awake and couldn’t seem to get warm, I was having an even harder time eating and drinking. I knew that eating anything was crucial to keeping moving and was trying my hardest to eat anything I could, but I was not very successful. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we started coming down the road back the Iron Gap aid station (Aid #11, 75mi). 

I made my over to the aid station looking for a blanket or something to try and warm up. One of the aid station workers saw that I was not feeling well and grabbed me a blanket. I wrapped up and sat down for a minute, thinking I could warm up some and eat and would instantly feel re-energized and ready to get back to running. Sitting there trying to eat some warm soup, my hands were shaking so bad that I could hardly keep the soup in the cup. 

My safety runner pulled a thermal blanket out of his pack and wrapped it around me; then, with the help of the aid station volunteer, they wrapped me up in a total of 3 blankets. I told my buddy to let me try and eat some and then give me about 10 minutes to get a power nap and hopefully some extra energy. About 20-minutes later, when I awoke, I found my buddy, an aid station volunteer and a couple of fireman safety crews standing around asking me talking and looking concerned. 

Then they started with the questions; how are you feeling, are you cold, what’s your name, do you want to keep going, etc. It took my by surprise and then I realized that I was REALLY cold. For the life of me, I could not stop shaking. It didn’t make any sense. I had a thermal blanket and three (3) big wool blankets wrapped around me and I felt like I was standing out in a snow storm in my underwear. 

One of the fireman told me to go over to his truck and get in where they had the heat going. As I made my way over to the truck, I felt like someone had broken my left ankle while I was passed out. It would not bend, and the pressure under my sock told me that I must have sprained it sometime between the stumble-fest that I had from Starr Mountain down to Iron Gap. 

As I hobbled up into the fire truck I was still trying to put together where I was, how much further to the next aid station and where I was on my target times to finish in time to make graduation. Talking to my safety runner and doing some rough math, I found out that I had lost quite a bit of time in the last 10 miles and knew that I would not be able to finish in time to make the graduation, especially at the pace I had slowed to now. 

About this time, someone came over and stuck a thermometer in my ear and asked what I had decided. I told them to give me a minute and let me think. Like I mentioned before, I’ve gotten myself into pretty bad spots before, both in races and training runs. I’ve been lost, dehydrated, throwing up sick, and have taken one too many IV bags. 

My wife is a God-send and does so much taking care of our 1 and 3-year old daughters while I’m out on these running adventures. So, when I push myself to the point of sickness I don’t do her any favors because now she gets stuck taking care of all three of us and it’s not fair to her. I knew now that I was behind schedule, hadn’t been eating/drinking enough, was feeling pretty bad, and knew that pushing on to the next aid station may make me miss a graduation that I promised to attend I made the hard decision. 

I told my buddy to let the aid station know that runner #189 was going to withdraw… 

Almost as soon as my buddy walked off to tell the aid station one of the fireman jumped in the truck and said that he was taking me down to see the EMS??? What, why? “Your temperature is too low (<96̈°F) and we have to take you down get checked out.” I argued for a few minutes telling them that I was cold but I definitely didn’t need to see the EMS. Well, apparently it didn’t matter because they were ordered to take me regardless of what I told them. 

Oh well, I had already made the decision to stop so I finally convinced them to first radio ahead to my crew at Quinn Springs so they would know where I was going and could come and pick me up. After being in the truck with blankets and the heat going full blast in face for 30+ minutes, I started to warm up and really started to feel a lot better. I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out anymore and started to think more clearly. After a short time hanging out in the EMS vehicle my crew showed up to the fire station and came in to the ambulance to check on me and give me some warm clothes. 

I apologized to my crew about 100 times for pulling out and really started to feel the weight of the DNF as I climbed into the truck. By the clock on the dash I knew that would I have stayed on pace I should have been climbing to the top of Oswald Dome by this time and would be looking at about 13 miles to the finish… It hit me pretty hard and I felt like a huge failure. I didn’t want to look anyone in the face because I felt like I’d let them down so I just put my head against the window and decided to pass out. 

Back at the house I got cleaned up and had enough time to get about 30 minutes of sleep before heading out to the graduation. My family and friends were doing their best to make me feel better. They told me that they were proud of me and the effort I’d put into the 75 miles I had completed but I still felt like crap and wasn't proud of myself at all. This pretty much summed up the rest of my day. 

Then, sometime Saturday evening I realized that even though I didn't finish what I had set out to complete that I wasn't a failure. I do not understand why but sometimes God’s greatest glory comes from our failures not our successes. No, it wasn't the plan I had put together, but I know that sometimes God has different plans for us that may not have anything to do with what we want. 

I had prayed many times before and during the Thunder Rock 100 that God would keep all of the runners safe and help bring each of us home to our loved ones. I had also told God many times that I was not worried and trusted him no matter what. Then I realized that my pity party and being upset about the outcome of the race was not someone who was “trusting” that God knew what was best and realized that I was truly blessed just for being able to participate in the race. 

I want to congratulate everyone who ran the inaugural Thunder Rock 100 both finishers and non-finishers alike! The elements were at their finest these two days and really made it special for those who completed this 100. Even though I wasn’t fortunate enough to finish this year’s Thunder Rock I learned quite a bit from my mistakes and will be sure to log those away in the experience bank for the next race/run. 

One of the greatest things I learned from my first trail race DNF is that I have a lot more support and encouragement from friends and family than I ever realized. I’ve had plenty of congratulations from successful races but I’ve never received so much words of encouragement and praise for what I had accomplished than what I did after my DNF. 

A good friend of mine sent this message from Galatians 6:9 ESV: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” 

Did Not Finish (DNF); Completed 75-of-100 miles

As always I want to give all the glory to God and thank Him for keeping me and all of the other runners safe throughout the day. It was truly a blessing to run in such a beautiful part of the country. A big thank you to my family/crew for being there to support me. A big shout out to Rock/Creek for all of the awesome running gear and support. Last but not least, I want to thank all of the volunteers and personnel who helped put together the 2014 Thunder Rock 100. You guys did an amazing job taking care of all the runners and keeping people on course for such a long race.

Until the next race,
Nathan D. Holland
2014 Rock/Creek Race Team

2014 Thunder Rock 100 - DNF Part 1

Rock/Creek Thunder Rock 100
Friday, May 16 – Saturday, May 17, 2014

Gear: Patagonia Air Flow Shirt, Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts, Smartwool PhD Graduated Compression Socks, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes, Suunto Ambit 2 (HR) Watch, Camelbak Handheld Bottle, Salomon S-Lab Advanced Skin Hydration Pack, Salomon S-Lab Soft Flask, Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem & Extreme Endurolytes

Background:

It’s funny how you can build something up so big in your mind, and think you’ve worked out all the nitty-gritty details, and just know that it’s going to unfold exactly the way you’ve got it worked out… and then, when that plan actually comes to fruition it takes on a life of its own and develops completely different from what you had planned.

Rock/Creek’s inaugural Thunder Rock 100 mile trail race was, without a doubt, going to be my first ever 100 mile trail race, I knew that I was going to be a finisher at R/C’s maiden 100-mile voyage, and I knew that I was going to finish in time to attend my little sister’s graduation Saturday morning at 09:00. I knew that if I put in the training and had a game plan to get me from start to finish in 20-hours or less then I had nothing to worry about. 

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to be overly confident in my abilities; I mean, the furthest I had run in any single day up until race day was a little over 50 miles. I knew that my time constraint was aggressive but I liked the challenge and it gave me something to work toward. I figured if I really believed in the plan and removed all doubt from my mind, I could attain that goal without any real issues. Well, spoiler alert: I did not finish the Thunder Rock 100. I pulled out of the race at mile 75, but I was still able to make my sister’s graduation. 

Late Saturday morning, following graduation I had concluded that I was not going to be writing a race report. I mean, I didn’t finish the race! Who would care to read a report about 3/4 of the race, a report from someone who had failed? Then, later that day I realized that I was being selfish and unfair to all my fellow runners (finisher and non-finishers), my family/crew, my friends, and most importantly to God.

I consider myself a pretty new trail and ultra runner. My first trail and ultra race was the 2010 R/C StumpJump 50k. Man… what a brutal day! I think I trained for that run with about 6-8 actual training runs and then proceeded to get my tail handed to me over and over throughout that race. It was great! I finished, but paid for my unpreparedness for the next 3+ weeks. 

I didn’t run another trail race until the 2011 StumpJump. I knew that I could do better and had a real drive to finish stronger than the previous year. I wanted to get under 5 hours and worked pretty hard to get there. I missed it by about 7 minutes, but had an awesome time trying. I realize that my Thunder Rock 100 mile attempt was similar in that I went out with a couple of goals (finish in <20hrs & make a graduation), I didn't complete both goals but had a great time trying. Luckily for me, I learned some great lessons and can use those in my future runs/races and have other opportunities for completing my first 100-miler.

Race Details:

Weather on race day was crazy. The week prior to the race, temperatures had been in the high 80s and humid. About 2 days before the race a cold front pushed through the valley, bringing quite a bit of rain and cooler temperatures. Now race day temperatures were forecasted as high 60s and low 40s, with a very low chance of rain. About 15 minutes before the race, dark clouds rolled in above the Ocoee and unleashed a ridiculous amount of rain. 

Knowing the rain was going to make it a lot colder, my Dad started down to the truck to get my arm warmers and jacket — but almost as soon as he left the rain stopped and the sun came back out. Thinking that all of the rain was gone, I yelled for him to come back and don’t worry about the sleeves or jacket. Mistake #1.

With the rain stopped all ~175 runners lined up at the main bridge crossing the Ocoee directly behind the White Water Visitor Center. Sun was out, water dripping from the vegetation, crisp clean air, and an awesome buzz from all the excitement at the start line. 

5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. we were off! 

The 5 miles over to Thunder Rock (Aid #1) were nice and easy. I came through Aid #1 somewhere in the top 10, grabbed my hydration pack and kept on trucking across the road to jump onto the Benton MacKaye trail toward Reliance. This section had a nice climb up from the road for a mile or two before jumping off the main trail and heading down a bushwhack section to a beautiful grass-covered forest road. It started to rain on us through here and then turned to hail. Not baseball sized hail or anything, but BB-sized and it was cold. 

Man… I wish I had that coat, or the arm warmers. It didn’t last too long and we were running at a decent pace, so it didn’t take too long to warm back up. The grass fire road was nice and wide allowing people to run in groups and beside each other for conversation. Feet were soaked the whole time thanks to the nice mid-calf high wet grass that wrapped around legs as we pushed forward. Just as everyone was warming back up from the rain/hail storm, it started up again! This was somewhere around 11-12 miles, and the second storm was a lot more hail than rain. It really made for some cold extremities. 

After a few miles it let up again and I was puzzled for a minute when I saw white areas along the sides of the trail where there was still canopy shade. I realized that these white areas where hail drifts that had accumulated during the storm. Other than the fact that I was frozen, it was pretty cool to have such crazy weather for mid-May in Tennessee. 

A mile or two later, we came in toward Deep Gap aid station (Aid #2, 15mi). A big thanks to the volunteers at Aid #2! My hands were so frozen that I couldn’t work the zipper on my shorts pocket and I couldn’t grasp the lid on my bottle. I tried a few times, and finally someone came over and gave me a hand, an unfrozen hand. A fresh bottle and I was off again. 

Running out of Aid #2, the singletrack is fairly overgrown, and with the hard rains the vegetation was laying over and across every part of the trail… so it was like running through a car wash. Even though the rain had stopped, I was still soaking wet from all the water coming off of the vegetation. See what all the road runners are missing, trails are so much more interesting! 

The next 10 miles over to Reliance are pretty much downhill the whole way with some absolutely stunning views of the creek. During a training run up here I got to see a beautiful black bear on this section. That was not the case today. I don’t think I saw any wildlife all day. Just before coming into Reliance there is a nasty little climb up from the creek trail that breaks and sends runners down a short road section and runs everyone through a mid-calf high water crossing. 

I try my best to not focus on my running hardware too much during a race, and just stick to how I’m feeling, but glancing down at my watch as I was coming into Reliance (Aid #3, 25mi) I realized that I was pretty far ahead of schedule; I was on about an 18.5-hour pace. I met my crew and ditched my pack and bottle while I ran to find the facilities. Figured I wouldn’t be at another restroom for a little while, so I had better make the best of an opportunity. I finished my business, grabbed my supplies and took back off. 

I didn’t want to push too hard through the next 25 miles because I had a goal of not being at 50 miles until right around 9 hours. I figured that holding back some for the first 50 miles would leave me enough energy to finish the last 50 in 11 hours or less. Leaving Reliance, runners jump onto the bridge that will carry them over the Hiwassee and along the other side of the river via river trails and intermixed road sections. By now it was just after 4PM, and temps had actually warmed up. The sun provided some nice warmth to cold bones. 

There are about 8 miles between Reliance and the Powerhouse aid station. This was a nice, fairly flat section that was actually a little difficult to run… not because I was tired or because it was difficult, but mainly because I’m not used to holding myself back while running. So, trying to slow myself down so that I didn’t get to 50 miles too fast was kind of difficult. I was running with a fellow runner through this section who had a sub-20 hour goal and we would get caught up in conversation and then quickly realize that we were running too hard and would tell each other to slow down and pace ourselves. 

We came into the Powerhouse (Aid #4, 33mi) and grabbed a fresh bottle of water and some oranges. Leaving the Powerhouse I knew that we were about to get back onto some good trails and would get some more technical running and climbing… my favorite! The next 7 miles consist of a continual saw tooth climb up to the Coker Falls aid station. Most of the climbs include 2-3 good switchbacks and then a few hundred yards of mid-ridge trail running, amazing views over the Hiwassee river, and then a couple of quick downhill switchbacks for some more creek-level trail running. 

This is by far the most gorgeous section of the first 40 miles. The last 3 miles of the trail up to Coker Falls are pretty spectacular, with some amazing water sounds from the many waterfalls that stair step up to the main falls. Coming into Coker Falls aid station (Aid #5, 40mi) I was still about 15 min under my goal time and was still around an 18.5-19 hour pace. My family/crew insisted that I take a minute and change my socks and shoes at this aid, but for some reason I reasoned that I didn’t need to change them and would hold off until mile 50. Mistake #2.

From the Coker Falls aid station, runners have 6 miles of gravel forest roads to the Manning Cabin aid station. Not a lot to tell from this section, other than about 2 miles into the run I realized that not changing my socks and shoes was a BIG mistake. I stopped to adjust my shoes and realized that I had some monster blisters on both of my pinky toes. Oh well, too late now. 

As I came into the Manning Cabin aid station (Aid #6, 46mi) I was starving! This aid station stole my heart! They had watermelon, grapes and some ridiculously good ramen noodles. I grabbed a few things for my pockets and got back to running. With less than 4 miles up to the Servilla Church (crew only aid station) I let my legs fly, a little with anticipation of seeing my wife and daughters at mile 50. 

Continued on Part 2...

2014 Double Trail Race Weekend: Savage Gulf Marathon & Fall Creek Falls 50k

Gear: Patagonia Air Flow Shirt, Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts, North Face Arm Warmers, Smartwool PhD Graduated Compression Socks, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes, Suunto Ambit 2 (HR) Watch, Camelbak Handheld Bottle, Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem & Extreme Endurolytes

Pre-Race Saturday: I heard about Savage Gulf Marathon in late 2013 and was immediately interested since it fit the bill I’m generally looking for in a race; i.e. super technical and relatively close to Chattanooga. I usually don’t like to drive too far for a trail race when there are such great runs around town. Soon after this I found out that there was a 50k run at Fall Creek Falls on the day after #SGM. So, I figured I might as well make it a double trail race weekend and guarantee myself some good R/C Thunder Rock 100 training… Plus there’s a little extra motivation to get out for two long trail runs in the same weekend if I’m paying for the races. 
 
My family/race crew and I decided to stay both Friday and Saturday nights at Fall Creek Falls Camp Grounds and make it a fun-filled camping and running weekend. The great thing about these two parks is that they are only about an hour drive from one to the other.

Saturday, March 15, 2014 – #SGM – “The Toughest Trail Marathon in the Country:”

Saturday was shaping up to be an awesome day with morning temperatures in the mid-40s, sunny and highs predicted to be in the mid-60s. I discussed hydration plans with a fellow Rock/Creek teammate a few days prior and decided that my best bet was to carry one hand-held bottle and a small Salomon soft flask to give me ~28oz of water. In previous years people had run out of water between the last couple of aid stations due to the difficulty of the trail and the early afternoon heat. 
 
To help combat this they added a water-only aid station around mile 20, so I figured my ~28oz of water would suffice. I gathered my items together and prepped a drop bag to be sent down to the Sawmill aid station, which was Aid #1 (6.3mi) and #3 (17.1). About 10 minutes to 8AM we all gathered around the starting line to listen to drill sergeant orders being barked out about the race and do’s and don’ts for the run. It was pretty comical and made for a few laughs before the race.

The race began with a loud bang and billowing smoke from the Davy Crocket lookalike and his muzzleloader riffle, which made for an awesome starting experience. I joked around on the starting line with a few people about having a goal for this race of just trying to stay on course, since I was three-for-three with my last three races and getting lost. Well, to my dismay as soon as I left the starting line I found myself hanging a right hand turn through the parking lot when I should have been hanging to the left with the majority of the other runners… here we go again

Lucky for me that ended up being the only ‘misdirection’ all day. The Tennessee Park Rangers Association and the Boy Scout troops who marked the course did a fantastic job. I only had one other questionable turn throughout the rest of the race and I quickly sorted it out. As we exited the parking lot we ran onto a dirt access road out to a beautiful single track that ran along the edge of the Big Creek Rim trail where we were provided beautiful views looking out over gulch. This trail was very run-able and reminded me a lot of the Cumberland trail running along the edge of Signal Mountain.

About 3-miles into the run we came to the hard right hand turn to the Stone Door. Up to this point I was intermittently talking with the couple of people around me and was enjoying a nice comfortable pace, maybe a little faster than I needed considering I still had 20+ miles today and another 31-miles tomorrow. As we started down the beautiful stone steps of the Stone Door I immediately felt a sense of euphoria because I knew it was about to get very technical and I just had an itch to let go and run quickly as possible through the rocky boulder fields that lay below.

I quickly found myself out front and didn’t really pay attention to anything behind me as I was enjoying the feel of bounding from boulder to boulder. This section was a blast and exactly what I love about trail running. The running along the base of the cliff included many boulder-strewn sections intermixed with short quick climbs and descents and easier, less boulder filled sections of trail. We had some pretty sweet creek crossings both on suspension bridges as well as through the creek beds. Lucky for us the water was down so we were able to cross the non-bridge sections without any issues and enjoy the riverbed running.

Arriving at Aid #1 (6.3mi) I found that I was in the lead, couldn’t see anyone behind me and was feeling great… this wasn’t really the plan today but I figured I would just keep running whatever felt good and be okay with whoever ended up catching me later on. Grabbed some fresh water and a few bananas from Aid #1 and continued on with some more trail and intermixed riverbed running.

A few creek crossings past Aid #1 we began an ascent towards Suter Falls. This section of the trail was extremely beautiful. There was an awesome waterfall, beautiful vegetation and an amazing rock shelf that protruded above the trail as we cut along underneath it. The trail from here continued toward Collins East.

Aid #2 and had a pretty awesome boulder field to work through as the trail climbed out. As I rolled into Aid #2 (11.1mi) I realized that my family/crew weren’t there like they had planned. I knew that I had enough things stuffed in my pockets to get by without the items they had for me, but I was worried that they may have had issues hiking in to the aid. So I said a quick prayer for them, grabbed some more bananas and some water and took off with no one in sight.

Leaving Aid #2 is a very run-able section of the trail as you follow the Collins Rim Trail that snakes around the bluff on the opposite side of the gorge from the start. This section of the course gave about a 4-mile break from the super technical rocky sections that made up the first half of the race.

Around mile 15 the easy running Collins Rim Trail took a sharp left back down the gulch via the Stage Coach Road. This historic trail is just what it sounds like; a wide roadbed heading down into the gorge littered with golf ball-to-grapefruit sized loose rocks. This section was pretty tricky as one wrong step could put you on the ground pretty fast. Bombing downhill has never been my strong suit and this was no exception.

I was relieved as I came to the bottom of the roadbed and jumped back onto some more single-track trail running and new that I was only a short distance from Aid #3 (17.1mi). Coming back into Aid #3, same as Aid #1, I knew still had not seen anyone since coming out of the bottom of the Stone Door Steps and I just knew that someone would be coming along at any time. Since I was okay with being caught, and mentally expected someone to be along at any time, I decided to take my time at Aid #3 and grabbed some fresh stuff out of my drop bag, refilled my water bottle, my Salomon soft flask, and grabbed some bananas to stuff my pockets full.

After a few minutes I thanked the #SGM volunteers and was off again along the only repeat section of trail for the entire day. This Connector trail was roughly 3 miles of rollers back along the riverbed with technical sections intermixed into the single track sections. By this time in the day I had passed around 5-6 groups of hikers and most of them were large groups of as a dozen or more people. The entire Savage Gulf area was extremely beautiful and it was easy to see why there were so many people out enjoying the day.

As I came up the next intersection of Big Creek Gulf trail and the Connector trail around 20 miles and found the newly added water only aid station. I wasn’t that low on stuff but figured I had a good climb coming so I went on and topped of my bottles once again. This section was still rocky and technical following the creek. Somewhere around mile 22 we came out to another roadbed littered with golf ball-to-grapefruit sized rocks and began the steepest climb of the day. This was a “hands-on-your-knees-head-hanging-full-on-heartpounding-eyeball-sweating-ears-ringing” kind of climb… or I was just extremely tired by this time and really got my butt handed to me on this climb.

Either, way I KNEW for CERTAIN that someone was going to catch me on this climb or I was just going to die due to my heart pounding out of my chest. By the grace of God I made it to the top of this climb and still couldn’t see anyone behind me. It was probably a good thing because when I got to Aid #5 (23.3mi) I knew that roughly 3-miles of running and I would be done, and maybe I could hold on to the lead position and finish on top of the podium… a first for me as a trail runner.

These last 3-miles were easy enough, no more technical rocky sections, no big climbs, if anything it was pretty much flat or downhill. As I came around the last trail corner I saw my Dad standing at the road cheering me on and I knew at once they were okay and hadn’t been injured or anything trying to hike into Aid #2. I didn’t know what my time was up to this point because I couldn’t remember the last time I had looked at it. I just knew that I was still in the lead and was going to finish there because I hadn’t seen another runner in since about 3.5-miles.

As I came to the finish line I was able to run across with my 17-month old daughter and tried to get my 3-year old but she decided that would be too much attention for her that afternoon Just after I finished they informed me that I had missed the course record by something 1:40 min… Dang! Oh well, I was happy to have run a good race and still feel good because I knew I had another run the following day. This was by far the hardest trail marathon I’ve ever run and believe that it’s probably the hardest trail marathon in the Southeast and maybe even the country?

I was EXTREMELY thankful that God kept me safe through such a technical course, my family for the support, Rock/Creek for the awesome gear and support, Salomon Sense Pro Shoes… these shoes did awesome and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for some new shoes. Huge thanks to Wild Trails for helping get this event re-opened and the Savage Gulf State Park/Tennessee Park Ranger Association for putting on such an amazing run with awesome personnel to help support the runners. For anyone who wants an amazing race experience and a good challenging course this race should be at the top of your list.

1st Place Overall; 4:22:47

Pre-Race Sunday: Saturday afternoon was spent around the start/finish line area of Savage Gulf Marathon and hanging out with a lot of really cool trail runners and talking with the SG rangers and personnel. That evening was spent back at Fall Creek Falls camping area with my family hanging out, stretching occasionally and keeping fairly active so I wouldn’t get too tight for Sunday’s run.

Sunday, March 16, 2014 – Fall Creek Falls 50k:

I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of rain and considered just rolling back over and going to sleep… I figured, it’s just money and I didn’t need any more race shirts so sleeping in a nice warm bed would be hands down better than going and running 50k in the rain. Well, that thought only lasted a few seconds because I quickly remembered that I needed another good day of running in to help build my endurance for R/C Thunder Rock 100.

After I choked down a peanut butter, honey and granola bagel I got my gear on for a nice long run in the rain. Conditions were extremely different from the previous day. Saturday delivered ~60°F and sunny while Sunday was ~45°F and rainy… blah! When I got to the starting area I saw a slew of people standing in line to check in. There was no day before check in options so everyone was forced to stand around in the cold rain Sunday morning waiting to get checked in.

Always trying to find the silver lining of situations, I did learn that a huge umbrella that your Step-Mom loans you will automatically get a lot of people to huddle around you to steal shelter from the rain. One up side to this is that it is a great way to stay warm considering all of the body heat from 6 people huddled under one umbrella

Due to rain and check in delays the race was postponed approximately 30 minutes to allow everyone to get their numbers and timing chips. There are two distances options offered, a half marathon and a 50k option, with both courses sharing a lollipop shaped course. The stick on the lollipop is a 3/4-mile uphill road section to the trail, then an 11.5-mile loop through the woods back to the same road intersection. After one loop the half marathon runner’s head back down the stick to the finish, while the 50k runners go for another run around the 11.5-mile loop. When 50k runners get to the road for the second time they do a 180° turn, run 3 miles back the direction they just came from and then do another 180° turn to come right back to the road for a third time. Once back to the road 50k runners head back down the stick to the finish line.

Around 8:30AM everyone was checked in so we shuffled over to the starting line. My legs felt pretty good considering the effort from the day before. I decided that I wouldn’t worry about who were half marathon runners and who were 50k runners and would just run whatever felt comfortable. As we started off the line I quickly settled into a comfortable pace and ran the first 3/4-mile up to the first turn onto a forest road for another 1.5-miles to the actual trail… or what I thought was a trail.

I guess it was a trail in the sense that it was cut through the woods and had white trail blazes to follow but other than that it was a little different than what I was expecting. I grew up camping and hiking at FCF and knew about all of the beautiful trails that hiked in and around the falls and down in the gorge. It’s nobody’s fault but my own for not understanding the course better before the race but I suppose I just expected it to run some of the beautiful FCF overlooks trails.

Well, so far the trail was at least easily run-able without too many problem areas. I was probably somewhere in the front 10-15 people so the trail wasn’t too muddy and trampled yet considering the rain coming down. As the race progressed the terrain changed slightly from mile-to-mile, with some easy running flat sections to short rolling hills and even a few minor rocky sections. I prefer more technical rocky courses over the easy trail forest running but I soon realized that it was actually a very nice trail and a welcome break from the technical course the day before.

Around 9.25-miles into the race the trail dumps out onto a short 1/4-mile road section and Aid #2. I was fortunate to have my family/crew there today and was able to get a fresh bottle of Perpetuem, baby food flask and a flask full of chicken noodle soup. The warm chicken noodle soup was wonderful considering I was soaking wet and really contemplating turning in to simply run the half marathon once I got back the main road section.

Just past Aid #2 we jumped off of the road and back into the trail. This next 3-miles of the trail was a mix of easy climbs, gentle down hills and very run-able single and double track. As I approached the main road section that would eventually be my turn back to the finish line the rain started to let up and my body finally started to warm back up so thoughts of cutting my 50k into a half marathon went away and I figured if I had already put in roughly 12-miles what was another 19+ miles.

As I crossed the road and Aid #3 (12.25mi) I walked for a few minutes with my family/crew again and got some more baby food and another fresh bottle of Perpetuem. I found out that I was in the lead for the 50k race. Apparently everyone in front of me was in the half marathon and had turned on the road at Aid #3 racing for the finish line. Well, this was not what I was expecting and not necessarily what I wanted. When out front you can’t help but get a little bit of that anxious feeling that someone is right on your heels or about to catch you at any moment and if you’re not careful you’ll run yourself into the ground trying to push too hard to maintain the lead.

I told myself that it didn’t matter who or how many people caught me since I was only trying to get another solid run in following Saturday’s effort. I grabbed the last of my fuel and took back off for a second loop around the 11.5-mile loop. Once off of the forest road and back into the woods the previous run-able trail was not so run-able now. Apparently the 200+ people that had followed me through the first loop did a number on the trail and it was now a muddy soupy mess. Every descent that was manageable the first loop was now a treacherous slip and slide down the trail trying to keep your feet right side up.

As I approached Aid #4 (20.75mi) I heard the sound of muddy footsteps coming up from behind me and looked over my shoulder to see a couple of guys catching up. I admit I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t maintain the lead any longer but was also relieved to have someone to chase now for a little extra motivation. I was greeted at Aid #4 by my Wife and two little girls and got a second wind from their smiling faces and cheers. I was able to hang with the now second place guy for about the next 2-miles before slowing just a little as the pace was getting a little too dicey for me on the descents and I didn’t want to risk eating it hard and getting hurt.

Aid #5 (23.75mi) was coming into sight and I was not looking forward to turning right back around to run back out this same section of trail again in the opposite direction. I grabbed another fresh bottle of Perpetuem and another chicken noodle soup flask and got a good boost of energy to push back through the out-n-back section. The nice thing about the out-n-back section was that you passed other runners and it provided a bit of motivation to keep pushing hard and finish strong. I was actually surprised how fast the 6-miles total of the out-n-back section went. Rolling back into the final aid station at 29.75-miles I knew that with only 3/4-mile of road back to the finish line I should be able to maintain 3rd position overall.

Crossing the finish line I made my way straight over the pavilion to join my family and grab some post race food. I don’t recall ever having been so hungry immediately after a race. I sat around the finish line and ate until I was about to explode, cheered some other finishers on as they finished then made my way to the nearest showers to warm my bones. Overall the Fall Creek Falls run was a success. It wasn’t my favorite run that I’ve ever completed but for anyone looking for a nice double trail race weekend, this run coupled with the Savage Gulf Marathon makes for a good weekend.

Again I was very thankful that God kept me safe through the muddy and wet conditions, my family for the motivation, Rock/Creek for the running gear and support, and the Fall Creek Falls personnel that made this run possible.

3rd Place Overall; 4:36:18

Until the next race,
Nathan D. Holland
2014 Rock/Creek Race Team