After Catalyst, the family made the trip to Chattanooga for the StumpJump 50k. Sara and I left before the last session of Catalyst in hopes of making it to Chattanooga in time for packet pickup at Coolidge Park. Atlanta traffic was Atlanta traffic and we didn't make it in time. Andy was able to pick up my packet so all was ok. Sara and I arrived and went directly to Andy's. Our friends Ahop and Carrie came in town for dinner and to hang out for the night. Always great to get to see them. Mom, Pop, and Abe got into town and we ate dinner at Marco's Italian Bistro for some carb loading.
Race morning came quickly and it was off to Signal Mountain High School for the 8am start. There were nearly 600 people running the 50k and 600 running the 11 mile race so this was a much bigger starting line experience than my previous races this summer. Rock/Creek puts on a really fantastic race with lots of great sponsors. The weather was nearly perfect Saturday morning when we arrived...somewhere in the mid 60's. A beautiful East Tennessee morning... the sun was just coming up as the race started. Andy and I met up with Will, said our hello's and goodbyes to Sara and family and then headed for the start line.
When the gun went off, I settled in around the middle of the pack determined to learn from mistakes from the last race. I wanted to start off real easy knowing that there was a lot of elevation change coming that I was not used to running. I settled in at a nice comfortable pace for the first 5 miles. At Mushroom Rock the course takes a steep descent down to Suck Creek Rd. This was my first experience with mountain running in a long time and it felt great. The mountains, my support system, and weather really energized me during the race. After Suck Creek Rd, the course climbs back up and onto a ridge line towards Mullins Creek loop. At this point, I had settled in with a group of 5-6 people at a pace that was still very comfortable. I got to the Indian Rock House aid station and got out as quickly as possible to get passed some people. The Mullins Cove Loop was fun to run. Lots of rolling single track. There wasn't many steep climbs or descents so I ran almost the entire loop still feeling great. It was slowly starting to warm up by this point but still felt very comfortable to me.
Somewhere around the Haley Rd. aid station I caught up with Will. I would end up running the next 8-10 miles with him, each of us pushing each other at times. Mom and Dad, Sara, and Abe drove out to the Mullins Cove aid station to cheer us on and provide encouragement. It was great to see them at this point and a huge mental boost. The legs were starting to get a bit fatigued but I mostly still felt great.
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| Feeling good...I think? |
From Mullins Cove back to Suck Creek Rd was mostly downhill and went by pretty quickly. By this point, I started passing quite a few people. My plan to start slow and try to finish strong was working. After the Suck Creek aid station, it was a climb straight uphill back to Mushroom Rock. This was the only point of the race where I couldn't have run if I wanted to. This section was mostly a 4-5 mile power hike. This was a very tough climb at this stage in the race. I just tried to continue moving forward as quickly and efficiently as I could. About an hour later, I finally made it to the top. Here, for the first time during the entire race, I got passed by someone. I was spent after that final climb and the final three (relatively flat) miles were pretty slow for me. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I came out of the woods onto the road at Signal Mountain High School and crossed the finish line at 6 hours and 37 mins. Will finished in 6 hours 43 minutes and Andy finished in 8 hours 39 minutes. This time was about 30 minutes slower than my first 50k but this was easily my best race. I ended up finishing in 96th place out of roughly 600 starters. The temperature ended up being the hottest in Chattanooga since sometime in the 1950's but this didn't phase me at all during the race. I never once thought during the race that it was hot. I can thank a summer of training in Texas for that. Of the 600 starters only 342 finished. The times were 30 minutes to an hour slower from previous years due to the conditions. I felt great most of the race, I had no stomach issues, and it was a blast to get to run in the mountains back close to home. I was sore on Sunday but I was ready to do it again. I can't thank Sara, Abe, Mom and Pops, and HT enough for the support...only wish the Greenwell's could have made it. It meant the world to me and made everything about the race a blast. Thanks to Andy for the hospitality. Chattanooga is a great city. We wouldn't mind living there sometime in the future.
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| Shout out to HT for coming to support at the finish line! |
After watching the second half of the Vols crushing defeat we drove to Tellico Lake to spend the night and most of Sunday with Aunt Dolly and Uncle Bruce. It was the first time that Sara and I had been to the lake in a couple of years. It was great to see family, as always.
After spending Sunday on the lake, we headed back to Atlanta to catch our flight back to Dallas. Thanks to Abe for the chauffeuring. What a great weekend.
