Mt. Cheaha 50k - Very Nice Weather!

February 24

Ready to run!

The morning dawns clear and cool.  The temperature is near 40 degrees.  This will be the fifth time I have run this race, but the first time since 2019.  I am looking to get out quickly and see how good of shape I am in.  Martha drops me off at the start at Porter’s Gap.  I chat with Lanier and Dink, and then without warning the race begins.  Typically, this race starts with the playing of Sweet Home Alabama, but there was no music right at the start, just a yell and a cheer and we are off.

Mile 3.3      36:36 (11:05 avg./mile) Chandler Springs

I sprint up to the trailhead so that I am not stuck too far deep in the conga line.  I must be content to be where I am.  Only a couple of runners stop to walk any of the initial hills.  I run the early hills so that I won’t lose my position in the line.  It is only when there are steep climbs that we all stop running to power hike.  I find myself behind a lady who has a nice stride.  I match her stride all of the way into this first aid station where the music is blaring, Sweet Home Alabama.  Someone jokes that they need to make up for the lack of music at the start.  This first aid station offers only water, and the lady runs right through passing several other runners.  I follow her lead.

Mile 8.5      1:04:48 (12:28 avg./mile) Clairmont Gap

The lady and I start the first climb of this section, and she is following a guy that she clearly knows.  They chat back and forth, and I just follow behind listening.  At some point we all introduce ourselves.  The lady is Jessica, and she is running her first ultra.  The guy is Tony, and both of them are from the Birmingham area.  I stay with them until the dirt road, and when they slow down, I press forward.  This section ends on a nice, gradual downhill into the aid station, and I make the most of it.  I grab half a sandwich of PB&J at the aid station.  So far I feel good, and I am drinking a good amount of water.  The temperature has warmed into the 50s.

Mile 14.9    1:31:59 (14:22 avg./mile) Adams Gap

This section begins with a healthy climb—the toughest in the race so far.  I am following two guys that are talking about the number of times they have run the Pinhoti 100.  The older of the two is Bob, and he says he has run Pinhoti nine times.  The younger one, who is Kip, says he has run it 14 times—more than anyone else.  Kip is a firefighter and worked a shift last night.  He got off at 5:00am, drove straight to the race, and now is enjoying the challenge with the rest of us.  He says he got about four hours total of naps through the night.  I stay with Kip for most of this section.  The latter two miles on this section are fairly technical.  At some point, Kip slowed down so I push on ahead.  There is a short little trail spur that goes into the aid station such that we all get to see who is a couple of hundred yards ahead and behind us.  I grab two PB&J sandwich quarters, refill my Camelbak, and then I see Tony on the trail spur.  He is looking good, but I am surprised he is this close behind me given how hard I have run to this point.

Mile 18.9    55:55 (13:59 avg./mile) Hubbard Creek

I leave Adams Gap with the goal of slow and steady for this section.  It has now warmed up into the 60s.  I have been drinking copious amounts of water, but I haven’t peed since the start of the race.  My easy does it pace allows a handful of runners to get by me during this section.  I feel fine, but it seems like my motivation to push hard has left me.  I roll into this aid station thankful that I am over halfway to the finish.  I grab two Fig Newton cookies to eat at this aid station.

Mile 25.8    1:40:58 (14:38 avg./mile) Silent Trail

I need to stay focused on the task in front of me—finish this section and then the end will be in sight.  Meanwhile, more runners steadily come by me.  One of them is Tony.  He barely has time to say hi as he is moving well.  I navigate the two stream crossings just fine, but then in my attempts to hold off another runner passing me, I catch my left big toe on a root and hit the dirt.  Jimmy is the runner right behind me and asks me a couple of times if I am okay before proceeding.  I climb another hill and pass this building, which I remember is less than a mile from the aid station.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later I am into this fluid only aid station.  I get some water added to my Camelbak and push up the gravel road.

Mile 28.5    34:23 (12:44 avg./mile) Lake Cheaha

I run and walk the gravel road up to the paved road and find myself beside Jimmy, who helped me dust myself off on the last section after my fall.  I eat an Access Bar since the last aid station didn’t have any food.  When we make the turn on the paved road, I am feeling like I have more energy.  Another runner, Tommy, has joined us.  The three of us run into the State Park to the last aid station.  I walk right through the aid station, only grabbing two cups of Coke and drinking them.

Mile 31.6    53:05 (17:07 avg./mile) FINISH – Bald Rock

I power hike the early part of the climb that they call, “Blue Hell.”  There are blue blazes marking this part of the trail, and this section climbs about 1,500 feet in less than a mile.  When it starts getting steep, I am behind Andrew Cotter.  He is moving slow and steady, and for a minute I think about going around him.  However, I remain patient and keep my pace slow and steady as well with relentless forward progress.  As runners stop to take breaks, Andrew and I keep moving forward.  I think we passed 4 or 5 runners in this fashion.  My legs start talking to me as we near the top, but I manage to keep them from cramping.  Once the climb is over, we still have a mile and a half or so to the finish.  We are on the road for a bit and then turn back onto a trail.  In this part, a recent fire has burnt much of the underbrush.  As a matter of fact, it is still smoldering in places.  So, we get to run through a little smoke.  I managed to stay in front of Andrew, but just behind Tommy, and have a decent kick for the downhill finish.

Nice finish!

Official Finishing Time 7:17:44

78^th out of 211 finishers (16^th of M50-59)

This day was beautiful without a cloud in the sky the whole time.  The temperature could have been a little cooler, but then there was a steady breeze all day.  The only time I felt warm was in some of the valleys where I was sheltered from the wind.  I always want to finish faster, but this is a nice time on this course.  I have run faster, but that was seven years ago.  My next race is going to be the Bull Run Run 50 Miler on April 6^th.  My son, Nathan, is also running that race so we will see if father time favors the young or the old.  Until then…

Never stop running,

Darin

Mountain Mist 50k - A Quagmire of Water and Mud

January 27

Happy Birthday to me!  Yes, it is my birthday today, and I have been living on this Earth for 55 years.  This is the sixth time I am running this race.  I finished in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020.  I dropped out from the lingering effects from the flu the week before in 2017.  The last time I ran this race in 2020 was a month or so before Covid shutdown most of our lives, including races, for many months.  It was interesting re-reading my blog entry at that time, I had plans and goals for several races in 2020.  Of course, the races from March through September were cancelled that year, and then the races that were run after September, were changed to protect us all.  Enough with the reminiscing, and on with my race report.

My goal today is to finish within seven hours.  Four years ago, I accomplished this with only three seconds to spare.  This year, I feel ready, but there is only one minor challenge—the amount of water (and mud) on the course.  Two weeks ago, Huntsville experienced a winter apocalypse that left three inches of sleet and ice.  This didn’t melt until earlier this week, and now this week we received five-plus inches of rain.  On top of that, it is currently raining and is supposed to continue raining for several hours.  Here’s hoping none of us get washed away!  The temperature, however, is a moderate 50 degrees.  I start the race with shorts, long and short sleeve shirts, and a buff on my head.

Mile 4.3      46:16 (10:46 avg./mile) O’Shaughnessy Point

I press the pace early while the running surface is not bad.  Part of this section is on the road to allow the field to spread out some before getting on the trails.  The early trails are wide and in good shape considering all of the water.  It isn’t until the last mile before the aid station that the trail starts to get slick.  My shoes were soaked very soon after getting on the trails.  I am glad I have the second shirt on as the rain is very cool, and I think I would have been cold without it.  I pass through this first aid station without stopping.

Mile 11.4    1:29:18 (12:35 avg./mile) Bankhead

Through the Cuts

The trail on this section gets progressively worse.  The rain continues to fall and with over 100 runners in front of me, the trail is really getting chewed up.  The downhills are treacherous and the uphill sections are challenging as each foot plant slides back some.  At the trail junction which takes us out around Logan Point, there are a handful of people cheering for us.  These brave souls really lifted the runners’ spirits, especially mine.  Coming back from Logan Point, we pass through the dark, wet, and very slick cuts.  I have managed to keep myself upright so far as I make it to this aid station.  I eat two PB&J sandwich quarters as I move out on down the trail.

Mile 14.0    30:14 (11:38 avg./mile) Oak Park

My quick early miles have allowed me to run freely out in front of most of the middle of the pack.  Going down the trail to Oak Park, I follow a couple of runners, and we make our way past a couple of others.  Near the bottom before we get to run the last quarter of a mile on a road, we get held up a little by a lady that we can’t manage to get around.  However, she isn’t running too slow, and I think I am still in great shape for my sub-7-hour pace.  My time stands at 2:45, which is great as my goal was to get here by 2:48.  This gives me a chance to hit my goal time.  I grab a PB&J sandwich quarter and scarf down two Oreo cookies before thanking the nice aid station workers.

Mile 20.0    1:34:23 (15:44 avg./mile) Old Railroad Bed

The climb up from Oak Park is a mess.  The rain mostly stopped somewhere during my descent to Oak Park so that is nice, but the mud and water is significantly impeding my progress.  Where there is water on the trail, it is mostly ankle deep.  Where there is not standing water on the trail, the mud is very slick.  After the climb, we get on the High Trail where for about 100 yards I think the footing is going to be better up here.  That is a fleeting idea as the trail turns back into alternating between puddling water and greasy mud.  Finally, I make the turn onto the Bluff Line, and it is now a direct path to the next aid station.  I am slip sliding down the trail over wet, muddy rocks when I take a quick seat when my foot slides out faster than my body is moving.  No harm and just a little more mud on me.  I make it the rest of the way to the aid station, but just before the aid station there is a steep little downhill piece that is just sliding mud.  Going down wasn’t too bad, but we have to turn around and go back up this.  I grab another PB&J sandwich quarter and a handful of potato chips before heading back towards the mudslide.

Slick downhill into the Aid Station at Mile 20

Mile 25.0    1:19:43 (15:57 avg./mile) Trough Springs

I navigate going up the mudslide well enough only getting my hands in the mud once.  Coming into the aid station is Tony, who is a friend of James.  Tony is engaged to James’ wife’s sister, Sandy.  And, Tony and I crewed and paced James last year at the Endurance Hunter 100 miler in Georgia.  I am surprised he is running this well in these challenging conditions, but it is great to see him.  I proceed on the Railroad Bed trail, which is as challenging as ever with the rocks.  The one positive is that there isn’t as much mud, just the slippery, pointy rocks.  Somewhere in this section, I take my one and only S-Cap of the race.  The temperature has stayed in the 50s, and I haven’t been sweating much.  Just before the course makes the turn off Railroad Bed, a man and woman pass me moving at a good clip.  When we turn onto the Alms House trail, I still have them in sight so I pick up my pace and follow them most of the way to the Waterline trail.  We are making great time, and I catch back up to a couple of runners who I have been trading places with all day.  The climb up Waterline is not too bad, but we are all very careful with our footing and handholds.  Fortunately, there isn’t anyone in front of me for most of the climb.  After catching my breath from the toughest climb in the race, I shuffle the last mile into this aid station.  An aid station worker helps me add a little water to my Camelbak before I drink two small cups of Coke and eat one PB&J sandwich quarter.

A little stream crossing into McKay Hollow

Mile 29.5    1:12:43 (16:10 avg./mile) Rest Shelter

By my rough estimate, it is about a mile and a half on relatively flat trail that is underwater before we get to the Natural Well and begin a sketchy, tricky downhill section that of course has the added challenge of slick mud.  I am following a guy in orange, and we are making decent time when a lady moves by us.  She seems to be in her finishing kick.  However, after crossing the swollen stream at the bottom where the water is above our knees, I still have her in my sight.  So, I set out to begin my own finishing kick to see if I can catch back up to her.  Within a half mile, I pass her and then proceed to leave her behind as we make our way through McKay Hollow.  Usually, McKay Hollow is the worst part of the race, but this year it is just like all of the rest of the course—muddy and mostly underwater.  When I start the final climb to this last aid station, my watch shows 6:36, which means I have 24 minutes to finish before seven hours.  The climb takes me about 17 minutes, so that eliminates a sub-7 finish.  However, as I near the aid station I see Tony right in front of me.

Mile 31.1    16:25 (10:16 avg./mile) FINISH – Lodge

I don’t even pause for a second at the aid station.  Rather, I make the left turn and head towards the finish.  Tony is right beside me, and we chat for a minute.  Then I wish him well, and push the pace once again.  I might not be able to finish under seven hours, but I can still pass a handful of runners between here and the finish.  Each runner I catch gives me more energy to catch the next one.  I cross the line, and James, Daisy, and Sandy are there.  Sandy is Tony’s girlfriend (maybe fiancée?), and I tell her that Tony is only a couple of minutes behind me.

Official Finishing Time 7:09:02

141^st out of 389 finishers under the 9.5-hour cut-off

I am elated at the finish.  I congratulate other runners around me that I ran with all day.  It feels great to finish this race again, and even better to finish it with a huge kick—not quite good enough to salvage a sub-7, but definitely solid on any day.  At the Hellgate 100k last month, my kick wasn’t there when I needed it the last three miles, so I am focusing on that in this new year.  I take my number into the table in the lodge where the finisher awards are handed out, and not only do I get another hand painted slate, but I also get a beer glass as I am the fourth-place male, 55-59.  It pays to be a year older since I would have been tenth if I was in the M50-54 age group.

The next race I have planned is the Mount Cheaha 50k on February 24^th.  Until then…

Never stop running,

Darin