Gorgeous Views, Long Climbs, Amazing Volunteers, and LONG CLIMBS! That about sums up the hardest 50K in the southeast...and arguably anywhere! What an amazing day of racing! The morning started out cool but not quite as cool as I thought it would be. The course left from Vogel State Park with an immediate 1-mile climb. From there, we headed on a gradual 2.5-mile decent. The 30K and 50K runners were all bunched up talking and laughing as we made the decent. At the base was the first aid station. I ran through and headed up the first climb...Coosa Bald. This climb separated the field. It was a brutal 4-mile climb to Duncan Ridge. It was tough to keep my heart rate down. We hit the ridge and knew it from high winds and thinned out trees. On the ridge, we ran flat for a few hundred yards before a sharp decent into the second aid station. As the 30K headed back on a side trail, I filled some water, had a gel, and grabbed a few PB & J quarters as I ran on. The next 5 miles were up and down. There were some great views in this section. I bunched up with 4 others at this point and it was good company. The trail rolled on the side of the mountains and many times was slanted. I caught myself leaning inward so that if I fell it would not be down the drop off on the other side. It was challenging indeed. We hit the next aid station and again tried to get out as fast as possible. We were at mile 13 and next 2.5 miles to the turn around consisted of 2 tough climbs. I grinded through the climbs and descended into Fish Gap, the turn around. During this 2.5-mile section, we saw the leaders headed back! I busted my knee on a rock on the only spill of the day about a half-mile before the turn around. Headed back, we maintained a good pace until the first aid station. Grabbed some food to go and hit the trail. The next five miles were the toughest for me mentally. The trail was rugged and up up up! I grabbed trees to boost me along. Finally made it to the next to last aid station. From here, there was no break. It was a brutal, leaf covered, ascent up to Coosa Bald. Once on the bald, we had the 4-mile decent that we had climbed just a few hours prior. It was a welcome break from the climbs, but tough on the knees! Hit the last station, but only paused for some PB & J on the go. The next section was the 2.5 miles that we had laughed our way down all bunched up. I was alone here after a restroom break on the 4-mile decent. Needless to say, it was not bunched up and I was not laughing. Finally, I hit the top and made the 1-mile decent to the finish line. Wow, 8hrs 2min 10sec, 21st/54, and 11,229 FEET OF CLIMBING! I am ready for LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 50 MILER in 4 weeks!!!
The course was an amazing out and back and UNBELIEVABLY WELL MARKED! Considering how rough the terrain, I was impressed that I never felt off-course. The volunteers were all helpful in filling bottles and cheering us on. The food was great and never in low supply. The shirt is high quality and there was even a finisher hat. Overall, it was an amazing race that Bobby Lewellen put on, and I will be back year after year.
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| Vogel State Park |
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| A few of us before we started |
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| I think I will cut my toes nails first next year |
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| Finisher Hat |
