What a crazy scenario, this race was!
Please read my pre-race report first https://trailstasher.wordpress.com/2022/04/17/lurking-shadows/
Run Bum-(the guy that put on this race and many others) does not have the best reputation overall..in fact, it is probably bad. I have not really kept up with all the drama with his races, over the years, so I am at least a little ignorant. Part of you thinks, how bad can it be? He does Georgia Death Race and others every year. Georgia Death Race is very popular. He seems to have a cult-like following also.
Anyway, I was immediately interested in this first-year race, because of the course. I wanted to attempt another 100 miler and this course looked fantastic. As I mentioned in the pre-race report, a point-to-point trail 100 (and 50) in the mountains of NC, GA, and SC on the Bartram, Chattooga, and Foothills trails.
I trained very hard-(for me), for several months. Big volume weeks. Big volume week is an extremely relative term. Some would consider my numbers on the low end. Most of my weeks were in the range of 65 miles and 13000 climb, a rough estimate.
I was in Charlotte on a business trip the week of the race. I had meetings all day and was extremely busy. The registrants got an email on the Wednesday before the race, that a protest had happened, by the Chattooga Trail Conservancy. They did not want a race there. Run Bum had had a verbal commitment from the Forest Service to do the race, prior to that. The Forest Service advised them that they could not do the race, on that land now.
Run Bum’s change of plan was to use the course, from one of his other races (Sky to Summit) for the Shadows of the South. The 100 would be 2 loops of a 50-ish mile course. I think they claimed that the 50-mile course was to be 52 miles more on that later.
They gave us options to defer to other Run Bum races or race Shadows of the South and if dissatisfied, then request a refund.
As I stated already, this all happened 3 days or so before the race. My first inclination was to defer. The course change was a significant factor and a bummer. My next preference was to just do the 50 miler and be ok with that. I had 3 close friends doing the race also. 2 ladies-Jennifer and Ercilia were doing the 50. One guy-Mike was doing the 100. At first, Mike did not want to go, with the course change. I was leaning toward the 50 until he changed his mind and decided to try the 100 anyway. With the course change, I think our hearts were never really in it, but we did not truly know that until later. I had another virtual friend-Paul that had planned to do the 100 and was going to proceed with the change.
It was extremely frustrating and disappointing to train hard for months and wrap your head around a course like that, then it changes last minute. I would say that at least part of this is Run Bum’s fault. He could have handled all of this better from beginning to end, with the Forest Service and the racers.
We all drove down to Georgia separately and prepared for the race.
The advantage of the new course was that the logistics were going to be much easier. We were going to be able to start and end in the same spot.
The weather forecast looked like it was going to be really warm. Friday had been really hot, in the mid-80s..yikes. No heat conditioning time was allowed for this one. I guess April is not safe anymore.
We all went to packet pickup on Friday afternoon at the Outdoor 76 store in Clayton. I had been to the Franklin, NC one (an hour or so away) and liked both of them a lot. I got a shirt, a sticker, and a pint glass as race swag.
Race day. We arrived at Sky Valley Country Club by 5:45, for a pre-race meeting. Then we were off soon after. The new route, which is a 50ish mile route, had us doing a big out and back, then a loop. The 100 milers would have to do that twice.
The race started out as an out-and-back of 4 miles, before the big out-and-back. This seemed majorly silly, after the fact, when we realized the 50 course was 56.5 miles. Strange.
Mike and I planned to run as much as we could together. Our goal was to be at the 50-mile point in 16 hours, which is a 19-minute pace. We were well ahead of our goal early but did not see any point in going slower. We were doing this by feel.
The first 30 miles or so were fantastic. I was super impressed with the views, the trails and the waterfalls.
This was at the top of the first big climb, which is Rabun Bald. They had a photographer out there, so most posed in front of the epic view.
The course was a long out-and-back on the left-hand side. It goes to War Woman and then back.
At mile 37 aid station, I gagged every time I tried to eat. I threw up on the side of the road 3 or so times but kept going. This started a 10-mile gravel road section, that sucked the life out of me. Plus I could not take in any nutrition. I started moving very slowly and was not able to slow run much at all.
I assume the heat got to me and caused stomach issues.
It was during this time that I realized I may not be able to do the 100. No nutrition and low energy.
I got to mile 50, thinking I had 2.5 to go. They advised that it would be 6 more miles. Me and many others were irritated about that. I advised them, that I was going to finish the 50-mile course, but could not do the 100.
The last several miles were very tough for me. I had zero energy and was moving very slowly. I got to a point where I had to stop and rest every so often. It was bad.
It was dark. I did not think the paved road of the country club would ever come. I got to the road and trudged the last couple of miles to the finish.
It took me a bit over 17 hours to finish. I was well over goal pace for the 100, but no nutrition and loss of heart for the course did me in.
We got a nice medallion as a finisher award.
I have to give the 100 finishers, major kudos.
My other friend Paul, changed to the 50, during the race also. He is a very good super long-distance runner. He recently finished a very tough 100 and GA Death Race. He had stomach issues also.
I am not sure what to think on the 100-mile distance. You can be in great shape, but so many things have to go right. You also have to be major mentally strong to be out there for 18 hours and know that you could be out there another 18 or so hours.
This 56-mile completion was my 2nd longest race distance and overall trek in mileage, climb, and hours. I should be happy about that, but it feels like a bit of a failure since I set out to do 100.
I definitely feel blessed to be able to do these things!
MAJOR shout out to Allison Angell and my wife Maria. They had planned to go, and support/crew us but with all the race changes a few days before and things undecided, we decided it was best for them not to go.
I am also very proud of Jenn and Erc. They did fantastically and smiled all the way…or at least most of it 😉
EdgeofMountain 