Trail Runnin' - 2010 Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2

Rolled out of bed at 3:30am this morning and headed down to Chattanooga's Prentice Cooper State Forrest, the site of the Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 and 6.2 mile trail races. A little nippy, but the sun was shinning, so I opted for a long sleeve wicking shirt. Checked in and got a wonderful bag of goodies from Rock/Creek.

My nephew met me at the starting line and in the most informal way, we were off. Single track trail races are very interesting. If you want to compete, you better get to the trail head in a hurry. If you get behind a slightly out of shape/slower runner, you can fall behind quickly. Yes, there was a lady in front of a big, long line of folks (including me) and within 1/2 mile, SHE STARTS WALKING. The cursing shout's rang out. Somebody finally "nudged"  her out of the way, and she was pissed!! "Excuse Me" she said as everyone was passing her. Someone shouted, "you do know this is a Race". Mostly though, guys and gals would announce their intention to pass. They would say "on your left/right" or "at the first opportunity, I'm going to make a pass".  Everybody was having a blast. The views were incredible.

I went out way too fast, caught up in the flow of trail runners. Chugging up hills and flying down them. It caught up to me around mile 3, where we had the 1st fluid station. I took a 30 second break to catch my breath and get some Heed, and 15 people passed me.

Did I mention the views were incredible? I kept thinking to myself that it would be great to slow down and enjoy the run and the views. So that's what I did. I hit the first 4 mile splits in 9:34, 9:08, 10:19 and 10:24. Pretty fast for me, considering my paces at Percy Warner Park trails. After the 15 people passed me, I just decided to enjoy the run. Slowing down made the race much better. I really had a great time on the Gorge trails.

1,600 feet of elevation change, multiple waterfalls and creek crossings, a view of the Tennessee River and valley in the early morning mist, a rock "face" that rose 600 feet in less than 1/10 of a mile, a cool but incredibly tough "rock garden" along the basin of the gorge, and a wonderful morning - made my first trail race memorable.  My nephew finished in a speedy 1:35 and in a very respectable 35th position. He lives in the area and ran the trail last week for a prep run. I'm very proud of him and his fitness. I wound up in 93rd position at 1:51 (11:17 pace). Best 93rd out of 175 person race I've ever run. I didn't care if I was last, it was so much fun. I had a huge grin on my face when I finished and Mike came up to me and shook my hand, and said "well done, wasn't that fun?" I told him, I couldn't wait until next year.  A little more training and I think I can improve on my time, but the faster you go, the less scenic it is - what a trade off..  :)