This is the fourth year of the Mount Cheaha 50k, and I've been
hearing about it (and its difficulty) since the first running, so this
year I decided that I should finally see what all the fuss was about.
I must say that it did not disappoint. The night before the race,
I rode up to the Bald Rock Lodge, which served as the race
headquarters, finish line, and location of the prerace supper and
briefing. My brother and another Auburn student went up there with me,
both of whom would be running their second 50k. After eating, getting
some final race instructions, and chatting it up with some ultrarunner
friends, we headed back to the hotel. The next morning, I got up at
about 4:40 to get myself dressed and ready to go in time to make a
quick stop at Waffle House before picking up Josh Kennedy, a friend
from Huntsville staying at another hotel to head toward the race
start. Because my dad had come, we had a driver to take the car back
from the start (once the race was over, there would be no
transportation back to the start), so we did not have to park at the
finish and ride a bus to the start. The race was supposed to start at
7:30, and we had to check in at the starting area before 7:15, so we
decided to arrive at 7. Once we arrived, however, we got word from a
few others who had driven themselves that the bus had gotten stuck in
the mud, resulting in an hour delay. At 8:45 or so, the bus finally
got there, so at 9, after we had been standing around for 2 hours, the
race got underway. Other than working on getting through aid
stations quickly, I didn't really have a race plan, but I had told Dink
Taylor (the eventual winner), that I would run through the first aid
station with him. Needless to say, this was a less than wise
decision. The first aid station was a little over three miles into the
race, and even though none of the runners around me stopped, I knew
that I had better slow down; otherwise the last few miles would turn
into a hike. After the first aid station, I reigned in the pace a
little and settled into a more comfortable pace for the long haul. The
next several miles and couple of aid stations went by relatively
quickly and uneventfully, plugging away the miles at a modest but solid
pace. Shortly after the third or fourth aid station, my good luck on
the rocks came to and end when I managed to turn my ankle like a pro,
leaving me limping for about a half mile, but, counter-intuitively and
fairly well known among ultrarunners, if you manage to turn your ankle
(as long as you don't actually tear a tendon or break something), the
worst thing you can do is stop; continuing running hurts, but it keeps
the swelling down and lets the blood flush out the area. In any case,
after hitting my ankle, it took quite a while for me to get back into a
rhythm. Also during this portion of the race, we had several
creeks to cross. The course contained a plethora of little streams and
unavoidable puddles, but there were several notable creek crossings
that could sweep you off your feet if you weren't careful. One in
particular was about 15 or 20 yards wide and came up to my waist with a
strong current. Even with the rope strung across the creek, it was
pretty hard to keep from being carried downstream. Some might see the
creeks as utter inconveniences, but all of them were somewhat
refreshing for me, cooling off (or numbing) my legsand providing a nice break from the monotony of uphill-downhill-uphill downhill... After
the big creek crossing was another section of trail that spit us out on
a road that carried us to the last aid station. The aid station is at
mile 28, which means that there was only a 5k left in the race. This
5k took me a little over 45 minutes. Why? The first mile or so is on
a trail affectionately known as "Blue Hell." It is an incredibly
steep, rocky section of trail that slows down even the winners, but is
an enjoyable (in a weird, ultrarunning way), albeit difficult section.
Once at the top of the mountain, just a few more minutes of running
through the park to get to the finish. Marcus Farris, one of
the guys that rode to the race with me, finished about 20 minutes ahead
of me, Josh Kennedy finished in around 7 hours, and my brother Peter
finished in about 8 hours. Several others from Auburn with whom I have
run also completed the race. Allen Smith and Bob Lawson finished a few
minutes after me, and Fred Trouse (who was a pacer for me in the
Pinhoti 100, during which I think the "caught the bug" and decided to
try this crazy pastime of trail ulrarunning) finished a little ahead of my brother. All
in all, I think this is a very worthwhile race. Although it's not
necessarily a PR course, it does manage to keep your attention (as the
race director, Todd Henderson said, there aren't 3 miles of flat
running in the whole course). This is definitely a race where people
realize that just because you're running on a nice bed of leaves, it
doesn't necessarily mean that you're not running on jagged,
ankle-twisting rocks; it just means you can't see them. If anyone is
looking for a well organized and very enjoyable event that presents a
true challenge to runners of all abilities, I would highly recommend
the Mt. Cheaha 50k.
My apologies on a bit of a ramble.
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