Table Rock Ultra

I've thought about changing the name of my blog.
 "Craptastic Runner" and "Surely There is Someone Slower than I on the Planet" spring to mind :-)  I ran a bunch of stuff after Hinson Lake.  No real goals, just running races that looked interesting or close to home.  In a nutshell:
10/2...Dupont 50K...great course in my own backyard.  RD needs to take aid station refresher course cause I about died of starvation out there though.
10/15...Cumberland 50K...harder than hell but loved every minute of it.  A definite repeat race for next year.  I was DFL for almost the entire race but ended up passing 2 runners in the last few miles.  LOL.
10/29...Spinxfest Marathon....hour drive.  Could hardly pass that up.  Most of the race was on the Swamp Rabbit Trail which was nice.
11/12...Chickamauga Marathon....nice run through the battlefield.

And the icing on the cake was my very first DNF at the Duncan Ridge Trail 50K on 11/19.  I totally ignored the race profile (9000 ft. gain and 9000 ft. loss) and the fact that it was very technical single track covered with all kinds of leaves.  I failed spectacularly!  I wasn't even close to the halfway point cut-off.  Very humbling to have to ride back to the finish line area and slink back to my car. 

I was so demoralized that I pulled out of Pine Mountain 40 miler on 12/4.  I had so been looking forward to that race but was very apprehensive with it being very hilly with technical single track covered with rocks and leaves.  I could not take another DNF.

I considered just taking the rest of the year off but had signed up for the Table Rock Ultra on 12/10.  I had 3 weeks to nurse my hurt pride and get some training in.  I was encouraged by the fact that this race was on paved roads and gravel roads.  No single track.  The elevation profile was a bit daunting with about 4 miles of rolling paved roads, then 11 miles of climbing on the gravel road to Wiseman's View.  But, that meant 11 miles of mostly downhill running on the way back!  Plus, it was only about a 1.5 hour drive from my house.  I just cannot pass up close races like that :-)  Race start and finish was at Lake James State Park.  50K runners ran up to Wiseman's View and back.  50 milers ran up to Table Rock and back.  They had a cut off but we 50K runners really had nothing to worry about since the finish line was going to be open for 12 hours.

Very chilly at the start but temps predicted to get into the upper 40's.  I was layered up and never really needed to take any layers off.  It was windy and cold once you reached the ridgeline and I was very happy with my choice of gear.  Aid stations about every 5 miles so I carried a handheld and wore my Nathan Race vest to carry incidentals.

Met up with a few Maniacs prerace but once we were underway, they were long gone.  Pretty much everyone was long gone by the time we were a few miles into the race but like the tortoise I am, I just kept keeping on.

I had looked at the course map a couple times and knew there was a short out and back as we exited the park but instead the volunteer turned us right out of the park.  Hmmmm.  That had me a bit concerned.  I was a bit more concerned when we ran past some markings on the road with arrows coming from a different direction.  That was the road we were supposed to come out of after we ran the out and back.  I didn't think I had heard anything about a route change.  But, I pushed it out of my mind since we seemed to be back on course OK.

Some lady was running ahead of me with a dog and I swear that practically every house we passed had dogs running out and hassling her and then hanging out on the road waiting for more runners to bark and lunge at.  I was very happy to finally reach the gravel road and leave civilization behind. 

The 11 mile climb wasn't too bad.  I did alot of walking.  There were a few downhill sections and it felt great to just stretch out my legs and run.  Somewhere in this section I actually started passing a few people.  I am the world's worst uphill runner so I was quite surprised.  There were some very spectacular views along this section.  The higher we climbed the better it got.  Great views of Table Rock across the gorge.

Got to see everyone coming back from the turnaround.  I was very jealous cause they were all just flying down and here I was all disgruntled and trudging as fast as I could up the road.  But eventually I too made it to Wiseman's View and enjoyed some hot noodle soup and other aid station goodies as I looked across the gorge to where the 50 mile runners were heading.  I did not envy them one bit.  It took me 4 hours to reach the halfway point and I was very happy with that.

The trip back down was quite uneventful.  I was loving the long stretches of just letting gravity do it's work.  I was passing a few more people as I went down and we were all joking and having a good time knowing the worst of the race was over.  Eventually hit the paved road again and I really did not feel like I had already run 27 miles.  The last 4 miles back to the finish went so easily.  I finished in 7:18 so had a nice 42 minute negative split on the return trip.  Dang I love me some downhills!

Nice finisher's hooded sweatshirt as a reward.  Just one more reason why I love ultras.  I love swag that I can use :-)  Good chow at finish line.  Helped myself to a yummy burrito then hurried to my car to get out of the cold.  I think Mark Rostan (RD) and his group of volunteers put on a quality run.  The aid stations were excellent.  The course was very pretty especially in the higher elevations.  Maybe a little tweaking with the course markings but overall this is a race I would gladly run again.

And best of all....I got the DNF monkey off my back.  This was not an easy course and I did fine.  I have to be more selective in the ultras I pick out in the future.  I am no spring chicken and I just need to admitt to myself that there are just races I cannot run.