Stumpjump...

I guess I'm a bit late on this post, as everyone else has already given their side of the story....

We arrived at our beautiful Marriot hotel just in time for the ladies to wait on me to pretty up so we could head over to Rock Creek for the pre race dinner and festivities...Rock Creek moved locations since the last time I have been to Chattanooga and I must say the new store is pretty awesome...very spread out and nothing is crammed on to the racks....they also support local teams (running, adventure racing, climbing....and more)...hmmm.....but anyways, great looking store with a true interest in the Chattanooga outdoor culture....

The dinner was good, I even got to get seconds....after the dinner we went back to the Marriot for the pre-race prep of filling gel flasks and all that kind of good stuff....

Arrived at the race about 6:30 for the 8am start...I'm kind of a freak about getting to races early as I want to make sure I have everything taken care of before the race starts....

When the RD got up to explain this years race he told us teh course was going to be a bit different than year's past, we were going to make an extra 2 mile loop on some non-technical gravel road on the way out before we hit the single track which I thought was a good thing as I remember the singletrack bottle necking hard last year....

The siren (or gun or whatever it was ) went off and I took off with the front 30 or so folks...The pace was fast right off and immediately my heart rate was up there and I was breathing pretty heavy....I wanted to slow it up a bit but I knew if I did I would get passed by a wave of people and then it would be really hard to pass once we got into the single track so I stuck with it, hoping the pace would chill out soon so I could fall into a groove....

We arrived at the aid station where the single track began (labeled mile 5.1) at 1:06...this is where I began to notice something was up with the distances....the guys I was running with were a bit stunned as well...1:06 and 5.1 miles...no way, we were rolling way faster than that...anyway, the singletrack began and it bombed us down a very steep hill which I was able to keep a good pace going down...that dropped us out on a road and another aid station not too far away where I refilled and kept on chugging...by this time the pack had spread out a bit and I was falling into a rhythm on the more runnable sections of trail but my rhythm was always disrupted by a climb within a few minutes of moving along...

I rolled through the drop bag aid station at mile 10 and got in my bag just long enough to grab some e-caps and switch out my gel flask...I was poppin e-caps like candy (2-3) an hour as it was really hot and I felt like i was on the verge of cramps all day, though thankfully they never struck...I got to the "mile 16" aid station at 3:06....I was getting frustrated at this point...3:06 at half is a 6:12 split on a good day...I was thinking there is no way I'm moving at this pace...the other guy I was running with said he ran a 5:11 last year and felt like he was in good enough shape to do it again and he was shocked at the time at 16 miles....

Whatever..I convinced myself that my time was going to be off from last year and that now my goal was to pass as many people as possible in the next 16 miles....after the race I learned that the 16 mile aid station ran out of water for later runners...I just want to say I'm sorry, if I had of known I would have only filled my bottle half way...In the next section I passed quite a few people that were beginning to feel the effects of the heat...I rolled into mile 20 where my drop bag was and picked up the ipod for some motivation to take it home...

I had a massive playlist set up so that I could just scroll through and leave it on whatever caught the mood but luckily I didn't have to mess with it too much as I fell into the groove with some Panic early on the playlist....the next 10 miles were all about passing....I would pass somebody, then run hard til I got someone in my sights to pass again.....I finally made it to the last aid station and I knew it was easy from here...I passed 2 more folks on the last 3 mile section before busting out of the woods and seeing the finish line...this was a huge relief as I was really starting to feel it....I ended up crossing the line in 5:44....good enough for 17th out of a hundred and seventy something finishers...I was very pleased with my effort...I felt like I had left everything I had out of the course...even though I started fast I didn't feel like I ever really gave out...I had energy throughout the entire race....I ran some hills that I would have ordinarily walked....

after finishing I found out the reason my times were off at the aid stations is that they were using the signs from last year and that this years course was actually 2 miles longer...I sat around and relaxed (and got sore) while waiting on the other Memphis crew to come in...Drew rolled in and we hung for a while and then Michael came rolling in...before too long Holly came rolling through followed very shortly by Lauren, then Elle, then Patrick and his mate....

Super pumped for all the 1st time Memphis finishers..you guys rocked it out and this was a very hard day on a very hard course!!! I'm pretty sure most of the Memphis crew has Sylamore on their minds now....for me I'm tossing Swampstomper in there in January and the aim for that one is to pick up some speed between then and now...

oh yeah..I bought a scooter today....a Genuine Scooter Company Buddy Italia....125cc that goes around 65 mph and gets 100mpg......but I'm pretty pumped..only thing is I have to drive to Chattanooga again this weekend to pick it up...

hope all is well...happy running and share the road (with bikes and scooters)!