(Trail photos courtesy of Pete Schreiner Trail Photopgraphy and finish line photos by Summit Pro Racing/Jonathan Newton)
My first run on my home trails at Sope Creek after Georgia Jewel 50 miler was supposed to be a bio-check of sorts to see how everything was feeling. Maybe it was the cooler temps that finally graced the South, but it was one of my friskiest runs of the entire year. My next couple of runs were also fast and frisky. I was planning on volunteering with the kiddos at Mystery Mountain Marathon (MMM) a couple weeks later, and then I got it my head that I wanted to chase my 2013 time on that course too – a la Georgia Jewel (where I beat my 2013 time by a mere 2 minutes).
I went up on the Friday before the Sunday race to mark nine miles of the Gahuti Trail section. It was just as I remembered: super technical with rocks and gnarly rooty sections. I reminded myself that I had done both loops of the MMM – the Gahuti and 301 bike trail – on the back end of Endurance Hunter 100 in 2021 – at night – and in arguably the hardest direction – and when I was as pissy as all get out. So doing just these 26 miles should psychologically be a walk in the state park. And this would also be the shortest distance I’ve raced since doing MMM in 2013.
Surprisingly, the four hours I spent flagging the course, marked the first time I’ve ever done a solo mountain run. I’ve always been too afraid of a hacksaw killer on the loose. Fortunately, I didn’t see any murderers. Or bears, which I did want to see (they are known to populate the Cohuttas). And yall, running in the mountains alone is pretty damn awesome – just like yall have always said! I have Thursdays and Fridays off and plan to spend some mornings in the mountains with my new Garmin InReach Mini2 (because, safety first) while the kids are in school.
My race strategy, no matter the distance, has always been to run the first half conservatively and shoot for an even, if not negative, split. It doesn’t always work out that way, but over the years I tend to pass a lot of carnage on the trail towards the end – if I, myself, am not the carnage (which I have been many times). For this race, maybe because it was shorter, I really thought I could run for broke all day and not hold back at all on the first half. But one mile in and I felt like I had gone out way too fast and was breathing really hard. I thought to myself that maybe I just ruined my whole race in that first mile, but I wanted to be up front as I knew the single-track we were about to hit was narrow and technical and not really suitable for passing. Luckily my breathing self-regulated and I eased into a comfy and sustainable pace. I had my Jaybird Vistas in and just jammed and sang out loud, bastardizing the lyrics to Ludacris’ “Back it Up” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” and 50 other songs.
Ever since landing on my nose during the 2020 Georgia Jewel, I have been very timid about downhills. But this time, I bombed down them and kept reassuring myself my Speedgoat’s rock plates were doing their job and chances were I would stay upright. Had I not already lost both second toenails after this year’s Jewel, MMM definitely would have taken them. The climbs were often long and slow but the downhills were legit steep and my quads were still tattered several days later. I tell you what, I didn’t leave too much out there. I made sure to fuel every 30-40 minutes and even visualizing myself pulling into a gas station when my tank was at ½ to ¼ full. I usually don’t eat if I have less than an hour to go, but I did that day. I knew if I took in enough calories, my legs would move just fine.
It was a big A goal to get sub-5 on that course, so when I crossed that finish line in 4:39 – I thought I was going to burst with joy. I would say this was my best race performance in 10 years. I was 3rd OA and 1st lady. I knew I was first female after I passed Cassy around mile 9ish and figured I was fourth overall by the time I got to run down the powerlines towards the lake. But I had no idea how far anyone was in front of me or behind me. Turns out that Run Bum got off course and dropped. Zac ended up 2nd place and 12 minutes ahead of me and 4th place overall was 23 minutes behind me. In other words – I could have been singing even louder in the woods – no one was going to hear me!
So here is the question I’ve asked myself since coming within 16 minutes of the course record set by Jackie Merritt: How often in my life have I held back on the first half of something? It’s really made my head spin thinking of potential missed opportunities because I was either too afraid, too lazy, or not confident enough to go whole hog on something at the outset, be it in racing, or professionally, or in love. I want to be brave enough to live my life like this race – and put it all out there in the first half – as the second half isn’t guaranteed.
By the numbers:
25ish miles
5500 ft of gain, 5500 ft loss
Time: 4:39
I beat my 2013 time by 61 minutes! Over 2 minutes a mile faster! Whaaaaa?!
Place: 1st Lady, 3rd Overall
2nd fastest female time in the race’s 14 year history
Oldest chick in the top 10 female finishes of all time (by 9 years!)
TrailCats 