I ran out with the top 6-7 runners for about 6 miles or so. Once we hit the huge ascent up Coosa Bald, which gains 2000 feet in 4 miles, I let them pull away. I decided I wanted none of that. I didn't feel in contention to get on the podium this race and didn't want to not finish because I went out too fast. I dropped back with another runner with whom I spoke for awhile. He had a few good finishes at Hardrock, had run Barkley a bunch of times, and told me about a race he did that is now on my bucket list. The Tor des Géants, a 205 mile race in Italy. It sounded amazing.

I am a decent runner, but was feeling a bit outclassed, so I again reigned myself in and made sure I was pacing properly. The next 20 miles or so were pretty uneventful. I was still feeling fresh and would grind up one side of a huge incline, and then run down the other. I probably could have moved faster on the descents. My downhill running is BY FAR my weakness. As usual, my form was terrible, and I was breaking too much and losing momentum(and this would come back to haunt me later).

I remembered reading in some article that one big difference with the elite ultra runners was their ability to run downhill fast. I get a bit nervous and don't want to get out of control or fall. When I get a good rhythm going, it's actually not too hard to move quick down a hill or mountain, and I feel it actually takes less out of your muscles if you can "run light and smooth" I have to overcome some mental barriers I guess, but if I want to move to the next level, I need to figure it out.

I hit my first drop bag at about mile 26. I tied my jacket to my vest since I would not hit the turnaround until 11-12 pm by my estimates. The weather report had the temperature dropping into the 40s overnight which could be cooler in the mountains, especially in the gaps. I restocked on GUs and was off pretty quickly.

I grazed a bit at the aid stations, but I had started using Tailwind and found it to be working well for me. So at each station I would fill up 17 ounces of Tailwind, grab a handful or two of solid food, refill my water bladder, and go.

Those first 32-33 miles contained the toughest ascents and descents on the course. The trail included the infamous "Dragons Spine" which lived up to its name, however, pretty much that whole portion of the course was tough. I recall commenting to a volunteer as I came out onto the road after those tough sections " When I write my race report, I really don't know what to say about all of that. We started out for 0.35 miles on the road, and then it was 32 or so miles of HARD." I think that still pretty much sums it up.

The next section was nice. I ran along the Toccoa River. There were what looked like vacation houses along the hills on the banks. There were several people out fishing, and I managed to click away a few 11 minute miles along the way. I crossed a pretty wooden-planked steel bridge and ran along until the road ran out and started climbing again up to the next section of trail. When I got to the Stanley Creek aid station just before the trail it was time to don the ol' headlamp and mentally prepare myself for running straight through the night. I also wore another lamp around my waist. I like the extra light, and think the two light sources helps bring out the contours more in the rocks of the trail.

There was a pretty good climb here which took us back up onto the mountains. It wasn't long before I hit the looped section around Deep Gap. There were a bunch of water crossings in this section, but I only got my feet wet once. Really only because I wasn't paying good attention. By the time I got back to the Deep Gap aid station for the second time they had busted out the ramen noodles. I decided to wait on it and reward myself after I went out and back to the turnaround at Camp Morganton.

After the loop it wasn't long before I was off the trails and onto some local roads. There was a big descent, dropping about 800 ft in about 1.5 miles along the road, and then it climbed back up towards the camp. I saw the leaders of the race at this point coming back up the hill. It was easy running going down. It didn't look so easy coming back up.

I got to the turnaround at Camp Morganton sometime just before midnight. The aid station was heated and indoors, which was nice. I had covered approximately 51-52 miles at that point. I got my drop bag, grabbed my 2nd GPS watch and reapplied some body glide. I decided to eat some of the ramen since I really wanted some at that point. It had gotten much cooler by then, it was probably in the 50s, but I decided it wasn't cold enough to put on any additional clothes yet. So my jacket stayed tied to my vest.

It seemed much colder as I left the turnaround coming out of the heated room and before long I was back out on the country roads. Every now and then a pickup truck would gun its engines as it passed, but beyond that it was pretty quiet and peaceful. Also, I really noticed the stars. I live in New Jersey. We have like 4 stars. There was a skyfull of stars. Stars on top of stars. And if I haven't said it enough, there were a ton of stars!!

Before long I was grinding back up that 800 foot now ascent, but I was actually feeling good. I was done stargazing, but my mental state was in a good place. I typically try to finish the first half of the race feeling pretty good, and I had succeeded. Then the first 2/3ds of the race I try to finish feeling "not destroyed." I figure after that, its just guts and survival.

I went around the Deep Gap loop again for the second time. I did feel like I was slowing down at this point (coming up on mile 60), but I was still having no issues. I had my only real wildlife encounter in this section. I saw I coyote trot out on the trail ahead. It looked my way, turned around silently and went back the way it came. I did grab some ramen coming out of the second loop leaving the Deep Gap aid station for the 4th and final time.

Here is where the race started getting tough. It was the middle of the night, and I had just come up a pretty big climb. Now, I didn't really study the back half of the course since it was an out and back and I figured it was just wold be same stuff going backwards. Well, I did recall a small out and back on the return trip which we didn't have to do on the way in. I really didn't know how long it was, or how difficult it was. So after I got to the turnoff and ran down a bit, I saw some of the race leaders coming up. Now I knew at this point that they had a pretty solid lead on me, so whatever was ahead, it was going to take awhile. This devilish little addition was about 6 miles, 3 miles down and 3 miles up dropping about 1800ft to the Weaver Creek Aid Station before coming back up. It was here that my downhill running issues got me. Part of the way down, my legs said, "yeah, we don't want to run downhill anymore." I told them, "well you have to, since we are still 40-50 miles from the finish line, and as I recall there is quite a bit of more downhill running to go." So at that point, I had won the battle, but my legs definitely harbored some resentment which would fuel their revenge later on.

The climb out took awhile, but my climbing legs were in good shape still. I did have some headlamp issues (like my last race). Through the night, I had my headlamp on the wrong setting and had used up way more battery than I wanted. I don't do the "all-nighters" during training that some other ultra runners do. I like sleep. I will get up pre-dawn to get some trail running in in the dark for experience, but I'm not running through the night if I'm not racing. I need to draw the line somewhere.

So as a result, I was not as familiar with my gear as I should have been and had to switch to using my waist light as my sole source of illumination. This would be ok, except that was pretty much dead too. I ended up taking it off and using it as a flashlight as I stumbled my way along the last section of trail before coming out to the Stanley Creek aid station and the roads along the Toccoa river.

On this return pass along the river roads I was moving slower than when I had come through, my 11 minute miles had moved up into the 13s. The sky started to lighten at this point. It was the coldest it had been all race at this point. My guess is that it was in the low 40s. But I still decided that I'd rather keep carrying my jacket then put it on. I enjoyed the beauty of the morning, but my dread about having to run the upcoming sections of mountain trail overshadowed the positive emotions and I was none too happy 18+ hours and 70+ miles coming into a long and brutal section of the course.

Before long, I was heading back up into the mountains along the Benton Mackaye Trail. My climbing legs were still surprisingly good, but when I hit my first descent, it pretty much felt like someone had beaten my legs with hammers. I didn't really know the names, or remembered all of the aid stations in this section as I blew threw the previous day. Now I was doing anything but "blowing through" them. They seemed MUCH farther apart than on the previous day.I had just left the Old Dial Rd. Aid station and had 5-6 miles to Wilscot Gap.

There were lots of mountains, and knobs, and Gaps. I wanted to run downhill faster, as I had done coming through the first time. On the way out, going up the steep ascents I was managing about 16-18 min miles, and 11-14 min miles on the downhills. On this return trip, I was moving downhill as slowly as I was moving up. It really was a catch 22. When I ran slow, and had to break, my legs hurt alot more. However, when I went too fast, there were times my legs felt weak and I thought I would end up doing a faceplant in the middle of the trail. So in the interest of keeping myself intact, I ended up going with the slower (and more painful) option.

I hit Wilscot Gap, approximately mile 80, and it had begun to get warm already. I got my dropbag and drank an energy drink. I asked a volunteer for some ramen, but it was so HOT. She was very gracious and said she could add water, I thanked her and asked if I could get some salt in it too. It was really bad, it tasted like salty melted Styrofoam (I think the cup had melted because it was so hot). But I was a trooper, I smiled, thanked her, and chugged it down.

Looking back I think these next miles were mentally the toughest for me. It was getting pretty warm, I had still a marathon to run, and I was moving pretty slowly at this point. Looking back at my splits, it looks like mile 86 is where I really tanked. My uphills slowed to 20 min miles, and my downhills were not faster. I was in a bit of delirium, and had a few minor hallucinations including a guy in a sleeping bag sleeping with his trekking poles leaning against him alongside the trail. And a really weird one where some blowing branches and leaves looked like weird green bubble people. I knew it wasn't real, but I couldn't unsee it. I think I was also a bit dehydrated here as well. I passed through Skeenah Gap, another aid station that I really had no recollection of the first time through.

When I got the the next aid station, Fish Gap, I was at mile 90 and in the middle of the toughest part of the course. This next section was the longest between aid stations (somewhere around 8 miles.) I think it was a father and son who ran the aid station, and there was some techno/dance music going on in the background. I started bobbing my head a bit to the music as I tried to eat and get some calories in me. I recognized that moment as the "dig deep" moment. What I was doing was hard, I expected it to be hard, and at that moment I was "in it." I recognized that moment as one where I had so show some grit, get my head right, and get done what needed to get done. I had to go earn my buckle!!

Physically, I can't say that I left moving much faster than I came in, but mentally I left feeling fine. I couldn't make my body move faster, but I could take all the pain and fatigue and pack it in a box, and throw that box somewhere in a corner of my brain where it wouldn't be noticed. I recognized that it was pretty nice out on the trail, I looked out over the gaps and mountains that I was crossing. Again I wasn't moving fast, but I was moving, and took solace in that.

When I got out of this section, I actually allowed myself to start thinking about the end of the race. I had one big mountain to go over, and then one more smaller climb and descent to the finish. The White Oak Stomp aid station had a map. It put me at 98.3 miles into the race. I recognized that I was in single digits to go and that gave me a big boost. I started looking at the time and calculating my finish. Going into the race I am still somewhat inexperienced, and I didn't know how I would do. I estimated that if I had a great race, I could finish in the 26-28 hour range. I didn't expect to finish over 30 hours. I was happy when I looked at my miles and knew I would come in under 30. With 8+ miles to go, and only one unmanned water only aid station between, I stocked up and then head out.

The climb up the backside of Coosa Bald is much shorter than on the way out. It is steep, but only goes up 600 feet. It was the downhill side that I was worried about. My downhill running legs were long past shot. I would have to descend 2000 feet on narrow, rooty, rocky, log strewn trails for 4 miles. I remember mentioning at the aid station that I could still climb, still run on the flat (not that there was any), but downhill was very, very ugly. But hey, two out of three ain't bad!

I would have to run downhill here, (and surprisingly I did!!), looking back at my splits I even hit a 16 minute mile (yeah I know, not great, but trust me, here I was freaking thrilled). At this point I just did math. I calculated the amount of distance I had to go, the amount of time I had to go, the percentages covered from various points. I wanted to be done!! I started to see some people on the trail (non runners) who had hiked up for the day, so I knew I couldn't be far. I crossed through the unmanned Wolf Creek water station.

Before I had left the last manned aid station, I remember one of the volunteers saying "once you get to the road, you are home free." So I kept looking for that road. Once I got there, it was less than a mile out of the last section of trail. I hit the road, and before I knew it it was rounding the bend and could see the finish. I didn't sprint to the finish and throw my hands in the air. I pretty much just trotted under the arch and thought, "wow, that was hard."

As with the start, the finish of these races are pretty low key. I finished, got my buckle, shook the hand of the race organizer, and was done.

During the race I could have managed my hydration and salt a bit better. I had a few episodes of dizziness, dry mouth, and headache. I found myself trying to play "catch up" with my drinking and at times I was a bit bloated.

Outside of the race, I went in to this overweight. I was 15 pounds heavier that my race last year. Part of it is that I've been going to the gym and doing a bit of upper body work, but I can't deny that I've been eating a ton. My wife has gotten on a baking stint. And I just cant say no to cakes, cookies, brownies, and muffins!! (the muffins are so good). But realistically, if I want to be faster, I need to cut the extra weight.

I still carried too much stuff. I carried my stupid jacket for 80 miles. I need to not worry that I "might need something," and start to plan and bring only the things I know I WILL need.

Last, but most importantly, I need to get my legs good at downhill running. Partly I need to get more confident, but I also need to get out and train on some good hills and just bomb them fast and build strength. I have a 400 foot hill about a mile long with some good steep sections along it not too far away. I need to get some repeats on it regularly. Some people can hit technical descents fast and confidently. I cannot, so I need to work on technique and coordination as well. I could have had a much better finish time if I would have run the second half of the race downhills well.

I went back to my car and took a hobo shower. I used the water from my cooler and some wet wipes. I changed into all of my comfy clothes and went and ate a few tacos and chatted with the runners

After hanging out at the finish for awhile, I went back to my vehicle and passed out for about 2 hours before my soreness and hungriness woke me up. I went and had more tacos and beer!! I remember walking out across the road in my slippers and robe, holding my beer, and looking like some staggering drunk escaped mental patient, but no one blinked an eye. Partly because of weariness, but also because I wasn't actually too out of place. It was pretty amusing. I went back to bed at about 1am, and slept fitfully for another 3 hours before getting up and deciding to start the drive home. The drive home was easier than my last 100 mile race, where I made the dumb decision to not sleep before heading out. But I was still pretty exhausted.

When I got home, I managed a 2 mile run and kept my running streak from Oct. 2012 going! (FYI it hurt alot).


Downhill running!!! I'm too fat!! Hydration issues. Carrying too much stuff.


This was a tough race. It does require a qualifying 50 mile race, or a previous 100 mile race.

The trails were pretty and overall very well marked. I would be hard to go off course.

The aid stations were nothing special, but they had the necessities, and the volunteers were great.

I would greatly recommend this race to experienced trail runners who have done 100 mile races before.