Fall Creek 100

Race: Fall Creek 100 Miler

Date: November 18, 2023

Finish Time: 29:28 hours

Distance: 102 Miles

Elevation gain: 11,000 ft

I trained SO amazing and attempted a 100 in September... but ended up with the flu :( I recovered and found another race to signup for but I couldn't fit one into my schedule until November... and was so busy I stopped training after the September 100. BOY WAS I SO undertrained for this race but determined to finish!

"Fall Creek 100 takes a tour of Fall Creek Falls, one of the biggest and most visited parks in Tennessee. All distances take a suspension bridge over Cane Creek, skirt right by the overlook for the 256-foot namesake of the park (spoiler: it's a waterfall), spend 3-5 miles running right along the shoreline of Fall Creek Falls Lake (depending on race distance) before going right up to a firetower on their way back to the finish. The 50 and 100 milers also go over the suspension bridge at Piney Creek Falls and get to see Milikan’s Overlook.
It's a really wonderful park that's a lot of fun to run in. Pine forest; mossy, fern-lined tracks running along creeks; bridges; gentle, chill trail...it's really cool. We've included as much as we can on the course."

It started hard, I rolled my ankle pretty good around mile 9 and had a pain shoot into my knee, top 3 most painful events I've experienced! Turns out I had a grade 2 tear in my meniscus. OUCH! As an ultra runner does, I continued pushing trying to block out the pain. The course was pretty cool, you started at the START/FINISH line and run down the paved road less than a mile turning onto a pretty tough trail section. This section was about 3-4 miles long. Once you got through it, you hit the "FireTower" road aid station. From there you ran 1.5 miles down fire tower road and hit a turn around running back through the same aid station and through the same trail system back out to the road. Once on the road you ran for about 1/2 mile and cross the street entering another trail system. This one was a LOT easier, but still had plenty of rolling hills. They had a tornado come through last month and had over 1300 trees come down on the course so the course was changed last minute. It was insane seeing a the downed trees.Once out of here there was an unmanned water stop, then back into another trail system. You ran around the lake and hit the "Gilbert Gaul" aid around mile 15.5. Continuing from there you ran through the pine tree forest (very runnable) passing through "piney falls" aid station and heading toward the nature center where you would turn around at mile 25.5. Once you hit that aid station you ran back to where you began. The trails surrounding the nature center were TOUGH! Lots of rocks and roots, and a couple suspension bridges. The water fall view was WORTH every second of hike.

The trails were SO AMAZINGLY well marked. Even covered in 4-6 inches with leaves and in the dark I never got off course (which I'm notorious for). The trails were very technical, lots of rocks and roots hidden beneath the leaves which added a different kind of agility challenge that I wasn't quite ready for. Mile 40-50 were some of the hardest miles mentally. At mile 50 after I changed into dry warm clothes getting ready for the night hours, I asked Justin to tell me not to quit. He did while also reminding me how bad i wanted to finish, and it helped. I got a 2nd wind here and ran my fastest 25 mile portion of the trail. The night time was FREEZING

I think the overnight low hit 28° and with my body shutting down from exertion it was hard to stay warm... but we planned for that. Lots of hand warmers tucked into my gloves and pockets, and I ended up running with my puffer coat for awhile.

My rockstar husband was my ONLY pacer/crew and he is so amazing. He came out and joined me for 20 ish miles during the overnight and as always, knew my needs and was there for all of them. I dropped him off at Gilbert Gaul and had 15.5 miles to go. We made an ALMOST critical mistake here and I forgot to take another Ibuprofen. It had wore off completely and my knee was ACHING. I got about a mile from that aid station realizing that I forgot it. I wasn't sure I could struggle through the last 15 miles. I cried A LOT. Every step that I didn't land flat on my foot, every up or down hill, wow. SO much knee pain.

3.3 miles to go and SO EXCITED

I pushed through and blocked out the pain to the best I could and kept moving forward 1 step at a time. This race was the best I've done with fueling, I stayed on top of my calories and am so proud of myself for that. It is usually my biggest struggle. My watch died around mile 75 which was a super bummer. I've never ran without being able to track my miles and pace ect that was tough. Also zero phone service the whole time so I couldn't check in with anyone or text Justin in advance if I was going to need something. All in all, I'm so thankful I pushed through and finished. I will say, I'll never attempt to run a 100 mile race again without training. I am sore today!!

3rd place female overall. Also made the all time top 5 fastest females for this course! Can't wait to run this course again next year so I can really give it my all!

85 miles in and getting tired!

That finishline beer was the best I've ever had!

Enjoying running again.

I have been really struggling with my runs the past several months. I dread them, I stress over my time and no longer feel the runners high we are all so addicted to. I have 2 marathons coming up over the next month and I really want to get back to that place of enjoying the journey. Yes I hurt (Lyme Disease), yes I am more tired then I should be, but I know it is possible to still enjoy running. So yesterday I decided I was going to do a long run 18-22 miles ish. I left with no plan except to run. I turned all my audio cues off for time and had it just update me on my distance. I found a pace that felt comfortable and just ran. Since I wasn't worried about my routes ect I was able to run new areas because I was just following the sidewalk to see how far it went before it ended! When I started feeling uncomfortable I asked myself if I needed to slow down, or just needed to ignore everything from the waist down.

 I ended up running 19.10 miles (with no water) and my average pace was 9:16 per mile. That is pretty quick for me, I usually struggle to maintain that pace and feel miserable the whole time. This run was amazing. This is the mental preparation I needed so desperately. I am remembering how to enjoy the journey, not just focusing on the finish time. It's easy to get caught up in race pace and finish times so this is a reminder to everyone, put down your clocks and just go run. It did amazing things for me mentally, and I so needed this. I am excited for the Jax Bank Marathon in 2 weeks. I don't care if my finish time is a PR or my slowest ever. I want to enjoy the journey and continue learning more about myself.

Lyme Disease will not stop me. I will continue to push through the physical ailments and depend on my mental strength to keep going. I am happy, I will train happy and I will race happy. That is all there is to it.

Upcoming runs/races
Starlight 1/2 Marathon 12/20/2014
Jax bank Marathon 12/28/2014
Flamingo 5k (NewSmyrna) 01/01/2015
Charleston Marathon 01/17/2015
Waterfront 5k/10 mile 01/24/2015
Warrior Dash 5k 01/31/2015
Run 26.2 with Donna 1/2 Marathon 02/15/2015