Lookout Mountain 19 mile

Race: Lookout Mountain 50 miler/19 miler

Date: December 19, 2020

Finish Time: 4:33 hours

Distance: 19.06 miles

Elevation change: 2753 ft

"The Lookout Mountain trail races begin high atop the mountain at the spectacular Covenant College campus. The course offers a variety of challenging climbs, highly runnable sections and moderate descents on predominantly single track trails. The 50 and 18 mile races travel together for that 18 mile race. The course navigates two exposed bluff lines with fantastic views. On one section of trail, it is possible to see 5 states on a clear day. Runners will follow or cross no less than 5 different creeks leading the runners to Lula Lake Land Trust that winds through rhododendron, mixed hardwood, and Hemlock forests and the towering 120' Lula Falls. Great aid stations with hot soup, a dose of Southern hospitality and camp fires at night. The 10K has become one of the most challenging 10K courses in the region and for good reason. The first couple miles are flat and fast on the college cross country trails and then the speed slows down and the course turns to narrow and beautiful trails along two separate creeks with a couple steep climbs, so if you are new to trails this is a good one to hike and regardless what pace, this one will challenge you."

I signed up for this race last minute after another race I was supposed to run was cancelled due to Corona. I wasn't trained for the elevation of this course, and haven't acclimated to the colder temps since moving from Florida... but thought this looked like a beautiful course. We left Friday afternoon to head up to Chattanooga TN to pickup my race packet. Packet pickup was super easy and went so smooth, and they gave out free local beer at pickup for runners!

Social distanced at the start line

Race morning I arrived about 15 minutes before the race start. It. Was. Freezing. Literally, 25 degrees out and SO cold. Everyone stayed "socially distanced" and had masks on. We didn't start with the national anthem which was a bummer, it's my favorite way to start a race, but to each their own I guess! That's honestly my only critique I can offer, everything else was awesome. Well organized, very well marked course, well stocked aid stations where you would need them, and amazing food at the finish line. 

The buzzer sounded and we were off! We started off going downhill for probably close to 3 miles. Then up and down and up and down. It was a beautiful course, but SO cold. It hurt to breath. I keep mentioning how stinking cold it was, let me show some pictures of the icicles along the course! It hurt my lungs to breath.


I started text Justin around mile 10 telling him how much I was struggling with breathing. Even with walking I couldn't keep my breath, my lungs were on fire. I ended up running with my facemask on a lot just to warm the air I was breathing. 

My legs felt great and my heart rate was staying low but my lungs were on fire. I told him I knew I wasn't going to make the 50 miles (which is what I signed up for), I was going to try and stick it out and make it as long as I could, but with the tough time restraints of this race and how much walking I was having to do due to not being able to breath I knew I wouldn't make it. I was praying it would warm up outside so I could enjoy the rest of my beautiful miles.
The views after that were spectacular, on a clear day like today you can see 5 different states! There were 2 huge waterfalls we got to run by. This area was particularly cold! The splashing of the freezing water in the wind was like having ice hitting you in the face! 

The trail wasn't too hard to run, except some parts were so steep, we literally had to use a rope on one area to aid us in the climb! These parts I was unable to run, even if it wasn't so cold, although there were some amazing runners that were still running these crazy steep up hills! 

I got to mile 14 and texted Justin telling him I was going to bail and finish with the 19 mile finishers. I was struggling emotionally at this point. I was so frustrated that I felt good and couldn't run because I didn't train to run in the cold. Poor training for the elements got the best of me. I bailed and finish with the 19 mile finishers, I figured I would get a DNF from dropping and was pleasantly surprised to see that they just moved me to a 19 mile finisher! I'm so happy about that! I'm glad I ran this race, and learned something new about running in the cold! I never thought that would be something I would have to practice or train for. After 8 years of running in the Florida heat and humidity, I figured cold weather would ALWAYS be easy. Boy, was I wrong! I'm hoping to do it again next winter, but will have lived in Georgia for over a year at that point so hopefully I will be more acclimated to thinner colder air! Besides freezing, this course was awesome, the views were amazing, the race directors were well organized and so kind. The hot amazing tacos on the grills at the finish line HIT THE SPOT! 

Farm Daze 24 hour Endurance Run

Race: Farm Daze 24 hr
Date: February 17th, 2018

Finish Time: 24 hours
Distance: 66 miles
Elevation gain: 22.2 ft

"Bring your friends and come hang out country backwoods style at the second annual FarmDaze ultra! This race is a labor of love from local ultrarunners who want to share a weekend with friends and family on a beautiful property while enjoying some good brews, BBQ, and live local musicians... oh and some RUNNING ! Located on a pristine and private 350 acre grassfed beef family farm in Brooklet, Georgia, Farm Daze is an ultra event inspired by the best races that combine the LOVE of ultrarunning with the LOVE of our community. "

We setup camp Friday evening and the kids had an amazing time. Farm Daze provided hot dogs, veggie dogs and S'mores around the camp fire for everyone. "Quiet time" began at 10 pm so we could get some rest before the race start. Saturday morning the race started at 9 am. They had Duncan Donuts, bagels, fruit and coffee available for breakfast pre-race. 

Course!The course was a 2-ish mile loop. Started out on a wide trail for about 1/4 mile, then we went up around "space mountain" and continued into a narrow single track trail for half mile or so. We passed through a muddy area, which from my understanding can be pretty "swampy" if there has been rain prior to the race. This narrowed more as we wound through the trees.

The ground here felt almost spongy, it was interesting! From there we came out into an open area (around the 1 mile mark) and made a U-Turn back into the woods. This was the most technical part of the trail. It was very rooted, winding and had quite a bit of ups and downs. This section was about 1/4 mile long.

 

It opened up into an open field. This area was tough most of the day because there was no shade, and no clouds the first 6 hours or so. Around 3 pm we started getting some cloud coverage which was amazing! I loved this field section, not sure why because it seams like it would be the most miserable part... but I enjoyed it!

The last 1/4 mile or so was back into a wide trail, around a cute pond and through the animals where we ended up back in the middle of camp! The animal section was really cool to run during the day... but the noises that came out of this area at night time were CREEPY! haha!.

Once we were through the animals we were back into camp where the timing mat was, bathrooms, aid station and stage area. They had music playing and a campfire going. The Race Directors were there the entire time cheering for us, helping at the aid stations ect. They met everyone and cheered us on by name every time we came through. It felt very personalized!

Night time surprises - the race director went through the course and setup some pretty great lights and music for us. It was awesome, we had a mini party in the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods! It was such a pick me up each time we looped around it, reminded us we were out there doing something we love and to have some fun with it!

 

  

My goal was to hit my 100 miles in 24 hours. My training has been non-existent since running Long Haul last month due to some tendinitis in my knees that I had been trying to "rest". It was a very warm day, I think temps hit around 82 for the high with blue skies! Beautiful day for the kiddos to be outside playing, not so great for running. The heat definitely zapped a lot of our energy, but I powered through trying to stay as close to my goal times as possible. My knees really started hurting around mile 40 but I kept on going. Justin (my husband) told me around mile 50 I would have to maintain a 15 minute average or faster to hit 100 miles for the last 50 miles. 15 minute miles seams so easy peasy, but factoring in I was still going to need to change into my pants and warmer clothes for the night hours, bathroom stops, eating ect, PLUS the knee pain I knew it wasn't going to happen. I had to make a decision, keep pushing as hard as I can even though I know I am not going to hit 100 miles, or, eat some pizza and have some fun for the remainder of the race. I opted for the latter.

Daniel and I enjoying some night miles

Beer loop!

I drank a beer, had some pizza and walked a few miles while it settled. I listened to the music by the fire for a few at one point, I ran some miles, I walked some miles, I very much enjoyed the race! Not sure that I would have done anything differently, I have no regrets. With my knee issues, the heat of the day, I feel like I made the right decision!

On my way up "Space Mountain" on my
"fun loop" with Daniel

Overall this was such a fun race. I really cannot wait to run it again next year. I thought a 2 mile course could be daunting, or monotonous but it was really fun, there were people around pretty constantly either passing me or that I was passing so you never had long stretches of time "alone". The live music was fun at the aid station, the food was awesome and again major props to the RD and Volunteers. It was an organized, well put together race! I ended up getting 3rd place female with 66 ish miles. Can't wait to run it again next year and hopefully tackle more miles... while still having fun!

I got to run past camp every 2 miles and see sites like this, my son
and husband playing catch just enjoying their Saturday. Such
a boost this would give me every time!

My 8 year old joined me for a few miles. Love love loved this!