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!

H9 Baby Dragon 40k

Race: h9 Baby Dragon Egg 40k
Date: August 12, 2023
Finish Time: 7:07 hours
Distance: 25-26 Miles
Elevation gain: 6,883 ft

The BD Dragon Egg 40K is a 40 kilometer race that makes an out-and-back to Mulky Gap. This race started at 7am on Saturday morning near the pavilion (lake area). Runners have 13 hours to accomplish the 40 km. The cutoff time at Mulky Gap is 2:30pm on Saturday; with a final cutoff of 8pm on Saturday evening. This race has no nighttime running ... or walking.

The start was low key. Perry, the race director watched his watch and said "3, 2, 1, it's time to go!" And with that, we were off.  The first couple of miles were up Hill and got sleeper and steeper as we ran. I got stung by the first couple of hornets around mile 4 or 5.. Ouch!  There was a crazy steep climb at mile 6 my watch said 30% grade... Wow! It lasted forever. We climbed close to 2,000 feet in about 2 miles. Rough! I thought that was thw worst, until we peaked the top and had to go back down... have you ever tried to run a 30% grade downhill on a wet slippery, rocky trail?? Yikes!! It was crazy!  Once we got to the bottom, we went straight back up. This continued until we reached the turn around point... then we got to go back and do it all again backwards. 

The first aid station we crossed between mile 8 and 9. It was a beautiful site!  The family that was there was so helpful In helping me fill my pack and getting me anything I might need. They had a great variety of snacks, water and tailwind. We continued up and down for another 5-6 miles where we hit our turn around. Before the race start, I had asked about bringing my trekking polls. I have only ever used them for my 100 mile race never for a short distance and didn't think they'd be necessary.... The advice I was given by every single person that answered my question was to bring them so I did.. Let me tell you how thankful I was to have them and be able to pull them out at the turn around!!  I was able to give my legs just a little break and continue on to finish strong.

That aid station had PBJ sandwiches, granola bars and coke! Hit the spot!! We left that station to go up a steep long hill back in the direction we had come from. We went back through the original aid station... then made our way back to the start/finish.  I was counting down the miles I had left, I was coming down the last big Hill singing a "6 miles left to go" song I had made up and saw a sign that told me to tu4n down a forest road (rather than continue on the trail I'd originally ran up)... this beautiful sign said "3 ish miles to finish" 🎉 I thought I had 6!! I only had 3!! This gave me such a moral BOOST! I was SO excited!!  Ran about 2 miles on the forest road and then entered Vogel State Park and continued on a trail and in the campground there for another 1-2 mile's before finishing! 

This race was by far the hardest trail I've ran. It was awesome!! The only thing that sucked were the bees! I ended up with 7 stings on my right calf and 2 on my left. Brutal!! I saw a bear up in a tree around mile 16 ish. It shimmied down the tree so fast and dropped into the brush where it disappeared. Scary moment alone in the woods! I finished the race strong, feeling pretty good overall minus my blistered and bruised toes from the steep downs, and those darn stings!! I reserved myself too much during the first 6 miles. I wish I'd pushed a little more earlier on but I was nervous and held back. 

I finished 2nd place female and 5th overall. 

Last thing I want to say. Is what a funny, light hearted group of crazy people that run this race series. I highly recommend joining their Facebook groups, very entertaining! You won't get anything real useful from them, but it's worthwhile for sure! 

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!