Coosa Backcountry Trail FKT

Ok so, last Saturday 7/22/12 I decided to try for the Coosa Backcountry trail FKT.  I ran it pretty hard last fall and missed it by about 4 min.  This time I knew I was in better shape and had run some decent workouts in the last few weeks so I had a chance.  With it being July in Georgia the heat and humidity didn't exactly lend themselves to a super fast time but I decided to start really early and hope for the best. 

On the morning of I made it to the trail head at 6:20 and started running the approach trail nice and easy to stretch out the legs.  At the start of the loop I did a few strides and stretched a bit until I was confident that the trail was light enough to run fast on.  I checked the garmin to make sure it was reading right, took a deep breath and off I went.  Not a minute into the run I felt a searing pain in my left shoulder, a wasp stung me somehow  without even landing on me.  I debated briefly stopping going back and starting the run again but thought better of it.  I continued on to the first road crossing not a mile in which gave me my first split.  It was 5:46, already 15 seconds ahead of pace.  As I entered the woods for the 2.5 mile descent I spooked a medium size bear and sent him crashing down the hill breaking anything in his path.  The split at the bottom of the descent marking the start of the Coosa Bald climb was 20:15, still ahead of schedule.  As I started up the climb I just tried to focus on running where I could and not lingering when I did have to hike.  All without using too much energy too early in the run.  As I approached the top of the climb there was a great cool breeze flowing over the top that was much needed in the Georgia humidity.  The split at the top was 1:02:30, from here I just had to find my efficiency and flow and get on down the mountain.  The descent to wolfpen gap went well and I recovered well for the last climb up slaughter.  As I crossed the road I took the split at 1:14:02 still well ahead of schedule.  Slaughter gap justifies its name every time I see it, no matter what pace I am trying to run and today it hurt a lot.  I didn't know where to split my watch at the top of slaughter so I took the split at the true beginning of the descent in 1:30:06.  From here I just had to get to the bottom in less than 23 min.  I let it flow where I could and just pushed through where it didn't flow.  There are just a few rises in the last couple miles but they really showed how tired my legs were.  Finally the last turn came into sight and there were Mitch and Brandon yelling and cheering me in.  They even had a finish line tied up for me to break.  I have won a couple races in the past but this was the first time I was able to break a physical tape.  I stopped the watch at 1:51:16 setting the new fastest known time for the loop by just under 2 minutes.

This was one of the toughest efforts running I have made in a long time.  But this run is a great check point in my training for the summer and looking ahead to the fall.  I will definitely look back to this run in November when I toe the line for the Duncan Ridge 50K that shares the first and last 8 miles with this course.

Yonah Race?

On Saturday April 14th I, along with a few running buddies held the first ever and hopefully annual Yonah Race at Mt. Yonah in Cleveland GA.  The trail is about 4.5 miles round trip with just over 1500ft. of gain.  Yonah is one of my favorite mountains and training spots around and I was happy to share it with some friends as it is easily accessible and offers good technical trail running.  We decided to hold this pseudo race to have a larger selection of people that have run the trail in order to post a fastest known time, however since the race I still can't bring myself to go post it.  I guess I still want to see more people run it and have a larger collaboration of times on the trail first.  On the flip-side if I put it out there more people may find out about it and go run it.  Maybe I'll decide to post it by the end of this blog but we will have to see.

We had a great time running the mountain and in the end I set a new personal best time on both the ascent and descent.  I still think I could find another 45 seconds to a min. on the ascent but am not sure I could get much on the descent.  I'm sure someone else could and would love to see a lot of people try this trail.  Recently I found a trail that connects Yonah Mtn. to Pink Mtn. next door.  With this new trail there is easily 10 miles of trail within 5 min of downtown Cleveland that would have roughly 2500 ft. of vert.  Great trails with great views, go run it.  Keep an eye out for the next Yonah race next spring around Easter time.  Just not on Easter because we will be celebrating the payment made by Jesus for our sins when He died on the cross and three days later rose from the grave.  He did this so that anyone who calls on His name will be born again to live forever in Heaven with him.  Pretty sweet deal.