Twisted Ankle Marathon

This was only my second trail marathon and the first one I didn’t exactly love, because it was too runnable. That was not going to be the case with this one. Tallie and I drove up to Sloppy Floyd State Park the morning of the race. The park is in Summerville, GA and named after James “Sloppy” Floyd, who was a State Representative. I couldn’t find anything about why his nickname was “Sloppy”. The race was scheduled to start at 9am, but was postponed until 9:15 because of a road block that was keeping runners from arriving on time. Before the race we talked with Jenn Coker, the Co-Race Director, and she shared some of the details of the race route. I hadn’t studied the map or elevation charts very closely, but knew there was going to be some major climbs. Jenn explained what to expect at Becky’s Bluff, which you will hear about later. We also talked with Lara, Samantha and Candy (Windward Roadrunners) before the race as well as Jason and Pablo from GUTS. Lara gave me a good goal for the race, which I was pretty sure I was not going to be able to achieve.

 

Becky, the Race Director and namesake of Becky’s Bluff I assumed, and a few others made some comments before the start about how the proceeds had helped the park with new restrooms and a playground. Becky also explained the courses for the full and half marathon. During the first 3½ miles or so, we would all run the same route until we reached the top of the ridge. Then, the half marathoners would turn left and we would turn right. I walked over to give Tallie a quick kiss and then got back into the group. After explaining the course, Becky had us line up at the start and a Park Ranger started the race.

We ran around 2 small lakes before getting to a trail. There were 10 runners in front of me at that point. Once we hit the trail, there was a short climb leading to a campground. We followed the road through the campground and then back onto a jeep trail. This was a great section to pick up my speed until we reached the ridge climb. At that point, I started power walking the inclines because I knew it was going to be a long climb. At first it wasn’t too bad with a gradual incline leading to a nice waterfall. After the waterfall, I was on a single track trail and it started getting a little steeper and then it got really steep. Holy crap, this was Becky’s Bluff. It’s not the steepest hill I’ve climbed in a race, but it was longer than most steep climbs. I was able to get to the top of the ridge without stopping to catch my breath, which was hard. At the top, I turned right on the Pinhoti Trail and started down a short hill to the first aid station. The aid station was “manned” by a group of cheerleaders so I had to act a little cooler than normal. I refilled my bottle, grabbed a GU and then headed off down a gravel road.

This was a pretty fast section of the race with rolling hills and the gravel wasn’t too bad. I really dislike gravel roads if the size of the rocks is large. They cause my ankles to twist and hurt the bottom of my feet. At the end of the ridge, there was a single track trail back into the woods and I knew this was going to lead me back down to the bottom. This was a fun section and I ran it as fast as I safely could. I love running fast descents through the woods like this. I knew there would be a turn around at the bottom of the ridge so I was anticipating the leaders passing me soon heading the other direction. Three guys with black shorts and no shirts were leading the race. I looked at my watch so I could figure out how far ahead of me they were and I also counted the other runners as they passed me. When I got to the second aid station and turnaround, I figured I was 6 minutes behind the leaders and in 11^th place. Not to bad for the first 8 miles. Now I needed to hold onto my place by keeping my pace up.

As I was running back up the ridge, I noticed there were quite a few people not far behind me so I picked up my pace a little more as I was climbing. I soon passed one guy that was struggling on the climbs. Near the top, I ran into Candy and soon after, Samantha and Jason. It’s always good to see people you know on the trail. Once I was back on the gravel road running back towards the cheerleaders, I started to get concerned that I missed a turn. I hadn’t seen anyone for a while and after my last race, I was second guessing myself. Luckily, I ran into the last place guy walking the other direction. I asked him if there were people in front of me and he smirked a bit and said “yeah”.  I guess he was thinking I thought I was in the lead. I was just glad to know I wasn’t lost again.

Soon, I was back at the cheerleader aid station filling up my bottle. I grabbed another GU and headed North on the Pinhoti Trail. This was a nice single track section with mainly rolling hills, but also some longer climbs and descents. Two guys passed me on this section as my knees started to hurt a little. This was the first time I could remember my knees hurting during a race. I stopped for a second to stretch, which helped a lot. The one thing I didn’t like about this section was all the half-marathon runners heading the opposite direction on the trail. Many of them were not good about giving me room to get by. I didn’t expect them to jump off the trail for me, but at least move over to the right a little. And that’s all I have to say about that. Before the next aid station, I ran into Lara and had to tell her I was not achieving the goal she had set for me, but I was still trying. The next aid station was the turnaround point for the half-marathon, but we kept going straight down the trail.

About a mile after the aid station, the trail opened up on a gravel road which immediately dropped down the ridge to another gravel road. The route turned right and followed the road for about 1½ miles to the next aid station and final turnaround. It was getting very hot and there was little protection from the sun while running on this road. I knew I was getting close to the aid station, but I hadn’t seen the leaders yet. Finally, the lead pack passed me heading the other direction and the 3 shirtless guys were not in the pack. In fact, they were not in front of me at all. I was in 11^th place as I arrived at the aid station. There were 2 other runners standing around at the aid station eating watermelon. I grabbed a piece and we talked about how hot it was. I had watermelon all over my face and hands, but it was good. One guy took off running and the other was walking. I filled up my bottle and headed back to the finish line. Soon, I passed the guy walking and then the other runners behind me started passing me in the other direction on their way to the aid station. They were not far behind me at all and I didn’t want to get passed so I picked up my pace a little.

As I was running along the top of the ridge, I passed another runner just before the last aid station. There were about 3 miles left until the finish, but I still had to go down the ridge. The route did not go down Becky’s Bluff, which kind of surprised me. I passed another guy as I was running down the ridge and one more as I ran around the lake. I was getting close to the finish and knew I had moved into the top ten. At the finish of the race, you run across a bridge over a lake leading to the finish line. As soon as I hit that bridge, I started running as fast as I could for a 4:20 finish and 7^th place.

Tallie and Lara (finished the half in 3:07) were at the finish with some chairs set up. It had turned into a beautiful day and I was very happy with my run. I found out that the 3 shirtless guys were told to keep running past the last turnaround, with the watermelon, by the aid station volunteers and ended up back at the cheerleader aid station. There were other runners that were told to keep going, but were turned around before the cheerleaders and able to finish the race. Lara, maybe not the way I would have liked to have done it, but mission accomplished! Candy came in next at 5:18 and then Samantha at 6:10. This is a great race on fun trails! Thanks Becky, Jenn and all the volunteers!