Ultra Kraut Running

The rolling hills of Tennessee dominate the landscape of this historic ultra marathon.

This race is pretty close to my heart. I ran the Strolling Jim for the first time in my very first year of ultrarunning. The race date actually fell on my 39th birthday, so it was a perfect birthday run. I would run an extra 2.2 miles rather than 1 mile per year, but it's ultrarunning, so distances and measurements are secondary anyway:-)

Running step for step with Dink Taylor, 30+ time finisher of the Strolling Jim. Whom better to tag along with.

I earned a "pink" shirt that first year. Well, actually, pink just happened to be the color for the race shirts that every runner received in their race packet. The Strolling Jim is known for awarding finisher shirts to runners according to their finishing times. Runners taking longer than 7 hours have to settle for the shirts they received in their race packets, sub 7 hour finishers receive a red shirt, sub 6 hour runners receive a blue finisher shirt and sub 5 hour runners receive the coveted gold colored finisher shirt. After my first Jim, I ran the race a couple more times earning a red shirt each time by completing the 41.2 mile distance in under 7 hours. This year, my goal was to complete the race in under 6 hours to finally earn a blue shirt. My last attempt didn't go very well, so I wasn't filled with confidence when I set my goal.

In fact, I was originally scheduled to run a race in North Georgia this weekend, but with a summer busy with work and fun travel ahead, I figured I would be better served by staying closer to home. However, since I needed a long run on Saturday, what better way to do so than to run the Strolling Jim, a 41 year old race run by just about any ultrarunner in the southeast at least once, usually multiple times in their running lives. The Strolling Jim is a rite of passage. While ultrarunners are generally better known for enjoying long distance races on mountainous trails and while the Strolling Jim is a pure road race, its elevation profile alone provides all the challenge a runner desires with its rolling hills that deliver both pain and beautiful views of the countryside.

A typical section of the course, winding country roads through the hills of Tennessee.

Rick was kind enough to let me catch a ride with him up to Wartrace, Tennessee. We wanted to get there an hour ahead of the race start and me choosing to ride with him allowed my all important crew (my awesome wife Anya) to leave home an hour later and sleep a little extra before she'd be chasing me all over the 41.2 mile course for hopefully no more than 6 hours. We arrived as scheduled and picked up our race bibs before returning to Rick's car to get ready for the race.

I really didn't know what to expect from the race, even though my race times from other recent ultras as well as my current training load would suggest that I should be able to break 6 hours. After all, I had come off my 50K PR a couple of months prior to Strolling Jim in 2015, yet I could not manage to come even close to breaking 6 hours. Why would today be any different? Confidence was low. Self talk didn't really stick, either. Rather than dwell on that, I spent my spare time in the days leading up to the race playing with different paces and goal times. I settled for 3 goals, a lofty "A" goal (5:30), a "B" goal (5:45) and a "C" goal (5:59:59).

Failure was not an option. If nothing else, this race would provide ample opportunity to work on my mental game, if I started to falter. The Strolling Jim starting line is always like a family reunion of sorts, a reunion of southeastern ultrarunners. Since all race distances from the 10K to the 41.2 mile would start at the same time at 7AM sharp, I decided to line up in the third row or so as not to get sucked in with the faster runners. I lined up near Dink and DeWayne, which is always a great place to be, both for the stories you'll hear and for the perfect pacing skills both of these guys exhibit. After all, they've managed over 30 finishes at SJ between the two of them, so that shouldn't be surprising. And forger about counting the sub 5 hour gold shirts they accumulated between them...ridiculous!

Lush green Tennessee countryside, enhanced by a consistent Spring rain that lasted for the first 3 hours of the race.

Just under 500 runners took off at 7AM sharp. There were at least 50 runners ahead of us, but it was impossible to tell who was running 10k, 13.1M, 26.2M or 41.2M without seeing their bibs. Either way, it did not matter, my plan was to try to run with Dink for at least the first half of the race. He's consistently run under 6 hours the last couple of years, so if I could keep a steady pace on not blow myself up by the halfway point, then there might be a chance that I stay with Dink and finally get a blue shirt.

Mission accomplished, sub 6 hour blue shirt earned with room to spare.

Right after the start it started to drizzle before turning to a continuous 3 hour rain. The overcast skies coupled with the rain kept us cool, but once the rain stopped, humidity crept up quickly. Thankfully, the sun never broke through, which saved many a runner, including myself. Dink and I ran together for the entire first half of the race, keeping a steady pace that allowed us to chat and stay relaxed. My the halfway point and after the first bigger hills on the course, Dink mentioned that his legs just didn't feel right this day. I had no issues at this point, so when he fell slightly behind around the halfway mark during one of the major climbs, I pulled ahed ever so slightly. I figured he'd catch me on the downhill like he had on every hill prior, but that didn't happen this time. Suddenly, I was running alone. Just like that 500 runners had spread out with only a couple of runners visible on the road ahead and one a couple of steps to be heard behind me.

Post-race pic with my booty, finisher medal, Overall Master winner trophy and RRCA Regional Ultra Champion Masters medal.

My wife Anya had been crewing me about every three miles since the 5 mile mark. I'd swap my hand bottle for a fresh one with a gel or two. I carried SCaps in my shorts along with an ipod touch that I was hoping to utilize for the final 10K push. I continued to feel pretty good and I kept a consistent pace. By the time we hit the infamous "walls" at mile 29, both the temps and humidity level had noticeably risen and I was starting to look for my wife. I had managed to pass a couple of runners leading up to and just after the walls, but I was starting to struggle. I asked my wife to meet me every two rather than every three miles. I needed both the mental boost and a fresh bottle along with a few swigs of cold coconut water to refuel and to keep me going.

The walls are a 2 mile section of very short but steep hills. The are known to break runners in large numbers. This year I barely escaped, but I slowed significantly and I still had 10 miles to go. With 5 miles to go, I asked my wife to meet me every mile until the last 2.2 mile highway shoulder section to the finish.

My wife kept giving me updates on runners ahead to give me the proverbial carrot to chase. I remember her telling me that the runner in 4th pace was just ahead. While I believed that the runner was close, I was sure she got the number of runners ahead wrong. I was certain there were at least 20 runners ahead, but I didn't bring it up or try to confirm with her. I just kept plodding ahead. With 5 K to go, I walked for the first time as I grabbed an extra long sip of coconut water. A quick look over my shoulder and I realized that a runner I had passed in the walls had caught back up to me. Ugh, I really didn't want to get passed with a 5 K to go, so I grabbed my bottle, popped in my earbuds and cranked up AC/DC. Heck yeah, let's do this!... fast forward 2 minutes, I have been unable to control the volume of my ipod touch that wasn't dealing with the rain and humidity all to well. Well, shit!

As I saw my wife in the distance at the 2.2 mile mark and final aid station, I pulled out my earbuds and gave her my bottle as I planned to just go "naked" for the final stretch without bottle or anything else. Not wanting to turn around again to see where my closest competitor was, I asked my wife: "How far back is he?" - "One foot" she responded "one foot". He was literally right behind me. Hahaha, that cracked me up. Here I was trying to be all stealthy and he was right there.

I decided to drop the proverbial hammer right there and then. If this guy was going to beat me, he would have to earn it the hard way. I crossed the highway and took off. I saw another runner ahead in the distance and decided to try to reel him in as something to focus on. Thankfully, he was walking. Yes, I thought, I may actually catch this guy. Then he looked over his shoulder. I know he was thinking the same thing as me "Aw shit"! He took off running and I just tried not to slow. The gap between us never got any smaller. When I finally crossed the finish line with my wife cheering, the clock showed 5 hours 44 minutes. I had finally done it. I had earned a blue shirt.

Pre-race pic with Rick, who let me hitch a ride so my better half could be better rested for the day's crewing duties.

I actually won 5th men overall (my wife was right, as always:-) and I got both the Overall Masters win and the Overall Master RRCA Regional Ultra Championship. To be honest, both of these titles would have gone to Greg Armstrong, who had actually run a double Strolling Jim, starting the first one at 1AM and finishing it 10 minutes before the official race start before running it again with all of us, once again getting a sub 6 hour finish. 82.4 miles with nearly 7000' of vert in less than 12 hours, are you kidding me!!! What a beast!

Not a war, nor a battle, nor a fight, but a skirmish. Friendly contest is probably a better word for what went down today, by skirmish will work, too.

Thanks to Steve and Terri Durbin, the amazing crew of volunteers and, of course, the creator of this event Lazarus Lake aka Gary Cantrell. I cannot wait to come back to see what Zack can do next year. I cannot lie, I would like to see more of the newer breed of speedy elites give this race a go. I have to believe that the prize purse for the course record will lure a couple of them to Wartrace within the next couple of years.

An entertainingly accurate elevation profile.

Once again, I jumped into a race very last minute. In this case, I signed up 5 days prior because I needed a long run for the weekend. A challenging week loomed over my head. I was 2 weeks into this 3 week training block and was facing my highest mileage week for this training cycle, 100 miles. I was used to doing plenty of solo long runs in the past few years when preparing for a challenging race, but my motivation to run the usual local long run routes had vaned. This time around, I opted for more than a few trail races within driving distance to help me boost my weekend mileage and long runs. During the week, I continued to do my usual training runs.

I had been to Fort Mountain State Park, the location of the Double Top 50K, many times before, either to run one of the Double Top race distances or to run the Mystery Mountain Trail Marathon. I knew the terrain and I knew this course wasn't an easy one as it provided both seriously technical terrain and plenty of vert to boot.

Initially, the plan was to drive up from Huntsville on race morning, but the thought of having to leave the house at 3AM started to look less and less appealing as Friday evening approached, so I changed my mind and left the house late Friday to crash in a cheap motel just outside the state park. I arrived at the race start for check in with plenty of time to shoot the shit with Perry and Brad for a bit before crawling back into my Jeep to get ready for the race. It was raining with temps in the low 40s and I decided to not only wear sleeves with my tank but a gore-tex rain jacket and gloves as well.

With the race start just 5 minutes away, 20 or so hearty runners toed the line for the 50K race scheduled to begin at 7AM. Everyone was wearing an extra layer or two to fight off the wet and cold conditions. When the countdown clock reached zero, we all took off, me slightly ahead of the main pack of runners.

While this was essentially just another piece in my training block in my preparation for a big summer of 100 mile races, I did come to the North Georgia mountains with a game plan. I had run this race a few years back in a rather conservative pace and I felt quite a bit stronger this time around. I had also looked up results from the previous years and based on performances, I came up with a goal time for myself. I didn't know any of the other runners, so I didn't want to just tag along or follow or run someone else's race. With that in mind, I took off at a comfortable pace with the plan to hike the steeper hills and run the flats and downhills strong.

This plan worked out near perfectly. I had no low points to speak off and when I checked my watch at mile 21 for the first time, the clock showed 4 hours. My goal was still within my reach, but only if I did not fall off. My goal was to break 6 hours on this course, which is a fairly challenging undertaking for me considering that the course has nearly 8000' of vertical gain. I knew I still have at least one major climb left to go, so there really was no rest to be had. I had to keep pushing while still maintaining a sustainable pace. After all, this was first and foremost the long run for my big training week.

I kept maintaining pace. Whenever my mind would wonder and I would appear to slow down, I reminded myself to just maintain, don't fall off don't push too hard too early. Save some for the last climb. While I did start to have some pain in the left ball of my foot every time I'd step on a protruding rock, it did not affect my pace or gait. I even had some energy to run most of the final climb. When I passed the final aid station and arrived at the finish line, the clock showed 5:55. I had accomplished my personal goal for the day and I was feeling pretty good physically. In the process, I managed to win the race collecting one of the cooler awards in the process, a beer tap mounted on a wooden plaque.

Huge shoutout to RD Perry Sebastian, Brad Goodridge, Deborah, David, Shannon, Nick, Joel and all he other volunteers that worked tirelessly all weekend to make each and every runner succeed. Conditions were less than ideal, which is to be expected for the North Georgia mountains, but you couldn't tell by the enthusiasm of each and every volunteer I encountered. Thanks again, you guys and gals made my day!

It's been a busy three months of training and long solo runs have not been very high on my fun list, so I was looking for another 50K race to serve as my weekend long run. I had failed miserably at this particular race, the Oak Mountain 50K, two years ago. It was time for some sweet redemption. Nah, who am I kidding, I was actually pretty worried I would suffer the same fate as last time. Why? Because just like 2 years ago, I was in the midst of some high mileage training trying to get ready for a big event, or several big events this time around.

I know I know, you're not supposed to be racing to train, you're supposed to train to race, but I do not get paid to do this thing, I run trail because I love it. I love trail races even more than just running trails. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy long self-supported runs just as much, I had done it quite a few times before, spectacularly beautiful solo runs and spectacularly mind-numbing solo runs. However, I had mapped out a fairly long training cycle to get ready for this summer and I want to save most of my mental strength for my actual goal races.

These shorter ultra distance trail races are my way of getting a supported long run in. Yes, I usually get sucked into running a lot faster than I want or should, but I always have a lot of fun and that's ultimately why I do this sport...to have fun and to see amazing places...if that means blowing up spectacularly every once in a while, so be it:-)

This year marked the 20th anniversary of the Oak Mountain 50K in Pelham, Alabama. It takes place in Oak Mountain State Park just outside Birmingham and has some seriously beautiful and seriously challenging single track trails. But don't make the mistake and believe that this is an easy course. It's definitely one of the top two most difficult 50Ks in the state of Alabama.

Paul Morris and I drove down to Birmingham the night before the race to get a proper night's sleep . The Oak Mountain 50K is a fairly low key event and packet pickup only takes place race morning, so we didn't have to worry about that and instead just grabbed some spicy Thai food. Luckily, this gamble did not "backfire" :-)

We arrived at the race pavilion with plenty of time to mingle and catch up with fellow runners and friends. Race Directors extraordinaire Todd and Jamie Henderson always put on solid events and for the 20th anniversary of this one, the actual race founder got us started and racing off into the woods.

The Oak Mountain 50K has anywhere between 4000-5000 feet of vert and much of it seems concentrated in the first half of the race as I so painfully discovered 2 years ago, when I blew up epically after having run just over half the race distance. What followed was a slow slog to the finish. I was determined not to repeat history.

I decided to start slow and tackle each of the early hills conservatively and put my weight vest hill hiking training to good use. As a result, I was able to keep my heart rate low and sustain a constant level of energy for most of the day. Within the first 3 miles, I had passed a couple of runners ahead of me. By mile 10, I was running in fourth place overall, still maintaining a comfortable pace. I ended up sharing some miles with Sarah Woerner as well after hitting one of the more spectacular places along the race course, the Peavine Waterfalls.

I caught up to the runner in second place after about 15 miles. The runner in first place was about 5 minutes ahead and as it turned out, he had a pretty great day himself. Rather than me being able to close the gap, he continued to extend the gap by a couple of minutes between every aid station. On that note, congrats to the winner on a strong performance.

By mile 20, I was running closer to my max pace and rather than try to chase the race leader, I was hoping to be able to break 5 hours. Unfortunately, the final 6 miles of the race, although very runnable, felt more like 8 miles and when I crossed the finish line the clock showed 5:05 hours. This was still way better than my expectations, both from a time and placement perspective. Lucky to have been able to spend another Saturday running in the woods.

The Yamacraw 50K is one of the most scenic trail ultras in the southeast. These days, I generally try not to run the same event more than once as there are so many beautiful ultras to run. However, I am currently training to run the 6 oldest 100 milers in the US over the course of this summer, so I needed to find a bunch of "local" 50Ks to use as my weekend long runs. One can only handle so many solo self-supported marathons and 50K runs. While the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, location of the Yamacraw 50K, is still a 4.5 hour drive from home, it was still within somewhat easy driving distance.

I booked a camping spot for the day before the race and drove up Friday afternoon to allow myself time to pick up my packet and set up my camp site in daylight. Drove up, got my race bib, picked up another flat bill trucker hat, headed to my camp site, sat down to eat my dinner and crawled into my rooftop tent to watch the Mötley Crüe film "The Dirt" (Side note: These dudes were definitely a lot crazier than ultra runners:-)

On race morning, runners had to assemble at the location of packet pickup, Heritage Hall in Stearns, KY, to be shuttled to the alternate route start line at the historic Blue Herron Mining Community, which usually only served as the finish line. However, due to severe flooding over the past weeks and months, the original race course had to be rerouted from a point to point course to a single loop course. This made the course slightly shorter than the original route and also seemingly faster as there were a lot more double track and jeep road sections than usual. However, the water crossings were still plentiful.

About 300 runners piled into a bunch of school busses to be shuttled to the race start. The bus ride took about 25 minutes allowing me plenty of time to catch up with another couple of Huntsville runners, Allie Law and David Holliday (yeah yeah, he's a Cinci kid now, but he'll always be a Huntsville runner:-). We arrived at the historic race site and were able to leave a finish line bag with some clothes for after the race. The temps were pretty mild, which made the wait for the actual race start very pleasant. I caught up with another couple of runner friends just before the RD gave the signal to start. We all ran a small half loop through the parking lot before crossing the famous Tram bridge, which would see us crossing it again to reach the finish line a few long hours later.

This year definitely featured a fast field and from the gun, nearly 20 runners took off ahead of me. Having already run 60 miles for the week, I was quite content to run a more conservative pace at the start and see what would happen later on. To be honest, I was afraid my legs would give out on me regardless of my pace. Thankfully, that did not happen. I ended up running most of the day by myself, but did end up running with Alondra Moody for a while, who literally wins every race she runs. She is one hell of a runner and luckily she dragged me along for a few of the latter miles of the race while I was struggling to keep going. Of course, she ended up winning this race as well:-)

Throughout the race, I did manage to gain a few spots here and there, so when it was all said and done and I crossed the finish line, I did manage to squeeze into the top ten. Not quite as good as my fourth place finish 2 years ago, but I am definitely happy with my finish. I do think having serious prize money for top three male and female finishers ($1000/$500/$250) also brought out the best in some of those speed demons that toed the line. Special shoutout and congrats to Tony White, who grabbed second overall and to my buddy Doug Daniel, who finished 2nd overall in the 20K distance. More importantly, congrats to being a new dad, Doug!

This event is still pretty new, but it is already a classic, selling out early even with a much higher runner cap than in previous years. I'm sure the amazing scenery coupled with the prize money will only continue to make this event bigger. Special kudos to the race organizers for creating and selling some of the coolest race swag I've ever seen (and purchased). Both years, I spent a few bucks on some cool new stuff. Camping mugs, buffs, shirts, hats, beanies, they have it all, so be sure to bring your wallet as well as your camera, when you sign up for this event next year. But don't forget to set the reminder on Ultrasignup.com when registration opens or else you'll have to wait two years to run this thing:-)

The Stone Door at the rim of the gulf about 2 miles into the race.

Initially, the plan was to camp out at the park the night before the race, but temperatures in the low 30s had me reevaluate that idea. Instead, Rick Rawls and I opted for an early Saturday morning drive to Beersheba Springs, Tennessee to run the 2019 edition of the Savage Gulf Trail Marathon, arguably the gnarliest and most scenic trail marathon in the continental US. We arrived with plenty of time to get our bibs and catch up with fellow runners and friends from near and far that had descended on this beautiful little slice of nature that had been carved into the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau.

Another one of the more spectacular natural features of this race.

Lots of friendly faces I was glad to have a chance to catch up with. I had no plans for the day other than try to settle into a sustainable pace early and get my miles in. Even better, if I could just latch on to another evenly matched runner to pass the time. To ensure that I wouldn't go out too fast or run too fast in general I had decided to take my GoPro along to take some video footage of the amazing race course. I usually reserve picture taking and similar activities for races of distances longer than 100K. While I may not race anyone but myself, I do try to work a little harder in the shorter distance events, so there usually isn't really time to slow down and smell the roses. However, since I had run this event twice before, never really taking the time to really take in the views, I wanted to make a point this time around to do just that...and what better way to capture the experience and views than with a video camera.

All of the photos in this blog post are grabs from the video I captured with my GoPro Hero 7. A full edited version of the actual video can be seen at YouTube. Check it out. I'm sure you'll put this race on your to do list, once you've gotten a glimpse of this beautiful course.

Just three guys out for a run.

Luckily, my buddy Yong Kim from the Nashville area was running this race as well and since we've been running a fairly similar pace in recent runs and races, I figured he would be just the guys to try to follow. To be fair, he's run this course nearly 30 minutes faster than me in the past, but he "assured" me he'd barely been running much distance in recent weeks. Oh, how gullible I am. Turns out, this was his last long run before the Boston Marathon, where he has intentions of running sub 3 hours. This explains, why he dropped me like a bad habit about half way through this race.

Yong Kim tackling the steep decent through the stone door.

But let's back up just a bit. I lined up in the second row at the start line. Yong and I figured we'd hang back just a little and see how things turn out. We didn't want to get stuck in a train of runners when it was time to descend into the Gulf through the narrow steps of the Stone Door after about two miles into the race, so we made sure we weren't too far back.

One of the many beautiful creek crossings.

When we got the "go" signal, we settled in about 10 spots back from the front. To be honest, I had serious doubt that ALL of the runners ahead of us would be able to sustain what felt like my 5K road race pace, so I wasn't really to concerned to be back slightly further than expected. Again, I had no expectations other than maybe squeeze in just under my previous PR, which I had run 2 years earlier in pretty terrible weather conditions.

One of the many suspension bridges along the course.

I kept my GoPro close at hand as we took off. Yong and I kept a steady and comfortable pace. Once we made our way through the Stone Door, we started picking up the pace on the technical downhill. The rocks were dry, allowing me to run faster than usual on and through these tricky sections. We kept a steady pace and started to pick off a couple of runners already.

I continued to run by feel, sometimes I would lead, other times Yong would lead, but it felt comfortable the entire way. We kept cruising and I felt pretty good. We climbed out on the other side of the Gulf after having covered about 12 miles of the race. I still felt pretty good, when one of the aid station workers (all Tennessee Park Rangers, by the way) informed us that we had about 8 miles to the next aid station. This would include 6 miles of rolling singe track trail along the rim of the Gulf before dropping down into the Gulf for 2 miles before hitting the next aid station. I was felling great...until Yong confirmed that we were doing well and that we should be able to cover the next 8 miles in about 70 minutes. Say what? I kept my feelings to myself and just nodded. I fell in behind him, but after about a mile or so, he steadily pulled away. I knew my leg turnover was no match for his and I just had to let him go. I continued at my own pace making sure to just keep moving.

Did I mention suspension bridges.

It's easy to slow down while you're running my yourself and not even realizing it. You just kind of fall into a slower rhythm without even realizing it. To avoid just that from happening, I kept reminding myself that there are still 3 runners ahead of me and who knew, one of them may just slow down or blow up and I wanted to be there if that happened. This way, I also ensured that I kept moving at race pace. Unfortunately for me, fortunately fortunately for them, none of the runners ahead of me crumbled:-)

I kept focusing on moving, running as much of the final big climb as possible. This course was challenging even for the most experienced runners. The climbs are tough and the downhills are steep and technical. Runners need to watch every step. There is no such thing as just falling forward and flying downhill on this course, not if you want to stay in one piece. When I finally topped out at the top of the final climb, I had about 3 miles left to the finish. A final 5K and a final push to the finish.

Yup, there were a few suspension bridges.

When I finally crossed the finish line, I had managed a 12 minute course PR. Not bad considering I was taking video along the way. Of course, the weather conditions were perfect. So perfect, in fact, that Nathan Holland finally got his sub 4 hour course record along with his third win at this race. Impressive on all accounts.

This is probably the most technical trail race of the south east mile for mile.

It seemed most runners had had a pretty good day, which was to be expected considering the near perfect conditions. If you haven't run this race, you should. And if the scenery isn't enough, consider that this race supports the Tennessee Park Rangers and their efforts. In fact, the race staff consists entirely of park rangers from all over Tennessee. What better way to give back to the guys and gals that maintain the places we all consider our playground.