This was yet another race I had selected in preparation for UTMB later this year due to it's significant elevation gain. It was also my second trip to the Dragon Spine, a section of the Duncan Ridge Trail with extremely technical and steep terrain that was also part of the GDR course. This race offers 15,000ft of elevation gain over 56 miles of mostly single track trails. Runners race from Blue Ridge to Vogel State Park.
Most of the Huntsville running crew at the start of the SJ40.
I was looking forward to yet another birthday run at the Strolling Jim 40 Miler (well, it's really 41.2 miles, but there's no point in being too specific once you go beyond the 50K distance:-). I hadn't been feeling exceptionally fast these last few weeks, so I knew this could be a long tough day out there in the rolling hills of Tennessee.
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