Adventure Report - 2018 Foothills Trail 76 Mile (Unsupported)

View from suspension bridge crossing creek feeding Lake Toxaway.

I already had a pretty packed 2018 racing and training schedule when my friend and running buddy Rick Rawls told me about the invitation he received from PA runner Larry Creveling, whom he'd met a couple of years ago at the Never Summer 100K. Larry had invited a few PA and NC runners to travel to Oconee State Park to attempt to run the entire Foothills Trail from Table Rock State Park to Oconee State Park, all 76 miles and 16,000ft of vert in a single push.

The entire crew of PA, NC and AL runners prior to our Foothills adventure.

Rick asked if I wanted to join and when I checked my calendar, I realized that this adventure would fit perfectly into my plans, 5 weeks ahead of my first goal race of the year, the Hellbender 100. The Foothills Trail would be my last long effort and allow me to test out some nutrition and gear selections.

Table Rock State Park, location of the Foothills Trailhead.

Rick and I loaded up our gear and left Huntsville, Alabama around noon on Friday to make the 5 hour drive to Oconee State Park. Larry had taken care of all of the logistics for this trip and rented out two cabins at the park to house ten of us just a short quarter mile walk from the Foothills Trailhead, our unofficial official finish line.

Sign in station for Foothills Trail thru-hikers.

We arrived somewhere between 6 and 7 PM. The PA gang and Tin Ha from NC had already arrived. Larry met us at the car and assigned us to a cabin, where we were able to pick a bed and drop our gear. I had brought a cooler with some food items as vegan options are usually scarce when you travel for races or runs in remote locations. Thankfully, a couple of the PA runners, Mary and Renee had kindly prepared a lavish carbo dinner buffet that included plenty of vegan options. The potatoes were amazing, guys!!!

Small waterfall on Foothills Trail inside Table Rock State Park.

The Friday dinner buffet gave all of us an opportunity to introduce ourselves and discuss adventures past as well as the adventure that lay ahead the next day. It took no time at all before I felt I’d known all of these guys forever. While everyone had different plans for the next day, all of us were excited to get going. One universal truth for 99.9% of trail and ultra runners, we love craft beers and don’t mind a shot of bourbon or whiskey, before, during or after a run, it does not matter, so it was in that spirit that I carb loaded with a few beers and a couple of shots of bourbon.

View from Bald Knob.

Rick and I headed back to our cabin around 9:30PM to triple check our gear and get some much needed shuteye before our 24+ hour adventure the next day. I don’t do well with sleep deprivation, so I try to make sure I get sufficient sleep the week leading up to a long event. In fact, I’ve been pretty diligent about getting 7:30-8:30 hours of sleep just about every night to compliment my training.

View from Bald Knob.

All of us got up around 5AM the next morning to make sure we’d have enough time to get some food and to make the 60 minute drive to Table Rock State Park, the location of the other trailhead of the Foothills Trail, the start line of our run. On the way, we would drop off another bail vehicle at mile 50 of the trail. One of the runners had already left her car at mile 35 of the Foothills Trail the previous day as she planned to stop her run at that point.

View from Bald Knob.

Even though we all got up and left in time, our short detour meant that we didn’t arrive at Table Rock State Park until shortly before 8AM. Who cares, this was not a race, so everyone still had plenty of time for one last bathroom break as well as for final gear adjustments. More importantly, we had time to take our obligatory pre adventure group photo and sign in to the hiker registry at the trailhead.

View from Sassafras Mountain.

At 8:05AM, we were finally off on the adventure of a lifetime. I had attempted the Smokies Challenge Adventure Run just a short 10 months ago, but had to call it quits and self-extract after we covered half the distance due to a freak snowstorm in the middle of May that made running the Appalachian Trail traversing the entire length of the Smoky Mountain National Park unsupported impossible. This was my attempt at actually completing an unsupported adventure, weather and other conditions permitting.

Add View from Sassafras Mountain.

While our group of runners would likely stretch out over the course of the day, Rick and I had decided to stick with the group until we’d peak Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina, about 9.5 miles into our adventure. After that, we figure we’d continue on together but at our own pace. This would allow us to enjoy the fellowship of our new found running friends from PA until we reached the highest point on the trail.

Creek crossing and our first stop to refill and filter our water.

We eased into our run by hiking the uphills and run walking the flats and downhills. To be honest, there really weren’t any significant flats or downhills as the first 9.5 miles were a continuous climb to the peak. When we did arrive near the peak, we almost didn’t get to enjoy the spoils of our labor (read: summit after 3 hours of uphill running). The trail section to the summit of Sassafras Mountain had been closed due to construction/reconstruction of the viewing platform atop he peak. However, there was no way I was going to be denied possibly the only opportunity I’d ever have to summit this peak. I decided to scout out the summit anyway and was able to find a nice footpath around the closed off construction site allowing us to summit after all.

View from Sassafras Mountain peak.

Everyone took the chance to break out some food and take some awesome panoramic pics from the summit before we gathered our things and continued on. Rick and I took off down the mountain ahead of the main group only to catch up to Tin Ha and David Walker, who had already gone ahead and were now waiting for the group.

View from Sassafras Mountain peak.

David, Rick and I continued on ahead of the pack at our own pace. We would continued to more or less run together for the next 35 miles, catching up to each other at some of the many creek and river crossings where we would refill our water containers.

View from Sassafras Mountain peak.

I had opted for two Katadyn BeFree Water Filtration bottles and they worked perfectly. It took me a mere seconds to fill up my bottles and drinking from the bottles and through the integrated filters inside the bottle tops was effortless. I plan to do a more detailed review in a separate blog post as I feel that these bottles are a true game changer for through hikers and unsupported solo trail runners alike.

View from Sassafras Mountain peak.

Running completely unsupported required all of us to bring some type of filtration device that would allow us to collect and clean out drinking water along the way. Thankfully, there were tons of water sources along the Foothills Trail. Aside from the filtration devices, we also had to be prepared for any popup storms and other unexpected inclement weather by carrying the necessary safety gear one may require. For me, that meant a waterproof jacket, wool gloves, waterproof gloves, a buff and a headlamp.

Trail tunnel of Mountain Laurels.

We also needed to carry all of our food. While some decided to stash some food at a trailhead somewhere near mile 50, Rick and I wanted to go completed unaided, so we carried everything. For me that meant 12 Honey Stinger Gels, 5 bags of Honey Stinger Chews, 4 CLIF bars, two bananas rolled up inside a tortilla and covered in honey and Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter as well as a small bag of Swedish Fish. I ended up eating everything but 3 of the CLIF bars. I ended up not eating anything for the final 3 hours of the journey. Thankfully, we were moving slow, so bonking wasn’t a factor.

Waterfalls are one of the impressive features of the Foothills Trail.

The Foothills Trail offered lots of spectactular views with its many suspension bridges, creeks, rivers and waterfalls (see pics in this post). By the time we reached mile 50, the trail was dark and we had been wearing our headlamps for an hour or so. We hadn’t seen David the last few miles, but before we lost sight of each other he had told us that he’d call it a day at mile 50.

Waterfall in the Jocassee Gorges.

Rick and I continued on. After leading us from mile 10 to 50ish, my energy levels had dropped quite a bit. I was feeling fine physically, but mentally I was having to work a bit harder than I’d liked. Around mile 35, I had my only physical challenge of the day. I had developed a couple of hotspots on the edges of my heels that required attention.

Entrance sign to Gorges State Park, NC. The trail would lead us into NC on two occasions.

I normally develop issues with hotspots much later in an event, so this was a bit of a surprise. I also had opted not to tape my feet prior, but I had brought a footcare kit that consisted of 2 precut striped of KT tape that had worked wonders for me ever since I ran the Everest Trail Race last November. I cleaned my feet as best I could before stretching the tape across my heels. The beauty of KT tape is its flexibility, allowing me to stretch it across the edge of my heels without creating creases hat would result in more hotspots.

One of the many climbs on the course.

I continued on without the spots getting much worse, but they didn’t feel much better either, making me think that they had become full blown blisters by mile 50. When Rick was clearly enjoying a bit more energy at this point of the run, I gladly handed over the reigns to him to hopefully pull me along for a while. That way, I could just focus on following him and not much else, because Hallucinations were already in full effect for me.

Lake Jocassee.

He did a fantastic job, even though the next miles felt more challenging than before. Unexpected rain showers would periodically pop up with varying strength. By now, I was wearing my Altra Wasatch jacket that had arrived in the mail just a couple of days earlier. I am glad to report that it worked perfectly. Unlike other older models of different rain jackets, that can feel stiff and plasticy, the Wasatch jacket is not only seriously waterproof, it does so while being soft and stretchy and conforming to your body’s movement. Another blog post reviewing this particular gear piece will follow as well.

Suspension bridge across a beautiful creek.

In addition, most of the lower trail sections along the river inside the gorges were now extremely muddy. Couple that with lots of exposed roots and you end up spending most of your energy watching every single step rather than enjoying your surroundings.

Many creek crossings provided us with plentiful opportunities to refill our water bottles.

Miles were harder to come by as we got closer to the finish. In fact, Rick and I started to really question reality. It seemed trail posts were no longer actually reflecting mileage accurately. We’d “run” for what felt like an hour only to see that were barely covered a mile. It went on like this until we got close to Oconee State Park. With a trail sign indicating 6 miles to the finish, I finally got my second wind. I was ready to get this done. It would be daylight soon and I was determined to break 24 hours.

One of the many impressive wooden bridges crossing one of the creeks.

Rick and I continued on, but our progress continued to slow. We were wondering if we could even break 24 hours. Why didn’t we get any closer to the finish/ Where is the finish? What is going on? Add a few expletives here and there and you get this gist of our conversation. Finally, daylight had broken. Just a couple more miles and we would be at the finish.

Creek crossing near Lake Toxaway, were we refilled our water.

Finally, we arrived at the Foothills Trailhead at Oconee State Park. There was no finishing shoot, no Race Director high fiving finishers, no medal, no refreshments, just a beautiful trail sign. Rick and I had done it and it was sweet! 76 miles, 16,000ft of vert that felt like 25,000ft covered in 23 hours and 40 minutes. Our net running time according to Strava was 20 hours and 16 minutes, not had at all. We were now unofficial official finishers of the Foothills Trail.

Small creek crossing, where we refilled our water.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Larry Creveling to inviting us along and for taking care of the logistics. I’d also like to thank all of the other runners that joined for the adventure. I truly consider you friends for life. Finally, I’d like to thank Charles Raffensperger who maintains the amazing Foothills Trail website that tracks everyone’s attempts and finishes at the Foothills Trail. Ultra runners are a special breed of people and I am glad to be part of this tribe. Another bucket list adventure completed.

River crossing at Lake Toxaway.

One of the many bridges and staircases on the trail. 

Massive boulder along the trail.

The final stretch of Foothills Trail inside Oconee State Park.

Rick Rawls (on right) and I all smiles at the finish, but clearly sleep deprived.

Race Report - 2018 Bel Monte 50K

View from above the course and the waterfalls at mile 4 & 31.

I kinda got roped into doing this one. Jerry and Paul had signed up and told me about it. So I signed up. They wanted some UTMB points and I wanted some miles, win win, except that we'd have to drive 9 hours each way. While I initially dreaded the long road trip, it was actually quite a bit of fun. Easy for me to say, I wasn't the one driving:-)

The Bel Monte 50K is part of a 3 distance race series (25K/50K/50M) in its thirteenth year in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In fact, the race has runners running along the actual Blue Ridge Parkway for the first 2.5 and final 2.5 miles of the various distances. However, its 6AM mass race start requires all runners to start with a headlamp that runners can choose to drop in a collection box at the end of the parkway section, to be picked up at the finish line.

View from above the course and the waterfalls at mile 4 & 31.

We arrived at Wintergreen Ski Resort in Virginia just 10 minutes from the race start, where Jan, and old high school friend of Paul's had rented a condo for all of us to share during race weekend. Jan had been running ultras for a couple of years and was in the middle of getting ready for his first 100 miler at Umstead. When we arrived at the Condo, Jan had already picked up the race packets for everyone and what was even more impressive, he had cooked pasta and marinara for all of us, even considering Jerry's vegetarian diet and my vegan diet. I had barely met Jan but already knew he was a rockstar, a very considerate rockstar:-) We opened a few beers Paul and I had brought along and started digging in. After some final race planning for the next morning, we all turned in pretty early for a 4:15AM wakeup call.

View from the course on the ridge line section.

The next morning, I had my usual "cup of coffee" before we headed towards the race start. Our short drive to the race start almost went sideways. In the dark of the early morning, we missed a sharp left turn...or was it sharp right? Either way, thankfully we had left early enough to still correct course and arrive in time, even without a signal to use Google Maps. It was a balmy 26 degrees when we finally got out of the car with about 8 minutes to the race start. I normally toe the starting line of a 50K in a singlet and maybe sleeves and gloves, but I actually opted for an additional layer, my trusty old Houdini. Boy was I glad I did. Temps never reached much above the mid 30s. I kept on my mittens and was extremely thankful to Jan, who had brought extra hand warmers for everyone. Those bad boys stayed in my gloves and on my hands the entire race.

View from above the course and the waterfalls at mile 4 & 31.

After standing my a small fire near the start, we were sent on our way. We all started the race together and I tried to get a bit ahead along with some other runners to avoid any congestion once we dropped from the Parkway onto single track trail. The pace was pretty quick and I was sitting somewhere in 10th overall (across all distances, since I didn't know what anyone was running) when we completed the Parkway section. Once on the trail I settled into my own comfortable pace pretty quickly. Headlamps were no longer needed and I had dropped mine in a box at the trailhead.

View on the course on the ridge line section.

The first section of single track trail had us dropping down towards and past a beautiful waterfall before climbing back up and across the parkway. After crossing the parkway, runners were lead to even more beautiful single track trail that would slowly lead us up and across the spectacular mountain ridge line for a couple of miles. At the end of this section we would hit one of the first major aid station and one of its more famous ones. When I came through they were actually still in the process of setting up. Since it was pretty cold and very early in the race for me, I actually passed right through it without stopping. I hadn't even touch any of my two water bottles yet, that were filled with some Sword for nutrition. I also carried my usual Honey Stinger gels, which would be the only race fuel I would use along with whatever fluids were provided at the aid stations. The cold weather made it difficult to even remember to drink, but a watch alarm would notify me every 45 and 60 minutes to eat a gel and take some salt, respectively.

After the first big aid station, we would bomb down the mountain on some sweet switchbacks. They would not be so sweet later on in the morning when I'd return to climb back out. The Bel Monte 50K is actually a 55K out and back course. In fact, my watch, which is known to actually measure short, had this race clocking in at 35.2 miles. The long downhill into the valley was followed by a fairly flat but pretty technical rocky trail. The next aid station would be at around 14 miles. I had been able to drop my pace along the way and had no idea where exactly I was in the field. I would find out about 2 miles later, when the race leader and runners in second and third place were already on their way back about a mile ahead of me and another runner. Realizing that I was already a mile back just ahead of the halfway point was a bit deflating, but it also was freeing. I was actually running well and on pace to hit my A goal for the race, so everything else became meaningless.

We would run about 3 miles to the turnaround aid station before turning around at about 17.5 miles. I was looking forward to the turnaround as it would officially signal the second half of the race, the "final" stretch. This section was on a partially paved dirt road. I was chatting with another runner as we started to pass 50K and 50M runners on still their way out. This was a really welcome sight as I had been running completely along for the past 13 miles. Now I was exchanging encouraging words with fellow runners as we passed each other and it made the next few miles fly by much quicker.

While I did lose some pace on the technical section in the valley, I was still moving pretty well. I arrived at the bottom of the big climb out of the valley in good spirits and ready to tackle the final stretch. I still had my A goal in sight as long as I did not fold on this climb. I started running the left turns of the switchbacks and speed hiking the right turns, allowing me to recover some and fuel in the process. Before I knew it I arrived at the top and the last major aid station, where I chugged a cup of Coke and downed a frozen (yeah frozen) potato. Temps had never warmed up at all and both food and water at aid stations had started to freeze. I picked up my pace on the way back across the ridge line and across the parkway before dropping back down to the waterfalls. This left me with one final climb back to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway, that signaled a final "sprint" on the parkway back to he finish. This literally felt uphill nearly all the way to the finish. I kept pushing to hit my A goal and when the finish line finally came into sight, I crossed having "beaten" my goal by 5 minutes. I managed to hang on to 4th place overall and had not been passed after mile 5 of the race very early in the day.

Jerry, Paul and Jan all arrived at the finish in great spirits, having had successful races as well. Suffice it to say, we all had earned the beers that were consumed pretty soon after:-) Thanks to a great race organization and a beautiful course. The cold weather did not detract from the beauty of this challenging course. The result were 35+ miles and 5300+ feet of vertical climb in the most beautiful part of Virgina, the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Road trips are always better when done with your trail running buddies (Paul, Jerry and I:-)

Race Report - 2018 Delano Park 50 Miler

The start/finish area the night before the race. This stretch of the course would be lined with canopies and tents the next day.

My wife asked if I would run this race about 4 weeks earlier. The Delano Park 50 Mile and 12 Hour races take place in a park centrally located in Decatur, AL on a flatish 1 mile loop of packed down gravel just a short 20 minute drive from our house. Since I was in the middle of training for another 100 mile race, I decided to join her for the 50 mile distance while she ran the 12 hour event. 

View from the start/finish area.

I picked up our race packets the night before the race, mainly to have an excuse to set up our canopy tent near the course to save ourselves some time on race morning and maybe sleep a couple of extra minutes. We still had to get up at 4AM to load up our gear and hear to Decatur for the 6AM race start.

My race plan was easy. First and foremost, have fun. This race always has kind of a party atmosphere feel to me with all of the tents and canopies along the course and runners just running loops and taking breaks whenever they want. It is also the perfect location to try out nutrition strategies, since you get back to your personal aid station every mile. My plan was to follow the same fueling plan as in my previous 4 races over the last 5 weeks. One Honey Stinger gel every 45 minutes, some base salt every 60 minutes and Coca-Cola as needed in the later stages of the race. From a running perspective, I spent allw eek trying to figure out a pace I felt I could sustain for the full 50 mile distance. I finally settled on 9 minute pace.

I ran the first 2 loops with John Nevels, DeWayne Satterfield, Luke Hough and Aleisha Chaffin, all of whom would run the 12 hour distance, but clearly had plans different from mine as I had to dial it back after two loops to stick to my original plan of 9 min miles. That was pretty much the last time I ran with anyone, even though there were nearly 100 runners on the 1 mile loop. As much as I wanted to speed up or slow down to chat with other runners, sticking to my plan meant that I could only exchange very brief words of encouragement with other runners. The first 20 miles were pretty uneventful. I was still running in a winter running jacket and gloves. I would start shedding my layers about halfway through the race.

I had started to pay closer attention to the distance after abut 20 miles and I started to look forward to grabbing my iPod and headphones (something I haven't done in a very long time) for the last 20 miles to keep me on track. By that time, I had stripped down to a running singlet and shorts as the temps had warmed up a bit and the sun was almost above us. I would only realize that evening that even that fairly short time in the sun had burned both my neck and my shoulders. 30 miles in I started to listen to an eclectic mix of music, a playlist I had put together just for this race. This kept my mind occupied for another 10 miles. The final 10 miles required a bit more effort, but I also started to see the light at the end pf the tunnel.

With just a 10K or 6 laps to go, I decided I would try to push the pace a little to see if I could improve my original target time just a little. With 4 miles to go, I drank my first 2 cups of Pepsi to give me a final push and that definitely helped. Overall, my fueling plan had gone according to plan. I had stuck to it and I never experienced a bonk of any kind, not physical or mental. I really pushed on the final mile to cross that finish line exhausted, but feeling extremely good physically. 50 Miles is not a common race distance for me, so I even managed a 30 minute PR along with an overall win. Yes, it as a very small field of runners in the 50 mile race, but that did not diminish my excitement of how the race had played out for me. I set a goal and a pace, I managed to stick to it and I was still able to walk straight after. I call that a great day of ultra running.

Now all that was left to do was to pick up a 6 pack of beer and wait for my wife to finish the 12 hour event. Thanks to RD John Elmore and his entire crew of volunteers and to all the other runners, who were never short of providing encouraging words to each other. I'm not a fan of loops, but I really like this race:-)

Finish line photo with RD Jon Elmore.