Chattanooga Mountains Stage 2: Lookout Mountain

Today's race was 22 miles that promised to be more challenging than yesterday. We had done everything we could to recover: yesterday included compression socks, ice, advil, leg rubs, lots of water/gatorade, a nap, a huge pizza, and a walk around downtown Chattanooga. Yet our legs were still stiff and sore as we started off down the gravel path that made up the first mile of the race. The wide path made it easy to spread out and run our own pace, but we came to a standstill as we turned on to single track with a set of switchbacks so steep and technical that three ropes were required at the top. It took us about 10 minutes to go two tenths of a mile as we waited for a hundred runners in front of us to navigate the ropes. After that, the climb became runnable and we set a better pace.

The trail opened up and widened as we summitted, allowing beautiful mountain views and faster running. Our legs felt surprisingly fresh, but my IT band hurt on the downhills, making me worry about the rest of the day, let alone tomorrow. We entered the 5.7 mile aid station back at the start/finish at 52 minutes. Considering the delay on the climb, we're pretty sure the first section was short.

Next up was the big climb: a 10 mile lollypop that took us to the top of the mountain before coming back through the start finish again. We did well on the way out, moving up the pack, our legs still feeling great. It was mostly a gradual uphill with a few tough steep climbs—90% runnable for us.  After the aid station at the top we started back down.  There was a little more climbing, but it was mostly downhill the next five miles--generally gradual, some really fun on tight winding trails.  At 15.5 miles, we came through the start/finish again at 2:52, trying to ignore the top runners who had already finished and were climbing into the ice bath.

The last loop was the first loop in reverse.  We ran/walked the climb up and then were able to run well until we came to the rope climb down, which we took especially carefully.  Then we were back on the gravel, an easy mile to finish, picking it up a bit---why are those flags blocking the way?  

The course sent us back onto very technical single track that we hadn't had to do on the way out, adding a little distance and a considerable bit of time since much of it required walking.  I pulled ahead of Nathan a bit and after about a mile we came to a wide stream crossing to soak our feet just before the finish.  As we went back on the gravel road Nathan started to catch me again, calling out to me at the finish that I'd better hurry or he'd catch me.

We finished in 3:47, a pace that was actually faster than our pace from yesterday.  We took full advantage of the great post-race set-up, icing our legs in the creek and refueling with the provided pasta and beer. 

We are absolutely loving this race.  The courses have been so much fun--especially today!  I've decided it's a great distance because the cumulative mileage is significant enough to require endurance but the daily totals are low enough that issues like nausea and dehydration don't come up as long as you're smart.  I've not had any of the emotional ups and downs that come with ultra running either--probably due to both the shorter distances and having constant company.

One more race to go tomorrow--the really hard one, Signal Mountain.  It's only 20 miles, 2 less than today, but we've been told to expect to run 30 minutes slower than today.  But first, we get to eat and sleep again!

-Jordan