Monday (3/9)
I caught an
evening flight into Memphis to spend a few days with family before flying to
Atlanta for the Georgia Death Race in the mountains of northern Georgia. Before I leave I call to confirm my
reservations at the lodge at Amicalola Fall State Park, where packet pickup is
on Friday and the race will end sometime around midnight on Saturday. I chose to stay here so I wouldn’t have to
drive anywhere post race and wouldn’t need to move my car, choosing instead to
catch the 3:30AM shuttle over to the race start at Vogel State Park at
6AM. After a short layover in Houston, I
arrive in Memphis to find my bags soaking wet from the rain.
Tuesday (3/10)
I didn’t
set an alarm and slept in for the first time in a long time. It felt great. My parents and I went to breakfast (breakfast
is hands down my favorite meal) and then ran some errands with my sister. I received an email from the RD letting us
know a big announcement was forthcoming later that evening. Not thinking much about it, I visited with my
sister and then had dinner with more family.
After dinner I checked my messages and saw the announcement. Due to issues with the Forest Service (heavy
rain in the forecast was creating concern over potential trail damage), the
race would now be run in the opposite direction and start at 8AM instead of
6. This may sound like an fairly
insignificant change, but it meant the race would now begin with 50K of forest
service roads, with lots of climbing but still pretty runnable. The big change would be the finish, which
would consist of 35(ish) miles of super steep and gnarly singletrack. Instead of getting this section (half of
which is run on the infamous Duncan Ridge Trail) done early in the race while
the legs are still fresh, we would tackle it at night on tired quads. Over 60% of the elevation change (roughly 25,000’
of the 40k total) would occur in the last 25 miles. Also, since we would now start at Vogel and
finish at Amicalola, they would be busing us from Vogel over to the start. So, I could keep my room at the lodge and
sleep in, or I could get a room closer to the finish so I would have my car there. The later start meant more time running at
night and a later finish, thus less sleep post race. I quickly searched around a found a small
cottage located inside Vogel State Park, about 100 yards from where I would
finish. This would be perfect! I booked this and canceled my reservations at
Amicalola.
(Nothing Beats A Good Breakfast)
Wednesday (3/11)
I slept in
again and felt great when I woke up.
Well, great except for the horrible chest cold and cough I had. With the course now reversing directions, I
had to re-work my drop bags and pacing chart.
The more I thought about it, the more I got excited about the new
challenge, which the RD promised would be much harder than the originally
planned direction that I completed last year.
I spent much of the day visiting with family and relaxing, even managing
to squeeze a little work and a nice 6 mile run.
(Hanging With My Niece Hannah)
(See the Resemblance)
Thursday (3/12)
Awakening
to rain for the 3rd straight morning was getting old, and when I
checked the forecast for the race I saw that I could expect more of the
same. Of course, my last 4 races had
been run in sloppy rain and mud, so this shouldn’t have been surprising. I stuffed myself with some good Memphis BBQ
(pork, the way it should be) and then headed to the airport to catch my flight
to Atlanta. Luckily for me, I connected
through Baltimore (sarcasm intended). I
could have driven to Atlanta in less time.
After 2 uneventful flights, I arrived in Atlanta, picked up my rental
car (was mistakenly given a Jeep Wrangler), and drove to a high school friend’s
house to grab a few hours of sleep.
(My Buddy Lance Guarding My Door in Atlanta)
Friday (3/13)
After a
restless night, I awoke (tired) and visited with Doug, a good friend from high
school who paced me last year at the GDR and ran a 50K with me in these same
mountains last December (where it poured rain and was incredibly muddy). After spending the morning with Doug and his
wife and kids, I headed to meet 2 friends from college for lunch. Scott, Walt, and myself had graduated
together and played basketball at Washington & Lee, where we were the only
3 seniors from our class that played all 4 years (11 started together as
freshmen). I hadn’t seen them in several
years, so we had plenty to talk about.
After lunch I stopped in to a growler store to sample some local brew. The keg ran out as he was filling my growler,
so he gave me the imperial porter for free.
This had to be a good sign of things to come.
After
making the hour and a half drive north into the Georgia mountains, I arrived at
Amicalola State Park for packet pickup and the race briefing. Like many European races, the GDR requires
runners to carry a number of mandatory items at all times throughout the race,
ranging from a rain jacket and thermal top to headlamp and space blanket (plus
spare batteries, water bottle, warm hat, and whistle). For the most part, I deem these items as
“things no idiot would go into a mountain race without”, but some people show
up totally unprepared for the changing weather the mountains like to dish
out. The RD runs quite a few races in
Europe (I met him at a 100K around the Eiger), and it is typical of Euro races
to require certain gear. I picked up my
bib and sat through the trail briefing from RD Sean “Run Bum” Blanton. The briefing can best be described as a PG-13
rant against the Forest Service. He
explained why he needed to reverse the route (totally justified in my opinion)
and apologized for any inconvenience. He
also stressed that the word of the day (I learned this when I ran the race last
year) would be “ish”. As in, it is 8ish
miles from one aid station to another.
The race would be anywhere from 63 to 68 “ish” miles and no one should
complain if their Garmin said something different.
After the
briefing, I quickly made my way to the car, wanting to complete as much of the
hour plus drive to Vogel State Park (where my cottage awaited) in the fading
daylight. I knew the road was winding
and would fill with fog and rain, so I wanted to get going. Sure enough, the rain came down harder and
the fog thickened as I wound my way up to the top of the mountain and over the
other side towards Vogel. I was going
20mph at times in an effort to keep my Wrangler on the road. Eventually I pulled into Vogel and went to
the office to grab my key. I had called
earlier in the day to let them know I’d be there well after they closed. I was told it was no problem, that they would
leave an envelope on the board with all my info and key. I scanned the bulletin board for my name, but
it wasn’t there. Hmmmm, this is
weird. I looked again, and nothing. I knew which cottage I had rented, so I
walked into the pitch black night to find it.
I quickly located it and checked the door – locked. The windows were locked too. This wasn’t good. I went back to my car to see if I could muster
any cell signal. I had just enough to
find the reservations number and call.
All I got was a recording telling me they were closed for the day. I opened the email containing my reservation
and noticed that I had indeed booked the cottage for Friday and Saturday nights
--- of the following week. Awesome. Now I was sitting in the parking lot in the
rain with no room. I knew there were hotels
(not many and none that were decent) in the small town of Blairsville 20
minutes away. I remembered passing the
Blood Mountain Cabins at the top of the mountain a few miles away and thought
it would be worth giving them a call.
The man who answered informed me that he could help me out and had a
cabin available, but that it was a few miles down the road. No problem, I just needed a place to
stay. I headed back up the mountain into
the fog and knocked on the door at the general store that served as the front
desk for cabin rentals. The man gave me
a map and explained where my cabin was.
He even apologized for not having anything smaller, but I wasn’t
complaining since I now had a bed to sleep in and the price was cheaper than a
hotel room. I drove back up the road and
turned off the main highway. To say this
area was desolate would be an understatement.
I’m pretty sure this is where the guys from Deliverance go to unwind and
relax. After several wrong turns, I
found the cabin and pulled into the driveway, careful to keep my car running
with the headlights on in case I needed to make a quick getaway from a bear or
these guys...
The cabin was great, equipped with a fireplace and full
kitchen to go along with the 3 bedrooms.
I unloaded and re-packed my race gear and settled in for a few hours of
restless sleep. I got up and drove back
down the mountain to Vogel to catch the 6AM shuttle (Sean told us the buses
would leave at 6 sharp). I got on the
bus at 5:55 along with several other runners.
The rain was coming down, and we chatted about the adventure that lay
ahead. When the bus was still parked at
6:15, the bus driver told us he was waiting for the RD to come give him the ok
to depart. That would have been great,
except the RD was at the start, over an hours drive away. We ended up leaving just after 6:30 and made
the long (we were in school buses) drive over the mountains to Amicalola, where
Sean informed us the start would be delayed.
Great, this meant more time running in the dark of night and less sleep
post race. Oh well. I made one final bathroom stop and said hi to
Jason Bryant. At 8:15, we headed off up
the road to the stairs that would take us to the top of the falls.
