Alive and kicking in the Georgia mountains!

I had the pleasure, okay maybe pleasure is stretching it a bit, of going for a little "run" in Northern Georgia this past weekend at the Georgia Death Race. It is advertised as a 68ish mile run, which is closer to 72ish, which was extended to 74+ish this year! A big thanks to Race Director Sean aka "The Run Bum" for the extra miles at no extra cost!! The Georgia Death Race is a tough point to point race from Vogel State Park to Amicalola Falls in Northern Georgia. There is approximately 40,000 feet of elevation change with some serious climbs that us "flat landers" from Ohio don't have the chance of duplicating in our home state. I got down to Vogel State Park on Friday, & thanks to John & Kristen had a comfy couch to crash on in a cabin at Vogel State Park.

 With John at Amicalola Lodge for mandatory pre-race meeting Friday

Enjoying Friday at the Falls

Great call having a cabin 100 yards from the start John! If you were staying at the finish you had to be on the bus by 2:15 am to get from Amicalola to Vogel. I wa able to set my alarm for 3:30 and we walked down to morning check in around 4:05am & went back to the cabin until about 10 minutes before the 5:00 am start! Talk about spoiled!

Almost go time!

Cruise control early in race!

Without getting into all of the details, this was by far the second hardest ultra I have attempted. Eastern States 100 2016 in PA, with it's 92 degree weather with a "real feel" of 102 is still tops in my very limited book. Not to mention the storms that came through. Only 33% of us finished that day, compared to 64% at GDR.
The weather was a little cool, slightly wet, and windy in the morning but warmed up nicely and the sun came out for the better part of the day. I decided to run with my long sleeve shirt, and with the exception of about 10 minutes during the wee hours of Sunday morning, walking out of an Aid Station I never put my jacket on. I did some pretty good race specific training for this one.

 Lots of uphill power walking with a heavier pack then I would use on race day seemed to work for me! My mantra this year is "Uphills are my weakness, they will become my strength".  Speaking of uphills, my friend Jon ran GDR in 2016 and was not lying when he said the first 20 miles were relentless. A couple miles in we went up the first major climb and then we hit a section called The Dragon's Spine. Aptly named as all you do is go up & down & up & down & repeat! After the first 20 were in my rearview mirror I only had one minor low spot, about midway through the day due to not taking in enough calories. I stopped on the trail for a minute to get some calories & take care of a hot spot on the bottom of my right foot and was good to go! This area of Georgia is absolutely stunning to view from the trails!!! There were a few serious downhills that enabled me to get some good running in. I may not be fast but I can cover some ground on the downhills without busting my quads! I met some great people on the trails over the course of the day & night & early morning!!! Nice meeting you in person & being able to help out Shenoa, congrats on your finish! I was pretty much consistently 1-1.5 hrs ahead of the cutoffs and seeing this was my first of three April ultras I was fine with my time. That is until after I stopped at the mile 54 aid station, Jake Bull, to change my shirt and get ready for the last 21 miles. I was still 1 hour ahead of the last cutoff that I thought was 10 miles ahead. It didn't help that 9 of those "10" miles were uphill. I met up with a runner from Indiana named Dewaynne on Nimbwell Church Rd and we would end up finishing the last 19 miles or so together. When we got to the 10 mile point at the top of the 9 mile climb we were told the aid station was actually 1.5 miles further up the trail! So much for that 1 hour buffer!! We had to actually kick it into another gear on some really gnarly trails just to make it to the last aid station 5 minutes ahead of the cut off!! We both knew that with only 9.5 miles to go that once we made the last cut off we were pretty much home free, since except for another 1000' or so of climbing near the end, everything was down hill. There was a group of about six of us that hung together for most of the way into Amicalola Falls. We got into Amicalola near the top of the falls and head down towards the finish on some crazy rocky trail. In true Southern hospitality fashion instead of crossing to the finish you go up a steep paved path until you reach the first set of steps and take all 700+ steps back to the top of the falls. Yay!!! I caught up with Dewaynne at the top of the steps and we pretty much headed back down the paved road and then the last little bit of trail to the finish together. The only time my feet would get wet all day was literally 10 feet from the finish when Sean figured it would be better to go through the water than use the foot bridge! At the finish line runners turn in an un-engraved spike that we carried the entire run I was thrilled to earn the awesome engraved finishers spike. My Georgia Death Race was officially over.

 23 hours 15 minutes & 56 seconds. 

 Once I saw the Railroad Conductor Bear at Vogel State Park on Friday I knew I had no choice but to get the engraved spike for Mary. 

 Your love, support & encouragement keep me going no matter what trail life finds me on!

A well earned spike for my number one fan!!!!

Thank you to everyone involved in this race for making the GDR one I will not soon forget! If you want to test yourself I highly recommend this one!  I believe registration opens sometime in August. One thing though, don't hesitate!!! The race sold out in 49 minutes last year!!

Check out the link to GDR & other races put on by Run Bum Tours

GDR elevation profile 2017