The fifth running of the Fiery Gizzard Trail Marathon and 1/2 Marathon is complete, but getting to the end was quiet the adventure.
While the race didn't start until Saturday morning, the adventure started Friday night. We knew it was going to rain and we all hoped that it wasn't going to rain during the race. By 7pm that night our hopes had been confirmed, the rain should end by 3am. While it wasn't a series of thunderstorms, the amount of rain that came down sounded tremendous as John and I attempted to sleep in the utility trailer that normally holds all of the equipment needed to put on a Hardwin Adventures trail race. While I have no idea what time the rain eventually stopped we did manage to get a few hours of sleep after it stopped beating on the roof of the trailer.
A chilly morning finally arrived around 5:30am as we moved from the campground to the start finish of this out and back of this race. Last nights rain had created an eerie fog that hung over the area as we set up to check in runners and attempted to get a fire started. As daylight showed up, there was no sun as the fog was so thick nothing was getting through, the excitement for the race began to build. It was destined to be a great day for a run, temps hanging in the 50's with no direct sun light on us and we ran. Creeks where high and the water falls where flowing. The race has taken place in the South Cumberland State Park where on the course there are no less than at least 1/2 a dozen great views of waterfalls, which are this parks hidden gems.
The runners are finally all check-in and the race announcements begin. The marathoners start with a view that overlooks Foster Falls, while the 1/2 marathoners will be bused out to the turn around point. I was to head out with fellow Dirtbag Trail Run Club member, Becca, to get the 1/2 started and help run the aid station until the cut off time at which point I was to head back on the trail picking up any stragglers along the way. Upon the arrival at the Fiery Gizzard trail head fellow club members Alex and Austin are there waiting to help out with the aid station. After getting the 1/2 marathon started we set up the aid station and waited for the marathoners to arrive.
This years race had some great runners for both races. One of the top girls at the race had finished the No Business 100 in October and before that had completed Western States 100 and was finishing her 5th running of the marathon. Her dad, a beast of a runner himself, was also running his 5th Gizzard. It was fun watching these two come through along with all the other runners and seeing the various levels of fatigue on there faces. The course has large sections of very runnable trail, it truly has some ankle twisters as it can get real technical real fast.
At about noon my turn arrives to pull flags and sweep up any runners on their way back to the finish. With noon being the hard cut off for the race at the turn around we learn that the sweeper/safety runner for the first part of the marathon has two runners with him who had had something happen to them on the way to the turn around, so we waited for them to come in to the aid station. We had two runners come in at the high noon and we gave the 2 minutes to get what they needed an get back on the trail, they made it. When the sweeper/safety runner showed up with his two runners I was ready to go. Becca was to originally run back with me, but had forgotten one of their shoes; so Austin offered to run with me back to the finish. I left the turn around wearing a lot of clothes, several packs of Spring Energy (don't forget to use 'JackS' at checkout for a nice little discount on your order) and a pouch of Tanaka buffalo jerky. The first five miles involved a lot of pulling of flags as well as a lot of picture taking, this picture taking made the journey quite enjoyable. I made an intentional stop at Sycamore Falls as this swimming hole was a favorite of my church college group in the early 90's to take pictures of an unchanged location since the days of my last visit.
Austin and I were able to travel at an easy pace since we had until 2pm to arrive at Raven's Point to officially close out that aid station. From the turn around to Raven's Point was fairly easy to traverse, well except for all the rock and root hopping we had to do as we descended down to the Fiery Gizzard creek and then had to run along the creek bank. The trail along the creek is basically running on old creek bed with fairly shear rock walls on each side of the creek. The course took us up the Dog Hole trail, which was a couple of miles long and fancied several switchbacks to make the climb easier and longer; going straight up would have been fairly interesting as it may have been only a 1/2 mile of a climb but I don't think it would have been any faster. The rim was an easy rolling single track, the whole course is single track. We rolled into Raven's Point at 1:50pm, 10 minutes before the cut off. It was here that we learned that there was one runner who was on the spur out to the overlook, they came in at 1:55. We encouraged the runner to eat up and get moving because we would be leaving here at 2pm to pull up the flags. One of the aid station volunteers asked the runner if they thought they could make it back telling them that once they left there was no other place to change their mind. As we helped pack up the aid station we ate and finally pulled out at 2:05, we had given the runner 10 minutes.
On our journey to Raven's Point I quickly learned that I had over packed for the run, no one should really be surprised by that information. The turn around had been quite chilly with my fingers getting quite numb. Running quickly changed my body's temperature and I began to shed layers. Upon our arrival that the aid station I quickly dropped off unwanted layers asking them to take them to the finish for me; I only kept my headlamp, portable battery charger, a jacket and what was left of my food.
From Raven's Point to the finish was about 8 maybe 8.5 miles the cut off at the finish was 4pm any runner leaving this aid station had to be able to pull off a 13 to 15 minute mile to make the deadline. It was about an hour later with about 5 miles to go that we caught up to the last runner who was hurting and not sure they could finish at all. When I first spotted them I spoke with Austin about hanging back a bit so as not to pressure them too much, later I would has him for time of day and distance traveled. After a bit of contemplation and discussion with Austin we pull up to the run to see if we could help them and encourage them to keep moving and not give up. The runner kept trying to figure out how to drop from the race while still on the trail. I finally told them that even if we took their bib as a sign that they had dropped we would not be leaving them until they either passed someone else or we crossed the finish line. Over the next 30 minutes not only did their pace increase but they managed to catch up to another runner. After a bit of work the last place runner overtook the other runner. As they pulled away I shouted out encouragements to them and telling them to think on those things as they encountered the first of two gorges on their way to the finish.
And with that last place had changed hands.
Our new care had been moving steady but we quickly learned that they were having difficulty following the course. As we tried to talk with them we also learned that they didn't understand English very well; plus they had a form of techno music playing out of speakers instead of ear buds for which I was grateful. Earbuds block the sounds around you limiting your ability to adjust to a changing environment like hearing other runners or animals that could cross your path. So we ran with this runner to the Laurel Branch gorge at which point last place changed back. (These pictures of Laurel Branch gorge are from August)
Our prior charge had developed a cramps as they were heading down into the gorge. Back to helping them move forward they took the last of their gu's in hopes of getting their cramp to subside. After many 'I can't do this anymore.' followed by our 'Yes, you can.' He made it through the gorge with another two changes in last place. As we came out of the gorge we had our original charge back in our care and off we went. In our approach to what is called 'Climbers Access 1' Austin and I did some trading off of keeping up with the runner, pulling flags and taking pictures. The sun was starting to set and giving us some great photo opportunities. When we left the gorge we had about 3.5 miles to go and Austin tells me that it is 3:45. At that point he and I knew there was no way these two runners would make the 4pm deadline, but we didn't tell them.
As we make our turn at Climbers Access and get to the rim where we would start to make our decent I let out my call across the gorge in hopes of letting the finish know that we were coming. We didn't have cell service to texting and calling didn't work. The drop down into the gorge was at points truly a drop of 3 to 5 feet at once. It took our runner about 10 minutes to make it down and scoot along the creek banks to the bridge that would lead them out. Upon our arrival at the suspension bridge we tell our runner of what was between him and the finish and how the course lay. Austin and I stopped to take pictures of the falls we had seen from above earlier. We crossed over a very slick bridge, climbed up a very rock trail; topping out I see our charge racing a head of the other runner they had been trading places with for the last 5 miles so that they were not the last person to cross the line.
With that our journey was done, we brought the last two runners home even if they didn't get an official finishing time.
So, what did I leave out about the course.... let's just say at several points along the course, the course and the stair master 2000 have everything in common. Some of these similarities do go on and on and on. You want to finish was a good overall time on this course make sure of three things 1) you can do some high stepping for long periods of time 2) you can climb stairs and technical rocky sections efficiently 3) you can move quickly over rolling easy terrain. Master these three things and you will have a wonderful experience at the Fiery Gizzard Trail Race put on by Hardwin Adventures and if you're not too worried about time you will then have enough time to stop and take pictures along the way.
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