Quiet Time for Reflection

FORT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK - CAMPING, RUNNING, EXPLORING, THINKING

So, this past Eater weekend I bachelored it and needed something different to do and didn't want to sit around the house all weekend.  Fort Mountain has some pretty significant significance with me and from time to time I just like to go up there for an escape from reality.  If you get a backcountry permit you can literally escape reality and people, and about 985 miles of trail are open for you as long as you tell the ranger where you think you might be going.
So, where did I go?
All over the place.
Where didn't I go?

Hilly.

I must eat your head.

One of the places I ran to was the top of the power lines.  From Chatsworth you can see that there is a fire tower on top of the mountain and, well, I've always wanted to climb it.  When I got close enough to the tower to really get a good look at it I saw that it was covered in antennas.
"Crap, I'm not going to be able to get to it."
Guess what?  It was fenced off with barbed wire and had some warning signs up around it...something about loss of life...excess radio emissions...the FAA...and just a bunch of other crap.  I wasn't feeling my normal self so I stayed out and took a seat in the sun on a railroad tie retaining wall and thought for a while.

Loss of life from...

I like the old timey look of this sign.

Well, sitting around was fun!  Now, what was I going to do?  EXPLORE!  I took the road down to the 301 and ran up to the awesome overlook place, via many side trails and poison ivy patches, where I then decided I would work on my tan.  I must have laid on the bench for an hour until some woman and her kid came up.  He was asking if horses were unicorns with out their corn.  It was time for me to leave.

Where did I lose my corn?

At the park entrance I decided to run down the Pinhoti Connector Trail to the Pinhoti Trail.  Well, after about an hour of running I had no idea if I made it to the trail or not...AND to make things more exciting I stopped because of a loud crashing noise in the dense brush a couple hundred feet away and a distinct powerful wet-dog sort of smell.  Umm...I had no visual confirmation of what it was but I have a good idea...especially from the crap I had been seeing in the trail in the immediate area.
Did I make it to the Pinhoti?
I asked my friend Perry the other day and he confirmed that I had, and that I had been running on it for a while.  I just had no clue.  I guess this section isn't marked that well at all.

After my bit of exploration I decided to head on back and turn in my permit...it was getting on past 5:00 and I wanted to set everything up for the evening.  But first, I ran up to the North Overlook to overlook the scenery.

North Overlook.

After overlooking I figured I'd share some pictures and commenced to sending out via text.  Talk about crappy reception!  I had to run around finding a place where I could get a signal, and eventually found one at the mountain bike parking lot.
Walking around up there I found this cool building.  Wondering what was inside I decided to open the door.  Now, you would not believe what I found inside...corns...unicorn corns...OK, maybe not.  Maybe it was just full of hay and softball-sized black widows.  OK, maybe it was just full of hay and some cobwebs.  And cobras.

What's inside...

In all honesty, I wonder what this building was used for.

Easter morning it was my mission to run the Gahuti.  That's what I did.  Why didn't I go to church?  I just wasn't in the mood.  So, I spent some time with God on the trail.  A friend of mine once told me that he would rather be on the trails thinking about God than in church thinking about the trails...hmmm...makes sense to me...

Onward!

Relief.

So, what did I get from the weekend?
Rest and time to think.
It was quiet.
It was kind of lonely.
It was happy and sad.
It was mentally and physically trying.
I thought a lot.

Fort Mountain Lake.

Are You Sure Those Are Chiggers?

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN - CUMBERLAND TRAIL

OK, so, the title of this post is an inside joke between me and Amanda and a couple of others.  Anyway, I was looking for somewhere different to run and asked a few friends for recommendations, and this was the run we selected.  You're probably beginning to think that this run is all about Anna, but, well, she's my favorite person to run with, and I am usually the one schlepping the camera (and water and food and survival gear and car keys and S!Caps) so I end up taking all of the pictures...oh, yeah, and it was her birthday run!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!

One of my favorite pictures of her ever :-)

NOPE, WE DIDN'T TAKE THE GRAND PRIZE

However, I won $10 and found $10 out by my car in the morning, so we actually came out $10 ahead...unfortunately it wasn't $640,000,000 ahead :-(

$640M all time record!

ON TO THE RUN!

Chattanooga is a short 90 minute drive from my house, and this area of the Cumberland Trail offers a lot of things to see and do, especially if you can cover a decent amount of ground.  There are a lot of other things that I want to see up here, but we could only do so much with the time we had and besides it was 90º out when we finished the run.

Trailhead.

Edward's Point Overlook (the rocky section of the hill to the right).

Tennessee River.

Lunesta.

Drop-kick to the face.

Tennessee River.

RANDOM THOUGHT:
"I wonder how many people never get to see or experience these things or places.  I really feel bad for people that can't physically do it, but those that are capable or are, otherwise, too lazy and then complain about how boring life is piss me off."

Mushroom Rock.

Just my size.

Initially we had planned to run to the Suck Creek Bridge (I think that's the name) but as it turned out we decided to head back from Mushroom Rock.  This is a tough trail, it was getting late, and it was getting hot.  At about the half-way point on the return I was almost out of water and we were reduced to walking.  I 'burned' through 60oz of my 70oz and Anna 35oz of her 40oz.  It was getting real at this point knowing that we had a tough climb out of the valley to the finish. 
As we left the house that morning I looked down at the steps and said hmm...my SteriPen...I think I should take that just in case.  So, I picked it up and put it in my pack, and it's a good thing I did!  At the creek where Anna was seen drop kicking me in the face, I took off my pack, gave her my last 10oz of water and filled a bottle and put the pen to work.  If you do a good bit of trail running or back country hiking and don't have one of these I would definitely recommend in the $90 investment.  It totally saved my (our) ass.
What a fun trip!  We definitely have to go back and explore some more places!

Meat Grinder or Ground Meat

RUNNING THE AT APPROACH TRAIL AND SAUSAGE FEST!

As you know, I like running and I like sausage.  I have been getting the itch to run the approach trail to Springer Mountain as well as an itch for some more homemade sausage.  Put that together with a great group of friends and you have a FUN weekend!
About once a month GUTS hosts a group training run somewhere cool.  Unfortunately, a lot of the time this run is on a Saturday and people that work on the weekends often miss out.  I then asked myself at one point, why not do one on a Sunday for those that had to miss Saturday or that wanted to do both.  So, that's partially where this came from.

MAKING THE SAUSAGES

My buddy Franco is an old world Sicilian via Brooklyn via Cleveland via  Detriot via Miami and via Atlanta, so when it comes to making Italian Sausage you want to go to the source...I'm not going to give all his secrets away, but here is a glimpse into the process.

Trimming the meat.

Seasoning.

More seasoning.

You're looking at my balls.

Prison shanks.  Yes, the grooves have meaning.

Finished product.

 

THE MEAT GRINDER RUN

Talking with Franco and a couple of other friends I decided to take the shorter 11 mile Hike Inn loop so that we could get the picnic set up.  This actually worked out really well, so that as soon as everyone was back we started cooking.

Smokey says...

The beginning of the journey...

Titanic Franco.

Lots o' water.

Marc has been a GUTS member for longer than I have, but I just got to know him.  He's a little strange and smells kind of bad and is bit of a Nonna's Boy, but is a good guy.  We spent the whole day running together.  Really, he's an awesome short distance runner and I'm kind of jealous of his ability.  He ran the 11 miles with no water and carrying his jacket in his hand...for real?

Me and Marc. (Photo: Candy F.)

BEAR!!!!

Jenn, Jenn, Jenn...good luck, my friend, and I applaud you for following your heart!  I am so excited for you to begin your life that it's kind of hard to express without sounding like a little girl or a queen, so, I'll leave it at that...have fun...enjoy...and best of luck!

Me and Jenn at the Hike Inn (Photo: Candy F.)

Check out my shank...me and Candy. (Photo: Jenn C.)

US! (Photo: Jenn C.)

Well, it was a lot of fun!  People liked our meat.  I blew up Franco's stove (which I intend to fix).  We had lots of good food.  John M. even came by and we were able to wish him happy birthday in person!  FUN!

The Best Pedestrian Tour of Atlanta

THE PUBLIX GEORGIA HALF MARATHON

If you've wanted to take a tour of Atlanta and didn't have a car but had a couple of hours to kill and weren't scared of thugs this is it.  Every time that I've run this race, I can't help but to think this very thing.  Now, the marathon might be longer, but it runs through some pretty boring areas.  This one is short and sweet taking you through some of the following areas:

• Centennial Olympic Park
• Five Points / Downtown
• MLK Memorial / Edgewood Avenue
• Inman Park
• Little 5 Points
• The Carter Center
• Virginia-Highland
• Piedmont Park
• Georgia Tech
• Finish back at Centennial Olympic Park

So, you can see, this is pretty awesome.  The course isn't all that challenging, however there are years like this past one where the temperature can get up there.  Unfortunately after a winter of running in some pretty cool temps we were forced to slow down because of this.  Whatever...I run for fun...remember?

Pre dawn, pre race.

She runs for fun too.

I thought they were throwing Skittles at me.

Determined.

Pasta Boy? I must have been drunk when I registered.

OK, so after my failed simultaneous finish at the RT, one of my goals was to cross the finish line with Anna at the same time rather than ahead of her.  Reckon, we did really good at a simultaneous finish.  BUT, there is always a winner...AND...it wasn't me...

Love this race!

GUTS Coosa Training Run

12 FEB 12 - 0º - COLD AS SH!T

So, GUTS did a training run up at Vogel State Park.  It was cold as shit, we got up early as shit, and were tired as shit in the end, but had a shit load of fun...which consequently is 1/3 a pant load or 1/15 a butt load.   Check out the pics yo!

Franco & Steve heading up the trail.

Ice crystals.

Like a ninja.

Let me tell you about the ninja in the above photo.  This kid is going to go places and do things that a lot of people will hear about.  That's all I have to say.  Wait, no it isn't...I have much respect for that gangsta ass fool.

According to this sign the Coosa and the DRT share the same single track...

Heading down to Wolfpen Gap.

Blood overlook.

Self-portrait.

Blood Mountain benchmark.

Just having fun.

This trip was a blast.  One thing to keep in mind is that when Blanton says it will take 15 minutes to do something, triple it for a normal person's time.

- - - - - - - - - -

I wasn't going to write anything about this run aside from what is above, but I was asked to do a write-up for the next GUTS newsletter about our club's training runs.  Here's what I wrote. 

It’s 11:00pm Saturday night and I’m starting to panic.  Tomorrow morning is coming fast and it’s going to be a cold one.  Being the over prepared non-Boy Scout that I am I go over my gear once more making sure I have everything.  4:00am comes quickly as I hop out of bed and head off to meet Steve, Franco, Janice, and Sally whom I will share a ride with to the GUTS training run at Vogel State Park to run the Coosa Backcountry Trail.  Once we arrive at Vogel and say our hellos to the 15 or so runners we’re off on our 4 hour adventure (some of us are really slow…that would be me). 
The great thing about these training runs is that there is usually always someone there for you to run with no matter how fast or slow you are.  And, have no fears, someone is always willing to hang back and run with you if you’re not feeling well, are tapering, or are just…well…me.  Spending time with people in the woods, chatting and running, and sharing life in general just does something for one’s soul.  It strengthens it.  It builds bonds and friendships.  It’s just good.  Whenever possible I try to make these runs, because of that, and I don’t feel like I have to…I want to!
The run went GREAT! 
Despite the freezing conditions we all had many a laugh.  One of the funnier moments was when Sean was laying on the ground, trying to scare the crap out of me, and Franco decided he was going to sit on a log right beside him…there goes the surprise.  All I could do is laugh when he jumped up and tried to scare me…really…it’s not like I couldn’t see him…I even asked him what the hell he were doing…maybe you had to be there…
Anyway, to make a long four hour run story short, the crew I rode up with patiently waited for me to return, and they weren’t even all that mad (at least they won’t tell me) when they found out that I decided to run up to Blood Mountain as well adding an extra 45 minutes to the day.  They actually said that they were kind of jealous!  The car ride back was much more animated than the than the one up as we shared stores of our run and even discussed, at length, the differences between a sh!t load, a pant load, and a butt load…these was critical as we wanted to be able to adequately describe the amount of fun we actually had out there!

Cursed Race...NO MORE!!!

2012 RED TOP RUMBLE -OR- HOW I PASSED 75 PEOPLE
 

For those of you that know me and have had to put up with my unending ramblings about running, you probably know or heard that the RTR has been what I called a 'cursed race' for many years.  It goes something like this:
2008 - didn't know about it until race weekend and couldn't go mountain biking.
2009 - missed registration.
2010 - signed up... got INJURED...volunteered at AS 3/4.
2011 - signed up... got INJURED...volunteered at The Pit.

SINCE LAST TIME
Well since my last check-in I've been doing whatever.  I have been focused on fixing my diet as it was COMPLETELY out of whack and am starting to see results.  More importantly, I am getting back to my running roots and running more and more just for fun.  Anna and I have been running some trails and around her neighborhood...just places that are different from what I have been routinely doing.  I've also organized a few fun runs including a night run with my buddies Frank and Rami.  This was a blast!  2+ hours of ridiculing and picking on each other, sharing stories about our lives, and listening to Frank tell us about the Corleone family...which he still has to finish.

The spirit of Monsignor Frank.

LEADING UP TO THE RACE
So, there is no hiding the fact that this is in big competition with MMM for being one of my favorite races.  Red Top Mountain edges out Fort Mountain just by a little bit as being one of my favorite places to run.  That being said, I have adopted this race as being mine, though Jaydene (the former RD) and Jim (the new RD) would completely disagree.  Technically it is theirs, but I am that lurker in the background that knows this park like crazy and has spent hundreds of miles and hours running, hiking, and mountain biking its trails.  Not to mention exploring places like the Blair Witch Trail, the Stone Fire Place, the Diving Cliffs, the Iron Mine, Haunted Tree...the list goes on and on.  I think there is only one place in the park I haven't checked out...which I plan to do tomorrow :-)
SO, I kind of feel obligated to do whatever I can to help out.  Officially, for the last two years I've marked part of the course with James T., picked up the Chobani from Publix, and bought the Dunkin' Donuts volunteer breakfast.  It's not really all that much but it keeps me happy. 

Chobani in space bags from the planet moon...35 cases to be exact.

Unofficially, before the race I'll run a course check (a.k.a. training run) or two checking out the condition of the trails and noting things that might need to be fixed like a board on the bridge or whatever.  I also posted these handy course check photos on Jaydene's Facebook wall.

PM course check.

AM course check.

RACE DAY
First, I have to mention that this was Anna's first trail race...and she did AWESOME.  Though the results will show her 1 second behind me, she really won.  She ran really hard and at the end were it not for a bad cramp (to which I was like "Thank God") she kept picking up speed running harder and harder.  I really wanted to cross the finish together, but oh well...we were racing :-)
So, what about those 75 people?
Well, we started at the back of the pack.  And when I say back there were only about 20 people behind the two of us.  For real.  That put us in about 328th place.  We ran with Jen R., Len T., and Wes B. (wow all three names have three letters...it's a sign) for about a half mile or so, then started moving up.  Eventually around mile 2 we found Frank and passed his slow ass (I can only say this because he would have beaten my ass were he like 40 years younger...my age that is...I think he's pushing 80).
Anyway, we just ran!  At each aid station we knew someone.  We knew people at the road crossings. We had people yelling and cheering for us from other trails.  It was cool.  I love this club!
Somewhere around mile 6 Avery met up with us.  He is the son of Ultra Running Chef Ryan and a kid that I met in Publix a couple of years ago because we both had on a pair of Crosslites.  We ran together for about 3 miles and talked the entire time.  As it turns out, though I tried really hard to mentally crush him, Ryan did an awesome job of building up his mental fortitude.  I think I could have run a good bit faster on this part of the trail, but we were talking and, well, I kind of got lost.  Yes, I got lost in a conversation with a teenager and yes it cost me a sub 2-hour time...but whatever...it doesn't matter because I passed him as well...ha ha ha ha...another victim of my supreme speed and power.
Eventually I could tell that Anna wanted to take off, but she was being nice to me so I picked up the pace and started running again.  She's a tough cookie.  Don't let her pretty smile fool you.  And heaven forbid if she wore glasses when she ran...crap...I'd be toast.
Anyway, the last few miles were nice running and walking a couple of hills.  Then as we crossed the little wooden bridge on the makeshift trail we could see the finish line.  We ran all of the hills together and even passed a couple more people...and then something happened...we finished.  I broke "The Curse of the Rumble".


WELL, WHAT NOW?
Now that that's over I guess it's time to reflect and get ready for next year.  I have offered my services to Jim B. and hopefully I can do a lot more next year.  I know I am going to mark the course, pick up the Chobani and probably get the breakfast, but I'd love to ultimately be the course marshal.  But, really, whatever I end up doing I am sure I'll be happy!

LOVE THE RUMBLE!