Carter Family Adventures: Stump Jump 50k and Chattanooga Weekend

He there ya'll (ok that was a little forced). How about "hey there folks". Casey here. Amy asked me to post about our weekend in Chattanooga and my experience at the StumpJump 50k. Here it goes.

We went back to our favorite town south of Boston this past weekend. We just love Chattanooga and it makes living outside of the Northeast that much more bearable. I had decided this past summer that I wanted to jump from my regular half marathons and various trail races into something "a little more serious". I've been addicted to the ultra-running community for the past year or so and can't get enough. So with some research and planning I signed up for Rock/Creek's Stump Jump 50k (that's about 31.1 miles or 5 miles MORE than a marathon). Anything over a marathon is called an ultramarathon and there are some really long races out there including many 100+ milers. I love trails and have been running them for about 2 years now. Amy has nearly caught me a couple of times in a race and running this far on a trail was the only way I could make sure that she didn't beat me. To get passed by a woman is known as being "chicked", I would like to patent being passed by your female spouse as being "wifed".

We checked in a the packet pickup and expo Friday afternoon. There was a bunch of vendors and give aways. After hitting up all the booths, were Ella collected lots of stickers and handouts, we checked into our hotel. We tried out a new hotel this time around right on the river a little ways down from the Walnut Street Bridge and loved it. After settling in for a bit we went back over to Coolidge Park for the "carbo-load" dinner and a panel session with some of the elite runners in the race. I got to listen to Max King (from Bend, OR) answer a few questions about how he prepares for a such a wide variety of races. Max recently won the first 100k event he ever entered and also competed in the US Olympic trials in both the marathon and the steeplechase (CRAZY!). There was a raffle during the dinner and I won a pair of shoes (actually the same brand I wear now) and Amy won a KEEN T-shirt. At the same time there was a hot-air balloon glow going on next door. While I staid for the panel, the kids and Amy checked out the balloons. After the balloons we headed back to the hotel to get some rest so we could get up early.

The kids enjoyed visiting all of the balloons.

The next morning we woke up early and head up to Signal Mountain for the start of the race. We were told to get there early since there were so many people signed up for the race (over 800) that they expected a traffic jam. So we drove up the very curvy road in the dark and got a great parking spot right in front of the start/finish line. I fueled up and got ready for the race and even found Amy a cup of coffee.

Casey warming up (note the parking space number)

Soon after we arrived and about 45 minutes before the start it began to rain. I had planned on it being kind of cool, but didn't count on the rain. I love the rain and especially love running in it. Anyways I don't think anything was going to bring me down. By start time it was still raining and it was clear that this was going to be a pretty big race with so many people lining up (there was also an 11 mile race) and with a helicopter flying over the start.

Casey checking in with the kiddos before lining up

Helicopter photographing the start (can you say downwash)

I'm not going to bore you with all the race details. I will say that this is a pretty tough course with some steep descents and climbs and very narrow single track which makes it hard to pass. There were more than few bridge (including one very bouncy suspension bridge) and creek crossings. After the start Amy decided to drive to one of the aid stations along the race route and surprise me. She had told me that she was going to stay at the start/finish area until I finished. So at a road crossing around mile 13 as I was heading out of the woods I noticed a woman with the same color sweatshirt as Amy's, and she was holding the same camera that we had, and there was a car that looked like ours. Wait a second that's Amy!

Casey near mile 13

Amy drove a little further down the road to see me again at the Mile 19 aid station. It was about a 5 minute drive for her and an hour plus run for me. This was the aid station that had the drop bags and I was able to sit down and change my socks to avoid getting blisters. I also refilled his backpack with supplies. Ella had picked some flowers for me to bring along for the last 12 miles. Between changing out of my wet socks, sitting down for 60 seconds, and seeing the family I was really pumped up and took off down the trail at a good pace.

Casey recharging and Ella giving him a flower for good luck.

A little over 6 hours after I started I crossed the finish line of my first 50k. I placed 99th out of over 450 finishers in the 50k. It was a cool and rainy day with a slippery course and some of the fast runners even got lost. Aside from being a little tired I was very excited and pleased with the race and can't wait to do another. Such a great experience. After the race we headed back to the hotel to clean up. Amy and kids enjoyed the hotel pool while I laid down for a bit.