Mount Cheaha 50k

Raced the Mount Cheaha 50k on Saturday. This is my seventh time at Cheaha. I have raced it every year it has been run. I keep going back each year for several reasons. It is usually my first 50k of the year. It is like an annual reunion at the finish, catching up with friends I haven't seen since last years race, and always meeting new ones. It is a beautiful point to point course. It has a great race director, Todd Henderson, who I became friends with years ago. We have traveled together to several ultras and endurance mountain bike races together over the past years. His races, Mount Cheaha 50k and Pinhoti 100, always go smoothly for the racers even though I have seen him have to deal with the inevitable snags over the years that occur with all races.
 This year the weather was perfect for a 31 mile race. Thirty five degrees at the start and mid fifties for the high with clear blue skies. I started off with a couple of friends from Huntsville Alabama for the first 8 miles. After the second aid station I had to let them go, they are faster runners and I knew I couldn't match their pace much longer without blowing up later in the race. I settled in with 3 other runners, one of which is another friend, John Teeples, who I have run and raced with for several years. We talked of races we did in the past year and our plans for 2012. Miles 8 to 15 went quickly even though it is the most technical section of the race with off camber trails and lots of rocks which are covered with leaves making for some tricky running. John got out of the 15 mile aid station before me and I ran alone for the rest of the race.
 Miles 15 to 25 are my favorite of the race. It has great views from the ridges, passes a waterfall and crosses a couple of beautiful creeks. It has some great downhill sections along with a couple long climbs. At mile 25 the singletrack trail intersects a dirt road that we run for about one and a half miles. We then take pavement for another mile and a half to the last aid station at 28 miles. From here we start the climb to the top of Mount Cheaha at 2400 feet, the highest point in Alabama. The trail is affectionately called Blue Hell by the runners because it is blazed with blue paint on the rocks and trees and climbs steeply to the top.
                                                                  

                                                                          Blue Hell

 The climb up Blue Hell is never easy but this wasn't near as bad as some other years. After reaching the top it is only a mile or so to the finish. I actually felt good after the climb was able to run well to the finish. I crossed the line in 5:24:55, my second fastest time of the seven years I have raced here. I am always grateful to be able to finish these things and even more so when everything goes as well as it did this year. I am sure I will be on the top of Mount Cheaha again next year hopefully with Teri and Bethany cheering me on to the finish.

Cheaha website