I went up to Vogel State Park outside of Blairsville Georgia for a 13.5 mile trail race on the Coosa Backcountry Trail. The race is part of a four event series put on by the TrailBlazer Adventure Racing Club. It is a a grassroots race series, no entry fees, no tee shirts, you just have to be a TrailBlazer member.
I have run this loop before and know it has a couple long climbs, the longest being 2000 feet. I knew this would be a good hard workout for Cheaha in two weeks. Arrived at the start to 27 degrees and windy with some snow flurries. As we climbed up higher the wind picked up and so did the snow. And it got colder. The pop-up spout of my water bottle was freezing. I put on a wind jacket and ran up the mountain as hard as I could to get of the north facing ridge and out of the wind. I topped out the big climb and enjoyed the rocky, steep descent to the gap and the only water stop on the course at 7 miles. Filled up quick and climbed out of the gap and then down to Wolfpen Gap. Leaving the gap and starting up the climb to Slaughter Mountain I ran into some hikers coming down. One asked if I had escaped from a mental hospital out there running in shorts in the snow. I told them "yes, but I am heading back to check myself back in because it was warm there".
After reaching the top of Slaughter Mtn. it was about 3.5 miles of downhill back to the park and the finish. I love a technical downhill and just let gravity take over and tried to stay upright. The finish came faster than I thought it would and I crossed in 2:29, about the time I had predicted.
I like these low key races with smaller fields where you know most everyone there. I can't wait til the next one in March.
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