Race For This City Jackson GA 32 Mile Race

I signed up for this one on a whim to use as a training run for some fall hundos I have on the calendar.  Ok, so in reality it was a good excuse to play in the woods and hang out with some great friends too.  Annie mentioned this one to me as we were running Leatherwood and a few weeks later I found myself heading down to Jackson, GA with C$ and Weezy.  Just like old times...

We all knew that this was a inaugural race and that normally means that things will go wrong.  To make a long story short the trail was not marked adequately and runners were literally all over the place.  Weezy and I were just out for a good hard training run together and Annie stuck with us for most of the day too.  Christian took off like a banshee from the start and ended up placing 2nd overall.  Annie, Wayne and Myself managed top 10 finishes in a field of......uh ummmm.........14 runners, but hey you take what glory you can find in the ultra world of racing.

After seeing all of the trail confusion early Wayne & I agreed to run about 6 to 6:30 hours and call it a day no matter where we were on the course.  We felt that we could cover 32 miles for sure in that time on this course.  We did end up finishing around 6:05 so it worked out well.

The RD was very apologetic about the course and vowed to make things right next time by giving us a free entry.  This was a VERY runnable trail system (Dauset Trails) with small rolling hills and beautiful stretches along lush creek beds.  Even with the mix up in logistics I really enjoyed this race.  There were about 14 aid stations along the 32 mile course with cold drinks and great food choices.  The volunteers were as helpful as possible too.

Any day that you can go out and run 32 trail miles, meet new friends, and hang out with your old ones is a GREAT day in my book.

I'm now focused on running the Chattooga 50K on the Foothills Trail in two weeks as I whip myself back into shape for The Georgia Jewel 100 Miler and Pinhoti 100 in September and November.

I'm excited to be heading into the hot part of the year which is my favorite time to train!