1995 2-25, Smoky Mountain Marathon

My route to running marathons wasn’t one I would recommend to others. I ran three 50 mile trail races (with two barely under the cutoff finishes to show for it) before trying my first marathon. Even that race was unconventional, Leadville’s Mosquito Marathon featured some hefty climbing, including a fourteener and a couple of thirteeners, and took a whopping 7:15 link. Over the prior season work was keeping me very busy, so I hadn’t attempted an ultra the previous year. The upcoming year was looking equally busy, and I would be away in March when the best of the trail races are held. Even so, I'd done some long runs and had almost two years of solid running as a base, so I thought a marathon could be completed. I was still new to the area and was exploring the Smokies on my long runs, getting in some good climbing along with my distance work. But I was unsure if, after running ultras, if I'd taken my preparation too lightly. This would also be my first road race over a half marathon, so I wondered how my knees would hold up. 

The Smoky Mountain Marathon was at that time the Knoxville Track Club’s flagship race. This was back in the days before the Townsend bike paths were built, and the runners raced on the shoulders of the road. 1995 was the 22nd year of the race. The race would continue for a few more years, and then was reduced to a half marathon. In 2005, the KTC debuted the Knoxville Marathon and abandoned the Townsend course.

The Finish Line.

The great thing about running local races is that you can sleep at home and just head out to the race early in the morning. The course would start at the Valley View Hotel in Townsend with a short out and back leg to the park boundary, and then follow TN 73 back toward Knoxville. It then had a longer out and back leg on the Little River Road to a turnaround at the half marathon mark, before returning to the bridge, and then following local roads for the last few miles. 

 I'd planned on running a 10 minute mile pace for a 4:30 time, but did the first mile in 8 minutes, and the next 16 miles all around nine minutes. The course was flat and fast up to that point, but the first 7 or 8 miles along the highway was not too interesting. Few of the runners were talking to each other, but I found one guy who knew a lot about the course, and he gave me a good preview. 

I felt good going into mile 18, but then started having the IT band problems in my left knee that often plagued my racing in those days. We'd been running on the shoulder of the highway, with traffic flow and I could feel the band starting to stretch early in the race. Of course, the inflammation was worse in the hills between 18 and 20 miles, but none of the hills were so long that I had to walk more than 100 yards. There was a loud group at the 20/22 aid station, but with a flatter course and less banked road I began to feel better, and passed some people. I'd not been passed between miles 13 and 18, but was passed a lot between miles 18 and 22. By that time I was also tired, and needed to stretch my hip flexors, but I finally had begged some aspirin to dull the pain from my IT Band. I finished the rest of the race at 11 and 12 minute mile pace and just beat my revised target of 4:15 with a 4:14:34. 

It was a good thing I’d taken the risk of racing when I did. I’d run KTC’s Big South Fork 17 miler later that summer, but otherwise my next long race would have to wait until 1998’s Holiday Lake 50K. 

Some of ultras I’d run to date had been a bit chaotic, so I enjoyed running a well-organized race with good markings, strong aid stations, and a scenic course (at least after mile 8). I could have used some aspirin at an earlier aid station though! Race day weather was perfect and clear all day. I finished the run in tights and a T-shirt. I started with a polypro shirt and polypro gloves, but took those off early in the race.