Red River Gorge is one of the premier hiking areas in
Kentucky. It is a small area but packs in a magnificent assortment of rock
features, such as arches, natural bridges, and rock houses. I’ve made a few
trips up to the gorge, initially for backpacking, but then later for trips to
include in part of my Kentucky hiking guidebook. I had been scouting a couple
of hikes for the revision of my Countryman Press guidebook “50 Hikes in
Kentucky” around the time of 2015 Rough Trail Race. It had been a couple years
since I’d raced a 50K, so this seemed like a good chance to race on some
familiar terrain.
Looking at the race map, and remembering the footing on the
trail sections I’d hiked for the guidebook, I thought the course difficulty and
climbing might be overhyped, and I felt that I could get a good race in. I
thought I could run most of the course, excepting some of the (6-7?) 300-400’
hills. My training was probably barely adequate. I did some Smokies training in
the 12-20 mile range, plus some runs on Knoxville’s South Loop. I’d also hoped
that sweeping the Barkley Fall Classic would give me another long day, but got
caught up in helping to treat an injured runner ,and didn’t even get to climb
the firetower. But I’d had no knee (tendonitis or IT) issues in training, only
some breathing issues, and those had moderated somewhat in the cooler weather.
My goal was to run around 7:40 and to finish in the top half of the field.
Brian Gajus was also planning to go to the race to volunteer
and build some bonds with the other KY trail ultra directors, so we decided to
go up together. Luckily for me he volunteered to drive. We stayed at the Campton Parkway Inn in Campton, just on the
east edge of RRG. A very nice clean quiet motel, which had some of the other
runners.
On race day I ate a bunch of Lara bars and drank G2 for
breakfast. We got to the race start at Koomer Ridge Campground about 6AM.
Parking is tight there, the race probably won’t grow beyond the 100 apiece they
had for the 25K and 50K. I saw Rob Apple, he had run the race before and Rob’s endorsement
of the event was a good omen. The temperature was around 32F at start, but it
was light by 7AM. I wore shorts, long socks, a T shirt, and my mid weight
smartwool wicker, plus pile mitts and a hat. I switched to glove liners at around
10 miles, but otherwise was comfy all day. I carried my 2-bottle Ultimate-direction
pack with 1 bottle and lots of bars and gels. I ate some aid station food, mostly
chocolate at the start, and mostly bananas near the end.
We ran about a mile paved loop in the CG at the start to
string everyone out, so I ran essentially solo all day. I almost wore a second
long sleeve wicker, but realized that I could drop it in Brian’s car when I
went passed. Just that short stop caused me to start far back in the pack. The first
mile in the CG was 10:22 and I felt good and had no breathing trouble at the
start. The trail at start was pretty easy, I didn’t see Hidden Arch as we
passed it outbound. The first climb would be typical of the rest and I was glad
when it went by quickly and I could pass some folks. I had my mileage off,
and/or had a math error ,and thought I was running 15 minutes/mile early in the
race, and had a brief panic. It was easy fun trail running into the Gray Arch
TH, and then close to three miles on the hard packed gravel Tunnel Ridge Road. Prior
to the race there was a fire burning between Tunnel Ridge Road and the Mountain
Parkway. The USFS now had it almost under control and after a brief scare, let
us race. The fire crews were staged out of the woodland parking area. Though I
really should have taken it easy on the gravel, I ran hard (at least by my
standards) both out and back on the gravel roads, and didn’t seem to suffer too
much for it later on.My right hip got a bit stiff, but I wasn’t passed on the
road by any other runners.
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| Auxier Ridge Trail |
I was around 15-20 minutes under 8 hour pace at Aid 2 going
into Auxier Ridge. Running on Auxier Ridge was glorious with views of Courthouse
Rock and across the valley to Double Arch. I stopped to help a father/daughter
with a picture, it was a shame to have to move fast through such scenic terrain.
I was still moving up through the pack pretty well. The top part of the descent
toward Auxier Branch was steep and eroded, probably the first walkable stuff
all day. I moved well through the trail, and onto the former road to Aid 3
(Auxier again). I started drinking G2, and had sword most of the day. I filled
bottles at all the aid stations but didn’t drink extra there, potentially a mistake.
I ate little at the aid station and tried to get back out on the course ASAP.
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| View toward Double Arch |
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| Approaching Courthouse Rock |
Again, on Tunnel Ridge Road I ran well, but my right hip was
stiff again. I did get passed, but only by two guys who gotten lost and ran an
extra 3 near the aid station. There was a trail work crew on D Boon Hut Trail,
I did not take the side trip to the hut. The spur down the trail to Aid Station
4 at Martins Fork Trailhead was new trail to me. On the out and back section, I
saw ~25 runners ahead. There are two new spur trails to rock climbing areas that I
saw signs for.
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| Grays Arch |
I hit Aid 4 at 17.6 miles in 3:35, almost 50 minutes under 8
hour pace. I had hope to go well under 7:40, but knew the second ”half” of the
course would be slower. I filled up only with water here, rather than
Sword, a mistake on this long leg. The climb
up to Grays Arch was maybe the longest of the race, after this point I did not
catch many other runners. Here we also saw a lot of hikers and backpackers.
Also, the 50K runners were joined the back end of the 25 K pack. I did stop to give Grays Arch proper respect, it’s an
amazing sight.
I went slowly through the eroded trail around Rush Creek as
I expected but still felt fine here, though it seemed to take a long time to
get to the Sheltowee and the start of the last out and back section. I may have
gotten to the 24 mile mark (Chimney Top Road Aid Station) close to 5:05. After
that aid station there was a 1.8 mile out and back section to KY 715 and
another Aid Station at Sky Bridge Road. I knew I was getting tired, and already
beyond any distance I’d run since the Fall Classic, but that section seemed very
technical. I found it really easy to walk all the technical stuff, and could
justify it by noting that everyone else was too. That helped me to keep my
place, but not my time. I’d not looked at the map closely enough to note that
almost all of the section was down by the creeks and very little was flat, easy
ridge top running. Again, I saw about 25 runners on this out and back section.
At the turnaround I could still run when I liked, uphill or
down. The turnaround had coke and food, we had expected just a water drop. After
the turnaround my knee began to ache on the downhills. It seemed to be in the
patella, just under the kneecap, but was not as bad as I’ve experienced in
other races. I was passed by two women (#2 and 3) in this section, but that was
all. No one was moving fast on the creek sections and I could still climb fast
and pain free.
After the final climb to Koomer Ridge, I was just trying to
keep my place and have a shot at 7:30. I could run ~100 yds at a time and still
power hike. I was passed by one young guy here. I didn’t remember the mileages
on this section, or for sure if we went by Hidden Arch. It turns out we did,
and I saw it this time (a small arch with a shape like the Angel Windows). The
last trail sign indicated ¼ mile to the CG, but it was more like 100 yards.
Brian was helping timing, so he made me sprint across the line, which was a
good idea since it turned out to be another guy about 10 seconds back.
In the aftermath, I felt tired but not total exhaustion.
Hopefully, my knee will bounce back OK, I only walked and did yard work the
next day. The knee got sorer later in the day. It is great to finish the race
and to do a little better than I expected. There was no long term impact to my
knee as I was able to resume hard training not too long after the race.
