I am both intrigued and repulsed

The Toughest Trail Race in the World - Runner's World

A race no one finishes... I think I get it. Maybe.

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

I lost a few days and a few pounds due to the stomach bug, but I'm feeling good again and now seem to be hitting the roads and trails even harder than before. Nothing like being sick to make feeling normal so awesome.

The last few days have gone as follows... a twenty mile run on Tuesday, a 36 mile hilly bike ride and 5 mile run on Wednesday, and Thursday a quad and skin burning 15.5 mile circuit of Mt. Cammerer. I have loved every exhausting minute of it.

All week has been near perfect Southern Appalachian Spring weather. There was snow on the mountains and the grass was so green it nearly hurt your eyes.

Brent Worth, showing the bike who's boss

The elder Worth has been hammering out piles of miles on his bike this year. What I thought would be an easy recovery day on Wednesday turned out to be quite the opposite. We parted ways happy, each of us eager to resume our normal (and slower) paces.

Thursday morning I could see no relief was sight. In regards to the days Caitlin picks to go hiking, I have noticed a distinct pattern. She never wants to go to on a day in which I am overflowing with energy. In fact, she seems to want to go on days where I am borderline exhausted even before beginning the days adventure. When confronted on this matter, she candidly claims possession of her intentions and states, "Yeah, its great. It levels the playing field. The only thing better than you exhausted is you passed out on the couch."

So, with my quads feeling as if they had been replaced with bags of sand we began a 15.5 mile circuit of Mt. Cammerer. This hike also begins with about 1,800 ft of elevation gain in the first 2.5 miles on the notorious Low Gap Trail, known for being the steepest official trail in the national park. Wonderful.

We had warm temps, full sun and a steep grade leading me to drop down to a t-shirt on the AT. Perhaps Spring really is here?

Hiking in a T-shirt in the snow, a sacrilege in the minds of many local hikers

The initial punishment from Low Gap trail was set right by views from the lookout tower, where we perhaps idled to long and collected the beginning of what would be an early season sunburn for Caitlin.

Leaving Mt. Cammerer, we were happy to have 2/3rds of the work behind us, but we'd only covered about 1/3rd of the distance. What we thought may deteriorate into a trudge fest was actually hours of great walking in and out of the creeks and coves of Lower Mt. Cammerer trail.

While Caitlin took wildflower shots, I didn't miss a chance to sit a spell

Bloodroot

Dutchman's Breeches

After a little over 7 hours of walking we finally made it back to Cosby campground. Sunburned and out of water for the last two hours we were two happy kids to see the car. Nothing makes a car seat more comfortable than a day full of hiking. 

Now that I've made up for lost time, maybe I'll take a break... but probably not.

Shake Those Dice and Roll 'Em

Everyday we face risk and uncertainty. Some risks we can control, or at least minimize, others we can not. With good judgement and decision making, most of us make it day to day just fine. Oh, but it's this whole good judgement thing I keep getting hung up on.

Here's a little example. On most of my running, hiking or kayaking excursions the issue of how much water/food/gear etc is always an essential series of decisions in which I like to think I find a way to do the most (miles, days, what have you) with the least (gear, food, material items in general). Usually this works out very well for me.

Well we had a little backfire lately. I believe it happened on the Little River float trip. As per usual, I show up for this 3 day trip with a food bag that looks like it could fit in your back pocket, shelter-less and with a trifling amount of fishing gear. Perfect. The problems arose with my choice of water purification. As I have now learned, a few hasty drops of chlorine dioxide just prior to consumption will not treat river water which is flowing through a cow pasture.

What was the result of this poor decision you ask? Well, typically I'm an endurance fiend. Running, biking, and hiking near the point of compulsion in my life. But for a few days, my feats of endurance consisted of crow walking back and forth from the couch to the toilet. My life began to verge on the monastic, no solid foods for days... I even began to think of white bread as an indulgence.

Fortunately for me some magic beans known as anti-biotics made their way into my life and I'm now routinely running myself to exhaustion instead of the bathroom. Not to say the mental effects have totally subsided, I become nervous with every slight tremor in the abdominal region and begin surveying the room for the nearest facilities. Shall we chalk this up in the lessons learned category of life? I think so. I always knew not to drink the water when you're in Mexico, apparently the same rules apply in East Tennessee.

Swim...Bike...Run...The Dutchoven Nightmares Ride Again

Yesterday was a day of first tri's (pun intended). Dave, Cody and I competed in our first team triathlon. Although this was not Cody's first triathlon attempt, it was his first triathlon done as a team.

Cody getting pumped up for the big race.

The game face.

Sweet talking the competition

As a team, we were truly the embodiment of a well oiled, triathlon destroying team. I was the chosen candidate for the swim. Natural choice, seeing that I had not been near a pool in roughly 4 years...it made perfect sense that this would be my best event. I did swim twice this past week in preparation, and am happy to say that I was not the last out of the pool in our heat of swimmers. I finished my portion in just over 20 minutes, for the half mile swim. Then it was out to the transition area...apparently a lovely shade of blue/green and trying not to toss cookies as I handed the bike off to Cody.

Into the great blue yonder.

Cody served as our fearless cyclist, without even a moment on the bike in six months...also a good choice for his respective leg of this journey. Cody was slightly ill prepared for the terrain here Gatlinburg...due mostly to an unintended campaign of misinformation on the part of Dave and myself. We managed to describe the route in such a way as to leave out one monstrously terrible hill and about 4 miles of distance. This, portion, easily the toughest part of this race, took roughly 47 min.

Photo Finish

Then came the run...obvious choice on this event is the Notorious Dave. When planning for this event last week (when we first decided to compete) we really thought Dave would be our ace in the hole...the ringer...the miraculous Mr. Worth, able to potentially bring us out of whatever hole Cody and I had dug for ourselves to close this race with a respectable time....Out of nowhere ...BLOWHEE.... the final blow to our team... Dave is stricken with a nasty case of gastrointestinal critters(diagnosis still not yet received) which puts him on an all liquid diet for the several days before the race...this leaves him absolutely exhausted, albeit determined... and not without his natural abilities.

Dave completes the 5K portion of the race in 18:35...just under 30 seconds off his 5k PR. A success he attributes to his exhaustion induced delirium and rapid weight loss due to aforementioned stomach critters. (Which is, as it turns out, "An extremely effective, albeit controversial method of weight loss").

Happy Team...if only just to be done with the madness.

Overall...although we did come in dead last in the team competition of the day, this event was a rousing success. As usual, the obvious composure and strange obsession with plaid struck fear in the hearts of the competition....no doubt making it difficult to sleep last night without the prodding fear of the DUTCHOVEN NIGHTMARES. --- Caitlin