Olive Penderghast: "Tell me this: assuming there is a Hell..."
Pastor: "Oh, the Christian church recognizes the existence of Hell."
Olive: "Ok... so we'll just say there's a 'Hell'..."
Pastor: "There is. Just so we're clear."
Olive: "Ok, but for argument's sake..."
Pastor: "No, there's no argument, it's there. Right below our feet. Right above the Orient."
Well… the Pastor from Easy A was right… there is a Hell, right below our feet… and this past Saturday, Tosche brought Hell to Birmingham in the form of an 18 mile trail race… Hotter N Hell.
Hotter N Hell (HNH) didn’t even register on my race radar simply because I knew I had a jam packed weekend of wedding showers and birthday cookouts that fell on the same weekend. So the weekend before the race was business as usual…
Mountain-goating on cliff sides…
Dashing through enchanted forests…
Peering into the abyss…
Jumping off dams… (shhhhh…)
You know… just good ole fashion trail fun…
After Sunny and Owen had Kati and me over for some H9 50 mile logistic planning, I started to get excited about some of my upcoming races…
So after a few hours of relaxed running and a long, lazy lounge on King’s Chair I decided to sign up for Hotter N Hell.
I figured I wouldn’t be running much on Sunday since Saturday was going to be an all day celebration, so I had planned to do a long night run Friday night and race hard at HNH Saturday morning. Well the night run didn’t pan out, so I settled for a 2hr30min jaunt Friday evening after work to preview the HNH course a bit…
The morning of the race, I woke up a little earlier than I wanted thanks to Wobbles (our cat) laying on my chest, creepily staring at me in my sleep… I swear that cat was trained by ninjas...
So after a cup of coffee and some oatmeal, I headed out to Oak Mt.
The HNH course is a pretty stout route that consists of two 9 mile loops. Though the elevation isn’t high in the clouds… the heat, humidity, and climbs make it a pretty dang difficult race.
It was great catching up with some folks I haven’t seen in a while…
But then… it was go time…
Like normal, I started off a little fast to ensure I wasn’t a part of the cluster when we hit the single track. I tagged along with Travis and Cobbs for a while as we watched a few of the 1 lap racers shoot ahead. Travis is fast, so I knew I wouldn’t be hanging with him for too terribly long. I hung with Travis until we started the ascent up to Blood Rock. It was nice keeping a fast pace and getting a little breathing room from the pack, but I knew I needed to dial it back and get into my own comfortable groove.
I passed a 9 mile runner on the ascent to Blood Rock. I had planned to run the entire climb up to Blood Rock and power hike to the connecting trail. After a few quick turns and some short rolling up and downs along the Red trail, I quickly refilled my bottle at the aid station on Peavine Falls road and began the climb up to the Green trail.
(These guys rocked the aid station!!)
I knew the next half mile or so down into Peavine Gorge would be fast, so I ate a Clif Shot gel and a salt tablet as I started down the Green trail. I hit the parking lot and picked up the pace and cruised down the gravel path to the gorge turnoff. I had come out the evening before and scoped out where Tosche had placed the rope. He had given 2 options:
1) use the rope and take the direct route down to the bottom
2) take the switchbacks
I opted for the rope path but didn’t utilize it. I slid/skied down the dirt, rocky, rooted path until I reached the bottom. I scrapped my leg on a rock on the way down, but didn’t have time to check it out because as soon as I hit the bottom of the falls my momentum had me barreling full speed through the gorge.
“On your right! On your right!”
I yelled and almost trampled a guy crouched over splashing Peavine water in his face… but I had caught back up to Travis on the descent. When I started the ascent out of the gorge, Travis was already close to the top. I hadn’t planned on eating another gel until closer to the 2nd lap, but I knew there was only one more steep climb after the gorge and I really wanted to attack the Green/White connector pretty hard so I went ahead and killed another one. I passed another runner right before I crossed the bridge onto the White trail.
I started the climb up the connector and saw the 9 mile runner that I had passed earlier on the Blood Rock ascent. Either the heat was already making me delusional or he must have gotten turned around in the gorge… either way… these flowers were beautiful…
I topped the climb and immediately picked up the chase for Travis. The Green trail is hands down one of my favorite trails to run at Oak Mt. It offers some great technical single track, fun climbs, fast descents… and even though it is in the middle of Alabama… it makes you feel like you’re climbing a big mountain and running high ridges. So needless to say… I enjoyed this section the most.
I danced and smiled my way down the ridge… all the way to where the course goes through the bird sanctuary.
I crossed through the newly constructed walkway and back into the woods along the Green/Yellow connector. After a short series of quick up and downs, I crossed Peavine road and headed back to the start/finish area. I sprinted over and grabbed a package of Clif Bloks from the FARM’s tent, quickly refilled my bottled, and picked back up on the chase for Travis.
I winded my way through the woods and crossed the road to the trail head at the start of Johnson’s Mt. The sunlight was casting shadows on the trail as it was shining through the canopy and I didn’t see a rock… BAM! I turned my ankle and went rolling down the trail. I picked myself up, brushed off the dirt and leaves from my back, and barked obscenities to myself as I slowly started hobbling up the mountain…
“Dammit Andrews. Pay attention. Lock it up. No you lock it up!”
These out loud conversations with myself happen far too often…
My ankle hurt. It hurt to put pressure on it and I briefly contemplated walking down the road back to the start/finish area…
“You’re fine. Just keep moving forward…” Rule #4.
By the time I got back up to Blood Rock the second time around my ankle had loosened back up and I was running well again. I knew I was sitting in 3rd place and didn’t really have a chance to catch the two leaders, so I dialed it back and put it on cruise control. I refilled my bottle as I breezed through the aid station, climbed up to the ridge and started the descent back down to the gorge.
Since it was later in the morning, there were a lot more people hiking around the Peavine Falls area so I caught a few smiles and some encouraging words from a few of the hikers. I got back down to the rope section to find 2 runners making their way down. Again I opted not to use the rope and slid/skied down trying my best to not get in the way of the runners on the rope. I took another gel as I climbed out of the gorge and made my way over to the White trail once again. I felt a small twinge from the muscle on the inside of my leg, so I reached down to the pocket on my bottle to grab a salt tablet… nothing was there. The pocket must have come unzipped when I was sliding down into the gorge… so I took another gel as a precaution as I climbed the Green/White connector.
As I neared the top of the G/W connector I saw a couple making their way to the top. The man was in front holding onto one end of a towel leading his wife who was holding the other end.
The man leading his wife… “We’re almost to the top. You got this.”
I got chills as I passed them… it’s so inspiring to see this type of encouragement on the trails.
I took the final step up from the climb and took a deep breath. Play time.
Again I barreled down along the ridge of the Green trail passing a few runners and hikers. For a brief moment in time, I was caught in that ideal state of bliss and freedom that all trail runners long for when in the mountains…
But of course that came to an abrupt end when I started to make the short but final climb to the top of the ridge...
I could hear the cheers from the start/finish area as I started along the last rolling strip of single track. I popped out of the woods, crossed the road, and made my way through the chute for a 2hr48mins 3rd place overall finish…
I caught eyes with Greg and he gave me the “What do you need" look…
I tilted my hand in a drinking motion and mouthed the word “beer.” He smiled and brought me an ice cold bottle…
I wandered around the start/finish area enjoying my beer and hanging out with everyone. I took a quick dip in the cold water of the blow-up swimming pool at the finish, tossed on some flip flops and headed over to let Dr. Beard check out my ankle.
After Mark finished, he pulled his truck around with a keg of Good People Brewing beer but before I could finish my first cup, I received a group text from Tanya (http://tanyasylvan.com/).
She had hurt her ankle down in the gorge and needed help. About the time I started to head to the car, Tosche called my name over the PA system…
After grabbing my finishers award, I hopped in my car and quickly headed up to the Peavine parking lot. I got to the top, threw on some shoes, and started jogging down to the falls. Tanya had hobbled her way up the side of the gorge and was heading up the gravel path to the parking lot when I reached her. Even with a busted ankle, Tanya was in good spirits. We made our way back up to the car when we heard sirens.
“Did someone call an ambulance for me? I’m fine. It’s just my ankle.”
If someone had called a medic for Tanya, I didn’t want them to be searching for someone who was in my car, so I stopped by to see who they were looking for. Apparently someone was having heat issues out on the trail.
The start/finish area sounded like a scene from Hell. There were ambulance sirens in the distance, someone screaming from full body cramps… it was truly a rough day on the trail. The Alabama heat and humidity is no joke… it can be seriously hazardous and dangerous if you’re not careful.
The trail running community never ceases to amaze me. We had runners in need and some of the runners with medical backgrounds jumped in to assist in any way possible. We are lucky to have a group like we have here in Birmingham.
I still had a lot of traveling to do before nightfall, so I headed on up to Smith Lake to catch the tail end of two of my best friend’s wedding shower. We drank, cooked, and swam until the late evening.
I said my goodbyes and ventured on up the interstate to my next destination. I rolled into my hometown as the sun was setting.
I glanced down at my phone to see a message from Kati, “We’re at the quarry! Come on!”
We fished and had a few drinks at the quarry until it was time to head back to our friend’s farm for the night.
We grilled out and spent the night lounging, laughing and drinking on the back porch until the clock struck midnight…
“Happy birthday Katty!!!”
Sunday morning I woke up a few hours earlier than everyone else, so I snuck outside with Ace for a little open field, barefoot running to loosen up my ankle…
When Kati woke up, we threw on a pot of coffee and went to town to get donuts for everyone. When we returned to the farm, I popped the champagne that lead way to Sunday morning mimosas! A lazy morning bled into a BBQ lunch which bled into a swim and paddle around the quarry…
I called my dad to see if he wanted to meet up for dinner somewhere. We chatted and caught up for a little bit over a Dari Delite chicken snack… a perfect ending to the weekend.
Till tomorrow...
