Pinhoti FKT

Lead up

This effort is something I’ve wanted to do for the past 4 years. I don’t recall what sparked the initial interest, it just seems to have always been there since I learned about it. It has always been more or less a dream of mine to complete it in a single, big effort as fast as I could. Over the past several years, I have put together potential logistics and scenarios of how to take on this challenge. Over this time, I have also heard many other people talk about trying to do the same thing, but no one else has. I assume their reasoning to be the same as mine. To be completely honest, it’s a huge, daunting task that can be quite overwhelming. It’s very easy to sell it short in the midst of the high energy of running friends, at the end of a race, after a few beers, or after watching someone take the AT FKT down to another notch. For me it was always the fact that there was something else to do, something more reasonable, achievable, and more manageable. There was always “next year” because this year “I’m doing x, y, and z”.

This year has definitely presented us all with some unique situations in the midst of the COVID. Strictly from a running and social stand point, we all have had our plans drastically change. I had a big year planned with multiple 100 mile races spread throughout the year. When everything started getting canceled, I tried to adapt by selecting different races only to be thwarted by the cancellation of those. I was so desperate not to let my training be wasted. I spent months getting into peak condition and I feel I had achieved the most well rounded fitness I have ever been in. I was consistently logging solid weeks of training that had a mix of fast road (fast for me at least) efforts and big vertical weekends in the mountains. I wanted to test myself.

During the early stages of the races cancellations, my wife said “why don’t you go run the Pinhoti like you’ve always talked about?” I laughed it off with another “yea maybe I can do that” and didn’t really think much of it. My father in law, Todd Henderson, made the exact comment. “Why don’t you run the Pinhoti? If you do, I will be there to support you without a doubt” he said. I started actually considering it. “Oh , if they shut down work and I get 2 weeks off then yea I’ll do it” I said, making another excuse.

The last straw was yet another summer race on my calendar getting canceled. I finally started taking this Pinhoti thing serious. As hard as I tried I couldn’t come up with an excuse this time. I had to be completely honest with myself, there was literally never going to be a better time than now. I’m in an excellent physical condition, my wife and I don’t have kids, I have plenty of leave built up, with races being canceled my calendar is pretty much wide open, and the time of year is perfect. Everything was lining up, but I still desperately tried to find a reason not to do it because I was scared, scared to put myself out there only to fall short. The final straw was the realization that it was now or never. I have the perfect opportunity and if I don’t seize it when I have literally no excuse then I’ll always put it off when there is a legitimate excuse. It was time to put myself out there and see what I was actually capable of.

I confirmed dates with my wife and in-laws with a few days leniency to try to get the best weather window and then planning began. Todd and Jamie told me they would handle the vehicle to lighten my load. Originally the plan was to rent a cargo van and put an air mattress in the back for my crash site at night. They winded up renting an RV which was a blessing in more way than one. It allowed them to get adequate rest as well as provided a shower to get the days grim off before laying down. This was an unanticipated amenity that I believe was a huge asset in helping me reset every night.

I’ve always considered myself a tough runner, just someone who has grit. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a fast runner. I gravitate towards big mountains and more difficult challenges. I found that I handle attrition much better than the average person. This helped define my approach to my effort. Previous record holder, Robert Youngren, is a phenomenal runner. Anything he has done is not to be taken lightly. I consider him to be a gritty runner as well, someone who can gut it out and excel while doing so. Rob has a resume that labels him as a Barkley ‘old timer’ with multiple ‘Fun Runs’, high placing finisher at Badwater, and incredible multiple Hardrock finishes (plus many other achievements). Rob’s effort was not to be taken lightly. If I was going to beat his record I was going to have to rely on my grit.

I decided my best approach was not to necessarily run any faster than his effort, but just to do it on less sleep. I didn’t want to stop at a certain point because that’s where I said I would get or because night had fallen, I wanted to go until I needed to lay down and then get up and do it again. Granted I may have an idea of where I wanted to be at, I didn’t want to be defined by what point as my stopping point. I went back and forth on how to handle the first night all the way until I started. I knew that I could easily go until the second night before laying down but I was afraid that this may be digging too deep of a hole to soon. I ultimately decided to try to get at least a few hours of sleep the first night just to reset and aid in my mental state early on. One other tactic I used was playing my normal sleep schedule to my advantage. I typically go to bed very early but also wake up early (I normally wake up at 3AM every day). I also start fading really fast a couple hours after dark when running. I decided that I would try to go 3-4 hours into the night every night, catch a few hours of sleep and then start in the dark every morning. This allowed me to take advantage of naturally rising early and getting some dark miles in on semi-rested legs and also rely on the sunrise to give me a small mental boost every day.

 

Day 1 – April 30^th, 2020

Start – Flagg Mnt (0 Miles)

Finish – Adams Gap (74 Miles)

Gain – 11,060’

Loss – 10,492’

 

I would have pacers every day except today. Today I wanted to spend the day relaxing and settling into my own pace. I was afraid that if I had someone with me I would get caught up and run faster than I should. I needed to start my journey in a meditative state and focus on what lies ahead.

Todd, Mallory and I arrived at the top of Flagg about 10 minutes before 4:00 AM. As soon at 4:00AM hit, I kissed Mallory goodbye and was off down the mountain. The first 6 miles were spent on trails winding up to the tower then down to the road. Once I hit the road I spent about 4 miles making my way over to the fairly new Terrapin trail section. A friend of ours, Nathan Wright, had warned me that the tornado the weekend before came directly through there and tore that section up pretty bad. Luckily they had gotten in there and been able to clean up all the downed trees earlier in the week. I was very thankful too because when I saw all the debris, I knew it would have been a fight for me if it was still there. Other than that, this section was quite pleasant with gentle rolling hills through mostly pined forest.

I eventually popped out at HWY 56 where I would see Jamie, Todd and Mallory for the first time. I took my pack off and traded it for a belt and handheld. The next section was on the road and I wanted to have the weight and heat of a pack off my back. I would have them leap frog me every 4ish miles to refill my water bottle without stopping. This section lead me all the way to Trammel TH. This brought a sense of comfort as I know this section all the way to Coleman Lake very well having run it many times.

Before leaving my crew at Trammel, I asked them to meet me up at the cell tower to replenish fluids and food. This section is very runnable and I had to keep myself in check. It was starting to warm up and I also had to remember I had a long way to go. From the tower I ate a bunch of chips and refilled fluids and told my support that I would want some real food the next time I saw them at Bulls Gap.

When I arrived at Bulls gap, they had some mac-n-cheese and a cheese/bacon wrap ready for me. This mac-n-cheese would become a huge staple during the days to come. It always seemed to go down well and was a quick way to drop 250+ calories in a couple savory bites. I was actually dreading the next section, Horn Mnt. This section is always a difficult one for me during Pinhoti 100 as it winds and twists its way across the ridge. I constantly stub my feet on rocks and I try to pick my way through the trail and stay awake. As I left Bulls gap I tried to keep a positive mind and know that it wouldn’t last forever. I told myself I was going to relax and hike this section, it’s a gradual climb but there was no use in burning a match just to top out a little sooner. My calm attitude and relaxed pace paid off, as I made it to Wormy’s Pulpit before I realized it and was relieved. It hadn’t been nearly as bad as I anticipated. I saw my support once again where topped off past the power lines. I would see them once more on the ridge at Pinnacle before dropping down to Porters gap.

It took me a little longer than I expected to get to Porter’s Gap. I was starting to feel the effort from the day but this was a big milestone. At Porters I saw a new friendly face, Laurie Wilbanks. Laurie would later bring us dinner from Burger King. I wouldn’t eat my dinner until I stopped for the night but I was thankful for her support and thoughtfulness in bringing us some food. Leaving Porters would put me ahead of record pace, as this is where Robert made it during the initial Pinhoti Adventure Run. I still had tons of daylight left and was hopeful I could make it through the terrible rock garden section before dark fell.

About 2 miles out of Porters I saw the first people on the trail that I had seen all day (no one could say I wasn’t practicing social distancing). It was a group of 4 hiking with a young dog. As I passed we said hello and I was on my way down the trail. A few hundred yards later I hear one of the girls hollering, I look back only to see the dog had gotten loose and ran towards me and wanted to come along. I stopped and walked the dog back to it owners. Looking back, this seems to be a foreshadowing of what day 2 will bring. Stay tuned for that one.

I made it to Chandler springs where I saw my crew again. I felt like I was in good shape as far as daylight goes, but took my headlamp as a precaution. Getting through this next section in the daylight would be a huge advantage so I struck out without wasting any time. By the time I got to the rock garden section I casually picked my way through the loose baby head sized boulders and anticipated their movements with every step. As I rolled into Clairmont Gap it was just beginning to darken. This is where I decided that I would stop at Adams gap for the night and get some rest and head out for another 4 AM start. I wanted to be able to hit the climb up to Cheaha in a rested mental and physical state.

The next section from Clairmont to Adams was pretty uneventful. I saw a ton of hikers who were settled down by the fire and camping for the night. I took my time and reflected on an awesome day spent in the woods. I was very pleased with how I was feeling and the progress I had made so far. As soon as I rolled into Adams gap, I got into the RV where my support crew had everything ready for the night waiting on me. I cleaned up, ate a big meal, and closed my eyes for a few hours before getting up and getting ready to do it all over again.

Day 2 – May 1^st, 2020

Start – Adams Gap (74 Miles)

Finish – Coleman Lake TH (133 Miles)

Gain – 9,425’

Loss – 9,780’

 

Today, Trey Clark spent the whole day with me which was awesome! He was completely selfless the entire day. The week before we had talked and I told him I would probably start a little before daylight but I had my crew text him the evening before and tell him I was shooting for a 4AM start since I didn’t push past midnight like I anticipated doing. I thought there was a chance I wouldn’t see him until after Cheaha because he had a long drive to meet us. To my surprise he was there and ready to roll when I was.

In my pre-planning, there is one thing I did not take into consideration. That was how long it would take me to traverse this section over to Cheaha. I knew I would be slow going, but I didn’t anticipate it to take me as long as it did. Never the less, with the help of Trey’s high spirits we pushed through and persevered.

About 2 miles before crossing the highway at Cheaha, we had a dog come bounding up to us. He was a sweet dog and we thought he belonged to a man down the mountain who was off trail, but that man made no effort to recall the dog when he came to us. We continued moving forward and the dog fell in line with us. I began to worry as we went further and further away from where we found him until we came to a small campsite that had a tent set up. The dog ran towards to the tent and we thought that must be his owner. We continued on, and the dog continued to follow us. We never passed anyone who the dog belonged to. When we reached the road, we saw my support and we told them the story of how we found the dog. My wife called the numbers on the collar, one number didn’t answer and the other had a woman answer. She told us that her husband was out camping at Cheaha and that she would try to get in touch with him. My wife said she would take him up to the store and leave him there as they had to keep moving to support us. We took off down the trail and she took the Waylon (the dog) by the collar. She held onto him as they walked towards the car down the road. After a good while, she let go of his collar because it seemed as he was going to stay with them. As soon as she did, Waylon jerked her and darted backwards to head down the trail.

As we were moving down the mountain we heard something approaching behind only to look back and see Waylon coming in hot. Once he reached us, he fell right back in. Looks like Waylon was back in for the long haul. He stuck by our side continuously, only to leave when he was frequently distracted by the nearest squirrel or chipmunk down the mountain. This was a 12 mile section before we would see anyone again. As we progressed, we could tell Waylon was becoming more and more tired. It was apparent that this was his first big outing. Every time we got to a small creek we would encourage him to have a drink and throw water on his back so that he wouldn’t overheat. About 5 miles from the next crossing we got into a creek bottom where Waylon continued to follow the creek instead of the trail that paralleled it. As the trail began to rise up and away from the creek, Waylon continued to stay low and follow the creek despite our constant calls to have him follow us. Both Trey and I were worried that this was going to be the end of the adventure for Waylon. He was exhausted and just wanted to be in the cool water. We considered Trey staying with the dog and me pushing on and having Trey catch up to me later once the dog could be taken care of and gotten out of there. Right before we were about to make the call to split up, Waylon decided to fall back in with us. For the next 5 miles Waylon continued to stay by our sides. We finally made it to the support point where we told the story to everyone and told them no matter what, he could not go on with us or he wouldn’t make it. As we left, Waylon desperately wanted to go with us. Dogs are the strangest creatures. They will push themselves to death just to make us happy and to be with us.

To wrap up Waylon’s story, Todd was able to go meet Waylon’s owner and return him. According to them, the owner strongly resembled Trey. I suspect the dog picked up on this and that’s why he was so adamant on staying with us. With Waylon happily reunited, I’m sure he slept like a rock the rest of the weekend. Turns out, Waylon was a 1.5 year old pup and that was his first camping trip.

After leaving the 431 crossing where we dropped Waylon, we had just a few miles to the I20 crossing. During this section, Trey and I spooked up a mama hen turkey who had a bunch of poults with her that were less than a week old. This was pretty neat considering that Pinhoti means home of the turkey. Once we got to the I20 crossing, I asked my support to swing by Jacks and pick us up a couple burgers so we could down some real food and have a calorie bomb once we got to the Heflin Spur.

Upon arriving at the Heflin Spur, I noticed a few extra people at the parking lot as we ran up. I thought there was a chance that someone from the city of Heflin would be there to greet and say hello. Heflin has become a huge supporter of the Pinhoti and provides assistance to thru hikers in their journey. Mallory ran up the road and met us to run the last few hundred yards in. I asked her who all the people were and she told me it was Tammy from Heflin, Adam from the Pinhoti Trail Association, as well as a reporter, Bill Wilson from the Anniston Star (Anniston’s Newspaper). When I ran up, the gentleman from the newspaper introduced himself and said that I have been quite the topic as of the past few days. That’s when I started realizing how much attention that this effort was drawing. I never anticipated this being such a big splash, I only announced my intent as it is the traditional thing to do when attempting a FKT. I sat down in a folding chair, stripped off my shirt, socks and shoes for a change. The gentleman from the newspaper asked me a few questions about my experience so far as I ate my burger and fries. With a pair of socks, and shoes on, I took a few pictures with everyone before making my way down the trail once again. This stop was my first real stop of the day where I took a few minutes to reset. I spent no more than 10 minutes here, I was proud that I was doing very well at my efficiency of continuing moving throughout the day with minimal downtime. I left the spur in a high knowing I had such a large following and large base of encouragers throughout the region. When I began my attempt, I was anticipating a general pushback from the hiker community. As a runner, I cannot count how many times I’ve had comments such as ‘If you slow down you might enjoy it more’ from hikers as I pass them on the trail. This was not the case, I got an unbelievable outpouring of support from all sects of the community. As I left the spur, I knew there was no way I could quit with so many people pulling for me. The encouragement from all definitely kept me going in the days to come.

Leaving the spur, we got very warm. It seemed as the wind stopped all together and we were exerting a lot of effort chugging up the climb. I told Trey that I wanted to reach Pine Glenn before we needed to don a headlamp. So we pushed onward. We ended up at Pine Glen right on time. We got there without a lamp, but needed them by the time we left which was only a couple minutes later. It was here that I decided to stop for the night at Coleman Lake, in about 9 more miles. I told Trey to take the lead and I would fall in line behind him. This allowed me to zone out, I would place my feet the same place he did so I didn’t have to worry about tripping over rocks and roots. This was actually the best running we had all day. The cooler temps the night brought combined with the ability to rely on someone else to guide me was the perfect combination. Rolling into Coleman Lake TH brought the end to another long day on my feet. My support had everything ready once again. I cleaned up, ate, and then iced my legs and feet for the first time. After I iced for about 10 minutes, I slipped on my compression socks to help circulation and was in bed within a few minutes.

 

Day 3 – May 2^nd, 2020

Start – Coleman Lake TH (133 Miles)

Finish – Outside of Cave Springs (194 Miles)

Gain – 9,305’

Loss – 9,819’

 

From my previous experience at racing the Dragons Back Race in Wales, I knew beforehand that waking up and getting going on the 3^rd day was likely going to be the most difficult. This held true. I had already covered a lot of ground but still wasn’t close to the finish. This created a daunting feeling as I was getting ready to head out. If I was this tired now, how would I cover over 215 more miles? I relied on previous experience to know that I could do it and everything would get better as I started moving forward.

This day brought some major milestones. I would run a new part of the trail I had never been on before, experience the 2^nd wilderness section of the trail, cross the halfway point, and complete the Alabama section. These milestones were great mental pick me ups as I progressed.

I took off and did the 8 mile section to Burns TH solo. There I would pick up my long time running friend John Dove. John would run a large part of the day with me. It was nice to have company again, especially going through a new section I hadn’t been on. During this first 8 mile section I crossed a watershed where hikers had their tents pitched the entire length of the dam. One of them asked me if I was the one going for the record. I smiled and said I was trying my best, he wished me luck and I went on my way with a small mental boost.

I picked up John at Burns TH, and we left to tackle second wilderness section of my journey, Dugger Mountain Wilderness. The wilderness section can be broken into two sections, because our support could meet us 9 miles in at the Dugger Mountain Rd crossing. Dugger Mountain Wilderness proved to be an extremely pretty section. It was largely hiking with some running mixed in due to the climb and rocky underfoot. At close to 150 miles in, I was having difficulty picking my feet up enough to prevent banging them on rocks.

Reaching Dugger Mountain Rd, we refueled and took off to tackle the second half of the wilderness and Oaky Mountain. This section mimicked the previous as far as technicality goes. Not long after we had been back on the trail we saw a few runners who greeted us, one of which was another friend of ours Ronnie Roberson. Right as we got to the water shed a gentleman from the Piedmont Trail Association was there to greet us with a water and a Gatorade. He said he had been following my progress on the tracker link I provided. I thanked him immensely as it was really starting to get hot and the extra fluids were well received. He walked with us as we crossed the dam and headed towards the woods, while giving us a brief description of the trail to come. I thanked him once again and we pushed onward and upward as we tackled Oaky Mountain.

The end of this section brings us to the Chief Ladiga Trail, a rail-to-trail that connects to the Silver Comet rail-to-trail in Georgia. We would only follow the Chief Ladiga for a very short portion to a turn off where we would see the support crew once again. Here we had two more friends of ours, Nathan Wright and Ken Weatherman there for support. Nathan joined us for a few miles. Once I reached my support, I took about 10 minutes to eat some food, clean up and cool down with a rag soaked in ice water and change into a tank top. I also ditched my pack and switched to a hand held bottle to help stay cooler during the heat of the day.

Little did I know, this next section would start my least favorite section of the entire trail system. The next portion uses an easement through private land, which is a great thing. This is an agreement between the private land owner and the trail alliance to continue through the private land to avoid the use of roads. The trail was actually very pretty except for one scar, the private land had been recently turned into an Off-Road Vehicle park. The constant noise, pollution from the 4-wheelers, and buggies as well as how their roads constantly snaked back and forth over the trail made it very unpleasant. Also to top it off, due to the mild winter, I picked off more ticks in the next 15 miles than I’ve picked off myself in the past 2-3 years. It was getting very warm during this part of the day as well. My friend Nathan actually got so hot he got sick and had to slow down as we pressed on.

Eventually we made it down to the road where I saw my crew. This is where John would stop for the day and I would push on solo. I still had miles to go to get through the Off-Road Vehicle Park, but this next section would bring me past the halfway point as well as the state line. Todd could tell I was not feeling it mentally and said that once they got to the next crossing that he would run up and meet me. I pushed on for what felt like forever banging my feet on every rock I could find. I eventually topped out on the mountain and exited the OHV Park. That’s when I realized how beautiful this section must have been before the buggies tore it all up. It could have easily rivaled the wilderness sections. I probably should go back and do this section again to give it a fair chance. I’m not sure if my critiques come from my low mental state or if it really was as bad as I remember.

                                           

Todd met me just south of the state line. We stopped at the state line and he took my picture. I noted my time here as 62hrs and 17 minutes with a distance of 177.58 miles and 28,658’ of cumulative climbing so far. We descended another couple miles to Jackson Chapel TH. Here my Aunt and Uncle were there to greet me with signs and smiling faces. They had driven several hours just to see me for a few moments before I headed back out. This was just enough to lift my spirits a bit. Mallory’s grandparents were also there to cheer me on.  Here I changed into a fresh pair of socks and my road shoes. I still had a few miles of trail left before hitting the Cave Springs section of road, but it was smooth rolling trails and my feet were begging for a slightly different landing. I also grabbed my headlamp as it was going to be getting dark soon. After a few pictures with Josh and Pam as well as Mallory’s grandparents, I was off again but this time in better spirits. I only had 3 more miles until I would see my crew again.

I made quick work of the 3 miles and refilled my bottle. I was aware that the next section differed from what was logged in the Guthook app. It used to use old logging roads but now used single track trail. I tried to pay attention to make sure I didn’t miss the new trail system but it was marked so well that I intuitively followed the new trail and couldn’t have told you where the old system split off. This new trail system was quite pleasant and filled with gentle rollers that were mostly runnable even for myself with over 180 miles on my feet. It eventually popped out on Old Cedartown Rd not far from where the old trail came out at. This brought me to the first major road section of the trail. I had about 24 miles of road from here until hitting trail again. I continued on the road towards Cave Springs. I ran until I eventually saw Todd in the car. I had asked him to go ahead of me at the road sections and stop at the turns so that I wouldn’t miss any of them.

I eventually got into Cave Springs where I saw my support and reset in front of City Hall. I refueled, lubed everything up and took a bowl of Mac-N-Cheese and started walking down the road. Mallory walked with me while I ate. Once I finished eating Mallory hopped back into the RV and they went ahead of me. I would continue this road section for several more miles until I became very sleepy. I text ahead to Todd and told him to find a good place for us to camp for the night as I was about ready to stop. I reached them and we camped in a church parking lot for the night.

Overall this would be my worst day from a mental stand point. It was just one of those days where it was difficult to get through. I had points where my spirits were up and I felt good but overall the low spots over powered the highs on this day. At the end of my run, my COROS VERTIX watch had 22% battery left. I decided to charge it for the first and only time during my effort.

 

Day 4 – May 3^rd, 2020

Start – Outside of Cave Springs (194 Miles)

Finish – West Armuchee (244 Miles)

Gain – 4,468’

Loss – 4,180’

 

Today it was much easier to wake up and get going. I began the day by finishing off the road section. I had about 15 miles of it left to go. I was moving very well and saw my support at an empty lot off HWY 20. There they refilled my bottle and handed me off some pancakes wrapped around slices of bacon. I ate this while I continued down the road. The road section ended at Simms Mountain Trail which is really just an old rails-to-trails that runs right beside HWY 100. It’s not paved but very flat. Before heading out I applied some embrocation cream to try to ease the aches that were starting to pile up, the main one being the tendon and muscle group on the top of my right ankle. The road had really beaten me up. Once I was refueled, I headed down the trail. 

I was moving fairly well and I had hopes that the embrocation cream would get blood flowing to that tendon and muscle group and allow it to ease up. I ran this section to the Holland Rd crossing where I picked up Todd. Todd would run with me the rest of the day, after a few more miles it became apparent that this tendon thing wasn’t going to get better. It was a slog all the way to High Point TH. Here I thought it may be a good idea to take some ibuprofen and lay with my feet propped up for about 10 minutes. After that time was up,  I still saw no improvement so there was no choice but to press on as is. The push from High Point to Mack White was brutal and excruciating. It was a beautiful section but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy any of it due to the ongoing pain in my right ankle. Todd did a good job at keeping me moving, although it was mostly all hiking I still felt like I was moving at a solid hiking pace.

Upon reaching Mack White gap, there really wasn’t anything I could do to make it feel better so staying there was only prolonging the inevitable. Todd and I struck out once again at a hiking pace. The next section went by largely uneventful. I tried to zone out as much as possible so that I wouldn’t focus on my ankle. The only thing that became obvious is that this issue wasn’t getting any better. I decided along the way to call it an early day today. When we got to the Narrows, I walked in the RV, took out my contacts and put my glasses on, grabbed a beer and asked Mallory to walk with me down the road. The next few miles to W Armuchee were gravel/road walk and I was determined to get at least 50 miles in. This would be my shortest day of the entire trip. While the previous day was my lowest mental day, this was my lowest physical day. I used this evening to get lots of rest, ice my ankle well in hopes to have some quick rehab, and eat well. I had one final big push left.

 

 

Day 5+ - May 4^th -5^th, 2020

Start – West Armuchee (244 Miles)

Finish – Northern Terminus/BMT (349 Miles)

Gain – 15,345’

Loss – 13,649’

 

This is it. I woke up knowing that this was going to be my big and final push. No more sleep until I was done. I still had about 106 miles left to go, so it seems strange to think of this as the home stretch but you have to do what you got to do. It was no longer down to a number of days to the finish, but down to hours. The nights rest had helped my ankle slightly but it was pretty obvious right away that it wasn’t gone and that it would become my main obstacle between this point and the finish. I had several people who were coming out to either see or run with me at some point today. Good friends of ours Annie and Kevin Randolph were coming and Annie would join me for a few crucial miles later. A long time running friend, Kelly, from back when I first started running on the roads was coming to spend a few miles of the road section out of Dalton with me. Riding with her would be my Mom and my sister. And also Martin Schneekloth who would hop in later and run the last 40 miles to the finish with me.

I took off the trail and started a climb leaving W Armuchee. I was able to run most of the flat or small climbs. I got to E Armuchee where I did a quick hand off of bottles and some more pancakes wrapped around bacon that Jamie made. I trudged on still running off the adrenaline that of knowing I was getting closer with every step. I eventually got to Johns Mountain where I saw my support again. I sat down, ate a bit and downed another coke and headed back down the mountain. After crossing Pocket road, I would start a small climb up to the ridge and run the ridge all the way to Snake Creek Gap parking lot. Somewhere along that ridge I ran out of the juice that had me moving well. I was starting to zone out and be a little spacey when I saw someone coming up the trail. It was Martin, who had ran up from Snake Creek Parking lot to meet me. Seeing a new face boosted my spirits and we ran the next couple miles down to the parking lot where I saw Kelly, Abbie, and my Mom who were there along with Jamie, Todd, and Mallory.

 

Snake Creek Gap is an infamous section. It’s long, rocky, and very dry. I took an extra few minutes to refuel, cool down and prepare for this next section. Thankfully, Martin volunteered to run this next 17 mile section with me. After gorging myself on a lot of the food that my mom and Abbie brought, I headed out to try not to waste any more time.

There is one section where a remote forest service road intersects this large section. I told Todd about it and he was able to find it on the map and said that he would try to get up there. There was the possibility that he wouldn’t be able to get up there due to a gate being closed. As we trudged our way through the first ridge of the section, I got warm but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It stayed overcast, blocking direct sun which was a huge advantage. Regardless, by the time we traversed the ridge and dropped down, I was hoping that Todd, Jamie and Mallory would have been able to make it up to the end of that remote FS road. The trail intersects the end of this FS road where there’s a big cul-de-sac for cars to turn around. If Todd was able to make it up, this is where he would have been. At the absence of him, I kept my spirits high and pushed on thinking “don’t get down over things you can’t control”. A little further up the road, right as the trail and the road bed part ways I spotted our friends Annie and Kevin. They told us that the road was gated about 2 miles down but they brought snacks. They brought me 2 McDonald’s cheeseburgers and some fluids. This was a huge blessing. I ate one of the cheeseburgers and downed the fluids and thanked them. It would be another 7ish miles before I would pop out at Dug Gap and another mile or so down to the convention center where I told them to meet us.

Eventually we popped out at the towers above Dug Gap. The gravel road down to the paved road had my ankle screaming. I wasn’t able to run any of this or the paved road down to the convention center. Once I reached the convention center I took some time resetting. I ate well, took my pack off and switched to a handheld, dumped my hiking poles since the road section was completely flat and took some medicine to ease the pain of my ankle. I normally do not like taking medicine during an effort because it’s so easy to get dehydrated and I don’t want the extra stress on my kidneys, but this time it was necessary just to get moving. Martin had also brought his percussion massage gun, I used this to loosen up my quads and glutes. I also used it on the bottom of my feet, they were getting pretty beat up and this seemed to shake everything out and provided some temporary relief. I also decided to put on my compression socks and run in them. The thought was that the compression would help blood flow through my feet and keep my ankle from swelling more. This is also where my friends Annie and Kelly both joined me. The rest of my support would leap frog me every 3-4 miles. I was very thankful to have the company during this section. I have had friends who have done the TNGA who complain about how busy these roads were at night. I always shrugged it off thinking that there’s no way it could be that busy. They were just country roads and I was hitting them on a weekday night. I was very wrong, there were a ton of cars on these roads and nearly all of them were absolutely flying! Having the company of a couple extra people once it got dark allowed for more headlamps and higher visibility. Kelly would only run a few miles here, but Annie insisted that I couldn’t run this section by myself with all these cars on the road. When Kelly hopped out, Mallory hopped in so I still had 2 people with me. We made consistent progress, running where I could and hiking where I needed but always moving forward.

Somewhere around Callie Jones Bridge Rd it began to lightly rain. Todd and Jamie had pulled over and I asked him what it looked like on the radar. He said that there was a really rough patch about to move through but it would be gone in about an hour. I told him that there was a gas station about a mile or so up the road on HWY 52, and to pull in there and I would wait out the storm. I would use the hour just to close my eyes and do a quick reset. We continued on down the road and once I reached the gas station I told Annie that they could head on back if they wanted. I only had a few miles of road left and that I didn’t want them to have to wait on me just to knock those few miles out. I climbed in the RV, took off my socks and shoes to let my feet air out and set an alarm for 1 hr.

After the hour was up, I popped up and downed a quick bowl of instant oatmeal and was out the door. The hour of downtime caused my ankle to stiffen and start hurting pretty bad but movement would help loosen things back up. Mallory hopped back in with me about a mile down the road, she wasn’t finished getting ready when I left. Once she hopped in I had begun to loosen up and we would run to a certain mailbox/light pole then take a small hiking break. Before long we made it to Dennis Mill TH. This is where I would hit trail again and remain all the way until the finish.

At Dennis Mill, I used Martin’s percussion massage gun again to hit my feet, glutes and hips. Martin would also join me here for the final 39 mile stretch. We left and I was feeling great mentality. This section takes a drastic change in the eco system. It’s the first time it really differs completely from the trails in Alabama. These trails and are what made me fall in love with the North Georgia Mountains originally. The next time we saw Mallory, Todd and Jamie was near Peeple’s Lake Road. I ate a guacamole sandwich and downed a coke and we were back on our way pretty quickly.

The next section over to Hwy 52, I came down off the high of being almost finished. Lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with me and mileage on my body was once again rearing its head. I told Martin to remind me to take more medicine when we caught back up with our support to get me to the finish. When we saw them at 52, I ate drank and took medicine. I also used Martin’s percussion massager again on my hips, glutes, and feet to provide temporary relief. Leaving I wasn’t moving very well but before long the medicine helped ease the aches and pains until they became manageable enough to trot a bit.

  

The next section took us over close to Mulberry Gap. A couple miles before getting there I became dead tired exhausted. I had to muster all of my energy to focus to run. If I lost focus I would zone out and start hiking, for no reason. It was a fight to stay focused. After a while, Martin piped up and asked how I was doing. I said “I’ve got to be honest, I’m pretty damn tired”. He said “Lets fix this then, I’m tired too” and he got out some caffeine gum. I hadn’t noticed, but he had gotten quiet too. Just a spur of conversation was enough to get me going and we rolled on into the crossing.

We covered the next few miles over to Wilderness road very quickly and efficiently. Todd and I had discussed how to handle the last few miles. The next place they could meet was at Buddy Cove Gap which was only just over 3 miles from the northern terminus. The problem was that it would take them over 30 minutes to get down to the trail head at the south fork. I told him for them to just go straight onto the finish. I had made it this far; I could make it the last 15 miles without any additional support. We pressed onward and I gave Martin the run down of where we would turn, when and where we would join Bear creek and told him about passing the Gannet Popular. Before long we hit Mountain Town Creek. This is where it started raining, not just raining but thunder storming. This is a steady and relentless climb. This is the biggest climb on the Georgia side, and if I had to venture a guess, I would say it’s the biggest climb of the entire trail. All I could do was hike as we continuously crossed the swollen creek over and over. After what felt like an eternity, we topped out at Buddy Cove. My body ached but I said I could endure anything for 30 minutes so we pressed hard on the downhill as it continued to thunderstorm. There was one more blip before the final descent down to the South Fork and the BMT. We finally hit it and I hiked it as fast as I could. I finally dropped down to the South Fork where the current nearly swept me away and then just a few hundred yards to the terminus. Rounding the corner, I could see Mallory, Todd, Jamie and our pups (Ellie and Rosie). I had finally made it, I achieved my dream. I had set a new FKT. I looked down at my watch 133 hrs and 21 minutes. 5 Days 13 Hrs 21 Minutes. It is finished.