Round One: 2019

The Mission:

Anthony Cooper had completed one “slow” road marathon before making the leap to trail running in 2019. He had already signed up for a race in the fall in Lake Tahoe, California, when he was sent to Alabama for the summer for work. He knew he wanted to keep running trails, and so did a little research into trail running around Birmingham. There he found the Ridge to Blazing Ridge race, which offers one or two laps on a challenging 10-mile loop with almost 1700 feet of gain in Oak Mountain State Park, and thought it would be a perfect “practice run” for his upcoming Tahoe race. Running in Alabama couldn’t be harder than in California, right?

The Attempt: 

Anthony started the first 10-mile loop with 1 liter of water in a Camelback and one gel in his pocket. The route has one aid station as runners approach the 4-mile mark, and a second water-only station around 7.5 miles in. So he figured he’d be able to refill throughout the race, no problem.

He met another runner early in the race and fell into a chatting pace until the trail took a turn straight up. Anthony wasn’t aware of the east coast “no switchbacks” rule, and slowed to a hiking pace on the brutally steep climb. The other runner pulled away as they climbed 600 feet in one mile. Anthony found himself staggering under the oppressive heat and humidity. The dizzying effect of heat, dehydration, and lack of caloric input had him pulling trees to drag himself up the last of the hill. There he found his new friend from before, also gasping for air. 

They continued on together downhill, stopping at the first aid station to refill their water bottles and pick up some much needed sustenance. When the second climb began, though at a much gentler grade, Anthony found himself in no better condition, and saw the back of his new friend fade into the distance. 

The Call: 

Thoroughly humbled, Anthony knew before he’d reached the top of the second climb around mile 8, that it would take more than a great deal of suffering to finish a second loop that day, it would take a miracle. He wondered if he’d even be able to make it back to the starting line in one piece. He realized that he had underestimated trailrunning in Alabama. 

During the last two cruising downhill miles, Anthony found himself wondering if perhaps he could attempt a second loop. Memory is short when the body starts to recuperate. Upon reaching the start/finish line, and finding his friend from earlier feasting on barbeque, Anthony went straight over to the event coordinator and handed in his tracker.

Round Two: 2023

The Mission: 

Redemption. Four years, and several trail races later, Anthony came back for round two at the Ridge to Blazing Ridge. In the month leading up to the race, Anthony visited Oak Mountain State Park a couple times to practice the loop. Two weeks before the race, he joined in on a course preview training run put on by the race organizers. The weather was unseasonably cool that day, in the mid-70s. That final training run went better than expected. Anthony felt prepared, and set himself one rule for race day: “If I have to slow down due to the heat three times, that is my cue to cut myself off after loop one.”

The Attempt:

When the race began, Anthony settled into a similar pace that he ran the course preview two weeks prior, with another runner he had met on that day. Instead of a water bladder, Anthony carried two soft flasks, figuring that the bladder laying against his back had not allowed heat to escape from his body. The first climb went down well, the pace felt manageable. Temps climbed as the morning wore on. The other runner pulled away, leaving Anthony to run alone for a few miles. As the second, less steep climb began, Anthony found that he wasn’t able to hold a running pace in the heat and slowed to a walk. Strike one. 

Anthony drank water and maintained a slow pace until he felt back to normal. A bit later in the climb, the heat caught up to him again. The tree canopy trapped in the heat and humidity like an oven. He slowed to a hike, unable to outrun a wave of dizziness. Strike two.  

At the beginning of the final descent, Anthony slowed his pace as he approached a technical rocky section, knowing that he didn’t want to come in too hot and trip over his own feet. Somewhere in that section, right before the final easy cruise to the finish line, a fuzzy light-headed feeling came over him, and Anthony reached out, grasping for a tree trunk to steady himself. Strike three. 

The Call:

Though he was near the end of the loop, had performed reasonably well, and didn’t feel entirely ready to quit… Anthony knew he needed to stick to the one rule he had made. He had learned that lesson the hard way before. A disappointing end to what should have been a triumphant comeback. He made it back to the starting line, crushing his one lap time from 2019. While his performance was measurably better in many ways, he was disappointed to have “failed” again. 

Lessons Learned: 

Trail running in the south is not “easier” than the west : every region has its own challenges, what the south lacks in altitude, it makes up for in humidity and grinding straight up climbs. Which means that your preparation/training needs to be tailored to the conditions of the race.

Follow your own rules : sometimes we can learn just as much from getting it right as getting it wrong. Anthony had learned before that breaking the rules he writes to protect himself is a no-go. This time he followed through– which wasn’t an easy thing to do in the moment, but in retrospect– he is grateful to himself for setting the rule and sticking to it. So that he could continue on to the next race and do better next time.