SMR 2019 – Mad Mountain HIMs Edition
All BackBlasts BackblastsApril 28th, 2019
12 Mountain minded Men, a little Mad, and determined…took on SMR 2019. 7 of the 12 were veterans of relays and 5 were excited newbies. All of us save Filibuster were running SMR for the first time. 206 miles, 36 legs, non-stop 1st and 2nd F through the Smoky Mountains. YHCs opinion…it was just beautiful and awful and awesome. I saw the Smoky Mountains a new way and coveted many of the legs that the other guys got to run. Photos don’t do it justice, SMR is a stunning course and has the big views but tons of simply running alongside rivers and through awesome valleys or winding country paved and gravel roads as well as a few challenging trails. Almost zero city or busy roads. Without exception, we all ended one leg or another with “wow, that was just beautiful”.
EDIT…. link to google map of the course https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1XwNbk11lz2Au_1o28cXX5tv7y8qXGZjG&shorturl=1&ll=35.20673107996291%2C-83.08298910198334&z=10
Van 1 included Sterling, Trail Mix, Skipper, Chicken Strip, Filibuster, and R2D2. They left Thursday evening, spent the night in a bunkhouse and hotel and started at 7:15 Friday morning. Van 2 (Winnebago Land Yacht) included The Farm, Laser, Blowout, Scooter, Gordo, and YHC and left Friday morning at 8:30 for a 12:30pm rondevous with Van 1 and start of Leg 7. I have to admit feeling more like the professional team with sponsors with the Winnebago compared to the rented Van 1. Fridge, beds, shower. Sorry guys.
The Mad Mountain HIMs finished in 30 hours 37 minutes. The 2019 results aren’t posted yet but that time last year would have put us 16 out of 44 teams. We had an informal goal of 30 hours and were well ahead of that pace until the race fought back on Legs 34 and 35 and we gave up at least an hour. I invite the 11 to add their stories and funny moments to this post in the comments. Here is my story about Legs 34 and 35…..
We were getting a little cocky at the exchange zone waiting for Gordo to finish Legs 34. YHC had an “Easy” 3.3 mile Leg 35 and Laser the glory leg. We were looking at a 29 hour 30 minute and maybe top ten finish. Two police cars were at the exchange zone and two large pick-up driving men and an angry lady were yelling at the race volunteer. Long story short, they kicked SMR off the church land. Not very churchy. The SMR officials and police scrambled to find a new exchange zone and early discussions would have put it a mile out of the way, adding a mile to Gordo’s leg and a mile to mine. I figured it would be moot because Gordo is due any minute….alas he was late and getting later. We got two texts from him…”Lost Maybe” and “Backtracking”. The decision was to move the XC 1.5 miles up the course which will shorten Gordo’s leg by 1.5 and add 1.5 miles to mine. OK since we figured Gordo may have run a few extra miles being lost. Driving to the new XC was seriously downhill….ughhh. Runners coming off the trail knew the large smiling man as they were all lost as well on the trail. The instruction cards were wrong. The mile designations for turns were off. Not Gordo’s fault. Gordo came off the trail after an extra 3 miles or so and looking done. He did not seem upset that I was going to take his 1.5 miles up that hill.
You are welcome Gordo, that hill sucked, not what I wanted after my 5.8 mile OMG Leg 23 totally up hill (did not walk….just sayin). I knocked out the Gordo Mountain extra credit, got kudos from the embarrassed race official and embarked on my Easy 3.3 miles. A mile in, the course encounters Hwy 74 and the instructions say to wait for the police to help Cross it then look for the trail at the top of the grassy knoll. Police man was there. I thanked him and asked him where the trail started, he said it was past the yellow Race sign just ahead. When I got to the race sign I saw no trail and he had already gotten into his car. I ran past the sign 30 yards and found a two track and down I went. That trail quickly turned up hill and I ran up a freaking mountain for 1.5 miles, eventually figuring out that something was wrong. I got to a Lodge back on Hwy 74 and this very unhappy sweaty old shirtless guy asked the nice reception ladies to see Google. I figured out where I was and had about 1/2 mile to get back to that Cop. I thanked the ladies as they disinfected the desk, smart phone, and lobby in general. That’s two Mountains I didn’t want to run up on that Leg. On my way down hill on busy 74 back to the Cop and yellow sign, I saw a runner headed down that two track. I turned him around. He said the Cop twice sent him to that two track. At the Yellow sign we looked down a kudzu covered bank and saw another yellow sign down in the ravine. We scrambled through the kudzu and found a game trail that led to a foot path and off we went. You are welcome random ungrateful runner who doesn’t know what I saved him from. I was whipped…over 3 miles of extra running mostly uphill. Ran the course to the sign that designates 1/2 mile to the XC and in this case the start of a switchback hill to the XC on top of it….you kidding me. That leg is designated Easy. Easy for SMR is relative. A few runners came in telling of their getting lost also and of a formerly lost old bald non-smiling guy who is on his way. Laser took the wrist baton and finished his leg 36 and beer and food were had by all. The hour plus delay meant that Van 1 had about 7 hour head start drinking on Van 2. We could tell from the texts. ????
We had a great time. It was very challenging but worth the training, traveling, and admission. I feel we accomplished something and shown very well.
EDIT….. Results in. Official time 30:26:50, placed 11th out of 40 teams with 12. Average pace 8:52. Crap happens but removing the hour we lost on those two late legs due to bad directions, we would place 6th out of 40 assuming those other teams didn’t have similar issues. Impressive work, every man left it out there.
Thanks for doing that with me guys. Sound off with your stories in comments below.
Photos are compiled here….. https://photos.app.goo.gl/DvbAyKgEZ63Fh6AU9
10 Comments on “SMR 2019 – Mad Mountain HIMs Edition”
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Ask Laser where your Poop Button is…… don’t touch it until you are ready though.
I’ll never forget feeling delirious and nauseated at 5:40am, just before my final leg, not expecting R2D2 for another 10-15 min, and having a little self pity in the warm van…wondering if I have time to pee and possibly puke. R2 flies into camp guns blazing looking for the exchange. I was a 2 miles down the road over-dressed as under-illuminated before I realized what happened. A quick road side pee and a much needed assist from Trail Mix at the helm of Van 2 set everything straight. The whole trip was a fun experience full of stories, but that segment stands out to me. Sometimes a little inspiration from a teammate and pre-dawn run in the dark is all you need to shake off a sleepless night, a pint of chocolate milk, and a bag of potato chips. ????????
This was a blast… the course was indeed beautiful and challenging. I can honestly say that I found myself impressed with each one of my team mates’ effort, multiple times through the race. Over and over each of you rose to the challenge and showed up big.
Van 1 had a lot of laughs, and very little cursing at one another. Highlights were Skipper calling out ‘Go Girl!’ to each female runner as we passed, and later to every runner regardless of gender; surprisingly that never got old. Sterling as a master of the staccato horn-honk. Classic response from Chicken Strip when R2D2 dropped the baton handoff, and Strip yells out ‘That’s on YOU!!’. Logistics for Van 1 were near-perfect, except when we kinda all assumed the R2D2 had been too ambitious with his pace estimate, thought we had enough time for a quick nap, only to hear him yelling out for Sterling (see Sterling’s account above). Filibuster was a no-BS stream of advice along the way, and stood up to each of his 8+ mile legs and gave them a swift kick in the teeth, attributing his outstanding pace to mere geometry, when we all know he was digging deep and pushing hard. R2D2 had us cracking up most of the time, between confusion around pronunciation of native American place names, to wanting to check us all for ticks…
Proud of you guys – it was almost enough fun to do again sometime… 🙂
Wow! What a great BB/AAR! Thanks for sharing Brutus!
I had an amazing time and it was a privilege to run those mountains with a true team of HIMs. The jokes and memories abounded. Beginning at the brewery in downtown/Uptown Shelby (who knew?!) and Tracey(ie?)’s bunkhouse and the horses we did not get to see. The unexpected hill climb at the end of my first leg and slew of curse words it elicited. What did R2D2 remember to pack? Those amazing couches at WCU. Seriously anyone who does this again should stop at WCU for lunch and a nap. Perfect spot not far from the EZ. Watching Trailmix run up the hill at the end of his 2nd leg like the scene from the Holy Grail of Lancelot charging the castle. Almost getting blown off the mountain while getting a few hours of sleep Fri night. Farm mentioning that Laser should be here soon at the finish and turning to see him charging through the woods. Learning a little too much about R2D2’s personal life. Congrats to Skipper’s 2.0 (can’t remember his F3 name) on passing his driving test, maybe he can be our driver next year…And of course those views and those climbs that you can’t find anywhere else. Thank you guys for a great time!
This was my 4th relay race of this kind (2016 & 2017 BRR and 2018 P200). I’d remembered @Deuce and some other MeCa men running this last year and saying it was tough, but didn’t remember much else. Also, due to my crazy schedule this year, I’d honestly hadn’t had much time to think about it. Perhaps that’s why I volunteered to run one of the OMG leg groupings… Anyway, the week of, I tried to search Strava for actual data since I know how these races tend to underestimate the terrain. The morning of, I had two reality checks. 1) @Deuce informs that @Sterling’s first “hard” leg was the equivalent to one of THE toughest legs at BRR. What’s scary about this is there are two levels of difficulty BEYOND this. 2) I find my legs on Strava and see the actual terrain…the first looks like the equivalent to the first mountain goat of BRR elevation wise with less mileage (i.e., steeper climb). The second looks like the equivalent to the second BRR mountain goat (with equal climb and more mileage). The third looks nice…but what’s that at mile 6?
Leg 7 (Hard)
After a fun ride there and brief shenanigans involving me somehow ending up being photographed on an outdoor toilet (show to know…or reference the pic), I started the first leg and encounter a woman about a mile and a half in that says she does not feel well, is having flu-like symptoms and feels lightheaded. She does not know what to do and asks when it stops going uphill. “Umm, the finish?” I walk with her until her van arrives and switches her out. Later on, we would see her many times along the course. She was clueless about what her team had gotten her into.
Leg 19 (OMG)
We’d been resting in the ‘long-term’ lot while waiting for the first van. Based on our calculations, Van 1 would be coming through around 9:45pm. I figured I’d wander up around 9:30pm. As I get there, someone sees my F3 shirt and asks where I’m from. As soon as I start speaking, an animated @Chicken Strip emerges and is like, “where were you guys?! @Skipper should be here any minute!” I calm him down and get ready. @Filibuster points me in the right direction as @Skipper is coming towards me to slap the bracelet on. The first mile seemed easy…so much so that I thought I might be going the wrong way…and then the up came…then UP + switchbacks. I fall prey to a few true mountain men on the way up…and even more on the way down. What I thought would be an easy downhill run was ‘trail’ running through tall grass with large, hidden rocks that made running very difficult. I almost twist my ankle several times on the way down but keep moving. The closer I get to the XC, the more friendly the terrain becomes. By the time I hit pavement, I am running 5:50 pace (the .7 mile). I slap the bracelet on @Scooter…done!
Leg 31 (Moderate/Challenging)
I almost forgot my bib here after meticulously making sure I had everything else (thanks @Laser). A good bit of this was nice, gentle downhill running which felt like a well-earned reward after being punished by the previous two legs. It would’ve been an amazing run to do under normal circumstances. But my legs were smoked…but, just like at any of these other races, we always seem to be able to dig deep and find reserves we didn’t know we had. As I approached mile 6, I see the uphill that was shown on Strava but think that this might be my last one of this race and keep moving. The last .5 mile turns into a downhill sprint to the finish. I get rid of the bracelet…DONE.
SMR was incredible. Challenging for everyone. No easy legs, regardless of what they called them…BEAUTIFUL terrain… The post finish celebration was great! I enjoyed the 2nd F with my SMR brothers and learned a lot of things about the men in Van 2 (some good and some…strange). One thing that I love about these races is seeing everyone rise to and conquer the challenges of the course. I always leave these things with a greater respect for the men that I ran with. I would definitely do this one again and highly recommend to men that have never done something like this (@2Step).
For future reference on Leg 11….it was 4.3 Easy but harder than any of our training runs. The course was really beautiful and I was excited and so ended up running faster than I planned. Leg 23 was rated OMG which is the first words out of your mouth when finishing it. I haven’t had anxiety before a run since I had a tattoo time bet before one marathon over 20 years ago. I was a bit anxious before this one….. 5.8 miles virtually up hill nearly 2000 feet. Gordo gave me the bracelet about 12:30 am and I started. Reports were that it was much colder and windier at the top and I worried that I had proper clothes on. The first third is a gently grade about what we have around The Valley AO like Fairlea Dr., the second third is pretty steep like the steep parts of Senator Royal, and the last third was like Hill of Shadows for 2 miles. Of course this also happened in the pitch dark and completely alone. I never saw a soul. I just resigned myself to plugging away for a hour. I did have a clear night sky with billions of stars and a loud rushing river along the road to enjoy….couldn’t see it but it was near. My rule is no walking up hills, and since there was no down hill, I had a goal to not walk period. I got pretty slow at the end but accomplished it. My team parked halfway up and gave me a water break. Thanks much for that. Sure felt like I accomplished something.
Back Blast of The Week
Ahoy! Great time for my virgin-relay. #FNG Not hard to dig deep when you see your F3 brothers all killing it. #inspiration I had extra motivation since I was the last runner in Van#1 and I had all 11 brothers waiting on me at each exchange zone. #determined2finishstrong
The time riding in the van was entertaining with two guys with no filters (@Sterling, @R2D2), two guys who laugh at everything (@TrailMix, @ChickenStrip), and our wise-cracking Van1 running sensei @Filibuster. I highly recommend a relay race to anyone in F3. #firstofmany
It was a great team to be part of. Lots of motivation and encouragement provided by the teammates. I do have to thank Brutus for taking the relay pass just as I hit 8.5 miles of my “Wicked Fun” leg. After my 1 mile uphil hike up the mountain, over and under logs, through brush, and mud… I was okay with skipping the last hill!
Hope to be able to do another in the future and definitely echo Skipper… recommend you to try it if you have not done one!