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| Foster Falls |
I picked this race for the name. So I didn’t do much research before signing up. I got an alarming email a few days before the race warning me about how easy it is to get lost, how the trail involved lots of scrambling, and a full page of emergency phone numbers. But in the end I was my own undoing rather than the trail itself. I don’t know what was wrong but I felt bad within the first 6 kms and it just got worse from there. It was only at the half way turnaround that I came good.
The marathon was within the Foster Falls Small Wild Area, I’ve also seen it called South Cumberland State Park, near Chattanooga and was an out and back primarily on the Fiery Gizzard Trail. The origin of the name is unclear but the trail is highly rated. There were less than 50 runners. We didn’t do the whole trail, diverting onto the Dog Bowl Trail, correction Dog Hole, and the route was extremely scenic at least half of the time with a mix of plateau running and descents to the bottom. We clambered down into gorges, clambered up out of gorges, passed behind or through waterfalls, had numerous bridges, saw lots more waterfalls and had some spectacular gorge views with vast vertical cliffs. In between were miles of undulating forest running (or unfortunately walking in my case) which were a touch monotonous.
There were only 2 aid stations. It was an odd set up because we passed the first aid station once at 7 miles then passed it again a mile later after an out and back, then had the half way aid station, and then the first one twice again on the return. The out and back was to an amazing gorge overlook and it would have been nicer to have the aid station there so we would have an excuse to stop properly.
So I was feeling awful during the first half. I tried to think positive and tell myself the feelings would pass but I seemed hardly able to run. I banged my knee on a rock and cut my wrist on briars and I once half tripped, jolting my bad hamstring so it ached for a while. At one point I started hyperventilating and in general I had no energy whatsoever. I walked a fair bit. I had no stomach issues and it was neither cold nor hot. I was not in any physical pain. I put it down to the bad diet I’ve had the past month, and maybe dehydration.
I navigated the first gorge ok, the one we had specifically been warned about, and had a horrible climb up onto the ridge on big uneven steps. Meanwhile half marathoners were passing in the opposite direction with apparent ease. Then we had the unusual experience of going behind a waterfall that was in a rock cave, getting a little wet while doing so. I was relieved to get to the first aid station and tried to cram in some food. I didn’t even look at the view at the gorge overlook on this first visit. From here on there were more waterfalls, more tricky ups and downs and a long descent to a creek.
I didn’t realise at the time but when I crossed the creek I turned the wrong way; I didn’t even notice there was a junction. There were a few daytrippers around and in hindsight I think there was a little boy lying down on the bridge and I was concerned about tripping over him. Most of the route was either flagged or we followed the trail blazes, and I also had the route downloaded on my phone. It was not too hard to follow and I would say it was adequately marked. However I knew that there was a part where the route I’d downloaded was inaccurate because the course had changed but the download had not been amended, and I remembered that I had to check I didn’t go the wrong way. When I finally looked at my phone I saw that I had already gone the wrong way; this didn’t matter too much because it only meant I was going on the wrong side of a loop, doing extra distance of course, but I was going to end up in the right place. The problem was that the aid station was somewhere inside that loop and I didn’t want to miss it.
By absolute chance I found myself running towards another woman whom I thought was ahead of me so I asked her where the aid station was, assuming she had recently left it, and she said she was on her way to it. I followed her, backtracking half a mile, and got back on course. I’d run more than an extra mile, what with going the wrong way around the loop also.
At the aid station I fussed around asking if there were any runners behind me (I hadn’t seen anyone for ages) and if there was a course cutoff. The marshal was absolutely wonderful, saying there were 25 people behind me (an exaggeration) and that I had no reason to worry about cutoffs as I was doing great. He was most concerned about my bleeding wrist (from the briars) which didn’t bother me at all.
From this point on I felt so much better. I began to enjoy the trail and look forward to the various sections. Even the bland forest running was more exciting. I stopped to take a few photos. I was able to run most of the time except in the scrambling sections. When I got back to the bridge where I’d gone wrong I could easily see my mistake. I didn’t even notice the steep section which I had hated on the way out.
I stopped at the gorge overlook to admire the view and chatted with the woman at the nearby aid station. We decided that the forecast rain might hold off. I even passed a couple of runners.
However it wasn’t long until the rain started. At first it was just a few minutes of sprinkles which would clear and then start again. But before 20 miles the rain became heavier and I put on my jacket. The forest felt nicer in the rain which seemed to bring out the autumn colours, but the rocks in the tricky gorges were much more slippery.
In the last miles there was one more surprise, a difficult detour from the outward route. I saw my sub 7 hour finish evaporate. When calculating my possible finish time earlier on I had been horrified at how long this marathon - only a marathon - was going to take me. We had to clamber down into another gorge and move along beneath a huge vertical cliff which is popular with climbers. I didn’t expect to see any climbers because of the rain but I passed a few groups. It was really impressive but slow going on rough rocks. I was close behind a guy and we chatted as we hiked, noticing some distant thunder. Just when it seemed we would be down there forever we heard the sound of a rushing river and came to a huge suspension bridge. To our left was a massive waterfall, Foster Falls, extremely noisy and definitely worth a serious visit on another occasion.
From here we climbed up another set of rocky steps and I zipped on ahead of my companion. The finish line was close and there were a couple of very enthusiastic marshals there bellowing out my arrival. I realised later that nobody had crossed the finish line in this bleak wet place for the previous 20 minutes. I received in quick succession a souvenir mason jar, a quesadilla and an apology that the quesadilla was cold because I had taken so long. Well, not the because.
The rain was heavier by the time I drove back to my hotel and was later torrential accompanied by lots of loud thunder. Runners were still out in these conditions so I had been lucky. I ate a lot of chocolate that evening and little else because I couldn't go outside in that rain and anyway there was nowhere worth going in this uninspiring place. My 7:29 finish was good enough for 5th place overall out of 14 women, a surprise to me.
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