Natchez Trace Trail 50 Mile Race
Coming off of my 40 miler at Bigfoot, I wanted to get in one more race of the year. A long day drive away down in Tennessee, we found Natchez Trace Trail 50 Miler, not a lot of info online about the course, but ended up being a great run through the rolling terrain of western TN.
Made for a good run, and the fall colors were icing on the cake. A great day and I put down a 11:10 race so did very well!
Here's a short cut to ultrasignup for race details.
Here's the link the my Flickr Album - Natchez Trace
Here is the race recap I wrote up immediately after the run:
Last weekend (11/3) I ran the Natchez Trace Trail 50 Mile trail race, put on by Hardwin Adventures out of Nashville, TN area.
Going into this, there was not a lot of information, you had to sign up onto the waitlist through ultrasignup where your entry would be reviewed before you were accepted. The course was vaguely described (distance/elevation), but no other detail was given until a week prior (essentially after they marked the course). The location, Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail is a public park space, so there is some level of restriction to use like this, but that also meant I was able to scrounge up a trail map of sorts to get an idea of what it may look like. It was told to be a marathon distance one way, and a 50 mile by going out and back (with a loop as needed to hit the proper mileage). It was also told there would be around 10k of elevation for the 50.
We drove down Thursday and got to our air bnb, and on Friday, we drove to the start/finish line, turnaround point, and each aid station location just to gauge terrain and scout locations as my wife/crew chief was there to keep me on track. Got to get on the trail and hike a few miles total and at least see what I may be dealing with (and become vaguely familiar with the start/finish in daylight). Picked up packets Friday night at the local running store, and ate my big meal (Cheesecake Factory pasta!)
Race day was a typical thing, the race had around 30 entrants in the 50 miler and I think 40 in the marathon (they started at the opposite end/turn around and finished at the start/finish). Took off, there were a fair amount of flags on the course, and a fair amount of park markings (posts/dots on trees), but that didn’t prevent us all from still getting turned around once or twice, especially in the pre-dawn hours, but nothing major, in a group of 3 or 4 you have more eyes looking for marks (plus, who trail runs and doesn’t want a little adventure ). The aid stations were a good 4-7 miles apart, a pretty good distance to remain supported but not overwhelmed with stops, and each aid station was a family/group, and true to trail running experiences everyone was great and nice and friendly and just great interaction and hopefully great representatives of the trail running community.
With the unknown terrain and supposed elevation, my ambitious goal was 12 hours (besides just finishing). Elevation on my watch ended up closer to 5.5k which spread across 50 miles, made a pretty runnable course (both good and bad). I faded at the end as could be expected for my first 50, but still hammered when I could and got through in 11:10, so I’m super happy with my result.
The terrain, some leaves were down but a lot in the trees still, so 95% of the race was under tree cover, quite perfect for a fall run. Temps in the open were mid 60’s, so under the trees probably in the mid 50’s. I kept my long pants on for the first few hours. Soft earth trails, plenty of roots/rocks/leaves, but definitely felt similar to many trails I got to run in Illinois, so very similar in that respect.
If you’re looking at races in TN and find them by Hardwin, I definitely recommend. RD is a cool guy, the area is definitely worth the trip, and there are plenty of great restaurants to get your grub on before and after the run! (southern biscuits & gravy FTW!!)
As I said, the volunteers/runners and everyone we met were great and just a continuation of the trail running family that we’re meeting globally.
Wifey was out there to crew me, but she also snapped pics of others as she was there, so in that flickr album are a variety of pics to get a feel for the day.
*******
Follow up after a while. I ran in my racing light shoes (Inov-8 TrailTalon 250), and in the final miles my feet bottoms were getting sore, and in the weeks after did develop a slight pain in my left shin/top of foot and had to tie my shoes differently for a while to reduce pressure. Besides just being a new distance, I feel the lightweight shoes are best used for 50K or less distances and/or softer terrain. For the longer distances, a little more padding isn't a bad thing and I have the variety of shoes available.
Made for a good run, and the fall colors were icing on the cake. A great day and I put down a 11:10 race so did very well!
Here's a short cut to ultrasignup for race details.
Here's the link the my Flickr Album - Natchez Trace
Here is the race recap I wrote up immediately after the run:
Last weekend (11/3) I ran the Natchez Trace Trail 50 Mile trail race, put on by Hardwin Adventures out of Nashville, TN area.
Going into this, there was not a lot of information, you had to sign up onto the waitlist through ultrasignup where your entry would be reviewed before you were accepted. The course was vaguely described (distance/elevation), but no other detail was given until a week prior (essentially after they marked the course). The location, Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail is a public park space, so there is some level of restriction to use like this, but that also meant I was able to scrounge up a trail map of sorts to get an idea of what it may look like. It was told to be a marathon distance one way, and a 50 mile by going out and back (with a loop as needed to hit the proper mileage). It was also told there would be around 10k of elevation for the 50.
We drove down Thursday and got to our air bnb, and on Friday, we drove to the start/finish line, turnaround point, and each aid station location just to gauge terrain and scout locations as my wife/crew chief was there to keep me on track. Got to get on the trail and hike a few miles total and at least see what I may be dealing with (and become vaguely familiar with the start/finish in daylight). Picked up packets Friday night at the local running store, and ate my big meal (Cheesecake Factory pasta!)
Race day was a typical thing, the race had around 30 entrants in the 50 miler and I think 40 in the marathon (they started at the opposite end/turn around and finished at the start/finish). Took off, there were a fair amount of flags on the course, and a fair amount of park markings (posts/dots on trees), but that didn’t prevent us all from still getting turned around once or twice, especially in the pre-dawn hours, but nothing major, in a group of 3 or 4 you have more eyes looking for marks (plus, who trail runs and doesn’t want a little adventure ). The aid stations were a good 4-7 miles apart, a pretty good distance to remain supported but not overwhelmed with stops, and each aid station was a family/group, and true to trail running experiences everyone was great and nice and friendly and just great interaction and hopefully great representatives of the trail running community.
With the unknown terrain and supposed elevation, my ambitious goal was 12 hours (besides just finishing). Elevation on my watch ended up closer to 5.5k which spread across 50 miles, made a pretty runnable course (both good and bad). I faded at the end as could be expected for my first 50, but still hammered when I could and got through in 11:10, so I’m super happy with my result.
The terrain, some leaves were down but a lot in the trees still, so 95% of the race was under tree cover, quite perfect for a fall run. Temps in the open were mid 60’s, so under the trees probably in the mid 50’s. I kept my long pants on for the first few hours. Soft earth trails, plenty of roots/rocks/leaves, but definitely felt similar to many trails I got to run in Illinois, so very similar in that respect.
If you’re looking at races in TN and find them by Hardwin, I definitely recommend. RD is a cool guy, the area is definitely worth the trip, and there are plenty of great restaurants to get your grub on before and after the run! (southern biscuits & gravy FTW!!)
As I said, the volunteers/runners and everyone we met were great and just a continuation of the trail running family that we’re meeting globally.
Wifey was out there to crew me, but she also snapped pics of others as she was there, so in that flickr album are a variety of pics to get a feel for the day.
*******
Follow up after a while. I ran in my racing light shoes (Inov-8 TrailTalon 250), and in the final miles my feet bottoms were getting sore, and in the weeks after did develop a slight pain in my left shin/top of foot and had to tie my shoes differently for a while to reduce pressure. Besides just being a new distance, I feel the lightweight shoes are best used for 50K or less distances and/or softer terrain. For the longer distances, a little more padding isn't a bad thing and I have the variety of shoes available.
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