Redemption
at the Georgia Death Race
“Prepare to die!”
“The hardest race East of the Rockies, with
68’ish’ (74 actually!) miles. and 40,000 feet of elevation change.”
The Georgia Death Race (GDR), is
a point-to-point trail race starting at Vogel Park and sending its adventurous
participants on an epic journey through the scenic woods in North Georgia. Most
of us seem to come to participate innocently and naively, probably just still
partially asleep since we had to take a shuttle to the start at 2 am to arrive
at 4am to get checked in! We check in at the starting line in Vogel Park to let
them know we didn’t chicken out since picking up our bibs the night before and
to receive the rusty railroad spike we are required to carry at all times
during the race. This rusty, dirty spike is returned at the finish when you
toss it into a coffin waiting to be fed from successful finishers, In exchange,
survivors receive a clean, engraved railroad spike with the words “The Georgia
Death Race” on it. Those who DNF (as I learned in 2016), are told to keep their
rusty, dirty spike as a reminder of what happened that day on the trails that
led to their death at the GDR!
My husband and I had arrived in
2016 thinking we had prepared and trained decently for this monster event we
were about to dive into. We live in South Georgia (which as far as hills and
elevation, is the opposite of Atlanta and North Georgia…flat!!). If you think
Atlanta is hot and humid (which it is), we are 200 miles further south than
that, so we are usually 10 degrees hotter and that much more humid!! We are
“below the gnat line” here…which I thought was a funny joke until I saw what
that meant…gnats, millions of them, literally, for about 8 months of the year!!
So, being from South Georgia compared to folks from Atlanta and North Georgia,
we share the fact that we are Georgia residents, that Coke is the name of most
sodas, that sweet tea is the only real tea to drink…you get the picture! All of
that to tell you, we had some trail running experiences in the mountains around
Atlanta and Chattanooga, but not the needed climbing experience for this
adventure called the GDR!!
The first 28 miles of this course
has the most intense amount of climbing, over and over again…why else would it
be known as the “Dragon’s Spine”?!? There is even a steep descent heading into
mile 21, for about 1.5 miles (thinking maybe it should be called the Dragon’s
Lair!), where thank God at the end is an awesome aid station to refuel and
regain some mental strength, because now that you have enjoyed so many
delicious treats and smiles, you have to climb back up that stinkin’ sucky 1.5
miles!! By this point in 2016, I was fried!! I made it out of that sucky climb
(Dragon’s Lair) and was mad as I headed to the next aid station at mile 28!!
I had already decided I was done
with this whole dumb thing in 2016. Literally, I was saying in my head, “I have
nothing to prove to anyone!” “Getting 28 miles out here is like going 40 on the
road!” “I am done!” “I don’t need this!” Truthfully, I was dealing with a crazy
calf cramping issue the whole time and wasn’t able to conquer this the way I
wanted to. So, I was mad and having some trail tantrums in my head. So, I DNF’d
at mile 28 and had visions of being showered and waiting at the finish line for
my husband while sipping on a cold Diet Coke! I did just that and was excited
to see my amazing husband as he finished so well and with incredible strength.
It really blew me away and I realized even more what an incredible athlete he
is. Man, was I proud of him!! He suffered through being nauseous and throwing
up since mile 22 (Dragon’s Lair!), not being able to hold anything down except
ginger ale and water for over 40 miles, and still finished…well!!! Driving home
the next day we talked more and said we were good not coming back to this crazy
tough race! I was slightly happy about that, but slightly having a hard time
working through my DNF and what I needed to learn to avoid it happening again!
I thought we had seen the last of the Georgia Death Race for us.
Well, a few weeks had passed, and
a friend of my husband from Indiana mentioned how he wanted to do the GDR and
would he do it with him? My husband playfully mentioned it like a little kid
setting up a time to get together with his friend, and said how he wanted to go
back to the GDR with him!! WTH!?!? I was slightly offended to be honest!! We
had said this race was done for us!! Now, because he wants you to go, you want
to go back?! UGH!! So now do I have to do it too!?! How can I not go do it?? I
don’t want to be a lame weenie! Thankfully, there was time to have some more
trail tantrums privately in my head before the registration opened (which I
absolutely did!!). My husband and I also agreed that our training for 2017
would be greatly improved over our 2016 miles…with more race specific training
to avoid such a spanking happening again!! Many miles and hours were spent on
the stair climber, the treadmill with 9-12% incline, and several weekends spent
in the mountains of Atlanta, North Georgia and Chattanooga! Oh, and with our
backpacks on (even at the Y while on the stair climber and treadmill which
elicited many funny glares), loaded with fluids and mandatory gear to simulate
what we would have to carry while roaming the GDR course! I am sure we are
referred to as some “special folks” by the local Y crowd!! That’s ok, it was
going to be worth it to bring back a finisher spike (even if I couldn’t wear
that at the Y after to explain all of the funny looking training hours!).
When we were waiting
to start and were looking around at the crowd of almost 300 other runners, my
husband said, “I always look around and feel like, ‘What are we doing here with
these stud athletes?!’” I nervously knew exactly what he meant and was trying
to not notice how much different it seems we look like! I enjoy avoiding noticing
that and often prefer to think like Unikitty from the Lego movie, where
everything is happy thoughts. We just needed to start so we could get going and
stop noticing all of that!
Thankfully we soon got going
after saying a prayer together, then we fist pumped, kissed and said “love you,
see you at the end, have a great run!” The 2017 GDR had started. As my husband
had said many times, get to mile 28 and don’t stop, just keep going!!! So, that
was my main thought for the next 24 hours we would be allowed to be out here to
earn that engraved finisher spike!
The climbs were tough, but I was
feeling strong and good as the miles went by. I had no cramping calf issues
since last year thankfully!! What a difference that makes!! I really wanted to
get the monkey off my back and get past that mile 28 where I quit last year. My
husband and I saw each other as I was going down into the dragon’s lair at mile
21 ish and he was climbing out, several miles ahead of me…we both smiled at
each other, cheered each other on, gave a big kiss and shouted, “see you at the
end”!
That was an awesome boost!! We
had some local runner friends at the aid station, which was another fun boost
to help us on our way (with some Oatmeal Crème Pies to provide yummy
nutrition!).
I came into mile 28
and was really feeling strong and enjoying the day…what a victory mentally this
was for me! There were some more trail running friends at this aid station too,
which made it very fun to get through it. I left out of there with a renewed
“let’s do this!” for the unfinished business I had on the rest of the course.
As the course
continued on and I got to each aid station, I remember feeling stronger
mentally and this was going to happen! I came into the mile 48 aid station, saw
another trail friend who reminded me “you only have a marathon left to go!” I
was so pumped by that, I yelled “I got this bastard!” “I am going to finish
this mofo!!” Even with my fist in the air to show my triumph! Then I saw some
families and said, “Oh sorry, didn’t mean to swear in front of the kids!” Then
I headed out with the determination of “let’s get this done!”
Thankfully there were several
miles of jeep roads my husband had told me about that is a nice break from all
of the trail climbs and descents where it feels like you can make some time on.
Of course by this time, your legs are pretty trashed, but it feels like you are
cruising along like a race car (ok, maybe like an old car chugging up a hill
honestly, but cruising somewhat!). It was nice to say the least.
Coming into the next aid station
at about mile 56, daylight was fading and I could see Christmas lights up as
decorations...how fun is that?!? Then I
hear one of the volunteers shout, “We have been waiting all day for you!” That
made me smile so big! I shouted back, “Well, I have been running out all day
just to see you!” I heard him laugh back which was pretty awesome right there.
They got me all set and even packed a little baggie with some peanut butter
sandwiches I requested and sent me on my way with such great enthusiasm and
“only 18 miles to go!” “Go get this!” It seemed so little left to go!! How
crazy is that!?! But it really did seem like such a short distance left. In my
head I was thinking of the math… if I can stay on pace to be between 3-4 miles
an hour, that is only 5-6 hours left! Piece of cake!! I felt so good and
strong, it really seemed like just a little trip out in the woods for a fun
jaunt! Ultras!!
The next station was supposed to
be 9 miles away. Well, let’s just say when there were 2 guys on the road with
water jugs after 9 miles saying, “You need water? Full aid in another mile and
a half”, I was not very friendly!! WTH was my thought!! I apologized for being
cranky and thanked them for being out there in the cold and dark weather
waiting for us to fill our water bottles. Then I headed to the freakin aid
station a mile and a half away!! When I got there, it was really beautiful.
Maybe because I was really hungry now and maybe because it was the last full
aid station, but really, it was decorated like Christmas everywhere and really
beautiful!! I thought it was 7 miles to the finish from this station. So when
they said, “9 miles to the finish”. I didn’t hold my thoughts in and lost my
filter unfortunately. “What?!? I thought it was supposed to be 7 miles, not 9!”
Sigh! They made me a delicious avocado on burrito shell sandwich and I headed
out to get this damn GDR done!! I kept thinking, 9 miles is closer to maybe 3
hours left instead of maybe 2 hours if it had been only 7 miles left!! DAMN!!
Just get this done!! I knew I was going to finish in less than 24 hours
comfortably…that, is an awesome relief!!
As I got closer to the end, my
legs were tired, but still strong. I felt great and ecstatic that I was going
to have this thing done!! I could check it off of my list and come back to
volunteer! Yes!! I came to the final descent and put on some green flashing
lights so my husband could see them hopefully as I came down the final 100
yards! I could hear cheers and “good job runners!” as our headlamps were
visible to the finish line!! I wanted to cry because I wanted to be there so
badly!! I fell over some final trees that needed to be climbed over and almost
slid down a couple of feet that were so steep and could hear my husband’s voice
cheering!! When I went into the creek for the final few feet to cross through
to get to the finish line, I fell over into the water and luckily caught myself
before the full Nestea Plunge happened!! Ha! I got up and got to that finish
line!! Sean, the Run Bum high fived me and said, “great job Kelli!!” I got my
old, rusty spike out of my backpack and went to throw that sucker into the
coffin and by mistake hit Sean in the foot with it!! Oopps!! Man, that made me
laugh! I got it in the coffin and got my finisher engraved spike to proudly
take home with me. Done!! The GDR, done!!! My husband had finished well and was
waiting for me…how awesome is that, too by the way?!?!
We went to the car and sat in the
warmth to wait for another friend who was not far behind and had flown in from
Indiana to do this crazy event. He had texted me from when he was only 2 miles
out so we were able to go to the finish and see him come in and earn his spike
too!! That was a huge celebration!! In an event with a 65% ish finisher rate,
everyone in our car had finished. What a great day for all of us. We felt
really good considering what we all just experienced!! We got something to eat
and headed to the car to get to our hotel rooms to shower and fall into bed for
a couple of hours of sleep before checking out. It was now 5:30 am, we had left
the hotel at 1:45 am the day before, over 27 hours ago!! What a full day it was
at the Georgia Death Race!! So glad we returned and redemption was found in
2017!
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