The plan was to do Lookout Mountain 50M in December and follow it with the Land Between the Lakes 50M in March. Since my closest trail is  a 90 minute drive each way to LBL, doing mountain trail races as training runs seemed like a good idea. I was not a Marathon Maniac and had never done more than one marathon or 60K in the Fall and one in the Spring. I did a couple of 22 milers (2 loops) and a couple of 33 mile (3 loops) training runs at LBL in August and early September.

9/22 - GA Jewel 35M - 7:50:36

Ran it with Greyrunner and we finished in the mid pack feeling strong. We took it easy going out and raced coming back. Some nice climbs and the rock garden was interesting. Recovered in a week and got a week of training before tapering for a week.

10/13 - Cumberland Trail 50K - 7:28:00

Another mid pack finish. Climbing cross mountain was intense, by far the hardest climbs I've done. I could not figure out how do the climbs easy, raced it and did not recover until it was time to taper.

11/18 - Flying Monkey Marathon (road but 3600+/3600-) 4:19:17.

I love this run in Nashville's Percy Warner Park. Knew pretty quickly this was not going to be the day to drop last years 4:04 PR to sub 4. I trained specifically for this run last year. Even running it easy, I did not recover until it was time to taper.

12/15 - Lookout Mountain 50M - 13:19:51

It was ugly but I got my first 50M under the 14 hour cut off, well and truly in the back of the pack. Thanks to Greyrunner who came to run me in after dark. I was having to hold my head up with one hand for the last few miles....did I mention it was ugly. Beautiful, tough course. This finished off my NB MT110's that I'd also worn at the Jewel and Cumberland. The out sole on the heel separated from the mid sole. RW replaced them as defective.

1/26 - Mountain Mist 50K - 7:36:21

The sharp and pointy rocks and mud were intense. I thought I'd seen a rock garden at the GA Jewel but nothing prepared me for this. Greyrunner had a great day and finished in 6:00 and a few seconds. I wanted to do it easy as a training run but needed a better rock plate than my NB MT1010's. I ordered Montrail MM's the next day. I did recover more quickly.

2/16 - Black Warrior 50K - 7:10:20

It was a very, very muddy run. Ran it easy as a training run and recovered quickly. Wore the MMM's to test them out but there weren't any rocks, just mud.

3/09 - Land Between the Lakes 50M - 11:16:25

It was a beautiful day at LBL, great conditions with no mud. I made the cut off at the end of the 3rd loop with about 15 minutes to spare and headed out on the forth loop determined to finish but not caring if I beat the soft eleven hour cut off or not. (They always keep the clock going for everyone who makes the 3rd loop cut off to finish.) There were finishers 30 minutes behind me. Wore the MMM's and my feet did feel much better the next day than after Lookout.

After I recover, I'll concentrate on speed work for 5K season. Then get a little mountain trail time at Twisted Ankle marathon (5/18) before the Chattanooga Stage Race on 6/14 , 15 & 16.

Couch,

Thanks but I can't even contemplate doing a 100M. You have my respect. Good Luck! There was a small part of me thinking this might build to doing a 100K or someday a 100M but Lookout Mountain 50M convinced me that's as far as this 56 y/o can go.

It's only 60 miles and I've got three days to do it. I think I can hold the pace, if I recover well. Or maybe, it's just that I've only run the trails of  Day 2 and don't know how hard the trails are on Raccoon Mtn and Signal Mtn.

My plan is to stay just ahead of the cut offs each day. Enjoy the beauty of the trails and company of the other runners while we all try to recover. I think it will be fun.

Ben