Kris Erskine's Staging Area

This is the second time I’ve run this course. I planned to run the 50k this year, and registered as soon as 2024 registration opened. But then my dad happened to pick this weekend for his wedding. So I thought, yeah, okay, the race is at 8am, the wedding is at 4pm, I can do this. And I did, but barely. It is actually about a 33k run, about 21 miles+. About 13 miles in I broke my ankle. I heard the loud snap and fell to the ground, and I sat on the ground and immediately felt for protruding bones. And then I thought, crapola!, I have to get to my dad’s wedding, and it’s already a tight window. The runner behind me saw me fall and heard the ankle and stopped and helped me up. I assured her I was okay and she was on her way. I thought I was okay. I started hobbling along and managed to run the next nine miles, but not before plowing through a hive of bees. It must have been a comedic scene if anyone was watching me run with a broken ankle while swatting away the bees.

Anyway, I made the wedding, didn’t tell me dad I’d busted my ankle, and my wife assured me I wouldn’t be able to walk on it if it was broken. So I limped up to the front and stood there as best man, wishing I could just sit back down with my family, lol. Luckily, the wedding wasn’t a weekend later. We had the rehearsal dinner at White Duck Taco in the River Arts District in Asheville, an areas that was almost wiped off the map a week later, when Hurricane Helene hit.

I went to the doctor two days later and he confirmed the ankle was broken, and the ortho confirmed it also had partially ruptured ligaments. Six weeks later the doc told me I could start running again, but only .25 miles a day for a few days. Hahaaa… right!

Anyway!!! Back to the race! The race was great. I don’t particularly care for the first / last 2 miles through a meadow and an old logging road, but the rest of the course is nice. The 50k is supposed to have some killer views. The 30k does not have these views. It is a pretty course, but the pics you see of sweeping views of the mountains below are all from the 50k.

Post-race food is great, and they have stuff for vegetarians, which I am. They have beer, plenty of NA drinks, and it’s just a pretty place to have a race. I was coming from Asheville, where my dad lives, and so I didn’t stay at the campground, but if you did stay at the campground you’d be just steps from the start / finish line.

Not a bucket list race, but if you are local’ish, is it absolutely worth a weekend away.

This was the first year of this race and it was relatively small. I think about 50 did the 30k and maybe not quite that many did the 50k. It is in a beautiful setting! Parking is easy (on an old paved airstrip), check-in was fast, and everything about the start of the race was great. The little old country store where you check in was about as charming as they come.

The aid stations were placed perfectly, there were enough of them, the volunteers were super helpful, and the menu of food was great. I don’t know if there were toilets on the course; I didn’t look for them and didn’t notice them. I might have seen one, but there could have been more.

The course itself was harder than it appeared. The first mile was flat and along an old dirt road through a field. After that you had like 2 miles of steep uphill. Then down, and some up and down, and then maybe three or so miles along an old dirt road that was mostly up. But there were flat’ish sections that I ended up walking. Not sure why? Maybe because the hills I’d already run had beat me down. I was walking some of these and felt like I really should be running. The 30k is really a runnable race, with a few exceptions. But the fastest time was just over half of my time, so that gives you an idea how quickly the elite runners will tackle this.

The post-race food was good, and they had veggie burgers. Yay! They didn’t have any buns or tomato or lettuce, onions, or the things that make a burger, so I just squirted a bunch of mustard on my plate and dipped the burger in mustard. Not great, but at least it was some protein. They had a huge apple pie, chips, beer, soda, water, and Powerade, all for the post-race meal.

Nicely done! I’d recommend this one. I drove an hour to get there. It might be worth a two hour drive, but not much more than that. Great regional race, but not a bucket list race. Yet. But this was it’s first year, it will grow and get better, I think. Clearly the RD for this race has run these races and knows what it takes to run a good race.

So I hand-picked this race specifically because it was flat, not paved, and not technical. I am not sure if you could pick a better race for your first 50k race. There is a lot to like about this race and not much to dislike. I would absolutely recommend this for first-timers or veterans.

There was free camping. I drove from Chattanooga and I got up at 2am to drive down there so I could secure a parking spot. Well, I needn’t have bothered. It rained much of that day, I think, and much of the evening. The camp ground was a big puddle, but there were enough spots to pull in and camp. I have converted a Honda Element into a camper so I was able to stay dry, but the poor bloke next to me must have gotten soaked, and, he forgot his tent poles, to boot. He strung something up though, in the dark, and was gone when I got back to my Element after the race. He and I were the only people in the entire group camping area (where racers were camping).

The camp area was only about a two minute walk from the start/finish line, and from the bathrooms / showers. There were probably… 50 or 60 runners? Maybe half of them doing the 25k and the rest doing the 50k.

I fell in with a few veterans in the first 10 miles or so and those miles flew by pretty quickly. By the time I got to mile 15 my time was still great but my legs were getting tight. I’d stop at the aid station, stretch a bit, refuel, and be on my way. There were two aid stations. One was at the start / finish line, and then another at the intersection of the Y shaped course. The tops of each side of the Y were lollipop shaped, and it was really quite a pretty course. Flat as you’d expect in FL. I think there was a single hill, actually, and that was where an 18-inch drainage pipe had been laid under the road, so the hill was about 26 or 30 inches. In 32 miles I had only about 374 ft of elevation change.

The first half of the race I completed in about 2:30. 15.5 miles. The second half took me almost 4:30. MUCH slower. Guess I’ve got some training to do!

The aid station in the Y intersection, you passed it six times. They had a lot of yummy snacks, plus bacon and maybe a bacon burrito? I am vegetarian… please, for goodness sakes, this is 2023, there are enough vegetarians around that you’d think RDs would at least have something on hand. I’m not that bothered by not having fake bacon, it is more irritating though that RDs don’t care to provide a yummy, hot, alternative. Otherwise, the aid station was really well stocked and the volunteers were awesome, as they usually are. I’m always so grateful for these folks, and the vols at this race were so helpful.

At the finish they had pulled pork sandwiches. Although if you are a veg like me, you can eat potato salad. And if you are totally plant-based, you can eat a granola bar. 🙂

I loved this race. If I didn’t live nearly 7 hours away I’d do it again. Highly recommend! I also highly recommend the RD to offer some vegetarian alternative for the post-race meal. 🙂

I’ve done this race maybe six times. It’s a great race, a beautiful course, and in a nice park. Parking is easy, and this running community is pretty friendly. It’s always short of an actual 13.1 miles so if you are a purist, this ain’t your race. If you are looking to come out, run some hills, see a pretty place, and enjoy yourself, this is a good race to do that.

Helen, GA can be a little obnoxious this time of year. If you don’t like lots of tourists then stay at the lodge. If you like tourists and Christmas lights, then stay in downtown Helen. It’s about a 10’ish minute drive to the start/finish.

Worth a few hours drive for this race, and stay for the weekend.

The scenery was nice in the few moments the clouds cleared. But it mostly rained during this run. I’d do it again, I think, but I’d probably want to do some stair climbing. I think I counted the stairs and there were over 500 actual stair steps, in one go. And that’s not counting other small stairs or hills. Not an easy course. But it is a pretty course and I did enjoy this run.

I drove in for this race so I don’t know how accommodations were locally. I think they had bunks for runners for the weekend, but no idea how that went. They did have bathrooms near the start line, and the post-race food was great. Lots to drink, lots to eat.

I would do this race again. It’s worth a few hours drive to get to it, but maybe not more than that unless you must have a race that weekend.

I think maybe 12,000 to 15,000 people ran this race. Heck, maybe more. It was hard to tell, there were just so many. By far the biggest race I’ve run. I arrived pretty early so I didn’t have to fight for a parking spot and ended up getting a spot in a huge nearby lot, and walked only about 2 minutes to the start line. But packet pickup was about a ten minute walk. No complaints though, it was a lively morning, which was nice.

Plenty of bathrooms, plenty of aid stations, and everything was really well organized. I may not run this one again, but only because I don’t like Atlanta traffic and it was about a 90 minute drive from home for me. But I’m glad I ran it once. It was a fun experience.

This isn’t a bucket list race to travel across the country for, but it’s easily a tier 2 bucket list race to travel across the region for. It’s a great course, it’s gentle rolling hills and quiet national park roads are a nice change from the higher traffic roads of most road race. This is not the Grand Canyon or Zion, but it’s a super pleasant run through the battlefield of the second largest battle in the Civil War.

The aid stations are about every 2 to 3 miles. They have snacks, water, Powerade, and Port-a-Johns. The food after is good. Parking is easy and close to the start line. This is a super nice race and I’ll be doing it again next year.

And while you are in the area you should visit Chattanooga, only about 30 minutes away. And, the race is on Veterans Day weekend, and what better way to spend a few hours thinking about American veterans than to run through this sacred ground?

This race is not for people who are uber competitive. It’s just a fun race for local / regional people who want to get out and run along the river. It is well organized although the directions on the website are not super clear. I seem to always go to the wrong location but always eventually find the race. I usually leave a few minutes earlier than I think I need for this reason.

The aid station is epic. If you’ve run a 50k before then this is the kind of aid station you may have seen on those longer races. If you’ve run with Mainly Marathons, this is the same kind of aid station as they have, and the course idea is the same. It’s a figure 8 loop and so you pass the aid station twice in your loop… or once about every 3’ish miles.

People dress up, parents push strollers, there are slow runners and fast runners. Enjoy the cool air and the view of the river. As long as Awesome Sauce keeps producing races I’ll keep running them. They are, after all, local. I probably would not drive more than an hour or two to run these races because there are other local races in most parts of the country with similarly produced races.

The race is small. Maybe 100 people between all race distances (5k, 10k, half, full, and 50k). I was running the half and don’t think there were more than just a few people left running the longer distances when I finished.

There are heated restrooms in multiple locations along the course. No portable toilets, which is nice.

The race is not chip-timed and I am not even sure if they recorded my time. If they did it wasn’t super accurate because I stood in line behind someone to let them know that I’d actually finished. The woman recording finishes was seated at a table under a pavilion near the finish line. So if you are looking for something more official, this ain’t it. But if you are looking to go out and maybe just have a good run with other runners, this might be your kind of race.

My Garmin is often short by a mile or two on 30k runs, but it measured this one as 16.93 miles. I’m guessing it is probably closer to 19+ but maybe not 20? Not sure and I don’t mind some distance variation in the races I run because I’m not a competitive runner and am just fine going a bit shorter or longer than the advertised distance, but for purists you may want to confirm before registering for this one.

The start line is promising. It’s a super pretty area. There isn’t much parking and it seems like basically everyone just parks in the grass along the side of the road. There is a cool country store across from the iron bridge where you start and finish. And that’s also where you get your post race meal. I didn’t stay for the post-race meal because you order from a menu and the line was crazy long with other runners ordering and waiting. It was just a small country store the looks like the restaurant was an afterthought. So it’s not like they have a lot of help back there. I’m sure the food was good but maybe they need to get rid of the menu and just make a standard array of foods and put them on tables for the runners after the race. It’s a small store with not a lot of room for a line. That’s really not a negative at all; just a suggestion. The store was super cute and I’d like to go back and drive through there, and eat at the store, during the week when it’s not so crowded.

Would I recommend this race? Maybe. It was hard, steep and more technical than I like, but I’m an average runner who finishes in the middle of the pack. Out of 102 people who started the race I finished 59th. So if you are in that range of finishers in the races you run you may also think this is a steep and technical race. And there was no great payoff during the race. No incredible views, nothing to redeem itself from the technical work. It’s a pretty course at times, just not spectacular.

I’m glad I ran this one but probably wouldn’t run it again. But I can see the attraction of driving to such a pretty place, camping for the weekend, eating at the Iron Bridge store and cafe, and doing the run.

This race was surprisingly nice! Although I’ve lived in WNC and Eastern TN for most of my life I don’t recall spending any time in Johnson City, TN. It’s a cute town and worth finding a place to eat at after the race. The race was organized well, parking was plentiful and close to the start line, and the course was very nice. The only part of the course I didn’t care for was maybe a mile or two along a divided four-lane, but the rest of the course was through nice old neighborhoods with folks sitting out on their porches cheering runners on, through the ETSU campus, and through the downtown area. A charming course in a charming town. It was a three hour drive for me but I’d definitely do this one again.

The post-race food came from Publix. It wasn’t fancy… basically your typical post-race snacks, and the aid stations had water and Powerade. Certainly adequate, with plenty of volunteers.

We drove in from Chattanooga so I’m not sure what the hotel situation is like near the start line but the course starts right downtown and so I’m certain there would be a few options within easy walking distance.

I’m from Asheville. Born there, but moved away when I got married at 26. I still have family that live here and visit regularly, BUT I generally do NOT go downtown. The city has become overcrowded and overpriced in the last 30 years, unfortunately. I was visiting family and friends in AVL over this weekend and decided to run this race. I’m glad I did!

Although I generally avoid races that require you to come into town the day before the race for an early packet pickup, or that require you to pay extra for race day packet pickup, I was already coming to town so I went ahead and registered. The packet pickup location is at a brewery and the festival there for pickup was maybe the best race festival I’ve seen anywhere (and that’s over more than 100 races). It was really a cool thing going on at packet pickup at the Highland Brewery.

The race itself was also great. Parking was easy and I think I walked less than a block from where I parked to the start line. That’s unusual for an urban race in a town this size. Asheville is a beautiful small city. I love my city, but I’m biased. But this was a big race and I talked to a few people from out of town who came to town for the race and who loved AVL as well.

Because I spent 26 years in this town I didn’t expect to be awed by the course. But I’m telling you that Asheville put its best foot forward with this race. Parking was easy, plenty of toilets, a super pretty course through town, the river, and nice neighborhoods, and then a finish back into the downtown.

To the race organizers, I’d change two things. First, have the finish come in flat or down hill. That last two blocks running up hill through the finish line was not fun or appreciated. Second, and this is a bigger complaint, I saw two things to drink at the finish line… water handed to the runners as they crossed the finish line, and beer in the finish festival area. No sports drink? Not even a water table in the finish festival area??? And runners like to drink, but a lot of runners don’t drink at all… tell the breweries to bring NA beer, or get some Athletic Brewing Company NA brews. And if you add an actual meal, this would be one of my top 5 races. That is literally the only thing missing to make this a serious contender for a top 50 road race in the country. Despite the lack of a meal, or sports drink, this is a race that I’ll be doing again next year. Worth coming from out of town for the race and a visit to AVL.

This is a great park for locals like me and I train here on a regular basis. I probably would not run this race if I wasn’t local though. The trails are only okay, there are no views, no water crossings or water at all, and plenty of hills. I’ve run this race three times I think, but only because it’s only ten minutes from my house.

With that said, if you are not local and haven’t been to Chattanooga, it’s worth a weekend to come do the race if you were already wanting to come to the area for a visit. It’s not a bad race at all, and the race org is fine… they check all the required boxes and not really any of the extra boxes. There are only a few aid stations and the food at the end is basically just bananas and granola bars. That’s not a complaint, really, but these days that’s a below average post-race snack menu for as expensive as races are these days.

Parking is fine and there are port-a-potties at the start (and you loop back to the start where you do a second loop on a different trail, so you see them twice in the half marathon). I wish they would do a road race in this park but the race org is called Wild Trails, not Wild Roads, so I doubt that’s likely from this group. 🙂

First the pros.
– Really easy parking and packet pickup.

– The absolute best aid station I’ve been to. Ever. In 100+ races. It wasn’t the food that made this aid station great… the food was average. But the guys running the aid station dressed as prisoners – orange pants and a white tank top – and were absolutely excited when I rounded the corner by myself, but well below 50%th percentile in the race. They screamed, shouted, whooped, cussed a little, and did ALL of my water bottle filling for me and then whooped and hollered as I headed on down the course.

– The waterfall and creek crossings. Really pretty, and unexpected. It was nice to stop and wash the poison ivy off of my legs and then drench myself in the water.

The cons:
– The course was brutal. Brutal ups. Brutal downs. And it was very technical. I did the 18 miler and I think maybe only 6 miles was flat’ish and not super technical. It was a lot like what you’d expect to find at a Spartan race.

The average:
– The swag. No metal, which is fine by me, but it’s not the norm.

– The post-race food was not what I expected it would be. My impression was that there would be some great post-race food. Unless I missed something there was just a lot of post-race snacks and drinks, the same stuff they had at the aid station. They did have some cake at the finish line.

– The post-race beer. First, bring some local craft beer. Second, get some non-alcoholic beer for those of us who don’t drink.

Overall, I’m glad I did this race but I wouldn’t do it again. If they could plot a course that had more good views and less brutal ups and downs then it would be good. I don’t mind the ups and downs but that is a lot of effort to really have the only payoff be a single pretty waterfall. Much of the rest of the time it is like you are running through a green tunnel that feels like it’s closing in on you. I heard repeat runners talking about this course, that they liked it, and so some will really like this sort of race. Run your own race, they say.

Even if you do want to do this race it’s not really a destination or bucket list race. I drove 3 hours to get to it. If you are driving to the race the night before, the hotels are very close by. The park is easy to get to. Parking is simple. There were indoor flush toilets close to the start line. This was not a bad race, just not a great race.

This was my first 30k and I chose this race because it would be an easy entry into the 30k distance. It was along a gravel road and was almost completely a gentle downhill grade. The host town was St. Regis and the highlight of this town was the Travel Center at the gas station. I don’t like touristy stuff but the Travel Center was pretty cool. And get a mulberry shake!

The course was okay. Although it was down, and it was a pleasant course to run with regards to scenery, it felt more technical than a gravel road should feel. It was a shuttle ride to the top of the course and that was easy enough. And there were plenty of aid stations, and I believe there were toilets at all, or almost all, aid stations. The post-race food was great and the best post-race food I’ve had in a while. But… please start offering food that vegetarians can eat. After all, part of our race fee is going toward the post-race meal. And those veggie meats are where we are going to get protein replacement… that’s not coming from fruit salad or cole slaw. I don’t think I’ve been to more than one or two races, out of more than 100, where post-race food had anything for plant-based eaters. A minor complaint though and this was a decent race and if I were in that area next time the race was held I’d likely run it again. But it’s not a destination race or a bucket list race. Still it was a fun race and I am glad I did it.

The draw for this race is where it is held, as in the nearby towns and Sun Moon Lake. The course was okay, nothing special. A good course, but not a destination course except that it is near a very pretty part of Taiwan.

The SWAG was endless. All sorts of things in the goodie bag, including a frozen chicken filet (in another TW race the SWAG bag included a bag of rice). The toilet situation was good. If you do this race you’ll likely want to take a taxi from your hotel. As I recall the parking wasn’t good and that’s why I and two other racers at my hotel got a taxi. And we all took a taxi back as well.

Overall this was a good race. I was in Taipei at the time and I’m glad I took the train / bus down to Nantou for this race but it’s not a destination race and so I’d not likely do it again, unless already in the area.