This is not a race. This is one of those rogue events that only a handful of people know about, it’s not sag supported theirs no timing chips no race numbers. It’s just a TON of fun! I was told about this 19-23 mile (who knows mileage) hike/run years ago by some friends. Glenn Thrift is the organizer of it, and he’s done such a great thing by having it year after year. The hike/run is through the Gorges State Park and that’s all I know. You arrive @ 6am on this gravel road, pitch dark and at any time feel like you might be part of the Blair Witch Project. I’m horrible with directions and even worse when it’s dark outside. I had originally gotten most of the crew to commit the event, but when it came to the day of Sarah was the lone soul out there with me.
I won’t go into the drama of the day before the race or anything like that, but lets just say that when I set my mind to do something it’s virtually impossible to steer me in another direction. I’m thankful that my determination has paid off on more occasions than getting me into trouble.
Headlamps on, peeing done, and gear packed we headed out. The first 3 miles we walk and stick together since its still dark. As we’re walking up this hill the sun begins to rise and the view is just beautiful. This was exactly what I needed. I needed to get lost in the woods and just enjoy the day. We get to the 3 mile mark, take a few photo ops, and then all embark on our own journey. Follow the white marks on the trees are the only directions I know outside of not getting on some suspension bridge. I tell Sarah to make sure to help me keep an eye out as we start our jog. The trails nice, the creek crossings not too bad . . . until we get to one where I can’t figure out how to cross w/out getting wet. Sarah looks at me and says, “let me show you how it’s done.” Famous last words as I watch her fall right in. I manage to cross on some rocks w/out doing it Sarah’s way. We jog a couple more miles and then come to another creek crossing that’s completely impossible to cross. The last thing I want to do is get wet, it’s freezing! Well, Sarah’s already wet . . . I’m not . . .hmmm . . can we say piggy back ride? I have never laughed so hard in my life. The people behind us walk up right as she’s walking me across the creek and I can only imagine what they thought. We had already been passed by 2 sets of people who just walked right through the water. Such newbies! The dry feet only lasted so long though, Sarah refused to continue to give me piggyback rides over the rest of the creeks. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I’d say about and hour or two into it Sarah starts to turn pasty white and I ask her what she ate for breakfast. Her nutrition is about as good as Susan’s! She had a shake, a shake! For a 6 hour day in the mountains she had a 200 calorie shake. I tell you, I’d knocked her out if I wouldn’t have had to drag her out. She ate a Powerbar and we took a Powerbar gel and all became right in her world.
The trail comes up on a waterfall that is just gorgeous; I mean we are so lucky to have so many beautiful places at such easy access. The longer we jog/walk the happier I am. I just love being in the middle of nowhere, as long as I’ve planned itJ. Sarah’s never done this hike/run before so all the hills and things are new to her. We get to a spot where you can see Lake Jocassee , and we decide to sit down and eat lunch. Of course we took a few pics as well. From there it was around 5 miles to the finish. Unfortunately one group of people decided to tell Sarah the last 5 miles is all uphill. She does much better when she’s clueless, that whole mental thing gets to her. She started to dread it before we even started back.
I’m not sure if she had a talk with herself, but after the 1st mile of uphill she really started to improve. My singing wasn’t even irritating her too much at this point. We come across some other hikers and I just had to ask how much farther. I mean, by this point I wanted it to be over. I’d seen enough stairs to climb to heaven, and the never ending hill . . . we won’t even go there. The guys say its less then a mile. I give Sarah the look, the look that say can we please end our misery? Can we please run this thing in? I’m over it, the faster we get there the faster I can sit down and never get up. . .She read my mind and initiated the painful jog in. That was seriously the longest mile I’ve ever done, outside of ironman.
5:45 minutes, 4 powerbar gels, one pb&j sandwhich, and lots of drink thanks to Nathan hydration systems, we were done and both survived.
That was the 2nd time I’ve done the Glenn Thrift Challenge, and I’d love to do it every year if it fits in my schedule. The views are fantastic, the challenge is definitely a challenge, and if you’re nice to Glenn he will even make you a shirt for the occasion. Maybe one day I will do the 36 mile option. . . .who’s with me?
