Chattajack Recap 2016

This took me longer to write than my own race recaps! I just wanted to do it justice; this was truly the hardest race Matt's ever completed. He is a BEAST.

I've said it before and those of you who have run a marathon know it's true: 26.2 miles is a long way and a lot can go wrong over the course of that mileage.

So when you're talking 32 miles on the water, you know that holds true...tenfold.

For those of you who weren't reading here last year, Chattajack is a 31-mile standup paddle board race in Chattanooga, TN. (Because of the currents etc, the race is really 31-33 miles. This year Matt's GPS clocked in at 32.) Matt completed it for the first time last year and totally loved it; last year they didn't have much current but they did have mild, beautiful weather. He finished well ahead of his goal.

An aerial photo of the racers on the river this year.

This year, not so much. As we drove into Chattanooga on Thursday night, we were greeted with gentle rainfall that welcomed in the weekend's cold front and gusty wind. By race morning, it was 48 degrees and the wind was gusting at 20+ mph.

This Floridian was NOT READY.

Still, Matt was ready to go. We were staying at our friend Quack's house this year, and we had my car so I was able to plan to meet Matt along the course much more easily. Friday evening, we went to the sign-in at Ross's Landing, where the race would start Saturday morning.

I noticed quite a few bibs still hadn't been picked up when we arrived and commented that there may have been a few racers who had chosen to drop out due to weather. Matt prepped his board before checking it in.

This year, alongside the course map, he taped a photo of himself and Nana for extra inspiration. Then we drove around to the places I'd plan to meet him along the route.

In line for packet pickup.

We had sushi for dinner and then turned in for the night. Saturday morning was upon us before we knew it! The safety meeting was scheduled for 7:30am, so we left the house around 6:30 to arrive at 7. It was freezing. What would have been a brisk, clear morning was made brutal by the gusting wind.

Matt opted to race in the 12'6" division this year; there were fewer men in that division and that meant fewer people to draft off of. Matt had used social media pre-race to find people to draft, and spent some time race morning frantically looking for the one guy he thought he'd want to draft with. No luck.

Matt prepping his board (in the foreground) under the spotlights before sunrise.

Cold, but humoring me with a photo.

(Spoiler alert: he did eventually find Jeremy Whitted on the water and drafted him for the first three miles before making a slight mistake; he couldn't get back into his draft and then before he knew it, Jeremy was gone! He went on to win first place in the division.)

Like last year, a band (including the race director on guitar) playing Led Zeppelin's Kashmir urged the racers out to the starting line. Without much ado, the race began!

This is like playing Where's Waldo! Below is a better picture of Matt's pre-race-face.

This year, I was very prepared for my job as Sherpa! I hopped into my car and made my way toward mile 10.7, the Suck Creek Boat Ramp. I stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break, to grab a coffee, and to fill my tires. Prepped and ready, I made it to the first viewing point well ahead of schedule.

This draft train was cool - there was 8 guys or so in it! Matt wasn't one of them though because they're on 14' boards.

Last year I missed Matt at this point, so I was really glad when he finally rounded the bend and I was able to scream at him from my spot on the ramp. (I was concerned he wouldn't hear me from the more distant viewing points but he told me afterward that he heard me each time!)

Matt is that tiny speck!

At this first point, Matt was on his own. The wind hadn't quite picked up to the point of whitecaps, but the river was choppy. I was really nervous to see that he wasn't drafting anyone.

Mile 10.7: Suck Creek. He's still smiling at this point!

Off I drove to the second spot, mile 19: Raccoon Mountain. This was a great spot because I was able to go down onto a pier and be very close. There were a few different places to park and see the racers, and I wanted to get as close as possible.

The view at Raccoon Mountain.

RIGHT on the water! I don't know why more spectators didn't climb down to the pier.

At this point in the day the wind was really strong. The racers passing me looked to be standing still at some points, and they were struggling. Spray was coming up off the water and the chop was erratic. The sun felt good but the wind was slicing through me.

Finally, Matt appeared, and he had a friend in tow! A fellow 12'6"er, Karl, had caught up to him around mile 16 and they had formed a little draft train. I was able to call out to him and get photos; then I ran up the embankment, jumped in my car, sped down the road a few hundred meters, and hopped back out to cheer him on again just as he passed by the second viewing spot.

I was so tempted to yell, "I love you!" but felt silly doing it. I told him instead, "See you at Sullivan's Landing!"

The next place along the route was mile 24. At this point Quack joined me. This spot was again very far from the racers, but I borrowed some binoculars when I thought Matt was close based on the Find-My-Friends app and was able to see that he and Karl were still trucking along. I screamed across the water: "GO MATT GO! SEE YOU AT THE FINISH!" (I asked, "Do you think he heard me?" and Quack responded, "I think the entire valley heard you!" A couple older ladies waiting for their husbands seemed jealous of my lung capacity.)

You can just barely see Matt and Karl across the water.

A paddler who had been out for a leisurely paddle that morning told us that the conditions were very hard. She knew a few racers who had DNS'd and said she was sure there were going to be a few DNFs, too.

Matt's cousin Nikki texted that she was at the finish, and I gave her a rough estimate of Matt's finishing time. Then Quack and I went to meet her at mile 31 (32): Hale's Bar.

This was when things got hairy. The wind, which had been bad the entire morning, was whipping around us and the finish line sprint, which goes alongside the pier, was full of choppy waves and currents going in all different directions. As racers began to come in, we noticed how hard it was for them to stay upright. Matt's estimated finish time came and went, and he was nowhere in sight. I had no service at the pier, so I couldn't check on where he was.

All I knew was that he was really late, and I was getting scared.

When he finally came around the last corner and into the final sprint, he fell off his board. Matt never falls. I was so worried; I knew if he felt fine but had fallen he'd be pissed, but I was sure something was wrong. Matt doesn't fall.

Post-fall, soaking wet and just ready to be done.

He tried to get on his board and fell again.

I ran down the pier and encouraged him. He was back up and just single-mindedly paddling to the finish - not fast, not sprinting, but steadily.

The race organizers wouldn't let me run all the way down because they said the end of the pier was in bad shape for spectators, so I stood and watched him as he finished, sat down, and immediately went to eat something. I thought I was going to cry; I just wanted to be near him and see how he was.

Finally, he looked up. I waved at him. He waved back.

He made his way over to us and I could see he was shaking uncontrollably. He was soaking wet and the wind hadn't died down at all. His fingers weren't quite working as he tried to remove his bib, open his chocolate milk, etc.

Slowly recovering.

I went into caretaker mode. Get him out of the water. Get a sweater on him. Get socks and shoes on him. Get him to the car and blast him with hot air.

Quack and Nikki's husband Robert carried his board back to the car and I put an arm around his waist and literally held him upright and pushed him forward as we made our way back to the car. We wrapped him in his towel and as many dry shirts as we could.

We managed a cheer-team picture before we loaded him into the car.

During the drive back to Quack's, I blasted the heat and felt like I was in a hot-yoga class.

He fell asleep on the short drive back. He wouldn't stop shivering.

Luckily, once he had a hot shower and we got some food in him, he seemed to recover. But this was honestly the scariest moment of my married life. I really thought he was hypothermic. (We learned later than at least one racer had been rescued from a bank after he had rolled his surf-ski and was too cold and weak to continue - he was pre-hypothermic.)

Warm, dry clothes and a burrito...this is post-race heaven.

So. This was all a crazy adventure, but it wasn't over. We left for the award ceremony and celebration. Matt got a complimentary massage while I sought out his results.

He finished in 6:26 (compared to last year's 5:40 - he realistically thought he'd come in around 5:15 this year) and 3rd in his division. So at least all the pain and struggle paid off! In his division, 9 racers either DNS or DNF. As it turned out, only 356 started the race even though 500+ signed up (remember this unclaimed bibs way back at the beginning of this post?); 310 finished. Quite a few didn't make the 8.5 hour cutoff time. (We saw on the race's Facebook page that one racer took 10 hours to finish, but they were determined to get it done despite the conditions.)

Waiting for awards to be announced.

At the ceremony, the race director talked about how it's important to do what's safe for you, and if that means you DNF, that's okay. Because of how the river curves, the wind was rarely at the racers' backs; it was basically a wind tunnel of headwind.

Here's the beginning of the post-race newsletter. The Facebook page is fully of hilarious "I-survived-Chattajack-2016" stories.

The course is a WPA certified course and as such, racers can only go to their knees for 5 strokes or else they're DQ'd; they can also only draft racers in the same board division, which is why Matt wasn't in a draft train for some of the race. (Matt and Karl stuck together until Matt's legs started to give out from constantly trying to balance and fight the waves and wind, around mile 28. He told me he fell just before I saw him turn into the finish, about half a mile out, and at that point he knew he was just cooked. He legs were "mush.")

Jeremy, Karl, and Matt!

Anyway, the director made it clear that those who weren't in contention to podium and "did what they had to do" to finish were a-okay; it was the hardest year they've ever had and those that finished are going to be Chattajack legends. Some racers stayed on their knees for the last five miles or more.

One telling response on the "Is everyone okay?" post on the race's FB page. Those finishing after the time limit legit don't get medals.

The wind was brutal throughout the entire race, and the complications for paddle-boarders certainly didn't go unnoticed.

With my winner!

A close up of the award.

Matt met his goal of reaching that podium, and despite how hard the race was he said he felt really strong until the end; it took a lot out of him, but he's ready to do it again next year. Sounds familiar.

The day after the race we went to Rock City to take some photos...but I'll write about that later.

All in all, it was an intense weekend. I'm so grateful to Quack for his hospitality, and I'm really proud of Matt's fellow racers, including the other CGT race-team members Murray, Mark, and Meg (who took 2nd place in her division). I know we'll be back next year; I liken this race to BDR, and I know Matt is ready to totally own that river and get his redemption without all that wind!

ABK

Weekly Workouts 6/13-6/19

Monday: Elizabeth and I had did final classroom workout. It was tight - the furniture all gets pushed into the middle of the room for summertime so it's easier to wax the floors - but we got it done. One round of T25 Core Cardio and one round of a BBG arms workout.

Excuse me...I look a mess.

BBG seems to be all the rage lately. I do like how hard it is, and I'm sure the results I see on Instagram are real, but I just don't think I could give up running for something like this. I guess for me, finding joy in the workout is more important than getting a "fit body".

Tuesday: Ah, our first day of summer break! Elizabeth and I took advantage of not having school this week to run later in the evening. It was hot and still, but at least the sun was mostly down for the latter half of our workout. We did 6x.6 repeats. My left calf and shin were super tight from all the jumping around on Monday (and also from my freaking shoes!), and my left groin felt weak, so I wasn't expecting a great workout.

We saw some adorable ducklings during the run that made each repeat a little cuter and more bearable!

Mostly we kept the repeats in the 8:30s but a couple times we crept into the low 9s. Between repeats we did bicep curls and overhead presses. I took a couple salt tabs at the halfway point and my calf/shin seemed to respond well to that, but it may have just been that I was finally warmed up. Either way, this was a hard effort workout even if the paces don't show it, and I'm glad we got it all done and didn't quit early!

Wednesday: We used that free samples of BBG again and did the ab workout. It definitely hurt! We were laughing halfway through because we felt so pathetic. That said, I wasn't sore at all the next day and I wonder if the workouts are really as effective as people claim!

Thursday: Rest.

Friday: We woke up early and did a tempo run. Storm clouds were gathering and there was lightning, so we ended up cutting the planned 5 miles a bit short. We haven't done a tempo run in awhile and I was happy with it, but with the brewing storm it was really humid and pretty rough.

One of my favorite post-run stretches. I'm not sure why we look so serious!

Saturday: Rest! I watched Matt's paddle race in Pompano Beach and hung out on the beach all day. It was actually exhausting - you know how it is when you get too much sun! James and his wife Rhonda were there, too; James and Matt both had super races (Matt was on his brand new board and in a new board class, so I'm glad it went so well!) and Rhonda and I enjoyed lounging around and talking about books while the guys dominated the Atlantic.

At the race start...

Matt sprinting to the finish! His race was 6x1-mile laps with a short beach sprint between each one.

Sunday: I was exhausted after sun and travel, so I slept through our long run and relaxed all day. I usually hate evening long runs, but Elizabeth and I went out for 8 miles at 7pm and it felt really good! It was nice to have temperatures drop as we ran instead of the usual buildup of heat throughout. I picked up a baby snapping turtle and saved him from the road during the run, so hopefully I don't get salmonella.

It's honestly amazing how much better my legs and feet feel in the old Kayanos! Sorry, I just can't shut up about my shoe drama.

All in all, a pretty good week! Have you ever tried BBG?

ABK

Chattajack Recap: Matt's Big Race

Get ready for long and image-heavy post. I'll break the weekend down by day, but be warned: the adventures started on day one, and there's a lot to say!

Thursday: The Trip Begins with a Bang

I was supposed to do my 18 miles Thursday morning and Kristin was going to join me for the first hour. Unfortunately, she had to back out. I was determined, though, so I was out the door at 5am. The first few miles kind of sucked, but once I warmed up I started to feel pretty good. I kept a fairly steady pace for the first 11 miles. Then, as I began the second loop of the run, the headwind picked up. Rather than fight it, I turned into a neighborhood that was shielded and ran it a couple times to complete the 18. I took quite a few walk breaks from mile 15 on, but when I ran my legs felt refreshed, so my average pace didn't suffer.

Guys, I'm on my way to my first 100-mile month!!! I'm so excited!!

When I got home, Meg had just arrived. She and Matt got the cars situated while I showered and finished packing. Then, we hit the road.

Two hours into the drive, disaster struck. We heard a giant RIIIIIIP and looked back to see the entire roof rack system flying off the car! And as we watched in horror, a semitruck bore down on the paddles and boards as they landed in the middle of the interstate.

Luckily, somehow, the semi driver avoided the boards, pulled over, and ran onto 75 to grab them and drag them off road. The entire thing was surreal. The boards were still perfectly attached to the roof rack; the entire rack itself was fine. But the boards were destroyed.

Matt trained for months on this board...and the unthinkable happened.

Matt's and Meg's SUP boards are carbon fiber, which is super delicate and lightweight. Where the boards hit the pavement, they had smashed. Matt's board cracked about 12 inches in all the way through.

We went into survival mode: get the boards back on the car. Get off the side of the interstate. Check the paddles (luckily both were completely unharmed.) Call the race team and get replacement boards brought up. Glad we started the trip a day early.

As we waited for board delivery at a Denny's, Matt posted about the disaster on Facebook, and suddenly tons of paddlers were stepping up to help.

He posted this on FB and within minutes the paddling community reached out to help. Amazing.

It was incredibly uplifting to see so many people - many of them basically strangers - offer assistance. The paddling community is seriously amazing! One family - the Marstons - are a really well-known paddling family. They live near where the accident took place; they immediately offered to let us drop the damaged boards at their place and pick up their personal race boards to use at Chattajack. (Heath and his three kids were paddling a 4-person SUP board in the race, so they had extra to spare.)

We took them up on the offer. So after this event delayed us about four hours, we finally got back on the road. We were all in shock and losing the boards was freaking surreal, but not for one second did we consider missing this race. No way.

We got to a hotel just outside Chattanooga at 2am and slept.

Friday: Birds, Hotels, and the Expo

Our plan for Friday was to take a tour of a bird lab before going to race check-in. We got up for breakfast and I saw some guys wearing Ragnar shirts in the lobby, so I struck up conversation. Apparently Ragnar Tennessee was going on that same weekend, so I wished them luck. I was hoping to see some runners throughout our day, but we didn't.

The bird lab was really fun. We hiked through the Tennessee River Gorge to the lab site and learned about why the ornithologists are tagging birds and gathering info on them. (The race raised $4300 for the Gorge Trust, which goes toward conservation efforts for the river and forest.) We hiked along to find birds that had been temporarily captured to be tagged.

Matt, me, Meg and some other paddlers at the Gorge.

I was allowed to hold and release a bird; I thought Matt was taking pictures but actually it was video, so here I am being totally awkward with a female towhee. It felt so good to hold a bird again, but it was bittersweet.

After the lab, we attempted to check in to our hotel. The lady at the desk was totally unhelpful and awful (we were early to check in but the hotel was overbooked so we wanted to make sure we got the room we wanted, and she refused to work with us.) We left and grabbed lunch at Sticky Fingers barbecue, which was amazing. I called my dad for his birthday and got some insurance advice regarding getting the boards taken care of.

We finally went back to La Quinta to check in, and the new person at the desk gave us the bad news that the room we wanted was taken. He told us he'd have upgraded us to the king suite for free if we'd come in earlier, at which point Meg explained that we had been in earlier but the unhelpful desk clerk turned us away. So this guy pulled some strings and got us the king suite we wanted. We headed to race check-in and Matt and Meg got in a practice paddle on the replacement boards.

Waiting in the check-in line. At first they couldn't find Matt's name, and we were like OH HELL NO because we'd had enough bad luck this weekend already. But then they found him, and things were fine.

The flow forecast was hilarious. The paddlers want a higher number, and were lucky to get 25,000 the morning of the race, which definitely helped.

Meg and Matt check in.

The board-holding area and start-line.

CGT Team Riders Mark, Meg, and Matt in front of the podium.

There were ~300 paddlers this year! The race grows yearly and sells out FAST.

Finally, Matt and I went to dinner with Quack (a college friend who lives in Chattanooga now) and his girlfriend Anne Marie. We ate at Tupelo Honey and it was freaking amazing. I had a spicy shrimp and grits meal, and I think the goat cheese in the grits was what made the difference. It was probably the best shrimp and grits I've ever had!

Saturday: Race Day!

Friday night we'd realized that Quack's plan to meet me at the start and drive me along the course wouldn't work because he had an event to go to for work. (I can't drive Matt's car - stick shift.) So last minute, Matt posted in the race Facebook page asking if I could join any Sherpas. Saturday morning, a racer texted me that I could use his car all day and meet him at the finish!

(Again, can we pause and talk about how amazing the SUP community is?! Loaning your car to a stranger, in a city she's unfamiliar with, to drive along a 33 mile race course?! That's generosity right there.)

We parked at the finish and waited for the shuttles to come bring us to the start line...But the shuttles were an hour late! Everyone was really freaked out about what that would mean for prepping their boards, but we heard the race director was postponing the start until the shuttles arrived and got us there.

The start area.

I found Mariano and Krissee (our car saviors) and they handed over their keys. I wished them luck and ran back to Matt to gather all his things. I also took Meg's bag. I had four backpacks on at that point!

It's hard to tell, but those tiny dots under the bridge are all the racers lined up, ready to go! I wish I could post a larger picture on the blog, but it won't fit.

At 8:30am (instead of 8:00), the paddlers lined up at the start and began their race!

And they're off! Matt's in there somewhere.

I took some starting line photos and logged into Facebook to post them. Imagine my surprise when I saw my running family had taken it upon themselves to cheer Matt on!

The Sherpa guide was really confusing to follow, so I missed Matt and Meg at mile 10.5 by just a few minutes. The other reason I missed them? They were flying. Matt was estimating a 6-7 hour finish, and usually 10.5 miles would take him about two hours, but he got in the lead draft train early on and was absolutely rocking his paces.

In this photo, Matt is 2nd to last. Paddlers take turns leading the draft, then move to the back position when they're tired, and the next paddler takes over. It saves energy but takes a lot of skill.

Still 2nd to last here.

I tracked him and Meg using Find My Friends and was finally able to figure out how to find them along the course, but not before taking a few more suggestions from the Sherpa guide that were pretty useless.

Some more drafting pictures. Matt said he was able to to draft about 70% of the race, which helped him keep his faster pace.

I found them both at mile 25, well ahead of schedule, and also introduced myself to Ashley Marston, whose board Meg was using. I thanked her for their generosity, and she was wonderful. She said she took photos of Matt and Meg at mile 10.5 and they both seemed great.

Meg going strong! The river stays open to boat traffic during the race, and there are aid boats out on the course as well.

Matt mid-pack.

 She and I chatted a bit until we saw them, and we cheered them on while she got some good photos for me. (Her husband and kiddos came along, too, all four in bright orange shirts and paddling along in perfect sync, singing. This family is seriously beyond perfect.)

The Marston family: Heath and his three kids, twins Gracie and Hailey (12), and son Will (14).

I drove to the finish line and got situated on the pier. Quack, Anne Marie, and Matt's cousin Nikki and her husband joined me. At the end of the race, paddlers have to come around a yellow buoy right near the pier and then sprint to the end. When Matt appeared, I jumped up and began running alongside him on the pier, shouting and cheering and basically urging him to push himself fully to the end.

Because I ran with him, I could only steal photos of Matt's finish. I'm glad he had a cheering section there!

I was actually really emotional. I was overwhelmed with his accomplishment, and with knowing all we'd been through to get to this moment. I ran through the finish with him and then stood at the end of the pier grinning like an idiot while he dropped down to his board and finally, finally relaxed.

All smiles post-race. Matt's fingers had blistered really badly, but otherwise he was in good shape.

His time was 5:40, a minute faster than my marathon time, and more than an hour faster than he had estimated he'd finish.

Matt and Heath.

As he floated in the finisher's zone, his friends gathered, and I went to find Meg. As she rounded the bend about thirty minutes later, I ran her in to the finish, too.

Meg's finish!

I couldn't help but giggle when Meg immediately lay down flat on her board. I can't blame her!

Post-Race:

The cheer-squad!

Both Matt and Meg are proud of themselves, but neither seemed to have the emotional reaction to finishing that I associate with running marathons. I wrote this reflection as we prepped for dinner and the after party:

"Matt seems less awed by his accomplishment than I was of my marathon. Maybe because he sees himself as a strong, capable paddler and therefore expects success and greatness. Whereas I see myself as a weak runner who must work hard and overcome. Any success is a huge deal."

I also wrote: "Like with running, you can't judge a competitor based on body type, age, or other surface-level factors. And it's inspiring to see non-obvious athletes compete. And the community is so wonderful."

Really, this race experience showed me how similar to the running community the SUP community is. The support, the generosity, the kindness, feeling like you're all in it together...it's truly inspiring. Matt posted this on Instagram, and the sentiment regarding helpful competitors is so accurate:

Anyway, we cleaned up and then had dinner with Quack and Anne Marie before heading to the awards ceremony.

Matt and Meg at the awards.

And then, exhausted, we called it a night.

Sunday: The Return

We ended up sleeping in and then driving the entire way home Sunday. We made one stop to take photos. How epic is this?

Overlooking the river.

I'm beyond proud of Matt. Despite all the setbacks, he pushed through and conquered what turned out to be 32 miles. He barely fueled during the race because he wanted to stay with his draft trains, and yet he came in well under his estimated time. Meg and Mark both also finished strong; Team CGT really represented!

Matt and Meg are already talking about doing this race again next year. They both feel they can place if they race in a different class (board length) and change up training a little bit. But obviously, they're both taking a little time off to recuperate first!

Thanks for all your support on my last post...If you have any questions about SUP or the race, Matt will answer anything he can in the comments!

ABK