My target race

For the world to spin on a correct tilt, I need to have a race on my calendar for which to train. Without something to train for, I skip runs, run with lackluster effort, and eat way to much stuff including cheeseburgers and fries, ice cream, cookies, BBQ, huge quantities of pizza, cake, and a couple beers a day. Having a race on the schedule means more specific runs with purpose, and a greater probability of healthy eating. I have filled that void on my running calendar with the inaugural Cloudsplitter 100. This race in eastern Kentucky is October 4. 

I met the RD Susan Howell last year when she showed up at Pumpkin Holler to volunteer and pick my brain for 100 mile RD advice, and I shared what little wisdom I had. Her idea for this race intrigued me, but after the race I gave little thought to it. I always fry a few brain cells RD-ing a race like PH100, and heck--my memory is going anyway.

Visit the Cloudsplitter 100 website.

A few months ago while reading trail running stuff on the 'puter, I ran across the race info, and decided it might be on my bucket list, but way down near the bottom. Then a couple of weeks ago, the race showed up as a tease on Barbara Pinkerton's wall directed at Kathy Hoover. I revisited the race website, and saw that they had a 40 HOUR TIME LIMIT?!?!? Now it may be hard, but even "I" could make a 100 in 40 hours. (Or can I?)


The course elevation looks like a BEAST! Lotsa ups and downs. The first 5 mile climb appears to be an ass-whipping 1900 feet, with 2200 feet by mile 10. As a comparison, LipBuster starting right at the base where the steep climb starts and finishing at the top is 100 feet in 1/8 of a mile. So, make that 100' ascent 19 times, and I have the first climb out of the way. This first ascent is far less that the first ascent at Western States, and is at a much lower altitude. Easy peasy. After that, the longest climb I can see is maybe 500 feet--but there are a LOT of these shorter climbs. Total ascent for the whole 100 miles is 25,893 feet. That's 5 miles STRAIGHT UP. That's Pikes Peak ascent times 3.3. Cloudsplitter has the 5th most ascent of all 100s, according to Run100s.com. Only Hardrock, Wasactch, Cruel Jewel, and Ghosts of Yellowstone have more. Yes, this has more ascent than Leadville and Western States.

But I look at it this way. Get the first 10-15 miles out of the way and then it's just like a run at Athens/Bigfork. (That would be a great place for a training run or two.) And with 40 hours, I have to average a 24 minute mile. Can this race really be so tough it needs a 40 hour time limit? Maybe no one knows--yet.

RD Susan Howell was interviewed on a radio station about her race, and it is on this podcast. Fast forward about 20 minutes unless you want to hear a bunch of boring crap.
Cloudsplitter 100 podcast ADVANCE TO 20:40 FOR THE RACE PODCAST.

A few pictures swiped from Google of the area. I see hills. I'd sure like to see more pictures of the actual trails.   Many of the Google pix were not clear as to whether they were of the actual Pine Mountain trail or not. I am not sure of the terrain and what kind of shoes to bring. (Of course, I'll bring all of them!)



Here's a YouTube video of part of where we'll be running.

And besides--Daddy needs another belt buckle!