Lookout Mtn. 26+

This past Saturday I headed down to Chattanooga to run Lookout Mountain with Mash for some mountain training- I left my house at 3:30 am. To prep for the Tahoe 100, we're gonna have to spend lots of time on mind numbing, lung burning climbs... until they become a place of relative peace. Long distance mountain running is the ultimate running experience in my opinion.

Some Notes From the Day...
-I ran with a camelbak for the first time and really liked it- it will take some getting used to but I think this is the only way to go far, sans aid.

frozen in the pack

-Surprised as how warm my feet were in my Swiftwick Olefin 2s... I had been wearing 2 pairs of regular socks for really cold days and this was one- teens to single digits on top of the mtn for sure. Ran the whole day blister free- I rub sportslick on my feet for anything over 15m.
-Mash's water pack tubing froze early in the day, which took a bit of finagling.
-We were chased by a dog that was either insane or just really didn't like that we were running.
-We ran a few sections extra and had to back track due to the complexity of the trail system and limited signage.
-I somehow- left most of my major nutrition in the truck- thus running in a state of caloric depletion for some of the later miles (all climbs).
-We went off piste (off trail) after 26+ m, charging up the final ridge through thorn, thicket and snow. We could hear cars so it was a calculated gamble to make it back to Covenant College, where we had parked in the early dawn. We emerged from the woods, not 100 yards from the parking lot. Whew.
-Mojo Burritos was our reward - excellent!

-This was a pretty epic trainer. The scenery was just amazing and as we descended, ascended and circumnavigated around the mountain, we could really feel the massive and wild nature of Lookout. The trail was totally new to me so every turn was like a new scene in a movie, just amazing, thanks be to God!