Stump Jump '06

Stump Jump 2006 Race Report

Sponsored by Rock Creek Outfitters

Chattanooga, Tennessee

7 Oct 06

Signal Mountain, TN

 

 

Schwag.

Shwag-ola.

Schwag-o-rama.

Schwag-in-heimer

Schwag-a-licious!

In a word, this describes the Rock Creek Outfitter’s 2006 edition of the Stump Jump conducted on Signal Mountain in the Prentice Cooper State Forest. The Cumberland trail was the venue for the 159 runners in the 50K race.

We pulled the Astro Van out of Pensacola, FL at about 0630 hours on Friday morning and began the roughly 400-mile trip to the northeast. Wife Becky, daughters, Anyse, Miranda, and Joli as well as son David were along as my support crew.

A slight mist was in the air as we drove north across the top of Florida. By the time we were in Alabama completely overcast skies were the order of the day but this gave way to blue skies north of Birmingham. I was hoping for mild temperatures for race day (especially after a long summer of hot and humid runs!). The race materials indicated the average temps for the race in years past were 45 or so for the low and in the mid 70’s for the high (whoa, would that be sweet!). Hope springs eternal!

We arrived in the Chattanooga area around 3 PM (having lost an hour). We made our way to Rock Creek Outfiters for the vendor fair. The North Face, Keen, Suunto, Ibex, Salomon, Montrail, Camelbak etc. were represented. I had so much fun checking out all of the cool gear that I never even made it into the store. I got a number of cool stickers, a Frisbee, key chain, and a personal first aid kit from The North Face, as well as a hat from Suunto. The race schwag was indeed rolling!

I picked up my race packet and met Jamie Sanders the race director for this years event. He asked if we were still going to camp over at the soccer fields and I assured him that we were indeed. The race bag was first class and included the following items:

1.    The bag by The North Face (red, with all of the race info on it)

2.    The Wicked T (Technical T) by Mountain Hardware (sweetest race shirt I’ve ever seen a $45 value) with all of the race info on the back

3.    Smartwool socks ($15 value)

4.    20% coupon for any Suunto product (from Rock Creek or Rockcreek.com)

5.    20% coupon for any Keen product (from Rock Creek or Rockcreek.com)

6.    Ibex ear warmer (came in real handy race morning)

7.    Hammer Gel

8.    LaraBar 

The kids weren’t getting half of the thrill I was so after an hour or so we decided to walk around a bit. Just up the street from the store was a riverwalk area. The Tennessee River runs through the downtown making it a very relaxing and beautiful scene. There is a large walking bridge over the river that affords an amazing view of the cityscape as well as the myriad of surrounding mountains. We spied out a large indoor carousel which we took a ride on. Children and seniors can ride for .50 and adults are only $1. I was impressed!

We went back over to the vendor fair for a presentation by Mike (forgot his last name) who is the rep for the Southeast US region for Suunto USA. Suunto is a Finnish company headquartered in Helsinki. They are world leaders in liquid-filled compasses and produce leading wrist-top computers and heart rate monitors. “Suunto” is a Finnis word that means “direction”. Mike acquainted us with the new t series of wrist top computers. The t4 which has a “coaching” feature wherein the watch selects workouts for you based on data gathered from past workouts. One of the main benefits of this is the ease of maximizing each workout as well as the prevention of over-training. The t6 gathers a plethora of data including V02 max, respirations, and target HR data. There is a basic HR model in the t line as well. I own a X6hr (thanks Uncle Sam) and it’s in a word awesome!

Following Mike’s presentation the carbo supper commenced outside. We each got a ticket for the evenings after dinner raffle. The excellent meal consisted of baked ziti in tomato sauce, chicken tetrazini, a vegetable medley, amazing yeast rolls w/ butter, as well as a salad featuring fresh greens, strawberries, pears, walnuts, feta cheese and a succulent dressing. Lemon bars, coconut squares, chocolate chip squares, water, assorted sodas, tea, lemonade, and beer rounded out the fare. The catered self serve meal which we were informed was sponsored in part by Salomon was scrumtious! The best pre race meal I’ve had for sure. Runners were free and my crew ate for $8 a piece (a great deal). If you do this race, whatever you do, DO NOT skip the carbo supper!

 Following the dinner everyone went inside the store for a slideshow by John Stamsted who is an ultra runner, mountain bike, adventurer and ambassador for Patagonia. Prior to his presentation the man responsible for the creation of the Stump Jump gave away a huge basket of items ranging from Camelbaks to lumbar packs to lightweight sleeping bags to water bottles to Oakley sunglasses. I got a Montrail water bottle as I was standing in line for the bathroom. The schwag was flying for sure.

He gave a fascinating slide presentation about his experience running over 200 miles of the John Muir Trail and a 100+ mile jaunt in the desert of Southern Utah near Moab, both of which he did completely unsupported. His experience on the Muir Trail was featured in an article in Trail Runner Magazine earlier this year. My wife leaned over during the course of John’s presentation and whispered “don’t you even think about it”. John’s insights into endurance and his pictures of the remote areas he’s been in were inspirational to be sure. His curiosity into the emotional as well as physiological aspects of endurance events was interesting and thought provoking. Someone needs to convince him to write a book; it’d be a good read.

After John finished, yet more schwag. At several points goodies were being tossed pell-mell into the crowd. Several items hit our row but the kids missed them (more time playing catch rather than reading books?). We all went away inspired, happy, and full. We made our way back up signal mountain to the soccer complex next to Nolan Elementary School.