GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS HALF MARATHON
Townsend, TN
The Peaceful Side of the Smokies
September 29, 2024
At the time of this writing, Hurricane Helene has ravaged the East Coast and parts of North Carolina and central Tennessee, after making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26, 2024. The destruction Hurricane Helene left in her wake resulted in over 100 deaths across 6 states, life-threatening flooding, mudslides, entire communities destroyed, evacuees stranded due to the storm surge and dangerous flood currents, and millions of people without power. Although this blog entry is a recap of my recent trip to Tennessee three weeks prior to Helene's devastation, I would be remiss not to discuss the tragedy in progress, and acknowledge the first responders and rescue crews currently working around the clock during the aftermath.
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The catastrophic flooding from Helene led to a dramatic rescue mission in the eastern Tennessee town of Erwin — about 100 miles outside of Knoxville — where helicopters raced to rescue more than 50 staff and patients stranded on the roof of the flooded Unicoi County Hospital after the Nolichucky River overflowed. It was too dangerous for rescue boats to complete the rescue without the support of the helicopters from the National Guard and Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Another notable event that resulted from rising river levels due to the storm was the collapse of the Sgt. Elbert Kinser Bridge in Afton, Tennessee, which previously sat approximately 60 feet above the Nolichucky River. The bridge can be seen buckling and ultimately caving into the roaring river in a shocking video captured by drone footage. The large section of the bridge that effortlessly dropped into the river almost appears to be carried away by the roaring current.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced road closures and event cancellations as the storm battered East Tennessee, even as Helene was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. All of the places I had visited during my trip — Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park — were all under a flood warning. The park alone received over 8 inches of rain according to the National Park Service, and multiple areas across the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys are approaching two feet of rain. There is not really a better way to transition to discussing the highlights of my trip other than to encourage you to support small businesses trying to rebuild if you plan to visit the communities affected by Helene, and also consider donating to some of the organizations providing support.
Three Weeks Earlier: September 4 — September 6, 2024
"You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting... so get on your way." — Dr. Seuss
On my journey to run a half marathon in all 50 states, Tennessee was state #18. The hazy views of the Smokies on my descent into Knoxville were a postcard-perfect representation of what every self-respecting race director refers to as "gently rolling hills." I was once more in awe of the diversity in topography this country has to offer, considering how vastly different the heavily forested landscape of Tennessee appears compared to its majestic grassy neighbor immediately to the north, Kentucky. Kentucky has some serious hills, and although my experience with RunTheBluegrass earlier this year could be considered adequate preparation for any future half marathon, challenging or otherwise, I was unsure how the net uphill course of the Great Smoky Mountains Half Marathon would measure up. I mean, let's be honest... "Mountains" is in the name of the event.
This experience marked my first race with Vacation Races, and it truly was a wonderful and seamless experience all around from initial communication to race organization. It lived up to the expectations I had after endless recommendations from other runners year after year. The views were unbelievable while running through the Smokies and along the Little River, and now I'm already planning my next opportunity to run with Vacation Races again. There are several events featuring the national parks, and with 32 states left to go, my options are open.
I booked my lodging for this race a year in advance, given that lodging for bucket list races such as this one sell out quickly. I also couldn't pass up on the convenience of staying at the hotel which would be the linchpin of this entire event, from hosting the race expo to being the location of shuttles to the start, and most importantly, the finish line. The Talley Ho Inn was charming, cozy, and the hospitality of their staff was exceptional. My room felt like a home away from home, and I can't say enough good things about the detail that went into making it feel that way. After your first stay, they give every repeat guest a discount for returning.
If you've been a follower of my adventures for any length of time, you already know I'm particular about the indoor climate wherever I travel — in the air, on land, and sea — but especially in hotel rooms and cruise ship cabins. I'm the weirdo who sets the thermostat to tundra, and puts black duct tape over every source of light to create a cold and dark sleeping environment worthy of a hibernating bear, or a bat.
So imagine my surprise and joy when I found a dehumidifier in my room when I arrived, knowing how hot and humid it was anticipated to be that weekend. The rooms did not have central air, but there was an air conditioning unit beneath the window, and the dehumidifier was yet another tool for me to keep my room comfortable. It was also the same dehumidifier my husband and I have at home, so I knew the drill: empty the bucket of collected water when it beeps angrily at me at 2:00 A.M.
Anyway, I promptly cranked the air conditioner down as low as the settings would allow, and after admiring the view from my window for 5 minutes, I drew the curtains shut to prepare the room for the glorious sleep I would get later. I also asked the front desk for a box fan for white noise, making it a priority before hundreds of other runners were scheduled to check in over the next few days, quite possibly depleting the hotel of their fan supply (that was the intrusive thought that motivated me). All the fans will be gone! The gentleman manning the front desk gave me a fan, laughed, and said, "You're a city girl, aren't you." It wasn't a question. And he was correct in his assessment of me.
After dropping my bags off in my room, I was later joined by my dad, who had driven up to meet me in Townsend for the weekend. Our plan was to take advantage of the time in the area and sightsee in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg before the race. Dinner that first evening was an amazing fig and pear pizza from Peaceful Side Social, followed by ice cream from Peaceful Side Creamery. The two businesses share a space, and are located in the heart of the Townsend Town Square. The restaurant side of the business offers craft beer and farm-to-table salads, sandwiches, paninis, and personal pizzas, plus a taco bar, and an outdoor seating area with mountain views. Actually, because Townsend is completely surrounded by the Smokies, you can't go anywhere without mountain views.
Peaceful Side Creamery was extremely cute, and their menu rotates daily. That particular day, I got a scoop of mixed berry with a scoop of vanilla bean. It was everything I imagined it would be, and the perfect conclusion to a fantastic pizza. In addition to running a half marathon in all 50 states, I am on a side quest to try a pizza in all 50 states. Tennessee pizza gets five stars. It was so good, we had to go back a second time for a different pizza on the last night in Tennessee after the race. The second one was a pepperoni pizza, with a side of hot honey, which was my homage to the "Hot Chica" pizza I had on my June trip to Fargo at Blackbird Woodfire Pizza.
Coffee, Good Vibes, & The Titanic Museum (There Was Room for Jack on the Door)
Good Vibes on the River was another restaurant that ended up getting a repeat visit from us — a threepeat, if you will. Our first visit was during breakfast the next morning, and we were served by Missy, the sweetest lady in the whole entire world who went out of her way to make it feel like we were having breakfast in her own kitchen. The coolest part about Good Vibes on the River is that it is actually on the river, with a covered outdoor seating area overlooking the Little River. If I had to guess, Townsend's nickname, "The Peaceful Side of the Smokies," likely is all because of Good Vibes... you can't get any more peaceful than having breakfast next to the river surrounded by the Smoky Mountains.
That first morning I had the French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. On our second visit, which was also for breakfast, Missy recommended I try the cinnamon roll pancakes, and they were of course awesome. She confided that they were, in fact, the best pancakes in town, and there was truth to "Best Pancakes in Town" emblazoned on their billboard in front of the restaurant. My dad had the blueberry streusel pancakes, and it also looked like he had no regrets. Our third visit to Good Vibes was for lunch after I finished the race, and I had the best Philly cheesesteak and potato salad in human history. Everything was perfect, and no, any cheesesteak you've ever had in the past — even from Philadelphia, for which the Philly cheesesteak is presumably named after — does not hold a candle to this cheesesteak.
After breakfast at Good Vibes on September 5, we headed to Pigeon Forge to visit the Titanic Museum. Full disclosure, this entire trip actually originated as an idea based upon the existence of the Titanic Museum. I'd recently joined a Facebook group of Titanic enthusiasts, historians, explorers, hobbyists, and the like, and I have been fascinated with the Titanic myself for over 20 years. One of our group members sent me down this internet rabbit hole with photos from his recent visit to the museum in Pigeon Forge. So, naturally, I wondered if I could pair a half marathon in Tennessee with a trip to the Titanic Museum, and lo and behold, the Great Smoky Mountains Half was the winner based on proximity to Pigeon Forge.
At the very beginning of the Titanic museum experience, each guest is given a "boarding pass" for a real passenger who sailed on Titanic, and there is a story on the card about the passenger. As you go through the exhibit, you discover whether your assigned passenger survived the tragedy, or died that day. My passenger was first class passenger Carrie Chaffee, and (spoiler alert) I learned she was one of the survivors. Carrie was rescued from one of the life boats, and sadly, her husband was lost. In the upper level of the museum, there is a memorial wall dedicated to all of the Titanic passengers.
Seeing the exhibits of course was an emotional experience, and frankly kind of surreal, because it was amazing seeing items that were actually recovered from the ship. There was a tiny piece of the grand staircase, a small sample of Titanic's carpet valued at an estimated $30,000, incredible original photographs taken prior to Titanic's maiden voyage, and there was even a violinist and pianist on the second floor playing a rendition of "Nearer My God to Thee." Many of the artifacts, particularly the dishes and silverware, were in exceptionally pristine condition. In addition to the ship's artifacts, there were also displays housing props from the 1997 Titanic movie, such as Kate Winslet's swim dress, life vest, and the Hartley violin that is autographed by the cast members. I took quite a few photos, yet I feel like I didn't take enough.
Adjacent to the museum is Titanic Frozen Custard & Chocolate, which can be considered a separate attraction, but it is really all part of the museum experience. Predictably, it had Titanic-themed everything, and on display were Franklin Mini Dolls renderings of Kate Winslet's Rose costumes, and a case that housed the famous Heart of the Ocean. The Heart of the Ocean on display was a replica specifically designed for the museum, with an estimated value of $250,000. My favorite fun fact I learned from visiting the ice cream shop was that the Lifesavers candy was invented in 1912.
After the Titanic Museum we headed down the street to Sunliner Diner for lunch, which had excellent reviews according to my research. Sunliner is a retro 50's style restaurant filled with nostalgia and classic cars, and they serve typical diner fare including classic milkshakes, burgers, and fries. I ordered all of the above. Each milkshake came topped with a small waffle, which made me feel like I'd ordered breakfast, lunch, and dinner all in the same meal.
Definitely not necessarily a bad thing when carb loading in the few days leading up to a half marathon, when every calorie consumed helps me avoid excessive race day fatigue. According to this calculator from the Austin International Half, on average, I burn around 1,772 calories during a half marathon. And milkshakes are also a superior recovery drink, in case you were wondering.
Last but not least, on the morning of September 6, we visited Towns End Coffee, which is the cutest little mountain café and gift shop housed inside of a tiny log cabin. I ordered the Lumber Ridge Latte, which was basically my favorite combination of flavors I typically have in my coffee, and a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich. Had this trip been longer, I would have tried every drink on their menu. As a self-proclaimed coffee elitist, I thought this coffee was some of the best I've ever had from a locally owned coffee shop.
I later ran past Towns End Coffee while on the half marathon course, when we were approaching the home stretch and climbing up the last few miles. Towns End Coffee staff were outside cheering for us, which was super sweet and reminded us how great Townsend's small community is. At the expo, the race organizers let us know we'd be passing the coffee shop on the course, along with many other businesses they recommended we visit during our stay.
The expo was outside on the lawn of Talley Ho Inn, and they had the usual variety of official race merchandise for purchase, nutrition and hydration options, and Vacation Races gear. Bib pickup was seamless, and I received my Nathan reusable cup and T-shirt. The shirt is a very nice moisture wicking high-quality shirt, and unfortunately it had the wrong date printed on the back. Vacation Races realized this mistake and offered to mail us corrected finisher shirts following the race.
Great Smoky Mountains Half Marathon Recap
Race Day: Saturday, September 7, 2024
Race morning began for me at 4:30 A.M. The shuttles to the starting line began loading at 5:15 A.M., with the last shuttle scheduled to depart at 6:00 A.M. Vacation Races recommended not waiting until the last bus; however, I decided based on previous lessons learned that I did not want to be on the very first bus either. The bus I selected departed at 5:20 A.M. from the Talley Ho Inn, which was extremely convenient because all I had to do was step outside of my room to hop on the bus. I thanked myself for creating a stress free experience by booking my room at the shuttle departure location, which later would also be the finish line.
The shuttles were the traditional yellow school bus with no air conditioning, and the ride to the start was extremely humid. I was surprised the runner sitting behind me was trying to shut her window, but depending on where you're from, 73° F with 87% humidity is chilly for some people. Definitely not me. I was already sweating profusely, wishing my window didn't just open half way. My weather app told me the humidity would increase to 100% by 8:00 A.M., which made me very nervous. As we made our way from Townsend to Maryville, the temperature dropped slightly to 68° F. This was still warmer than I was comfortable with, and I began praying for rain. We were told to prepare for heat and humidity, and I very badly did not want that to be the case, especially with a net uphill course.
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It took approximately 28 minutes to reach the starting line, which was at the Heritage High School parking lot in Maryville. We hung out in the parking lot for about 40 minutes before lining up for the official race start at 7:00 A.M. I found myself a parking spot, sat down on the asphalt among the other runners who were stretching or resting, and ate my breakfast — an orange juice and a bagel with cream cheese I'd grabbed from Starbucks the night before. There was a giant water buffalo where we could fill reusable cups and hydration systems, a table with a generous selection of green bananas, a second table with hot chocolate, and a third table with sunscreen and bug spray. It turned out that we would need neither the sunscreen or bug spray, as mother nature had other plans.
Our announcer encouraged us to tear our raffle tickets from our bibs and drop them into the raffle container, and the raffle drawing was held as we waited for the start. As soon as our wave was permitted to cross the timing mat, I set my watch and trotted with our cluster of runners until there was room to begin a slow jog. For the first two miles I stayed with my pace group, and then wound my way ahead of the group towards mile 3, feeling good. Actually, I felt good the entire race from start to finish, which is a huge deal for me because in the earlier part of this journey, I struggled with hitting the wall between mile 9 and 11.
I had to be extremely scientific about my nutrition and hydration for this race — even more so than I normally am, for two reasons: first, it was a "cup-free" event, in an effort to reduce waste, which meant I needed to incorporate a slightly different hydration plan and treat it like a trail race. And second, the spacing of the aid stations was a bit out of the ordinary for me, as my training lends itself to the expectation of an aid station every 2 miles on a typical course. So although my strategy going into this race was modified slightly, the modification ended up tremendously improving how I felt throughout the entire event. This is my shameless plug for my amazing nutrition coach, Emily, The Dietitian Runner, who changed my life since working together!
Vacation Races kindly offered free Nathan reusable cups included with our registration. This was my first time using a Nathan reusable cup on a course (and yes, I know, nothing new on race day...), and I ended up LOVING it. It was super convenient to just collapse the cup and shove it into my pocket after consuming fluids or clip it to my hydration pack. I'd filled my Camelbak bladder with 0.5 liters of water, or approximately 16 ounces, since our first aid station wasn't scheduled to pop up until Mile 3. The supplemental water plus 2 Saltstick Fastchews got me through those early miles, when typically I would have already consumed 8 oz water and 8 oz Gatorade/electrolytes by Mile 2 on an average course for a larger race.
Each aid station was stocked with water dispensers, Gnarly Hydrate dispensers, Honey Stinger gels, and there were also toilets. Fruit was available at later aid stations, however I opted to skip it. There were a total of 6 aid stations, located at Miles 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12. The medic was positioned at the Mile 9 aid station. Now, about the course itself. The Great Smoky Mountain Half was one of the most beautiful courses I've ever run thus far. Alaska is tough to beat, but I actually think I enjoyed this course more. We got to experience running in the early morning misty "smoke" of the Smoky Mountains firsthand.
It was overcast and misting during the whole race, eventually becoming an on and off light drizzle as we wound our way through the mountains, which hugged each side of the paved road. The temperature ended up being perfect with the rain, and I was ecstatic. I was also glad I didn't bring my headphones, because I got to listen to the Little River rushing past on my right as we ran south on Old Walland Highway. The river and the rain together made for a very meditative and peaceful running experience on the Peaceful Side of the Smokies. The majority of the course was on Old Walland Highway, and we shared the road with traffic passing on the left. There was not much spectator support at all on the course, presumably because it was a highway without much of a shoulder, however the occasional spectators popped out of their riverfront homes to cheer us on. Around Mile 7, I encountered a bear. Fortunately, the bear was very friendly!
The only unpleasant thing about this course was on a significant stretch along Old Walland Highway, the road slopes horizontally towards the riverbank, which was harder on my hips and feet, and I did more walking than actual running when my gait became too awkward. Even still, I tolerated it with optimism, because I was so thankful for the weather turning out in our favor, and I was enjoying the unbelievable beauty of the scenery all around me. Prior to Mile 9, we crossed a cute little bridge, and the course transitioned to Townsend Trail. At the end of the tunnel sat a photographer inside a tiny collapsible rain shelter. I was prepared for him, since I made time to stop on the bridge to take my own photos.
We then ran parallel to East Lamar Alexander Parkway, passing Towns End Coffee, other shops along route, all the way back to the Talley Ho Inn. During the last few miles I pushed harder than I had throughout the rest of the course, watching my heart rate climb alongside the elevation, and powered my way up the final steep hill to the finish line. While cresting the hill, I was treated to another breathtaking view of the Smokies, in all their glory surrounded by the blue haze.
At the finish, I was handed my medal, and although I noticed the tables lined up with snack boxes, chocolate milk, and water — I skipped it because I couldn't wait to run back to my room for a hot shower. I'd spent the last couple of hours running in the rain, my clothes were uncomfortably damp, I didn't like that my toes were touching, my socks were wet (physically and emotionally), and it was still drizzling, so at that point my Smoky Mountain high had worn off. I was irritable and just wanted to be dry. I'd heard from other runners the snack boxes were good, though, and part of me felt like I missed out by rushing away from the finish corral so quickly.
Overall, this race was a treat and worth the trip, and it's now on my top 5 favorites list. For all of the anticipation I had about this course being net uphill, the hills ended up being extremely manageable, even the more noticeable three mile gradual uphill climb at the end. Fortunately, I was well prepared, having run my most challenging race to date only four months prior. Tennessee mountains have nothing on Kentucky hills!
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LODGING RECOMMENDATION:
Talley Ho Inn
8314 TN-73, Townsend, TN 37882
Happy running and safe travels,
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