“In essence, mountains are like people: To love them, you must first get to know them.” – Kilian Jornet

Ruffner has been a very special place for me in 2015 and every time I reflect back on this period of my life, preparing for my first 100 mile race, I will always think of Ruffner Mountain and all of the miles that I put in there.

Ruffner is a beautiful place. It contains a massive diversity of plant and animal life as well as symbols of Birmingham’s industrial history in the rock quarry and old mine crushers. It is a very strong mountain with technical trails, steep climbs and off-map areas waiting to be explored.

There are many other trails and mountains in Birmingham to run on. Red Mountain and Oak Mountain, for example, have given me many great memories and if mountains are like people, then I consider them to be two of my best friends. With Ruffner mountain, however, I want to be more than friends and against my better judgement, I can’t resist my feelings for Ruffner Mountain.

However, Ruffner does not feel the same way about me, or if it does, it has an odd way of showing it. I continually come to Ruffner Mountain with expectation and hope for a great training run or a successful race and it always sends me home beat up, broken, and with low self confidence. Yet, despite these repetitive beatings, I continue to return hopeful that this time will be different, and it never is.

Crusher Ridge is a fantastic race and all of the profits go to benefit both The Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve and also The Exceptional Foundation.

This was my third year running Crusher Ridge (it is the only race that I have run 3 years in a row in Birmingham) and it is my third race in 2015 at Ruffner Mountain. None of these races have gone to plan and I will probably continue to return until I feel I don’t have any more unfinished business here.

I will have to wait until 2016 to bury my unfinished business with Ruffner Mountain because the consequence of having such a great weekend at the Stage Race two weeks prior was developing a strain in my Achilles tendon. I ran for 9 years without injury, so I am pretty hyper sensitive to anything that seems “off”. Even if this “injury” isn’t a big deal, I certainly treated it that way by taking time off, stretching, foam rolling and icing like crazy.

Because Crusher Ridge is only four weeks away from Pinhoti, I resolved to take every precaution. The plan was to take it easy, run slowly and focus on just getting in mileage and elevation for training. This was actually pretty freeing. I mentioned in my recap of the Stage Race that even though part of my love for running stems from being a competitive person, I feel silly sometimes acting very competitive in trail and ultra running because the environment and the culture isn’t a very competitive one. The culture at trail and ultra races is much more supportive and fun-loving. I was looking forward to embracing that side of the sport today and just focusing on having fun today.

The Crusher Ridge course is a 21 kilometer loop with a brutal 4,500 feet of elevation change. To call it tough would be an understatement. Half of the trails don’t appear on the official Ruffner Mountain map. It feels like the course runs from the bottom to the top of the mountain about a million times before it is over. I was registered for the 42 kilometer race, meaning that I was in for two loops of fun.

The first 6 or so miles of the loop are the most brutal. These are the trails that are not on the official park map and many loyal volunteers have been slowly working to clear out and maintain them so that they may eventually be recognized as official. These 6 miles follow a long face of the mountain running from the bottom to the top and back down 4 times. Each of the four trails that take you up the mountain increase in difficulty, incline grade and overgrowth. The trails going down the mountain don’t provide much of a break as you try not to trip over a hidden root or hit a slick rock on the steep descent.

Next, you get rewarded with a couple of miles of flat gravel road. This is where my Achilles started to act up. There was no pain, but I recognized the sensation that was distinctly different from my other leg. This is where I became aware that running up and down the hills doesn’t agitate it as much as picking up the pace on a flat section. Once the gravel road section is over, the rest of the race is run on official Ruffner Mountain trails. This doesn’t mean that they are much easier, but it does mean that more existing foot traffic has cleaned them out some more.

The second half of the course has more scenic spots too. The course runs past a beautiful mine crusher, an overlook of the city of Birmingham and takes you around the ridge of and into the bottom of an old rock quarry.

When I finished the first 21k loop, it was time to make a decision. Do I play it safe and stop here to make sure that I don’t agitate my Achilles any more, or do I run the second loop knowing that I barely got in any mileage over the past two weeks and really need a long run today? I asked the advice of another experienced trail runner who told me just to take the second lap even easier than I took the first lap and finishing this race would probably give me even more confidence going into Pinhoti. So, off I went.

Someone told me before starting the second loop that I was in fourth place. That was good. It meant that I didn’t have to stress about trying to get a podium finish. I could continue with my leisurely run, not worry about trying to catch the people in front of me and having nothing to lose if someone behind me catches up.

I didn’t see another person for almost the entire second lap. Aside from the faint, spooky train noise that always accompanies Ruffner Mountain, it was quiet and peaceful. I’ve grown to love long runs by myself. It opens up time to pray, meditate and to reflect. I have a lot to reflect on. This year has been a very full year with many good things to be grateful for. Gratitude has been a theme of my running this year. It’s how I feel during and after almost every long run of being lost in the woods. Running is a privilege that I don’t deserve and I am grateful.

With a little less than four miles to go, I came up to an aid station sponsored by the cool people at Resolute Running. They made a joke to me about looking like the happiest person to come through the aid station so far. I took my time refilling my bottle with tailwind and looking for a cookie and explained that I was having fun today taking it easy and not racing. This prompted them to tell me that third place had only left the aid station a minute before I arrived there.

I didn’t believe them at first because I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of them all day and I really was taking it easy. They reassured me that he was there and so I continued on at my easy pace assuming that since I had caught up to him running slowly this far, I might still catch up to him running slowly now. I really wasn’t concerned if I didn’t catch up as I had already resigned myself to not caring today. Yet within a quarter mile of leaving the aid station, I not only saw third place close in front of me, but also second place with him.

“Sorry, Achilles” I prep talked myself, “I’ve been nice to you all day, but now I am going to change gears and take home a gift card.”

The only explanation I have for how I finished in second place is simply that this is a very difficult course to run and is made even more difficult when you aren’t very familiar with it. I have run these trails and variations of this course every week for all of 2015 so far. I knew exactly what to expect at every turn. If you don’t know these trails, they not only beat you up physically, but also psychologically. I know this because that is exactly what happened to me last year at this race. The two guys who I ran by before the finish, were from Huntsville and from Mississippi, making them more unfamiliar with the beast that is Ruffner. One of them commented that this race is “harder than an Ironman.” I’ve never done a triathlon, so I can’t verify that statement, but it should give you an indication of just now it feels to run 42 kilometers on Ruffner Mountain.

This is my second time coming in second place at Crusher Ridge. The first time was in the 21 kilometer race in 2013. This pretty much solidifies that I will be back here next year and I will be running for one reason: to finally take the win. However, I’ll cross that bridge next year. Finishing place was not what today was about. Today was about dispelling any fear attached to how my Achilles felt so close to Pinhoti, today was about building confidence and putting some more miles and climbing under my belt and most importantly, today was about gratitude for this sport and the opportunity to get lost on the woods during a weekend in October.

Thank you to all of the volunteers from the Birmingham Ultra Trail Society (or BUTS) and Resolute Running for working at the aid stations and providing positive energy and encouragement. Thank you to anyone who has spent a Saturday at Ruffner Mountain doing trail maintenance on the new sections of this mountain. The biggest thanks go to the race directors, Lisa Booher and Mary Campbell. You did it again and put on a great event, benefiting a fantastic cause. Thank you for everything you do for the trail running community, for Ruffner Mountain and for the Exceptional Foundation.