It was not the heat that finally got to me but the 11.1 miles of not so gently rolling hills. The Cades Cove Loop totally kicked my butt.
We loaded up the cooler, packed the car and left the house around 6:30 AM. The drive to Cades Cove took a little over an hour. Although I started out pretty unemotional about the run, we haven’t been to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since November 2007 so the closer we got, the more excited I became.
We finally arrived about 7:45 AM and drove immediately to the picnic area. Anticipating that my run would take about 2 hrs, 15 mins, we decided to stake out a parking spot and table. Failure to do so would result in a post run scramble to get out of the park and find a restaurant for breakfast. Prior experience has taught us that picnickers arrive early to the Cades Cove picnic area and tables fill quickly. Once we found a good spot, I stuffed my pockets with my id, camera, luna bar and iPod, put on my visor and left John to set up our picnic and unload his bike. I walked about a quarter of a mile to the beginning of the loop road, took a deep breath, hit the timing button on my watch and began my adventure.
Based on heat and traffic, I would have preferred to begin this run an hour earlier. However, the loop road is closed to car traffic on Saturday mornings during the summer until 10:00 AM and based on my calculations, I knew I would be within a mile or two of the end before the first vehicle reached me. Not much to do about the heat but deal with it and take advantage of the shady sections.
After an 11 year absence, running on the loop road was exhilarating! Joining me were lots of bicyclers, a few hikers and fewer runners. A couple of puffy clouds floated across the light blue sky, the sun was warm and the humidity unusually low. The first few miles passed quickly as I listened to birds chirping and shared good morning greetings with others. 
Me and my shadow… stuffed pockets, iPod hanging off the pocket on my right side. This stuff got a little heavy later in the run. John rode up behind me not long after I took the shadow photo. He was a welcome sight with a bottle of ice cold water. Sooooo refreshing! We chatted for a moment and he told me he was surprised at how far along I was. That comment put a little spring in my step as I resumed running while John was off to complete his first loop.
This is the first church on the Cades Cove Loop. I have explored it at least a 100 times. I believe this is the Methodist Church, the second oldest church in the Cove, built about 1840. There are 100 graves in a lot behind the church (barely visible at the end of the gravel road). The road leading to this stop is a long, gradual climb (you can see the top in the above picture). While I did stop for a moment to take the picture and catch my breath, I did not stop to explore 🙂
This stretch of road is just past the Methodist Church. Nice, shady and slightly downhill! I was running quite comfortably at this point. I felt good and thoughts of successfully reaching the halfway point were in my mind. I had one more long hill to go then a nice downhill and short flat section to reach the halfway mark.
Becky Cable’s house (and farm) is the halfway point on the Cades Cove Loop road. The house, built around 1879, and the farm is used by the Park Service to demonstrate skills utilized by early settlers. With public bathrooms and water fountains, it is the most commercialized of the properties in the Cove and a welcome stop for motorists and bicyclists.
I debated with myself about stopping. My run was going well but fatigue was setting in. I still had 5.6 miles to go and a stop would disrupt my rhythm. I also realized that John might decide against riding the loop a 2nd time so this might be my only option for water. Not stopping would be foolish. I ran down the long driveway, stopped the timing button on my watch and took a few long gulps of water.
A short 6 minutes later, I returned to the loop road and resumed running.
Photo from the gravel road leading in Becky Cable’s house. The sky was starting to cloud a bit but not threatening.
The two bicyclers above are part of a volunteer squad who ride the Cove and help bicyclists. The road fork to the right leads to the cabin in the picture below, the left fork is the loop road and another hill…oh yeah, we are already going uphill.
About a mile past the stop, I needed a boost. I pulled the Luna Bar out of my pocket and ripped off the edge of the wrapper. (note environmentalist friends, I put the torn wrapper in my pocket) Cookies n’ Cream Delight. This does not taste like Cookies and Cream! I took one bite and yuck! The pieces were not going to go down! I quickly spit them out and mentally marked Luna Bars off my possible distance running food list. Next I tried to figure out what to do with the warm, half wrapped bar. About that time, John caught up with me. Yeah, he was on his second time around the loop. Again, I grabbed some cold water and was eventually successful in shoving the bar on him to carry out.
With a parting comment of “I forgot how hilly the back part of the loop is,” he was off, leaving me to rely on a pair of very weary legs to get me to the end.
Well, I did finally get to the end. I walked the hills, ran the downhills and flat sections. After a while I walked some of the flat sections too. I spotted a group of people standing on the edge of the road and stopped long enough to watch a 400-500 lbs bear drinking from the creek. John pedaled in to meet me somewhere along the last mile. He gave me another drink, a little more encouragement and followed me to the end. By the way, his animal sightings included 3 bear (one that ran in front of his bike) and 4 deer.
I finished in 2 hrs, 23 minutes (excluding 6 min stop) for an average pace of about 12:55 mmp. Not too bad considering that most of my recent runs have been on the treadmill and I had to do some uphill walking.
After the run and a little relaxing, we fixed a breakfast of smoked bacon, sweet potato pancakes and a tall glass of very cold milk. This was the second meal, our first breakfast was early, before we left.
Me right after the run. Hot, sweaty and happy to be done. What the heck is going on with the visor and my ear….at that point I could care less!
John cooking bacon. We had 3 pieces each but wished we had 6 each. Oh so good, oh so bad for us!
Me cooking pancakes. I got the chance to clean up a bit and change clothes, which made the next few hours of relaxing, v-e-r-y comfortable.
This is the 3rd meal. After a couple of hours of relaxing, we walked down to the camp store and got a hot dog. Our plan had been to cook our pancakes and leave. We had not counted on staying through lunch. Note to self, pack lunch next time!
A butterfly flew in and stayed a while. Not only did he (she) enjoy the condensed water on the outside of John’s bottle (above) but also the salt from my running socks (below).
All in all, a very nice way to spend Saturday. We hope to do this again in the fall!
