PPRF suckered me into another summer race...... or actually ... Candy suckered us all into the race. 😂 Several months ago she sent us a link and said let's do this race. It's just a half marathon and we will get to see this amazing waterfall. Everyone signed up and I held off until like a month prior and finally caved. 😁 I was like I'll be training anyway, why not go do this half with the girls. I did not look at the map as to where this race was at because they had said it will be a weekend and no one was taking off work. I assumed that meant close race.... Well...... I assumed wrong. It was a 6 1/2 hour drive with no stops so by the time we stopped and had food and bathroom breaks... took us more like 7 1/2 hours. 😏 We took 2 vehicles because there were 8 of us coming from Mississippi to Tennessee. Michelle had booked us a room at a bed & breakfast what would sleep 7. Ronnie and Be stayed at the lodge in Fall Creek State park where the race was held.
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| My driving peeps... Penny, Felicia, & Michelle |
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| We stopped at Cracker Barrel and met the Freemans, Ann & Penny in Meridian to eat and travel on together following each other to TN |
It was a long drive Saturday morning to get there. Once we arrived we decided to hike to see the waterfall and stretch our legs. We had hoped it would be cooler weather in TN, but it was HOT! We didn't have to go far to reach the overlook to see the waterfall and we all stood there wondering what the heck... Hardly any water was flowing! All the info we had read said it was one of the largest free flowing waterfalls in the south! As candy said, someone forgot to turn on the faucet! Who knew we'd be having a drought in August. 😔 It was a disappoint for sure. Susan who came from TN to meet us told us there was also a swinging bridge so we decided to hike to it. It was supposed to be like less than a mile, but it seemed like forever hiking up and down in the woods and did I mention it was so HOT! We were all soaked! And I did not bring extra clothes since we were only going to be gone one night.
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| The waterfall |
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| Penny & I on the porch before we went on hike. |
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| When we arrived.. checking out the bed & breakfast |
We finally reached the LONG swinging bridge.
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| The swinging bridge! |
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| Ann is down at the bottom looking up taking pic of swinging bridge |
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| Goofing off on our hike. |
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| Ronnie telling everyone to come on across |
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| Looking down at the waterfall and wondering what the heck... |
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| Ms Ann says I can do it! |
Let's just say it wasn't too bad when only one person was crossing, but when you got 4-5 on there at the same time and not walking in sync it was a SWINGING! Candy and Susan refused to go across. There was no way we were getting them to go across. We even watched a man with a German Shepherd dog that laid down and refused to cross. A few of us crossed the bridge and Felicia and I even went on down to where people were in the water enjoying the small stream. I so wanted to take my shoes off and stay awhile, but the ones that would not cross were sitting at the top waiting on us. Ann made it down also and snapped a picture of 3 of us on the bridge.
By the time we got back to our vehicles it was time for packet pickup and supper! Many of us did not have change of clothes so we went to a small pizza place and had a quick dinner in our sweaty clothes. Which the town was VERY SMALL. There was hardly any eating places unless you drove like 45 minutes... so the small pizza place was basically our only option. By the time we got back to the bed & breakfast we were all ready for a hot shower.... but we had one bathroom to 7 of us women.... We had one queen bed, a couch bed, an air mattress and one double bed. As Feleica and I said...we can do anything for one night. 😁😂😁 We took turns taking our showers and hit the hay.
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| Ann & I in one bed |
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| Candy & Feleica on couch bed |
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| Michelle on air mattress, Susan and Penny in bed |
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| Race morning... let's get this party started! |
4:45 am came early the next morning to get ready for the race and head over to the state park. Race started at 7am. Our Bed & Breakfast was only a couple of miles so that worked out good because we were able to come back after the half marathon and take a shower before driving that long drive home. I'm so glad for that because we would not have wanted to smell each other on the ride home! 😂😁The race.... Let's just say it's one of those one and done races. I doubt we will go back to do it again. The State park is really nice, but the run was tough and HOT. It was basically a trail run, but on a paved trail through the woods. Only a couple of miles were on the park road. The trail had LOTS of bumps where tree roots had busted up the concrete so you had to watch your FOOTING at all times! I am still shocked none of us face planted! and I'm so thankful we did not! 🙏 It was a 2 loop course so we had to do it 2X and there was only 1 porta potty on the whole course! AND>>>> when Penny, Micelle and Felicia finished they had run out of half marathon medals and gave them a left over medal from the Triathlon they had the day before! They only had waters at the finish line. No food! AND when they called me and Ms Be up for awards, the mug we were given had "triathlon" on it! Someone asked the guy and all he said was he didn't realize all the awards he ordered had Triathlon on them! Now how do you not see that when the awards come in??! So.... we probably won't be doing that race again.... Just saying.. 😏😑
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The start of the half marathon
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| coming across the dam before heading into the woods on the trail... (race photo) |
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| The whole gang! |
I got 2nd place in my age group. A girl from TN beat me. I guess she had run them hills before. 😁 I was just thankful to finish with no injuries. 🙏
I did have a fabulous time with my friends. We even enjoyed several minutes sitting on the front porch of the Bed & Breakfast before heading home. We all sat there wishing we were all back in Mississippi sitting on one of our own front porches visiting with each other instead of about to tackle a long drive home. I was so glad when I got home around 9pm! Too bad the weekend was over and off to bed and back to work. It was a quick weekend for sure!  |
| Porch sitting before traveling home. |
Did I mention some of the signs said strenuous hikes? Well, after we got home we heard a father and son had fallen Sunday afternoon on one of the trails and it took rescue workers 2 1/2 hours to rescue them. I'm so happy they were not hurt badly and that we didn't have any accidents while we were there. Oh and someone I go to church with said he was there at the park earlier in the year and that the waterfall was amazing! I guess we were just there at the wrong time of year.
I thank God for another run finished and for watching over us as we traveled. 🙏 Looking forward to Detroit in October!
