Xterra Knoxville 2019

By | June 3, 2019

Wow.

Dirty Bird Events absolutely crushed this race. Amazing setup, more volunteers than I’ve ever seen at a race, and excellent course markings throughout. Did I mention the enthusiastic volunteers? Well done!

Weather was great, water temp was perfect (not wetsuit legal), and the trails were dry.

As seems to be the case lately, I squeezed this race into the family schedule and left Nashville after 8:30pm on Saturday night. Arrived halfway to Knoxville after 10pm and stayed at a reasonably priced hotel – as I had to leave by 4:30am (5:30am eastern/Knoxville time). The hotel was a major step up from the Scottish Inn last year, however.

While the event was fantastic, my run performance was not. Legs wanted to cramp early in the run, and while they loosened up a bit, I couldn’t increase the pace much. And that climb – that climb! Dirty Bird mentions it as a “punishing climb” in the last mile of the run. Um yeah. Their tag line, #walkingisracing, is fitting. Definitely hiked the climb in what seemed like slow motion. With my weak legs, it felt like I was hiking above 13,000 ft – slowly. Once crested, I was able to run down to the finish smoothly… putting up the slowest average mile pace in any event I’ve entered.

June 2, 2019
1200m Swim, 15.4m Bike, 4.6m Run
Results here

Leave a Reply