While I used to paddles surfskis with my husband Rob, I switched to paddleboards after some back issues. A few months ago I competed in the Chattajack 31, a 31-mile race on my Stand Up Paddleboard on the Tennessee River through the Tennessee River Gorge on October 13th. I really want to write an awesome, detailed account of this race, but I can’t. I’m still speechless.

 

It’s been two years since my last distance event – an event that I didn’t get to finish. I “hit the wall” with 4 miles left in the event, and got dragged out of the water by the fire department. I was so embarrassed. I’m not a quitter. But that time it wasn’t my mind that quit, it was my body. Earlier that year, I paddled much longer, but I had Rob with me the whole time, and he made sure I was doing the right thing. For Chattajack, I was extremely nervous that the same thing was going to happen. That I’d bonk so hard that I would be disoriented, then get lost or something. Thank goodness that didn’t happen!!

 

I paddled my brains out at Chattajack. I was really surprised that I was able to keep the pace and intensity that I was holding up for so long. I would love to give you an hour by hour breakdown of the beast of the race I just competed in, but my brain doesn’t work that way. I wasn’t really keeping track. The first 3 hours went by crazy fast. I kept to my schedule of drinking every 20 minutes and eating every hour. That helped pass the time. I also had a totally bad-ass playlist in my ipod. I’m sure paddlers nearby heard me singing. I usually never paddle with music, but this time I did, and it totally helped.  I did keep track of my mileage on my GPS, and noticed at times I was going upwards close to 6 mph, which is a great speed to hold for such a long time. I used Rob’s 14′ Ohana race board, which is really designed to be a rough water board. All I wanted was a long and stable board, so this worked out fine.

 

I would have to say that the scenery of the race was just as breathtaking. The leaves were starting to change, so the color contrasts were gorgeous. When we caught a side wind, leaves would gently blow off the trees and across the river. Despite how hard I was working, it was a peaceful point in the race that allowed me to take a deep breath.  It was one of those moments that I’ve captured in my memory and will hold in my heart forever. I guess you had to be there.

Of course, like every race, I had my challenges. I tried to minimize them by learning the river the week before, and finding some landmarks that would help me along the way. My most important one was the boat ramp by the convenience store that marked the “10-miles to go” stage. I also remembered the spots of the old rapids that used to be on the river. I knew at that point that I was paddling in water that was 150 feet deep. Kinda cool to know.  There was a significant amount of headwind during the race. The river bent around so much that it was hard to tell when you were going to get it. But I totally knew that the last few miles were going to be killer because the wind would be right in my face (which it was) and the river was really wide and open there (which gave it plenty of room to blow hard). We came around that last turn and I could see the Hales Bar dam reminants, and knew the end was in site. But I swear it took an hour to get there since the wind was blowing so hard.  In shorter races, I would let that challenge get to me. For some reason, in this race, I just put my head down, started singing, picked up my cadence and kept digging.

I finished 2nd in the ladies’ sup category, timing in at 6 hours and 24 minutes. I am very happy with that finish and very proud of myself. I was hoping for under 6 hours, but we didn’t have much flow to help us on the river that day, so what I finished was just fine. I did crash pretty hard after the race, and there’s some video out there of a post race interview that I did where I don’t think I made a lot of sense, then I backed out of the interview when I told the guy (Brandon) that I was going to puke.  Yep, that one should be really funny. Once Rob got to me (which Mr Rockstar got the race done 2 hours in front of me on his surfski – holy flying cows batman!), he got me a coke  and some donuts, and I came back to planet earth.

I always learn something at these long distance races. I learned a lot about myself and about my abilities, and that I am capable of doing more that I ever will believe. I learned that those cliff shot jelly square things are supposed to be taken all at once and not in bits like I did. I also learned that donuts are great post race sugar blast 

Mahalo,

 Karen Mirlenbrink, C.S.C.S., PMA-CPT

(727) 510-3493
www.dunedinpilates.com

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