White River Roadrunners

[Joe or Kay Pool]

Mr. Rick Franks completed another marathon this last weekend at the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. I believe this is in the southeast cornor of Tennessee and northern Georgia.

Congratulations Rick!


Joe

[sunshine]

Congrats, Rick!
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"Impossible is a word we created to make ourselves feel better about not trying."

[robups]

Way to go Rick How many does that make this year
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If you don't see the sun rise, you're not getting the most out of your day.

[rfranks]

Thanks. This race is run almost entirely within the Chickamauga National Military Park. The race is capped at 1500 (600 in the full & 900 in the half marathon), and it reached capacity & registration closed 2 months ago. The start/finish lines are on the parade grounds circle at the old Fort Oglethorpe, home of the 6th Cavalry. Fort Oglethorpe is on the southern outskirts of Chattanooga, but is in the NW corner of Georgia.

This is a wonderful race. Very little traffic within the park, easy rolling hills and great support at the aid stations. The course is two loops thru the park, with a couple of short out & backs for the full, and a single loop for the half. Its a beautiful wooded park with over 1000 civil war monuments, plaques, and artillery pieces along the course. Wish I could have spent more time reading the plaques. Each year the finishers medal is engraved with one of the states monuments; this year's was South Carolina. The runners in the full recieved a nice long sleeve tech shirt and the half got short sleeve technical shirts. And the race organizers had pizza, soups, bagels, cokes, and a new sports drink called 180' Energy Drink at the finish.

My brother and nephew came down from Morristown, TN. We enjoyed the $10 pasta dinner and visited with many of the runners. I saw some of my 50 State & Marathon Maniac buddies. Saturday morning we drove the 15 minutes over to Fort Oglethorpe from our hotel, and found quick & easy parking right at the staging area. There were plenty of porta pottys at the starting area. The temperature was 45'F, and a 7 man confederate artillery group fired a cannon to start the race.

I ran with my brother, Randy, for the first 6 miles. It was his second half marathon. The three of us had run together at the 2006 Charlottesville marathon. We ran a 11:15 per mile pace until the half marathoners split away. I'm proud of my big brother, he did really well, finished in 2:40. And Jon Doyle ran a 2:20.

I continued on and after a brief rest stop, I caught up to Clifton Cartwright, from Booneville, MS.

I first met Cliff at the Mid South race in Wynne, in 2002. I was running the half marathon as my next to last long run in preparation for my first marathon at St Jude, a month later. I had planned to run an additional 3 miles after the race for my 16 miler. About 1 mile into the Wynne race I find myself running next to this guy (Clifton) wearing a 50 State Marathon Club shirt. I asked about his shirt & he began to tell me all about the club & how you can join after running a marathon in 10 different states and how he had run something like 200 marathons (and I'm thinking, he's pulling my leg; ain't possible; I'd always heard you're only able to run 2 or 3 marathons a year). And we go on chatting for 6 miles together. The whole way Cliff is complimenting me on how well I'm maintaining my pace, and as we near the half turn around, he is trying to convince me that I should go ahead & run the full. I say - 'no way, that's not in the plan. I've got to stick to my schedule' and he's tugging on my arm at the turn-around trying to get me to keep going straight on the marathon course. He ALMOST convinced me. but I continued on to run my 2:20 Wynne half & a month later my 4:43 Full right on schedule.

So as I caught up to Clifton Cartwright, the family doctor, from MS, I recall the last time I saw him was at the finish of the Grandfather Mtn marathon in NC. I jokingly told him then, that I had every right to whoop him for getting me hooked on this multiple marathon running thing & because of him, it had cost my wife a lot of money & vacation time. So, I was able to visit with Cliff for several miles and it was a pretty special day for him, because he was finishing his 300th marathon at Chickamauga. That is an amazing milestone.

So it was a fun trip & a nice run. It is always special to be able to share your passion for running with family and friends, whether they are running with you, or there to cheer you on, or back home checking on your well being after a race. My legs feel good today. That was marathon #6 for this year; Georgia was my 35th state in my quest for 50, and I have one more scheduled for Dec 6 in Las Vegas - a nice family vacation for the four of us, and I get to run with my girls again.

[pattyf]

Thanks so much for sharing that with us, Rick. You are an inspiration to all of us. Congruatulations on your race, and on all of your accomplishments!!!