Race to the Cave Half-Marathon (Marshall County, Alabama)

 

For most of the half-marathons I have run, I seek out new and interesting venues. Today, I'll be running the Race to the Cave Half-Marathon, which begins and ends at Cathedral Cave State Park in Northern Alabama. The finish of the race is actually inside the cave, which should make this really unique. Since the drive is a little over three hours, I had decided to drive over last night and stay at a nearby hotel. This, of course, after having attended a beer festival yesterday afternoon. One of my good friends always gives me a hard time about running the day after a beer festival, but my best times always seem to come in these scenarios. That's not to say that I'm looking to set a personal record at today's race, as I'm horribly out of shape for this race.

After parking my car in the grass in the designated area, I head over to get my bib and t-shirt. It's early and the sun has only just risen, which means it's going to be a very cold start. The weather app on my phone indicates that it is only 28°. This should be fun. Luckily, I prepared for this and have running gloves, a lightweight down vest and leggings on. I check-in and then head back to the car to enjoy some heat while pinning my bib to my shorts.

A few minutes before the scheduled start time, I head back over towards the start line and get in line for the porto-potties. Got to empty the bladder before shaking it up. The line is longer than I had hoped and I begin chatting with four ladies ahead of me in line. As we realize that the race will start a couple of minutes before our turn in the facilities, I tell them that we're probably just better off taking care of business now rather than waiting in line at an aid station along the way where there are only a couple of stalls. They agree and in turn, we each do our business and then start the race a couple of minutes after the horn.

The first short section is gravel, but this quickly turns to pavement as we head out onto the park roads. I'm at the back with the walkers at the start, but soon catch up to other runners. I would estimate about five-hundred runners for this combined half-marathon and 10k event. Though it's still quite cold, I feel pretty good for the first couple of miles and maintain a decent pace. 

Soon, we hit a few hills and my pace goes from a slow run to a fast walk. I really struggle with hills and by the looks of it many runners here do as well. I change what I'm hearing in my earbuds from the driving beats of my running playlist to continue an audiobook I've been listening to. That and the cold, which doesn't seem to go away even as the sun is rising higher in the sky, probably contribute to my lack of excitement for running a lot more, though I do make several pushes along the way.

The middle miles of the race are through some extraordinarily beautiful farmland, though we're at the last day of winter and nothing has been planted yet. The rolling hills in the distance and the open fields dotted with farm houses makes for a very Rockwellian feel to this part of the race. I end up walking and talking with a few other runners along the way.

As the course begins to take us back towards the starting line and the cave, we hit a large hill and now that I've run over ten miles, there is no way my knees are going to let me ascend this thing at any speed. I resign myself to walk most of the rest of the race. At the top of the hill, we enter the giant mouth of Cathedral Caverns and from what I'm seeing inside, I don't think I will regret that decision to walk.

With about a mile left, we enter the only minimally lit walkways within the cave. Of course, this forces me to choose to run in darkness or with everything being blurry since I've been wearing my prescription sunglasses. I opt for blurry, which seems the safer of the two choices. The first section inside the cave takes us through one of the largest cave chambers I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a lot of them), from there we enter the realm of the stalactites and stalagmites. It's amazing beautiful and I think this trip through the cave justifies it's own write-up. I'll save the detail for that. 

The course surface inside the cave is wet as you might expect inside a cave and the temperature has gone up. It's probably in the high 50's in here with very high humidity. As I make my way through the twists and turns of the walkway, I take time to several pictures, but I'm also going slow so that I don't injury myself. Between my poor vision and the slippery surface, I think that's best and it will definitely affect my overall time, but the beautiful scenery I'm experiencing makes me not care so much. 

Eventually, I reach the turn and a volunteer hands me a little glow-stick, which I assume proves I made it all the way through. From here, I follow the route I took coming in and eventually return to the large room near the cave entrance to pass through the finishers' arch with an official time of 3:23:48. It's a terrible time, but I was more concerned with the journey than the destination in this case and the cave did not disappoint. I grab my medal, some refreshment, and find a seat back out in the cold March air before returning to my car and heading home. Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Finishing in such a beautiful underground venue was completely unique in my experience and I would recommend this race to anyone.