After slogging through some ultra distance trail events this winter, I was looking for a fun mid distance trail. Falling on Easter weekend (and we would be in Chattanooga already for that) the River Gorge race was the perfect event. Since I planned this race late it was already sold out when I went to register; however, they had a wait list option and I was pulled off that list in less than 24 hours. It was even more exciting to find that the weather forecast was perfect! Clear skies, 45 at the start, up to 60. Yay!

Pros:
- Easy race morning check in. They also had check in at a local running store on Friday night.
- Awesome, moderately technical single track trail with sweeping views of the Tennessee River valley. Running along the ridgelline looking into the valley = magnificent.
- Rolling hills, mostly runnable. There were 2 sections where I hiked, including a mile long rock garden that was gnarly but pretty cool.
- 2 aid stations at miles 3.6 and 6.8, so carrying one bottle was plenty. Moderate faire including water, sports drink, Gu's/chomps, oranges. For a 1 miler this was plenty.
-Free race photos from TrueSpeedPhoto!
- Race shirt is gender specific!

Cons:
- In one part of the race documentation the start time was listed as 8:30 instead of 8 so there was some confusion. They started the race 10 minutes late to account for this, as well as long lines at the port-o-potties.