Georgia Jewel

mokaman · May 20, 2012

Checked out the first 10 miles of the Georgia Jewel Ultra course today...was thinking I might want to run the 35 mile option as a first Ultra. Did about 18 miles out and back Hike/Run with only 4 miles of running hoping at least a little would be barefoot friendly. Boy oh boy did I under estimate the rockiness of this trail...not only was it not runnable barefoot but I only lasted about 20 feet walking barefoot.

Ended up wearing a pair of very lightweight Puma road shoes and my feet/toes are feeling beat up some. The course is pretty good once you accept the rockiness but my search continues for a barefoot friendly 50k Ultra.

Lomad · Jun 9, 2012

Where's the course, Moka? I'm a GA native and know a lot of the North GA areas pretty well. AS I train and build up it would be fun to come 'back home' for a race.

Lomad · Jun 9, 2012

K, just googled it. Dalton is a hop and skip from my folks' house in Marietta. I may have to bookmark the 2013 edition as a goal race. I love that area for sure.

mokaman · Jun 9, 2012

Its the Pinhoti trail going west from Dalton, Ga. The first 10 miles of the course is pretty rough with lots of rocks...the hillyness is not so bad to me maybe 5000ft of climbing on the 35 mile(short) course. I would pre-run at least the first 5 - 10 miles if you can to get an idea on what to expect. The biggest climb is the first 2 miles from the start which then you will have to run downhill to finish.