NEW official website

The Cherokee Road Runners organization has given Louisville's Lovin' the Hills to Headfirst Performance. The new official website is found at 2009 LLTH. The old site was 2008 LLTH.

The Trail Store will be conducting training runs in the Jefferson Memorial Forest every Sunday morning at 8:00. To find out where to meet each week, contact the store to get on the running group email list. There will also be tempo road runs from the store location every Wednesday morning, starting January 7, 2009 at 5:30 PM EST. The 1st training run in the Jefferson Memorial Forest will be at the Welcome Center at 11311 Mitchell Hill Road on Sunday, December 28.

2009 Louisville's Lovin' the Hills 50k -- online registration is OPEN

Event details are beginning to be finalized for 2009. Currently, online registration is open at Active.com. Last year's mail-in entry form is being revised for 2009 and will be posted when it's completed.

HeadFirst Performance Services will direct this event as they did last year. The 15 mile option will be offered again along with the 50k. The early entry fee for either race will remain at $50.

This blog will be updated as more information becomes available.

2008 results

The overall results have been posted on the HeadFirst Performance Services website.

comments

I’ve been told by people at the race today that they’ve been unable to post their comments to this blog. In the options, I have set the blog to receive comments from “anyone – including anonymous users”. If someone knows what is needed to correct this, or if anyone wishes to send comments about the blog, race or whatever, I can be reached directly at edibo@insightbb.com – Thanks!

last minute notes

The sun & warmer temps than expected melted a lot of snow today. About an inch or less of slushy snow remains, with more in shaded areas. How much it freezes back will depend on just how cold it gets tonight.

With all the runoff from the melting, it may be difficult to keep the feet dry crossing a couple streams unless the freeze helps brings them down tonight.

The rock face on the 2^nd loop (Yellow Trail) may be icy in the morning -- the alternate path above it is not a well worn one – although it may be flagged as the course by race time. Some very narrow sections of the Yellow Trail near the end of the loop are tricky when wet, more so when snowy or icy.

Some of the course flagging may be on the ground due to the icing earlier in the week.

Good Luck!

snowy trails

Weather/course conditions will be a factor in this year’s event once again. After snowing an inch/hour for several hours Monday evening, sleet & freezing rain followed, with an all day rain yesterday. This photo is on the Blue Trail about 11:00 Tuesday morning:
After the rain yesterday, the 4 or 5 inches of snow is down to a couple inches or so with a frozen crust. The picture of the trail hasn't changed much today except the icy coating on the trees is gone.

2008 course

There have been several changes made to the course from last year. The biggest change involves adding the Orange Trail and removing the section of gravel road around the Nature Center. Another change involves moving the course off the highway and onto a trail at the end of the Siltstone Trail for the 50K runners. The details of the changes can be found at this link: 2008 course changes

As this post is being entered, a heavy snow is falling here in Louisville.

the wind of change

One of reasons the Jefferson Memorial Forest is such a gem that it is, is because of the people that work to keep it that way. Many thanks go out to Forest Management, in particular Larry Hilton, whose dedication goes far beyond that required of his position. Thanks also to Matt & Eric, who have trekked the many miles of hilly trails with chainsaws to clear the downed trees from the last 2 wind storms. Hopefully the forecast tonight of sustained winds of 40 mph won’t be as destructive as the wind bursts from last week.

According to the RD, there will be several changes in the course from last year, most notably within the first 7 miles of both races. A new trail is being added & a traverse along a gravel road (added last year only) will be removed. This change & others will be noted in detail soon.

speed bumps

With the ground saturated & high winds during 2 storms this past week, numerous trees have come down blocking several trails. Hopefully Larry & Matt with Forest Management can keep up with the growing list.

race photos

Links to photo collections from years past have been added. The race photos are courtesy of HeadFirst Performance Services, Smugmug.com, Cherokee Road Runners, Win & Lorrie Apel and Eric Grossman. For 2007, the photos are a sampling of the large collection available at: http://headfirstperformance.smugmug.com/gallery/2485967#130450555.

Thanks goes out to all the photographers. Additional photos will be added as they become available.

video & photos

Cynthia & Todd Heady have posted a link to a 2nd youtube video of the course on their site at http://www.headfirstperformance.com/index.html. They've also posted an elevation profile for the second half of the 50k course.

Photos from past years at LLTH are being gathered & will be uploaded to a Picasa web album. Links will be forthcoming. Photo courtesy of smugmug.com:

trail re-route

Larry Hilton, a Naturalist with Louisville Metro Parks, has confirmed that the latest re-route on Siltstone Trail will not be opened till after LLTH. This is good news to those who like challenging hills, bad news for those whose legs are gone when they reach this long, stair stepped hill. When opened after LLTH, the trail will go around & along the side of the hill adding a little distance to the course next year. Larry also pointed out that there’s logging activities right next to the Siltstone Trail on the far end of the (50k) course and that the race organizers may want to use a different colored ribbon than the pink/red flagging used thru this area.

course changes

As a Jefferson Memorial Forest volunteer “trail ranger” I’m able to keep up with the status of trail maintenance & realignments, especially when it pertains to the trails used during the LLTH event. The course has changed every year that the event has taken place – there have been somewhat major re-routes, but most have been minor changes. Some trail sections are closed to allow “resting” of the area & later rotated back into service. Management also has an ongoing program to eliminate steep and/or difficult to maintain sections of trail thruout the forest. What this means is that some steeper hills are being eliminated from the course each year. Some may remember back prior to 2006 when the steepest section on the course was where the trail went straight up a washed out gulley on the Red Trail and you had to use all fours to get up – no such sections close to that today. So far since February 2007, there has been one section of trail that has been re-routed around a hill approaching Tom Wallace Lake. 50K race veterans may remember this quad burning hill at around mile 14 that’s only on the outbound portion of the Siltstone Trail. This steep, stair stepped section has been replaced with a couple small switchbacks and a trail bypassing the top of the hill. There is another re-route of the Siltstone Trail scheduled to be opened soon near Jefferson Hill Road. Whether this is opened prior to race day is still pending. This big long hill being bypassed is another stair stepped section with this one hill being the most difficult, in my opinion, on the 50K course. It’s not even easy going down with all the steps & roots & sharp twists in the trail, but with the course being an out and back on Siltstone, the trip going back up this hill is one you (or your legs) will remember long after the finish. Tune in for updates on this latest re-route. For runners who are concerned about the change in the length of the races, it’s in the works to have the courses re-checked by GPS & wheel. An elevation profile for the entire 50K & 15M courses is likely to be posted on the website prior to Feb 16.

official site

1st post

The official LLTH site is at:
http://www.cherokeeroadrunners.org/llth.index.htm

Race directors Cynthia & Todd Heady have their own site at: http://www.headfirstperformance.com/index.html
You can find a link there to a youtube video taken by Cynthia on the 1st part of the LLTH course. Another video is forthcoming on the second half of the 50K course.