Sunday evening while sitting in a BBQ restaurant Cory says to me, "Do you know the locals call it Chatty. We are in Chatty." I laughed for maybe the first time in a week. We had a fantastic time in Chatty. So much so that I cried Thursday evening on the couch while petting my pup. I love Remy so much, but I love it in Chattanooga. Some day we will be there with Remy, but living there!
In the week leading up to race day I was a complete mess. I let everything get to me. Allergies, flat bike tire, Cory's crazy work schedule, a 7 turned 8.5 hour drive there, a broken hotel shower, a possible broken (later just stubbed) toe, and a 90 degree race day. Nothing seemed to go my way and I was so frustrated at one point I even punched the wall in our hotel.
SATURDAY. Cory and I got up and ran 3 miles, went to Ironman Village to check in, bought some race crap, went to the race meeting where I saw Pat, and headed back to the hotel to get ready for an early dinner and to bed. We had went to a nice Italian restaurant before my full in 2017 and planned to go back. It did not disappoint! If you are ever in Chatty, check out Alleia! I will recommend quite a few places during this but this one not only has great food, but excellent service and an interesting design! We headed back to the hotel for hopefully an early GOOD sleep!
RACE DAY-SUNDAY! I woke up and actually got about 5 hours of sleep. I had slept about 8 hours both the nights before so I was shocked at how well I slept! Cory specifically asked me if I had everything with me before we left and I rolled my eyes and told him to hurry. He droped me off and I headed to transition to set up. I found Nicole and started to set up when a girl walks by me talking about how she forgot her timing chip in her hotel room and I came to the realization that I had as well. But thanks to Cory, I got it within 15 minutes and was ready to roll, after he returned the eye roll! Nicole and I headed off to the swim start where we met many interesting people and she helped me into my stupid wetsuit. We found out that once again the pros swam too slow against the current and we would not be doing that part. Swim course cut short again. We waited, and we waited, and OMG we waited for almost 1.5 hours after the start and finally got on the pee covered dock.
Swim. At Chatty you have to jump off the dock. For some reason this makes me lose my mind and swim ability, so once again I panicked and had to hold on to a canoe for 3 minutes. Then I was magically fine and the rest of the swim went ok.
T1 went fine. Lots of people on their bikes already. I am a poor swimmer but I tend to be a mid pack biker so I knew I would be passing a lot.
Bike Course. I have never in my life seen such a congested bike course. I love this course but the fact that IM oversold it and you were constantly in a pack of 5-10 people took away my love for the course. I saw two accidents, followed an ambulance for awhile going way under my normal speed, had way too much car traffic, and I even almost ran over a rattlesnake, lucky for me a nice man was on course pointing him out. Damn snake was in the river the day before. Bet he didn't have to pay the race fees. Bandit... For me the bike course was safe. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for others. I have heard of many accidents, I saw two.
T2 was good. I peed and that was important since it was 90 degrees.
Run Course. I love the run. It is a little hilly, but full of amazing volunteers and spectators and even the other runners are amazing. I was feeling sick but I just tried to make it from one mile to the next. I saw Cory, Julie, Coral, and Nicole on the course. I gave a guy who was struggling my base salts and made a new friend! Many people asked me which Ironman I had done and I joked that the IM was easier than this day. And before I knew it (ok this is a freaking lie I knew exactly) I was crossing the finish line. I was sick as hell so we left immediately to get out of the sun.
Through the bad and my horrible attitude, I still love this race and it did not take away from my wonderful experiences my first two times there! The rest of the trip however, heaven!
That evening we ate at Sticky Fingers, which I am pretty sure all our local stores sell their sauces. Then we walked around Chatty downtown. It is like an active person's dream city! So many place to walk and ride and interesting things to see.
MONDAY. This was to be the coolest day of the next three day, 90 degrees, so we decided to head and do the tourist thing. Rock City and Ruby Falls. You can google so I won't get into the details of what they are but I will say it is a tourist trap! Lots of people, lots of money. It was interesting but it was a one and done, never again type place. Very pretty however, great pictures! We went to a place for a lite lunch called Tupelo Honey. If you like bisquits and honey, this is your place! Very good. We spent the rest of the day walking around and trying out different bars. We stopped at both Brewhaus, a German bar and a bar off the water which I will talk about later. We walked all over this day and ended up seeing most of downtown Chatty. We ended the evening at Mellow Mushroom for pizza and back to the room to watch the Cubs.
TUESDAY. One of the area Ironman had recommended hitting Cumberland trail in Laurel Snow Park to hike to Laurel Falls. We were told the first mile is an easy hike, but then you start a 1000 feet ascent on rocky trail to where you will be rewarded with an amazing water fall if you make it! We made it and it did not disappoint! Amazing views and time spent with just each other, well and a snake and a frog, because we were it until we got back on the easy part of the trail! We decide to refresh at the roof top pool of our hotel with some margaritas after. We met a nice family there and Cory had way to much fun racing George, a 3 year old, across the pool! We headed out that evening for a dinner we had reserved at Hennen's. This is a very nice steak and seafood restaurant and it was amazing! We walked a few miles around downtown again seeing even more new things and ended up at another Ironman suggested favorite, Clumpy's, their local ice cream shop that reminded us of Red Bicycle. I had Key Lime Pie ice cream and it was delicious!
WEDNESDAY. Our last day. Sad. But we got up and ran to another ironman suggested place, Milk & Honey. DELICIOUS! Ironman know there food! Amazing breakfast! I had a burrito and Cory got a sandwich and yogurt. We ran back, which was very hard after good food, and got ready for an afternoon at the Aquarium. This is the best one I have ever been to. They have a building for river life and ocean life and both were awesome! I am glad after seeing all that is in the river that we went AFTER my race. After we saw the river life building we ate lunch at Puckett's where I got the best brisket nachos ever and Cory got fried okra which to my surprise was ok! Then we went back and finished the ocean life part of the aquarium. Afterwards we did more walking! You could make a trip out of just walking around Chattanooga! We stopped at what was one of our favorite brew houses, Parkway Pourhouse. It is on the bike course and the staff is friendly and helpful. The bartender recommended an IPA, Bearded Iris Homestyle IPA, brewed in Nashville and a new fav of mine! We finished the evening taking in a Chattanooga Lockouts baseball game, which they won and the catcher hit 3 homeruns which has not happened there in years! Watching a double a game is so fun! They do activities every inning and it is more relaxed and cheaper!
Early morning wake up call at 4am for an emergency alarm had us walking down and then back up 9 flights of stairs. Thankfully all was safe and we were able to get back to sleep pretty quick. We headed home Thursday and I was more than ready for kisses from Remy but I was sad to leave. What started out as a stressful trip turned in to an amazing time with memories I will cherish. I know we will be back there soon though! I hope you can check out this fantastic city someday!
