Tulsa Route 66 Marathon 2013

Photo By: Chris Barnes 2012

      Tulsa Route 66 Marathon started in 2006 and my first run of the Route 66 was in 2009.  Since that time I had run 2 other times and ran 2 of my fastest times I had ever ran at any other marathons.  This would be my 4th running of the Route 66th and I would love to say I have had 40 of them by the time I am 70.  I have told people it will be my staple marathon and I want to do this race every year even if it doesn't fit in my training schedule or I am hurt I will finished this race!

Amber Lynch and Scarlett

     So my wife and I loaded up, headed to Tulsa on Saturday morning leaving our youngest daughter for the first time overnight away from her momma with my sister Amber Dawn Lynch.  This would also be the first 1/2 Marathon my wife had done since having our 8 month old beautiful little girl.  The boys spread out between the other grand parents so we had a great weekend a head of us.  We got our race packets and some gu and then headed out to start Christmas shopping.  Later when we made it to the mall and I was almost ran over by a Mall Cop on his little stand up patrol thing, I was finished!  I headed out and got some coffee and started working on my lab-top.  My wife had a good time shopping and then I grabbed some dinner at Maccoroni Grill and I ate at the bar beside a guy from Kansas City and he was running his 5 marathon and he was excited about the course but not the weather.  I told him if the wind held off it wouldn't be to bad.  Then we went on and met a couple other friends for a nice dinner that I didn't eat because I had already ate but we had some great fellowship with them!
     Race Time!  We headed out from the hotel and it was crazy cold that morning somewhere around 28 degree's.  Headed out of the hotel I was warming up in and the National Athem was being sung.  We stopped and then headed to the start line.  Then they said 1 minutes until the wheel chair start and this means 2 minutes until you start the 2013 Route 66 Marathon!  I got to see some good friend at the start.  Ian Campbell that was in my age group and pretty fast, Aaron Ochoa that was running the half at a goal of 1:27 and that is where I wanted to be at for the half way mark so it was good knowing I could keep in sight.  The first mile is always very fast at Tulsa and then mile 2 has a few climbs in it so they usually even out.  I was feeling ok with the 6:30 average pace and I felt kinda funny at mile 3 but nothing I hadn't felt before at mile 3.  This is when Ian started dropping the hammer and held at 6:30 to 6:45 pace running the beautiful course through Tulsa.  I hit mile 6 and knew I was running down hill but it seemed hard to run a 6:45 pace and I was feeling soreness all over my legs.  I thought just get to mile 20 and then it is down hill and you can still get a BQ (Boston Qualifier) today.  So I held this pace which still felt hard down riverside until you climb out of riverside with a pretty good hill and this year a huge head wind!  I made it up to the top to see Katy Kramer that usually runs my pace and I had been with her at the beginning and now I had reeled her back in at the top of the hill and she made the turn for the marathon not to the finish the half as I thought she was running.  I then felt boosted that I had caught her but felt waxed from the hill, wind and mostly my sore legs that were normally in this point of the race feeling great! 

Riverside

    Half Way! I hit the half at just under 1:30.  The 2 years before I had been at 1:25 and 1:27 so I knew that with the way I was feeling I wouldn't get a PR and knew it was going to be very hard to get a BQ.  I did know sub 3 hours was not going to happen.  So I hit a 2 flat miles and both were 7 minute pace and I new I was finished with the race for the day. So I began to slow and my heart fell and I began to get very very cold!  I was wearing shorts and long T with gloves and a shock hat.  I was thinking I was going to have to stop inside somewhere and get warmed up if I was going to finish this race because I was so cold and I wasn't going to come this far and quite because I was cold.  At this point I felt or didn't feel that my junk was feeling frozen.  Never had that happen before in a race but I was getting nervous about it!  But then I ran past a relay station around mile 17 and a Buddy John ran with me and I told him I was slowing down and I was getting very cold but I was going to finish he said I will try to catch you at TU - Tulsa University, soon after there were an array of clothes on the side of the road.  So I stopped and started shuffling though the clothes.  Female Small's and Medium's seemed to be everywhere and I wasn't having any luck finding a shirt that would fit and there it was in all its glory a pull over Jersey brand navy blue hoodie!  It was to big but it was so warm!  I then found a pair of women's sweat pants with a boot fit loose around the ankles fit that came up to my shins.  The lady standing on the corner cheering us on smiled really big and me and I smiled back and took off running very slow! 

What I should of Had on!

    My spirits were still high enjoying the moment of the marathon even if were not running even a remotely fast marathon.  The story of a death march is to me when you are hurting to walk and walk is all you can do.  I wasn't hurting to bad and I wasn't walking yet!  I then ran with a girl from Fort Smith that was on PR pace and she was worried that it was hard the past few miles for the pace she was running.  I explain to her that the past 3 or 4 miles were all up hill and we had been fighting the wind.  Told her she was going to do great rest of the way in and hopefully helped her mind get ready for the final push out of TU.  She also helped my mind get off that I was starting to hurt really bad!  I then thought of how I had only taken 2 days off since the Ironman that was four weeks before and me thinking riding my bike was a day off from running.  But most days I took off from "running" I was biking up Cavanal that was a 2,000 foot climb.  I also had noticed the week before I did the race up Cavanal my time was ok but not a PR and I really really pushed with everything I had and was still not recovered.  With over 256,000 feet of elevation gain on the bike and 190,000 feet of elevation running for 2013 I had forgotten about resting for a marathon and was still chasing summits on the World's Highest Hill in Poteau, OK.  I will be writing another blog at the end of the year about my times on the mountain in 2013 so back to the exciting Route 66 walk race!
      I then stopped at mile 22 and ask a lady for her cell phone.  Not so I could call for a ride but I could call my wife and tell her not to wait on me.  Got her voicemail, "Kristin I am at mile 22 and I am walking so don't wait for me at the finish but I will finish today and I am not hurt or anything I love you!"  Walk race is what it was from this point, I would walk then I would run until my race pace would slow to a walk pace and I would walk again.  I did this for the next 4 miles.  They changed the course this year and it is a great new course and you can see a lot of marathons shortly after the half getting there walk race on.  I got more respect for the 4 to 6 hour marathoner because it was stinking cold and they were moving on like they probably do on every other marathon.  My respect was not gained from me being out there for as long as many of them were out there.  But they were racing just as I race to beat myself.  To line up with thousands of runs to really be racing one person that is yourself!  They had many more miles to go in the cold and they were pressing on and this was encouraging and inspirational! 
    Tuesday after the race my good running budding Tom and Matt got to have some great laughs about my marathon and me slowing down so much in the second half.  Tom checking, checking, giving up, and finally checking again seeing I had finished!  He thought the same as most would have that I would have quite.  And I might have it wasn't my Staple Marathon but I persevered and finshed my 4th Route 66 Marathon and my 42nd Marathon in the past 4 years.  They say you learn something at every race.  I learned so many things I would have to write a full blog to explain them all but learned mostly some races aren't about racing they are about finishing!  I will take note of these rookie mistakes and hit it again and again!  I have a big trail race schedule ahead and plan to get recovered and ready to push it hard again!

Route 66 Finishers 2013

 

Beach 2 Battleship Ironman 2013 - B2B - 140.6

       Well it started 7 years ago when I was setting on the couch weighing in 20 pounds more than I do now with a lot more body fat!  Flipping through channels on DISH doing what most Okie’s do best and I saw Kona the world famous Ironman in Hawaii.  At that moment I was floored at the distance and speed they were traveling and I told my wife right then I was going to do one before I turned 30 years old.  She said, “Do it, your Crazy!” So I got up and went and ran 1 mile around the neighborhood.  Got back and told her I better sign up for a Marathon first, and she thought that was a smart idea.  She is always good at bringing things into a realistic perspective because my dreams are out there sometimes and she might have thought this one was out there! But 7 years later and over 40 Marathons under my belt in the past 4 years the time had come for me to make the journey to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Who better to go with me than my cousin Kasey Ng who was going to do the ½ Iron at the very young age for an Iron event of 21 years old.  He has been becoming a great endurance athlete, this would be his 2^nd ½ Iron and he was pumped for the great course at B2B.  We also would bring his brother Kyler and mom Carrie for support team and drivers for the long journey halfway across the US.

       We drove over 19 hours stopping very few times. One great stop I found in Brownsville, TN was Helen’s Bar-BQ.  Carrie looked a little worried but she said she loved BBQ and Kasey was worried where we parked the car because he wanted to see the bikes!  It was a great hole in the wall Mom and Pop place. Helen had been cooking BBQ for 19 years at that location and had worked there for a total of 34 years.  My first African-American Fire cooked BBQ and it was pretty amazing. There was a lot of history in this place!

-Pre-Race

      We missed the 2pm Mandatory meeting so we had to hit the 5pm meeting or you get a 4 min penalty OUCH! So then we got lost looking where to take our bikes to Transition1.  It was very stressful just making sure you had everything where you needed it when you need it there. 

-Lesson Learned: Read how many bags you are going to have to pack for transitions and pack ahead of time before you leave to make sure you have everything you need in every bag!

After checking some bags and leaving our bikes at T-1 we finally got some dinner. PASTA!

Pre Race Sleep was terrible with loud people on one side, and a crazy loud guy above us, and then super early folks on the other side!  But this is always expected and I always sleep better with my lovely wife and Kasey wasn’t crazy about spooning so he took his own bed!  We were up at 5:10am to get some breakfast calories and final bag packing. Then off to the race and it was really feeling real finally that I was about to toe the start of an Ironman.  We got in the car and it said 35 degree’s. Wow!  That is cold when thinking about getting in the water to swim.  Good thing I had bought some women’s cozy socks at Target the night before to leave at the race start because the sand was freezing!

So they said a really nice prayer and directly after the pray they played Eminem-“Lose Yourself” Everyone started Dancing as I listened to the words “Look if you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture or would you let slip…..” Oh how I wanted to be finished before I even started, and as I thought of this the music faded and they said go!

-Swim – 1:16:29

Very Very Top of the Pic is Me

       This race was a beach start with about 30 or 40 yards and then a 90 degree right turn and everyone was fighting for the inside and I did just the opposite and went way wide left. I wanted to stay on the far left side of the crowd.  This was awesome because we had about 1.5 miles of swimming straight up the channel.   The water was 70 degrees and felt warm, with great visibility in the water, the wind was blowing at us and the water was pretty choppy so when I came up to spot ahead of me and wanted to get a breath it was hard not to get a full breath of salty water.  I was very relaxed and had a great pace going thinking about style and staying comfortable.  About that time I saw a jellyfish and thought about sharks and all kinds of crazy ocean creepy things!  We went past the half iron guys as they stood on the shore line in the cold and then we had a sharp left turn coming so I got into some traffic but got out ok swam a little longer and then I saw a guy standing next to me and was what!  So I stood and walked about 20 yards fixed my Velcro on my wetsuit and readjusted my goggles.  That was a nice break!  It was crazy because the shore line was a long ways away so I guess I wasn’t in the current if there was any but I wasn’t worried about it. I turned the bend and I could see swimmers coming out of the water and at this point I wasn’t sure if my feet were kicking because my feet were frozen and my fingers were very cold.  Climbed out at 1:16 on my Timex and then got my wetsuit stripped by the kind people striping us of our wetsuits.  On to an air tube tent shower and it was amazing.  The people I came into the shower with were gone and then the next group was leaving and I was like well I got to get out of this thing sometime! So I headed out barefoot run on asphalt for a 400 yard run to T-1 transition got my bag and entered the changing tent / sausage fest / Vienna style because everyone was frozen by the time we got to the tent.  It seemed like forever to get my clothes on because I was shivering and wet but finally got out of there!

-Lesson Learned: when it is that cold probably should get some of the bootees and maybe a warm cap.!

-T-1: 12:53

Lesson Learned: Pack a towel to dry off with because I was wet and it was really hard to get anything on when freezing and wet

-Bike – 140 miles - 5:41:44

Mile 100ish

I had turned on my Garmin GPS tracker in the T-1 to find satellites so I could hit start when I got on the bike.  I looked down when I sat on the bike and no satellites so I was a little nervous because my game plan was to keep my heart rate low and stay relaxed on the bike.  I am not sure what the temperature was but it was freezing cold so to deal with the cold I was wearing a Patagonia Down Vest.  Yes a Down Vest and I think I was the only one on the course with such a big coat on but I was warming up finally and kept it on until mile 65.  Everything was going well on the bike at the beginning I had to pee 3 times when I was swimming and by mile 20 I had to pee again!  I had started my buffet of Gu’s, Stinger Waffles, Water, and EFS Sports Drink.  I thought I would hold it as long as I could and when I got to mile 40 I thought I would wait until mile 56 and I thought of dropping my jacket with the special needs bags and having them bring it in for me, but I didn’t’ want to mess with it so I left it on and took a pee just after the aid station and dropped what felt like 40 ounces of weight.  Around mile 60 I took the jacket off and stuffed it inside itself and then slide it between the aero bars.  Surprisingly it felt great outside I was just wondering when we were going to get out of the wind because it felt like I had been against the wind for a long time!  And about that time we turned got more wind and then turned again with a long awaited tailwind.  I was trying to figure out my north and south and see what the wind was doing but it was hopeless it was not working well.  I hear some guys in the T-2 tent talking about the wind and said it was amazing last year and this year was terrible.  So I was cruising along mile 80 when I see my jacket eject from the front and bounce down the road I look back to make sure no one is behind me and then I turn around and snag my jacket off the ground losing a minute or so but not going to lose that amazing jacket that has been with me for so long!  At mile 90 I caught a group. It was the front pack of women and they were battling back and forth on the bike.  This helped me keep my mind off the long bike ride watching them racing while I was just sitting back taking it easy.  I figured I would pick it up a touch for the last 10 so I left them and rolled on into a packed crowd at Transition 2.

-Lesson Learned:  The course was not really hilly at all and it was a great course, I do wish the wind would have worked a little better and I wish I would have done a check bag at special needs so then I could have dropped my gloves and jacket.

Did great with the heart rate maybe could push the second half a little harder but not much!

-T-2 Ran completely around the Event Center while they yelled my number to get me my Running Gear.  I sat down and didn’t get in a huge hurry and wanted to make sure I got a lot of Vaseline in the Hot spots

-Run 26.2 miles – 3:50

Mile 14 Feeling Strong Battleship Bound!

     I took off without my Garmin finding GPS because we had changed inside the civic center so I just took the pace slow and what felt really easy.  I also hit the lap button on my Timex and look at the time and thought man if I could run a 3:40ish I could break 11 hours.  But then I also thought of my good buddy Bryan and many blogs I had read of the death march of a marathon other racers had gone through after swimming and biking.  I kept to the game plan, which was not go any faster than 8-minute mile for the first 3 miles. I hit the first mile in 8:15 and was pleased at the pace and the effort.  The weather was still nice and I was just holding back what felt like through the first 10 miles.  I was now settled in just below an 8-minute pace and took in the great course down the river walk around Greenfield Lake a 13 mile looped course that I was to tackle 2 times.  I remembered the race director stressing that we had to run past the finish line not 1 time, not 2 times, but 3 times and he said we had to promise to run 2 miles past the finished line the 3^rd time until we couldn’t hear the music before we tried to DQ the race!  I thought this was pretty funny because I had decided before this race started I would finish unless I didn’t make the cut off times.  So back to the run I went past the finish line the 3^rd time heading out on my second lap and still feeling great passing tons of other racers and many racers telling me how great I was doing! I was at my favorite place on the course an aid station with load music and cheering!  After I hit mile 18 I felt a feeling I had only felt once before in my quads and it wasn’t a good one, soon after mile 18 my quads were killing me now and I began to slow down to an 8:25 pace for 2 miles.  After mile 20 I then felt the need to walk through a long aid station walk to the turnaround 50 yards and back through the aid station again fueling up double.  Then I decided I would run through the pain and only walk the aid stations back to the finish. Running through the get pumped stations with my head down still hitting the sign! After hitting mile 25 on a steep downhill I screamed as I let it go down this last hill. Finally I would pick up the pace to drag into the finish! 

Lesson Learned:  Train more on the flats in the bike so I can have some quads left on the run!  And then maybe run harder as I go if I feel good. I think it was very smart to go out slow.

My Tear Eyed Moment of Happiness! Kristin would have been there I really would have cried!

Kasey after my last Porta Jon Freeze Out FINISH METALS!

Beach 2 Battleship was a great race and I had a great time finishing my first Ironman! Lot of training and the payoff was great!

Big thank you to my cousins and my cousin Kasey for finishing his second ½ Iron and I am looking forward to the day he does a full!

Beach to Birmingham July 2013

Many times on family trips I will throw the bike in the car and ride home. And sometimes I will ride out early and have Kristin and the kids pick me up.  This was kind of planned and was further than I have ever gone before.  Left out of Grayton Beach, FL after calling Robin’s Bike Shop talking to Robin.  He said, “Hwy 331 north will be good for a long ways and then you will have to decide to hit back roads or stay on 331.”

The Red Bar (Where I started from and where we stayed right beside all week)

So I left out of our Beach House at 1pm on Friday, July 19, 2013 watching my heart rate trying to keep it below 140bpm.  I got to the huge bridge that crosses a beautiful lake stretching from Panama City Beach all the way down to Destin.  It has a segment going across the bridge for 3 miles at 28 mph.  I wanted to go after this segment on my vacation trip but the weather and timing never worked out. A surprising head wind made me not even try for a good time knowing the long adventure ahead of me. Crazy that is one of the biggest climbs around Florida makes me glad I live in Oklahoma!

            So I pressed on to mile 20 and saw it coming right in front of me, a big thunderstorm.  I road into the storm about 18mph and slowed to 14mph in a hurry, I was riding on a shoulder about 12 inches wide and the other 12 inches were a river of water running down the hill.  I pulled over for 5 or so minutes standing in a driveway getting down poured on watching many vehicles blasting by.  It let up a little and I took off.  Soon after this I saw my first road kill alligator! Mental thought add that one to the list to watch out for when biking.

Dead Gator

            I rolled into Florala, AL at mile 56 and stopped for some Gatorade and check in with the wife.  She was in a movie with the kids and I was thinking after the struggle to make it 56 miles I could be that movie with her right then.  But pressing on I stopped at a stop light next to a policeman and ask him if Hwy 331 was a good road.  He said, “Where you headin.” I told him I was heading north and ask if there was a shoulder on 331 or any other road heading north.  He then implied, “son your in Alabama your not gonna get a shoulder for long ways, but Hwy 331 is the smoothest road around.”  A few miles later I hit a slow rain and this rain made me think of Forrest Gump.  I know it wasn’t Vietnam but Forrest spent some time in Alabama and after 30 miles of riding in the rain I started thinking it was never going stop raining.  Oh and the wind was about 4 to 6 mph in my face still!

But things got better for about 3 miles and then I hit mile 90 and looked down to see a low front tire.  I just put a new tire on the front but you never know with biking seems like I’m always flatting out.  So I pulled on a side road, I then wished I had turned around and called my wife to pick me up.  Not because I didn’t fix the tire but because I froze the CO2 air pump canister to my hand and I was screaming in pain.  Then I get back on my bike and remembered I stood my bike up on the side of the road but didn’t know my right pedal was sitting in an ant pile, a FIRE ant pile.  I was screaming yet again.  I pulled in at a lady’s house just after this wondering if she had heard me screaming.  Ask her for some water and she said, “I get you some ice water.”  I told her I just needed the hose to get the fire ants off of me.  She asked where I came from and where I was going and how in the world I got so many ants on me.   I told her it was long story and been a bad 30 or so miles but the next 25 will be good when I get to the hotel she had told me about at Lavern, Al.

The next 22 miles were smooth and fast mostly downhill and felt great to get a 112 miles in one afternoon the same distance as the full ironman so pretty good training.  And Hook’s BBQ is off the hook when you have road and 112 miles and you need a good pulled pork potato and the lady ask, “You want 3 sides with that?”

 Woke up the next morning after terrible nights sleep because my hand was just throbbing and left out about an hour after I wanted to leave the hotel.  Oh almost forgot washing clothes in the shower doesn’t get them freshly clean and cold air from the AC doesn’t dry them either!  Pressing on to Montgomery, Al with no shoulder and lots of cars the next 35 miles, SCAREY! 

Great Road south of Montgomery, Only time I got to listen t music

Finally I hit a back road and rolled into town looking for bike shop to pick up some more air for my tire and get a new tube and CO2 road to the West-side of town where need to say I didn’t fit in I’m sure the old men were thinking, “That boy must be lost!”  Finally found the bike shop on the east side of town ate some lunch and heading north and got about 2 miles of tail wind to finish my ride, then the biggest climb of the ride up a hill into Prattville, AL mile 85.

Not a bad 2 days was hoping for more but lazy Saturday morning and didn’t leave town early enough on Friday so will pick a better route for next time and I’m sure get more next time.

Day 1

Boston Marathon April 15, 2013

             I usually start my blog before the race begins.  But today will start 2 hours after I finished the race.  I stepped out of the shower from the long marathon day for me. And saw 10 text messages on my phone asking if I was ok.  I then turned on the TV to see the chaos at the finish line of the Boston Marathon!  My wife had left to go dinner.  I then called her, hearing the phone ring in my room!  She had forgotten to take her phone!

She came in the door a few minutes later and I was pretty upset about the tragedy and she saw it all over my face!  I told her about the bombs going off at the finish of the marathon and she couldn't believe it.

            Since the time of the bombs, my phone and Facebook has been going crazy with people that were worried about us!  How great it is to feel loved by so many friends and family, from our Hometown Poteau, OK and friends from all over knowing we were at the race!

In 2012 marathon my wife had walked right through Boylston St. looking for a spot to watch me finish the oldest most famous marathon in the world! In 2013 I’m so thankful for my wife and new 3-week-old Scarlett were safe and she had watched me 2 hours earlier from Hereford St. a quarter of mile up course from where the bombs.

            I normally tell a story of events of the race and my thoughts and stories of the trip.  Sometimes they are happy and fun and interesting and I had many ideas for this blog but they are blurred by the victim’s and the family’s of the injured and deceased.  I didn’t run well today and I wouldn’t want to tell a story even if I had ran the best marathon of my life.  It still doesn’t feel really that people lost their lives cheering family and other runners to finish.  I have finished over 40 marathons and there is not a better marathon than Boston.  The fans that cheer you on, police everywhere, fireman, volunteers to make this amazing race take place!  I feel like Boston Marathon Associations did everything they could to prevent this from happening.  My love for this marathon and this city will still remain but my heart will go to the ones that have lost their lives because of the terrible tragedy.  I just heard on the news of 8-year-old boy that is one of the victims with his live taken, he more than likely was there watching his dad run the race.  My son is 9 and he wants to run a Tulsa Half Marathon soon I hope this doesn’t scare him away and I am so thankful my family is safe.  Kristin and I pray again for the victims and families at Boston 2013.

            You may think, “Were where you on OKC Federal Building, on 911?”

I had just ran past 2 bombs sitting in a trash can that were ready to explode!  Lucky I went past and my family and I were in safety!  You also my ask, “Why did this happen?”  It is simply there is evil in this world.

7:20pm Eastern Time Boston, MA   Last Update: 100 people injured and 2 deceased

Sylamore 50k 2013

            It’s hard to know where to start this long story. A preface to this race was a change in my training. I started climbing Cavanal 2000ft, three to four times a week along with my normal speed work and long runs. I was really training hard for Sylamore, and training to run hard for my first trip to this big event. 

The Tuesday before the race, I threw a bag of trash in the dumpster and fell to my knees as if someone has stabbed me in the lower back. I didn’t think too much about it, but it hurt a lot the rest of the day. The next morning, after a terrible night of restless sleep, I couldn’t put my own shoes on. So my eight month, almost nine month, pregnant wife had to put my shoes on, tie them for me, and send me out the door Wednesday morning. I went to an amazing chiropractor that same day, and that really helped. He told me I was getting old and needed to take some rest. I told him I had a 50k on Saturday morning.

            I loaded up Friday afternoon with my amazing crew (my wife) and headed to Allison, AR. You will not find Allison anywhere on Google Maps, but it is North Central Arkansas, and a long way from Poteau, OK. The payoff was great when the starting gun went off at 7 AM. We had about ¾ miles of pavement, and I was sitting in at 3^rd place right beside the guy that knows the trail better than anyone and knows how to win, Tom Brennan. It was good to talk to him the first few miles.  However, there wasn’t a lot talking at mile one where you cross a famous river crossing. It was really cold! My wife was waiting at the river and she said I was the only one who was crying about how cold it was, but it had taken me by surprise. I don’t tend to cross water in the winter when it is 28 degrees outside and snowing.   Yes, it was snowing going out of Blanchard Aid Station. I told Tom it was hard for me to focus on running trail when there was so much beautiful rock faces right beside the trail! This section of trail was really more technical than I thought it would be.

            I rolled into Blanchard Aid Station in 5^th place and I could still see the front runners. I also saw my beautiful wife with my aid! It was so awesome to have her with me at the race; she normally is running or with our boys. But she was there just to take pictures and hand me Gatorade, which was so awesome! At that point in the race, the snow flakes started coming down like crazy and it was pretty breathtaking.  My breath was also taken away by the chill in the air. I was cold and decided to pour my mountain climbing skills into the race by running the next hill pretty hard. I drew closer to the front pack and that would be the last I saw of the front guys because they poured down the next big drop. I am not the greatest downhill runner, and I didn’t want to run that fast that early in the race. So I let the front pack draw away. Then I saw them again next to the river. I thought I was close, but they had slowed for the ice that was on the rock next to the river. We had hit a flat area and a feeling cross my mind that a Panda Bear was going to jump out of the bamboo and eat me for breakfast! But then we hit the rocky, second big climb with stair steps.  

(Aid Station Didn't know it was even there)

(Turn Around)

            We rolled through another aid station. I didn’t even know that one was going to be there, and there was my smiling wife again! The trail had now become really run-able and there were beautiful views in that Central Arkansas forest I had never experienced. The next climb was not too bad, and I cruised to the top and started the approach down and came to some cross ties. I would say 95% of the time I trust the stability man-made trail steps, bridges, etc. So I stepped on a cross tie going downhill, and it rolled. I then made two more steps on the rolling cross tie and somehow didn’t have a big fall! I came to a few more beautiful waterfalls and some more amazing trails, and I saw the two guys from Memphis leading the way. Shortly after, I saw Tom running out of the turn around and I came in at 2:10, grabbed another bottle from my wife and some chicken soup, and out I went. Feeling pretty good, I stayed at the same effort for the next climb and came down to that ice patch again. I slowed down to go across it and got to the last step off the ice rock and slipped and hit the ground pretty hard. My back hurt immediately, but running the next flat mile wasn’t too bad. The smooth, big climb wasn’t too bad either. I started coming down that climb into the Blanchard aid station looking forward to seeing my wife and getting a new bottle. I knew I was in trouble because the downhill was pounding my back and I felt it though my whole body!

(Blanchard on the way back Pain on my Face)

            I got to Blanchard and told my wife I was in trouble. My body was killing me.  She told me Tom was two minutes ahead and 2^nd place was one minute ahead of Tom. She said that she thought maybe she shouldn’t have told me this because it could have discouraged me. But it didn’t by any means. It meant I was going just as fast as they were at the turn around, but I knew I would not be making a run away the rest of the day. It sucked because I worked so hard to make it to the starting line healthy and I trained hard to do well, and then I had a crazy little injury that brought the race to a slow stroll through the woods. That is what the next five miles turned into for me. There were not many hills, but there was the technical area that was very similar to most climbing areas like the ones in Fern, AR and Lake Lincoln, AR. Those climbing areas are hard to walk around, let alone run, just as that section of Sylamore is. It was so great to get to the cold creek because I knew that I was finished, and it felt pretty darn good to cross this time. I ran pretty well on the smooth last mile on into the finish. My Time was 4:36 and I finished 4^th place (around 170, 50k finishers and 210, 25k finishers. Wow what a turnout!).

(Finish Line)

 I was, overall, not too beat up. But my body just wasn’t 100% at the race. I am really looking forward to another return to run a much faster race at Sylamore 50k. It was one of the most beautiful sections of trail I have ever run on and the big crowds of runners are going to draw me to this race many more years in the future!

            My wife and I drove for two hours after the race, and then stopped for dinner. Good times!

Ouachita Switchbacks 50k 2013

          The week of my race started with four Cavanal summits, 8,000 feet total. It wasn’t much of a taper week for me, but the beautiful summit vistas are so inspiring.   Jed Kirby also talked me into going to the track and doing some speed work with him on Tuesday. It was a great workout, and hopefully will pay off with a great day soon to come at some other trail races in the Winter Schedule.

            This was the first showing of the Ouachita Switchbacks 25k/50k, and I hoped many of the legends like Paul Turner or Stan Ferguson and their crew would be there. So I was disappointed I didn’t see them at the start of the race. But I am positive they will find their way to this race soon. It is put on by Tom Brennan, and it is perfect. Everything from the food, aid, to the finish is exactly what you would expect from a top par race. But the actual course and challenge are what will make this race grow! Tom tried to get a federal permit to make the race a legitimate race.  It was crazy, the hoops they wanted Tom to go through to get the race legit, so he opted to make the race donations only so he didn’t have to get a permit. I really feel the race would have had the same turnout, fee or no fee. Most people came for a challenge, and speaking for the majority of the racers, I would say that they were challenged beyond what they had expected.

            The race started at Pashubee Trailhead on the Ouachita Trail. It’s a great place to start because there is a lot of parking, and you get a little flat area to warm up with instead of starting straight uphill. Tom and I had run this a couple months before to measure the distance and elevation of the course. So at 8:00 a.m. we rolled out heading west on the trail. This was going to be the first showing of my dog Jesse to the Trail Racing World. I thought it would be a good small race to take her to. She so loves the forest, and I knew she was ready for the challenge. I held her until Tom said go, and then put her down and jumped out in front. The first two guys ahead of me were already going the wrong way, which I thought was funny.  I heard Tom yell, “Follow the dog!”  I was in front for about 200 yards and heard someone say, “Coming around!” and Aaron Ochoa from Tulsa went flying around me.

I immediately went into my game plan mode, which was to fight the urge to chase a lead pack all day! When I noticed no one else was coming around me, I set into Aaron’s pace, which felt great at the time. I have run what has felt like a lot of miles with Aaron in the forest, so it was good to be moving along with him. I was talking to him and he said, “Dude aren’t you doing the 50k?” I said yes, then he said, “Well why are you talking to me and running this fast?”  I went on to tell him I was taking it easy and I told him about my training this week. I said I didn’t plan to run too hard and that I just wanted to have fun today and enjoy the great weather. I told him I was a little worried it might get hotter later and that I wanted to knock out some miles early if I could. 

A month before the race, Aaron had run Eagle Rock Loop with me, and he was amazing with my dog Jesse. He loves dogs, and Jesse is becoming one of his favorites. She is a Toy Fox Terrier and she loves to run! She goes crazy when I walk out the door and she sees me in my running shoes. The night before the race, Aaron and a few more people came over for a pre-race pasta dinner. There we told stories, rock climbed in the garage, and Aaron went on to tell me to take Jesse and see how fast she could run.

Creek Crossing in the Fall photo by Shannon Duncan

Two miles into the race, it was Aaron, Jesse, and I alone hopping over rocks, creeks, sticks, and leaves. We came through the first aid station to see Tom and Bryan Hoover cheering us on. Tom yelled, “You guys are on a record pace!”  Since this was the first year for the race I thought Tom was just joking, but later he told me he was serious because of how fast we were moving along. I didn’t feel like I was working hard at all, and that is always good. We hit the first creek crossing and I jumped, then hopped, then splash! The last rock didn’t hold me, and thankfully it was just a foot in the creek, not my whole body!

 Campsite on the OT

            The next quarter of mile was one of the best camp sites on the OT. A picture doesn’t tell its story or give it justice. It has just about everything. If you are a camper, you would understand. This is also where the climbing really started kicking into gear. It climbed steady for the next few miles, but knowing what was ahead, I kept my pace in high gear. One of the first things I came to is an incredible rock glacier. This thing is 500 yards long, 50 yards wide, and it just seems out of place in Oklahoma. This would be about the only place I stopped on the 25k out and back course. I stopped because every time I cross that point, I am in awe of the placement of this spectacular rock on the side of a mountain in Oklahoma! 

Rock Glacier on the OT

As I continued to climb up the mountain it was thankfully still feeling easy.  Aaron had fallen behind and Jesse was right on my heels, loving every step. I hit the Red Spring; a life saver of water supply in the hot summers on the OT. Here I smelled a camp fire and knew the next camp site was occupied. They were cooking breakfast and it smelled great! They said hi with a strange look on their faces, like most campers in the middle of the forest do when they see me running through their camp site. I couldn’t chat though, with an up pace long run on my agenda. I then came into a section of monstrous pine trees, and the big trees brought smooth, fast, beautiful trail as I continued to climb. Finally, I came to the crest of a great downhill that went into a big saddle between two of the mountains, and then the Switchbacks began, all 30 of them, to the top of Winding Stair. I stopped in the middle for a quick bathroom break and I decided to run the entire mountain to the top. It was 10 degrees colder here, and another 10 degrees colder than that due to the wind-chill.   At the top was the turn around, an aid station, and a stack of rocks eight feet tall marking the highest point on the OT. Tom Brennan and Chris Montgomery went all out to get Gatorade, water, and cookies to the top. Wow, those guys rock!  My time at the top was 1:34.

 Winding Stair Fire Tower Look-Out

           

           

            I re-fueled and headed down the hill trying to save my quads. Before I got to the steep downhill, I was surprised to see David pretty close to the turn around. I was also glad to see Jed up close to the front looking strong. I then got back in the saddle and started the next climb. Near the top, I saw Kasey, my third cousin, on his first trail run. It was also his first run further than 13.1 miles, and he was having the time of his life. He went on to finish and have a great time. I was super proud of him! He is only 20 years old! I went on down the mountain past the other racers coming out, only slowing for the rock glacier and saltine peanut butter crackers for me, and water for Jesse at the Big Cedar Trailhead aid station. I came in for a long 25k of 18 miles with a time of 2:56.

OT and its Rocks

            I got a bowl of water from Tom’s mom, and we started off from the Pashubee Trailhead heading east now. The first three-quarters of a mile felt like solid rock and like the bottom of a creek. Then the climb started. This climb I hadn’t done since 2009 with some friends on an overnight hike. That hike was crazy fun with my father and close friends. I remembered two other climbs, both led to the Mena Lodge on top of Rich Mountain, but the Switchbacks were only taking in the first climb.  During the race I got to what I thought was the first summit, but soon found out the climb was about to start. Not only did the climb start, but the effort of up pace running started its toll on me. I was thinking after all the training this week maybe the 25k was a better idea. But I kept up the effort, finally got to the top of the mountain, and found lots of rocks and hard running over the top. At last, I got to start downhill, and it felt better. I also go to hear the great music of Tatur Aid Station, and this got me fired up enough to get down the mountain and get some aid. 

Views East of Pashubee Trailhead

I fueled up again and Jesse didn’t eat anything. I then took off running and Jesse didn’t come with me. I stopped and yelled at her and she just looked at me. I thought she was done and hoped she would be able to finish after I hit the turn around and came back to the aid station. Half a mile later I heard a blazing noise and saw Jesse fly past me, happy to be running with me again. She couldn’t stand that I had left her I guess. So we had some rough rocky running for another mile, crossed the Kiamichi River and hit the turn around. Jesse was super pumped to turn around, and she was now pulling the pace. It was great for me to have someone to chase, even if it was a dog.

View of the Valley below Pushubee Trailhead First Climb

            I saw a trail beside the rocky creek bed I had just ran down on my way out, and kept thinking: “Man I wish I would have seen this smooth trail beside this rock bed on the way out!” My feet were feeling the rocks. My Brooks TrueGrit 2 shoes were great, but I was just wearing down. I saw John from Tulsa right before I got to the aid station, and I had a lot of time on him. It took the pressure off, but I knew I had to keep the pace up to stay in the lead and get over the next mountain. This climb was steeper, but seemed easy because it was shorter. Near the top was the rocky trail again and I lost a lot of effort to run trail on the rocks. I was super happy to finally start the path on the downhill because I knew the race was almost over.  Jesse was still pulling and doing a great job. We stopped at a creek crossing with just half a mile of trail to go, and I washed my face while she was drinking it up.  I got my Headsweat visor wet and said: “Let’s do this Jesse!”  We had just 3 switchbacks and 100 yards of trail to finish. Jesse was so pumped, and the crowd went crazy for her as she ran to the finish area!

I finished the 50k race in first place at 5:48! I like to think I could have gone faster if I was taper and going at race pace, but I was really happy for the effort I made and the technical trail that I had run.

Tom asked me if it was a hard race. I told him it has to be the hardest 50k in OK, AR, and TX for sure! I hope he puts the race on again, and I am so glad for the people that came out to run. I’m also pumped for my cousin Kasey for his first trail marathon, along with Sean Nichols and Zack Duncan who I heard did great. I heard Zack ended up lying on his back at the top of Winding Stair with a Cookie in his mouth. That is funny stuff!  My hat is off to Jed. I know he had a full week of training going into the race. He won the 25k by 13 minutes, and he still had gas in the tank!