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 3rd
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 5th 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 2nd
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 4th 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!
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