Ouachita Switchbacks 50k – 2014

        Last Friday was another great, crazy night at the Snyder Home.  We had more company than usual, this time from the Northeast Corner of Oklahoma and from Tulsa.  Matt, Chandler and Kyler, my cousin, were three of the new guests, along with the normal crew of Kasey, Aaron O, and Jordo.  We ate an amazing spaghetti dinner prepared by my wife Kristin Jo.  We then headed out to the Snyder Rock Gym and started climbing and watching Sam Young show us how to climb!  We wore ourselves out climbing and finished the 4^th quarter with KD scoring 54 points!

Top of Winding Stair - (Pics - Jed Kirby)

My father-in-law had come down to watch the little ones and he looked on as Aaron and I mixed our bottles,  and Kasey and I traded our Gels and Shot Blocks.  I looked up at him and he had this crazy look on his face like, “What in the world are these guys doing?”  One of the joys of us all hanging out before the race is us trading stories, training, clothing, and always Strava GPS info!

We had an early start as always and a full car this go around.   Two weeks before at ABF Marathon, Aaron forgot his GPS watch and iPod and this week he left his sports drinks in the fridge.  So I had Kyler put them in his bag and off we went.  I saw Aaron turn around and I called him and he said, “I forgot my bottles,” and he was freaking out.  I told him I had them and he was mad.  Stihl ask what he said and I told Stihl that I couldn’t repeat it!  Always good laughs it seems when you get me and Aaron together! 

The course is a double out and back, head west and then back, then east then back. My dad was running the Aid Station at the top of Winding Stair Mountain, Chandler was running from Winding Stair to the start of the race, Stihl was running to the top of Winding Stair.  So trying to figure the logistics of people in places at the right time was fun planning!

Tom Brennan has been racing for years and he knows how to put on the best races!  Keep them cheap, give swag, beer, and find the crazy hard courses that will challenge you beyond your limits!  He had been cleaning on the trail for many weekends and for that Tom, I thank you so much!  I put in time on the trails and I truly appreciate your hard work on the trails, almost more than putting the race on!

My dad working the Top Aid Station (Pics by Jed Kirby)

We pulled into Pushubee Trail head and the sun was just rising.  I found a great place to take a dig and watch the sunrise and Kasey thought that was pretty funny so had to post it.  Sorry if you got a bad image of that!  We took off at 8am and I had been pumped about this race because Justin Franklin had been posting some crazy fast times and he had won a couple races coming into the race.   Add to that,  Tom Brennan running the race this year as well, and a long course you never know what is going to happen out there!  I jumped out in the front at a pace that felt a little slower than last year.  Ran through the Big Cedar Trail head aid station and Franklin stopped and ran down to the first creek crossing.  I crossed this last year dry, but that wasn’t going to happen this year so I busted into the cold water.  I dropped them somehow at the creek and used this time to talk to God for the next 2 miles.  I couldn’t help but think of His wonder as I ran past one of the most beautiful places on the Ouachita Trail with a creek below.  Then I came upon one of my favorite places on the Trail, the massive Rock Glacier that makes you feel like you are in Jackson Hole, WY and makes me think of God’s mystery and creativity! Franklin had caught me at this point and was amazed also.  We stopped and looked up and then down the glacier.

Franklin and I at the Top

Kristin my Beautiful Wife

Stihl 9-year-old Son at the Top

            This would end the gazing as we pressed the pace up the mountain and dropped Tom in this next mile stretch.  I knew Tom wouldn’t be far behind and figured he would catch us by the bottom of the mountain with his downhill speed.  Great to see my dad for all of 5 seconds at the top of the mountain as I turned to head back down the hill looking at the amazing view one last time as we were at the highest point of the entire OT.  Then I would soon see Tom and a crew of people behind him.  It was great seeing so many runners coming out to run, walk or crawl up the mountains.  Shortly I saw my wife and surprisingly, my 9 year-old son was with her.  She said he was doing awesome and I gave him a high five! I was so proud of him that he had made it this far into the race!  I dropped a Gu and Franklin would pass me and start dropping the hammer but it was all downhill so I didn’t think much about it and was glad to finally get a little bit of uphill to relief the pressure of my quads.  We would go through the next aid station and into a very hilly next 3 miles to the 28k mark.  Franklin really pressed down in this area.  I felt it was easy but hard at the same time, so I eased up on hill climbs.  Getting to the aid station was nice, but difficult because it would have been nice to call it a day right then! As we headed out I grabbed many gels and a new bottle.  I was hot, and this is when I notice Franklin pulled his shirt off and I took my gloves off!  Yes I took my gloves off; this is a sign for me that I will never run well if the gloves are off in a long distance race!  I then began feeling upset at my stomach as we started climbing a big climb and I watched as Franklin disappeared into the mountains.  I then remembered back to last year and remembered how this climb was so hard.  I tried to keep a good effort up and finally stopped to try to relieve some stomach issues and nothing, but my heart rate came down and I started feeling better so I started running again.  At this point in the race, on top of the east mountain, it is so rocky and very difficult to run.  Walking it is difficult also, so I figured I would try to run as much as I could.  Soon enough I see Franklin on a rock so I check on him and then head down the mountain feeling better and better with every downhill step!  I then head onto the new course and the change of dirt road as my feet say, “oh yeah!”  I then feel my muscles say “oh yeah,” as I crossed the Kiamichi River which was really astonishing.

Tatur Aid station is the best! Loud music, great food and Brian Hoover ask “You want a daiquiri?”  I did want one, but mainly I just wanted to set there.  But it was a race, and I was in 1^st place!  Brian you’re the best! Crossing the river the second time my toes were very cold, but it felt great and it was great running the road again.  I then saw a dog in the distance and Tom coming around the corner.  He and his dog Penny weren’t far behind.  He said, “Now is the time to go for a sub-5-hour run!”  I was thinking yeah!  Then I hit the next climb and was thinking yes, but my body was thinking no! But I pressed on with what I felt like was a good pace.  Another climb up the hill until where that darn top is so rocky!  Crazy thing is, if you were hiking you have a great view of a mountain to your North and to your South that you could really enjoy.  But with racing you are glued to staring at the trail in front of you so you don’t trip and fall on your face!  I continued to get over the rock null and down the backside, but I was out of liquids and asking another 50k guy for a drink!  He said I need credit for helping you, I should have said, “I just lightened your load and helped you!  But he did help me so much.  So thank you random 50k brother!  I then ran pretty well down the mountain and hit the last flat section and picked up the pace as I came to the last dry rocky creek crossings and the last little climb to the top. 

I heard a yell and I fought to hold in the tears as I remembered running last year with my favorite running buddy, Jesse my 8lbs Toy Fox Terrier.  She finished the full 50k!  She was amazing dog.  She unfortunately was hit by a car this fall.  I know she would have run again with me this year and she would have torn the trail up again! I will never forget her running so many miles with me, but especially at 2013 Ouachita Switchbacks! 

Finish Line

Would love to break 5 hours on this crazy hard course but will need some more training and need a colder day!

1^st Place & Course Record 5:17

(Sorry I didn’t give me course description)

http://ouachitaswitchbacks.blogspot.com/2012/10/course-description.html

Athens Big Fork Marathon 2014

             It was another trip with a big crew from Oklahoma with George Haney (his 3rd race ever) Aaron O and Jordo (from Tulsa), Kasey Ng (my cousin), a healed ready to run Kendal Repass, his wife Hali, my wife Kristin, my 9-year-old son Stihl, and the course recorder holder Tom Brennan.

My fifth trip out to ABF Marathon to run over 8 mountains see my favorite Aid Station that comes all the way from Texarkana, then to turn around and run back over 8 mountains!

            The race director at the beginning has everyone raise there hand if they have gotten lost before in this race and almost every person that has raced before has gotten lost in previous years.  We gather for the race picture and Aaron says to me, “I forgot my watch and my radio.”  He still had his warm up clothes on so I ask, “you still going to race?” And he said, “a Yeah.”  So I said , “well get those clothes off he is gonna start us right after this picture!”  So he started rushing around and my wife was running to the woods for a last min bathroom break and she would miss the start so I yelled at Stihl to run with Hali.  Hali looked just as relieved as Stihl because they both were counting on running with Kristin and she wasn’t at the start! Later I come to find out she hit a 7-min mile to make up for lost time.

Tom and I were in the front and a guy asked which one of you has the Course Record. Before I could say “he’s not here today they say he is a ghost and his name is Tom, and he starts in the back and then comes flying by on the second half of the race and you never have time to see him.”  Tom had said, “I have the Record and it is for sure the slowest Marathon CR in the Nation.”  The reason Tom stated this because the race measured 7,000 feet of vertical gain and it is one rough single-track trail.  This year was going to be a little more difficult with the past storm leaving a mess of branches and trees across the trails.

Wilson Klutts (Happen to be on the Trail)

            The temp was perfect but it was a bit humid for the guy that sweats on the 20-degree lite run in the winter but my hands freeze so I am pretty much a wimp I know but love to run in the cold!  So after a couple miles it was Tom and I pretty far out front and I was trying to decide what kind of time I wanted to chase after for the day!  Tom had set some good guidelines for me on this race years ago and the main one was not to look at your watch on the way out!  I looked at my watch the year I was in the lead and I pushed myself into a big crash after the turn around so Tom was pretty spot on!  This would be my game plan the complete way out only looking at my watch only to guess when I needed to hit some fuel.  I only talked to Tom a couple times after we had hit the single-track southbound trip out.  I mentioned all the trees down, pointed out some deer, and asked him, “Is this the 8^th mountain?”  He replied, “yes.” And I thought, FINALLY!  We hit the forest road before the turn around and ran together and talked about what time he thought we were going to hit the turn around. Tom said, “my guess is a 2:15” I told him my guess was a 2:15 and he said you can’t guess the same number and I told him I had hit 2:15 3 out of the 4 previous years and I said if I had to pick another number it would be a little slower than 2:15.  We hit the turn around at 2:17 grabbed some grub and headed back out.  And I said to Tom, “2:04 will get your course record, looks like it will live another year!”

A surprising 3^rd place came onto the trail only trailing by 6 minutes.  I told Tom he could lead and pull a little while and we stopped for a potty stop and pull is what he did! We hit the first mountain on the way back with an up temp pace and the flats between were the same story.  It took all I had for the next 3 mountains to stay with Tom on the downhill sections as he blazes down them faster than I have seen any other trail runner.  We got into the Blaylock Creek aid station (Mile 18) the race director! Thanks so Much STEVE! Saw I was gassed and Tom also saw I was gassed so he broke out of the aid station pretty quick.  I was down to one last gel so I snagged a big piece of Cake and took off behind Tom.  He blasted across the creek and I ran up creek 20 yards and played frogger across to keep my feet dry!  This was the first year I had ever had dry feet this far into the race!

We hit the steepest climb on the way back next and Tom seemed to finally let off the kill it button and was I ever glad!  This would be my slowest pace of the race but was still trying to regain composer.  I love an out and back course when you say on the way out I am going to run that when I get back to it, and I had already made up my mind I was going to run the 13^th mountain.  Tom set a good hike pace in and I was still running, so I made up some ground quickly that I had lost on the downhill making a pass with my steady pace up the 13^th.  Didn’t really try to make a move, I thought what is the point he will catch me if he is felling good and never know just keep pushing is what I kept in my head.  I hit the next big climb, hiked hard seeing my wife at the top kept me moving what I felt like fast.  Slapped her on the butt, and she smiled I didn’t say a word I just kept moving! 

The last aid station (Little Missouri River) I noticed Tom was not right behind me anymore, I got one last big drink of water.  Running the last mountain always feels good, coming near bottom of the backside before the single track ran out onto the road I saw blaze orange waist up to cap running!  And I knew this was George Haney, he said after the race, “I hadn’t seen anyone in a really long time and I hear the loud noise coming down the mountain and then a huge hawler, and I didn’t need to turn around I knew it was you.”  This was his 3^rd race with World’s Highest Hill his first, man is he ever tough, he and many other runners were doing the Fun Run almost 18 miles and 4,600 feet of elevation! Doesn’t the sound fun?

            Looking at my watch when I hit the road I knew I would have to run hard to get a PR on this course so I picked up the pace which helped my peace of mind knowing a legend and the course record holder wasn’t far behind me!  Tom is one tough runner and his course is going to stand for many years even if a fast marathon toes the line they are going to have to work super hard to get his record!

I was surprisingly dehydrated from sweating so much!  Hard to think you can do that in January but I was soaked from head to toe!  So I got inside to the great cheering crowd gathered around the fire!

Zoom in on the Snot!

Always good times at ABF and plan to go there for many years to come!  You will not find more beautiful country around these parts near Oklahoma or Arkansas.  Proud of my wife and cousin and my son that wanted to go 17 miles but my wife turned him around at the 4 mile mark so he got 8 miles and 1,000 feet and he loved it!  Go climb a mountain and you will not be sorry you did when you get to the top you feel like you achieved so much and you will see some of God’s beautiful creation that he created for you and me!
                                                    1st Place 4:29:40

LOViT Trail Marathon 2013

         Poteau, OK 4:45am I hit the alarm went off and my wife said, “Are you really going to the race?” It was 33 degrees outside and raining and had been raining all night.  I told her, “There are 3 guys in the living room that are ready to roll, I’m going.” She said, “Your Crazy…. Be Careful.” As her head hit the pillow to go back to where I wish I was at that point in bed sleeping!

            Aaron Ochoa and Jordan Christy from Tulsa had drove down because the ice had hit in Tulsa and there would have been no possible way for them to make it to the marathon leaving from Tulsa.  My cousin Kasey Ng was the same story so they were ready to head out the door to 5:15am coffee in hand to meet Tom Brennan, Matt Aguero, and Sam Young missing one more due to injury Kendall Repass, and yes I just said Matt Aguero and every time I said that before the race everyone was like, “wow, how fast is he gonna run?”  Matt hasn’t been on the trail running scene because of his obsession to run the fastest Marathon he can run.  Which makes him one of the best Road Marathoners in Oklahoma.

48 at the start not 63!!!!

            We cheered the complete drive to Hot Springs as the Temp rose 1 degree at a time from 33 all the way to 48, the weather channel said it was going to be 63 at the start with a 100% chance of Rain every hour.  They did hit the rain part correct but the Temp was so hard to figure out how to dress for such a race.  We got there right before the start and all 35 of us lined up and they said good luck you guys have fun!  The trail runs along the Ouchita Lake which is one of most beautiful lakes around Arkansas and Oklahoma and the trail is what I remembered being pretty flat and a big climb at the turn around, this race was an out and back course with 14 out and 12 back making for a great run!

            As it rained we ran and we ran it rained.  I took the lead on the trail and no one was going to push the pace it seemed so I took what I felt was easy and Tom was yelling I was going to fast.  I wanted to go out at record pace that was set by Tom 2 years before this race when I had ran with him and he was using it as a training run and we got to mile 19 and I had never seen a man take off that fast after running 19 miles of trail.  He was gone with-in 3 miles and I was stuck sucking wind up the last hills walking knowing Tom was running.  But this is 2 years later and my fitness is better for sure and had to at least have a shot at breaking my previous time of 3:40 or Tom’s Record of 3:35.   I knew Matt was just going to use this run as a training run and not burn it up like he normally would do a race.  But I also knew if I could get him to chase me to the turn around he might set the course record at a super fast time.  I Tom was going to have it as he jumped out in front of me and slowed the pace at mile 4.  But it was far from Tom slowing the pace down, it was mother-nature as the heavens opened up and the rain fell harder and the trail began to fill with water.  I watched Matt in his racing flats slip and slide and wish he was wearing trail shoes, “funny stuff!”  I can’t image running in a shoe that you would slide every step but I was sliding in my Brooks PureGrit also so I guess it was all fair.  We hit might 10 aid station and started down hill before hitting the climb.  Matt had jumped out front before mile 10 aid station and started pushing the pace.  I don’t think this was on purpose I think he is just so stinking fast when we hit that road section he was like yes and started feeling good!  Matt was looking for the trail at one point and almost ran straight into the woods as Tom and I laughed pretty hard!  Then a mile later I was trying to point him to the wrong direction on the trail and he wasn’t having it!  We then had our first real creek crossing at mile 12 and I said, “Look there is a rope!, Matt said, “oh that’s nice as plunged straight through the middle of the creek far away from the rope and we then laughed again! 

Matt then pushed the climb to heart rate raise and I started walking in the back as Matt and Tom were running and Tom said to Matt, “I thought we weren’t ever going to hike.”  I had been using my long legs and been hiking for awhile at there run pace!

We had a great time at the turn around and took some pictures.  I tossed my hot hands (which they don’t work when they are soakin wet) 

Matt and I at the Finish (still raining)

            From the turn around back we had a very gradual pace never really picking it up.  We weren’t racing and this was apparent early in the race but it was a great training pace and it was very hard with the weather in control of a lot of the pace.  That being said was one of the best 26 mile runs I had ever had with 2 of my favorite running buddies as crossed the line together with a time of 4:03:33 official.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and looking forward to many hard trail runs for 2014 coming up!