Athens Big Fork Marathon 2013

            For history on the race you can go to the website for the course info!  I will sum it up with 9,200 feet of elevation change and 26.2 miles of running everyone’s GPS comes in at 27 miles.  You run up 8 mountains turn around and do it again backwards.

            Race morning my amazing 7 month prego wife decides to pack up with Stihl and go hike over 10 of the mountains for around 12 miles and I am guessing 5,000 feet of elevation gain.  We leave out of Poteau and made the famous stop at Daylight Doughnuts for the normal mountain run pre-food.   We then headed to big town of Big Fork, AR.

            The race is held in some of the best scenic area’s around Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas.  The race is held on an old postal trail from Big Fork, AR to Athens, AR.  This trail runs north and south and they didn’t think of taking the easy path they took the shortest path.

Picture Taken by Tatur Running

            Race time 8:00am and they are never late and they never get in a hurry.  Big turn out this year and was super excited and was very well rested for this race.  I hadn’t trained the best but was feeling super good because I had really tapper for this race and absolutely love running in the Eagle Rock Loop area.

            I took the lead from the beginning and not sure what our pace was but it was just a good steady pace for the first 3 miles are flat.  We hit the trail where Kristin, Stihl, and her dad started at the trailhead and were ahead of us.  I was still in the lead and I planned on running the first mountain it is not to bad of a climb and always feeling good on the first mountain.  Got to see my hot wife at the top of the Mountain and I was pumped because I love my son seeing me in the front of a huge pack, make me feel like a stud.  Then we hit the first aid station and Tatur is probably one of the best aid stations in trail running!  Loud music, any type of food you can think of Oreo's with peanut butter & M&Ms on top. We then crossed the Little Missouri and started the second mountain.  We had now formed a front pack and a second pack, with Chris from Denver, Cole from Tulsa, Tom Brennan from Poteau the Course Record holder.  I think I head the lead for the next 4 mountains with Tom taking the lead on a couple of the downhills.  Then we came into the Big Shot Aid station 17 mile fun run turn around.  Blaylock Creek was rolling pretty good and it felt great to get my legs wait and then get some new fuel at Big Shot’s Aid station.

Tatur Racing Picture

            I pointed the trail out to Chris and there he went as the other 3 of us went on to hit the aid station.  I was the last out of the station and I couldn’t see any of the guys.  So I had to hustle to catch up with Cole. The forest service had cut some dozer paths to help with a forest fire but had caused some serious confusion for the ABF Marathoners.  I was chasing Cole and looked up and he was on the dozer trail and I was on the single track running trail and I was now about 50 yards from him but we were running the same direction.  He looked over at me and it was pretty funny the look on his face.  But he then came back into my trail and was still in the back of the lead back and that is where I stayed as Chris had really started climbing Brushy Heap like a mad man.  I just tried to hang in with the pace as it started to feel like I was racing.  I settled in at the back of the lead pack and looked at my watch after I came over the 7^th mountain and looked like I was on pace to hit my goal of 2:15 for the turn around.   We hit the dirt road and we all ran together to the turn around where the Texarkana Group working the aid station was cooking Chicken Noodle Soup, my favorite on a trial run!  Had a full cup and filled my Gatorade and hit the trial with the rest of the group.

           Chris gave up the lead to Tom on the road and Tom started pulling the pace, Chris was looking strong behind him.  The first climb out of the aid station Chris that was looking super strong and I was thinking earlier in the race that his guy might leave us all anytime but he started falling off the pace.  To me this was meaningless because with the hard climbs at this distance, anything could happen in this race.  I was still enjoying but feeling the pace.

            I hung in there for the next couple of mountains and Cole took the lead and started pushing the climbs.  He hit the top of Brushy Heap and then just blazed down the steep side of the mountain with Tom into Big Shot aid station.  I had 8.5 miles left to go and I got to see Stihl, he had left his mom and ran with a fun run group to that aid station.  The race director told me that he was going to give Stihl a ride back to the finish line.  I then saw Kristin and her dad and it was good to see them making it so far and they still had to turn around and go back to the trail head, “WOW,” one in shape Momma!

Thankfully Tom and Chris got fuel and this gave me chance to make up a little time in the aid station, still no Chris but the next 3 climbs were big and there was plenty of racing ahead.  I remember Tom leading out of this aid station and I felt the pace slow but I would try to speed up to pass him but it was feeling to hard to get around him so I hung in rear a little longer and then finally took the lead but wasn’t trying to push the pace any just keep up the effort.  I then got to the 13^th mountain which has previously been a tough mountain for me past races at ABF so going into this race this year I wanted to push up it.  The next climb I paid dearly.  I slowed down the push and Tom caught me ¾ of the way up the mountain.  I said, “your looking good.”  He said “I feel terrible” this is when he started running!!! Yes don't know what the grade was but it was not running grade!   I felt as he was very upset at how bad he was feeling so he just started running like a man on a mission to kill the rest of the race.  He then pushed to the top and blazed down the backside into Tatur aid station I could see Tom run straight through the aid station and looking back I should have done the same but I was on pace for a great PR and didn’t want to blow up.  I also had decided to run the last mountain before the race and I did until ¾ of the way up the hill and I had to use the men’s room so I lost a couple of minutes there but was one of those I had to stop moments!

I kept running over the top and popped out on the what usually feels like the forever dirt road and started trying to make up some ground with the smoother terrain.  I surprisingly felt good and keep pushing the pace for the each mile.  When I hit the payment still no Tom until I topped the hill and there he was but it was to late to make a chase for the man that owned the course and he never been beaten at ABF Marathon.  He is a legand on the trail and he had a bad day and I couldn’t hang with him.  I told my wife that it didn’t matter if I had gotten 20^th place because I was almost 20 minutes faster than my Personal Record on the Course so I was super happy and it was great to have 3 other great guys to run with this year! I got second place and my time was 4:32

Hope this makes you want to get out and run some trail!  Have a great day and thanks for reading!
                            http://www.athensbigforkmarathon.com/

St. Jude’s Memphis Marathon Dec. 1st 2012

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Trip started Friday afternoon and this trip was with my oldest kid. Carlos Garcia.  He is 17 years old and is from Spain.  He is living with us for the next 6 months and he has been in the States and with us for 4 months.  He is a great kid and he loves to go.  So when I asked Carlos if he wanted to go to Memphis he said “YES!” 

            So we loaded up in the New Nissan Versa I bought and hit the road!  I-40 felt like I was in the movie CARS with all 18-wheelers on the interstate!  We stopped at a great burger joint in Russellville to break and the drive!

            This would be my second running of the St. Jude’s Marathon and I remembered the course being pretty flat and pretty fast.  Three years ago it was like 25 at the start and this year was the opposite.  It was very warm, but I wasn’t to worried because I wasn’t racing.  I was doing my first big marathon pacing and I was a PACER.  And I was a little nervous because I had ran Tulsa 13 days before the marathon and I had done a 5 hour forest run with Tom 7 days before the race.  So this would be 3 marathons in 3 weeks, and my legs were feeling pretty bad at the end of the run with Tom. But they were feeling pretty good for the race!

             I worked the expo and that got me excited to pace because so many people were running there first marathon.  Also one of the most exciting things was seeing Donald Trump’s Son at the race because their foundation had donated 20 million dollars to the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital!  WOW that is so cool, and topping that off the Hero’s and other runners had raised 7.6 million dollars!

           
            Ok onto the race again,  it was warm start and we were off pretty much dead on pace 7:26 per mile to cross the line under a 3:15!  We hit the next 2 miles a were a little ahead of pace but I was not to worried about it.  Memphis crowds were awesome!  They were so pumped to be outside cheering for the runner.  Around mile 3 we came back by the stadium and I was getting the crowd screaming for our pace group.  We had a big crew and we were nailing the miles!  Jon and I were the 2 pacers for this group and we came in at the half with 40 seconds in the bank and I thought this was great but we didn’t need to hit any more miles any faster or we would start dropping people.  And that is what we did at mile 16, they started dropping like flies, and we had hit some wind and hills.  But the worst thing was that the temperature was moving up into the 70s and this is not good for marathoning.  I have a history of doing terrible in the heat.  I started feeling this heat when we turned at mile 20 and we had the wind at our backs.  We only had about 2 runners with us at this point and one of them said wow it got 10 degree’s hotter when we turned.  I then started feeling worse, so I hit another GU.  I probably should have hit 3 or 4 and then started hammering the power aid.  Because when I hit mile 23 I told Jon that I was hitting the wall.

            I was wrong it wasn’t the wall , it was a huge brick wall. I handed my pace stick to Steve the last runner that was with us and told him to stay with Jon and get in under 3:15.  I then fell 14 minutes off pace and I limped in for a 3:29 finish.  I feel 14 minutes off pace in 3 miles!  WOW what a day!  Never know how your body is going to do in a race.  I feel like I helped the runners a lot by telling them to relax, drop their arms.  I also told them about fueling and everything else during the race and had the time of my life running in support of so many runners!  I wish I could have finished on pace though.  It was rough and not as rough as the next 2 hours after the race because I was throwing up and I couldn’t keep liquids down.

I was glad I had Carlos there to help me find my way back to Poteau!

Tulsa Route 66 Marathon 2012

2012 Tulsa Marathon

My third running of the William Route 66 marathon and I was excited to run this year!  One day before the race started and we were in the car driving up to Tulsa and I was thinking about how the weather had been amazing all week!  Everyday of the week would have been a great day for marathon it was 30ish in the morning and warming up to around 40ish in the mid morning and very little wind.  That is perfect weather for me to run a great race and the weather was looking a little worse for Sunday morning in the 40s and winds picking up to 15mph around 10am.

I wasn’t going to let that worry me to much because I had trained hard and was ready to race!  My legs were feeling pretty bad at the first of the week because I hadn’t been running as much. But this is always normal for me a week before the marathon.

So it is still Saturday and my wife is on a mission to get some of her Christmas shopping done and I was glad to sit outside in the beautiful sunshine and weather. So I set the seat back and had a good cat nap, then onto the Expo I went and it seemed like forever since I had been to an expo because I haven’t ran a marathon in a long time because of the dang hot summer!  The Expo was fun I went running after a parachute dropped prize and could have jumped and got it but didn’t want to steal it from a little kid!  I then waited in line to get a picture with my wife in the photo booth and that was fun, always fun getting in a closet-like space with my wife.

Then we went back to the mall and I entertained shopping for a little bit, which was a mistake.  I didn’t enjoy it and probably should have stayed off my legs I probably walked 2 miles in the mail and saw so many over weight people, it was truly sad, I guess I don’t get out that much but it was shocking in that moment to see so many in one place.  Anyway got to get out of there and got to meet up with my good friend Weldon that lives in Tulsa and we always stay with him and go to dinner with him the night before the race, thanks Weldon.  He also drops us off and picks us up from the race, and that is really awesome!

Ok enough about life and on to racing!  Marathon morning was great weather was looking good got to the race same time as always.  Gun goes off at 8am and we are off. Mile one Tom is right beside me and it was like, “hi.” He said your looking good and we ran together for the next 9 miles and it was great to have Tom with me at the beginning of the race.  I told him at mile 5 that I was kinda feeling funny at mile 2 and 3 but he said that normal and I was feeling great from the rest of the time with Tom, he broke the wind for me a couple of miles and was great company.  He dropped at mile 10 to go run with Chris Montogomery.  And I had Weldon with me at this moment.  He was on his road bike and we were cruising down Riverside and he didn’t know if he was suppose to do that or not but no one said anything to him.  It was kinda of frustrating because he was not pedaling and I could hear every once in awhile that he would hit the breaks to slow down.  The wind was pushing him a lot and it was pushing me but I was still having to put out a lot of effort to run the pace I was running. Weldon said at one point “is this rights it says we are going 9mph” I told him yes we are going pretty fast right now.  I hit the half at 1:23:30, He continued with me until we got to the end of Riverside and then he went to head back to get his truck and camera to meet us at the finish.

This is really when the marathon started for me, because up to this point it had been pretty easy but when I turned up to go into down town Tulsa the uphill became hard and the wind.  I looked at my watch going up one of these hills and saw a pace of 7:15. My slowest mile at this point was into the wind at mile 6 or 7 and it was a 6:42 with Tom breaking some wind.  The slowest mile I had in 2011 was a 7:00 and in 2011 I ran the second half 12 seconds slower than the first half.  But this would not be true for 2012 because I couldn’t put together any strong miles against the wind or the hills that the second half had to offer.  One of the great things about this section was that I was still passing people and I hadn’t gotten passed yet!  So I was still running pretty strong even though my pace had slowed.  Then I hit a really slow mile against the wind and a girl comes up beside me and I get behind her to let her take some of the wind.  Then I hear, “always running with a girl,” and it was Tom standing on the side cheering me on.  I hung in for a tough couple miles and then got into Tulsa Campus.  I was flying in this area last year and it was hard to be running about 20 seconds slower per mile in this area somewhere in this area or before this area was mile 20 and I was really wanting to rally because I looked at my watch and did the math and knew I could still PR.  The wind in TU just really discouraged me and I was just trying to hang in there.  And that is what I did for the next 4 miles and then I got to mile 24 and Tom pops out and runs with me again up a big hill which was a huge help!  And then I pressed on to pass 2 more people at the finish with a time of 2:58.  A couple minutes from a PR but I was super happy with this run and any Boston Qualifier is a good day when I hadn’t ran well all of 2012!

My legs were pretty good and my toes were tore up pretty good!  But it was great!  My favorite part about the trip was driving back at Sallisaw on top of Backbone Mountain seeing the Sun Pop Out and shining on Cavanal the World’s Highest Hill!  I am ready to start running that dude and getting to top more often!

I love where I live and love to run where I live!

Rails To Trails Winter 2012 Magazine

Click this Link to View the Article

Pretty Pumped that I get to be apart of a small part of this running community in Poteau, OK.

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything on this Blog in almost a Year!

I am currently about to put some of my Race Data on the Blog and then start Blogging about my Adventures from this point on.  Help me not forget all the fun I have out in the wild and pushing my body to the limits!

Tulsa Route 66 Marathon 2011

Route 66 Tulsa Marathon

  I woke up to 40 degree weather and I am ready to run 26.2 miles in the rolling hills of Tulsa.  Wind around 10 to 15 mph but compared to last year’s Tulsa Marathon, this weather was perfect!

Tom Brennan (high school history teacher at Poteau High) saw me at the starting line and said, "When I left Poteau it was 65 degrees, glad we are in Tulsa running in 40 degree weather."  Coach Tim Hall of Poteau was standing in the starting gate also and he said, "You ready to tear this race up?"  I told him I was pumped for the weather and was going to run as hard as I could today.  Coach Hall has been training harder than he has ever trained and he also has been setting new Personal Record at every race that he has been attending. About a month ago Coach Hall went to Chili Pepper 10k in Fayetteville, AR and set a new PR (personal record) in the 10k. But not only the 10k did he set a PR, he looked down at his 5k split and saw that he just hit a new PR for the 5k during a 10k race.  Coach Hall has been dreaming of qualifying for Boston Marathon by running a sub 3:30 in the Marathon.  And that is what Tim Hall set out to do the cold morning of Tulsa Marathon.  

Tom Brennan on the other hand has qualified countless times for Boston and veteran to running and loves when the weather is cool and clean!  He was chasing a top 5 finish and 1st in the Masters Division, what I like to call the "Old Man Age Group."  He doesn't train like most people do for a marathon he is just ready to run fast almost anytime, anyplace, or anywhere.  He prefers a long run in the Forrest or an epic trail race.  Toms main reason he probably loves these epic long races is because he dominates the competition in this area!  Tom has taught many of us in this area that yes we can run faster and further than we ever dreamed possible; but more importantly, run to make yourself a better person!

It was starting to seem really cold at the starting line with misty rain in the air.  The national anthem started and my heart began to speed up with knowing what I was about to try to do.  I had been chasing a sub 3 hour marathon for 3 years now.  And I am a realist, Tulsa seemed to be to hilly and to windy to break 3 hours.  I was going to go out at a pace that would put me in reaching distance of 3 hours but not any faster.  Tom on the other hand told me to get out faster the first half and create some time in the bank.  Most people seem to slow down the second half of the race is probably why Tom is telling me to do this and he is right.  Most of my previous races that I had done well in I had slowed about 1 to 2 minutes slower on the second half of the race.  I like to think of the marathon as running on the edge of a cliff.  You are trying to push as hard as you can without falling off the edge of this cliff that most people call “The Wall,” if you push yourself faster than you can handle to early you will find this Wall or edge of the cliff and then you are done.  Tom always says, “listen to your body”  Tulsa that day I was listening to the wind blasting in my face on Riverside Drive mile 7.  This is when I knew I was feeling pretty good and I dropped in behind a 6 foot guy to let him break the wind.  I also noticed 2 females were behind me letting me block the wind for them.  It was 1^st place female in the half marathon and 1^st place female in the marathon with 2^nd place female shortly behind gaining ground on us.  We had a strong head wind for about 4 miles on Riverside Drive before we turned up hill into Downtown Tulsa.  The half marathoners had turned off to the finish and it was hard to tell what place I was in but I was racing the clock and that is what I was trying to keep in mind.  And in the mean time 1^st and 2^nd place female were battling for the lead letting me take the wind for them.  It was fun to watch.  I told Maggie the female that was in 1^st place at the time that it was pretty normal for me to be racing the 1^st place female because Oklahoma City Marathon earlier in the year the helicopters were over head at the end and I knew she was coming and I better hurry or she was going to pass me.  But this female was much stronger and better trained, I thought at any moment she was going to take off and leave me.  It was one of the perfect days that you dream about that you are just enjoying to run fast and you know that you are going to have a great day.

As many of your know Tulsa is rolling with hills, and that is what I was finding at mile 18 heading up hill to TU campus.  Our pace slowed a little but the effort didn’t.  I began to wonder if I was going to fast up these hills and if I was going to find “The Wall” at any moment.  When reaching TU campus it helped that it was beautiful but it had many turns that were also frustrating because you really didn’t know which way to turn until you were right up on the turn.  At the beginning of TU campus I looked back, runners normally never look back unless they were worried about slowing down. I looked for alternative motives, I wanted to see where second place female was at, hadn’t seen her since mile 18 and we were at mile 21.  When I looked back she was right there, I was surprised and I thought she was going to gain on us to make a run at first place.  After TU campus someone said we were in 15^th place, this is hard to listen to someone on the side cheering for you because there were many relay guys that were ahead me and they could be counting them or they could be off of that number and I could be further back than that.  It was easy for Maggie Nelson because she was the first female and everyone was cheering for her, “Go First Place Female.” 

Me and Tim were doing a training run a few weeks ago talking about the course and he seemed to know Tulsa area better than I did.  He said, “Yeah when we get to TU you at mile 20 it should be downhill to the finish at mile 26.”  Tim was running a 7:45 pace for the 1^st half of the race a little time in the bank getting ready for the second half.  He was sitting perfect for hitting a sub 3:30 marathon.  Meanwhile his son Nico Hall was sitting at the finish line because he had finished the half marathon in 1:27:38 that is a 6:41 pace.  I am pretty sure this is the fastest half marathon ran by a Poteau High student ever, getting 4^th overall in his age group 21^st place overall.  I saw Nico for the first 3 miles he ran with me, then he began to rush the pace and I said, “Go get em.”  I saw him the entire race ahead of me and he ran a smart race that I am very proud to see him run this well at this distance!  And I know a lot of runners are excited to see what he does next year for the Poteau XC team!

Coach Tim Hall would go on to finish the marathon in 3:40:28 this is a 8:25 pace and I must say is amazing!  I hope I can run this when I am his age!  I haven’t heard from him when and where he fell off his goal pace. I do know that he is going to come back and try again for a Boston Qualifier and I hope I am at the finish line to cheer him on when he does it.  You inspire me a leader, and I know the XC Team couldn’t have a better coach that leads by example as a man and coach!

I am not sure on what goal time Tom had set out to run.  I ask him at the beginning of this race if he was going for a PR and he said, “Are you kidding me with this wind!”  Brennan you never know, but I do know running with him over the past few years that he has many more amazing days than does bad.  Tom went out just where he had planned and hit the half marathon mark just about perfect.  He said the wind was tough downtown because he kept thinking were done with the wind.  Aside from that section he ran a perfect race on into the finish.  Tom didn’t know what place he had crossed the finish line but knew he was pretty close to the top finishers.  He had passed several guys the second half of the race and said, “I didn’t like the hill at mile 25 but the rest of them were not all that bad.”  Tom called me after the race and said he was leaving the race because he was getting cold.  I told him to turn around and head back because there were about to do the awards ceremony.  They called his name for 1^st place Masters Division.  They only gave out 2 trophies from stage, one for 1^st place man and one for 1^st place Masters.  Tom finished the marathon in 2:48:49 that is a 6:27 pace and he finished 6^th overall.  Not his fastest marathon, but he was very happy with the race that day!

So I am at mile 23 when I see 8 police motorcycles heading right at us.  This had meant first place guy was already finished and he was fast, and also meant they were there to take 1^st place female to the finish.  I said to Maggie, “the Calvary is coming for you, and you better give me some of that 1^st place adrenaline,” and I also said “stay relaxed and you got this.”  When I said this to her I was thinking this is what I needed to do is stay relaxed!  She started pushing the pace and was great if you could hold it. Then I see a hill at mile 24 and we are steadily passing more male marathoners with are up tempo finish.  I almost fell off pace on the last hill at mile 25 that Tom was hating on, but I thought I have ran 21 miles with this pace I need to just tough it out.  And when we reached the last half mile to go the motorcycles started the sirens and we both took off to the finish.  I saw my wife on the last turn and she was screaming like crazy for me! And we finished the marathon side by side as she crossed the tape and ducked off to the side.  I will never finish first in a marathon but that day I had a good adrenaline of what it would feel like to finish first and it was amazing to be a part of Maggie’s first place marathon run.  I also set almost a 5 minute PR by running a 2:57:04 and placing 10^th overall.

Oklahoma has some of the best weather for running in the winter in the United States.  So start that new year’s resolution today by finding a trail or a route to run on and getting some time on your feet walking, jogging or running.  Sign up for  a 5k, 10k, ½ marathon, marathon, or Triathlon today!  You have to train at an enjoyable pace and get in a habit of it and you will live a healthier future!

Cossatot 1/2 Marathon Trail Run

Well the day start off on Friday evening with my beautiful wife. We set camp up and hiked down the cossatot falls and it was amazingly beautiful just like my wife. When we dated almost -0 years ago we went to this same spot and was great to re-visit.
We stopped at "end of the trail" biker bar and picked up some ribs on the way down that we could eat for dinner and glad we did because they had a burn ban going on and it would have been a bad deal if we planned on cooking dinner.
Didn't sleep well because some partying people were loud until 2am. But also the batteries on our air bed thing went out and Kristin slept on top of me most of the night (not to bad) because of the lack of air in the air bed. Kristin said that this was our very first camping trip with just me and her. Kidda crazy but true and I was glad to be there with her!

Race Day
We got up at 6am nice and cold and we packed up camp and headed out to the visitor center about 5 miles away.
Got a sweet dry fit t and a little swag and hopped on a school bus to ride out to the trail head that they were going to start us at.
Brushy creek Rec area is where the race started, nice bathrooms and yes I was the first one off the bus and in that pooper. We then lined up for a group picture and the. We heard a gun shot from opening day of muzzle loader season. And I said Bambi is dead, everyone laughed and they lined us up for the start of the race.
The race started What felt like fast. But we hit a big flight of stairs to go down and then we ran under the road and climbed stairs to get on the biggest highest foot bridge I have ever seen. When I got on the bridge I looked down the stairs and saw my wife was up close to the front of girl pack! I was glad I told bet to get up there! We went across the bridge and onto the cossatot trail and it was dongle track. And I had heard it was rough and rocky. It was smooth and hilly. It was in perfect shape. They have built 37 nice bridges on the trail and have really worked on this trail and this made the run a lot of fun.
Mile 1. I was in second place and there was about 4 of us. Two guys from Fayetteville Steve and Jon. These guys run a lot of trail races. Steve has done a lot of hard 100 milers and he was leading the way. We hit mile 1 at 9:05 and we haven't start what I heard was the biggest climb in the race.

And I forgot to finish this blog so now it is not fresh on my mind!  So that is why I am going to start blogging more!  I know I took a wrong turn at the end and I still came back to win the race by about 5 minutes...  Wish every day was as good as that one was!  Beautiful Trail and Beautiful Area!