Jack and Jill Marathon 2019

Jack and Jill Marathon 2019

I have let myself down and the folks that follow me over the past couple of years by not sharing my adventures. Not sure if it has been from all the issues I have had or not meeting my goals or just my inverted side, yes I have this side to me sometimes!

            

The end of 2018 was packed with many let downs. First was my second sinus surgery and worst of all vestibular neuritis – say that fast 5 times! 

Vestibular neuritis is an inner ear disorder that may cause a person to experience such symptoms as sudden, severe vertigo (spinning/swaying sensation), dizziness, balance problems, nausea and vomiting.

I could go into this topic for a complete blog post but I will cut to the details.  I couldn’t drive for three solid weeks and couldn’t ride my bike for about six weeks, life changing!!!   According to my specialist I will have to deal with this for years to come, but I have advanced rapidly in my therapy.  But I’m still fighting symptoms!

December 2018 I ran Dallas White Rock for the third year in a row and I ran a Boston Qualifier for 2019 with a time of 3:08, however registration was already closed for 2019. And then I found out that Boston had changed the qualifying time to a 3:05 for my age group!  After I finished this race I was so dizzy I could barely walk but despite this I felt like I had the perfect day with a strong finish!

Without my winter training on the bike or running I put on some weight, 192lbs NAKED!  The heaviest I had been in my life.   Inspired by Beach Body Leader, Juleah Brooks I started writing down my weight and watching what I ate a little closer and also thinking of how daily working out is so good for my body, mind, and soul.  Shout out to you girl for inspiring so many and keeping to the plan!  It is the same plan I have, you write down a goal and chase after it!

I love running the OKC Memorial Marathon and was glad to get back out on a new course.  My run was ok but I really didn’t have the fitness needed, however it was great in my training block leading up to the Jack and Jill Marathon.  Then I moved back to my love of Mountain Biking. I had skipped many bike races in the fall and the spring but I just couldn’t miss my favorite Ouachita Challenge 2019. Even though I didn’t race well, I knew this was a good building block for me moving forward to fitness goal and getting closer to a BQ, Boston Qualifier.  I had managed to work my way down to 173 lbs – ALMOST A 20 lb DROP!

Sorry for the long background, but I felt it was essential since I haven’t been blogged about races in a long time stemming from the frustration of no motivation, drive and all kinds of sickness.

Jack and Jill Marathon – Northbend, WA –  July 2019

We got off the shuttle bus at the top of the mountain at 6:28 am and the race started at 6:30. I ran to get in the port-a-jon line, but Kristin said heck with the port-a-jon and headed to the woods.  Then we still had about a ¼ of a mile to run to get to the start, my mind was racing as I didn’t want to miss the start.  I wasn’t so much worried about missing the start as they have chip timing but the dilemma is you head into a 2.5 mile tunnel a little over ¼ mile into the race.  I didn’t want to get trapped in the back and have trouble passing in the tunnel!  Yes I did say 2.5 MILES of tunnel, so bring a headlamp if you run this marathon. Starting temp was 49ish and in the tunnel was around 45ish.  It was amazing but I didn’t have gloves and was only running in a singlet.  I loved not worrying about my pace at the beginning of the race because of the tunnel.  It was very quiet with footsteps echoing throughout the tunnel.   The footing was small gravel and dirt and 90% of my training is on the Frisco Trail in Poteau, an old railroad trail, which is the same surface. But this old railroad path was 26.2 miles going down a mountain dropping 2500 feet.  So yes downhill the complete way with only a 15 foot climb at mile 8!

We came out of the tunnel and dropped our headlamps and I hit the first aid station and felt like I was flying.   I then begin to look at my watch wondering if it would find satellite soon and start giving me some accurate mile splits.

I hit the 10k mark at 6:30 average pace.  The last few 5k’s I ran were at 6:15 pace so this was a little scary but I could tell my heart was low and my pace was doing ok.

There were not a lot of runners to talk to so I was just took in the amazing views of the trees and mountains on this overcast morning. 

Half Marathon Marker 1:28:30, I missed a box of gels they had and I was little sad because I was really wanting a couple. Thankfully I had 5 packed but I knew if things went south I would start slamming them.  The sun began to break through the clouds off and on, and you could feel the temps change. Often running from the sun to the shade would cause a drop of 8 to10 degrees. When you would curve into a massive forest and hear waterfalls and the water running or crossing a bridge would have to be my favorite parts of the race!  Over this gradual descent you would always be looking at the next corner, curve or forest.  It really helped to keep my mind off of (this hurts, you didn’t train enough, you could blowup any second!)

Mile 20 (The Wall) – We dropped into a couple steep hills that were short and this was when I knew my quads were totally trashed!  I had been looking at my splits around 18 and I knew I was slowing, but with my training base of miles this was sure to happen.  The next 3 miles my mind was in a place of “you got this” and my body was like “no you need to slow down!”  I lost about 30 seconds per mile from mile 20 to 23 and if I was looking at 3 more miles at this pace I wasn’t going to qualify for Boston with a 3:05. I needed just about 7 minute per mile pace and with a 7:28 at mile 23 my mind was beginning to see Boston 2020 slip away!  But my running buddies before the race said, “Take your mind to your happy place,” a place that says, “You got this!” I begin remembering the past few months of training and my mind took me to long runs with Stevie & Jenny Chitwood and my amazing wife Kristin. Thinking, “Stevie could only run about 5 miles at a time last year and he is going to be right behind me today in his first full marathon!  Knowing that the hardest devoted fitness chicks in Leflore County would be kicking my shoes as they put in the work and miles to be major veteran Boston Qualifiers! Picturing an early morning run with my son Stihl on the Frisco Trail and how he wanted to race the last ¼ mile and I couldn’t beat him no matter how hard I tried!  Pounding miles with gallons upon gallons of sweat! My mind said, “You might not get this chance on that trail with this weather to get a BQ, so forget it and run!”   I somehow got my body to give me 3 hard miles!  But not without the most pain I have had at the finish of a marathon, mostly because normally I would slow down.

 

Mile 26 – With 2 tenths of a mile to go there was a lady standing on the corner right before the mile 26 sign. She said, “You are amazing, “Your almost there, you got this!” she was screaming. I couldn’t see the finish line and my watch mileage had been all over the charts from the beginning with the long tunnel!  But that lady was my hero. Because as I finally turned the slow long last corner I saw 50 different state flags flying and lots of folks cheering.  The announcer said, “Josh Snyder, Poteau, OK you just qualified for Boston Marathon!

After the marathon we went to Seattle and hung out. We had plenty of laughs at how blown up my quads were! We drove our cool rental Jeep onto Washington State’s Ferry and into the Olympic National Forest.  We spent several days hiking, cliff jumping, cold water soaking, waterfall hunting, fishing, ocean gazing and my wives favorite detour from the plan, Off ROAD JEEPING!

 

It is so pretty in Washington I can’t explain it.  The mountains are steep and the tree’s are huge!  I could sit in the wild and drink coffee for hours in Seattle’s outer regions.

My wife is the best planner for a vacation and has had the details for this trip nailed down for months. Plus she writes training plans and is probably the most driven, amazing women I know! I love you and thank you for planning such am amazing trip that would take me 10 blogs to explain the adventures and memories we made and I can’t wait to make a million more with you! Happy 16^thanniversary!

Running with Venom

Texting Sam in July that I am going to be 20 minutes late from a family outing to meet him for our run.  I arrive at the house at 8:10 ready to run about 40 minutes later than I would have preferred to leave for a run up Cavanal Hill.  I ask Sam if we could run the 7 mile loop on the road and then I saw his Dog, knowing he wanted to run the trail.  I then implied for us to put the dog in the back yard or the garage.  Sam had previously done both of these things leading to great disaster and costly damages!  So Sam said, “I am running the hill!”  I didn’t hesitate, I love that mountain in my backyard the challenges it brings, I grabbed my head lamp and off we went!

Cavanal Hill- Worlds Largest Hill in my back yard and it is 3.5 miles to the top with a little 2,000 feet of elevation!  The first mile I blazed though the woods and over a couple rock drop cliff areas with about 800 feet of elevation gain of climbing.  We were climbing this first mile and I was about 8 minutes into the run and I was killing about 1 horsefly per minute of running wishing I had a shirt on and listening to Sam laugh as he bragged about putting on some Oil that was keeping the horseflies away from him.  I though to myself I need to stop worrying about the horseflies and watch the trail.  Hoping many rocks getting darker by the second.  I then scream grabbing at my ankle!  Sam yells, “Snake” I yell back, “it just BIT me, what kind is it.”  Next words Sam’s mouth were evil but true! “Stay Calm” knowing he was about to tell me it was a rattlesnake or copperhead.  He said, “it is a BIG Copperhead.”  I then scream louder and pretty sure I was jumping up and down!  Sam then goes CrossFit style on the copperhead dropping rocks on it as I was tying my headband around my ankle.  Next thing I know I look up and my dog is nose to nose with that Snake and Sam is yelling at her!

I then begin the long mile down the hill hurting more and more with every step, wishing Sam would speed up at times and wishing he would slow down at times. Our headlamps are on now and we can see the trail better than what we could see just minutes before when it was dusk.  I stopped at one point to feel my heart and it was beating threw the roof!  Not sure if it was from the snake or from the adrenaline going through my body.  We made it to the flatter area about 300 yards from the house and Sam took off to get my family warned and things ready to get me to the hospital.  I figured I would do what I normally do after a run, jump in the pool, figured at this point it was get rinsed off and cooled down a little and for sure lower my heart rate!  My wife comes running out and Sam is sprinting up the trail yelling for me!  I yell back that I am in the pool and they are shocked that I was taking a dip in the pool.

I jump in Sam’s truck and off we go to Poteau Hospital, my wife and kids are on there way to papa’s and glandma’s so she can drop the kids off.  Stihl my oldest is crying & my youngest Scarlett is laughing saying “daddy……. Snake….. bite….” I try to call a doctor friend and text him hoping to find out what to do.  Then I call another good friend, Dautis that was bit just 2 months previous. No luck from either friend, the pain now is starting to settle in the foot and it hurting pretty bad.  Arriving at the hospital I get to see a good friend, Brandy who is a nurse.  I then get the foot up and start the long process with Poteau on how they didn’t really know what to do with the snakebite.  They wanted to get me in an ambulance and take me to Fort Smith and I wouldn’t do it!  I then start throwing up every 5 to 10 minutes in extreme pain.  Get some more pain meds in me and K-Jo and I are off to Fort Smith.  They didn’t help much over there either. The Doctor tried to put me in the waiting room as I was filling a barf bag and the head nurse said I have a room we can get him in.  I finally held down an anti-nausea pill long enough that I stopped throwing up and now was moving out the other end every 20 minutes… Couldn’t believe that much fluid was in me!  I hit the famous 6 hour mark and they sent me home.  This is when the swelling started.  It was 3 in the morning now and I fell asleep for 3 hours.  Waking up to a wife that was worried sick about my leg as over the next 24 hours it would swell to the size of a 400 pound man’s leg would look.

Prayers and loving friends taking care of me kept me sane through the pain.  The next 3 days I would only get out of bed 7 times.  You will see me in the pool in extreme pain to get in there but probably the most relaxed at had been in 3 days and also my first half redneck bath!

I am writing this exactly 6 weeks later and wow what a 6 weeks it has been!  I have never been hurt very long over the past 7 years and if I had a running hurt I would fall to biking and always work through it. Would I go from fast to not as fast, yes but never was I not able to do what I love, running, biking and playing with the kids outside. 

A good friend of mine, Jason Waymire shared one of his struggles with me, “Josh I had to find who I was because I was a different person not being able to be active.”  This is so true to what I have been going through the past weeks.  I am still having trouble and pain. Swelling when I take off running or biking.  Not swelling when I am running.  So trying to find the medium is where I am at for now.

I hope that if you have been injured you are staying strong to get back at it and fight to do what you love!  I love the outdoors and hope to not be scared of the woods or snakes!  This 2015 year started out with a dream ride at Queenwillamena 105 miles and 16k of elevation, thinking I could go do anything!  Then down and out with a big surgery on my nose coming back to do another huge ride to my Grandmother’s House of 163 miles! To snake bitten and out for the rest of 2015 season!

DON’T GIVE UP!

Sylamore Trail 50k 2014

            My wife, 8 months Prego was putting my shoes on and tying them for me.  It was the Monday before the upcoming Saturday race and I had tweaked my back (Pregnant Karma Sutra, know your limits).  I showed up to the race and didn’t do too bad until I slipped on the ice and re-tweaked it at mile 23.  I finished 4^th with a time of 4:36 and was happy with my 2013 race.   But, I’ve been dying to return to Sylamore to PR and see where that puts me in the competitive group of racers that are drawing from Memphis, St. Louis, Little Rock, Oklahoma and Texas.  With 225-50k’ers and 625-25k-er’s signing up for this race, it is the biggest trail race in Arkansas if not the 5 state surrounding area.  I had looked up before the race and saw the top 6 from last year were signed up to come again and race for 2014.  That in itself was exciting and gave me more reason to trail with intensity for this early 2014 season!  So me and my 2 Valentine Sweetheart’s, Kristin and Scarlett, loaded up for the 4.5 hour trip.  It included some major twisted roads to get to North Central Arkansas near Mt. View, AR.

Chris, Bryan, and Me

At 7 am the race director announces that we have never done this before for the 50k, but if you choose to turn around at the 25k we will not DNF you from the race.  Then he went on to explain that the course was 80% snow and ice for major sections of the trail. He then says this isn’t the fun snow to run in.  This is ice on top of snow….bust you’re a** snow.  He then says good luck and sounds the horn as everyone was 30 feet from the starting line (typical for most trail races).  Me, Tom and Bryan, from Memphis 2013 with 2^nd place and a really fast time, were pacing the first three-fourths of the uphill road section together.  As we were chatting Bryan told us that Matt wouldn’t be running because he was injured, he would be just crewing and cheering.  Then Chris flies by us, and I thought, “Oh man, it is the guy that goes out fast at every race and then comes back.”  Right about then we hit the first snow and ice going downhill.  Normally we would be flying down this hill but everyone was slowing because it was super slick.  We neared the bottom and Tom goes down hard. Says he is ok and we keep on trucking.   We get on the wrong trail right off the bat and bushwhack to the correct trail and then come upon the first major creek crossing.  On the other side of the creek it was solid ice going up the steps and I felt like I was crawling on all fours to get to the top of the trail out of the creek.  The next mile would be some of the worst, most dangerous running I had ever encountered in my life.  Bryan who was ahead of me was sliding on his butt in one spot to get down.  And I spotted Tom slipping on another dangerous rocky spot.  We kept pressing forward and I passed Bryan and went into 2^nd place not worrying about Chris to much and trying to focus on running my own race.  I was feeling pretty good and being really cautious not wanting to get banged up early into the race.

Ice, Bryan, Me and Tom

            First Aid Station at Blanchard Springs, Team Snyder was there ready to go.  I dumped a shirt got my lucky hat, a new bottle and was on my way giving time for Tom.  Another dude that looked like Van Diesel running strong and Bryan were coming into the aid station as we left.  This was the first big climb and it was good Tom was leading the way because this was a good check for me not to kill this hill as I wanted to let it loose.  I finally went around Tom and pressed to the top of the climb until we bombed down it to the North Sylamore Creek shores.   Then we were fast approaching the second big climb and I was feeling great!  I then started the big descent on the second mountain.  Both of these mountains had snow that was about 3 to 4 inches deep with a layer of ice on top of the snow.  It was hard and the previous footprints were twisting my ankles and leading me on the wrong trail.  I came upon an intersection and just stood there not sure where to go.  Single Track Trail that didn’t look like anyone had ran on it at all?  Or down the big clear trail with tons of foot tracks?  I was waiting for a second opinion and after about a minute I got one but I didn’t like what he said which was to go down the hill.  So I waited for the third opinion and he said yes take the single track.  I took off and saw a cliff edge just past a few trees below the trail.  It was roughly 10 feet and led to a 150 foot drop to the river.  I said to third place behind me, “you don’t want to fall here!”  I hadn’t fallen at this point, but I had noticed blood all over Tom’s legs and seen several guys hit the ice hard!  Glancing again at the cliff’s edge, before I knew it I was hitting the ice hard.  Taking a fall at the worst possible place on the entire 31 mile course!  Luckily I didn’t slide down the mountain or over the cliff.  I then stood up slowly and went on my way thanking God as my life felt like it flashed before my eyes.  I looked down when I got to the turn around and I noticed my leg was bleeding pretty badly, but I was four minutes behind the leader Chris.

Mile 28, 60% of the Trail looked like this

            Tom and I had talked before about Chris and thought he would come back, so I felt if I kept a good pace I would see him again.  On this out and back course it lets you know how far you are behind and you also get to see how close your competitors are to hunting you down.  This is good motivation to keep the effort going!  I then saw many 50k’ers that would cheer me on and it would seem I was getting closer to the leader, but still no sign of him as I rolled into the Gunner Pool Aid Station.  There were the best two aid station workers I have ever met!  They are in their seventies I just know him as Big Shot.  I also got to meet his wife, Lou.  They are the sweetest, most encouraging people I have ever met.  Their history of trail running, their time and dedication to the sport has helped bring it to where it is today!

           

 So I took off from their aid station heading for Team Snyder at Blanchard Springs.  It was just over a couple of big climbs, but the bad thing is I wasn’t feeling the best at this point.   I decided to let up the gas a little bit and then I started feeling better real quickly.  I then starting passing tons of 25kers.  They start their race one hour later and were moving slower this year with the trail being so slick making it much more congested this year.  I came into Blanchard feeling pretty good but really had my heart set on my wife telling me that the race leader was only 2 minutes ahead.  Instead she said, “He is probably 5 minutes ahead or so.”  At this point I was upset because said, “5 minutes or 7 or 2 what is it?”  This is the point I should have not said anything and kissed my wife and started running!  Looking back, this is the point my wife should have kicked me in the tail and said get to running!!  I was still trying to get the time out of her and she couldn’t tell me.   Last year’s race winner Matt said, “He isn’t to far ahead go get em!” And off I went into the woods with now packed snow that much easier running than earlier in the day!  This same section in 2013 kicked my tail with a sore back, hopping, jumping and stumbling over the many rocks and roots.  Add to that, this year is still icy in so many places.  But I would press on.  Passing 25k runner after 25k runner thinking every time I would see him in the distance, the X-Navy Seal that I was trying to run down and pass for the victory.  Syalamore doesn’t give anything for the Second place winner.  If you get First you get to come back the next year for free and you also get a big, sweet trophy! If you get Last place you get the same thing that you get for Second.   You have to love this, but you also have to hate it when you can’t ever catch that first place runner!  As I crossed the freezing cold creek I saw one of my GU’s that had fallen out of my pocket.  It must have dropped crossing the first time so I told the camera man he could have that one!  I then took the last icy climb up the hill pretty fast and bombed down the last three-quarters of mile to the Anglers Resort and Finish Line.  My hat is off to Chris, as if he did slow down it wasn’t much because I lost by exactly 3 minutes.  As I crossed the line I asked Chris if he had already gotten a cheeseburger inside and came back out.  He laughed and told me great race!  He was a great sport about beating me and I hope to chase him again soon!  As for Sylamore I got you on the PR this year and I didn’t think a PR could be done with the course conditions.  But running smart, training and enjoying whatever you do, you never know what can happen!  Big Thanks to my Girls for crewing me, driving me and cheering me on!  Tom for telling me years ago I had to go run this race and pushing me to longer, harder runs!  And to My Lord and Savior for giving me the ability to run and enjoy his amazing beauty in the Mountains!

I love this Sign! 8.5 Hours one way!

Training a lot of hills helped me get ready for this years race looking forward to another good one next year!  This sums up the trail races for Winter/Spring 2014, now changing gears with many long Mountain Bike Races and Boston Marathon in April looking forward to those races and stories to come!

4:31  2^nd Place

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