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 4th 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd
Place
