Trail runs are always tough but when you add rain and mud, it can get down right nasty, slow, and just obnoxious. But you push and fight and climb and stumble and fall and keep going towards the finish, sometimes wondering if you'll ever make it but you keep fighting and then you get there. I guess that's the long and short of it.
The trail around Lake Texoma would be a tough trail even in the best conditions. I believe it has a lot of similarities to some of the toughest parts of Flatrock, Psycho Wyco and Free State as well as Rockin' K. But add to it that it rained literally all day Saturday, the day of the race and the trail turned the clay to a sticky, shoe-sucking mud. Sometimes forward momentum up the hills was one-step forward and two-steps (skiing steps) backwards.
The start was at 6:30 and it was still pitch dark so started with a headlamp. Made a few friends on the trail and realized that I recognized some people from Tulsa I've run with several times before at Flatrock. Talking and sharing the stories really helps the time to fly. I was conservative for the first hour allowing my body to warm up and felt great through most of the first half.
The course is 12.5 miles out and 12.5 miles back on the same trail and then repeat. Of that 12.5 the first 6.5 is really hard, mostly a 5 out of a 5 scale (5 being the hardest kind of terrain to run on with wicked climbs, roots, rocks, and all that good stuff). The other 6 miles is more reasonable with longer runable sections but still with plenty of mud and rocks and climbs, etc.
The first 25 was really uneventful, though I was kind of discouraged with my time of 5 hours and 45 minutes at the end of 25 miles. I was working really hard out there - how could I be going so slow. The return trip on the hard 6.5 was atrocious with the mud becoming a sticky clay which almost pulls your shoes right off you. Makes climbing and descending the hills on the trail much more challenging and even dangerous. There was about a 4 mile section where I just kept thinking "brutality" as I was trying to get to top of the next hill.
Just after I left the aid station at the start/finish to start the 2nd half of the run the rain picked up harder and stayed pretty steady at this level for the rest of the day, into the night. The trails turned into creeks and were mostly all covered in water - this was our trail to run on!
Out of 50 miles I ran at least 30-35 by myself getting in some great solitude. At one point I even found myself practicing some of the ninja yoga labor breathing techniques we are learning in advance of giving birth.
Above two pictures are at the finish line. Weary, muddy and relieved to be done.
