East Texas Ultra Runners 50K
February 11th, 2007
After missing the Bandera 50K due to family reasons and the Rocky Raccoon 50M due to a bad cold, I was anxious to get in another long run. With the East Texas 50K on the horizon, I decided to enter on the Wednesday before the race. Several of my friends were going and I had a carpool option over there so I figured I might as well give it a go.
Goutham and I rode over to Tyler (he drove) starting from Irving at 4:00am. I woke up at 3am on not enough sleep but I was excited to be racing once again. The drive over was easy though I nodded off a few times. We stopped just outside Tyler at a McDonald’s as I was craving a bit to eat and a milkshake, but the shake machine was down and they were only serving breakfast. I opted instead for cookies and milk at the Chevron across the highway. Soon we were back on the road, to the park entrance, and sitting in front of the Blackjack 4 camp area.
As I opened the car door to step out, I realized that it was going to be a brutally cold morning. I didn’t even want to wander over and get my packet. With about 15 minutes to go before race start, I went to get my packet only to discover my registration wasn’t on the roster. I was given a bib and packet anyway and would work out the details later (it was discovered that my active.com registration was there, the RD just missed seeing it). Back at the car, I made a quick change from my sweat pants to my fleece pants as I chatted briefly with Letha who was parked next to us. Her two dogs were yapping and the sun was now shining down plenty of light.
We started the race very casually and headed down the road before a turn to the left dumped us out on the trail. Wow, my first thoughts were about the nice and soft the pine needle-covered trail. Deborah soon mentioned that the entire 10-mile trail was just like this. It would have some ups and downs, but most climbs and descents were on switchbacks. It was just the type of course I love.
The first loop went well. Goutham and I brought up the back of the pack through the first aid station. We headed right through the station without stopping and up and over the hill. Then at the next hill, I missed the trail turn to the left and we got off course. Deborah and Tom realized this and started yelling our names and shouting “WRONG WAY”. We could see them and were really not far off course and actually took a long-cut. Goutham and I made our way through some brush to get back on the course.
Somewhere after this Goutham shot on ahead while Deborah and I stayed back. We met Terri and Sharon who were running their first 50K. They picked a nice course, but the day was awfully cold. After winding around and heading down a big set of switch backs, we wandered up an asphalt park road and into the second aid station on the loop. Red Spicer was there along with a few others. Deborah and I didn’t stay long but Tom seemed to have stopped for a while to take care of some business because we wouldn’t see him again until late in the second loop. Tom had forgotten to replace the insoles in his shoes and his recent sickness had him feeling terrible. I was also not at 100% and the cold was not helping things. I was bundled up in fleece but sweating heavily so my clothes were soaked and keeping things somewhat chilly.
At the end of the first loop, we got to a rock where a boy pointed us to the right. We could see the start/finish from here but had about 1/3 of a mile out and back before we’d return. What a teaser, but Tom had warned of this. It seemed like forever because mentally I was ready to be done with the loop. We rolled into the start/finish about 2:20 into the run. I made a pit stop at the bathroom, took off my fleece top, had the very nice aid station people empty and refill my bottle with Succeed Ultra, and headed back out for loop number two. Deborah must have thought I went on ahead because she was nowhere to be found. But less than a mile up I would find her waiting for me.
It was nice to be running again with Deborah. The second loop did go by well until after the second aid station. We chatted each others’ ears off, as usual, and were having a great time. For a bit, the sun had started to shine nicely on the first loop but this second loop was more overcast and it was getting cold again. Without my fleece, I was wishing I was warmer. I shouldn’t have dropped it off at the car! After Red’s aid station, the course seems to wind around all over the place and I never felt like I was making much progress. The leaders in the 50K were now lapping us and 4 had already gone on by. It seemed like we were crawling.
I started having doubts about finishing around here but kept my thoughts to myself. I figured I would break it to Deborah when we saw the boy and I could just skip on over to the car and get back into my warm fleece. But when we got to the rock, the boy was no longer and Jay Freeman had taken over the duty of directing runners to the right to finish the teaser loop before heading to the start/finish. At the rock, Deborah made me keep going so I would at least finish the second loop. She said we’d talk about my decision later :-)
We got back into the start/finish and Paul asked how we were doing. I told him Deborah thought I was fine but I was feeling otherwise. Several people were commenting on the salt buildup all over my face. I guess it looked worse than I felt. I ran over to the car to get my fleece and discovered Goutham had taken my things from the roof and locked them inside. Boy I was really wishing I’d tied it around my waist now! I told Deborah I would just hang out by the campfire and sit it out from here. She was worried about me staying warm so she lent me one of her jackets. What a relief as I would have been shivering!
Soon, Tom rolled into the start/finish and said he was also dropping here. Now Deborah would be on her own :-( But Terri would actually be running up behind her soon and she’d have company for the rest of the loop. Tom offered for me to sit in his car and warm up so we did so until Goutham came in around 1:45pm. He had managed at 6:45 for his first 50K, which was not only an excellent time, but also remarkable because his ITB was really flaring up and giving him problems. I joked about how he could fix it all the way home.
So this makes three races in a row that I’ve paid for but not finished. Two DNS and a DNF (my second). There will be another day though. I was surprised I ran as strong as I did and Deborah mentioned the same thing. I just need to get my strength back, kick this cold for good, and get back into regular training. I also need to find a way to mentally convince myself that sore feet are no reason to stop and rest. I will never make it very far at the FANS 24 hour if not!