Over the Sabine River and through the Piney Woods to Mama’s house I went for Thanksgiving this year. My folks live in Minden, La. which is about 25 miles or so from Lake Claiborne State Park. I had hesitated to take the time off from the family get-together to go do this run. I took my gear (just in case) and decided on Friday night to go and “just treat it like a training run.”

I expected to see a couple of folks from Houston T-REX as Rebecca Watkins had told me that German Collazos and a couple of others planned to run it. It was about 27 degrees when I got to day registration at 7:30 a.m. (The race started at 8 a.m.). By the time I registered they were out of the nice purple long-sleeved shirts, out of large socks and had no caps left. That is what I get for signing up late....pay more money and don’t get the loot. The ladies working registration did give me 2 pair of smaller size socks (much to the delight of my two kids). I hastily pinned my number to my shirt; dropped my bag at the start/finish and tried to stay warm. I saw German, Kelly and Evan from Houston who had all come up together with one other runner.

The run features 4 mile, 13.1 mile, 20 mile and 50K events. Everyone started at the same time, but each group had slightly different routes with some shared trails. The 50K was a 6+ mile loop which I heard later from one competitor was about 32 miles total. The gun went off a few minutes after 8 and what looked like about 100+ runners total took off. The route started by the lake on an asphalt park road which promptly went up a hill. After about 300 yards, we all turned off onto the trail. Lake Claiborne has awesome trails. This was soft, single track with huge pines and hardwoods. There were so many trees that you really didn’t need a hat to shade your eyes (but it was nice to have one to keep your head warm). There are very few rocks, but lots of roots and little stumps just like Huntsville or Bastrop. However, the terrain was NOT like Huntsville or Bastrop. The trails twisted and weaved through the forest with constant elevation change. You were either walking up a hill or careening down a slope for 90% of the loop. I bet the longest “flat” stretch was no more than 150 yards long. I loved it. I got to walk up lots of hills and fly down others. Some of the downhills were quite long and the momentum would carry you up the next slope or keep you moving over the flat sections. For someone that likes running down hills, it was a hoot! One of the co-race directors is a big dog lover (thus the name) and many of the sections of trail were named after her dogs. There was a little wooden sculptured sign at each of the trailheads with a painting of the dog and its name. You also got a water bottle with the likeness of the dogs emblazoned on it.

I ran with Tom Destore from Nebraska for awhile. Tom had run a marathon in all 50 states and told me that he has run 120 marathons and 30 ultras. He is a 55 year old factory worker and drives to all the races. I ran with Tom and Kelly for a bit on the first loop. Then Tom got ahead of me about halfway through the loop and I didn’t see him again until the transition. With the cold temperature I ran most of the first three miles just to warm up. There was an aid station at about three miles stocked with water, Powerade and junk food....mostly trail trash like Pringles, pretzel sticks and candy. Thankfully there were some PBJs.

I finished the first 6+ mile loop in about 68 minutes. I stopped briefly to replenish my water bottle and to drink a Boost. At the beginning of the second loop, I hooked up with Paul Stone. We gabbed about all sorts of stuff and caught up with Nebraska Tom. The three of us ran together for most of that loop. There was a nice LONG downhill section that is about 3/4 to 1 mile from the finish. When we got to that, I took off and motored on back to the start/finish. I had worn tights and by the end of the second loop, I could tell that I needed to ditch them. Oh well, it is just a training run, right? I dashed over to the rest room; pulled off my tights; put on my shorts and ran back to my bag to put away the tights. I don’t know how long I took, but both Tom and Paul had left for the second loop by the time I had finished changing. I refueled again and hiked out up the hill.

I was pretty much alone at this point which was remarkable for a six mile loop. I kept up a steady pace and was feeling pretty good about things. I got to one of the downhill stretches and plunged downward. About halfway down my left ankle rolled out. I could feel the jerk of muscle all the way up to my groin. Miraculously I didn’t fall or even miss a stride and kept careening down the hill. When it finally flattened out, I walked for a minute to see if it was okay. The ankle was a little tweaky and I decided that if it started to swell by the time I finished the third loop, I would just pack it in and save myself for Sunmart. After all an 18 mile run in the woods on a crisp fall Saturday was nothing to be ashamed of. I saw Paul after the halfway aid station. Near the end of the third loop, I left Paul (and his friend, Brad(?)) again at the long downhill and then headed back to the start.

When I got to the transition the clock was at about 3:40 elapsed time. I had forgotten all about my ankle. However, I stopped to change shoes. I was working at breaking in some new orthotics and had worn my old ones for the first 18+ miles. I switched to the new ones, because after all this was just a training run, right? As I sat on the ground by my bag, I was chatting with a lady who had set up a massage table for the runners. We were yukking it up as I made my equipment change, when one of the other race finishers (13.1 miles) came up. “Didn’t you think the route was confusing out there?” “Yeah, a little.“ I replied, “But I knew where to go after the first loop.” “Why are you so happy? I was nearly in tears when I came in because of the confusion about the trail” she said. “I can’t think of any place I would rather be or anything I would rather be doing. This is a great course. I love it.” I said. “I just don’t see how you can be smiling like you are.” she shook her head. I shrugged and drank another Boost. I chatted with this runner a little more. It turned out that she wanted to do one of Paul’s races in East Texas, so I told her that he was there and who to look for.

I finally got my bottle refilled and headed out on the fourth loop. The weather was just perfect, low 50s, maybe upper 40s in the shade of the forest. The sun was out and the sky was clear. I felt really good on this loop and was surprised to see that my time to get to the aid station was just as fast or even a minute faster than the first loop. I was starting to feel some muscle tightness (no doubt from all of the unexpected hills). I started popping e-caps a little more frequently and that seemed to help. I sucked down a Hammer Gel and then ran into Tom again as I neared the end of the fourth loop. We chatted again for a bit and I could see that I wasn’t going to come close to breaking 6 hours. I started thinking again about calling it a day after 26 miles, just so I could get back to the family at a reasonable time. It was just a training run, right? But by the time I finished the loop, I was pretty much “in the zone.”

It was almost exactly 5 hours when I got back to the transition. I patched a spot on the bottom of my foot and stole a Coke from the ice chests that were set up for the post-race meal of burgers and hot dogs. I walked out alongside Frank Melia, the race director’s brother-in-law. Frank was basically a road runner who did the race because of his family connection. We hiked up the first hill together and chatted. Frank took off when we got to the trail while I walked along drinking my Coke. I caught up with Frank and we ran together for a couple of miles. I flew down one of the steep hill sections right before the aid station and got ahead of him. Frank walked into the aid station as I walked out. I decided that my goal for the last 3 miles was to keep Frank behind me. There is a nice down hill section after the aid station so I took off. I kept up a steady pace and was making good time. My legs were starting to get tight, but I gobbled e-caps and sucked down another Hammer Gel and kept going. Unfortunately I started “smelling the barn” a little too soon. I was cruising down a hill was thinking about how much was left when I caught a stump right smack in the middle of the trail. As I flew through the air, I could feel my left quad start to cramp before I even hit the ground. I banged both my knees pretty good, but drew no blood (it would have been a low rating on the Joyce Prusaitis Scale of crashes). The problem was that both my legs cramped as I sat on the ground. I managed to get back upright and looked back. I could see Frank’s yellow shirt moving through the trees behind me. I started walking, but my quads and calves were finally starting to protest from all the hills. I trudged up the last hill before the paved park road which was about 300 yards from the finish. As Frank came out of the woods behind me and I waited for him. “I may not be able to run at this point. Looks like you caught me.” I smiled. “I don’t have much left.” Frank replied. “Well I won’t sprint in if you won’t” I offered. “Let’s finish together.” he said. “Let’s go.” I said. Fortunately the last 300 yards is down hill on that paved road. We shuffled side by side and rounded the last curve toward the finish line. We whooped and hollered and got the few remaining folks to cheer for us as we crossed together. Officially I finished in 6:22:36 and Frank was at 6:22:37. To my surprise as I walked around to shake out the cramps, Jeff Baille, one of the race directors came over and handed me my finisher’s medal and a heavy duty paperweight for Second Place Masters Male. WOO HOO! (as Duane Lewis would say) my first piece of hardware.

Tom from Nebraska came in a few minutes later at 6:31:00 with Paul Stone hot on his heels at 6:31:42. German Collazos kicked all that Louisiana butt to win the whole thing in 5:39:10. Kelly Woodmansee from Houston T-REX just missed being first female by 13 seconds, but did nab second female in 6:00:45 (She was beaten out by one of the two Swedish twin sisters who were running the 50K). Lee Topham finished behind Paul in 6:34:25 and Evan Groutage from H-TREX finished 15th overall in 6:38:29.

1 German Collazos M 45 5:39:10 TX
2 Brent Weigner M 54 5:43:42 WY
3 James Tuscany M 50 5:51:06 TX
4 Emma Sjogren F 22 6:00:33 LA
5 Kelly Woodmansee F 34 6:00:45 TX
6 Ricky Pampo M 28 6:11:04 LA
7 Henry Hobbs M 48 6:22:36 TX
8 Frank Melia M 34 6:22:37 LA
9 Dianna Hager F 47 6:23:01 TX
10 Tom Destore M 55 6:31:00 NE
11 Paul Stone M 41 6:31:42 TX
12 Lee Topham M 62 6:34:25 TX
13 Steve Lind M 49 6:35:37 IA
14 Johanna Sjogren F 22 6:36:55 LA
15 Evan Groutage M 54 6:38:29 TX
16 Paul Christopher M 44 6:43:55 LA
17 Andrew Colee M 57 6:45:24 FL
18 Amanda Perron F 30 7:00:16 LA
19 Bob Holmes M 52 7:08:29 MI
20 Betty Leverton F 63 7:12:24 FL
21 Joe Barry M 57 7:15:36 TX
22 Adrenne Smith F 48 7:43:58 LA