The start is quicker than most trail races I've done. A group busts out quick while the remainder of the horde quickly spreads out. The dirt road lasts all of 30 yards before we shush our way along a narrow sand pit. Joyce & I slow as we slide through the slot and come out the other side. It's wider now but no less sand. Juan Galvan pulls up behind us to visit and we ask about the course. He says the entire course is like this: pretty much flat and sandy. Juan talks as fast as he runs which is faster than us, so he's gone quickly, and so are any ideas we had for a fast 50. This is gonna be tough. It's well over 60 degrees with high humidity, but at least the sky is overcast and filled with dark clouds. We also have a nice cool breeze caressing us in some of the open areas we pass through. If the current weather holds, we might do just fine.
translation: Lost in North Texas, we're handed a map which we cannot read and told to run in circles til we overheat and die. It's a plot, I know... but I am not bright enough to see through it to escape. I take my wife with me so I won't suffer alone.

We yoyo with a trio of young guys before we settle in with them to visit. All of them 21 or less, and two in the military. The other is Justin Vorel who we met at Bandera and again at Rocky Raccoon. His 1st trail race was the Bandera 100K and his 2nd the Rocky Raccoon 100 miles. The other two pulled ahead but Justin perpetuates a non-stop conversation that will last the next 40 miles.
translation: You don't have to be old and stupid to get sucked into this insanity, this particular disease also spreads to those much younger.

The 50 mile race is pieced together with 4 separate loops: a blue 14.4, a yellow 10.4, a white 14.5, and then a red 10.7. Each one overlaps the other at some point and sometimes more than once. The map I have might be clear after I run it, but right now, it makes no sense at all. I'll have no idea where I am all day until I came back onto a section I had already been on, and yet I'll never get lost of confused. The trail markings that are used to mark these separate horse tracks are very clear. The course is very pretty, with wide open pastures hidden in the trees with ponds here and there. Joyce & I run as best we can, with consideration to the humidity and the sand, but it's slow. Although Justin can easily pull ahead, he continues to hang with us and ask loads of questions. We finish the 1st loop, but I neglect to look at the time. We refill our water bottles, drink an ensure and guzzled a large gatorade jug.
translation: Even us idiots can be led by the nose if you use purty colors to look at. Sure is pretty outside the sand box too. Wish I could look up.

Justin goes out with us on the yellow loop. It continues much the same as the blue one except maybe there is even more sand. Joyce seems to struggle more than I do in the deep sand and falls behind each time, but pulls ahead whenever we have a stretch of non-sand. Course markings are colored horseshoes nailed to trees and also colored rings painted around tree branches. Never have to think about it, but just aimlessly take each turn and pass though each gate as the color dictates. There are many gates and twice that many turns, but it's never an issue. We finish the yellow loop, which gives us a total of 25 miles in 4:25. Rebecca Watkins and her friend come in right behind us. We refill again, have a bit more food, more ensure, and more Gatorade.
translation: We find a way off the merry-go-round, but get sucked right back on. I think it's the pretty colored horseshoes that beguile us back into the sand box. Poor dumb critters are attracted by shiny objects and lured to their death.

Much to our regret, the clouds part and allow the sun to beat down on us unmercifully. It's a big heavy nasty high humidity heat and it sucks the life out of us. Again, we leave with Justin in the wake of Rebecca and friend. They're on a 10-2 plan, so we yoyo with them until they finally pull well enough ahead to keep us from catching them on one of their 2 minute walks. I forgot my hat, bandana, and hammer gel. It's a bad triple dose mistake. The white loop starts about the same as the other two but then becomes so much more. More sand, more ponds, more gorgeous glades, and even more hills. We find Red Spicer on this loop waiting atop one of the hills. That's about where Barbara & George Hitzfeld pass us. They delay long enough to visit with us for a bit. The long downhill after Red's station allows us to stay near them for just a bit longer. But they too pull well ahead eventually. They're moving comfortably while we're dragging our buns by now. Our legs are wound up tight due to all the sand and exacerbated by the heat. We're walking much more, but get on a roll now and then. I suggest to Justin that he go ahead but he says he's ok with us. Eventually, we do finally finish the 3rd loop, but we've shifted from well up in the pack to much further back. We take more time now, remembering the mistake I made on the last loop. More fluids, a hat, 2 bandanas, some food, and then out for the final 10 mile red loop. Justin must have gone on as we took much longer than usual.
translation: Heat hurts! Humidity Hurts! Sand hurts! I hurt! Gettin dumber by the minute... I just keep on going. We do entertain a few others who are curious enough to slow down and watch us for a bit.

The red and last loop and we're finally on it. It's gonna be a slow one at that. Much of the red loop is the same as the previous white loop too, so we'll repeat a small part of the last loop. It's much hotter now, but at least I have my bandana wrapped around my neck and ears this time along with a hat. We take our time, even sitting down once for a few minutes. A few others roll by but none of them are very communicative. Silence is the tune of this hour. We listen to the birds, the cows, and our own labored breathing, but very little human speech. Red Spicer again has an ice cold coke for us. After Red's hill, with the help of a semi-long downhill, we get rolling again and seem to build some momentum. Julie also has some ice cold coke for us, and then the final field. Only 1.5 miles to go, and it feels like so much more. A gate hangs over a mud hole that we have to hug the fence so that we can slip around. A few rabbits run in front of us down the trail, but nobody else is in sight. A final sandy uphill that we attempt to run but the sand beats us back to a slow walk. The last gate is held for us by two guys who tease & cheer our inability to run the last hill. The last chute and we wait for the trail to clear as it's full of horses and riders, but we eventually got past them and into the finish. 9:44 Much less than we thought possible but pretty good for these conditions which neither of us are very good in. 50 miles of sand, heat, and humidity. What a strength workout and a trainer for restraint and coping.
translation: Learning colors is fun! Cold drinks are fun! Bunnies are fun! Stopping is fun! I think I should seek some sort of mental help.

I'm usually ready to eat big after a long run, but not today. We had plans for some fine Cajun food, but instead shower and go to bed. Our stomachs are in turmoil from the heat, while our lower legs are jumping from all the lateral stress provided by the sand. Digging a hole with every step and then pushing up out of it torqued out legs pretty good. It was a great workout that thoroughly kicked our buns, not much different than a very long beach workout, running the sand dunes. I took 2 e-caps every hour and drank the succeed drinks the race provided. I also guzzled a jug of gatorade after each loop. Still, my hands swelled up like sausages. I started drinking more coke on the last loop 2 loops. I had an Ensure after each loop for the calories, but also ate an avocado and ate potatoes, pretzels, and chips. As much as I ate and drank, it was still not enough. Granted I ate much less after the sun came out, but we drank twice as much as earlier. For the first half, we never emptied our bottles between the stations, but we did more than once in the 2nd half. It was hotter and we took more time to cover the distance. Only thing I would change under the exact same conditions is to carry a camelback and keep it full of ice and cold water. We did put ice in our hand bottles but the water was hot by the next station, and Joyce's hands could not handle the ice even for a short distance. Camelbacks would have been better for us. Our decision to back off after the sun came out was smart for us and we did even before we lost our energy and had no choice.
translation: I'm fat, slow, and stupid! Fat from eating way too much, slow from running in circles, and stupid for both the other reasons... please send help!