by: Alex A

This was the first running of the Hobo Run Ultramarathon. The weather was picture postcard perfect lows in the high 40's and highs in the 70's, sunny low humidity, only wish the foliage had started to change more.

I ran this park a few times 30 + years ago and forgot how beautiful it was with many pines and rolling hills. Jim Skaggs made the course so no one would get bored. It had a mix of Grass Hiking Trails, Dirt Hiking Trails , dense forest w/ single track trail, Horse trails, some rocky trails, Jeep Roads, a little sand, & a flight of 75 Wooden steps that went straight up to re-connect the trail from a rocky gulley.

Jim the race director also made it so no one would get lost, even me. yellow painted arrows, yellow ribbons, and a few cones marked the course well.

The Good, Bad & the Ugly, lets start with the good. My girlfriend Mary had completed the longest run of her life doing the 25K distance right at 3hours 30 min., her goal was to finish under 4 hours and not to be last. She beat both goals passing several runners along the way. She was crazy about me that I had talked her into & trained her for this, that is until she went down steps the next day! She has no desire to do another one right away! That’s what we all say!

Now to the Bad , I met with an old High School friend at the start , talked about how old & nuts we are & then the race started, I brought a disposable camera along for the 31 mile ride so we have to see hoe those turn out. I took a few pictures of the course & runners along the way, I figured this would slow me down a little as not to go out too fast.

The course was a fooler at first. The first 2 miles were pancake flat then turned into a Horse Trail that was an uphill climb for an eternity! As stated earlier as soon as you got into a rhythm it changed into a different type of terrain, very interesting.

The 50K consisted of 2 loops, 3 aid stations per loop including the start finish w/ all the Ultra snacks & 2 unmanned water stations per loop.

I started very slow and as usual I did not disappoint. I came through the first Loop at 3:13, Oh a little tired, but hey , keep going , aid station to aid station I say. By the time I got to Aid station # 1 on the second loop, the uphills & the pounding of the down were starting to take their toll.

Now to the ugly! At that point I figured it was about 11 miles give or take a hair to go. Ugh! what was a run w/ walk breaks turned into a walk w/ run breaks at about 7 miles to go. By the time I got to the last Aid station, 4 miles to go it was over, I still had those 75 steps to go up also! &*%*#@* I checked into the last aid station & had them radio ahead to tell Mary that I was ok, but I would be a lot later than planned .Great Volunteers said do you need a ride in, you wont be the first to drop, He** No ! Ha! I can crawl in & beat the 8-hour cutoff! At that point I was told there were still 5 to 6 runners behind me. Well the last 4 was a Death March w/ an occasional run break, 5 of the last 6 passed me within a mile of the finish *&*%#* oh well! I have not seen the final results, but I was right around 7:0'something.The end of the race had a long flat sprint, (if you can) into a chute/flags. HooHa! It was over and Mary gave me a Kodak Moment, Oh Boy can’t wait to see that one!

The good news it was the first run in 2 years that I was able to complete a race longer than 30K due to injuries. I beat my main goal to FINISH the dang thing! I earned my Long Sleeve Coolmax Asics finishers shirt! Mary earned her finishers hat! She also won a Hobo Door Prize, stick w/ bandana with goodies like body Glide, Coolmax socks, 1.00 in dimes etc. We then proceeded to eat Hobo stew, Jim Skaggs, race director provided the Stew meat and every runner brings a can of veggies to throw in, they even had Veggie Hobo Stew for the Healthy types. Great Stuff, I was surprised!

Hats off to Jim Skaggs for doing such a wonderful job on a first time event! Great Volunteers, Beautiful Park, His goal was to get at least 30 and he ended up with over or around 110 Runners!