Pre-Event:

Old Pueblo is a popular event, and rightfully so. It has the special mix of beautiful desert scenery in the Santa Rita Mountains ESE of Tucson with about 7500 ft of ascent and 7500 ft of descent, wonderful organization by RDs Julie and Duane Arter, well-stocked aid stations with helpful friendly volunteers, and a beautiful belt buckle for a finisher award. Because of its popularity, and limited entry, the event fills within 7-8weeks or less of the registration being opened in early September for the following March. ( Last September the event filled earlier than the year before despite the increase in the entrant limit).

I had entered 2005 Old Pueblo (OP50) to avenge my dissappointing run at the event the year before. In 2004, I entered OP50 with the goal of breaking 11hours. About 18miles into the event, I took a bad fall . My right elbow, hip and knee took the brunt of the impact with a dirt road embedded with small rocks . The adrenaline rush from the fall carried me the remaining mile to the Helvetia aid station. But leaving the aid station, I began to feel the aches and pains from the fall and was reduced to a slow crawl for the next 5-6 miles. My elbow continued to bleed and seep. And each time I stopped at an aid station, my knee would stiffen up and then it would take a while to get everything moving again. Finally around the 33mile mark, I began to feel better. I had exactly 4 hrs to complete the final 17miles, and it seemed I might be able to do that. But I came up a bit short when I reached the finish at Kentucky Camp for a finish time of 11:01:20. The day ended with a trip to a hospital ER in Tucson to have gravel removed from my elbow and some x-rays taken of the elbow and knee.

Not to miss sending in my entry for 2005 OP50, I quickly returned the entry form to the Arters shortly after receiving it in the mail last September. Also on my planned agenda for early 2005 was Coyote 4 Play (C4P) in Southern Califonrnia. I had wanted to go to C4P in 2004, but could not due to starting a new job. In 2004, there had been two weeks between C4P (in February) and OP50 (in early March). I assumed such would be the case in 2005. However, in November, when I began looking into travel logisitics for 2005 C4P I was surprised to notice the 2005 calendar only afforded one week between the 2 events. Yikes! Well, I probably would not break 11hrs at 2005 OP50 either. C'est la vie. As it was, I had taken most of November off from running to let a foot injury heal. Thus, I was not certain what I would be able to do or not do in late February and early March.

After getting over the intial shock of this realization, I decided to go forward with my plans to do both events. I mailed in my C4P entry just before Christmas. My general rule is not to do more than one ultra per month. Because I was breaking this rule, I decided to compromise and back off on my planned mileage at C4P, and then do the best I could at OP50 knowing that I might end up battling the aid station cutoffs later in the course due to having tired legs. Worst case I would DNF at OP50, but it would still be a good training run in the Santa Ritas even if I did not make the full 50miles.

How time flies... Before I knew it the month of February had arrived and then it was time to start packing for C4P. C4P was held Feb 24-28. I decided to shoot for a total of 70-80 miles across those 4 days of fun. (The maximum mileage for the 4 days of C4P is around 130miles). The beautiful trails of the Ojai-area and the Santa Monica Mountains beckoned, and we played, and I ended up with a total of 92miles at C4P (7mi on Thursday, 42mi on Friday, 23mi on Saturday and 20mi on Sunday). The Friday Ojai run up to the snow on top of Topa-Topa was my favorite. I returned to Houston in a "C4P Daze" very tired with much muscle soreness, especially in my calves. A massage helped to reduce the soreness. I consumed plenty protein and fluids. By Thursday all the soreness was gone. However, I had a couple of long days at work that week which prevented me from getting as much catch-up sleep as I had wanted. But not having sore muscles gave me some hope. I read my report from 2004 OP50 to reacquaint myself with the course, and last year's splits into some of the aid staions.

My flight to Tucson was on Friday afternoon, and I reached the Sonoita Inn before dark and in time to join Wayne Coates and his friend Patricia for dinner at a restaurant nearby in Sonoita. I am fortunate that Wayne will be my pacer at WS in June and Patricia will help crew for me.

Event-Day:

Texas was well represented this year at OP50. I was joined by Tom Crull, Letha Cruthirds, Mark Dick, Matt Crownover from the Dallas-area and Sammy Voltaggio from the Austin-area.

The weather forecast was for a low in the upper 30s Saturday morning and a high around 60 for the afternoon. The rain forecasted for Sunday was moving in faster than expected. So the updated forecast now called for a 10% chance of rain in the late afternoon. I included emergency rain ponchos in each of my drop bags, and my raincoat in my 40mi drop bag. I also had an emergency rain poncho in the pocket of my waist pack.

I arrived to Kentucky Camp with some of the others from Texas a little after 5:00am. Plenty of time to find parking, walk down the hill, check-in, turn in drop bags, and make last minute adjustments. I got to see my friends Matt and Anne Watts in the start area before the event started at 6am. Tom made his ominous comment to Matt Watts that so far for 2005 it had rained at every event he had done.

There were two other people at the OP50 start who had been at C4P the week before: Mark Wienecke and Krissy Sybrowski. So I was not alone :-)

The ambient temperature was not as cold at the start this year as it was last year... nor was it anywhere near the forecasted low of the upper 30s. I felt comfortable with two longsleeve coolmax shirts and shorts. (Initally I had planned to wear tights).

Standing at the start my legs were feeling okay and not stiff. I thought maybe OP50 would not be so bad after all. My final plan was to take it easy the first 19miles to Helvetia Aid Station. I felt that I would know what sort of day it was going to be by the time I reached Helvetai aid station ..

The event started promptly at 6am. The sky was still dark and I carried a small LED flashlight. The course began with a short climb up out of Kentucky Camp. The short climb went well... and then on to some rolling terrain. About 0.5mile into this terrain, Matt Crownover passed by me. We chatted and then he continued on.. After about 15minutes, there was ample daylight to turn off the flashlight but still not enough light for taking photos. I thought I recognized a runner ahead of me, and worked to catch up to see if it was Laura Nagy and to say hello. I had run with her during a portion of Zane Grey last year. The runner was indeed Laura, and we talked for about a minute then I dropped back into my slower pace. Wayne was also near me. I was feeling fatigue in my legs already, and we were not yet to the first aid station at the 3mi mark. I told Wayne it was going to be a long day for me. ? I was still trying to find a pace that would not put my legs into fatigue mode.

Wayne went ahead of me, and he would stay within my sight only for another mile or so . Arriving to the first aid station, Granite Mountain , I capped off my water bottle. As tired as my legs felt, I was only a minute behind last year's split.

I like the stretch between Granite Mountain and California Gulch(2nd aid station at 7mi). It is mostly single track, rocky in sections and affords some nice views of the sunrise to the East. Because there still did not seem to be enough daylight for the one-time use camera, I was not certain how well a photo would turnout.... But I took a photo anyway.

Gradually more daylight entered the sky, and I took a few more photos. I remembered this section well from last year. After the climb up out of Granite Mountain aid station, this section is mostly downhill in this direction.

? I was surprised to pass by a cow standing to the right of the trail. The cow had horns too (so technically I should probably call it a bull.) I do not recall seeing any cows last year during the event. . I stopped to take a photo. Right then a runner in a red shirt and black shorts went by me. We leapfrogged quite a lot in the first ~30miles. At first I thought it was because he was going off trail for frequent pitstops.

Approaching California Gulch aid station, there was (like last year ) a photographer taking photos about 0.5mi before the aidstation. Arriving to California Gulch, I looked at my watch and was surprised to see 7:20am.. the exact same time I had arrived last year. My time in this aidstation was short. As a volunteer capped off my water bottle with water, I grabbed a Boost from my drop bag and some PB&Js from the table. I said hello to Geri K and told the volunteers I'd see them in the afternoon and then headed down the dirt road. ABout 100ft out of the aidstation I saw Matt C sitting in the back of a pick-up truck being helped by his friend Brandon. Matt said he was okay, just fixing a problem with his gaitors.

I remembered from last year, Wayne telling me about runners getting off course in the section just after Calif Gulch aid station, but I could not remember exactly what he said. All I could remember was that there would eventually be a right hand turn. When the turn did not appear as quickly as I thought I remembered it, I started worrying I had run by the turnoff. I could see no ribbons ahead, no runners behind me, nor could I make out any footprints in the dirt road. After about 5 more minutes of worry, I saw a man standing by a vehicle ahead on the road. I asked him if he had seen any runners. He replied there was a right hand turn just ahead and he was there to make sure runners did not miss the turn. What a relief to finally see the ribbons and the white marking on the dirt road surface.

Not long after I made the right hand turn, Matt C was calling out my name from behind. It was good to see Matt again. We ran together for the next few miles. This section of the course is mostly flat, and goes through a washed out area that is full of small gravels making it cumbersome to run through. Last year there had been rain and then freezing temperatures before the event, making these gravels much easier to run on. The runner in the red shirt went by us, and then we passed him again later. There was another runner who came by Matt and me running quite fast, and I wondered if he had gotten to Kentucky Camp late after the event started. He soon dissappeared ahead. In another spot , Matt prevented me from going off course...Thanks Matt. I was literally running right by ribbons and across a white line on the dirt road and the word "NO". Matt asked me where I was going. Well, apparently not in the correct direction. I was tired, and needed to make a more concerted effort to not zone out. I dislike sustained flat sections, and there are a few of these on the course. This particular flat section was draining me, and I longed for the start of the climb up to Gunsight Pass. About a half mile before Wasp Aid Station, Matt went off trail for a pitstop.

Entering Wasp Aid Station, I did not check my watch. I was happy to reach this aid station because it marked the end of the flat section. The Wasp Aid Station is run by Bob Redwanc, the RD for Zane Grey. He remembered me from 2004 ZG because when I reached the finish line I was not feeling very well. ( Last year, ZG was an opportunity to learn a lesson the hard way as to why why it is unwise to go ahead with an event when one gets a bug a few days before hand. I will not repeat that mistake again).

One of the volunteers had a roster and noticed that I was from Sugar Land , TX. She asked me if there was sugar in Sugar Land, Texas. I told her that Sugar Land was the home of Imperial Sugar company, and that the Sugar Land-area was once full of sugar cane fields. Now, unfortunately , it is falling prey to urban sprawl.

Departing Wasp Aid Station, I went into a slump-- another low energy patch. I like this section of the course... interesting outcrops of rock. I took some photos since I was feeling lethargic. A while later there was suddenly a deafening noise... a military aircraft was flying just above. A few minutes later another plane went by, and then another one. There were 3 or 4 total. The first aircraft was by far the loudest and its noise hurt my ears. Still they were interesting to watch zoom across the sky. ?Matt C appeared again from behind, and we chatted briefly as he passed me. I figured I would not see him again and wished him a good run. He stayed within my view until the top of Gunsight Pass.

We were closing in on Gunsight Pass as the trail began to climb. Two other runners caught up with me about a half mile before the top of Gunsight Pass.. a man in a white top whom I had passed just after Granite Mtn and a woman wearing mostly black.

Ahead was another runner. As I came closer to him I noticed a raccoon hat complete with a tail on his head. It had to be the same guy who was at Rocky Raccoon 100 in early February. So as I came up alongside of him I asked him if he was at RR100. And he replied yes. So I asked if he was Davy Crockett, and he said yes. He asked if I had run RR100, and I told him that I had been in charge of an aid station at RR100.

Reaching the top of Gunsight pass, I took a photo. The view from Gun Sight did not seem as hazy as it had been last year. Descending the rocky rutty dirt road, I passed the man in the white shirt. But I could not maintain my normal downhill pace, my legs were too tired. Again I had to back off my pace. Normally I can gain back some time on descents, but such was not the case this day.

Nearing the end of the rocky descent I caught up briefly with the runner in black. She made a comment about the downhill being so long, and I agreed. I stopped running and took a walking break to drink water and the runner in black went by me again. There was also another runner in this section, and I think it may have been the runner in the red shirt again, but my memory is sketchy.

I reached the bottom of the rocky rutty road with some reluctance.... the loose rocks and ruts gave way to a nicely graded dirt road. It was here on this nice dirt road that I had taken the bad fall last year by tripping on a small rock that had been slightly sticking up above the road surface. I became extremely cautious---- scanning the ground with each step, and picking up each foot high enough to clear the sneaky little rocks which so closely matched the color of the dirt road.

Cresting a slight bump on the road I could see Helvetia aid station just ahead. I remembered arriving to this aid station bloodied up last year. Checking my watch I was surprised to see that I was arriving at exactly the same time as I had last year: 9:35am. I thought for certain that I would be atleast ten minutes or more slower. This situation presented me with an interesting opportunity.

At Helvetia aid station, a volunteer filled my bottle and I drank some coke and grabbed some PB&J quarters to take along. One of the volunteers pointed out that one of the safety pins had come loose from my bib number, and I replied that I would fix it. The volunteer was worried I'd get stuck with the open safety pin, and all I could think was if he had seen the bloody mess I was when I arrived to this aid station last year, that a pin prick would be miniscule in comparision. I was so relieved to be beyond that dirt road section where I had fallen last year.

Leaving the aid station, I headed the wrong way (again there was a white line and the word NO written), and the volunteers corrected me. Geez, I felt like a real numbskull. But mostly I was just tired. I was in another low energy patch.

It really seems to me that we took a slightly different route out of this aid station last year for two reasons: 1)based on a photo I had taken last year and 2) it seemed there were more cattle gates to go through in this next section in last year's course. But perhaps my memory is faulty. (or maybe some cattle gates had been removed )

This next section consists of about 3/8mile of the flat road with a left turn onto a road with loose dirt which starts off flat , and then is followed by some gentle rolling terrain.And finally a few cattle gates and then a climb up to the 25mi aid station.

Last year, I lost a great deal of time in this section because I was unable to run. I was hurting and stiff from the fall. The brief time I had spent in the Helvetia Aid Station last year, allowed the knee that I had fallen on to stiffen up. All I could do was walk.

Eventhough I was feeling tired at this point, I was not in the same bad state as last year. The opportunity presented to me was that if I could get to the next aidstation quicker than last year that it might be enough extra time pad to get close to or slightly under 11hrs. I had come so close last year. Given this , I felt compelled to try . I had nothing to lose.

I mostly walked that first 3/8mi out of Helvetia, so I could eat the PB&Js and reattach the the corner of the bib with the errant safety pin. When I made the left turn on to the road with the loose dirt I was greeted by a head wind. Great. Not only was it flat but there was a head wind. I again longed for the hills.

I thought again about Pat Coates in this section.. she had crossed my mind several times earlier on the course. Pat was the kind person who had taken me to the Tucson hospital last year after I finished and stayed up with me until about 3:00am in the ER, and then took me back to my hotel ..

I ran-walked the section with the headwind and grumbled to myself... then I remembered how bad I had felt a year ago, and that memory put a quick halt to the grumbling. The road again turned and the headwind became a side wind, and my disposition on the trail immediately improved.

But the view ahead showed dark heavy clouds forming in the not so far off distance. It was now about 9:45am or 9:50am... so much for the rain moving in during the late afternoon, the rain appeared to be knocking on the door right now

I started into the gentle rolling terrain, and the runner in the red shirt came from behind and passed me... I said hello and mentioned that I seemed to keep seeing him. He said that he was having trouble with the downhills. We talked some more. I stopped briefly to take a photo of yellow flowers (poppies?) growong alongside the road. Then a downhill appeared ahead of us and he said he would catch me on the next uphill.

I was making pretty good time (for me) on this section, but there were suddenly more runners appearing on the trail behind me. So I guess I wasn't really moving forward that well. Two of them caught up with me as I was crossing the first cattle gate. There was another gate to cross in a short distance ahead and then an uphill. The three of us came into Box Canyon Aid Station (25miles) one right after the other.

The Second-Half of OP50

Box Canyon marks the half-way point. The second half of OP50 is more difficult than the first half. I had a drop bag here, and drank a Boost and poured another one into a spare bottle. A volunteer capped of my other bottle with water, and I grabbed a few PB&Js and continued on . This section is predominantly uphill on a dirt road. The first few tenths of a mile out of the aidstation are downhill to a bridge and then the long uphill climb commences.

The grade of the uphill is not overly steep. It is easily runnable, and would be gnarly for hill repeats. I felt energized from the calorie intake and I would walk some then run some. Had my legs been fresher, this uphill would have been a lot of fun. One of the runners who had come into Box Canyon aid station was just behind me. I took a couple photos of the creek and canyon walls off to the left of the road. I could see a runner in an orange shirt ahead of me, and recognized the runner to be Matt C. A little over half way up the climb, I thought I felt a couple of rain drops. I asked the runner just behind me if she had felt any, and I think she said no.

Once to the top, the road is curvy and goes up a bit then flat for a bit and then up a bit, then flat a bit.....we went over two one-lane bridges (I had absolutely no recollection of these bridges from last year). The runner behind me caught up and we ran together for a bit. She said that she was from Ft Collins, Colorado.

I did remember that eventually we would come to California Gulch aidstation on this road... but it turned out to be farther than I expected. Each time I crested a high point on the road, I expected to see the aid station... Being fooled each time, I eventually gave up playing the expectation game and decided I would reach the aid station when I reached it. Again I could see Matt C just ahead of me.

And the aid station eventually appeared. Passing through California Gulch the second time marked 29miles into the event. More Boost out of the drop bag, some PB&J from the aid station table and a capped off water bottle. I talked to Geri K briefly and then left the aid station just behind Matt. I really like this single track section, and made good time for the first 0.75mi or so, then I went into another slump. I could no longer see Matt ahead of me, and I would not see him again.

From behind me there came a voice. It was the runner in the red shirt announcing that he had caught up with me again. It was good to see him again. He asked me what time I thought I would finish , and at this point I told him I thought I could be under 11hrs. He said that based on our time at the last aid station we were on a 10:15 pace. I told him I was feeling more tired and that I doubted I could keep this pace for the next 20miles and would really be happy with anything under 11. He said he'd see me on the next downhill, but like Matt C, I would not see him again either on the course. Not much later, I began hearing thunder off in the distance.

I had left Calif Gulch around 11:45ish, and estimated I was about 20minutes ahead of my time at this point compared to last year. And even slowing down I should be able to do the final 17 miles in about the same time as I did last year. It seemed I had a realistic shot of breaking 11hrs if nothing drastic happened (like a bad fall, or getting off-course). I did not have my split for Calif Gulch/29mi from last year, but I knew I had reached the 33mi aid station last year at 12:57pm.

It began to rain again, and then rain harder. And then it started hailing. Hail was better than the rain, because the hail bounced off as opposed to the rain that soaked my clothes. Fortunately the hail was only about he size of bee-bees. If the hail had been larger, then I probably would have preferred the rain. Then I saw a flash of light and was able to count to only 5 when the thunder began to roar. Not the best time to be on top of a ridge. I guessed I was about a mile or more from the 33mile aid station, but it was a rocky section and I just could not get my normal forward speed going. I had a plastic emergency poncho in my waist pack, but since I was so close to the aidstation I decided not to stop and put it on. At the aidstation I had a poncho in my drop bag and a dry shirt. I felt it best to keep moving and stay warm and get off of the ridge.

Finally I came to the hairpin turn I had remembered , then it was a relatively quick drop down to the aid station. I arrived to Granite Mtn aidsation at around 12:30. A runner in a white shirt was just leaving as I arrived. The sun suddenly came out again. The volunteers said it had not hailed at the aidstation. I grabbed the poncho from the dropbag and tied it around my waist. Drank a Boost and grabbed some PB&J. I thought about Pat again. She had worked this aid station last year and helped me when I came through. I departed Granite Mtn around 12:33.

Last year, it was at this point that I finally started feeling better and got out of survival mode. ileft Granite Mountain feeling energized and running again. My watch had read 12:57pm last year, and I had just over 4hrs to cover the final 17miles if I wanted to break 11hrs.. And I felt I had a shot...

This year, I was leaving the Granite Mtn aid station 24minutes earlier but not feeling nearly as energized. In fact I was walking and having difficulty eating the PB&J quarters I had taken from the aid station. But I knew I had to finish them for the calories. The low energy slumps were coming more frequently . I figured as long as I kept moving forward I should be okay. I had an extra 24mintes at my disposal this year. And I started running again. The rain returned, and with effort I managed to put on the poncho that had been tied around my waist. The thin plastic poncho was perfect in this situation. My regular running rain jacket was in my drop bag at the next aid station. But I think in this case the poncho was better, because it was longer and it went down to my knees. More protection during the hail. The temperature would drop during the hail, and then afterwards when the sun came out again the temperature would warm up again. The poncho kept me warm during the hail and rain , and was very comfortable and breathable in the sun.

The runner in white that had departed Granite Mtn aidsation as I had arrived, slowly came into view ahead. Eventually I caught up with him. Just at that point the hail started in again. Then it stopped , but a few drops of rain fell and the sun again came out.. Certainly there was a nice rainbow somewhere. From this point to the next aid station at Cave Canyon (40miles) the runner in the white shirt was always just behind me or beside me. We talked on and off. He had just been running for 3months, after being off for quite some time to let a hip injury heal.. And he was very happy with how he was holding up this day.

I took my first fall in this section... caught a rock. Fortunately I was able to do a side sommersault and there was no significant damage, blood or long lasting pain. I stood up and then continued running, but paying more attention to my foot placement. The runner said the obvious to me "to be careful", and my mind drifted back to last year's mess. We came upon the sign that read 3 or 4 miles to Gardner Canyon. I remembered it from last year. This is also the section where the trail became a bit of a creek in sections. And there was also a muddy section... the mud was like Bandera mud, sticking to the bottom of my shoes. Fortunately the muddy section was relatively short-lived. and there was no need to find a stick to carry along for periodically scraping off the mud. And then there was the sign that said 10.5 miles to the buckle, which meant about 0.5mi to the aidstation. The trail began looking familiar from my memory of last year.. the drop down to the creek, the volunteer with the radio, the irish (?) music coming from the aid station... just cross the creek and climb up the hill to the aid station.

Looking at my watch it read ~2:05pm when I arrived to Cave Canyon Aid Station at 40miles. (last year I reached this aid station at 2:32pm... so I was not losing time). A volunteer asked me how I felt, and I replied I felt tired. She told me to eat some food. I was happy that I would not need to get the flashlight out of the dropbag. Even if I walked it in from here, I would finish before sunset. The only thing I pulled out of the dropbag was my Boost. Drinking down the Boost, I took some PB&J from the table and started walking out of the aid station. Ahead of me I saw a runner in black.. She looked like the same runner I had run with on the descent from Gunsight Pass but I was not sure.

Unlike last year, I knew what waited ahead of me: A long nasty stretch of rather flat dirt road. Curses. All I could do was look forward to the uphill section of single track that connected up to Gardner Rd (the highest point on the course). Last year I had resorted to run 20 strides, walk 10 strides, and repeat to traverse this flat dirt road. Sadly it looked like that would need to be the strategy this year too. There are campsites located off the right side of the road.. Last year many of the campsites had been occupied. This year they were all empty. The runner in black was running consistently and dissappeared around a curve ahead on the dirt road. The runner in the white shirt was now further behind me. The dirt road went on and on. I remembered that after getting past the campsites, there was the turnoff for the uphill single track. The campsites ended, and I got my hopes up. Then about another quarter mile down the road more campsites appeared. Very tricky and not funny. Eventually the single track turnoff did appear , and I felt simply elated. Up,up, up ---- 0.4mi to Gardner Road. I again saw the runner in black, and caught up with her at the top where the single track empties out to the dirt road.

The runner turned to me and said she was done. So we talked a bit and ran together. I told her that I was feeling tired also, and my only goal was to reach the finish in under 11hrs.She said her name was Claire and she was from North Carolina, and this was her first 50miler. I told her that she was doing very well, and that OP50 was a tough course for a first 50miler. I told her she was going to be able to finish under 11hrs. From watching her ahead of me on the flat dirt road which went by the campsites, I could tell she was strong on the flats. And I told her that there were some flat sections between here and the finish that she could look forward to and use for recovery, and that we only had two more climbs of any significance remaining. There was a lot of downhill in the next couple miles and we ran this together. Then I stopped to take a walk break and told her to go on ahead. I was hitting another low spot. We leapfrogged once after a creek crossing and then came into the final aid station, Kentucky Gulch at 46mile.. It was 3:33pm. Last year I had reached this point a few minutes after 4:00pm. So I was keeping my time pad. A sub-11 was looking more and more in my future.

Last year I made the mistake of not taking in enough calories at this final aidsation. Thus, I made sure not to repeat the mistake... I drank coke, water and also ate PB&Js, some Gummi bears and boiled potato pieces. I sincerely believe that this last section is longer than 4miles.

As I was leaving the aid station , the runner from Fort Collins was arriving. The runner in the white shirt (with whom I had run much of the 7 miles between Granite Mountain and Cave Canyon) left just behind me, and we stayed together for the next ~2miles. Through a couple of cattle gates, and down some single track and then up to cross a road... then some flat, and the final steep climb. On the steep climb the runner from Ft collins was a switch back or two behind us. At the top of the climb there was more single track through an area grown over by trees and bushes. The low branches of a tree or bush shredded the left side of my poncho. I figured it was no big deal since the finish line was only about 3miles away and I planned to discard the poncho in the trash after the event.. The single track lead up to a dirt road that meanders along a flat plateau. In the last portion of the single track, the hail started up again. The runner in the white shirt commented that it seemed to hail every time he ran with me. And I said that maybe it hailed everytime that HE ran with me, and we laughed. This hail stung even with wearing the poncho. It was windy on the plateau. And my blue poncho was trying to fly away! With the left side shredded it became a real flapper in the wind. The hail stopped and the sun came out again.

There is probably a mile or more of dirt road on the plateau before the left turn onto rocky single track which drops down to the meadow. I was suffering last year on the plateau... hurting and running out of time. I even poured out the water from my water bottles to lighten the load last year. This year, in contrast, I did not have the time pressure and although I was not running all of the flat dirt road, I was not taking as many walk breaks as last year. The thought crossed my mind to try to break 10:30, but the thought was short-lived. I was happy enough that I had a sub-11 firmly within my reach especially with tired legs from C4P . I had fared much better than I ever expected possible, and a far cry from a death march and missing an aid station cutoff. I felt grateful and satisfied. There was no need to put myself under the time pressure I had felt last year. I told myself to relax and enjoy the desert scenery visible from the plateau, and I did. The runner in white dropped further behind me, and the runner from Ft Collins caught up. We chatted a bit, and we passed by cow standing near the edge of the road . The cow seemed ambivalent to us, which was a good thing we both thought. She asked me if there were anymore uphills. I told her that there was just a baby incline up to Kentucky Camp at the very end of the meadow...definitely not a climb of any significance. I watched as the Ft Collins runner darted ahead. She had gotten a whiff of the barn!

Eventually I reached the turnoff . Only about 1.5miles to go. Quite the gleeful feeling. As I made the left turn onto the rocky single track, a gust of wind suddenly blew the poncho up into my face temporarily blinding me with blue plastic. Unable to see and in midstride, I tripped on a rock and fell . It happened so quickly. The irony of this fall is that I hit the exact same elbow, hip and knee as I had in last year's bad fall... fortunately not with the same amount of force and forward speed. Still I was stunned as I picked myself up from the ground. A quick inspection revealed some blood on my knee, elbow and left palm. My hip hurt when I resumed running. All I could do was laugh. Looking at the bright side, at least I did not have this fall at C4P and receive the Blood Cloaking Device. I concluded that if I had to take a fall like this, it was best to happen near the end of OP50. Almost to the end of the descent where the meadow started, suddenly I needed to make a pit stop. I had not had to stop all day, so it baffled me why this had to happen 1 mile from the finish. So I stopped briefly . The runner in white caught back up with me. Reaching the start of the meadow, a bystander said 0.9mi to the finish.

I knew from last year that this meadow goes on and on and on.. Last year it was torture... It is the longest 0.9miles . Patience is a virtue I told myself. I did a run-walk and meandered through the pretty meadow, eventually reaching the final cattle gate... then up the baby hill to the building. Last year we had to go around the backside of this building to reach the finishline, but this year we bypassed having to skirt around the backside, and instead just went around the front of it .

I crossed the finish line in 10:37:something. Much better than I ever expected; I got my sub-11 and avenged last year's 11:01:20 run. OP50 this year had been a learning exercise in fatigue-management. My right foot appears to be healed now, as it gave me no problems in the rocky uneven surfaces at either C4P or OP50.

There at the Kentucky Camp finish I found Matt C, and Wayne Coates & Patricia, and the runner in the red shirt (he was from Colorado). Matt had finished at around 10:30... the runner in the red shirt eventually caught up with Wayne, and they finished together at 10:15. All were in good spirits with lots of smiles!

I grabbed my finishline bag and changed into dry clean clothes. My plastic electrolyte container, which I carried in my right side pocket, had gotten smashed to pieces when I fell (This partly explains the wierd bruise I now have on my right hip). I had a double-decker sandwich (one tukery burger patty and one veggie burger patty) to eat. I decided to wait around for the other Texas runners to come in. The temperature quickly started dropping, ecspecially after the sun set. I tried staying outside several times to watch others finish, but began shivering... seems I've become a cold temperature weenie living in SE Texas. So I stayed inside and talked to Wayne and Patricia, and Matt Crownover, and periodically checked the results .

I recognized Claire sitting in the warm room... I asked her how she did, and she said she had missed the left turn off the plateau on to the the single track and ran some bonus miles. She finished in 11:01:something. I felt bad for her. Matt Watts finished in 11 something taking 40 minutes off his run last year! Mark Wienecke also finished in 11 something. Then Sammy-the-Vster came in a while later and Anne Watts was the next runner just after him. Anne also improved her time from last year. I helped Sammy after he finished. All dropbags but those from the 40mi adistation had been brought back. Sammy and I then waited for the others. I spoke with Krissy Sybrowski who was helping with some clean-up, and after running all the miles at C4P Krissy turned in a sub-9hr finish at OP50!

The drop bags from the 40mi aid station finally arrived. Letha and Mark were the next Texans to finish. Letha was full of special words for Tom! Tom had told her that the last ten miles were easy. Where Tom ever got that idea lodged in his brain, none of us can figure out... Letha was still recovering from minor surgery last month, and she was happy to each the finish.

But the big dramatic finish was reserved for "3 second Tom Crull" who was the last person to finish within the 15hr cutoff with a whole 3 seconds to spare: 15:59:57 ! Go Tom!

We departed Kentucky Camp just before 10pm. It was a long but fun day. Thanks to RDs Duane and Julie Arter, and all of the volunteers .

Ultrarunning has brought much joy into my life the past few years, and also brought some very good friends. Unfortunately one of those ] friends, Pat Coates (who took me to the hospital last year), passed away about 2 months after 2004 Old Pueblo. She was a wonderful person.