Every now and then it seems humbling but inspiring moments can come from the most unlikely of cources. Such is my story of the Prickly Pear 50K. Originally, I had not planned on doing PP for a couple of reasons. One, I had planned on doing the Gov't Canyon and Rocky Hills races and quite honestly I have never enjoyed running at McAllister Park. I don't know if it is the flatness of the trails but every run I do out there is a struggle. For some reason I tend to do much better on hilly, technical courses like Bandera. Well the Gov't Canyon race got rescheduled to a Sunday and when I look at my calendar I realized that Rocky Hills was also on a Sunday. Because of my church commitment these races were no longer an option. I then found out I am deploying in July which knocked me out of the Tahoe Rim 50 mile I had planned on doing. It then hit me that this would be my last opportunity to do a trail race until sometime early next year. One problem was after having a very good Bandera race my training had been essentially nil due to illness and my daughter's soccer season starting up (weekend games). I had averaged less than 10 miles/week since then and had done only a couple of 2 hour runs. When I looked at previous years times of people that had similar times as me at Bandera, it suggested I should be able to run it in around 5:15-5:30. But I knew that wasn't going to happen because of my training and I really wasn't mentally ready for the race. I hate doing a race without having a goal so I decided to talk my friend April into doing the 50K. April is a former college soccer player who I recently got into trail running after moving to SA. Our families go to church together. She had really embraced trail running and had a very good Bandera 25K where she finished 16th out of 76 females. But like me her training had been inconsistent since Bandera. She was a little unsure because it was twice as long as anything that she had run before and she had been dealing with some foot issues (flat feet). Like many former athletes she didn't want to do an ultra until she felt 100 percent prepared. But I was certain she could do it because she is very tough mentally and I knew it would give her a confidence boost. I told her I would run it with her and it also helped that her husband Daniel decided to do the 10 mile race. Plus, selfishly speaking, I was happy she was going to do it because it gave me a goal of helping her get through her first ultra and I would enjoy the race a lot more. Race day morning came and it was obvious that it would be a great day for running. I met Kim Pilcher before the race and enjoyed chatting with her. We lined up (actually milled around) and right at 7 the RD, Bill Gardner sent approximately 80 runners off. A few words about the course. While McAllister Park is not my favorite place to run, Bill did a great job of incorporating the best trails in the park. It was also marked very well which is no small accomplishment since McAllister has a spaghetti maze of trails created by mountain bikes. The race was mostly on smooth, flat, windy, forested singletrack although the last couple of miles had a good hill and small up and downs. If one is a fast road runner (which I'm not) this is your type of a course. In fact after seeing the final results I imagine a lot of road marathoners were running the race. April and I deliberately started off very easy since she was branching into unknown territory and was going double the distance of any she had previously traveled (plus it gave me a good excuse to go slow). We didn't have any major goals except to finish. In the back of our minds we hoped to break 6 hours because April easily has the speed to do it but with it being her first 50K and battling her feet issues we didn't know if that was in the cards. April also wanted to avoid being in death march mode at the end and have the race be a positive experience. The first few miles rolled along fairly easily but then April said she need to stop and stretch her IT band that was tightening on her. This was not a good sign so early in the race, she spent a couple of minutes stretching it and we were off. In fact she would have to make several stops throughout the day to stretch it. For the most part the 1st 10 mile loop went by fairly uneventfully. We were running a nice easy pace (although my legs we getting more sore than they should) but lost a little bit of time due to April needing to stretch a couple of times and us needing to hit the porta potties. About the biggest surprise came on a couple of decent water crossings created by some recent rain around the 8.5 mile mark. One runner was trying to figure out how to cross without getting her shoes wet (we found out later this was her first trail race) and April and I passed her while making a big splash. She realized that she wasn't going to avoid it so got her shoes wet as well. The second water crossing was surprisingly deep and came up past knees. Considering I'm 6'8" that is pretty impressive. As we finished the first loop we came upon the 50K "out and back" sign. Now this is where things get a little confusing. To tag on the extra mile (we were running 3 10 mile loops) the RD had us run a little out and back at the ends of loops 1 and 2). Well right after the 50K "out and back" sign was a sign that said "In" and behind that sign was a sign that said "Out". We were suppose to follow the "In" sign that would take us to the top of the "Out and Back" and turnaround point. This also the point where our drop bags were and they were checking in runners. Well because I didn't pay enough attention at the prerace briefing I eelected to follow the "Out" sign instead of the "In" sign. After running about a half mile and not seeing any other runners coming back we realized we had made a wrong turn. So we headed back and got on the right path. In fact on the way back we came across some other runners that were making the same mistake and we got them headed correctly. This was very frustrating because not only had we expended time but also additional energy. Once we got to the turnaround point April wisely decided to change shoes since the ones she was wearing were rubbing her arches funny. However, the time spent getting lost and changing shoes cost us about 20 minutes so we ended up leaving for the 2d loop at around the 2:20 mark. Changing shoes gave April a mental lift and we decided to pick up the pace a bit. I could tell her IT band was bothering her a bit but she was running well. However, early in the 2d loop we got lapped by the first place guy. He was moving! That was very humbling. Then, sometime around the 13 mile mark while going down a short but steep downhill April rolled her ankle and fell. I helped her up and while she was trying to be positive I could tell it shook her up. Truthfully these middle miles were what worried me. I knew because we were running a lot farther than any distance she had run before that her body would be getting fatigued. Mentally it is tough because there are a lot of miles left. Over the next 3 to 4 miles April rolled her ankle a couple of more times (it was getting weak on her) and she took another nasty fall. This last fall really seem to shake her confidence (in addition to taking some skin off her leg) and could see a little bit of doubt cross her face. I helped her up, we walked for a few minutes and I tried to fill her head with positive thoughts (which I think she probably found more annoying rather than helpful) before we started running again. The good news was that during this time when we ran, we actually ran as oppose to doing the ultra shuffle. Around mile 19 on the 2d loop we came across Ava Arzola. What a very nice person she is! We talked to her some and did the water crossings with her. We then ran and walked a few of the small hills on into the turnaround point. I could tell April was really struggling at this point. Her IT band was getting really tight again and she wasn't able to power walk the hills at the end of the 2d loop real well. She was also starting to have nausea. Her husband Daniel met us at the turnaround point and was very happy with his 10 mile race. It was his first race of any kind and he had a very positive experience. April went to the restroom which unfortunately was about 200 yards away. By the time we got going we were around the 4:15 - 4:20 mark so despite the falls and middle mile blues we still did the 2d loop a bit faster than the first. I was proud of April for starting loop 3 because I could tell she was not in a good place mentally or physically. Sometimes the biggest challenge is just starting the next loop. We tried to run at the beginning of loop 3 but stopped and walk because of April's IT band and nausea. I wasn't helping by saying things like "Embrace the Pain" and "Channel the Pain". April had this look on her face that said she would like to cause me some pain. In fact she told me later that she hoped I would trip and hit my nose on a rock so we could "Share the Pain" (She said she was joking of course,....I think she was anyway). Early in the 2d loop when we were walking Ava and Dmitry Rozinsky passed us. We had been playing leapfrog with Dmitry all day. In fact this was his 5th race in 5 weeks. Ava slowed down to encourage April. She gave her some Advil and told April that she was a faster runner than she (Ava) was so she could keep up with her. Hearing this from another runner experienced like Ava really helped April (plus by this point I think she had gotten sick of my positive energy and needed it from someone else). Ava's encouragement and Advil really helped April and she started to run well again, plus the nausea started to go away. I told April to try and run for 8 minutes and then we would take a short walk break. Well she ran for 10 minutes at a good clip. We took a short walk break and then started running again. As we passed the mile markers they seem to give April more energy. At one point it hit her that she had just done a marathon and that pumped her up more. In fact, I had been neglecting my own nutrition and I was struggling to keep up with her because she was now running around a 9 minute mile pace. We get to the 5.5 mile aid station where we were met by Daniel and her good friends Al and Marissa. Seeing them pumped April up even more and she was flying. The adrenaline had totally kicked in, her body was holding up and she couldn't wait to finish. I on the other hand was doing all I could to keep up with her. My legs were very sore, my right foot was hurting and my energy was waning. In hindsight, it turned out I hadn't been taking in enough calories. I was just trying to hold on until we got to the small hills in the last mile and half so I could have an excuse to walk. We got to the hills and I discretely took the lead because I didn't think I could keep up with April if she was leading. She was on such a huge high. Then with about a mile left my blood sugar dropped through the floor and I crashed. My body was weak and my head very dizzy. I told April I needed to slow down because I didn't want to collapse. She was very understanding and gave me a Clif Bar (now who is the teacher and who is the student?) . I managed to poke along to about 200 yards from the finish where I gather enough strength to jog it in (witth April telling me to relax and take it easy...talk about role reversal). We cross in 6:24 to the cheers of Daniel, Al and Marissa. Immediately after I headed to the post race fajita spread and got my energy up. I also got a chance to visit with Linda Rust a bit. Linda seemed pretty happy with her race. Its nice to gradually get to know some of the HCTR members. At the beginning of the report I mentioned being humbled and inspired. I was humbled by the pure speed displayed by many runners on the flat course of Prickly Pear. I was inspired by seeing April overcome many obstacles to finish her first ultra. Seeing her going out for that final loop despite her physical and mental struggles at the time was very inspiring. Granted we didn't have the time we hoped for but it was a very successful race. After the race right before April headed home, she remarked that "She did the best she could for what she had to give that day". That is success by any measure.