The last annual Rocky Trails 50 miler and Marathon (sometimes a 50 K) was held Saturday November 16th. The temperature was ideal, in the lower 40's, with clear skies and no wind to speak of. The course consisted of six 8.2 mile loops for the 50 milers and three loops for the marathoners, with a .8 mile segment at the beginning and end of the race. The 50 miler started at 6 AM and the marathon started at 6:45.

At the start Chris Hearne set the pace and I went with him. Soon thereafter three younger runners joined us and we were on our way. After a mile, Chris stopped off at his campsite to drop off his sweats, and that was the last we saw of him until the race was over. The four of us introduced ourselves and got to know one another as we made our way down the rocky trail.

The trail varied quite a bit from solid granite to boulder strewn hillsides to crushed granite under a blanket of leaves. There were also brief stretches of sandy jeep roads and pavement. The constantly changing grade and running surface made the running very interesting and time go by very quickly.

Carlos and Juan, training partners from Houston and Ray from Austin were my running companions for about two and a half hours, so we had time to learn a little bit about each other as well as our strategy for the day. Mine turned out to be, stay with these guys for as long as I can, but don't let them run me into the ground. My motto for the day was "when in doubt, speed up" (within reason, of course). I also remember telling Juan, "if you don't risk going too fast, you'll never know how fast you can go."

We all took turns taking the lead. When one of us slowed down, another would take the lead. This worked very well until about mile 20 when Ray made his move at one of the longest hills on the course. The rest of us held back on the hill, but soon after we topped the hill, Carlos went after Ray. I decided not to go with them as I was on a pace to break 3:20 and I didn't want to risk bonking. A little while later Juan started to fall off the back and soon I was running by myself. For the last three miles or so, I was concentrating on maintaining my pace and enjoying one of my best running experiences ever. Some days everything goes right and Saturday was my day. I have run this trail in races from half marathon to 100K and I always run well here and enjoy myself.

Carlos finished first in 3:17, with Ray in second at 3:18. I had my best marathon ever, a 3:19. Juan finished about six or seven minutes after me. Chris finished under 4 hours to collect the first place masters male award. My good friend Layne Roach, running on trails for the first time in just her second marathon finished in 5:04 (a P.R.), to collect the first place masters female award.

The race director, Mickey Rollins, is retiring from race directing, and this fine race may fall by the wayside unless someone steps up to take it over.

Mark Lindsey