Rocky Hill Ranch 25K
Smithville Texas
26 April 2005

by Chris Matus

Oh man! What a day!

I’m awake at 3:00 AM the morning of the race.  I go ahead and crawl out of bed knowing that I will need to get up soon anyway.  I eat breakfast and pack my bag with all the essentials.  The drive takes a little over an hour and I arrive at 6:15 AM.  As I pull into the race site I find out that they are charging for parking. It's only two bucks, but it was never mentioned anywhere. Hmm... what's up with that!? I go find a place to park and see Kurt and Logan, so I park behind them. I walk over to the saloon for packet pick up and run into Alex. So we chat for a bit and then I head back to my truck to get ready.

Heading over to the start area I see a few of the HCTR folks, so we chat until the Jon Hill says go.  The mass of runners take off down the trail towards Fat Chucks.  I'm hanging with Alex at the start, but then decide to pick up the pace before we hit the climbs because the trail narrows and I don't want to be caught behind a bunch of people. First mistake!

I walk the ups on Fat Chucks at a brisk pace and run the downs. Then after getting over the last climb the trail flattens and heads into the woods. My pulse is up so I try to calm down, but I'm caught up in the race. Even though the trail has flattened out the terrain is still rolling with twists and turns allowing me to see runners in front and behind me. I'm passing runners here and there on the downhills and then finally see a few I know. Through the trees I catch glimpses of Kurt, Mark L., Meredith, Shelley, Logan, plus a couple I don’t know in front of me. As I slowly pull closer to this train of runners going through the trees, I think to myself, "what the heck am I doing? These guys are fast and I have no business being up here with them." Second mistake!

I can see the train starting to separate leaving Mark and Kurt behind. I come around a corner and there’s Logan running out of the trees. He had to take care of business. He falls in behind me and we motor along trying to catch Kurt and Mark. I finally let Logan around because I know I'm just holding him back. By then we are on the back of Kurt and Mark. Logan goes around them and pulls away very quickly. I hang back with the other two for a bit. Then on a long downhill I tell them that I'm passing on the left. I go around and we say our greetings as I pull away slowly. Third mistake!

The trail dumps out onto a jeep road and I can see Logan up a ways in front of me. "Man, I've got to slow down" I say to myself.  On an uphill I take a walk break. I'm breathing hard and my heart rate is up. I take a shot of Hammer Gel and drink some water. The mile 5 aid station is getting close. I take a peek behind me and don't see Kurt or Mark. Up and down and around the corner on the jeep road I finally get to the aid station. Shelia and Muna are working this aid station. I say hi as I run by because the original plan is not to stop here. Fourth mistake!

After the aid station, the trail goes back into the woods. A little ways in, I decide to pull off the trail to relieve myself. As I start running again I see Kurt coming up the trail behind me. I yell at him, "I hit that aid station in 47 minutes... that's way too fast!" He says, "tell me about it!".  We’re both starting to feel the fast pace. Now, this doesn’t sound very fast, but on this course with the climbs in the beginning, it is by no means slow. Especially since some of the time was spent walking. But now we’re left with a choice, hold onto this pace or slow it down. I'm already running out of gas and my stomach is starting to act up. We run together for a bit and I finally tell him that I have to slow down. As I slow down he keeps going. I'm hoping that I'll get some of my energy back and then be able to pick it up later. The stomach is getting worse and it's making it difficult to run. So now, I'm running the downs and most of the flats, but walking all the ups. I finally get to the second aid station, mile 7.5 I think the aid station people said. My original plan is to stop at this one and mix up some more Hammer HEED. I had a zip lock baggie with me with the powder in it. As I’m mixing the stuff up Mark comes rolling in. He asks how I'm doing. I tell him not too great. He did the ironman in Arizona a couple of weeks ago and is running the 50K today. As I finish filling my bottle, he's heading out of the aid station with a handful of pretzels. I fall in behind him and we talk about the ironman a bit. I finally tell him that I have to slow down and I start walking as he motors on. People are passing me off and on when a girl comes up behind me while I'm walking a section and asks how I'm doing. I say "fine, just stomach problems". She offers me some ibuprofen, but I decline. She then offers me her long sleeve shirt that she has tied around her waist, but I decline that too, even though I was a little chilly. As she passes I start running again sticking with her in hopes that she'll pull me into the next aid station, which is getting close. We chat a bit and I find out she's from Austin and has done a few trail runs and is wanting to the 50 mile at Sunmart this year. We come into the aid station and I tell her I'm walking through here. She says ok and keeps going. The aid station workers say we are at mile 9.75. I take a few endurolytes that I had with me, but don't stop. Fifth mistake!

With just a little over 5 miles left, there’s not much to say after this point. It's more of the same; run and the stomach tightens up, so I start to walk again. People pass me, some I know and we chat a bit. And it goes on like this until the end. My hips and calves are starting to tighten up also. Alex catches me with little less than a mile to go and we run it in together. Finish time 2:54. I was really hoping to run around 2:30, but took the wrong approach. I know this course and know better than to start like I did.

After finishing, I see Jim and Shan. They are helping Linda.  Linda is doing the 50K and passed me about a mile before the finish. She is getting ready to head back out for her second loop. You go Linda! Shan and Jim come over to see how I'm doing. I break it down for them as they tend to me and try to get my stomach settled. About this time my calves start hurting so bad that I can't stand. They aren't cramping, just hurting. I sit as we try to figure out what's going on. We all are thinking since I went out so fast that my body used all its glycogen stores and starved for nutrients. Plus, I probably have some dehydration going on. Shan has mixed up some Endurox for me but the smell makes me queasy. Water and Coke seem to go down okay though. The calves are still hurting, so I try sitting on the ground instead of in a chair. That seems to help some. Finally she breaks out her secret weapon, papaya enzymes! They are in tablet form and she gives me a few to chew. After a few minutes, my stomach settles and the pain in my calves ease. Cool! Thanks so much Jim and Shan! We sit and chat for quite a while as I let everything settle down. I have a massage scheduled for 2:00 PM in College Station, so I have to leave by 12:00.  When I got home, I weighed myself. I dropped about 5 pounds. Hmm... not good! I have a few things to work on before The Maze 30K in May.

The most enjoyable part of the race, even though I wasn’t feeling great, was after I slowed down and started chatting with the other runners as they passed me. And it was great to finish with my good friend Alex. I really hated to leave the race site because even though my stomach wasn't feeling great, my calves were killing me, and the race didn’t turn out like I had planned, I felt good, was hanging with friends, and was having fun!