2 days before the race, a weather front blew through with high wind gusts and a heavy rain that filled the creeks and trails with water. Henry marked the course in a heavy wind that tested the staying power of the ribbons. The aid stations tents also went up under the same conditions. You may have noted that every tent out there was synched down with 1000 pound straps to picnic tables and large trees. But, come race morning at 6am, the 25 starters of the 50 mile run were blessed with near perfect conditions. It's a wonderful day in Texas with 44 degrees, clear skies, and a light breeze. The course was a 25km loop, when done thrice, lacks only 3.5 miles to make an even 50. To set things right, the 50 milers had to do the 3.5 mile out-n-back first, and then onto the standard 25km set of loops. The bulk of the 50mi pack was done before the start of the 50km & 25km at 7am, so that the 3.5 mile section could be blocked before I turned loose the 112 runners in the 25km & 50km. Unfortunately, this caused a herd of quick runners running up the behinds of the 50 milers on Fat Chuck's Demise. Aid stations were at 5, 10, and 15.5 miles. There was also water left on the table at the intersection for the return trip at about a mile out. Sammy V, with support from Jeff F & Dinty made life grand back in the Tunnel O Pines. You won't find many aid stations like that one. I was asked why I didn't have him at the finish. Well, I could not have been able to afford feeding everybody like that. For those of you who skipped it in pursuit of a fast time, well you should have run back out just for the food. It was well worth it. LongHorn Aid was owned by Mark Raymond and his daughter and her friend. Also big Tom Watson. They also did a bang up job, but were not blessed with Sammy's culinary skills or equipment. This station was a trash dump before the race started and these guys cleaned the entire area, and then saved a few lives with their care for each of the runners. Chris Chandler with Richard & Karen Lynn and additional assistance from the Strong/Osborn clan took care of the finish line aid, and even took the time to bring in popsicles on dry ice for everybody. Crash showed up for the grand cook off of beef & veggie burgers, brauts, and hot dogs. Not a lot but enough to help those suffering from the saloon being closed down. Cris Strong, Craig Osborn & family (Alex & Noah) managed all the packet pickup and then reassigned for other race chores when that was done. She did a great job on short notice with a little help from Moogy as everything including shirts, chips, and bibs came in very last minute. Kyle brought in a timing system to cut our mass of volunteers needed for timing form 10 to 1. This was his first time to do chip timing so he was learning as we went. But this guy can wing it with the best of ‘em and had everything working good enough to go. Joyce did her regular aid station support, with Sam’s trips for food and water, and numerous trips to each aid station to make certain everybody had what they needed. John Paladino and Vinod were my multipurpose do everything NOW guys, and I kept them busy. Mattrix Harrington dashed away with the 25K men’s 1st place trophy. Tracey Vaughan won the women’s 25K . Shawn Bostad powered through the 50K in sub 4hrs at 3:57 to capture the men’s division. Shan Rooney won the women’s crown in the 50K. Robert King ran an amazing 7:31 in the 50 miler to get out of the sun as quickly as he could. Marissa Toland took the 50 miler women's title. Rumors of a Dinosaur still rampaging through the trees near sunset brought the event to a close as Robert Heynen captured the hardware for first dinosaur and DFL. While the heat took its toll on several runners, it was a good day to run and play in the piney woods. Thanks to those who stuck around toward the end to help tear things down. Todd Roper, as usual, was a big help in getting the aid stations down and hauled out. Moogy did at least double duty after helping with packet pick up by tearing down ALL 15.5 miles of ribbons marking the trail. It really was a beautiful day to run in Texas. So nice, that quite a few runners decided to run extra miles, skipping a well marked and easy left turn onto skinny single-track for a strait fence line and lots of room. The volunteers who worked this race were few, but they were very very good. The entire lot of them worked from 6am til 8pm without break. My sincere appreciation to all of them. I may be the driving force behind the creation of this and many other races in Texas, but it is by the good will of the many volunteers that these events actually happen. I cannot make them work all on my own. This race had a real problem getting enough help to run it efficiently, and I've thought about the many reasons why, but can only guess: a Sunday start, the addition of a 50mi, same day as many other local events, maybe just one too many races on the local trail calendar. Who knows, maybe all of the above. These races not only need to meet the needs of the runners, but also must fit into the schedules of the volunteers. Anyway, I need to give this one some time to think on before I decide to bring it back again next year. I can manage it, the runners seem to want it, but this may die from lack of support. I'll check in about 10 months to see where the interest lies. our sincere best joe & joyce & henry