....miles to go before I sleep....: AOK Report

OK, so Sunday, I ran the AOK 50K in Atoka, Oklahoma. Okay? I did AOK. Umm, sick already? Well, enough of the oh so mild plays on words. Trust me, this post will only get better from here. (Old secret....set the bar pretty low so there is nowhere to go but up.)

This year was the 3rd time for me to run this race. It is where I have my 50K PR, and for some reason, I always run pretty well on this course. But, this year, I had a different agenda.

I had agreed to run with a friend, Kim who before this past weekend had run only one marathon. Saturday, she ran the Cowtown 50K, and Sunday, the very next day, was running the AOK 50K. Back-to-back 50Ks was something that even the Zombie has never done! An impressive endeavor to say the least.

AOK is technically a trail race, and a lot of it is on trails, but the majority of it is on dirt and gravel forest service roads.

Race head- quarters are on the race directors weekend homestead which is actually a small metal barn with a nearby outhouse. It's real laid back, and usually a smallish race; this year, 55 runners toed the line between the 25K and 50K options.
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Here, Kim, Johnny, and Dan listen to the prerace directions. After a GO!, we were off and running.

The race begins on a nice wide pine needle covered trail, and winds around a small lake before heading over a long climb through the pines.

The first water stop? No....just a decoration in a meadow we passed through.

We were chatting and enjoying the cold crisp morning...23 degrees at the start. There was a little wind, but in the dense woods, the wind was not a problem.

What WAS a bit of a problem was that while chatting and not paying attention, we blew by a turn and ran maybe half a mile down a hill to a beautiful lake where the trail just disappeared. We backtracked until we found some course markings, and found an orange ribbon that had been tore down. This course is so deep into the back country, that only a deer could have sabotaged the course. Nice to get a little bonus mileage in.

I wondered if this was demoralizing to Kim? Apparently not. Kim seemed to be fresh, and bounced along as if she was well tapered, running up hills and cruising down at a comfortable pace. Kim had a lot to prove this weekend. To some of her friends, she had bitten off maybe a little more than she could chew. To my buddy Brian, she was a sure DNF. Brian bet me a six pack of good beer that she would not finish. From what I knew of Kim, she was a tough cookie, one who was spunky and determined enough to get the job done. To me, she seemed to have the necessary mental toughness. Saturday night, after her Cowtown finish, I called her and told her I wanted to run the race with her....to be a pacer....a drill sergeant of sorts. (Gotta insure myself of winning a bet!) Brian betting against her was a HUGE incentive for her to again prove somebody wrong.

Kim and I all set to go out for our 2nd half of our race.

We saw Brian and Kathy several times during the race since there were several shot out-and-backs, and we last saw them finishing 25K where they dropped....Kathy due to her feeling ill, and Brian to being fat, old, slow, and ugly.

Kim had a brief bad spell at about mile 18. We had finished a long climb, and she just did not seem herself. (Who would after running 49 miles in a day and a half?) She felt a little nauseated, and dizzy. I looked through my belt pack, and had an unopened pack of Hammer E-caps. I gave her two, and told her to drink a full cup of water. It seems a little sodium and potassium was just what she needed, and after a short walk, she was ready to run!

Special thanks to Dora, who measured and marked the course, and worked a central aid station which we hit 8 times during the 50K. This was at a key intersection, and she sent all the runners the right way, kept track of the runners, kept us fed and watered, and sacrificed her race to do all of this. She always has ran it but chose this year to volunteer. You are awesome!

Like in the Dan Man race I did last month, wild pigs are a real menace to the ranchers. We actually saw one that was trapped.

The cage had been loaded unto a trailer where the wild boar will be transported to McDonald's to be turned into sausage.

Also like at Dan man, there was a pipeline that had been cut through the property. The ground across this short section was loose and I brought out quite a bit of debris smuggled in my shoes.

Imagine this....wouldn't this make a good par 5....a nice tight tree-lined fairway with a possible water hazard at the bottom of the hill.

At the end of the out-and-backs, they had set up a sign-in sheet where you had to write your race number and time...just to prove you were there.

We saw this chair more times than I care to remember.

Just 5.5 more miles to go!!! It was during this last section that the drill sergeant in me came out. Kim was going to finish, and I had made it clear that I would tolerate NO SLACKING! Whenever I thought she was giving less that 100%, I would make her drop and give me 20 pushups.

Then she would run!

Finally, we were down the last hill, and could SEE the finish line just across the lake. Of course, I had to get the crowds attention and make them cheer for us!

You were so close you could swim there, but the trail led you back into the woods about a half mile.

The last couple hundred yards were along a grassy embankment.

Kim is all smiles as she approaches the finish line.

The clock tells the story....well, actually, we had taken the early start, so tack an hour unto that.

And in a rare turn of events, Brian pays off on a bet! Lucky for all involved, Zombies share!

Kim did great this weekend, running 62 miles in two races. Question is, which 100 miler will be her first?

We hung out for a while after the race, ate, drank, doctored boo boos, told stories and lies.

Kim gives Brian the "Never bet against a Bean" speech. Kim is part of the Bean Team, a sub-group of our running club in Tulsa.

Nothing like a warm wood stove on a cold afternoon after a race.

Desiree protests the camera, but finally gives in. To her right, Andrew attends to Kim's every need. Andrew is Kim's fiancee, and chauffeur this weekend.

Michael Adams, a fellow TATUR warms his feet by the stove. Michael easily won the 50K running it in 3:53. FAST! What is so amazing to me, he ran it in less than half the time we did, but he stayed around to see us finish. Such a class guy. Thank you so much, brother! To the right is Nikki, another TATUR who was 2nd female in the 50K. Then on the near right, Stephanie chills, and ices her ankle.

Nifty finishers awards....no two are alike. They are slices of cedar trees, sanded and sealed, with a brass plate. I have three of them now!

A few minor battle scars on Kim's feet. I've seen worse.

Like this foot, my left one. No fault in my shoes...my new Asics Trabucos did great, except that I got dirt, grit, and general debris and finally just gave up on keeping them emptied. A nice micro pebble did the deed on my middle piggie.

Finally, I would have loved to have not had to visit the outhouse, but sometimes nature calls.