POOP Trail Run

REALLY?? How can anyone NOT want to run a race with a name like that?? I shared the link with friends and there was a lot of interest, but Johnna, Betsy, and I were the only ones (I think) who made the trip from Tulsa to poop in the woods with friends.

Johnna and I left Tulsa around 5:30, and I am not gonna disclose how many poop stops we made on the way--in the spirit of the run, of course. Let's just say--I had my Metamucil the night before. There was a LONG line at the two porta-potties, and since we actually got to the race slightly ahead of schedule, we Googled "gas stations near me" and found one 2.6 miles away, so while others were waiting in the cold for an outhouse, we had a semi-clean warm bathroom with which to do our business. We made it back with one minute to spare and walked up to the starting line as they said GO!

I'd say there were 80-100 runners in the half marathon, and smaller amounts of 5.5 milers and 5Kers that started later--and all passed us. The above pic, borrowed from the POOP Trail Run FB page, is like a Where's Waldo pic. I am in the picture--can you find me?

We had not gone a mile when we found the poop. A man and his son came up behind us as I squatted to take the picture, shook they're heads, and ran on by. (HAHA--I said SQUATTED!!!)

Cool to see someone is already in the Christmas spirit. This was one of several views of Lake Thunderbird.

I came prepared. Plenty of snacks, 5-hour Energys, and FIREBALL. This was at mile 4--roughly 1/3 of the way into the race and the bottle is 1/3 of the way empty. Sounds about right.

The David Hale aid station--we hit it three times. The second time through we got to talking about trailz, aces, and ultra stuff. Ended up FB friends, and I bet we race together sometime.

Johnna led the way most of the day--all except for the last 50 yards. I did the asshole geezer thing and told her I only had one word--LATER! It was a mad dash from there with me whipping her by .5 of a second. Of course, she has punked me in the final steps of a trail race before.

Even though we were the last finishers, there was a big party of people waiting for us. They had this awesome tent set up just past the finish arch and had some cold kraft beers, and some good stuff to eat. Plus, the had the  OU/TCU Big 12 Championship showing on a large flatscreen. Classy.

This giant of a dog stood nearly 4 feet at the shoulders. While I was sitting in the tent in a lawn chair, he sat in my lap. I was pinned down, and he got a good back scratching.

Elevation profiles can lie a little. This one makes the race look like Athens/Big Fork. Yes, there were a lot of long uphill grinds that were so gradual that you could run every step. This course does fall into the Relatively Flat category. 

These trailz are a mountain biker's dream. I could ride here, and I am a wussy mt biker. There were almost no rocks, a few roots, and mini stumps. I never fell, and only kicked a root once. I wore Arma-Skin socks for the first time. These socks guaranty NO BLISTERS, and I love them. No hot spots, no hints of blistering. But of course, it was just a half. 

Picture borrowed from Modeling by Zeke

There was nice swag for the race. Instead of t-shirts, we got a poop-colored beanie and a cowbell for our medals. Super cool.

Next year, let's bring an army to run this race.