Flat Rock 50K. Sometimes the trail wins.

Saturday I ran the 20th annual FlatRock 50K in Independence KS. This was my first ultra way back in 2003, and this would be my 12th consecutive finish here. This time, I was woefully undertrained, nursing a possible running career ending knee issue, but on the upside, well tapered and I knew the course maybe better than anyone. 

We drove up early Saturday morning which meant only about 4 hours of sleep. Still, with my personal lucky number 8 (awarded me for being knighted into the FlatRock Hall of Pain) I was believing in trail magic and ibuprofen to get me through. 

We got to the race barely in time for the preface briefing which I have memorized anyway. I found something to carry for a water bottle since I forgot mine, and headed to the porta potty line. Literally 15 25Kers were lined up and gave no respect to a prairie dogging 50Ker whose race started in a few minutes fully an hour before theirs. So, I loaded up with some paper towels and figured I would be in the back of the pack anyway.....

I got to see a lot of friends, including several GOATz. Soon enough we were off and running. More like shuffling for me though. 

I haven't looked through the race pictures. Rick Mayo does an awesome job though. Di Liska tagged me here. This might be the only time ever where I've been photographed with both feet are off the ground at the same time. 

Eric and Polly were at the trail head wishing us all well. It seemed the day was gonna be alright. 


The trailz at Elk City Lake are beautiful and tough in a few places. I was running easy, walking anything technical, and was just trying to settle in. 

I lasted a mile and then had to break out a paper towel. After kicking some dirt over the evidence, I was feeling great and I picked up the pace.   

Eventually I caught up with Joe Galloway and then a girl named Heather (I think.) then  pushed on and caught some good friends Lynna and Melissa. I ran with them and really enjoyed the run with them. 

FlatRock is tough in many little ways. There are a few hills. The course elevation looks horrifying but there is really no climb that really sucks. There are technical sectiond, but there are many more miles of sweet uninterrupted single track. But enough of anything eventually is too much, and on an 86 degree day, the course just bests you up. Today, I was enjoying every step until mile 9 when I got s shard jab of pain in my bum knee. It turned my fluid shuffle into a one legged crow hop. I took 22 minutes on my 9th mile. And each step with my right leg hurt. Up hills worked fine. Downhills were bad. If I could have shuffled the flats, I would have stayed in, but I wisely dropped at mile 10. 

This was Dana's aid station and I got to see all the runners come back through. Dana worked her magic and helped quire a few runners get theirselves together and finish what they started. 

It was smart of me to stop. Now, 2 days later, I am walking with a bit of a hitch, but nothing seems too damaged. But the knee is not well. I just don't know how this is gonna pan out. Don't feel sad for me. I am gonna ride my bike for a while. I'll keep blogging. Maybe it won't be as boring. 

This picture may have been altered just a little to make my friend Melon even more mad at me. Not the sexiest leg. 

I did have the good fortune to finish in the top two for a sexy leg contest. 

After the race, Scott Hill was knighted for 10 consecutive finishes. Dennis Haig was recognized for 20 consecutive finishes. 

Some awesome friends Zach Adams and Candy Paulin got engaged right in front of all us sweaty runners. 

My good friend Melissa missed the 10 hour cutoff by 39 seconds. She battled nausea, hung tough to the finish. And she finished. I'm proud of her. Twice, I have finished in well over 10 hours. Once on a muddy course and once with a sprained ankle. 

FlatRock 101K from an aid station assistants point of view

This could very well be a continuation of the previous post. Dana and I worked an aid station at the FlatRock 101K--touted as the toughest mile-for-mile course in Mid-America. I can attest to the difficulty of the course, and while I did really want to run this year, I saw the pain and heat exhaustion the runners faced, and was actually happy to be on the other side--helping Dana. We woke up before the sun came up and pulled our trailer to the trail head at Oak Ridge, and then sped back to the starting line just in time to say hi to a few friends and see the runners off. Then, we loaded up drop bags, food, and a good supply of water and headed to our post to set up shop. A ginormous box truck followed and dropped off tables and a cook stove, and my job, as assistant cook at Dana's Aid Station, was to fix pancakes and bacon. I cooked around 20 lbs of crispy bacon, and ate fully 20% of it myself.

49 runners had signed up, but only 37 showed up--it thundered and stormed an hour before race time, and the forecast for the day was pretty iffy. 37 runners get pretty spread out over 15.5 miles of rugged trail, and we had quite a bit of down time. Still, the faster runners were coming back through while the zombie-paced one trickled through. We never had time to catch a nap.

I did get a little antsy, and took a short run down an old abandoned road that dead-ended into the lake--or at least a finger of the lake. As many times as I've ran here, I had never been to this part.

Did I mention that Jake was with us? This was a new thing. Jake has camped with us, and enjoys running with a group of runners. But being at a race--guarding his home turf while runners barged through and took food from his table--well, he did growl a time or two. We had a talk and he decided all was cool. And he loved the swim breaks--we took several.

I tried to find the least muddy entry/exit points, but when a wet dog--clean or dirty--lays down in a gravel parking lot, he is dirty no matter how clean his swimming hole is.




I did not take a ton of pictures of the runners as when they were there, Dana and I were filling bottles and hydration packs, getting drop bags, and talking them into eating, and checking on how they felt. But for a TON of race pictures, Mile 90 Photography took hundreds of awesome pictures.

A quick plug for another awesome race coming up. Thanks to Eric for letting us promote our Oklahoma races while here.

By nightfall, most of the runners were on their last leg of the race--the return trip of their second 50K. And many of then had succumbed to the heat, to nausea and fatigue. of the 37 started, 15 dropped. We had figured to see our last runners by 2:00 or so. The cutoff was 2:00 am, and every runner still in the race made it by the cutoff. Dana made sure they all ate a little before going on. The next aid station was 6 miles away, and since most of the group by this point were moistly walking, it could have easily been 2 or more hours before they'd see more food. Dana had a huge pot of potato soup that really hit the spot--and probably was the very fuel needed for a finish. Despite not running, I had several helpings myself.

 
Dana had put a few decorations out on the course. She had planned on making it a Hawaiian themed course, but the fierce winds (25-35 MPH all day and all night) made the fake palm trees and tiki lights a bad idea. We did hang a few Japanese lanterns in the trees. I vetoes wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra. My boobs are too sensitive for scratchy coconut shells!!

 
I was so proud to see my friend Melissa Bruce tough out the 101K. She has ran more miles on this course than probably anyone in the race, having lived in nearby Elk City for years. Her race report is entertaining. Read it here.

Results of the 22 finishers can be viewed HERE.

Mr Eric "EPIC" Steele puts on a great race, and I hope this race is always on the calendar. Next year, I'll be one of the grouchy back-of-the-pack finishers here.

CLICK HERE for my FlatRock 101K race report. More grizzly pics and a ghost sighting!!

CLICK HERE for the Inaugural FlatRock 100K race report--where I battled hard and finished 3rd!!

My upcoming weekend

This weekend, while lots of my friends are at OKC running on pavement, I'll be in Independence KS on the trailz of the Elk City Reservoir watching my trail friends run 101K on one of the hardest trail races in this part of the states. FlatRock is the twisted brainchild on one Eric Steele.
Mr Steele has RD'd a 50K here for the past 19 years (and I am a proud and knighted 11 time finisher) and has put on two previous double crossings (100 and 101Ks). This will be the first year I have had to sit one out. :-( My knee is good enough to do it, but I'm trying to be smart.


As I said--this is no easy race. It is a grinder. Keep your eyes on the scenery, and you'll be thrown to the ground by an embedded rock put there since the beginning of time to flatten runners. Throw in some rain, and you'll be praying for more rocks to escape the relentless mud. This year, we will likely have mid to upper 80s to deal with. 49 brave souls are toeing the line. How many make the full 63ish miles--we shall see.

I'll be at an aid station made famous (I kid you not) by my beloved wife. The aid station formerly known as Oak Ridge is now known as Dana's Aid Station. These fine aid station volunteers will be RUNNERS this year. Jason and Melissa will not be any threat to the leaders in the race, but my monies on them to finish. Melissa has ran more miles on this course than probably anybody in the entire race, having once lived practically on the trail-head. Jason is just brain damaged enough to not quit.  I really look forward to briefly hanging out with them as they pass through our oasis four times during their race.

Eric's EPIC ULTRA finish lines are amazing. Years ago, finishers were greeted by a train whistle, air horns, and people beating on trash can lids. The air horn still honks loudly and obnoxiously but the race has graduated to a laser light show at every one's finish line crossing. Knowing this is in store for every finisher, how could anyone DNF?

My 11th FlatRock 50K, by Sir Cargo

As I mentioned in my previous post, this was my 11th running of the FlatRock 50K. I did 10 50Ks, and 1 100K all in dry weather, and most were uncomfortably warm by the time I finished. Never had I ran one in rain or mud until the FlatRock 101K last April. Mud. Lots of it.
This is the front that moved in on the race just as it started, and instead of it moving through in a west-to-east pattern, it drifted northeast, and stayed right on top of us for about 5 hours. I thought a brief shower would make the jagged rocks slick, and not much more, but 5+ hours of light but steady ran brought mudpits identical to those from last April.


Eric, wearing signature Sir Cargo shorts, gives out pre-race instructions. Basically, if you remember BLUE, you're good. It'd be tough to get lost at FlatRock. If you stray on one of the very few spur trailz, they are rarely traveled and fizzle out within 20-30 yards. The main trail, while rugged, it easily recognizable, well traveled, and well marked in BLUE blazes.


After a 1/4 mile of pavement, we were on the trail and climbing the longest ascent of the day. The above pic is one from three years ago, when I was having camera problems. I edited the pic to make it more to my liking, and recycle it almost every year.

Part of my strategy this year, since I was questioning my ability to finish in the time limit--was to leave my camera. I probably burn a good 30 minutes each year taking pictures. So, the majority of the pictures here are borrowed from the FlatRock Collection. A link to this compilation is at the bottom of this post.


I was in last place to start--my usual placement. After the first aid station, I was feeling good, and slipped into a slightly quicker pace. I caught up with a few people, and eventually Melissa Bruce. She has an awesome blog, and I can't wait to read her report. We ran together for a few miles, and caught up with some people. My competitive juices started flowing, and just before reaching thew second aid station, I picked upo the pace and started passing runners.


The mud was bad on the way out, but I tried to run through it and ignore it. I would look for foot placement on top of any rocks I could find, and just to the side of the trail. Keeping a steady pace was my goal, and it worked well for 10 miles.


Usually people cuss the rocks, but on a muddy day, MORE rocks would be a good thing. I hit Dana's Aid Station (formerly Oak Ridge Aid Station, but the good King renamed it this year) and was on a high. Making the time cutoff at the turnaround was a sure thing, and I was even thinking about a PR for the course--foolish thoughts I know as it would have been necessary to run a negative split. I caught up with Paul Rejda and Tammy Winn, and ran with them to the turnaround. I knew I was way out of my league by catching them.

I got in and out of there quick, and headed back for home. I'm not gonna say the wheels fell off, but I did slow down considerably. The first 3 miles on the way back are tough. The mud seemed like it had been whipped up into a froth, and was slick and nasty.

Since I basically run like a duck, each step slides sideways as much as I move forward.

Add in all my slippage to the mileage, and I ran an 80K. So I kept on waddling. I reached Dana's again, ate a few bites, refilled with Gatorade, and headed out. 10 more miles! I was about a quarter mile away when I realized I meant to take a 5 Hour Energy. I gave thought to going back, but decided to go on. I did have my Rum shot, and some Sports Beans. So on I went, albeit slow.

I was passed by a few people, but tried to shuffle. Jason Dinkel and Adam Monaghan passed me, and I filed in behind them until the last aid station. There, I got my usual beer, and drank about half of it on the go. The last four miles are TOUGH. They seem so easy on the way out when you have fresh legs, but the rocks are jagged, there are several ups and downs only to go back up, and back down--then up again. What you can jump over earlier in the day isd a hands and knees scramble. The Devil's Butt Crack is a definite milestone. It's tough to get through after 29 miles, but once there, you are so close to home. I had mentioned to Jason that I thought we could make the original 10 hour cutoff. (Eric had given an extra hour to the time limit due to the adverse trail conditions.) I made a break for it, and ran/shuffled as quick as I could. I should have eaten a few calories at the last aid stop and felt like I was running on fumes. I caught up with another group, and walked along behind them for about a mile until we got off of the trail and onto the road. I should have politely asked to pass--but didn't. Once on the road, I ran but finished just barely over the 10 hour mark.


An exuberant crowd was at the finish line to greet the weary ultra finishers. They even showed their enthusiasm by doing the "wave".


I thought it'd be sexy to take of my shirt and do a victory lap, but after crossing the finish line,. I decided the lap was more than I wanted to do.


Feet and legs like this were the norm. It took me 15 minutes with a water hose to cut through the mud to even find my shoes. I threw my socks away, and by the water hose, there were several pair of discarded sicks. Epic mud.

Dana and I waited around for the last finishers. It was very near the end of the 11 hours, and still no Melissa. In the last 2 minutes of the race, 5 runners made it in under the wire. Melissa had met up with a three other runners, and kept pace with them (actually, they probably kept pace with her.) She knows the trailz better than probably anyone, since she , until just recently, lived in Elk City very near the west trail head. and ran here every week.

I was so proud of here. I had no doubt she'd finish, and I bet she knew she had it even though she was so close to the cutoff.


Melissa is in there somewhere being congratulated. If you look closely, you can see my pink flip flops. I forgot my bag of clean clothes, dry socks, and MY flips.

I looked at the results from last year with the trailz in dry conditions, and compared them to this year. I took 12 random runners who ran the 50K both years. A couple (like Candi and Zach) ran faster times in this years mud. Freaks. But averaging out the times of all 12 runners, the average finishing time was over 20% slower, and that was sue entirely to the wet and muddy conditions of the trailz. I am somehow pleased that I was 15% slower. I had to dig deep to find some sort of stat to hang my hat on.

Eric and Epic Ultras are famous for great aid stations and awesome volunteers. I'm proud to say that my wife Dana is one of the best. She has worked aid stations here almost ever since I have been running this race. She has learned a lot about crewing and aid stations here, and she has taught them a little too.

Tony Clark runs the turnaround aid station, and helps out in so many ways with this race, I'll be joining him in two weeks at the Heartland 100 where Dana and I will be working an aid station for 30 hours.

Warren Bushey is Eric's right hand man, and cooks all the pre-race grub (which I missed this year.) There are several other awesome peeps who work so hard to put this race on, and I should remember names better.



Hundreds more spectacular photos can be found here.

50K results

25K results

FlatRock Plans

Saturday, I'll be running the 19th running of the FlatRock 50K. This will be my 11th 50K, but I also have two 100K finishes here. On one hand, I feel like I own this course, but on the other hand, it is a HARD course, and can rain hell fire and brimstone on you at will. My best time was back in 2003, when I ran a 7:53, and finished in the bottom third of the standings. Since then, I have finished in just over 8 hours, and as slow as 10+ hours.

My training fir this race has been lacking. I have this thing called work that has been destroying my running life. My 37 miler last week was encouraging, but I ended up with a sore knee. It's been about 10% better each day since, and I feel pretty iffy, but would not miss running FlatRock for anything. Sir Cargo is brave, and a worthy knight.


The race is an out-and-back, which works well for me psychologically. There are no places to bail out--except for the turnaround. Make the cut-off at 15.5 miles, and then whittle the remaining miles off.


The course is beautiful. I burn 30-60 minutes each year taking pictures. This year though, I'll leave my camera  behind and focus on keeping my pace up to make the cutoffs.


Ascents and descents like this will test my knee. 


I usually run alone--being a back of the pack runner. Should I get in a line of runners, it may make the time pass. But if not, I will probably break out my iPod and rock it out.

I have a secret weapon this year. Mile 25-30 are super tough. Going out, you have fresh legs and the loose craggy rocks are hardly noticeable. But on the return trip, they are hell. So at mile 25, I'll have a shot of this new "GU".


It might just erase some of the pain. We shall see! :-)


And the real draw--the bait that lures me to the finish line---> In keeping with my fruitarian diet, I will re-hydrate with a variety of fruit juices after my race.  

FlatRock 101K

I'll start out with crediting a couple of the pictures here to Epic Ultras. The one above is swiped via Google, and the one below is of my friend Epic Steele, the RD of the first ultra I ran (FlatRock 50K) back in 2004.


Eric for years held the 50K and 25K at the hiking trailz along the Elk City Reservoir just west of Independence Kansas. Rather than working tirelessly trying to make the event bigger (more people) every year, he spent his effort in making it better. Attendance did grow though as more and more people found this trail to be a supreme challenge, and the aid and finish line support amazing. After a last minute sellout in 2012, the 2013 event (to be held on October) sold out in 11 days after registration opened. Along the way, Eric along with the help of his girlfriend Polly, created Epic Ultras, showing his talent and versatility in putting on a variety of races of different distances. In January of this year, Winter Rock, a 25K/12K held at Elk City was a low-keyed event and was well attended for a first year event. Then, the inaugural Prairie Spirit 100 Mile/50 Mile gave new definition to the word "Epic". My PS 100 race report is here.

While the wrath of a late winter was unleashed on us at Prairie Spirit, we had rain and mud to deal with here. But we as trail runners aren't worried about a little mud, are we? The 101K (62.8ish miles) had a 24 hour time limit, with cutoffs after each 25K. 4:30 for the 25K, 5:30 to run the second 25ish K, and then 6:30 for the next 25ish K and 7:30 for the last--basically an extra hour of time for each crossing.

This snaggle-toothed profile, scary as it looks, is actually deceiving. Yes, there are many steep climbs--but going out, they are not a major hinderance. There are few if any over 100 feet, but after 3-4 hours of running, the climbs start seeming longer and far more frequent. Add in an abundance of rocks--big rocks, small rocks, crooked rocks, tall rocks--rocks that like to shred your feet, rocks that try to crack your teeth.

And so at 6:00 am, after a very short briefing, we were off. It was still dark, and while a lot of runners had their headlamps, I had a small clip-on LED light on my water bottle, which worked just fine. No bulky headlamp for me to carry all day. Once daylight was upon us, I settled in and enjoyed the run. In the early miles, the rocks are relentless, but on fresh legs and feet, you zip right over the tops of them--it's no big deal, and a delight to run. I did take a little extra caution where the rocks looked slippery, because a fall here gets bloody.

This is one of the highlights of the trail--a beautiful vista of Elk City Reservoir. I always take a picture here. The weather forecast had called for clearing skies and highs around 70°. That never happened. It stayed cloudy all day, and actually rained lightly for a while. I really don't think it got above 50°, but that was perfect for the runners. The aid station workers were a bit cold though.

All those low points on the elevation profile were creek bottoms, or drainages into the lake. Today, they were vibrant steams, wondrous to listen to as you approached.

For the first 4 or 5 crossings, I managed to tiptoe across on rocks, keeping dryish feet. But after a couple of knee deep crossings with no leapfrog rocks in sight, I plowed on in.

FlatRock actually has some nice smooth runnable single track here and there. But in spots like this, you had better be on the lookout, because there are hidden rocks put there when the earth was formed specifically to trip trail runners.

Another dry-foot water crossing. This water looked clean enough to drink, but I didn't try it.

A lot of the trail runs between these limestone formations. You'll run at the base of them, then climb to the top for a few hundred feet, and then descend again. Up, down, up, down.

I rolled into the Oakridge Aid Station aka Dana's Place. This was at mile 10, and Melissa (in the orange) was there helping out. She had agreed the night before, at the pre-race dinner, to pace me the last 10 miles. I was surprised to see here here at first, but as I ran on, I figured it out. Trail runners cannot stand to NOT be at a trail race that is close. (She lives only 2 miles from the west end of this trail.) Ida done the same thing. Thanks to Dana for doing an ultra herself--staying awake for over 24 hours helping out here, and doing double-duty being my crew babe as I passed through here 4 times. She made a huge pot of potato soup, which was premium fuel during my 2nd two pass-throughs. It was especially cool that Jason Dinkel and his daughter also helped out here all day and night, as Dana was recovering from a surgery two weeks ago, and probably shouldn't have been out here for such a long event.

Continuing on west, I came to one of the toughest parts of the course. The western end is a trail on steroids. Lots of that up/down/up/down crap. Quite a bit of trail along a river bottom that was muddy beyond belief, and then a crawl through a hollowed out bluff area that erodes a little every year. I like this section, but it is a slow go. Beside this deep grotto, there was a nice cascading waterfall that pictures cannot do justice. This is the best of the 6-7 I took.

Then, I got to crawl right through it, and did a butt slide down a mossy rock face and back up the other side.

I was so proud of myself after that, I took a self portrait. Handsome devil, eh?

From there, it was a short distance to the turnaround--not that I got there all that quick. I made the cut-off by around 15 minutes. Tony Clark manned this stop, and I was so intent on getting in and out, I forgot to take a pic. Sorry Tony--you know I love you.

On the return trip, I had hoped the trails might have dried, or at least drained off somewhat--but no such luck. If anything, the water was running off the inclines and pooling in the trailz. Plus, the continuous tromping of trail runners kept whipping up the mud. Conditions got worse and worse as the day and night progressed.

It is no exaggeration that there were miles of this. While I am in theory against running off the edge of the trailz, as it makes a nice narrow single track into more of a road, I did get up in the grass through a lot of this. But again, this is where you would kick a rock and bite the ground. I took three falls in the race--actually a fall or two under my average.

The conditions difinitely added to my time. I seriously think I could have finished 2 hours faster, and not been threatened by the cutoffs if the trailz were drier, but I am not gonna whine. The conditions slowed everyone's times.


Anyone who knows me knows that I have a goofy stride. Besides over-pronating, I drag my feet and flair them out like a duck. You NEVER see a duck run in the mud, and I do well to make any kind of pace in muddy conditions. When I push off, my foot slides sideways, and a lot of my momentum is lost. Anyone wee all these sideways slides on the trailz?? Those were mine.

But after each muddy section, I ran my shoes through the wash. The cold water felt SO GOOD. SOme people think running with wet feet means blisters bigtime, but after my run of nearly 24 hours with wet feet, I had ZERO blisters!!

The last aid station on the way back. This is at mile 4 on the course, so I hit it again at mile 27, and at 35 and 58. I enjoyed a beer and a slightly stiffer drink on my return trips. Good fuel.

I made the cut-off at the start/finish by only 10 minutes. Still, this was under 10 hours, and I had 6:30 to do the next leg. No worries. Polly manned the aid stop,at least while I was there, and was awesome. I ate a small plate of spaghetti and meat sauce, and a roll, and headed out for another 50K. I wanted to get as many miles as I could before dark--not that I don't like night running, but I thought my daylight pace would be a little faster than my pace after dark.

No sign of sunny skies even late in the day. It actually rained just a little somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00.

And if anything, the mud was worse. From mile 5 on to the turnaround, most was walked. I ran where I could, but if it was a steep up or down, or muddy, I walked as quick as I could. At Oak Ridge, Melissa told me she was gonna do the ENTIRE last leg with me--15.5 miles. I was glad to hear that. I had been listening to my iPod, and that was helping, but some human conversation would be a real treat.

You see weird things during the night. I did a double take when I saw this image in the woods. I crept closer--thinking it must be simply a fungus on a tree. It sure looked like a devil or an angel or something. I was actually a bit spooked.

At the turnaround, I rolled in there with about 10 minutes to spare. Consistent. Consistently slower. Tony had a juicy hamburger on the grille waiting for me, I could have ate two--or three of them. Melissa was ready to roll, and a guy named Luke was running sweep. So a party of three headed out into the night, with 7:30 to go 15.5 miles.

More weird stuff--not far from the tree ghost.

We walked through all the harder sections on the west end, and in fact ran very little on the last leg. I ran a little here and there, but even the zombie shuffle was disappointingly slow. Even so, I was enjoying myself, knowing I was gonna finish. The conversation was good, and Melissa kept us laughing. We told stories of the strangest things seen on a run, pooping/peeing in the woods, running with serial killers, mean dogs, crazy barefoot runners (Luke runs barefoot), and I don't remember what all else. I told stories of my ghost girl at Rouge/Orleans, seeing spider eyes, and tall tales of gnarly blisters.

This bench is about 2 miles out. We had 50 minutes to get there, so we had Luke take our picture. I was going for the LED light shooting upward giving us a zombie-ish look, but the flash form my iPhone kind of negated the effect.

When we hit the last 1/2 mile, we had some wonderful asphalt to run on to the finish. It was still dark, but the moon was trying peek out. A thick fog bank drifted in obscuring the finish line, but we knew we were close. I told Melissa and Luke to turn our light out and try to sneak up on the finish. We would appear out of nowhere right as we neared the line. That almost worked out, but someone shined their LED up the road when we were about 100 yards out, and it picked up something reflective on our clothes. Eric and company was there whooping and hollering, and he has a laser light show shooting up at the finish arch. Very cool!!

I hugged Eric, kissed Dana, and embraced my belt buckle. I finished 13 minutes under the cutoff--which proved the cutoffs were very generous and very fair. I have a better race in me, but I am very happy with my performance here.

Warren Bushey, chef extraordinaire, served up a breakfast that put Denny's to shame. I scarfed up biscuits and gravy, sausage, and hash browns. Yum.

Dana took me back to our camping trailer, where I took a shower while she drove Melissa back out to her car. I drifted off to sleep happy, as the sun came up.

Read Melissa's report on her super well written and fun blog.