Tatur Uno and I drove to Lawrence Kansas, home of the 2008 NCAA Basketball Champions, to run the Free State Marathon.
This event has a marathon, a 30 mile race, and a 100K, all on single track trails. This was Uno's 89th marathon, and my 45th. The packet Pickup was at Sunflower Sports, a store that was what heaven must be like. They had bikes, kayaks, trail shoes, backpacking gear, disc golf stuff, Patagonia clothes, cool outdoorsy hats, and all of this in a very old 2-story building in downtown Lawrence. There is no place that can even touch this in Tulsa. It would be like taking Backwoods and combining it with a good bike shop, and setting up in one of the buildings in the Brady district.I got to meet Bad Ben, who I have heard a lot about. He seemed like just a regular guy. I'd like to know the story behind his name.
We met up with Nels Bentson, a Tatur friend from OKC who also ran with me at the Texas Relay earlier this year.
The three of us did the ritual carbo-loading at a Mexican joint near our motel, but should have eaten at one of the many restaurants downtown which looked to have had considerable more ambiance. Finally, after a couple of beers, I hit the sack and slept well.We arrived at the race just in time to see the 40 milers and 100Kers take off, and then waited for our race to start an hour later. It was cold enough to have frost on the windshield, and there was a heavy dew on the grass. So much for dry feet.
I had the pleasure of meeting Colleen (strawberryhillrunner)
who has one of the best blogs I have read. She was running her first marathon and her dad was running it with her. How cool is that?? He had run several mountain 100 milers, and I would have liked to pick his brain. Perhaps another time. Colleen went on to run her 26.2 debut in 4:43. AMAZING!
Our race first took us across a grassy field, so our feet were soaked before we ever came to a water crossing. Oh well, that is what makes trail running fun.
Our first water crossing wasn't all that bad as we were able to step across on rocks.
This, fortunately, was not one of the water crossings!!!
After our little out-and-back loop, we entered the main trail for 23 miles of sweet single track. The trail reminded me a little of the trails at Lake McMurtry....a few ups and downs,
but no real steep or real long hills, a few roots, a few rocks, but all real runnable.Nels, who is 64 years old and still runs at least one marathon or 50K a month, and has a titanium total hip replacement, hung with me for the first couple of miles and we chatted and caught up on all kinds of running tales. He did say he would never forgive me if I did not stay with him, (kiddingly I think?), so I took it easy and hung with him. After all, I did have another marathon to run the next morning. Nels is a talker, and the time just flew by. (Actually, quite a bit of time flew by!!)
There were several unmanned water drops, so I was only filling my water bottle half way and drinking a little hear and there. It was cool enough that I thought I was staying hydrated enough. We were treated to several awesome views of Clinton Lake along the way, and a trail right along a craggy beach which we had to make like mountain goats to navigate.
After the first manned aid station, eating a handful of chips, pretzels, and PBJs, we entered the muddy portion of the race. We had encountered a few muddy spots, but this section had some of the longest and slickest mud I have ever sloshed through.
Nels and I had done real good in picking up our feet and not tripping on the roots and rocks, but this mud was intent on taking us down. I nearly fell and rolled in it, but Nels beat me to it. He was behind me and I heard him go down. Slick mud on a side hill is a sure recipe for a fall. No more than three minutes later, he kissed the mud again and this time rolled in it. By the time I turned around to help him, he was submerged headlong in a nice mud pit.
If you look closely, you can see his feet sticking up out of the mud. I told him to just relax and try to float out of it. After constructing a makeshift bridge out of fallen trees and weaving a rope from plucked willow branches, I was able to throw him a rescue line and drag him to safety.
Fortunately, we had another stream crossing and he was able to rinse most of the mud off. We caught up and passed a man running with his nine year old daughter. She was having some stomach issues and her pace had slowed considerably. I am not sure if they were able to finish, although I did see them about an hour later just as we were leaving out of the next aid station. He was the RD at McNaughton Park 50/100/150 in Illinois. This race (the 150 miler) is one that I would like to do sometime. It had always been the same weekend as Lake McMurtry, but since I am having LMTR one week earlier next year, maybe I can work it in to my schedule.
The aid station at the far point of the race was run by the Kansas Ultrarunners Society (KUS). Nels was good friends with Stacy Sheridan and spent a lot of time catching up on things.
I blame him for me eating 2 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which are not at all on my diet.
It was good to see Teresa Wheeler, who I run with at Flat Rock 50K every year.The return trip was on trails that at times parallel the ones we came out on. Nels slowed down a little, and when we reached the next aid station, I asked them how far it was to the finish and if there were many more muddy sections. They told me it was only 4 miles and the trails were not bad at all, so I told Nels I was gonna push to the end. I was pretty sure Uno was through with his race. I had the key to the car, and iced down beer was locked up in the car. Since I was a little concerned that my windows might be broken out, I thought I had better hurry on. I ran like the wind the final 4 miles, and actually passed a couple of people. I finished in 7:04 +/-.
Uno was waiting 120 yards before the finish, cheering me on, and holding his hand out for the key. He told me to grab a burger , which I did. I collected my metal and headed for the car for a cold beer myself. Although we needed to hit the road for a 5 hour return trip to Tulsa, then another drive to OKC, we waited for Nels to finish.
He made it in about 18 minutes later and was glad to be through. Maybe the best part of finishing was that I managed to find a shower to power-wash some of the mud from my legs.This was a great event. The course had a lot of trails where a wrong turn could be made, but all were marked very effectively. The aid station food was good. I will definitely be back next year, and probably for the 100K.
Tomorrow, I'll post my report on the OKC Marathon. Maybe I'll try to not tell so many lies!!!
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