A lot of prep work goes into the Six/Three Hour Snake Run. There is course marking, gathering aid station food stuff, ordering porta-potties, getting permits and insurance, ordering shirts, trophies, medals, and designing them as well, setting up the start/finish, setting up aid stations, rustling up volunteers, coordinating the timing, and of course, snake removal. But despite a race like this being a lot of work, it is still a great deal of fun when everything goes well--and this year it was nearly flawless--but there is a reason for that. This year, I have had more help than ever before. Friends went way beyond what I had even hoped for in running the aid stations and helping set up and tear down. I actually had a nearly stress-free day Saturday, and even ran a few miles with some of my friends.
Dana made a few extended shopping trips gathering food stuff, and stayed up late the night before the race making 25 lbs of potatoes. (good ultra food) Kathy also did her share of goodie shopping.
Janine made this artistic cake, and it was good! I have heard of people eating snake, and I had no problem eating some of this one.
Big thanks to Marcy Ellis, who ran the kitchen so to speak--keeping all the BBQ heated, and serving sandwiches from 11:00 to 3:30. She was a life saver.
My wonderful friend and part time crew babe Candice was the gopher for the day. Candice made trip after trip to the store for more ice, beer, bread, chips, and other snacks. We would have been in trouble without her. Thank you Candice. (Can't wait to have you back running with us!!)
My nepher Jeff also showed up and filled and refilled water jugs, and toted a bunch of heavy stuff back and forth to the aid stations. Many thanks!!
This post could be a super duper long post since I have over 60 pictures that I WANNA post, but I think I'll try to condense it, and then I'll post another batch of pictures with a little less of my rambling. The reward for running the furthest in six or three hours, again, was one of these vicious looking rattlers.
But new this year--we also had finisher's medals!!
Brian designed these big honkin medals, as well as the cool shirts. Brian also spent some time every day promoting this race with Facebook posts and emails. For a race that we were concerned with having enough runners to break even, we exceeded that number and ran out of shirt and almost ran out of medals.
Brian makes some announcements. We did not have the megaphone, but Brian's loud mouth was more than sufficient.
The crowd lines up a few minutes before 9:00 am.
One of my favorite things to do--firing the starting gun.
With nearly 250 runners, it was a little crowded at the start. The first .2 of a mile was on a wider trail, and people got spaced out somewhat before hitting the single track.
After the start and a quick porta-potty check, I sprinted to the first aid station. I took a short cut, as I wanted to get there before the front runners so I could take pictures. I came up short though, and only got butt shots of the first group.
I still got there in time to take pix of some amazing runners. This rocky section is right before the first aid station, and most of the runners blew right by it. Some actually seemed to fly.
After several fast trains of runners sped by, eventually some of the runners more in tune with the trail stopped for refreshments.
This aid stop is at approximately mile one, and runners hit the turnaround at mile two--the same aid stop, but from the other side. It's an out-and-back course, and they retrace their steps, which means all day long, you see runners coming the other way. The competitive sorts can keep track on their competition, and runners can keep tabs on their friends who are also running. Thanks to all the runners who put 17,332 little cups in the trash bags instead of throwing them on the ground.
It was like Grand Central Station when wave after wave of runners hit the turn-around, but the super-crew of Amelia, Susan, Laurie and Hayden handled it in stride. They had rock-n-roll blaring and several inspirational signs. WWCSD commanded the most attention. What Would Charlie Sheen Do?
Later, Sandra (awesome super aid station goddess extraordinaire) along with the ambitious and witty Pat and his better half Paula took over and serviced the remaining 6 hour runners. Sandra and company kept track of the last runners, and when they were through, they took down the tent, table, and packed up all the misc aid station stuff. Tatur-of-the-Month Amelia and hew three hour runner hubby Jeff loaded up all the stuff in their truck and packed it out of the woods. I am extremely thankful for all the great help, as getting this aid station picked up, as by the end of race day, Brian and I are beat. Several of the out of state folks commented on how great this aid stop was. It was an all day party.
Back at race central, the three hour race finished in a swarm. Most all of the runners took full advantage of the half mile finishing loop to tack on as much mileage as possible.
Mitch had a great timing program that kept track of the laps, and also the finishing laps--even though there were 6-hour runners still doing their 4 mile laps while 170 3-hour runners were hammering out half mile laps. Makes my head swim.
Then, like clockwork (a small pun), he produced the results along with age groups. I suppose that is maybe not such a feat, except that most races results are simply a listing of the correct order and time that someone crosses the finish line. In this format, actual distances ran in addition to the time taken, and how many big laps and small laps are ran, and which race were you in?? My head is still swimming. Thank you, Mitch. You're a genius.
After each race was complete, we gave away the snakes. Maggie Nelson from Tulsa won the ladies 3-hour competition and set a new course record with 21 miles. She got away without getting her trophy, and I also missed getting her picture. Maggie, you can pick up your rattler at RunnersWorld if you have not done so already. Second place went to Marilyn Caulfield from Rogers AR for running 20.4 miles.
Third place in the 3-hour event went to Olivia Eves from Arkansas KS for running 19.9 miles.
In the men's division, Steve Shepherd from Roy UT came close to running a marathon--running 24.6 miles on trails in a little under 3 hours. This is the new course record for the 3-hour race. WOW!
Jack Morris from Tulsa ran 21.5 miles, and took second place.
John Noble from Tulsa ran 20.5 miles, and took third place.
Sorry for the fuzzy picture. :-(
In the 6-hour event, no course records were set, but a lot of miles were ran! Stephen O'Neal from Bentonville AR ran 39.4 relentless miles and took first prize.
Tulsan Shannon McFarland ran 37.9 miles for second place.
Christian Moore from Bentonville AR took third place running 37.4 miles.
For the women, a girl from West Sacremento, CA took home first prize. Crystal Whitlow was visiting her grandmother in McAlister OK and decided to drive up and run our race. 32.2 miles later, she won the 6 hour event.
A Tulsan and T-TOT regular Shannon Ijams ran 30.7 miles--good enough for second place.
Another Arkansas runner, Jody Lingbeck from Rogers took third by running 28.1 miles.
I am impressed by the out-of-start runners--Utah, California, and even Arkansas running our race. That Arkansas bunch has been giving us a clinic for the past couple of years.
A cool thing happened during the awards ceremony. Stephen O'Neal was so impressed with a duo of runners--none other than Brandon and Cameron Plate aka Thing 2 and TrailGoat, and Stephen gave them his first place trophy. The Plate brothers ran a whopping 30.2 miles at the ages of 9 and 10. (Now hear me out on this--we need to encourage these boys and help them train, feed them right, and then maybe we can send them to Arkansas to WIN some of THEIR races--ya think??) Seriously, thank you, Stephen, for your kindness.
Results have been posted on the