A Day Among the Trees with Friends

My Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail race, February 5, 2011

Huntsville State Park, TX

Rocky Raccoon 50 mile
Loop 1, David J.

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything."

- William Shakespeare

What an unusual situation to find one's self in; criss-crossing soft trails under beautiful tall pines, passing or being passed by hundreds of smiling faces ecstatic to be running 50 or even 100 miles. There is a positive energy at this race, which a couple of trail running friends attempted to describe to me a while back; it fills you up like a warm bowl of oatmeal and sends you on your way. The stars and planets  aligned on this Saturday, and I completed my first 50 mile trail race. :-)

As I've mentioned before, it takes time for ideas to migrate in my mind from the realm of dreams to that which is completely possible. I also spend a lot of time admiring other people and trying to be like them. It never occurred to me that Bandera 50K in January is an ideal training run leading into Rocky Raccoon 50 mile in February; not until my friends Justin and Tania Lincoln quietly did it in 2010; so quiet, I barely noticed... but, that's just their style. That little idea became a "bee in my bonnet," constantly coming up in my thoughts over the next months, "...hmm, maybe I could do Rocky after Bandera." I was also inspired by how my running buddy at the 2010 Guadalupe Mountains trip, Guy Morin, seemed to acquire super-powers from that point, continued improving, and ran his first 100K at 2011 Bandera. ...And how my Tejas class-mate (now assistant coach) John Kuss knocked out his first 50 miler at Palo Duro in 2010. They are all now Bandera 100K finishers!

I am going to resist the temptation of changing my story based on actual events. I could lie and say that I was training for Rocky Raccoon all along. I was not. I was planning on having a stellar Bandera 50K, improving on my 2010 time by over an hour, and I was feeling fast going into that race. First-time stomach nausea, all day long (of which my current theoretical excuse is based on dude ranch tap water), foiled that plan but, I feel good about literally gutting it out and finishing. So, umm, yeahhh, Bandera was just a training run. ;-) It was a relief to be going into a race where the last thing I had to worry about (theoretically) was the terrain, where there was essentially no cut-off for the 50 mile (which is the same as the 100 mile cut-off, 30 hrs), aid stations just 3 miles apart except for two, no major climbs, and I just basically had to worry about my nutrition. Mike Ruhlin, my trail running buddy from Tejas Trails, was in the same boat as me; a 50 mile DNF in 2010, but now relaxed and ready to "git-r-done." As he so eloquently put it at our camp site the night before the race, melting our shoes by the camp fire; "Yeah, it's gonna to take a lot to make me drop this one." (Mike Ruhlin is also a friend of few words ;-) But, as my most recent race showed me, there's a lot of variables that factor into a good or bad day of running; there's always a touch of nervousness in the back of my mind.

Man, was it cold! (20.someth'n that night and in the morning) OK, not 2010 Bandera cold but, still cold. We were on the tail end of a record-breaking winter storm that crossed Texas the week before. But, there seemed to be signs leading me to the race; roads were clear and fine between Austin and Huntsville, not so for people driving in from Dallas and Houston. And Saturday was going to warm up during the day and be beautiful. I make no apologies for sleeping in my toasty warm "spa van," I found it more practical than getting a hotel. And when it's cold, that's when course records fall. This was a unique year for this old race; some "celebrities" in our ever growing sport of trail running became interested in coming down; Anton Kuprica, Scott Jurek, Hal Koerner, etc., setting up an exciting race and even compelling another participating ultra running legend, Karl Meltzer, to lay down odds. But, relatively unknown ultra runner Ian Sharman, paced by two incredible local Austinite runners, Meredith and Paul Terranova, would run one of the fastest 100 mile races ever recorded. Not to mention our local favorite from San Antonio, Liza Howard, winning the female field and 6th place overall! All of these elite athletes were the nicest people in person and repeatedly told me "good job!" on the course.

Mike Ruhlin and I,
RR 2011 50  mile starting tent.
pic courtesy Dave Silvestro

Mike and I built a small camp fire that race eve and discussed race nutrition, geek software dev crap, etc. I learned I needed a thicker mixture of Perpetuum and decided to go with to hand-helds, one Perpetuum and one water, because I didn't feel like carrying a CamelBak, and I wanted both of those liquids all of the time. I small a small wood pecker above my mini van. In the morning, on my first loop around the dam, I heard a little bit bigger one, which sounded like a jack-hammer. It was probably one of these.

Huntsville SP camp site.

In the dark of the morning, Mike and I woke up, said "let's go knock this baby out," and drove the 1 mile to the Start / Finish parking lot. The sun slowly came up, and we were off and running. About 5 miles later, my gloved fingers finally thawed out and stopped stinging. There was ice on some wooden bridges, which was treacherous. I slipped and fell on butt descending on one of those, and, would make very effort to go around them the rest of the day. I would later learn that good friend, fellow Austin trail runner Leah, was not as lucky as I was, had slipped and broken her leg on one of those bridges in her first 100 mile attempt. It broke a lot friends hearts to hear that, knowing it could have happened to any one of us, knowing she was ready, trained, and pumped to do it. It just goes to show you that anything can happen in a race. Survive, recover, and start planning for the next one. This made me think of my good friend Emily Howell, an incredible Austin trail runner, who is currently winning a battle against breast cancer. When times get rough, I think of people like this.

I don't particularly feel like boring you with an account of every step of the three 17 mile loops that make up the 50 mile course out there. I'd rather talk about the people and friends I saw out there, which, in my opinion, is actually the most important part of this race. It's what got me through the day. It also makes me wonder / respect how hard it is on the 100 milers at night. I imaging those loops get a lot longer in the dark, cold night. I was impressed by the performance of my fellow Tejas buddies in the 50 mile. While I got it done in just over 13 hrs, Mike Ruhlin finished almost 2 hrs ahead of me in 11 hrs someth'n, and Rachel finished 2 hrs ahead of him, in 9 hrs someth'n! I saw Mike coming in from the "Damnation" loop on our 2nd loop and, we didn't have to exchange many words at all. He simply said "yeah, my legs are sore." I agreed. But, we were both happy. I would periodically catch up to another training-mate, Brett Buetner, at aid stations, we'd exchange fist pumps, and be on our way. Trail running friend, Jazzy Stalworth, was close behind me (normally faster than me) running 50 miles on an IT band injury! Good friend Gordon Montgomery and 100 miler extraordinaire, insisted on giving me bear-like man-hugs as we passed during my first two loops. Gordon would have a tougher night; the last time we passed in the dark as I was coming into to finish, all I heard was a growl. I ran with a Grizzly-Adams-looking character by the name of Alan, who told me all about his adventure at The Barkleys Marathons. ...and a state trooper from Beaumont TX named Larry (aka Laz) who started running to inspire his co-worker troopers. Did some fast power-walking with Austin trail runner Robert Lott. Saw awesome Austin trail runner Larry King at a few aid stations, on his way to a smokin' 50 mile PR. But, I'd like to point out, regardless of the particular race each of these running friends and others were having, all of them seemed to to be glowing with happiness about being out there. Yes, even amidst the physical pain and suffering. And it's contagious. It's really something a runner should experience first hand.

Stripping some layers before
second loop, with some help.
pic courtesy Shannon Mitchell

The aid stations were amazing, devilish, sit-and-stay-a-while magnets. For example, as I was running into the Damnation on 2nd loop, I was passed by an ATV with stacks of pizzas bungee'd to the back. A spectator yelled at me "Did you see that?! You're going to get pizza!" I replied in a very serious tone, "Yes. Yes I am." But, I managed to get through them pretty quickly. It helps when they are operated amazingly by friends who know what ultra trail runners need. Joanna and Dalton got me fixed up with some warm Ramen noodles at Visitor Center as I was going out on my 3rd and final loop, right when it was getting cold again, right when my body needed it. Except for the Start / Finish transition, this was the longest I stayed at an aid station and, it was worth it. Running friends Shannon Mitchell and Mike Sawyer helped me immensely at the Start / Finish area between loops, when I was moving like a stiff old man trying to change clothes. And, good to see Dave Silvestro, Diana Heynen, and of course, Joe and Joyce Prusaitis at the Start / Finish.

Scott Jurek on right,
David J.'s first 50 mile finish.
Thx for taking it Henry.

Some self physical observations I made. In my current state, I slowly lose my ability to run somewhere after mile 30. But, it's improving. I believe I'm slowly building a better base, while avoiding injury (taking it slow, backing off, etc.). This race had an interesting effect on me. The trails were soft enough that, everything from my knees down (calves, ankles, Achilles, feet) felt like nothing really happened. I've had more feet and ankles issues after my long runs on the Barton Creek Green Belt. But, my quads were absolutely shot! It was kind of sad when I realized somewhere in my 3rd loop, "Gee. I'm walking faster than I'm running!" Which kind of made me decide, "Gee, maybe I should walk these last miles and git-r-done?!" The good thing was that, boy, I somehow got my walking gear like I never had before. I think I might have been walking as fast as my friend Gabe Ayeson; but not quite. Maybe my body / mind was excited that I found a set of muscles that were relatively OK at that point. I started passing people walking. Of course, pure adrenaline allowed me to run the last 2 miles to the finish (as it does for most of the runners when they can smell the finish line). It was neat seeing the elite 100 milers recovering in the tent. No, it does not surprise me that they could finish 100 miles a little faster than I could finish 50 miles. You would say the same if you could see these guys run. And I was able to get a picture with one of my heroes Scott Jurek.

And thanks to Joe Prusaitis, my coach, mentor, friend, and one incredible race director. It's a family operation with Joe, Joyce, his daughters and son. And Henry Hobbs always seems to be there helping, year after year.  They take a lot of pride in their races and it shows. And without the support and love of Susannah and my Jennifer and Lilian, I would be nowhere. I don't get the Life Balance Equation right all the time, and for that I apologize. But, I love them more than anything. And to my mom and sister, of course I thought of dad in the midst of all those beautiful, tall trees. He dug many a hole, and planted many a tree in his days. This one's for him:

"He that planteth a tree is a servant of God, he provideth a kindness for many generations, and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him."

- Henry Van Dyke