Race Report: Snake Race 2011

Background
Last year I took home one of the coveted snake trophies.  Here is the story of that.  This year I was feeling really comfortable only competing against myself.  I guessed that the really fast good runners would be out in droves and last year would not be repeated.  I was hoping there might be some way I could get in a marathon, but also knew it wasn't likely since my best marathon time is 6:10, and that is on roads.

The Race
There is a six hour and three hour version.  The race course is a 4.1 mile loop on the Snake Trail on Turkey Mountain.  Fairly even course-nothing too technical.  Especially on a beautiful spring day.  The loop is an out and back so there were runners going both ways on the trail.

The Aid
There were two aid stations on the course.  One at the start/finish and the other is situated on the course in such a way that it is hit three times.  As a result, there was an aid station about every mile.  Lots of my runner's world friends worked the aid stations so it was always a boost to see their smiling faces and get encouragement.  One of my main running friends, Mitch, worked the timing at the start/finish.   He brought an air horn which he blew just for me each time I finished a loop.  :-)

Interesting Happenings         

• The Plate boys, Cameron and Brandon, aged 9 and 10, ran over 30 miles in the six hour event.
• A dog, which I recognized from last year was there again.  He gave out on the trail and his owner carried him across his shoulders (still running) to finish out the loop.  (Big dog, at least 75 lbs)
• There was a cotton mouth spotted on the trail.
• I saw one guy run right over caution tape and go off trail.  At first I thought it might be deliberate, you know, nature calling...but I yelled to him just in case.  Sure enough he thanked me...and kept thanking me every time we passed each other.

My Race

Started out bright eyed and bushy tailed (See first pic of me above)  Hustled through my first two loops and then began to struggle.  At about mile 14 I started to feel a bit dizzy and light headed.  Sandra sat me down in chair and I drank two gatorades.  Later she told me I had looked pale.  But I was still trying to hustle so I got back up and kept moving-but started walking a bit more.  Before I went out on my last loop I sat for what seemed like quite a while, ate a bit more and drank 1/2 of a beer.  (people were downing full beers at the end of every loop)  Then I walked back out and walked a mile. Felt better so kicked it up to a run and finished out 20 miles.  Ran the 1/2 mile loop three times (There was a special 1/2 mile loop for runners for when time grew short and they couldn't get a full 4 mile loop in again before the gun went off).  Ken, the race director, ran with me and we chatted about how the day had gone.

Falls

I fell twice.  The first time was in the first 50 yards or so.  A gu packet in my belt burst. Yuck!  The second time was during the loop I was struggling.  I think I looked up at a runner headed my way and I went down.  skinned up my right shin pretty good.  It was bleeding and is pretty bruised.  It hurt a little but I felt sort of proud of it.  I'll be wearing pants to work for quite a while.

Aftermath

Finished my race with a total of 22 miles.  I didn't feel good the rest of the day.  Still queezy and had a bad headache.  Now I'm blaming it on the two 5 hour energies I drank.  They were handing them out free and I've never run with them before.

I got a massage which helped.  Took ibuprofen and ate some left-over pasta and felt much better.

The top female was a runner who crashed our little Tulsa race from California.  She was visiting her grandmother.  She ran 32 miles in the six hours.  Awesome job! I don't remember how many miles the top guy got in...results aren't up at the time I am writing this.

Ken told me something interesting.  This year I finished ahead the #1 and #2 female runners from last year.  Just another small thing that helps me build my confidence as a runner.

Gotta give Ms Laurie Whitesell kudo's for most of these photos!  Thanks Laurie!