Friday, March 14 - 50K - Day 1

It rained Thursday night, a heavy downpour accompanied by lots of thunder and lightning. The thunder echoed off of the limestone wall next to our tent and sounded louder than any thunder I have ever heard. The storm system moved out of the area by morning, but there was still an overcast.

We woke up at seven, too early for a nine o'clock race, but I knew my nerves wouldn't let me sleep in so we got up. I ate a cold Pop Tart (chocolate chip cookie dough - I didn't even know they made this flavor) drank some coffee provided by the race and got my drop bag ready. There was one drop bag station at the halfway point. My bag consisted of 4 Gus, a windbreaker in case I was cold and a pair of dry socks. Temperatures were in the mid fifties and I started in my white sleeveless tank.

The lead pack of John Muir, Matt Hart, Ty Draney, Josh Nordell and last years winner Dave Wakefield took off at a fast pace. I tried to hang but quickly realized this was one way to not enjoy the next three days so I backed off and formed the chase pack with Paul Schoenlaub and Scott Eason.

Inside my head I was already questioning if I had run too fast at the A-OK 50K two weeks prior and was in for three days of hurt. But the joy from being on real trails again took over and I started not to care about place and time. The course is designed by Arkansas ultralegend Steve Kirk and is absolutely amazing. There's enough ups to keep you working, enough downs for fun and enough flat to still be runnable. Many times I just found myself looking around and soaking up how gorgeous it is to keep me going when I get stuck running roads in Norman.

The course was very well marked but it was nice to run with trail veterans Scott and Paul who told me what was coming up before we got to it. In particular Paul told us to look back over our shoulders to catch an awesome view of Sylamore Creek around mile 25 or so.

Oklahoma ultralegend Tom Brenan caught us around this point. He had been smartly taking it easy on day one. As the winner of last years A-OK 50K, he warned me (a bit too late) about the Okie Dokie wine. We ran as four until the last aid station at mile 27, which was unmanned. I looked back and saw a pack of two more runners about to catch us. My competitive spirit took over and I told Tom, "It's time to start running." I took off, never looked back and ran my fastest four miles of the day bringing it on home. About a mile or so from the finish I caught Dave. I don't know the official time, but I think it was around 4:52. I finished fifth overall, fourth out of the stage runners, about twenty minutes behind the third place stage runner and a half an hour behind the first place stage runner.

After the run I soaked in the creek, showered, ate some pasta and had a beer. I was pretty nervous still about the 50 mile run the next day, especially after hearing some say there was 16,000 feet of elevation gain. Gina made a campfire and we sat around with some of the other runners and relaxed. By nine o'clock, everyone was calling it quits for the day.

Running moment of the day: From the unmanned aid station at mile 27 to the finish I ran strong. It felt really good and it was a big confidence boost to be able to have my best miles of the day happen at the end.