July 22nd, 2006
Lake Sylvia Arkansas
Race Director Charlie Peyton (Overalls, no shirt)
Results for the 50K and 25K
Kathy Sager is listed as Kathy Sanders
We had a great time at the Midnight 50K in Arkansas last weekend. Our TATUR contingent consisted of: Brian Hoover, Kathy Sager, Johnny Spriggs, Alex Eaton, Ken & Dana Childress, Randy Ellis and Mike Snyder (me!). This was my first 50K and I was really excited. Luckily the weather had cooled off a bit from what it was, otherwise we'd have been toast. The area was beautiful with lots of great forest and winding roads through rolling hills. The race director Charlie was shirtless in overalls with one strap undone and bluegrass music playing from a truck (This is the first time I've ever heard a song dedicated to an oscillating fan).
We started off running uphill at a slight run or brisk walk. They said it was about two miles uphill. I thought they might be exaggerating a little. Not a chance. Kathy said to go out easy and have a great run, just like the OKC marathon. I took this to mean I should run the up-hills and pay for it in a BIG way later. Apparently that's not what she meant. I guess I can't blame her entirely though, somehow I feel that I did have some responsibility for how I ran. Don't worry about it Kathy, I forgive you…
Alex, Brian, Randy and I were kind of together for a while and near the first aid station we had a really cool run-in with a small copperhead. The guys in front of us jumped over it, we jumped and danced over and around it and the guy behind us did a pirouette over it. That would have looked good on film! As it started getting dark, Brian and I noticed what looked like very small snow flurries in our lights. It looked too small to be pollen and too big to be just smoke but we thought it couldn't be the dust from the road could it? There was just too much of it and not nearly enough runners for that much dust. As soon as people started passing us we found out that it really was road dust and lots of it. Pitoee. There were more hills there than I realized and they all went uphill. Even the down hills went uphill.
TATUR's with their new shirts. L-R Alex Eaton, Randy Ellis, Ken Childress, Dana Childress, Kathy Sager, Johnny Spriggs, and Mike Snyder
At the second aid station (25K turn around) Alex took off and dropped me like a bad habit. The road split there and unlike the well chalk-marked areas before, this wasn't marked. I started off over the next hill and didn't see Alex's light at all. Was he really booking that fast? I went about a mile further and didn't see anything. When I turned off my light there was pitch black in front of me and pitch black behind me. NOTHING. No sounds except for LOUD cicadas. Are there mountain lions around here? If I headed out the wrong way from the aid station, they would have said something wouldn't they. Did I just hear the opening string plucks from dueling banjos? I kept going for a bit and then waited at the top of a hill. Finally a couple of lights came up the last hill towards me. I was either on the right road or we were all lost. So, time to move out. Brian was a little ways behind me and as I was coming down a hill a car's lights were coming up on me so I moved over to let it pass. Turned out it wasn't a car, it was Brian just FLYING down that hill. I mean he was flat out cruzin. I told him if he bit the dust, there's not going to be enough left to put back together. To which he responded by kicking up copious amounts of road dust. We ran together for a while and both kept wondering where the next aid station was thinking that this was the longest 3+ miles we've ever run.
Chrissy Ferguson gives Pre-Race instructions.
That actually turned out to be 7+ miles to the 50K turn-around point and we'd both missed the un-manned aid station with water jugs beside the road. That was harsh. At the turn-around, Randy showed up after leisurely strolling to the first half. Got a drink and turned around fresh as a daisy. Meanwhile my request for a cup of morphine was denied. I got to play back and forth with a couple of runners for the next 7 or 8 miles and with all the dust, wish I'd just stayed far enough behind. Yuk! Back at the 25K turn-around aid station they had ice cold rags to wash your face with. What a relief! I knew that they probably had been through several dozen other runners before I got there but at that point, I wouldn't have cared if the rags were just used to mop a kitchen floor. I struggled to the last aid station and even the down hills were slower than the uphills. I just didn't have the strength to keep steady if I went faster than I hobble.
At the last aid-station there was just 3.5 miles to go! Ok, I can do this. I didn't have a Garmin or even a watch so I tried to judge distance by playing three Queen songs over and over in my head:
We will Rock You
We are the Champions
You're my Best Friend.
They have a great beat to run to. One round should be close to a mile right? If that's so, I must have gone about 12 miles before I got back to the start/finish. Over every hill and around every corner I'd shine my flashlight hoping to see the cars parked by the side of the road. Over and over I saw nothing. #(&^#@$%^&()*^$#$!!! When I finally got back Dana, Johnny, Alex, Randy and Brian were lounging around. Dana did the 25K and looked ready to head right out for a run on Turkey Mountain. The cheering was great for each runner that came in and I was EXTATIC to not be running any more. My post-race recovery basically went like this:
----------------------------------TATURs at 3am--------------------------------------------
Dana Childress after a huge PR is packing it up.