Rocky Hill Ranch Ultra gets rained out

I ran my first marathon in February, 2004 at the Austin Motorola Marathon. To date, as of April 18th, 2009, I have completed 14 races at marathon distance or longer. I have completed 8 marathons, two of which were off-road trail runs, 5 50K trail runs, and one 50 miler. My goal for the beginning of 2009 was to qualify to join a totally wacky group known as the Marathon Maniacs. The entry level to join this group is to complete 3 marathons, or longer, in 90 days. My first one of the year was the Surfside Beach Marathon at Surfside Beach, near Freeport, TX on February 14th. This race is advertised as the only marathon in the U.S. ran entirely on the beach. My oldest daughter and son-in-law, Brian and Shelby Helm, from Flower Mound, TX ran the Half Marathon at this event. Two weeks later, I ran the Half Marathon at Cowtown in Fort Worth, TX, although this race didn't count toward the Marathon Maniacs qualification. On March 21st, I ran the Grasslands Trail Marathon at the LBJ National Grasslands near Decatur, TX. This was my second Marathon in the 90 day period.



Yesterday, Friday April 17th, a buddy of mine, Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth, and I headed out for Smithville, TX to run the Rocky Hill Ranch 50K trail run. Smithville is located about 45 miles east of Austin. This town was made famous as the location for the movie "Hope Floats" with Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. It rained on us all the way down there yesterday. When we finally got to the ranch, about 5:00pm, it had already rained about 6 inches there. Joe Prusaitis, the race director, said that he would go ahead with the race on Saturday morning unless there was lightning. There had been quite a bit of cloud-to-ground lightning during the day Friday. Jerry and I checked in, got our race bibs, and enjoyed a nice pasta dinner at the race site. It didn't rain any Friday evening, so we proceeded to set up a 9 by 9 camp tent. Yes, we had decided to skip the comforts of a hotel and stay in a tent the night before the race. This was a trail race after all and there was no point in having it be too comfortable! Actually, the tent wasn't bad. It was roomy, dry, and not at all cold inside. But you may think cheap motels have thin walls, tent walls are even thinner. We could hear everything that went on all around us all night! Horns honking, babies crying (why were there babies at a trail race?), diesel trucks driving around all night. It rained a little off and on throughout the night. I awoke around 4:20 to the sounds of lots of people talking. I looked out the tent to see several runners scurrying around with their headlamps on waiting for the 5:00am strart of the 50 mile event. At 4:30am the rain hit! It began pouring down! Although we were dry in the tent, it was beginning to be a mess outside. At 4:55am I began to get ready for my 50K run. I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to it at this point. The 50 milers started off at 5:00. About 5:10, the lightning started! It began to light up the night sky with bright flashes followed by deafening claps of thunder. I looked out and saw some runners walking back. I went out to see what was happening. The race had been cancelled! Joe, the race director, had made the call that it was simply to dangerous to continue with the lightning so close. We were caught in the middle of a huge thunderstorm! The lightning got so close, Jerry and I got out of the tent and into our Chevy Tahoe, afraid the lightning might strick our tent. We decided to drive up to the ranch saloon, an old tin shed that had served as our race headquarters. Everyone was just standing around waiting for the rain to let up and see what would happen next. Finally about 8:00, we decided the rain wasn't going to let up, so we went back and took down our tent in the blinding rain. When we got everything loaded, we were soaked! We drove out of the mud and headed home. We stopped for breakfast in Bastrop and enjoyed some hot coffee and omelets. They really hit the spot. There were 3 other runners there from Austin, so we talked about future plans. I got home safely about 2:30pm. I was glad to be home with my wife and family. I didn't have any finisher metal to show anyone, but at least we did get a shirt. I wasn't able to get in my 3rd race in 90 days. There will be other races. Come to think of it, the Oklahoma City Marathon is next weekend!


We got to talk with a couple of Marathon Maniacs. One guy had ran the Cowtown Marathon on Saturday, February 28th, then drove to Waco to run another marathon the very next day! Another guy we met has completed 14 100 mile races and has twice ran the Badwater Ultra Marathon, a 135 mile race that starts in Badwater, Death Valley, CA, the lowest point in the continental U.S. and ends at the base of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S.

All in all, we still had a good time. We got to see rain, which is rare in West Texas, and some beautiful scenery in the Texas Hill Country.