Rocky Raccoon 100 & 50 Mile Trail Race, February 5, 2011

On February 5, 2011, I successfully completed the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail race at the Huntsville State Park, Huntsville, TX. Huntsville is about 60 miles north of Houston. This was my third 50 mile race and my second time at Rocky Raccoon. Of the more than 700 pre-registered entrants, only 512 showed up because of the snow and ice that covered much of the U.S. that week. Texas had the coldest temperatures we've seen in over 25 years. Accompanied by two of my trail running buddies, Gary and Jerry, we left Abilene on Friday morning to drive to Huntsville. The first 40 miles took us two hours! The roads eventually got better and we made it. My son-in-law, Brian, drove down from Dallas and met us that evening. This would be his first 50 miler. We had dinner that evening with several of our friends from the North Texas Trail Runners club.

When there are two events in a race, the shorter one is always considered the wimpy race. This is true regardless if it's a 10K & 5K, or a Marathon & Half-Marathon, or even a 100 mile & 50 mile event. This theory was confirmed when we were looking for the race packet pickup area. We saw a guy carrying his race bag. We asked him for directions, then asked which race he was running. He immediately said “just the 50”. And so it was. I remember last year at Rocky, my friend Jerry and I were sitting at a table at the pre-race briefing. Everyone else at the table was running the 100 miler. When they asked about us, we both said “just the 50”. Someone then commented, “oh, so you two are doing the fun run!” Only at an event like this would a 50 mile race be considered a fun run!

All the runners at Rocky Raccoon start and finish in the same area. The course is a long loop. The 50 milers run a 16.67 mile loop 3 times. The 100 milers run a 20 mile loop 5 times. The course is the same except there is a section after the second aid station where the course divides and the 100 milers do an out & back that is almost 4 miles.

Race morning started out cold and humid. When the 100 milers started at 6:00 am, the temperature was 19 degrees F. Photos taken at the second aid station, about mile 7, showed runners with frost and ice covering their hair and beards. The 50 milers started at 7:00 am. When the sun came up, the temperatures rose and the weather was great. There are several long wooden bridges on the first part of the course that were covered with ice, which caused several runners to fall. Most of the course at Rocky is fairly flat. The difficult part is navigating through all the pine tree roots. They are everywhere! Some areas the roots are covered with pine needles and leaves, which makes them hard to see. There were lots of falls. Luckily, I only fell once. The fall broke the strap on my handheld Amphipod water bottle. Fortunately, I had brought a spare bottle, so I was OK.

Brain and I ran together for most of the race. We finished our first 16.67 mile loop in 3:20. This was a pretty good pace, so we would try to keep this up. We had to shed some clothes after the first loop, which took a while, and we ended up taking 10 minutes before getting started on the second loop. The run was enjoyable as the weather was near perfect, the ground was dry, and there was no wind. Much of the course doubles back, so there are runners going both directions. The trails in most areas are pretty wide, so passing people isn't much of a problem. It was great to see friends on the trail and to see the elite runners go streaking by at lightning speeds. They were all really friendly and encouraging. Guys like Scott Jurek and Anton Krupicka would always say “good job” when they passed me, which was at least 10 times or more.

If you've never ran an Ultra, you would be amazed at the difference in the aid stations. Unlike the water stops in a road marathon, these aid stations are more like a runners buffet! Besides having water, gatorade, and HEED, they also are stocked with peanuts, pretzels, M&Ms, cookies, PBJ sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, even hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup! I normally eat several GU packs on long runs, which sometimes tend to make me sick, but I only had 3 packs the whole day because of all the food at the aid stations. The volunteers at the aid stations are great! They were the friendliest and most knowledgeable group of volunteers you would find anywhere. They were all veteran Ultra runners and knew how to treat blisters and other problems runners were likely to encounter. The race director, Joe Prusaitis and his wife, Joyce, put on amazing races! The second and third aid station, which was actually one station you go by twice, was on a fire road going to the dam of the lake. It was aptly named the DamNation aid station and was manned by volunteers from the North Texas Trail Runners.

The rule on trail runs, at least for the non-elite runners, is to walk the uphills and run the flats and downhills. Brian and I had mostly done this from the start. Brian's pace was faster than mine, so he would get ahead of me on the downhills and I would eventually catch up to him when he was walking an uphill. As we began our third loop, my pace was beginning to slow, so he got ahead of me. My goal at the beginning was to beat my time from last year of 11:40. I was on pace to come in under 11 hours if I didn't have to walk too much on the third loop. However, when you get to about the 40 mile point, running becomes more and more difficult. The areas of the course that seemed flat on the first loop now looked like uphills and the uphill parts now looked like mountains! After I left aid station 4 for the last time, I knew I only had about 4 miles to go. If I didn't pick up the pace, I would end up finishing in 11:15 or more. Brian was nowhere in sight by this time, so I began to try to run more and walk less. My pace had picked up some and I was feeling encouraged. I finally got to the point where I could see the finish line. I looked at my watch and would try to break 11:10. I ran hard to the finish line and was able to finish in 11 hours, 9 minutes, 12 seconds. I beat my time from last year by 31 minutes. I was happy. Brian had already finished. He came in under 11 hours, finishing in 10:59:14, a great finish for his first 50 miler!

The course record in the men's 100 mile division had been 13:16:02, set by Eric Clifton 15 years ago. With the elite runners at the race this year and with the near perfect course conditions, it was expected that records would be broken. Some of the top Ultra runners from around the country were here this year: Anton Krupicka, Hal Koerner, Scott Jurek, Karl Meltzer, Liza Howard, Zach Gingerich, Michael Arnstein, Mike Wolfe, Bill Fanselow and Ian Sharman, whom I had not heard of before.

After I finished, it wasn't long until the finish line area began to fill with excitement. The first place 100 miler wasn't far away. I had seen Anton Krupicka on the course all day with Hal Koerner close on his heels. I fully anticipated Anton to win. But as the first place runner neared the finish line, it was Ian Sharman in the lead. Since I didn't know who he was, I didn't realize he had been in the lead the whole time. He crossed the finish line in an amazing 12:44:33, a new course record and unofficially a new world record for trail 100 mile races! It was great to be able to witness such an event as this. The winner of the 50 mile event was Todd Braje, who set a new course record in a time of 5:43:08. His average pace for the entire 50 mile course was an amazing 6:51:08 per mile! The winner of the women's 100 mile division was Liza Howard from San Antonio, TX. She finished in 15:33:09, putting her in 5th place overall. Of the 316 starters in the 100 mile event, there were 190 finishers, for a 60% finishing ratio. In the 50 mile event, there were 196 starters and 166 finishers for an 85% finishing ratio.

Overall, it was one of the best races I have ever been to. Brian finished his first 50 miler in under 11 hours. My friend from Abilene, Gary, finished his first 50 miler as well. My friend, Jerry, who finished the 50 miler last year, attempted the 100 mile event this year. Unfortunately, he made a wrong turn in the dark and had to DNF after 60 miles. He has vowed to try it again next year and finish.

It took us 8 hours to get to Huntsville on Friday, but only took us 6 hours to get back home. We stopped in the little town of Dublin for lunch on the way back and I had the best chicken fried steak I think I've ever had. Could it have been because I was so hungry? Maybe so.