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.

Ski Run Road High Altitude Challenge 20K, Ruidoso, NM October 17, 2009

West Texas Crossroads Marathon, Odessa, TX October 3, 2009

Only a week after running the "Eight Hour Run From the Ducks Ultramarathon", I headed out west to Odessa to run the West Texas Crossroads Marathon. I was accompanied by two fellow Abilene Runners Club members, Jerry Hollingsworth and Brett Rose. The race was organized and sponsored mainly by the Crossroads Fellowship church. The organizers, along with many volunteers, did a great job of putting this race together. We arrived at the church Friday evening for race packet pickup and soon found our good friend and fellow Ultra-runner, David Johnson, from Odessa. After a good visit with David, we checked into our hotel and then had a great pasta dinner at Corino's Country Italian.

Saturday morning, we arrived back at the church parking lot early. In the pre-dawn darkness, we stretched and loosened up before the race start. Jerry and Brett were running the Half, David Johnson and myself were running the Full. The start of the race was still in darkness, but after a half mile or so, it was light enough to see. The course was well marked, with mile markers at every mile. There were also aid stations at almost every mile manned by courteous and friendly volunteers. They even had Porta-Johns about every 4 miles! The course ran through some great neighborhoods with big, beautiful homes. Police volunteers were at all the major intersections to protect the runners from traffic. These folks did a great job! The course was flat, as you would expect in Odessa, and fortunately the wind was not bad. Since I had just ran the 8 Hr Duck Run the prior Saturday, I held to a strict pattern of 9 minute run, 1 minute walk. This method really paid off for me toward the end as I still had enough stamina to continue this to the end. I finished in 4:37:15. Not my best finish, but I was happy with it.

8 Hr Run From the Ducks UltraMarathon, Sept 26, 2009

The 8 Hr "Run From the Ducks" Ultra-Marathon was held on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at the Clark Botanical Gardens near Mineral Wells, TX. Three of us from Abilene made the trip over for the event: myself, Gary Garson, & Lisa Snow. We left Abilene about 4:15am and arrived at the race site before dawn. After it was light enough to see, we realized what a beautiful place this Clark Gardens was. On the property were two ponds surrounded by all kinds of trees, plants, and flowers. The race course was a .48 mile loop around one of the ponds. They only needed one aid station because you went by it every half mile. There was plenty of room to set up a chair and drop bag along the path for needed supplies. The race director, Tony Mathison, did a great job along with the volunteers, who were all Vietnam Veterans. All the proceeds went to benefit the National Vietnam War Museum being built near Mineral Wells. There was no chip timing at this race. Instead, the volunteers used tick sheets to manually record each lap. To keep the event interesting, Tony put up signs along the path with inspirational quotes and kept changing these throughout the race.

The race started at 7:00am. The morning was fairly cool. I felt really good at the start and was running well. By mid-morning, the clouds had moved out, the sky was perfectly clear, and the temperature was rising. With the entire race course being slightly less than a half mile loop, the logistics were interesting. We started out all running the loop clockwise. At the 4 hr point, they turned everyone around when we reached the start/finish line and had us start running counter clockwise. We were now seeing the course from an entirely different viewpoint! One of the things that made this race fun was that you were never alone. Unlike most trail runs where you can end up not seeing anyone for miles, you were never by yourself on this course. I was able to meet and talk with lots of runners from many different places.

I made it through the half marathon and marathon distances feeling pretty good. But after this point, my legs began to cramp from the heat and I had to do a lot of walking. Even the walking got hard near the end! The watermelon at the aid station kept us going. I stopped after 72 loops. My Garmin GPS watch showed I had been 36 miles. My official finish, however, was 34.6 miles in 7:43.27. Lisa's goal was to get in 20 miles and she made it! Congratulations, Lisa! Gary's goal was to reach the 31 mile mark, which would be a 50K distance. He made it! Congrats, Gary.

After the 8 hours was up, everyone gathered for the awards presentation. The race director, Tony, didn't want any runner to be last, so he ran a couple of loops himself so that he would be last. Everyone was recognized and applauded for their efforts. Mr. Clark, the founder of the Gardens, gave a very touching talk. Their website is http://www.clarkgardens.com. One of the directors of the National Vietnam War Museum also spoke and thanked us for our efforts. Their website is http://www.nationalvnwarmuseum.org/index.htm.

On our way back home that afternoon, the 3 of us talked about what a fun race this was and hope that more runners from Abilene will attend next year.

El Scorcho Tres 50K, July 19, 2009

As quoted from the official El Scorcho website at www.elscorchorun.com, "Created by Ryan "GandaMan" Valdez, Jason "Jballs" Costantino, James "6-PAK" Newsom, and Coach Jim "J-Money" Newsom, El Scorcho is a ridiculously foolish endurance run that takes place at midnight in Fort Worth, Texas in the middle of the summer".

I started running in 2001, mostly to loose some weight. I ran my first marathon in February 2004, the Motorola Marathon in Austin, TX. I have now completed 15 marathons, which include 6 50K's and one 50 miler.

This was my third year to run the El Scorcho 50K. As the name "Tres" implies, this was also the 3rd year of the event. The entire race takes place inside Trinity Park, west of downtown Fort Worth. The course is a 3.1 mile loop that has sections of asphalt, concrete, crushed rock, dirt, grass, and a few wooden bridges to cross. The race has two events: a 25K distance, which is 5 times around the course, and a 50K distance, which is 10 times around the course. One of the things that makes this race hard is the temperature in Texas in July. Even with the midnight start, it's still hot! The other thing that makes it hard is the midnight start. It's really hard to acclimate your body to begin a long run at midnight!

We had 9 runners from our Abilene Runners Club participate in the event this year. Most of our group ran the 25K, with Rachel Fox and myself running the 50K. My son-in-law, Brian Helm, from Flower Mound, TX also ran with me this year. This was Brian and Rachel's first-ever ultra! We all took a group picture before the race started. See attached. The trophy that we are holding was actually a team trophy we won back in February at the Cowtown Half Marathon. No one from our club had been able to pick up the trophy, so one of the El Scorcho volunteers gave it to us that night.

As this was Brian's first 50K, we had two goals for the night: getting to the finish line alive and getting there in under 6 hours. Our plan was to employ a run/walk method on a 10 minute cycle; running for 9 minutes and then walking fairly fast for 1 minute. We stuck with this strategy for the first 6 loops, which was about 18 miles. By the 7th loop, we started doing more of an 8 run/ 2 walk. Loops 9 and 10 ended up being more of a 7/3. Yet, all in all, the strategy worked as we both finished in under 6 hours!


Bib Time Name Sex Event Overall Age DivPlace Pace
89 05:51:01 David McCaghren M 50K 46 53 37 11:18/M

55 05:54:45 Brian Helm M 50K 50 32 40 11:25/M


A couple of things that really helped us during the race was staying hydrated by drinking regularly at the aid stations and keeping adequate electrolyte levels. We accomplished this by taking a Hammer gel-pack every hour and taking Hammer Endurolyte capsules every 30 minutes. These supplements helped to prevent leg cramps and nausea from dehydration.

We finished a little before 6:00 am, just as it was starting to get light in the eastern sky. We were glad to be finished. Rachel finished a little ahead of us, in 5:45.11, making her 9th place overall in the female division. She won a nice El Scorcho backpack for her efforts. Both she and Brian left there that night knowing that they had joined a unique group of athletes known as Ultra-Runners!

2006 Marathon2Marathon Race Report

I ran this race in fall of 2006. My wife, our 3 daughters, and our 2 son-in-laws all went out there together. Marathon is a little town about 30 miles east of Alpine. Alpine is about 100 miles north of the Big Bend State Park in far West Texas. We stayed in Alpine at the Holland Hotel. It was great! It was decorated in 1920s style and had a great German Restaurant inside. The race organizers put on a really good pasta dinner the night before the race in Marathon,at the race headquarters. The morning of the race, we only had to drive about 4 miles to the starting line. It wasn't a big race, there were only about 45 marathon starters. The race itself was pretty hard. 26.2 miles straight down the side of a 2 lane highway! The surrounding mountain scenes were nice though. The finish in front of the Gage Hotel in Marathon was well done. My son-in-law, Brian, ran the marathon with me and my wife and 3 daughters all ran the 10K event. Our other son-in-law, Jessie, drove our Tahoe over to Marathon and was waiting for us at the finish. The best part of the whole race weekend was the post-race awards party back in Marathon Saturday night. They brought in a Tejano band from Terlingua to perform. My wife and daughters loved it! Dancing under the stars! The next day, we left Alpine, drove through Fort Davis and went up to the McDonald Observatory. This made for an interesting side trip. All in all, I thought it was a good, unique race and a fun family trip. You should try it!

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.