Sunday, November 26, 2006

Dude, Where's the Trail?

I decided a while ago to do Lou Joline's 50K, aptly named "Dude Where's the Trail." What I screwed up thoroughly, though, was being well rested prior to the event. I ended up putting in a total of 21.1 miles the day before (on Saturday).

Let me explain...Saturday's weather was just gorgeous. I ran with 3 newbie trailrunners for 6.7 miles at Kill Creek Park early Saturday morning on one of our normally scheduled training runs. On the way home, I decided to stop by SM Park, and check out the trails on the south side of the park. Well, I ended up putting in another 14.4 miles. So I already had over 21 miles "in the bank" for the weekend when I showed up Sunday morning to run the 50K.

"Dude" is no ordinary 50K. It is advertised as a run, not a race. It's also advised that runners should take a map, the 4 pages of instructions, and a cell phone. If you were smart, you went together in a group. My group consisted of Patrick Perry and Jacqueline Jackson, and for a short time, Mike (from Colorado). I couldn't of had any more upbeat, fun, (and fit) running companions.

About 30% of the course involves following flags and bushwhacking through the woods without the pleasure of running on actual trails. This was the real fun part. The wild roses, brambles, and other assundry weeds, woods, and cat-of-nine-tails had their way with our legs & arms. Let's just say that I am now thoroughly exfoliated. We ended up taking a wrong turn during one of our bushwhacking episodes, and put an additional 4 miles onto our total. We just considered it as part of the fun.

bumleg
Most bare flesh looked like this after the run. Photo by Dick Ross.

Oh yeah, the 21 miles that I ran the day before came into play during the run...(dumbass me). My legs basically felt dead from mile fifteen on. I suffered through it, and my running companions were sympathetic, and didn't pretend to notice too much. So I had a solid fifty-four miles and change for the weekend's total. It was some decent training, but nutty nonetheless.

What a fun day. Dirty Deeds Run Dirt Cheap!

Rick_Gabe_atDude2006
Trail Nerds Rick and Gabe prior to starting. Photo by Dick Ross.

More Photos

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great time this weekend. I wish I had your problem of running too many miles the day before a race.

shliknik said...

I was just telling Lucy this morning about "Dude..". I knew it was happening soon. Glad you had a good time.

The weather has been gorgeous around SC also - I put in 4 days of running in spite of a hurt ankle just to be outside!

D said...

You are a nut BADBEN!

E-Speed said...

sounds awesome, not sure if I would be up for the extreme exfoliation though!

Glad you had a great weekend even if your legs were a bit tired!

Rae said...

What an insanely fun race!!!

Anonymous said...

kick ass!