Wee-Chi-Tah Trail Run Race Report

First off, let me say, I really think that I headed to this race completely undertrained! Zach and I made it to Wichita Falls and the Hotter'n Hell Hundred Clubhouse yesterday afternoon about 45 minutes before packet pickup started. It gave us a chance to look around the area and check out the race start/finish. It was a beautiful park with a small river flowing through it. Very nice. I got my packet with no problem and we headed to Stanton's house after he got his packet. I met Stanton last year at Cross Timbers as you may remember and he stayed with us during the Buffalo Springs 70.3. It was great to get to meet his wife, Amy, and his two beautiful little girls. Amy made a Spaghetti with Zucchini carb load that was really delicious! Complete with garlic bread and a good beer! Good night!
The next morning, Zach and I were up by 0600 and noticed that..........IT WAS RAINING! Dammit!!
We headed to the race with Stanton driving (they have really weird traffic lights/stops in Wichita Falls).
So just a little after 0800, we took off! And even though it stopped raining prior to race start, the trails were incredibly muddy! Not the "deep, gloppy, soul-sucking type mud," but the "slippery as Hell, make ya look like Wile E. Coyote trying to take off running when the road is covered with ball bearings type mud!" And on the inclines you had to make very sure that you had enough momentum to make it up...........or you were going back down! FUN STUFF!! The course itself was absolutely phenomenal! Everything you look for in a trail run! Beautiful scenery, lots of wooded areas, inclines, declines, stream crossings, switchbacks, and jumping fallen logs. Just awesome! At one really steep short downhill to a stream crossing, and then up a steep uphill, there were two guys directing "traffic." I stopped to assess the situation and figure out how best to traverse it and they hollered, "Just bomb through it! It's just shit water!!" Oh.........good! Thanks guys! HAHA
The course was one loop for us half marathoners, and two loops for the full. I was really happy that I didn't go ahead and register for the full, because after I finished slipping and slogging my way around the course and crossed the finish line......I was done! I felt pretty decent afterwards too which really gave me back my thunder. I finished in 2:15, exactly the time that I told Zach to expect me in. They had a water hose at the finish for us to spray off our legs and shoes which was nice too. I got that done, and Zach and I hit the road back to Lubbock. Stanton called me a little later and said that he'd finished the full in 5 hours, a very good time considering those conditions. I'm just really glad the temps were great and that it had stopped raining. I would very much like to run this course again in better trail conditions but this was, overall, a very fun and very well run race and I will definitely do it again!

Wee-Chi-Tah

I'm heading out next Friday to Wichita Falls for the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail Races. I'll be doing the half marathon distance. It'll be great training for Cross Timbers Full in February. I'll be interested to see how I feel after this half since I tend to push harder on the shorter distances. I haven't run beyond 8 miles in over a month which is sad to say but.............oh, well.

I'm also anxious to see several of my running buddies there since I know Teresa McCoul and Stanton Porter will be there running the full! Best of luck to both of them and best of luck to the rest of us that the weather won't be shitty!

FOMO Syndrome

Ok, so I'm not dealing well with my "realization." I'm looking at going ahead and running Cross Timbers marathon in February and that will get me trained for The Grasslands 50 instead of running Bataan. I was looking ahead too and found the Leadville Silver Rush 50 that I REALLY want to do in July.............but it's on Kelli's birthday and she said "NO!" It's killin me though!! Maybe I can talk her into a roadtrip for her birthday?? I also saw that Joe Prusaitis has a new race in the works for 9/11, The Gila Gundred in Western New Mexico. They also have a 50 mile distance so that's a big possibility! Winter's gotta go away now! I got shit to do!!

Realization

Well, as the title suggests, I've come to a realization about racing ultras early this year. It just ain't gonna happen. Since I took on the Nurse Manager position at Grace Medical, I've been busy non-stop, trying to get the hospital to run the way it needs to. I've had NO time to train the way I NEED to, in order to perform the way I WANT to in an ultra. I've been running some but the distances have been shorter due to time constraints and stupid cold weather. I believe that once I get the hospital running the way I want it then I'll have more time. Right now I am going to focus on fitness and losing some weight by strength training and running intervals and such so I can be ready to rock and roll when the weather starts warming up a little. I was thinking that I could just get up early and run before work like I do in the summer but we're having one of the coldest winters on record since the 80's. I'm miserable the entire time I'm out there in that frigid atmosphere and if I ain't enjoying myself then what AM I doing? I still plan on running Bataan in March since I don't think training for a marathon is that difficult and once I've put in a couple of marathons, I will be ready to run longer and longer. Maybe the Grasslands 50 in March too? So for now, fitness and weight loss, progressing back towards ultras later in the spring. That's the plan.