Sunday, August 21, 2011

Bushwacking at Lake McMurtry.

OTRA made a little road trip to Lake McMurtry in Stillwater, OK on Saturday for our long run which is about a 1.5 hour drive from home.  I was looking forward to this all week! McMurtry holds a special place in my heart since it's where I ran my first ultra
We decided to be there by 6:30 am to try and beat the heat.  According to the forecast, the high for Saturday was 105 degrees.  Ick! (Please fall, get here early!)

After just 2 minutes of hitting the trail we knew we were going to be in for some slow running. Recent storms had left the trails in really bad shape.  Downed trees, limbs and debris all over the trails.  In some places it was hard to even see if you were on the trail!  To make it even more difficult, our extremely hot and dry summer had caused the trees to prematurely go dormant and drop their leaves, so in places we were running in deep leaves, sticks and branches. 

Clearing the trail? Or goofing off.. 

Lots of this.
Trail blocked again.
Finding ways around the downed trees.
If you look close you can see Don trying to make it through.
But, in typical OTRA fashion we had a great time.  :)  I had planned for 16-18 miles but had to stop at 13 and call it good.  The temps were nearing 100 degrees and I'd let myself run out of water and get pretty dehydrated on the last loop.  We soaked in the lake, changed clothes and drove into Stillwater for some lunch.  All of us (especially Don!) have some pretty impressive scratches and scrapes to show for our bushwacking trail run.  Even with all the storm damage out there, I love those trails.  Can't wait to go back in April for Lake McMurtry Trail Race!

And as a side note, thanks Ken for all the awesome trail markings from the last race...it was the only way we were able to keep from getting lost!  Amazing to see all those big huge trees uprooted and huge limbs all over the ground, yet see a paper plate with "Tell Pat hi and wish her a happy birthday!" still looking like brand new on the tree before the aid station!  We were thanking and blessing you every time we spotted a pink ribbon or arrow pointing our way!  :) 

All in all, I got in some good training for Do-Wacka-Do which is 3 weeks away.  Still undecided on which distance I'll do, the 25K or the 50K. 

2 comments:

  1. I think, even with the difficulties, we all had a pretty great time. Not to even mention the amazing lunch at the Red Rock Bakery in Stillater! Oh, and sorry for doing the stupid guy thing and not bringing a change of clothes like all you ladies thought to do! Note to self...

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  2. It sounds like a challenging, fun time! And a fun group to run with! Our temperatures are finally starting to cool off, I hope yours do as well!

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