Monday, April 9, 2012

Lake McMurtry 2012 -- The 50K that became a 25K

Peggy, Henry, Donna, Beth, Nancy, Maurice, me and Cindy before the race.


All of the stars aligned and the weather looked to be nearly perfect this years Lake McMurtry trail race.  My training had been a little light but I was uninjured and feeling good so I had hopes that this would be a great race and lots of fun.  But you never can control or predict what will happen on any given day..

I woke to lots of lightning and thunder, but there wasn't any heavy rain falling. I knew it was suppose to clear out by the time the race started so wasn't too concerned.  We watched the awesome light show the whole 1.5 hour drive to Lake McMurtry.  The temperature was 52 degrees with a forecasted high of 68 degrees, which was waaaaaaaay better than the temperatures last year

The race started right at 8am and I felt great and was enjoying every second.  We've had such a mild winter and early spring that the woods were lush and green.  Usually everything is still dormant and the green is just starting to peek through in places.  This year looked totally different than usual and it was gorgeous! I felt at times like I was running in Oregon with the misty rain, lush green surrounding me and on the north loop there was even that musty, cave-y smell that reminds me of Arkansas.  Nice!
:)  I did notice that I was feeling fatigued about 5-6 miles in and just figured it would pass and that I needed another gel, which I ate and also took an S-cap. 

After running the north 7.5 mile loop I came into the start/finish area and grabbed a few Fig Newtons from my drop bag and headed out for the south 7.5 mile loop.  With my hands full of Newtons I was working my way down the big hill that goes down to the lake (or if you are going the other way heads UP to the finish line) and lost my footing on some leaves.  Fell hard on my butt.  I got up and started running again but could feel my tailbone aching.  Ouch.  It was about 2 miles into this south loop that I knew something wasn't right...I was aching and hurting all over, especially my lower back and hips.  It was hard for me to tell if the lower back pain was from the fall or if I was just sick and achey.  I was sweating but had cold chills all over, had body aches and felt feverish.  At this point I was having trouble running because of the achiness but tried to keep moving forward as quickly as possible.  I got to see Dave, Brandon, April, Colby, Don, Nancy, Peggy, Beth, Donna and David Hanenburg on this loop and they all looked so good and were running so strong that it would give me that momentary lift and then within a few minutes I'd feel like I was crashing again and bonking.  Towards the end of the loop it dawned on me that I was sick and that there was no way I could run another 15.5 miles.  When I came into the start/finish again and saw Dave I told him that I was done and what was going on.  Brian Hoover dropped me to the 25K and Dave and I headed home.  Surprisingly it ended up being a 25K PR for me!  After a day in bed recovering I woke up Sunday feeling like a million bucks and no worse for the wear.  WEIRD!  I wish I'd got to run the whole thing, it was such a beautiful running day and with so many friends and family out there it was an ideal, perfect day.  But I had fun running 15.5 and am already looking forward to next year.  Is it too much to ask for perfect weather again next year?!?! 

All of the distances were turned up a notch this year with some really speedy people showing up.  Scott Downard won the 50K in 3:39:57 and Jenny Graef won the women's 25K overall in 2:03:26.  Fun to watch them speed by!

Ken, Brian, Dana and all the wonderful volunteers did so good with the race, as they ALWAYS do and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart for putting this race on every year.  It just wouldn't be spring in Oklahoma for me without Lake McMurtry!

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you did the smart think by dropping to the 25K. Glad you're OK! Sounds like a great day on the trail, all things considered!

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  2. Nice report! I'm so sorry you got sick. But it does go to show what a bada$$ you are to PR your 25K with a fever! I'm happy you are feeling better. I'm sorry that I only got to see you that one time on the trail. We'll do it again sometime I'm sure!

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