Background: When I first heard the Air Force was moving me from the Pentagon to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, one of my first thoughts was I have to do Bandera 100K. Up until the summer of 2006 it had been a frustrating year as far as ultras were concerned. I had a decent running time at JFK 50 in Nov 05 (9:36) but I had experienced some major problems with hot feet during that race that made it very painful. In April of 06 I was scheduled to do Bull Run 50 miler but got called into work on race day. Later in May I was set to do a 24 hour trail run at Prince William Forest Park in Northern Virginia but came down with a stomach bug the night before which affected my ability to fully compete. Because of these recent disappointments I was determined to have a good race at Bandera. Leading up to the race I built my mileage back up and had a solid performance at the Rockledge Rumble 50K in november that helped my confidence. While I was never able to get above 40 miles per week (due to work and family obligations) I did get in some quality long runs. One thing that really helped was I was out in Phoenix over the holidays and was able to get in some major uphill climbing on some of the mountainous trails out there. Because of my size (6'8" and 240) uphills are a lot of work so that training really helped my focus on my uphill technique, pace and confidence. Plus I tried out my new Montrail Continental Divides in Phoenix and they performed very well. Very protective, stable and cushioned. Once Bandera came I felt I was as ready as I reasonably could be. I had 2 primary goals...finish and avoid the death march. I hope to at least be able to do some running at the end of the race. This was no guarantee as I had never gone longer than 50 miles...much less on a course this rugged. Pre race Friday afternoon I left San Antonio and headed up to the race site. At the pre race dinner I got to meet several of the forumites (jlynnbob, prairiedog, sue101, Cougarsnack, aniejoy etc). I really enjoyed visiting with them. Pre race food was incredible. Spaghetti sauce was delicious and I've never seen so many deserts! Henry Hobbs gave the trail brief and went over every twist and turn which left most of us confused but then he said that the course is so well marked that if you get lost then you are probably a moron and we'll have fun at your expense. There was some nervous laughter as none of us were hoping to be the moron that got lost. Fortunately the course really was incredibly well marked and getting lost wasn't an issue. There was also some discussion on how muddy the course would get as some precipitation was forecasted. I drove home after the dinner, prepared my drop bags and went over my schedule with my wife who would be at the race along with my daughter. I projected 13 min miles for the first loop and 15 minute miles for the 2d loop for a finish time of 14:45. I felt that was a little optimistic given the weather forecast and my propensity for aid station lingering but I would rather have my wife a little early at the aid stations than late. Race Day Like most people I sleep poorly the night before the race and this was no exception. I slept maybe 2-3 hours, got my wife, Lara, and daughter, Dakota, up and we were on the road about 5:20 and it was raining hard. I thought, boy is it going to be a long day. Got to the race site by 6:30 and while it wasn't raining there it was evident that it had been as there was plenty of mud. I did the usual check in and pit stop. Went to vehicle and told Lara and Dakota good bye. They were going to sleep until 9:30 and then help the prepare lunch before meeting me at Crossroads Out around noon. Went to the start line and saw my friend April, her husband, Daniel, and her dad. She was doing the 25K and I wished her luck. I was hoping she would have a good race since this was her first trail race and I was responsible for getting her started in trail running. Spent the next 10 minutes wishing the forumites (aniejoy just looks fast!) and others good luck and at 7:30 we were off! The course starts off with its first major climb up to the top of Sky Island. After the first mile I could tell I was working a bit too hard going uphill so I forced myself to backoff. After Sky Island it is a long descent. I love going downhill fast but forced myself to be a bit more leisurley so to save my quads. I followed this pattern through the Nachos and Chapas aid stations. Walk the ups, cruise the downs, and comfortably jog the flats. I got into Chapas slightly ahead of schedule and the mud, to my relief, hadn't been too bad so far. Unfortunately that was about to change. The trail from Chapas to Crossroads is pretty flat and gets very muddy. They mud sticks your shoes and just clumps. As I was running to Crossroads, my size 15 Continental Divides just started collecting mud and got very very heavy. This caused my quads to get pretty sore and I found myself walking more than normal on some of the flatter surfaces. During this time I was running/walking with a guy from sweden named Jan. He was interesting to talk to. He comes out to the States 3 times/year on average to run trail races. He said Sweden doesn't have many trail races. He said he did do the Mont Blanc 100 mile race which took him 43 hours and while it was beautiful he prefers the American races. Plus races like Bandera are warm compared to the freezing weather in Sweden. He owns his own business which gives him the flexibility to travel. Anyway I got into Crossroads around 10:52 and decided I would try to change from trail shoes into my running shoes that I had in my drop bag. My trail shoes were heavy with mud so I thought the lighter weight would help my legs. If the experiment didn't work then I could change back when I got back into Crossroads an hour later. The only problem with this changing is that I spent about 7 minutes at the aid station. So at 10:59 I left Crossroads to do the 3 sisters loop. At first the shoes felt great but once I got to the hillier rockier parts I had no confidence in my footing on the downhills and had to slowdown. Oh well it was worth a shot. After about 38 minutes into the loop a man at one of the trail junctions says, "Good job only a mile to the aid station". Like a novice ultrarunner I totally fell for that lie. It took me a little over 20 minutes to complete that "mile" and I was running a lot of it. While covering the "mile" I passed by one runner who was strugglinga bit. He had only one water bottle and it was warm and humid at that time. He had drained his water and said he totally underestimated his water requirements. I would have offered him some water from my Camelback but I was running low myself since I had been drinking very steadily. Anyway, right at 12:00 (and on pace) I came back into crossroads where Lara, Dakota, April, and Daniel were waiting for me and cheering me on. While changing back into my trail shoes, April told me her 25K went very well (she ended up finishing 16th out of 76 females) and she had a great time. I thought, "good, got another one hooked." Lara and Dakota were going into town to look around so I told them to meet me at Chapas on the 2d loop at 5:00 (my estimate) and if we missed each other to be at Crossroads around 6:30 or so. Seeing everyone boosted my spirits and I made good time (despite the mud) into Last Chance. At Last Chance, when I told them my bib number (41) the guy marking the numbers down said something about me being 74. I looked at him and said, "I'm 74th...I thought I was doing a little better than that". He just kind of looked at me and nodded. I'll admit this messed with me mentally, as I was leaving Last Chance and munching on my PBJs I was trying to tell myself, "Chris it doesn't matter what place you get the important thing is to finish and run your own race.". But all I could think was there must be a lot of fast runners in this race because I'm not going that slow. So I gave myself a goal of trying to at least get somewhere in the 60s before the end of the race. Leaving Last Chance is Cairns Climb followed by Boyle's Bump. The profile shows a big descent between Cairns Climb and Boyle's Bump. I think the profile is wrong because I don't remember a descent. I just remember climbing Cairns Climb then a flat part followed by Boyle's Bump. Anyway its a pretty tough climb, especially as legs start to get tired. Climbing up Cairns I was surprise to see Juwon Ko. Juwon was first female at Rockledge Rumble 50K and was 30 minutes faster than me at that race. She looked very strong at that race and she also had a sub 9 hour Sunmart 50 mile time. I did not expect to see her at all. As I passed her she said the hills and rocks were killing her. I tried to give her some encouragement and moved on. I was surprised how muddy the top of the hills were here and it made footing tough. Fortunately, the downhill after Boyle's Bump is drier and I got into the Lodge turn-around right at 2:10 PM (6:40 split) and 5 minutes ahead of my planned pace and still amazed that 70 or so runners are ahead of me (or that was my impression). I refuel at the Lodge and on my way to the porta johns a tall older gentlemen comes up to me and asks me if I posted on the forum. I looked at him and said you must be John M! I was very honored to shake his hand. He wished me well and expressed concern about my lack of a jacket. At that point I noticed it had gotten a lot colder. I had warmer clother at Chapas (10 miles away) and assumed I would be okay til then as long as I was moving. After the porta johns I left the Lodge at 6:50 split and was determined to try and catch some of these mysterious 70 or so runners ahead of me and get to my warm clothes at Chapas. After crossing over Sky Island it starts to rain hard! And its cold! I'm thinking, "Oh great, hypothermia city". Fortunately the rain only lasted a few minutes and then it got warmer again. One encouraging thing for me was while my legs were sore they weren't any worse than they were 20 miles earlier. I couldn't run very fast but I could at least jog the flats. I managed to pass a couple of runners (while still wondering who all these other runners ahead of me were since I'm not seeing many people) before getting into Chapas right at 5PM (9:30 split, mile 42) which is when I told Lara to meet me. Well Lara wasn't there and I was a bit disappointed but figured she spent a little extra time in the town of Bandera and that I would meet her at Crossroads. I ate some Ramen noodles and then went to get some warm dry clothes out of my drop bag. I get to my drop bag and much to my horror I realize some idiot (who posts as Falconsooner on the boards) had left it partially open. My warm dry clothes were instead wet cold clothes. Drat! I grabbed my flashlight and headlamp determined to get to Crossroads to get to warmer clothes. Unfortunately I had spent about 10 minutes at Chapas. By this time the trail from Chapas to Crossroads was a muddy mess after several hundred pairs of feet had tromped through there. It made going pretty tough; however, one of the highlights was running in the grasslands a mile or two before Crossroads in the twilight and the glowsticks. I didn't need my lights and it was somwhat surreal to see the glowsticks swinging in the very late twilight while it was very quiet. Very cool. I got into Crossroads around 6:30 Pm (11 hours split, mile 48) and was excited to see my wife and daughter. But they weren't there! What happened? I was really worried that something happened to them. I changed into some warmer clothes and dejectedly started on the 3 sisters loop. I was at a low point. The first part of the trail was a jeep road that was so muddy it was barely runnable. I had no desire to try to run it plus I hadn't done any night trail running and my senses were having a hard time adjusting. It was really, really dark. With no stars or city lights it was almost suffocatingly dark. I was also very worried about my wife and daughter and very disappointed they hadn't been there when I needed a mental lift. I tried to tell myself I would see them back at Crossroads after 3-sisters loop but it wasn't helping. So I trudged along in a pathetic state feeling lonely and sorry for myself when I started noticing a light is slowly gaining on me. The light kept gaining so I pulled over to let the person pass. It was a short female who was walking incredibly fast. I thought to myself, "I'm tall...I should be able to at least walk that fast". So I hitched behind her and started talking. Found out it was Stinky from here on the forum. We talked a while about races she had done and various things and I just focused on trying to keep up with her. When she ran, it was actually easier for me to keep up. My jogging pace was a little faster than hers but her walking pace was way faster than mine so that was good practice for me to learn to walk faster. Plus having someone to talk to really picked up my spirits. Not only that but we passed about 3 people so i'm thinking at least I'm in 60th something place now. With my spirits up we get into Crossroads and once again I'm expecting to see Lara and Dakota. But they aren't there! It is around 7:45 at night. Almost 3 hours after I was suppose to meet them at Chapas. I was really worried now and discouraged. I didn't know whether to wait or continue on. An aid station volunteer asked me if I wanted to sit inside the tent and eat something. I didn't know what else to do, so I sat down in the warm tent. I drank some warm soup and some Red Bull to try and get more alert. I was having hard time getting motivated to leave the warm aid station tent because I was worried about my family and I knew some tough terrain laid ahead. Then I hear voice say "Daddy!" I look up and there is Dakota and Lara! It turns out they got to Chapas at 5:30 but Chapas people did not record me going through there. They had spent over 2 hours at Chapas waiting for me to show up. They couldn't ham radio Crossroads because the ham radio guy I had to unexpectedly leave early. Dakota said she kept asking every runner that came through if they saw a 6'8" guy and no one had. In fact the Chapas people then got on an ATV and went looking for me. So they finally decided to see if I was at Crossroads and I was. Needless to say seeing them was a big lift and now I am ready to get Bandera over with. I leave Croassroads a little after 8 Pm. I had 9 miles to go with a chance to break 15 hours despite the tough terrain. The Red Bull kicked in and I ran when I could and tried to powerwalk like Stinky when I couldn't run. I struggle over the steep climb at Lucky's Peak and was able to run before heading into the muddy jeep road going into Last Chance. While powerwalking the road I came across Scott Wood. Since this was Scott's 5th Bandera (there have only been 5), Joe P. promised Scott and 4 other people a special Blue Bandera jacket if they finished #5. If they didn't finished then Joe got to keep the jacket. Scott was pretty miserable and he said if Joe hadn't thrown that jacket in his face he would probably have dropped by now but he had to finish so Joe wouldn't get the satisfaction of keeping the jacket. I get into Last Chance at 9:09PM and 13:39 split. I still have a chance to break 15 hours because I only have 4.7 miles to go and my legs are somewhat working but the remaining terrain turns out to be a hilly, muddy, rocky mess. The climbs up Cairns and Boyles seem to take forever. Plus it is foggy and hard to see and I have to navigate from glow stick to glow stick. At night, all alone with the fog gave it a real eerie "Lord of the Rings" feeling. The flatter parts are so rocky and muddy they aren't really runnable. After an eternity, I finally get to the descent off of Boyle's Bump where the footing is much better. Energized, I run it on home and my daughter Dakota is waiting for me 100 yards from the finish line. She runs it in with me and Joe P. shakes my hand as I cross the finish line. waiting for me. I see my time and it reads 15:01. Ughhh! Still I am happy. Dakota then tells me, "Dad, you finished 20th!" I tell her that she must be wrong because I was in 74th place at mile 26 and I didn't pass that many runners after that. She said, "no, you really did finish 20th." I confirmed that I was 20th and turns out that I had misunderstood the Last Chance Aid Station person. I spent the next hour warming up and sharing war stories with the other runners. Stinky was there, she had left me at Crossroads while I was trying to find my family and had finished a couple of minutes ahead of me. Final Thoughts/Lessons Learned - Don't believe weather reports. The cold came in 12 hours sooner than expected so be prepared for everything - My diet of Gels, Gatorade, PBJs, Boost, and Ramen Noodles worked very well. Red Bull works also. - I have to be more efficient at aid stations. I spent around 50 minutes at aid stations. Need to cut it down in the future. - The Continental Divides worked great! While my feet are sore from the rocks I never got hot foot that had plagued me before. - Friendly aid station people (which all of them are at Bandera) are dangerous. It got very comfortable sitting in a warm chair drinking hot soup. Makes it hard to leave. - Bandera is a tough course but the mud made it much worse because it was the runnable sections that got the muddiest. I imagine the course is a bit faster when dry. - Will definitely do this race next year. With drier conditions and better aid station management I think I can improve my time. - Don't know if I'm ready for a 100 miler yet. Cannot imagine being on a course 20-30 hours. Plus at the end of Bandera, I was still able to run. Don't know if that would be the case in a 100 miler without doing more training (which I really don't have time to do. - Night running really messes with your emotions. Big highs and lows. Running with an Ipod was huge at night. Kept things from being too lonely. Now I see why people have pacers. - I was disappointed that I let the possibility of being in 70th something place bother me. I was running pretty well and should not have worried about others and enjoyed the race more. - My wife really enjoyed hanging out at the aid stations and interacting with other trail runners. She remarked what a great sense of humor a lot of runners had and how they didn't take themselves very seriously. I told her that is because you have to be a bit of a nut case to spend money to run 31 or 62 miles on rugged terrain in miserable conditions. - Joe P. and company do a great job. Truly a first class race!!