Twas a beautiful morning in the piney woods of Texas on Feb 7th. Standing at the start line in a T-shirt, I knew it was going to be too warm for a fast race and maybe too warm for many of the runners. Regardless of what I think, I know that on a morning like this, it will be a fast start. 239 runners started the 100-miler at 6am, and another 198 50-milers joined the fray an hour later for a combined 437 runners on the course at the same time.

The course at Rocky has been roughly the same for the last 16 years, and it was past time for a change. So, I did a complete overhaul. But, I had another good reasons for doing this. Supporting the back country aid stations has been difficult, from setup to tear down and everything in between. With a route modification, I intended to place the stations where they would be easier to manage. The new route would have the old veterans guessing all day and afterwards wether the changes would make Rocky faster or slower. I still don't know, nor do I care. The consensus so far is that everybody likes the changes for one reason or another. The abnormally warm weather for the day, I would think, had more of an effect on the run times than did the course changes. It might take a few years to see what the trend is before we really know.

A half dozen 100-milers came through under 3 hours for loop one, all looking pretty fresh and comfortable. Ten minutes later, the lead pack of 50-milers came through, mixed in with the next wave of 100 milers. And so the endless parade continued on through the day and night. Scott Jaime and Andy Jones were back after loop two before the end of loop one had arrived. They were both running roughly around 2:45 per 20-mile loop. But it was getting much warmer, and none of us expected that to continue. Scott had 8 minutes on Andy at the end of loop 3, but Andy looked good and talked a good game before heading out. The smile and the sound of his laugh had the attitude of somebody who wanted to play. I couldn't know if he'd catch Scott, but I knew he intended to try. He came in first after loop 4 and left as Scott came in. Now Andy had the lead and a pacer. But Scott didn't just let it go, he kept it close til the Park Road aid station. After coming in 2nd here twice, Andy was thrilled to come in first on his 3rd go-round with a 15:57. Scott took 2nd in 16:09. Luis Guerrero came in 3rd with a solid 16:52.

Jamie Donaldson went out with the lead pack and stayed out front the entire race, coming in 3rd overall to win the women's title in 16:51. The rest of the women's field changed hands a few times during the middle loops as a few first timers tested the 100 mile distance, but it was Christine Daly who came in 2nd with a 19:14, followed by Jenny Chow in 19:45.

The 50 mile men rabbited out at 7am prompt, taking the same course as the 100-milers, except for a shortcut between Dam Road and Dam Road. The shortcut and the speed of the 50 milers allowed for a quick merge of the 2 races. Kevin Sullivan and Pete Mehok took the 1st of three 16.67 mile loops under 2 hours and were followed quickly by a line of wishful thinking. Kevin held the same pace for loop two, but the others remained too close for any backing off. Kevin Sullivan held strong to take the men's title in 6:05 on a hot day for a tough win. Duncan Callahan took 2nd in 6:11, and Francisco Garza 3rd in 6:51.

The women's 50 mile race was every bit as competitive as the men's, but with more changes. Loop one had Meredith Terranova up front by a minute or more over Chelsey Clammere, Nahila Hernandez San Juan, Cinthia Espinosa Valdez, and Jacqueline O'Brien-Nolen. Loop two had Chelsea running strong into the turn-around 1st with Meredith close behind. Meredith left for the start of the 3rd and final loop before Chelsey and held on to take the women's title for the 2nd year in a row in a time of 8:01. Chelsey charged in, running very strong to finish a close 2nd in 8:03. Nahila and Cinthia came in a tight 3rd and 4th in 8:27 and 8:28.

The temperature reached 77 but never dropped under 59, with humidity going from 78% to 39%. It was a warm day and if not for the cooling breeze that gusted thru at 30-mph at times, it might have caused even more damage. On a course that is soft and forgiving with pine needles and mulch, the roots are usually the biggest evil. They hide under the pine needles and remain hidden until leg weary runners start dragging their feet. There is also a good bit of sand in the low lying areas that find a way into shoes and socks to create some creative looking blisters on those who don't take the time to dump the sand and clean their feet now and again.

The volunteers at this event won the biggest awards yet again, collecting rave revues from the runners they revived, resurrected, and saved time and again. The only real losers this year were all the thoughtless runners who littered the trails worse than they have ever been before. Fortunately for them, the same awesome volunteers clean it all up before the park service saw the damage. Still, we dance with having this race cancelled due to this thoughtless abuse. Next year, I will be forced to hire a few marshals to wander the course and write down bib numbers for disqualification. I have to do something.

Rocky continues to grow, but it was the 50 miler that really took off this year. With 174 finishers, we have reached an all time new high. In my never ending search for putting on the perfect race, I plan and scheme for buckles, medals, awards, shirts, aid station food, pre and post race meals, volunteers, marking materials, heaters, tents, stoves, lanterns, trailers, tarps, signs, timing, sponsors, maps, course changes, and all the issues associated with each. Damn but its only a foot race, but the minutia of details is as detailed and endless as I have time to make it. With formulas for predicting water vs weather, buying shirts and buckles long before the first person signs up, living by last years statistics and this years best guesses. Rolling the dice on every guess, knowing a bad guess will cause me grief or money. Still, solving the puzzle that I call Rocky is a great mental puzzle before, during, and after the race is run. Still, it is the people that make it real live entertainment. The runners and volunteers, merge with the park personnel, photographers, portojon drivers, pizza delivery, and many others to create a show that spins non-stop for days on end and leaves me and every person working the race as exhausted as any runner that ran. I like to equate directing a race like this to running a race like this. They are the same in almost every way. The main difference... for the runner, the race is over on Sunday at noon!