On February 5, I ran the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler in Huntsville, TX. Rocky isn't a race I would have ever considered, but my training buddy Fatboy (Gene Trahern) had a great month of training in December, so he decided to run the 100 miler at Rocky. It was because of him that I decided to go, but I thought the 50 would be good enough for me this early in the season. Also, after I finished the 50, I thought it would be fun to pace Fatboy the last 20 miles in the 100. There were also some big names in the 100 (Jones-Wilkins, Pacheco, Eppleman), so I thought it would be a great race to watch. I wasn't disappointed.

So half of SLUT (Sisters Little Ultra Team) flew from Sisters to Houston on Thursday before the race, then drove to Huntsville that night. It was an eventful drive up, as we were on a Subway-finding-mission. After a few failed attempts, we finally located the sandwich giant and were able to feast on tasty subs and arrived in Hunstville around 11 p.m. I was in charge of making hotel reservations, and I'll just say that I didn't do a very good job of guessing.

We slept in Friday (me more so than Gene), did some food and other race supplies shopping, then went to Hunstville State Park for packet pick-up. The first sign we saw after entering the park was "Beware of Alligators," which led to a picture and some "Gatorbait jokes" (as opposed to the Cougarbait jokes we have at home). After the usual packet pick-up and pre-race meal routine, we headed back to the hotel to get our last minute stuff together and watched the classic movie "Knight's Tale," you know, just to get us in the competitive mode.

Race morning was a bit chilly, but exciting. I watched Fatboy and the rest of the 100 milers start their long adventure, then began my pre-race stuff. As I was shooting for somewhere from 6:30-6:59 (the course record was 7:00:09), I decided to even do a little 2 mile warm-up jog.

Soon enough, we were off. The 50 miler consists of 3 16.67 mile loops, run on single track and jeep roads. I liked this, as it allowed me to memorize the course for the 2nd and 3rd laps, yet wasn't so repetitive that it was boring. And the few out-and-backs were nice so we could greet other runners, and see how close the competition was. I was expecting the course to be very smooth and non-technical, so I was pleasantly surprised by the "root section" on each lap. Roots aside, Rocky is a very fast and runable course (I didn't walk a step). I decided for my first two laps to carry two bottles so I would only have to re-fill stop at the end of each lap to re-fill. The first lap went pretty much as planned; I caught Fatboy with a couple miles to go (the 100 milers were running 5 20 mile laps), and finished the lap in 2:08 (I had planned on a 2:10).

After a quick bottle re-fill and flask change, I was off for lap 2. Things went well through the marathon (3:22) and 50k (3:58), with the last couple of miles on lap 2 a bit of a slog, and I finished with a 2:14 split. I dropped one bottle and my gel flask for the last lap to go light and fast, but that apparently didn't help. The first half of that lap were the toughest for me - a bit of puking, and just wanting to be done with 16+ miles still to go. With 10 miles to go, I put some magic juice (Coke) in my bottle and within a mile, I was feeling good again. I was able to pick it up again the last 5 miles and finish with a total time of 6:49:19 (the 2:26 lap split kinda hurt). This was both a personal record and course record, so I was pretty happy.

My day wasn't quite done yet, though, as I still had 20 more miles of running with Fatboy. A friend and fellow Quadzilla finisher (Tahoe Triple and Bizz Johnson Marathon) and Marathon Maniac Sam Thompson was nice enough to volunteer to drive from Dallas to help crew me and pace Gene, plus bring camping gear for me so I could get some rest before my pacing duties. I ate and drank quite a bit, then laid down for a couple of hours of nice relaxing (no sleep, though). Then shortly before 9 p.m. (7 hours after finishing the 50), Gene and I were off for his final 20. We needed to run it in right around 5 hours for him to get a sub-20. After a slight bout of him dry-heaving at the start of the lap, we were off. Gene held together great and even passed a couple guys, finishing in a fantastic 19:47 for 11th place.

Anyway, SLUT had a pretty good little weekend in Texas. Joe and his gang definitely put on a great show; course, aid stations, course markings, food, awards, friendly Texas hospitality - it was all wonderful! I'll be back again, but I'll have to decide if I want to double my fun.

Sean Meissner
Sisters, OR