The wipers were on high speed and my face was right next to the windshield. It was hard to see and it was only 2pm. It was a daytime dark and raining hard. If I could see the clouds, they would be gray, I’m sure. Normally I don’t care to drive in heavy rain, but when I’m heading to a run, well… I get a bit excited, because I just love to run in the rain. So, a drive in the rain to run in the rain was definitely bearable, and it was only from Austin to Houston. Joyce & I have both been on antibiotics for more than a week but I’m holding up much better than she is from the congestion and associated body aches. She’s sleeping in the back seat while I drive and talk with David Berdis. Thankfully, we miss the rush hour crush as we pour into Houston and over to the race hotel. While the rain continues to pour outside, there’s a party happening inside. I’ve never seen this many ultra runners in one place before. The tiny ultra running community of Austin is here already. Carol, Chuck, Chris, Debra, Dick, Diane and their friends all in a row, having just collected their race goodie bags. I’m still amazed at how much ‘Stuff’ they give us before we even start. We find Glenn, Diane, Gregg, and Cathy holding a table for the three of us, and we fill the final seat with our friend Paul from San Diego. We move immediately into dinner, and the food is just like it usually is: great! The next table over fills with more Austinites: Hosni, Doug, Mark, and friends. Hollis shows up with his girlfriend, Bob arrives from Amarillo, and then Phil and Angela from just down the street here in Houston arrive simultaneously. Race entry tops out with more than nine-hundred runners, and the dining hall is being packed with most of them. I can’t believe how many of these people I know or recognize. Amazing! What a wonderful family we’ve joined. Our buds Mitch, Neil, and Antje from Dallas arrive with friends, and we get up to give them our seats so they can eat. The race hotel in Houston is an hour’s drive south of Huntsville and we’ve decided to stay near the race, just to keep the morning dose of pre-race stress down to a minimum. We’re ready to leave at 5pm but rush hour traffic is pretty bad right now, so we retire to the bar to wait it out with the help of a few liquid carbohydrate drinks. We miss most of nOrm’s talk, but we have heard it before. We know they have changed the course due to flooding and we also know we will not be leading but following, so we are not overly concerned about getting lost on a four loop course with a thousand runners on it. Besides, nOrm’s going to give the same talk again just before the start in the morning. Eventually we head north fully stuffed, loaded, and ready to snore. The LaQuinta lobby in Huntsville has a line of people that I just saw in Houston, but we process through soon enough and are quickly to our room. Within an hour, we’re snoozin.

We’re only 10 minutes from the race, so we wake, dress, drive, and park with plenty of time to spare. It’s a beautiful morning: cool, crisp, and dry. We drop our bags near the turn-around point, and make our morning rounds. By 7am, Joyce and I are working our way into the start line crowd when the gun goes off and we’re suddenly movin. Unfortunately, we’re in front. Not were we want to be! We just roll with the flow without letting them push us, but we still go out a little faster than we usually do. Usually we’re forced to walk much more early on by being trapped behind all the slower runners, but this time, we are the slower runners. From the paved road we quickly enter a jeep trail and then a winding single track trail. The trail’s a mess of mud and water. We manage to keep our feet dry for awhile by hopping from side to side, but it’s such a waste of effort. We relax, listening to a couple just behind us talk as we bound along. We make a left at the first station onto the out and back jeep trail. We both like and hate this section of the trail. It’s pretty boring and repetitive to run this same section eight times, but we like to see everyone else and if they’re within 3 miles, you get to see them. The first time out this thing it’s pretty crowded, and we get to see the three leaders go cruising by. They had made a wrong turn early on and were just catching up to us now. These guys are on full spin cycle and gone in no time. We make the turn and head back down the trail and have the pleasure of seeing our friends just behind us, wondering what we’re doing up in front. It takes awhile to run past a couple hundred people and that’s why we’re still in front of them. They had started from further back at the start line. I expected this section to be really messed up from the rain, but it isn’t too bad at all. We finish the out and back and then go past the turn that we used to make on last year’s course. I’m disappointed that we have to skip my favorite part of this course, some of the prettiest and best running single track trail around here. But it’s now under water, and we’re forced to continue on the jeep trail that is very slippery with wet red clay and mud. We spin our wheels a few times and then decide to just walk this section. Lots of others go sliding by as we walk. The next couple of miles are loaded with muckity muck sludge and water and there’s no longer any choice about keeping our feet dry, so we plow right into the puddle. Our feet are finally completely soaking wet and from this point on, we go right down the middle of the trail. Many runners were blazing new trails through the briars and brambles suffering the indignities of scrapes and scratches, while I, opting for mud and water instead, happily splash along the trail. Entering the swamp finally, we get off the jeep trail and land back on the single track trail that I like so much. The swamp has a whole series of plank bridges about five feet wide with no railings, and we have to be careful or ker-splash into the muck. Some of the bridges are 100 yards long and a few are even strait. We also have to scramble over a few good sized trees laying across the trail, and they each give us good reason to slow down or stop. This section leads us back alongside the lake again, which isn’t any less muddy. Some of the mud holes in here are pretty deep, and I slide into one clean up to my knee. The next station turns us away from the lake and up a slight rise for the final 2.5 miles to the loop’s end, and we roll along some decent ups and downs for this flatland area. We make the first loop in 1:55. Pretty close to our rough goal of 2:00.

I grab a few more GU packs for Joyce & I, and we’re out of there pretty quick. We usually take way too much time at the aid stations while we picnic and visit, but today we slide through many of them without stopping, saving boucoup time. Going back out on our 2nd loop put us right in the middle of the largest part of the 50k pack and many of the 50 mile runners as well. Hundreds of runners were coming in, and hundreds more were going out, all of us lined up like frogs on a log, single file on a narrow section of trail. A few less courteous and over aggressive folks just kind of bust right down through the middle of us all, making a bigger mess of the whole thing. The trail was thick with people for a mile up to the split and then it thinned out again. Once free from my slot in formation, I moved right back to cutting the tangents as I blasted right down the middle of the trail again. Many others were hopping from side to side trying to avoid the mud and the water, just like we did on the 1st loop. It was perfect running weather for shorts, long sleeved shirt, and gloves. It stayed cool and may even have dropped a degree or two. I had planned to change to a thinner short sleeve and singlet as the day warmed, but I never got hot enough for the change. Mitch, Dave, and the entire Austin gang of Hosni and such came charging by us on this 2nd loop. Joyce was starting to struggle some and asked me to go on ahead about half way into the 2nd loop with Hollis and troop, so I did. She was not feeling well at all and planned to stop when she got back in. Bridges had been built since we had run the 1st loop, over some of the worst/best sections of trail, and one large tree had a section cut out of it so we no longer had to climb over it. These guys are still working and fixing the trail as we ran. I finish the 2nd loop around 2:10, get s few more GU, and head back out… alone. There was a lot less crowd this time and a lot more enjoyable as I splash back out for my 3rd loop. Thousands of feet had trashed the trail and made the muddy sections even deeper and nastier. I took a lot more time this round, being more careful going through the pools of water and shoe sucking mud. Footing is much more treacherous now than it had been earlier and I’m more careful to avoid trashing myself, and generally much more laid back about running this loop. I’m in no hurry. Doug Fisher comes up on me from behind and we continue on together. We talk while we run and enjoy the company, while we meet a few others as well. The thinner it gets and the farther apart the runners became, the tighter the camaraderie becomes and the bond grows tighter as we continue. Early on, it was all nervous laughter and loud jokes. Now it’s all easy conversation and kind words of encouragement. Doug and I finish the 3rd loop together but I stop to change my shirt and he continues on while I change. The shirt was chafing my underarms and had to come off. I also take a MetRx bar and walk along as I eat it. Once I’m done eating, I pick up my pace quite a bit, feeling good and wanting to make some time while I do, but I’m only in about two miles when I roll my foot under. It hurt so bad that I take my shoe and sock off just to see if it’s ok. Putting the muddy sock and shoe back on, I start again, but not as fast. I say my good-byes and thank-yous to each of the stations as I go through. They really do have some wonderful people working this race. The last out and back feels good because I have grown tired of it and I’m glad that this part is over. The last time through the bogs and the puddles and the mud, I act like a nine year old kid in a mid summer rain shower, trying to get as much mud and water in the air as possible as I charge right through them all. After each one I slow down again, because the dry ground isn’t near as much fun. Every person I get near says some kind word of encouragement on this last loop. (Maybe they think I’ve finally lost it) Every person is cheering for every one else. We’re back to that family feeling again and I really like the feel of it. I finally get to run completely alone for the first time on this last loop for a few miles, which I thoroughly enjoy. With six miles to go, I link up with John from Houston, and we share stories for a few miles until he moves on. The last three miles are lazy and relaxing. My body’s not working as smoothly as it had earlier, and no longer goes when I say go. I settle for an easy but comfortable sliding forward motion that I can manage except at the worst possible times. A few people go charging by as they’re close to ‘done’ and finishing hard, but I just don’t feel the urge today and continue on lazily. When I finally brake through the trees into the clearing and near the finish, I finally pick up my pace and surge a bit toward the finish. David waits just prior to the finish line with a beer and I take it from him as I go by, crossing the finish line with beer in hand and a smile on my face. I sure do love to run.

The 50 mile run had 350 starters and 269 finishers, with Valmir Nunes of Brazil finishing 1st in 5:59:18. Corinne Favre of France was 1st woman in 6:42:16. The 50k run had 602 starters with 536 finishers, with James Lawrence Jr. of Orange Texas finishing 1st in 3:23:16. Tracy Rose of Georgia was 1st woman in 3:58:49. There were a total of 952 runners with 805 finishers in both events.