Event: Running the Rose
Distance: 11M
Date: 2025-01-25, Sat, 8:30a
Location: Tyler, TX; Tyler State Park
Event Host: Blaze Trails Running
Now this is something I need to do more often: Get back into the pine trees and rolling hills of east Texas. This was such a balm for my soul. I can’t believe I’ve let over 6 years go by without revisiting the trails in Tyler State Park. The park is only 2 hours from Teague and it’s going into a regular training location rotation.
There were pine trees! Loblolly and shortleaf, their needles and cones everywhere. I almost never see them these days. Sweet gums galore. (There is a sweet gum tree in our next door neighbor’s yard in Teague, but it’s not quite the same as seeing it in the “wild.”) The exposed rock I encountered was iron ore, lending the dirt its familiar rusty-red hue. Fortunately, the trail was dry for my 11 miles and I didn’t have to deal with its “moist personae”—the infamous red clay, which I absolutely do not miss. 😜
This park holds lots of little waterways the trails crisscross. I had to pause to take in the sight and sound of running water in the creek beds—some at the bottom of the deep washes that enthralled me so as a kid. Sadly, there were also many, many downed trees crisscrossing the trails. Huge pines, obviously dead for years, I assume victims of a past southern pine beetle infestation. Several big oaks, their shallow roots not able to withstand the combination of wind and saturated soil, their root balls rising up alongside the deep hole they’d been pulled from.
I do love the ruggedness of the limestone bluffs and rocks, cedars and cacti of central Texas, but never as much as my piney woods. Late March for my last long run before my marathon might be a good time to revisit. Yes.
The 11-miler started at 8:30. It was still cool, but I knew it was going to warm up. I did a little better dressing for the weather this time, but my sweatshirt was too heavy by the end of the 11 miles. My face was covered with a nice salty, rime for much of the afternoon.
Yes. See that? I actually finished the 11 miles despite the breakdown in my training. The most exciting part post race was that my hips and legs tolerated the long hilly course so well. Even having to clamber over a fallen tree blocking the trail. (One of the 108Kers noted in a Facebook comment it “doesn’t get any easier the more times you climb over it”—that would have been 6 loops for him. 😁) My low back, high on my left hip bothered me a bit. However, stopping for a “forward fold” and a good back stretch would get it to release. My legs, particularly lower, were twitching and aching when I got back to camp for a rest, but I didn’t suffer any cramping.
Had more minor fails in crewing for myself. Didn’t snag a bar or cup of yogurt before I headed out to the race hub so I was going for 4.5 hours without any fuel—other than one cream-filled oatmeal cookie at Old Road Aid Station and three fig bar cookies at Blackjack. Also, I didn’t double check my water bladder before starting and ran out of water between the last aid station and the finish line. Speaking of aid stations…
On the twisty trails of Cameron Park of Waco, the sounds of an aid station would taunt me as the trail took me back out into the forest away from it. However, on the Rose’s course, I’d hear it, see it, be within 50 yards of it and then suddenly have my back to it and be moving away from it. The worst was the Blackjack Aid Station.
Mid-way along mile 5, it was right there, within 30 or so strides, but a sharp right turn put my back to it and away I went. Then 2.5 miles later at the end of mile 7, it’s just 50 strides on the other side of the caution tape but another hard right sent me out for 1 more mile before I finally reached it without leaving the official course. (I hadn’t run out of water yet and, of course, didn’t think about refilling.)
I passed near the Old Road Aid Station again halfway between mile 9 and 10, but it was at the bottom of a hill and I wasn’t willing to put in the extra work to get a drink of water. So close, but oh, the effort. 😜 Had I been one of the ultra runners, this would have been so frustrating for me. The care, food, and water were definitely available, but it would mean adding mileage and effort to come off the course to get to it if you needed it before the course took you through it.
About the veteran ultra runners: One of the cool things I’m discovering about volunteering, particularly at the race hub, is it can be super educational. And humbling. Besides the race directors and support staff who are endurance athletes themselves and experienced with hosting and participating in these ultra events, the volunteers, runners, and many spectators, are likewise experienced, and they’re all hanging out at the race hub before, during, and after.
My ears perked up hearing about Western States and the Barkley Marathons. Hearing athletes talking about running and multi-day trekking in Patagonia, Spain, Scotland, and plans to journey to the Switzerland Alps. Talk of Jasmin Paris’s record setting finish of the Barkley Marathons led to a mention of Gunhild Swanson’s record setting finish of the Western States 6 seconds ahead of the cut off.
I sooo wanted to announce my 10-year plan (to break her record) and start getting advice and feedback. However, I’m such a newbie (not even having finished a single ultra yet), I couldn’t bring myself to “trespass” into that arena of achievements. Honestly, I was afraid I’d be the old woman they recounted with laughter while gathered at other race hubs. The one who announced she was planning to set a record at Western States before she’d even finished her first 26.2M marathon. Yep, humbling.
Not discouraging, though. It only excites me more to know I’m among the people who have and are doing it, getting to hear their experiences and lessons learned. Hopefully, one day I’ll be talking openly about it with more than just my closet friends.
My volunteer shift was 9:30 pm to 4:00 am. I knew I could get rested after my 11 miles. I didn’t have any reservations about the late shift. I’m a night owl and the night shifts have more race credit.
As has been my modus operandi of late, keeping my travel costs down, I was tent camping. The closest campsite available (Hickory Hollow Area 7) was at the bottom of Tyler State Park Lake with the race hub being at the Northwoods Picnic Pavilion, just east of the top end of the lake. With the tent on the truck1,2, I couldn’t drive it. To take down the tent, I’d have to repack and reload everything into the cab. I was there for two nights and wasn’t going to go through that hassle.
The Lakeshore Trail was open (sometimes the lake overwhelms it), and it was only a 1/2 mile hike to the race hub from my campsite. I did have to hike that path three times—once to and from for the race, then back again at 9:00 pm to volunteer. For the returning “from,” I managed to get a ride at 3:30 am so I didn’t have to carry the box of perishables (bananas, tortillas, bread, pickles, pickle juice…) I’d claimed as the start/finish AS was taken down.
I did not dress appropriately for the weather that night shift. Forecast had been saying it was going to stay in the mid-50s, but of course, it dropped into the low 40s. And it rained off and on all night. I can only imagine what it was like for the runners out in there in the dark and cold rain, most having already stripped down to shorts and tank tops before dark.
I should note, it’s also very rewarding to see the last runners finish up their 67.1 mile race in the golden hour—the last hour before cutoff. Their race had started at 6:00 am the previous morning. I think the last runner came in about 15 minutes ahead of the cutoff.
I have a confession to make. I didn’t speak up when the race director began pulling the banners down while there were still runners on the course. I allowed as how they would get wet if they stayed out, complicating storage and prep for reuse. And consoled myself with the fact that the race clock, timing mat, race hub shelter were all still up and blazing with light. The pictures wanted were with the timing clock! Who cares about the banners? Maybe that’s just a newbie thing I need to get over. 😂
Having been shivering for the past few hours, when I got back to camp even my down sleeping bag didn’t warm me up for a very long time. The tent did keep me dry, if not warm. I only found a little evidence of seepage as I was breaking down camp around 9:00 am. Wrapping the big, over-sized (for the truck bed) carpet/rug in a tarp, inside the tent, was quite a trick. For the wet tent and rain fly, I emptied the storage bin I use for camp gear and stuffed them inside.
All in all, another successful race/volunteer outdoor excursion. I finished in 4:26 hours:mins, just shy of the 4.5 hours I’d allotted myself. I ended up with an “official” average page of 24:13 min/mi, a little better than the 24:33 min/mi I’d allowed for. However, according to my trackers, the course was considerable short. I can’t be 100% sure since my Garmin3 ran out of juice in the last two miles. I did immediately start the MayMyRun app on my phone so I could capture the remainder of the race. The total of the two came out to 10.32 miles, and a 25:49 min/mi avg page.
In hindsight, I know I was being too conservative, restricting myself almost entirely to power hiking, because I was worried about completing the distance. I need to push harder to force more adaptation in my body.
We’ll see how I do this coming weekend at the Shannon Trail Series Race 2 in San Angelo.
- My plan for stopping in Waco to transfer the Softopper onto the “rental” didn’t go over so well with the dealership. Despite the padded rails, (literally, there’s foam backing on them) and stand-off clamps, the service manager wouldn’t let me “install” the after market product on the truck. Shhhh. I’m not telling them I installed an after market tent on the truck bed instead. 😁 ↩︎
- I did stop by the dealership to have a long chat with the service manager. During that conversation, I learned my vehicle holds the 8th position for having been there the longest. How do you argue for prioritization when there are 7 other vehicles ahead of yours? I still need to call the General Manager just to make my dissatisfaction known to a higher authority. ↩︎
- My vivoactive 3® is black with a silver hardware. Although I’m liking the flashier look of white and rose gold hardware. Might have to reconsider coloring for my next activity tracker smartwatch. ↩︎
