MUDLANDS 2010

The weather for the Grasslands Trail Run has never been predictable. Sometimes you luck out and have fantastic weather, as we did last year, and other times rain floods the course turning it into seemingly unending mud pits, as it did this year. This is where the nickname "Mudlands" comes in.

But believe it or not, we lucked out with the weather today. Yes, it was in the 30's and it rained for 7 hours preceding the race, but it did not rain during the race, which makes a BIG difference.

So here's my race report: Mud, mud, mud water, and more mud. The end.

Okay, I'll expound a little. About 70% of the time, we were trekking through either mud or streams that were ankle deep. No hope of getting around it. At one point, one of the 50-mile runners said, "Ooh boy, if you don't have a sense of humor, this is really going to be a long day!"

At first, everyone tried to skirt to the sides of trail to avoid the mud pits, but by about mile 2 we all realized that our efforts were in vain and decided to throw caution to the wind.

Almost immediately, my shoes were waterlogged and thickly caked with mud. I should have followed the example of some of my fellow runners by putting plastic bags over my feet. For a good portion of the course, there was no point even trying to run - either you'd lose your shoe or you'd slip and faceplant (which I almost did twice, but I'm a good faller).

Even though the conditions were much worse than the OKC, I felt great. For me, being out there wasn't hard. I just did the time and kept laughing as I slogged through mud. I passed my bro Ronald somewhere around mile 6 and finished the race in about 3:20 (hours: minutes).

Ronald, however, was not at all ready for this race. He came in about 20 min after me and realized aloud, "I can see why you'd need to train for a marathon." Ha ha, gotta love it. He thinks he's sore now, just wait till tomorrow! (*My dad's ultra buddy Drew congratulated Ronald on his first half and then oh-so-graciously let him know that he had been 'chicked' by his sister. : )

All in all, it was good race, one that I will not soon forget. So glad I ran it. I will post pix soon and the results and race photos will be posted on the NTTR website in a few days.

Previous Race Reports:

• Oklahoma City Marathon - 4/26/09
  
• Grasslands Trail Run Marathon - 3/21/09
• Marathon Training Updates - 2008/2009