Recently some in our group were interviewed about Ultrarunning by a local Spanish TV station video reporter. We had fun and talked about what an ultra Marathon is and what experiences we encounter. There's great footage of our groups aid station and start line of the Bandera 100K too! You'll enjoy it even if you don't understand Spanish. You can watch it Here.
Our group was asked to man an aid station at the Prickly Pear 50K and 10 mile trail runs that were held yesterday at local Mc Allister park. Many in our group also ran the races. At one time we had more help than we needed but it was great hanging out with everyone and watching our friends come by. Our aid station was 3 miles before the end of the race for 10 milers and miles 8, 18, and 28 for the 50Ker's. We had a boom box playing Elizabeth's (She's on the Spanish TV interview) running play list and many runners came in to our aid station dancing. And at the 28 mile mark some left dancing too!
I helped setup the aid station then ran off to run the 10 miler before coming back to help and hang out at our aid station. The weather was typical prickly Pear weather, wet. This year though it was not as wet as in previous years. Light drizzle would make the mostly black dirt trails sticky so I wore my worn flat NB's. Turned out to be a wise decision. The mud did not clump up on my shoes. I started at the front so I could get in a good spot when we hit the single track. And because I hoped to win another one of those cool Prickly Pear mugs by placing in my age group. Pushing hard the whole 10 miles was my plan, but at mile 3 the mid 60 degree temps and humidity was getting to me. I started too hard,...again. I slowed to a more comfortable pace and relaxed. For the most part, I felt great all race long and never had issues. I'd seen and talked to an old friend before the race. Eric had not run a race in over a year due to an achilles injury. It was good to see him back at it. Eric is a great guy and was once voted as "The Rockhopper (our group) most likely to stop and talk to you while leading in a race." He actually did just that. Eric and I were to leap frog each other until he took off at about mile 7 to catch a runner he had his eye on. Approaching the finish I saw some friends who called out to me. That was fun. Crossing the finish line at 1:23:21 was good enough for third in my age group and a mug. I missed the bigger second place mug by 3 seconds. Oh well, I had a great time and hung out with Eric at the finish line for awhile before going back for more fun at the aid station.
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