Julie, Brad, & 3 Days of Syllamo!

This race was just a TON of fun!  I had absolutely no idea of what to expect, how the legs would feel after day one... after day two, just how bad it would hurt.  No idea!  It was just a fun, memorable, tough, beautiful, awesome race.  I would definitely recommend doing this... for sure!  Unfortunately, the area was demolished by ice storms the month or so before the race, so the course was different from what he was hoping.  The RD didn't decide on the course until the morning of the race... so he kept us all guessing.  The course was very runnable... in that there weren't a ton of huge climbs that you felt obligated to walk.  There were a number of rocks on the trail, some roots, a few downed trees to climb over/under -- but very runnable.

The 50K went great!  You're all pumped up, ready to go, full of adrenaline and excitement... so you were rarin' to go.  "Don't go too fast since you have two more days of this" is what I told myself... but didn't quite listen.  The course ended up to be about 28 miles or so... and I ran it is about 4:40.  Great trails, past rock faces, between rock faces, along rock ledges... up a long fire road that reminded me a lot of the climb up Buck Mtn.  Nice trail.  We hopped in the creek for a good ol' soaking of the legs after the race... great idea!!
The 50 miler on day two went much better than expected.  Didn't take too long for the legs to come back to me... probably due to the CHEST DEEP CREEK CROSSING we had at mile 5 and 5 1/2.  That was refreshing.  Saw some of the same trails as the day before, but with some extra.  Ran with Brad most of the 50, which was great.  Also hooked up with a couple other people from AR and TX... just the friendliest people you could meet out here!!  Brad and I finished the 50 miler in about 10:12?  Soaked in the creek again to calm the aching quads and knees.
The "20K" (which turned out to be about 11 miles) was supposed to take us back to the same direction we took in the 50K (past all the really cool rock faces)... so Brian decided to sign up for it -- to get a feel for what the trail was like.  When Brian signed up, the RD said that was the way we were going.  The morning of the race... the RD sends us to the creek crossing and back.  Poor guy was duped!!  He took it in great stride and enjoyed the cool dip in the morning.  We ran together the whole way and finished in about 2:12.  The legs felt amazingly well during the second half of that one.  It is just plain amazing what you can put your body through.

Today, the worst thing I am dealing with is sleep deprivation.  We didn't take off from the area until about 1:30pm (after cleaning up after the race and getting a flat tire fixed!!)... so we didn't get home until around 2:30am.  That 2 hours of sleep last night was tough.  Tomorrow is gonna be a rough one... I just know it!  It was all worth it though!!  Great race... awesome people out there (you pretty much knew everyone out there by the end of the weekend!).. friendly townspeople... beautiful scenery... just a fun, fun weekend!!

Phew!  I'm tired!! … Julie