3:45 am. Crap. Stupid hotel alarm clock was supposed to go off at 3:30. Luckily, I’m not sleeping well and look at the clock. I quickly get up, grab my drop bags and other gear, and head out the door to meet Joe. We get to the Posse Shack at about 10 minutes after 4. We put our drop bags in the correct piles and head back to sit in the car for a bit. At 4:30 we venture inside. I run into many of the other Texas 50-milers that have made the trip, Stuart, Henry, Diana, John S., Jeff Linwood. We all pass the time talking and doing last minute preparation, It’s always a good feeling just before the race, anticipation, nerves, good humor, all rolled into one.

At 4:55, I venture outside with everyone else to the start line. It is dark and a little cool. But it feels good. Much better than the hot weather we had the day before. I file in behind Joe, Henry, Diana, and Stuart. Next thing I know, we are moving. No big speech or bullhorn to signal the start, just a wave of people moving off into the darkness.

All during training, I have been trying to do a better job at pacing myself. Now it’s time to see if I can do it in a race. I quickly drop back in the pack letting all my friends pull ahead of me. Don’t know if I’ll see any of them again until the finish. We head down the road a little and turn left into the horse stable area. The runners are kicking up a cloud of fine dust. Soon, we are out of the stable area and heading down a narrow chute of a trail. It is single file and we are reduced to a walk. After a bit, the trail widens and we start running again.

This section is a nice section with some little rollers. I am moving down the trail at a nice comfortable speed. A little before the first aid station, the sun starts to poke over the mountains. What a beautiful view. There is nothing better than an early morning sunrise in the mountains.

I stop for a quick refill of my water bottles at the aid station and head out. We start the uphill climb to the Guaje Ridge aid station. I look up and can see the line of runner ants making there way up the mountain. It is not a bad climb. Plenty of switchbacks to allow for a gentle rate of ascent, some of which are runnable.

I soon make it to the top. I fill my water bottles, eat a bit of food and then move on. Up until this point, we have been traveling through the section of trails that were hit by the wildfires a few years back. It feels very desolate in this section, very few trees remain. As I leave Guaje Ridge and begin down the other side of the mountain, the scenery changes. This side of the mountain was spared from the fires. The trail drops down quickly to the creek where I come to the dam. I have caught up with John Sharp and Naresh. We all climb the ladder to the top of the dam and take a little time for a photo opportunity.

We are moving at a good pace from here on into the Caballo Base aid station. I am still in good spirits and my legs feel good. This is soon to change. I don’t stop at the Caballo Base aid station. It’s only 2 miles to the top and I have plenty of water. This climb is much tougher than the one to Guaje Ridge, steeper with fewer switchbacks. You also need to be aware of the other runners returning from the top. It is a slow march up to the top. I use the runners coming down as an excuse to stop and take a break to catch my breath. The climb seems to go on forever. As I near the top I start seeing my friends on their way down. JT comes flying down looking great. Then I see Joe and Henry. They tell me I have about 500 yards to go. Thank goodness.

When you reach the top of Caballo, it opens up to a wide meadow with what would have been a great view of the valley below had it not been for the rain clouds that were starting to close in. It is cold up here with a pretty strong wind. I make it to the turn around point, have my picture taken and then quickly head back to the trees to get out of the cold wind. As I am heading down, I see the remainder of the 50-milers as well as some of the 50k’ers as they start their climb. It’s a nice descent, very runnable for the most part. I was given some advice from Larry King to not bomb any of the downhills early in the race as I would end up paying for it later in the race. So I kept a conservative pace going down.

Back at the Caballo base aid station, I sit down for a spell to eat and to take a little breather. 14 miles into this and I’m feeling it. Must be the altitude. After I’ve finish my meal and refilled bottles, I head out. I am looking forward to getting to the Pipeline aid station. My drop bag is there and I have my ipod waiting, a little incentive. I think I should have studied the race information a little better. I thought it was a fairly each jaunt from Caballo to Pipeline. Wrong. There is a pretty steep climb almost immediately after you leave Caballo. This climb came at a very bad time for me. My lower back was starting to tighten up and I was no longer happy with the day. I slowly make my way up, cursing myself, the trail, the trees, just about anything around. OK, I’ve hit that dark spot in the race. It normally comes much later in the race, but not today. Thoughts of stopping pop into my head only to be quickly pushed aside.

I finally make it to the top and sit down on a fallen tree. I take a few advil and wait a while for them to kick in before continuing. As I am sitting here, Diana comes by. She asks how I am doing. I tell her things are not going well at this point. She gives me some encourging words and moves on. Next, Jeff Linwood comes by. Soon after they pass, I get up and start slogging down the trail. My back feels a little better, but my legs are heavy. I rumble down the trail as best I can and finally pull into Pipeline.

As I come in, I see Rob’t. He is sitting with Diana as she changes shoes and grabs some food. I go over to find my drop bag. I don’t see it. I look again, thinking that I just overlooked it. Still don’t see it. I start thinking, crap, somehow it didn’t make it. This is a big let down for me at this point. I had been looking forward to my ipod for the past 4 miles, knowing that it would give me a boost. An aid station worker comes over and helps me look. Neither of us can find it. After about 5-10 minutes, someone notices it over next to a chair. A volunteer had already pulled it out of the pile when I came in but didn’t bother to tell me. I let out a huge sigh of relief and sit down to take care of business.

iPod on, food in belly and water refilled, I head out. At the race briefing the night before, they had mentioned something about going over a cliff. I half heard it and just put it away in the back of my mind not thinking much about it. As I walk out of Pipeline, there’s the cliff. It’s a straight drop down, rocky and loose dirt. I think it would be easier to just throw myself over the edge and roll to the bottom. I start down with Diana, Naresh and another woman a little ways ahead of me. There is almost no way to go down the upper section without falling on your butt once or twice. It’s all rock. I see that Diana ahead of me has decided that sliding down on her butt was the best action. Soon the trail turns to loose dirt and rock. OK, now the fun can begin. I start to “ski” down the hill, sink my heel into the ground and ride it until it slows, then do the same with the other foot. I quickly pass the others on the down hill. At the bottom I stop to empty my shoes. Even though I was wearing gaiters, there was still a lot of debri in my shoes.

I continue to drop down in the the Caldera. The trees fall away and it opens up into a wide meadow all around. I run along the jeep road as it slowly descends with the occasionaly rolling hill. This is a nice section and I am beginning to feel better. The dark cloud that was over me early has gone and I am again enjoying my time. I run along the road and pull into the Valle Grande aid station.

Even though I dumped the debri out of my shoes, I can still feel the gritty dirt in my socks. I have a clean pair in my pack and decide it would be in my best interest to change them. I pull off the old socks, wash the remaing gunk off and put on a fresh pair. Ooooo….that feels nice. As I am taking care of the feet, Diana and then Naresh come in. Everyone it looking pretty good. They start out a little before me but I soon follow.

We are now on the longest section between aid stations, 7.8 miles. The course turns off the road and heads straight across the meadow. The only trail is the flags marking the way. It’s a gradual climb from the aid station to the edge of the trees. I slowly pull away from everyone and enter the trees. Once in the trees, the trail (and I use that term loosely) seems to turn and go straight up the mountain. Maybe half way up, I come to a large rock field. As I approach the rock field, I notice some pink flags going up the middle of this rock field. You have got to be kidding me. I enter the rock field and gingerly step from rock to rock. Some shift under my weight causing my heart to pound more that it already was from the climb.

I make it across and continue the climb. It is straight up with a few hurdles over fallen trees. I come to the edge of the trees and think I am at the top, only to turn and see flags continuing up. Step by step, I make it to the top. Gorgeous views in all directions from here. I take some time to look around. I look back down the trail thinking I’ll see another runner but do not. I begin the descent. This is a pretty runnable downhill except for all the tree hurdles. I make good time.

I continue along the trail actually running. There has been so much climbing involved so far that I don’t feel like I’ve run much at all. It feels good to stretch out the legs a little. A little further along, I come upon a barb-wire fence. I stop and look back thinking I missed a turn. Then I see a flag on the trail on the other side. OK, how do I get from this side to the other. I look down the fence in both directions looking for a gate or an open section. No such luck. Guess I have to go over. I carefully scurry over the fence and continue down the trail on the other side.

At this point I am becoming all too aware of the time. The day before, I had made a comment that I should be able to easily get throught 36 miles in the 12 hour cut-off time. Ummm….oops. I’m still about 8 miles out and have about 3 hours. On a normal day, sounds easy. But I have learned that out here, not so easy. Fortunately for me, the trail from this point to the Pajarito Canyon aid station is fast. I pick up the pace trying to buy back some time that I’ve lost. I cruise into the aid station. I have 2 ½ hours to make cutoff so I just refill water and go. Don’t even touch my drop bag. No time for it.

The trail begins to climb. At first not too much. There are still sections that are runnable and I am pushing as best as I can to make cut-off. I come out of the trees to find the Townsite Lift aid station. As I see the aid station, I see Henry and Joe heading out the other side. Either I am moving fast or they are moving slow. As I walk in, Joe motions to me and tells me to come on with them. I cannot go at this point. I am in need of calories. So I let them travel up the trail while I sit at the aid station and refuel. I still think I have a shot at cutoff when I sit down. Then I notice the sign that tells how far and how much gain/loss to the next aid station. My spirits take a hit. There is a big climb still to go and only about 1 ½ hours. I start to tell myself that I’ve given everything I had and if I miss cut-off, I’d be OK with it (the whole time knowing deep down, I wouldn’t).

I thank the volunteers and start the trek up the last climb. It is steep. I think this is the hardest climb of the day. Might just be due to the pressures of knowing I have to push the climb to make cut-off or the fact that it’s the 5th one today, but in my book, it was the hardest. About half way up I catch up to Joe and Henry as they are taking a small rest. I stop to talk to them. We all start out again. Joe seems to have found another gear and he quickly drops Henry and I. Up, up we go. We get to what we think is the top and there was a little rejoicing as we started down a road. It was short lived. We turn a corner only to see the trail go up again. At this point, I think I am all but done for the day. There is no way I’m making it to Ski Lodge before 5pm. Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Joe is gone. Henry and I trudge along, each taking their place in front. The trail drops again only to go back up. Finally, I come to the top of a double-black diamond ski slope. I see the trail goes straight down the center, no switchbacks. I look at my watch. 18 minutes to get to the bottom. It’s going to be tight. Henry is a little behind when I drop over the edge and start down. I see about 5 people on the slope in front of me, one is Joe (but he is damn near the bottom). I make my way down as fast as I can to without falling. It is too steep on the upper section for me to run but I am still making pretty good time. I catch two runners on the way down. About two-thirds of the way down the slope levels just enough for me to be able to run. Knowing I have just minutes to go, I cut it loose and start flying. I hit the bottom and turn right down the jeep road and put it into high gear. I am all out sprinting down the road trying to reach the lodge. I come through the trees and there it is, teasing and taunting me. I see Joe out just on the other side on his way out. No matter, if I don’t make it in time, I’ll see him at the finish. I pull into the aid station and look at my watch. 5 minutes to spare. Holy crap. I made it. How the hell did that happen.

I am completely out of breath after my best Roger Banner impression so I sit for a bit trying to catch my breath. As I’m sitting there, Rob’t comes over and congratulates me for making cut-off. I tell him Henry is not far behind but have no idea where Diana and Naresh are. I haven’t seen them for hours. We hear the volunteers starting to cheer the next person in and we look up. Low and behold, it’s Diana. Where did she come from. Glad to see her. Next comes Henry. We are now DFL, but we all made it.

Four of us head out talking and joking, Diana, Henry, myself and a NTTR member (I believe his name was Jeff). The pressure is off and we are all still feeling that rapid descent, so we walk down the trail for a while. Soon we see two runners in front of us. It’s Joe and Ulli. Our band of merry men has just become 6. We walk and talk for a while swapping stories of how each other’s race has gone up to this point. The trail is a jeep road that slowly rises back up to the Pipeline aid station. I run the last half mile or so into the aid station and wait for the rest. I do not feel the need to push anymore since there are no more cut-offs.

At Pipeline, we pick up another 2-3 Texans. Our party is growing. 11 miles to go. We all walk together for about a mile. Diana and I seem to be leading the pack. My legs feel recovered enough from the spring to Ski Lodge so I start running the downhills and flats again. Diana sticks with me for a bit while the others fade off into the distance.

Soon, I am alone again. The trail turns off the jeep road and starts down. Most of this is a gradual, runnable downhill and I let my legs roll. I’m not setting speed records by any means, but I am moving pretty good for this late in the game. I continue on running a while, walking a while. I pass a few other runners doing their best to hold things together just like I am. Before you know it, I’m back at Guaje Ridge. I eat a little, refill the bottles and quickly move on. They tell me it’s about 5 miles to the next aid station and all downhill. At least the got the downhill part right. Sure felt longer than 5 miles though. I keep looking back over my shoulder fully expecting Joe or Diana to come barreling down the trail after me. But I do not see them again until the finish.

On into the final aid station. The Christmas them was nice and all, but I am not feeling very merry at this point so I just blow right through. 1.9 miles to go. From here the trail gradually climbs up and out of this canyon. Soon I’m heading back through the tunnel and back in the way I start so long ago. It’s hard to find the flour arrows at times and I have to stop to search for them. But I continue on the correct path. Finally the arrows point to the right, straight up this tight rock chute. As if we hadn’t had enough climbing today. I know the finish is just at the top and I push to get there. I pop out on the road, turn right, and I’m back at the Posse Shack. Many of our fellow Texans were at the finish line cheering me in. It was a good feeling to be finished and to have a welcoming party. I head into the Posse Shack and sit down happily. A little while later, Joe and Diana come in and then Henry. We are done, all are in and accounted for.

As always, the scenery was amazing, totally worth the struggles I went through for the day. Would have liked to finish in the day light but it was not to be. This race taught me a lot of respect for a true mountain race. How those people do Hardrock and some of the other monster mountain races, I have no idea. My hats off to them.