Warrior Dash North Texas, Roanoke, TX

32:07.9
4.6% of age group
13.5% overall

What a great way to make a 5K more interesting! The obstacles were not too hard, they were just right and fun to do! The moment you get out of the crowd's sight we went chest deep through a small river, then on to some small walls and under barbed wire, through a storage container, then the tire field, over cars, more tires, Monster wall that was probably 15-20 foot high, balance beams, bungee spiderweb, pitch black tunnel, hanging cargo netting (like stretch flat so you had to crawl over it, but I walked across the support beam instead :p ), hay bale tower, cargo net climb,  floating log jump, fire jump and mud pit crawl under barbed wire. It was so much fun! We're planning on another.

I wish I had known about the bag check, you have a tag on your bib you hand to them, you put all your stuff in a plastic bag, hand it to their volunteers who keep it in a confined space until you come back to get it. If I'd known that I would have brought my change of clothes and towel. I wish they'd explained that better on the website. Oh and let's not forget the "hoses" they had available to rinse off were two guys with industrial size hoses on top of a storage unit, spraying into the crowd of people. The water smelled awful, I think I should have left the mud on. I'm sure there were living things in that water, I hope no one gets sick.

All in all though I had a great time with my friends!

Pros:
Nice shirt, nice medal, cool hat (my kids like it, it's too small for my head)
Fun course

Cons:
There was only one water stop at the half way point (some people took an hour to do it! There should be more water, shame!)
The bananas were green - tasted like crap.
The food to buy afterwards was expensive.

Redbud 10K

1:10:43
64% age group
63% female
Course and Elevation Profile.

H - O - T .... Maybe even as hot as last year.
I ran barefoot.... hindsight... not a wise choice. I'd only ran barefoot 3 times this year and while one of those was a 5 miler, it was not a day that melted tar on the road, nor was is such a horribly surfaced road that it made my feet scream. Two miles in I step in some tar and while it was not hot enough to burn me, I realized I had made a poor choice and moved to the grass. My body was absolutely ready for this race. I had no problems running up the hill I had to walk last year. As the finish came into sight and my body said "GO!" My feet replied "HELL NO!" hobble, hobble..... at least I made it to the end, finishing in almost the exact same time as last year. I could have done this course barefoot without a second thought at the end of last year. My feet went too soft after 3 months off. Oh well.

Pros -
Lots of water stops, very well placed. Lots of volunteers this year, more so than last year, they were working fast to get water to everyone. I remember there being lines last year for water. They did great!
Awesome neighbors, lots of people out cheering, spraying the hoses, gave the race an awesome aura
Shirt, medal, food, massage

Cons -
NEED MORE TOILETS. I waited in line for 30 minutes, nearly missed the start!
Road surface is awful, definitely wearing my bikilas next year.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78470551

Redbud Classic 52 Mile Bike

47.97 in 3:28:50 (3:13:18 moving time, but part of that moving time was walking across a parking lot to and from the johns)
Course and Elevation Profile.
Damn! Those real cyclists fly! I felt the breeze as they passed us on their way back, wow.

It was a perfect dawning day at the starting line. Beautiful, good food and drink, plenty of parking. Ready to take on 52 miles. Note to man behind the microphone at the start tho, no matter how many times you say "Everyone in the east lane" If no one has attempted to move after the first two or three times, I don't think you're going to get a response. At 5 minutes till start I began wishing I'd made one more stop to the toilet.

The route was great, plenty of cops to keep the cars at bay, the hills on Hefner Rd that I normally dread were somehow easier this day. Maybe because my bladder was full and I had incentive to get to Jones - Fast. I missed the first water stop since it was on the opposite side of the road, the second stop in Jones was huge and had a massive amount of people. For some reason they set it up right on the street so bikes and people were collecting and traffic (as well as those cyclists trying to move on) had a hard time getting around. It made no sense seeing as there was a perfectly useable parking lot. They put the portajohns in the parking lot but not the water stop.... I waited for my friends in Jones. I was there for probably 20 minutes or so. My legs hurt when we set back out again. Too long of a break - lesson learned.

There were tons of signs along the road warning people "biking event - caution" the only problem was 90% weren't facing traffic. It seems they set them up the night before and forgot to send someone to move them into place. As we left Jones the wind picked up, hills+wind=blah. The 15 mile square that starts and ends in Jones, had one water stop, about 2 miles before you get back to Jones.... ?? Why not 7-8 miles in? I didn't understand that choice. I decided to not wait for my crew as I entered back into Jones. The water stop had shrunk to 1/3 it's previous size. I guess most people were doing the 33 mile.

There were more water stops after that, but I didn't stop at any of them. At this point the wind was trying to knock me off the bike, I just wanted to be done. As we turned back south on the I-35 service road the head wind shut lots of people down. I saw a few people walking their bikes and when we turned back west there were 5 guys who stopped on the bridge to stretch. They were hurting pretty bad from their faces. It's bad when you're going downhill and can't hit 11mph even though you are pedaling. The hills leading back to the finish were not as bad as I anticipated either. I was so thankful when I was done, though my gps said 48 miles. As did my friend's.

What on earth? Shut down at 11? Literally? There were still people coming in after 11, but apparently they close up the food and the massage at 11. It says they expect everyone in at 11, but I thought that was so the cops could get back to their real work. I find that ridiculous. I don't understand races that cater to only the fast people. Most of your money is coming from the recreational athlete, why not cater to them sometimes?

Pros:
Lots of cops and very little risk of getting run over.
Good food (If you can get back fast enough to eat it)
Massage (If you can get back fast enough)
Nice prizes (giftcards and a 2K bike, I didn't win anything :( )

Cons:
SAG - For "One of the best supported rides in the state" I saw 2 SAG wagons the entire course. There were about 15 at Spin your wheels last year.
Water stop placement. The second half they were well placed, first half not so much. I was passing the first water stop before I even knew it was there.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78138224

Tatur's Lake McMurtry Trail Run 12K

1:23:41
24% female
29% age group
Course and Elevation Profile.
My first trail race, my second trail run, I am extremely pleased with my performance. I expected to see more vibrams than I did. I thought I wouldn't get quite as many odd looks as I do on the road, but I did. I think people were both surprised at my shoes and my size. Most people were considerably smaller than me. However, that still did not change the wonderful attitude most of them had.

The trail is an out and back, the 25K and 50K were already running when we started, so just before the halfway point the trail started to get crowded. Most of the people were considerate, friendly, lots of encouraging words were being passed, and the water stop was wonderful too. As always I wish there was maybe one more waterstop, but they placed it much better than the st paddy's run. It was truly 1/3 of the way in, so it showed up right when you needed it.

And guess what? They had food! Real food at the finish! Barbeque! It was wonderful.

There are a lot of roots at McMurtry, I was nearly done in by one. I looked at my garmin at just the wrong time. I bit it hard, now 5 days later my ankle and knee are both bruised. The scrape on my knee is healing very well. There is also some soreness in my hip. Welcome to trail running :p I guess I'm officially initiated.

This is me and Alice after the run sporting our bling. This run was on my mind, but when she called me up and asked if I was doing it I knew it was a sign I should go. I'm so glad she talked me into it. I can't wait to do another tatur trail run!

St Paddy's of the Great Plains 8K

46:34
30% age group
35% female
Course and Elevation Profile.

Fun race. Lots of goofy costumes and lots of people there to have a good time. They had a local track team in costumes cheering everyone on, which was odd, but they were wonderfully enthusiastic. There was a few kid friendly games at the start line and a fun run that started after most all the runners were in. Panera Bread and Kolache Kitchen provided food at the start which was awesome! I love Kolache Kitchen! I wish Panera would only bring cinnamon crunch (maybe a half box of a couple other flavors would be okay), the other bagels looked untouched when it was all over with but they were out of cinnamon crunch. The asiago bagel also needs to be right beside the cinnamon crunch so that mistakes are not made. It's a bit of a shock to get a sharp cheese when you're expecting sweet. It was a conversation starter though, apparently I was not the only one who made that mistake.

Anyway, the race course was flat, well marked, the shirt was cool, and there was green beer and pizza afterwards!!

Negatives - NEED MORE WATER. In case you didn't notice I'm a big advocate for more water stops. It's better for there to be too much water offered than not enough. I can see why there were so many people with water belts on at this race, apparently other people had clued in. There was one stop you passed twice on the back half of the course. I understand it's more efficient to have one stop that is passed twice, but it makes for off timing of water stops in my opinion.

I wish there were more barefoot runners here. People looked at me like I was crazy. Only caught two stick burrs, was able to shake one off, ran with the other for about a 1/4 mile but it wasn't about to come out on it's own. I stopped fast enough that is didn't really show in the gps data.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73848825

Battle at the Bird Mountain Bike Course

All I can say is you people are nuts. Seriously? This course was created by college students with no responsibilities and no concern for their physical well being. Good luck to those of you who are doing this race this morning and may your broken bones heal quickly.

I hiked most of this course, there is definately a reason it's labeled expert. I was decieved by draper, the expert course there had a couple of obstacles and easy bypass routes. Grant you maybe it does have easy bypass, but the course was already marked and all bypasses were blocked. From what I could see though it appeared the bypass were far from easy they just weren't quite as difficult. I'm glad I purchased my mountain bike for fun and recreation, a break from trying to break PR while road biking or running, because I will NEVER race a mountain bike.

My friend I was riding with told me the yellow and green (easy course) was used for the lowest category riders last year, woe to the person who comes back this year thinking that's what they will be facing today.

Oh yeah, and I bailed at the end, my chest hurt and I was out of water. I didn't even have enough in me to do the easy part of the course.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72653181

Panera Jack Rector Beacon Run 5K

30:00
28% female
43% age group
Course and Elevation Profile.

Wow, that's a mouthful, say the race name five times fast :p Not much to be said for today's race. My calf still hadn't recovered from last week's 10K. I was really hoping to hit 25:00 minutes, using last year's times as an indicator that would have put me in a possibility for placing. The good news is, even if I'd hit 25:00 I still wouldn't have placed this year. It would have been a shame to push so hard and not got what I was wanting out of it anyway. My calf shut me down just after I hit two miles. I walk/ran the last of it. I can't believe I seriously considered doing the 25K, even to mostly walk it would have been miserable. I'm glad I backed out of that. I wish I could convince myself to stop focusing so much on time and just run, I think my body would be the better for it.

My friend Alice did a great job today. She was only a little over a minute behind placing! And she thought she'd come in last! She had a wonderful race!

Oh yeah, I saw three other vibram runners and a guy in huaraches.

Pros:
#1 MASSAGE! I love races that have massage afterwards!
#2 Course was well marked and flat as can be.
#3 Goodie bag had some coupons and flyers in it and a pair of gloves.
#4 Free Bagels! I wish my stomach had felt like food when I got there. They even had cinnamon crunch... yummmm

Cons:
#1 Swag - The logo printed on my shirt is very light, I think if I wash it, it might disappear. Someone was wearing a shirt from a previous year and it didn't look like that.
#2 Parking - That's just the nature of Stars and Stripes Park.
#3 Chips - Last call for picking up your chip was before the 25K start, 20 minutes before the 5K start. My friend who showed up thinking she had plenty of time nearly didn't get her chip.
#4 Personally I would have put the water stop about a quarter into the course since it's an out and back. For those running it in 30 or under it's not that big of a deal, but some of those people were out there for almost an hour. It probably would have been nice for them to be able to get water twice and it wouldn't have hurt anyone to have that opportunity.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72653176