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Day two is 60k on the Syllamo Mountain Bike Trails. The race website said, "This is where the fun begins," and they did not disappoint. This was a great day! Beautiful weather, beautiful trails, lots of challenge and exertion. We started at 6:00 a.m. in order to finish before dark (12 hour cutoff). Based on yesterday's effort we were estimating an 11 hour finish. When you haven't raced on this type of terrain before it's hard to gauge how the climbing and the trails will affect you so we put together a conservative estimate.
As usual, the morning started with some climbing.
Marla climbing up a particularly steep hill.
And once again we were rewarded with some beautiful views from the top. Locals told us that this was the perfect time of year to do this race because when the trees are in full bloom they are so thick that you can't see through them. So we were fortunate to have such incredible views.
Another great aid station. This one was manned by Roberta Orr, the other race director. I have to say that the volunteers at this race were incredible. They were always so friendly, helpful and complementary. They made me feel welcome and sometimes they made me feel like I was in the lead! They would take my pack and refill it for me while I ate. They were always great.
As I mentioned, much of today's course was on the relatively new Syllamo Mountain Bike Trails. This was the only road crossing in all three days of racing. It came right after a stream crossing. We crossed water five times on this day; twice we were able to tip toe across without getting wet, but the other three times the water was up to our ankles. Some people took off their shoes and socks before crossing, but Marla and I just crossed in our shoes.
More rough trail. At this point I started to think I'd made a wrong turn because the trail appeared to dead end at these bluffs.
But I was wrong. What sadist put stairs here!?!
Another great aid station. This guy was cooking hot biscuits on a grill! Delicious!
Do you see a trail here?
Another nice climb. At least the trail is smooth.
Yet another beautiful view.
I didn't take this picture. This is Frances with someone she met on the trail, Rick from Dallas and a member of the North Texas Trail Runners.
I felt really good this day and set a pretty fast pace. It was faster than Frances wanted so she held back and stuck with her pace plan (she finished in 11:00, just as she had expected). Frances is such a friendly and pleasant person that she always meets someone on the trail. On days 2 and 3 she finished the race with different people that she had met during the race. She and Rick finished day two together.
Nice downhill trail.
Hard to believe but this was actually the trail.
We passed these beautiful bluffs on the way out and the way back (on days two and three). This is just a small example of the wonderful scenery on these trails.
Marla and I stayed together for about 2/3 of the race. At that point she started to feel weak and queasy so she held back. As I was leaving the last manned aid station (about 9 miles from the finish) I ran into her and she told me she was going to stay at that aid station for a while and refuel, so I went on.
By this point I had a couple of problems that concerned me. My knees were hurting, my right ankle was sore, and I was pretty sure I would have a blister on the outside heel of each foot. My shoes were wrong for the trails; the soles are not rigid enough and over the uneven terrain they tended to "fold up" and rub the outside of my foot.
I finished this race alone but in great time: 9:27:22 (15:13 pace, 1:17 faster per mile faster than the previous day). Although I had the aches and pains I described above I still felt good and spent some time walking around and talking to some of the other racers. I had several Krispy Kreme donuts and a Mountain Dew and then went down to Syllamore Creek to soak my sore legs in the cold water. Someone showed me a new location where the water was not quite as cold and was deeper than where we soaked on day one. I could walk in up to my hips and not have to sit down and stand back up. Also, I wore a pair of spare shoes so my feet didn't hurt.
Marla finished up at about 10:15 and Frances made a nice, smiling finish at 11:00.
In Marla's RV we had baked potatoes, sandwiches, granola bars, whatever. We all ate like crazy to make sure we had enough energy for day three.
After everyone had soaked in the creek and showered we had red beans and rice prepared by race volunteers. By then we were all so beat; we got our gear ready for the next morning and fell asleep. It wasn't quite as cold as before but was still in the 30s.
And yes, I had two blisters right where I expected. This one was almost as big as a quarter; the other one was closer to a nickel. I drained this one and put moleskin on it the next day before the race. I didn't do anything to the other one.
