From OU to BT50K

The past seven days have been a whirlwind of a week. Last weekend I visited my son at OU for Dad's weekend. I drove down on Friday to spend some extra time with him since I would need to leave a little early on Sunday to make a birthday party for my father-in-law. I knew we would have a good time but I wasn't sure what the weekend would entail.

After I got down to OU we waited for his roommates dad to arrive before getting something to eat. After wings and beer, great training food, we hopped to two other bars. It was nice to finally meet some of Andrew's friends. I've heard their names many times but didn't know who they were. We actually closed the second bar, but there was an "after party" to attend at another friends. We walked to the apartment and placed some games before finally leaving. We made it back to the dorm room around 4:00AM. What was I thinking. We slept in until 11:00AM like good college students.

We got some lunch then watched the women's basketball team. Andrew's cousin is the leading scorer on the team so it was fun to watch the game. Unfortunately the OU team lost. We killed some time before meeting with more friends and dads back at BWs. We stayed there until closing, a round of shots and 8 pitchers later. Of course there was another after party at another friends apartment so we walked there and hung for a little bit, I was tapped out so no more beer for me. Oh, did I mention that the weather in OU was pretty cold, low 30's all weekend and I was walking around in a hoodie or sweater. Didn't want to carry and worry about a jacket in the bars.

We made it back to the dorm around 2:30 - 3:00AM. I slept in again until about 10:00. I headed out to the showers and saw about 2 inches of snow on the ground and flurries coming down. Mind you this is southern Ohio and they don't usually get alot of snow. No salt on the roads, no snow plows. Made for an interesting drive to my dad-in-laws house for his birthday party. It took me about an extra hour to get where I was going. Thank-you SIRIUS for keeping me entertained on the drive.

The birthday party was fun and all I wanted was to get home and sleep. I didn't have much sleep all weekend, then through on top of that beer and college food.......I haven't done that in a long time. I'm waiting for Andrew to send me pictures so I can post a couple.

So come Monday morning I'm still extremely tired and also stuffed in the head. Oh yeah...walking around without a jacket really did me in. FULL BLOWN HEAD COLD.

I needed to get over this cold quickly because of the Buckeye Trail Winter Run on Saturday. There is also the overnight work trip to Detroit. What a week. The stuffiness in my head started floating down to my chest. It's not bad now but I should go see a doctor on Monday.

I finally got some good sleep Thursday and Friday nights. The run on Saturday started at 7:00AM. Aimee and I were up at 4:30. I wasn't sure how I was going to do the run. the BT Winter Run had three runs, half marathon, full marathon and 50k.....all on the trails of the Cuyahoga Valley. Don't forget the pictures I gave you of the creek crossing. I would have to cross it two times today. The winter run is very low key. No awards, proceeds would go towards a scholarship and a non-profit organization. But the race shirt was primo and the food afterwards top notch.

I started running easy to get warmed up. You never know how far the guy next to you was going to run. Conversation was abundant and I realized that there were several 50k runners around me. I couldn't believe the pace they were running at. I was feeling pretty good and decided to see what I could do. I think my heart rate was a little high from either the Sudafed I was taking or from just being sick. I was going to run on feeling. The footing was okay despite the snow and ice. A warm front came through over night and with temperatures just below 40 degrees the air was comfortable. The first loop was 5 miles which I completed in just over 40 minutes. I started the second loop still feeling good. The second loop, 8 miles, is alot of fun. The two times I've done it before it's become my favorite trail run. The creek crossing was at a normal level and I could step over on a couple of rocks.

It wasn't until the turn-around of this loop that I started having any problems. The hills were starting to take a toll on my calves. They were starting to cramp. I had to fight off the cramps and keep moving forward. The uphills were walkers and the downhills I took agressively moving quickly.

I would pass Aimee and other people I knew going the other way. Everyone looked good and even the people I didn't know offered words of encouragement and I tried to return with a comment to them as well.

As I came off the trail there is a half mile path to the finish. My calves started to cramp again but I was almost done. As I hit the finish someone called out my time. Run over. From the finish line we go inside and turn in our race number stub and tell Tanya our time. See....I told you it was low key. Then your race number gets placed on posterboard in order of finishing. I was 7th overall for the half marathon. As I reviewed the results I was surprised by what I saw. The top four spots went like this, 39, 15, 49. Those are the ages of the runners. The 49 year old is a friend of mine, but a 15 year old cranking out a 1:50 for a trail half mary. The only thing more incredible than that was the NINE YEAR OLD who finished around 2:40. This kid must be the next Dean Karnezes. Amazing he would even want to run that far.

Oh by the way.....my time was 2:01....which is what I was hoping to run. Of course being sick I was pretty much drained. Aimee and I made it home and took a nice long nap. My legs are very tired and I'll be hitting the sack early again. Maybe I'll be able to sleep better tonight despite the sore throat and stuffy head. I can only hope.

I can also hope that it won't be another 10 days before I post again.

Game on people.