Thursday Thirteen: 30K Thoughts

1. The 30K is looming right around the corner. Saturday night at 7 pm in Pedernales Falls, which is about 4 hours south of Fort Worth.

2. I’m driving down there with Derek, who is also running the 30K, and Maureen (my friend who is dropping us off and going to see her Little [BBBS] Sister in San Antonio). This is pretty much a weekend commitment, given the drive, the long run (7 pm – midnight) on Saturday, and staying a night at a hotel.

3. I haven’t been working out as much these past few days since I’m drying to rest up a bit for Saturday night. However, I did get a longer trail run in on Sunday morning (6.07 miles in 1:30:32… slower time since we did some of the red course, which is the most technical) and a faster trail run in on Tuesday (4.17 miles in 53:19… much faster than I’ve been running on the trails, especially considering we did the green and blues, unlike running on my own and just doing the easy green).

4. I had a much-needed massage yesterday evening, and I have a chiropractor appointment today at lunch. I think my neck and back are still feeling the remnants of the 10K swim from a few weeks ago!

5. Thinking ahead to the Rocky Raccoon 50-miler, the less poundage I have on me, the better. I’ve lost a bit of weight, and I’m fairly close (about 6 pounds) to my wedding weight. This is pretty good considering my seasonal summer beer intake.

6. I’m attempting to cook a new recipe tonight. Although I wasn’t expecting Cliff to ask, “only mac and cheese?” I seem to remember my mom making homemade mac and cheese without side dishes or accompaniments.

Hopefully mine looks this purrrrrdy:

7. I’m seeing the light at the end of my CFE tunnel. I’m preparing for the fourth (or four) parts. Once I’m done, I have a 30-day window to pass all four parts. Now the big decision is whether to take the test before the Bahamas trip (which will give me less than 30 days but a sense of inner peace).

8. Some jobs should be posting at HUD soon, so that is additional motivation to go ahead and pass this exam and sound like more of a bad a$$.

9. I’m trying to come up with some new TV series for me and Cliff to watch on Netflix. I decided on “The Closer” and “Mad Men,” but both discs had a wait. So that left me with “Hung.”

10. There are so many movies out now that I want to see, but we never make it to the movie theater. There is one about 10 minutes away, but we had a bad experience there (with loud kids and apathetic employees). So I guess I will stay in suspense until they are release on Netflix.

11. Papa Paquette is visiting next weekend (August 20-22). His trip is conveniently scheduled during Bulldog play date.

12. We leave for the Bahamas in 23 days! EEEEEEK!

13. I’m assuming I will get lost and end up running about 30 miles. These are the insane directions:
For the 30km / 60km runners, the course is a 30km Loop. So, its ONE loop for the 30km and TWO loops for the 60km. The first aid station is roughly 4.7 miles in and will be a rough aid station with Water only. Its on the fence-line so I simply called it the FENCE aid station. The next aid station is another 3.3 miles and this one is called PIPE because its at the pipeline clear-cut. This is a an aid station that will have more drinks and foods. After you leave this station, you will run a 4.6 mile loop and back to the same station. This time when you leave, the next and final aid will be at the FINISH in another 5.9 miles. Thats ONE 30km loop or 18.6 miles. The 2nd loop for the 60km is the same as the 1st loop.

We start and finish in an open field where we will have you also park and camp. Its wide open, so bring some shade and lawn chairs. The route begins by heading towards the river. It is a single-track trail overgrown with high grass. There is room to pass for much of this so no worries about getting trapped behind a slow start. The trail becomes an overgrown grassy jeep road. About a mile in, you will drop down to the river and run up the river rocks for a few hundred yards, then turn back up to the same grassy road. Once you get to the fence-line, you will stay on it for 4 miles. Its an old road that is not used much and overgrown. It is strait but not very flat. The aid station is about midway along the fence-line.

After the Fence Aid, its still another 2 mile to the turn at the park boundary corner, but soon after the turn you will cross the park road (paved) and another mile to the Pipe Aid station. This aid station is on a well used dirt jeep road. take a look around because you are coming back to this station again and going out of it a different way on the return trip. When you first get here, you leave by continuing strait down the road. When you come back, you will be making a right turn up the pipeline clearing. if you miss this turn, you will find yourself in the lead and it will soon become obvious.

Ok, back to the Tobacco Creek Loop, when you leave the Pipe Aid station the 1st time, keep going down the road. At the bottom of the hill, you will get to a fork in the road. Go RIGHT. This next section is mostly single track and very rocky. This is a section that offers up a lot of entertainment. Lots of rocks, very skinny trail, twists n turns, a few drops, and so on. Jones Spring is the end of this fun part and then it becomes a wide road again. The entire next section is pretty easy all the way over to the bathroom. I had to add on a short out n back to get the correct distance and this is where that happens... from the bathroom, you need to go down 0.22 miles and then turn around and come back to the same bathroom. Then you go RIGHT and head UP the hill over Wolf Mt. Its not much of a Mt, but this may be biggest single climb on the entire course. Still, after 100 yards, its over. Its still a wide dirt road. You will get back to the same intersection you started this loop just a few miles ago. Then, its back UP the road to the Pipe Aid station.

Remember, this time you go RIGHT. A good thing to remember through this entire loop, at every fork, always go RIGHT. The pipeline clear cut is a very wide cut and not much fun as it is rocky and hilly with no cover at all. Yuk! This rough scramble only lasts two tenths of a mile but you will hate all of it. You will reach a trail that crosses over the pipeline. This is where you get off the ugly and get on a very nice skinny single track again for near to 3 miles. You will come up to a location right next to the road where a big concrete water pipe comes under the paved park road. You will turn right onto a hard pack jeep road and remain on this hard pack for a half mile. Go LEFT at the split in the road and then merge LEFT onto a single-track trail. This trail goes through a very short section of trees and then crosses over the main paved park road. The map shows this final section of trail as strait but it is not strait, It wanders about on a single-track trail that is a lot of fun and rolls a fair bit all the way back to the finish.