GATOR 🐊
Not the greatest of overnight accommodations, but the Indian couple who ran the joint were friendly, happy for the business — and kept the room clean. Location? Across a two-laned road from our parking lot. Civitan Park, Winnsboro LA.
Went out a bit fast for Day One. Pitch black, except for my headlamp — stayed top 3 outta fear of what lurked in the dark. Swarmy humid swamp smell & the croaking/clicking sounds of nearby gators. By mile 7, had moved into first place.
Yeah… that scary. Y’all know I’m slow. LOL> Daylight exposed fire ant mounds, lush tropical vegetation & a row of turtles sun-bathing on a dead log.
What about… Oh yeah, there were gators. Spring season when juvenile males fight & wrestle to move-up the breeding pyramid hierarchy.
Have marathon’d Louisiana twice in 3 weeks. Check, done.
Tomorrow: the Land of Opportunity. Woo pig sooie, Arkansas! 🐽
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- Luzianna swamp
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- row of TURTLES 🐢
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- Civitan Park
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- #50k every day
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- Mom ❤️
Winnsboro LA
New day, new adventure.
First stop, Houston. Next up, Jackson. Nothing direct to Mississippi. Who knew?
Riverboat Series. Louisiana to Illinois, states hugging the mighty Mississipp’.
Rental car prep at Kroger. Water, cans of sweet tea, combo pack of Takis and… pouches of Gerber. Yep, oatmeal blueberry banana. Healthy to digest, easy on the stomach. One lasting effect of stomach cancer & chemo — your boy has a sensitive stomach.
2 hour drive to Winnsboro LA. Registration, bib pickup, pasta dinner.
And… another request to upgrade.
No marathon folks, 50K every day. Only 7 this time 💪
Welcome to Riverboat
3 minutes. 180 seconds.
Brief amount of time that cut my Fruita experience short. Overall, beautiful rugged course on Colorado’s Western Slope. Miles & miles of climb, high alpine desert. Strong mountain bike/rock climbing community. Colorado’s version of Moab 🚴
Took off slow, power-hiked in a conga-line of runners UP UP UP. Over 9k elevation.
Stomach wonky. First Colorado trail of 2024, little/no altitude training… felt a bit flatlander. Ate light, hydrated often. Pushed/worked thru the nausea. 8-9 miles, course would flatten out for miles. Allowed me to break free & enjoy the open expanse. Red rock, cliff canyons, spectacular view of the Colorado below. Cool temps this day — pretty much perfect, traversing high arid desert. Completely exposed, heat would be a suffer fest.
3rd Aid Station on, hung with a group from Oregon/Virginia. All graduated Virginia Tech days past. One guy in the bunch struggling. Marathoner/fit but notta lotta altitude ’round his DC home. Couple of us stayed behind, kept his spirits up, feet moving forward.
Unfortunately, that’s how I’d end my day.
Course went long by half-mile so… after 18+ miles, we arrived at the day’s only cutoff station @ 12:03pm, 3 minutes past Cinderella hour. Explained to folks I was feeling GREAT & could certainly finish remaining 13 miles over the next 5 hours (course limit).
This day, rules were rules.
Post-race, 90% of my run friends say you ignore them & go on. Refuse to give up your bib. They expect that. Huh?
Not me. Just a chump I guess. Higher [integrity] standard, that goes far beyond trail racing.
So… that’s how it ended. You take off your bib & give to RD. They eventually provide transport back. That’s what happens when you DQ… & now I know. 2 of us chose to run over the saddle on an ATV road, extend our day & forego the SAG wagon experience.
Today stung. Didn’t end by choice. Wasn’t meant to be.
Will return to Fruita this November (Kessel 60K). Not sure if Desert RATS will make a future calendar. Thankfully there’s a lotta race options that probably better align with my run standards. Strong believer we support our trail community/young old new experienced… especially in my home Colorado. Was told I should have left him, drop a pin location on my cell phone & share at the aid station.
Come on. Think we’re better than this.
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- cool morning temp
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- ready ready to run
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- stunning landscape
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- red rock, cliff canyons
DQ Disappointment
