Bandera and Beyond

I started toying with the idea of running the 100K trail run in Bandera about a week before the race, and 3 days before the race I decided it was a go and signed up. I've been running fairly consistently since Ultraman, but nothing had been longer than 2 hours or so and most of that was done on a treadmill. I guess I was hoping that Ultraman fitness would still be lingering. Since I was already on the road driving to Texas seemed a logical choice. Little did I realize how big Texas really was, and I only had to drive halfway into it. The rest of my trip so far had consisted of 3-4 hour drives broken up with a stop at a national park or a friends house. Bandera is about 500 miles from the New Mexico border. Fortunately the van is a comfy sleep and most McDonalds and Starbucks have free wifi. At nearly every exit off the I-10 I could stop, connect to the internet from the convenience of the drivers seat, and plan the rest of my day. One of the rest stops in Texas even had free wifi.


Somewhere in Arizona..... The van setup. Sleeping bag on right, crates full of gear all neatly organized, and the dog kennel just behind the drivers seat. I might be the most organized hobo out there.

The drive was uneventful with unchanging scenery for about 500 miles. Bandera is a small town that is mainly comprised of dude ranches. I didn't start getting nervous about the race until I arrived at packet pick up the night before. At the pre-race briefing they talked about how rough the course was and some cactus that looked like an aloe plant that we shouldn't touch. There were some chuckles about there aren't switchbacks in the Texas hills and we'd go straight up and down the steep hills. The nerves were building. 62 miles is a long way to go in a car let alone on foot, but I was excited about the new challenge. This was going to be the next step into building towards hopefully my first 100 mile run in the next year or two.

Hill Country Texas was more scenic than I had pictured and had actual hills. Really great views on the run.

The race itself was much more than anticipated. It was 2 laps of 31 miles. I had Bliksem with me so I was stopping after lap 1 to check on her and let her out for a bathroom break. Coming from the Sierras the "hills" in Texas didn't scare me, but they did go straight up and down as promised. It was also really rocky and loose in some places. The cactus was much eviler than I had thought. Their branches reached across the single track interlacing with the plant on the opposite side of the trail. We really had no choice but to run through them. At first my legs were cold enough that I didn't really feel them, but when I looked down about 5 miles into the run I had blood running down my legs from 100s of tiny little cuts. For the first lap the rocks, cactus, and hills were a piece of cake, but round 2 on the course really worked a number on me both physically and mentally. Lap 1 went really smoothly, but I didn't take enough calories in. This caught up with me on lap 2.

photo by Enduro Photo. Lap 1 as I'm still looking fairly coherent.

Finished the first lap in about 5 hours, stopped and took the dog for a short walk, changed my shoes, and headed back out for round 2. Bliksem was not impressed as she got shoved back in the van. The toughest part of lap 2 was the mental aspect. It was a USATF Championship event so there were no pacers, no ipods, no HR monitors, and no GPS. As I left or lap 2 I passed 2 other runners and then didn't see another runner for the rest of the 30 miles. Every time I would stumble into an aid station I'd be so happy to see people that I wouldn't want to leave. I'd have to focus on grabbing some quick food and getting back out on the trails. I usually enjoy running solo, but something about this run was really tough for me. Running through the cactus became a dread as my legs felt more and more raw. I was still running flats and uphills quickly, but my legs turned to baby giraffe legs and each loose downhill became a battle to stay upright. As I came through the last aid station the last of the sunlight faded and it was time to break out the light. The last 5 or so miles were slow...... real slow. As I approached the finish I could see the clock at 10:59, and I hustled through to get in under the 11 hr mark. Tough day, but I'm glad I gutted it out. Immediately passed out in the van only to wake up starving at 3am. I promptly polished off an entire bag of trail mix.


Evil cactus that looked kind of like an aloe plant but with hack saws for blades.

photo by Enduro Photo
Rick Kent from Ultraman was at the finish doing the photography for the events. It was great to see a familiar face!

Awards were Tarahumara pottery that I actually managed to not break during the road trip. I also got my first belt buckle. As you can see the bed is super comfy.

Next up my trip though Big Bend National Park