Big Texas Ultra - 5th of 5 in Texas Series Review

Most of my trail training miles came in the Tarkine Giants and Mount to Coast H1's for trail miles.  I also did some hiking miles in the Topo Vista.  I don't have a lot of true trails close to me, so a lot of my miles come on the road and I have numerous shoe models I ran in for those miles. 

My training and prep within a normal 6 week training block were shaky, but there are "life" reasons for that.  At the beginning of September I was part of a layoff at my company of almost 12 years.  This did open up some time to do some doubles, which I did, but then I quite happily got a job!!  The job started during my peak miles and into my taper, which resulted in some lost mileage and out of normal routine running for the block. 

The positive is I have been pretty consistent with mileage this year, so was hoping I could call upon some muscle memory to fill in the gap. 

My normal taper is a 2 week taper.  I cut down to around 40-45 miles 2 weeks out and then do a 5, 5, 3, 3 with Friday off on the week of a long race day.  I was able to hit the 5,5,3,3 but the 40-45 took a major hit as not only was I battling time conflicts that were more important at that point in time, but my weekend long run I was hoping to use to make up a little bit............was hit with a stomach bug.  

Let's just say I was doing the trots, literally, during that run and cut it very short.   

On top of that, a piriformis issue flared up as well.  So, not the best transition from peak to taper to race day, but I was still looking forward to the run!

This is my fifth run with Texas Outlaws and I have never waited more than 10 minutes at packet pick up.  They had a 2 hour window the evening before the run and then the morning of the run.  They are always well organized and efficient and check in, they do a great job communicating and answering questions.   Strong kudos from my experience on this aspect. 

-Hat: Head Sweats cap, purchased from Good Times Running in Katy, Texas. 
-Socks: Ran in a pair of Swiftwick
-Shorts: Craft Trail run shorts 
-Shirt: Craft
-Shoes: Mount to Coast H1's

I had 4 shoes in prep for the run: Mount to Coast H1 if conditions were dry (they were), Topo Vista was going to be my starter if conditions were wet, Tarkine Giants were my back ups in case it was a course that required good lugs but in dry conditions and then a pair of Speedgoat 5's that are just my do it all shoes that I can trust and have experience in. 

The course was set up with a 15k route and a 50K route that was done twice to achieve the 100K distance.  The way the course was set up, we hit 2 major aid stations twice on each "section" of the 50K course another well stocked aid station on the ranch side and then an unmanned station on the state park side.  The course was split between circuits on a ranch and circuits on Perdernales Falls state park.   

They had the course set up where the furthest you went without some kind of aid station was around 6ish miles and the volunteers rocked out the support on a course that had a lot of runners needing some extra support.  

The 50K(100K) course started out on a loop of sorts that came back to the general start/finish area.  Then it went back out the way you came in for about 3ish miles and split off in a way that looped back to the general start finish area again, but in from another direction.  That essentially covered the "ranch" side.  Then you went out on a junction to the park where you did 2 "lollipop" circuits and returned to the junction of the 2 "sides".  

They did a great job with markings throughout the course.  There is always a chance that markings get blown over, knocked over or even moved by people who share the trails and there were plenty of markings to keep us on track. 

Even a few times I was unsure because the trails started looking a little like just the open area, I was able to open Caltopo and match my location to the route in the app (which works with just gps signal) and confirm I was on the right path. 

So the story of the Ranch side is....Rocks.  Lots and lots of rocks.  There were not many areas on the ranch side that you could get into a nice stride for very long.  I have clunky big feet so this type of course condition will slow me down, but I will say it was an enjoyable course to look at.  We went through a cave that graded down into a river side area.   it then wound along the river side for a while and back up into some more.....rocks. 

There was one solid decline and also an incline (you hit it in both directions) that had a lot of loose rock on it.  I think I pretty much surfed down half the hill as the rocks just took me rollin, but luckily kept my balance until I stopped.  I actually had no slippage issues on the way up it as I picked a different line.

There was some dirt single track through some trees, but the majority of this side of the course was large loose rocks.    It might have paid a price on me as well, but you'll have to keep reading to learn about that. 

The junction from the Ranch side to the Park side was about 3 miles of more of the same, rocks.  A slightly different surrounding environment with well shaded areas of trees, with some low leaning ones.  I may have hit my head on one low hanging branch.  

This then opens up to some jeep road where you finally get some strides in.  For the most part the lolipop routes and straight shot back to the junction were mostly runnable gravel road, single path or fence line path.  It had some areas that opened up to some water ways with rock, but the scenery was nice enough to distract a bit and didn't last very long. 

All in all, the course was very rocky and that is not really my strong suit for running as I have clunky feet and when I get tired, I tend to drop my toes and catch roots.  Which, of course, as I was striding along on a fence line path where I didn't see any obstacles, my foot found a root and I went flying.  But, this is trail running!

With that said, the worst incident has not yet been mentioned.  So, let's get to that. 

I can say until the morning of the run, my legs didn't feel great.  My taper was off as mentioned, my peak miles were off as mentioned and my leg's just didn't feel great.  I got an infusion of vitamins and anti-inflammatory goodies the day before the run and when I woke up the day of the run, I felt good.  In the picture at the beginning of the run I felt like I was going to have a solid day, my legs felt re-energized and full of life. 

Then I hit .44 miles.  I hit a rock, my foot went one direction and my leg did not follow.  The victim was my ankle.  I will post some pictures of my foot/ankle during the run and the day after, but will do that in the last section so you don't have to see them if you like foot pictures as much as I do (not a fan). 

So I felt that pain a lot of us know when the ankle bent in a way it is not intended to.  I pulled over to the side of the trail, spoke some verbals that may or may not have been english and then the pain subsided.  I decided to slowly get back into a trot and see how that felt. 

As I was going in the beginning portion, it felt like I had escaped serious injury.  I got into a nice conversation with 2 other runners and kept tabs on the ankle.  I even picked up the pace a bit.  Around mile 2 my subconscious started registering things that I wasn't used to in H1 shoes.....like, I never had the collar rub my ankle before.   I think I spent a mile negotiating with myself on if I should look down at my ankle or not. 

By mile 3, I knew I needed to at least look.  What I saw, was not good.  It looked like an avocado was growing out the side of my outer ankle on my left foot.  By mile 4, I was in some good pain.  I needed 2 miles to reach the first aid station, so it became a one foot in front of the other, step by step process to get to the aid station and assess the situation. 

Coming into the first aid station at just past 6 miles and my wife saw me limping pretty quickly.  I stopped by to chat with the race director and his initial response was "one leg does not look like the other", which kind of made me laugh.  I could tell my wife was very anxious about the way my foot looked.  I could put pressure directly on the foot, so I didn't think I snapped anything, but it was clearly a severe sprain. 

So, I negotiated with my nurse/wife/doctor in wrapping the foot and letting me do the next section.  I was hoping that at the very least if I could get 10ish miles in, I would have completed a 15k distance and could at least get the race medal needed to complete the Texas series set.  She wrapped it, quite well, I limped back out on the course for another close to 5 miles.  She was following me with the GPS and was waiting on me to come back in to the aid station

I was "jogging" with a limp on the way back in and I had mentally decided I wanted to see the other side of the circuit, but that meant doing a full circuit..........which was a 50K, basically another 20 miles on a bum ankle.  My sweet wife and I negotiated again, I took some advil and ate some food.  The wrap was doing good, but the ankle was extremely sore at this point.  

But I wanted to complete my initial goal, even if it meant I walked the full Park side circuit.  I headed out to the junction to the park side and wobbled through the very rocky section of 3 miles to the Park side, not knowing it was going to open up some at this point in the run.  Then a convergence of things happened, the trail opened up to some runnable areas, my ankle pain went to a numb uncomfortableness and I realized my legs (other than the Ankle) actually felt quite fresh. 

So I started to Jog.  I ended up jogging probably about 75% of the park side, really enjoyed it.  I knew I couldn't "dance" on the trails, so any kind of rocky area I geared down to a walk.  I was aware enough of my ankle that I knew I could not trust it to "plant" strong on that leg.  Even with that, I earnestly enjoyed the park side run in spite of the ankle. 

I was able to complete the 50K, get my final piece of the full Texas Series medal assembly (see picture in next section) and also got to watch the top 3 winners of the 100K come in.  They were very impressive, as all runners who are willing to take on the challenges of the course are. 

Texas Outlaw Running does the Texas Series in year sets of 2.  You have 2 years to complete all 5 runs and they don't have to be Ultras, that was a personal goal of mine.  They are getting ready to set the new time period in 2026 for the next series, it is something I really enjoyed doing and the medal is fire.   If you get a chance to run with Texas Outlaws, give them a chance!!

This is formally my first DNF, where I did not finish my initial distance I signed up for.  However, it is one of the runs I am more proud of doing because of what I was able to fight through to get the 50K distance completed.  I won't lie in that I did consider going back out and attempting a 100K, but I was very worried about potentially doing more damage to the ankle and twisting it again as I would be out in the dark and on a bum leg, while navigating the very rocky terrain. 

Now, the next section is of my ankle, so if you don't want to see those pictures, have a good one and hope to see you on the trails some day. 

So by the time I post this, it will be 4-5 days after.  My swelling is starting to go down, my foot is very bruised and my leg is sore for quite a ways up to my shin area.  

I am taking it easy, resting it and mentally getting ready for the next one!

Thanks for reading