Race Reports , Comments, and So On Walter Evans Rich Limacher Jane Cox Running Bear  Mann Conrad Nancy Moody Branton Boehm Active.com Matthew Darby Lisa O Audrey David Genecand Laurel Paper 3/5 The Troubledour Race Director UR Article Greg Yaghmai       Dennis and everyone else who volunteered their time and energy for the race:   I am the 72 year old, English woman who did this race.  I wanted to congratulate y'all on an excellent ultra.  I only did the 20K but had such a good time on the run that I might have done it again if I had not had someone there to take me back to the hotel.  The whole thing was excellent - the aid stations were awesome and the volonteers really nice, friendly and helpful.  Special mention should be given to the Teletubbies and the signs on the hill leading to their station.   I cannot think of a complaint.  Of course, the weather was perfect and there was just enough mud to make it fun.    The Hampton Inn was very impressive.  I am glad I stayed on for Saturday night so I could enjoy the waffles they offered with breakfast.  The staff there was very welcoming, especially the lady who did the breakfast.   The dinner the night before was a nice extra and you did a good job of scaring me just enough - ie about having to be looking for me after dark if I got lost.   I will be looking for this race next year.  I am from Memphis so it is quite a long drive but if it is possible I will be back.  This was my first ultra and it left me wanting more.   By the way, we have one in Memphis in the summer.  I have volonteered for it but not run it.  The trails are harder but there are less hills.  Perhaps some of you could come up here to this race.   Jane Cox Well we have managed to get another MS50 in the books. David,  Elmer and Ann still have loads of work to do with all the accounting and web site work but for the rest of us our job is done.  I am always amazed with what happens while I wonder around stressed out, hoping it all runs smoothly and that everyone, volunteers and runners alike, all have a great time. All of the reviews I have seen and all of the comments made to me were positive, as always. Everyone does such an outstanding  job on their part that all I really have to do is talk everyone into doing the same job they have been doing all along. I hear you all making fun of me for stressing because you know the race will go off without any problems.  We need to thank Sam Landry and his group who came up from New Orleans for the second time to help with the aid station on the small loop and ended up doing it all. They certainly pulled us out of a problem.  Thanks to Patrick Scoggins who volunteered (his first time) to help anyway he could and ended up at an aid station for the day. Patrick and Michael did a great job. The rest of the aid stations were to quote a popular phrase “off the hook”. My hope is that the aid stations continue to get more out of hand next year. Many runners told of the encouragement they got from various aid stations when sitting down became easier than continuing. Most seemed reassured when they reported having been told that they were “not likely to die” while being encouraged to continue on.  It is easy to forget that Elmer and Ann do a great job with the website and registration all year not just for a few days. Thanks to them as always.  Thanks to David Dill who handles the money. I do not want to handle the money but would rather spend it.  A big thanks to my family who put up with a house in turmoil and my attitude for a week each year knowing they have a tough few days helping with our race.    We continue to make this race one of the best races around. Did you know last year we were listed as  13th of the top 13 trail races you needed to run in 2009 by Runners World Magazine.  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-239-281--12523-0,00.html I just found that on the web the other day. That says a lot about the race you put on each year.  I could go on and on but thanks to all, you know what you have done to help make this race one of the best and I hope you had a good time doing it.  Dennis Bisnette, RD MY ARROGANCE WAS ONLY OUTWEIGHED BY MY IGNORANCE BUT I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE I signed up for the MS50 in August mainly because I was 10 lbs overweight for me and the MS50 gave me motivation. I shed 28 lbs and seemingly was prepared to tun a good 50 miler. My game plan was to run 25 minutes then walk 5 minutes. That way I thought my body would regulate the pace and it shouldn't be a problem to run the 50 miles. During training the furthest I ran was 24 miles thinking I could 25-5 all day. On race day I decided to "go for it" and try to run 9 hrs with the real possibility of not finishing at all if I fell apart. I had never even run a full marathon before. The first 12.5 miles went as planned with the exception of not being prepared for the mud. I ran 2:09 feeling great. I even stopped after the first loop for 4 minutes to mentally run four 12.5 mile races. About Mile 18 I started to feel the effects of the terrain and my silly theory that I would "go for it" seemed IGNORANT. By Mile 32 I was in total survival mode knowing I was physically done. The smart thing would have been to hang it up and just be done at 37.5. However, if I was going to live by the "going for broke" theory then I was going to do everything I could to finish under the cutoff. I barely held on and finished in 11:44 which was next to last for those who ran the full 50 miles and made the 12 hour cut off. I haven't looked at it closely, but my negative splits had to be some of the biggest in this race. The aid station workers were wonderful and encouraged me all the way through. I wouldn't have survived without them. So thank you a million times over. As I was leaving the park I took a wrong turn and tried to make a u-turn. My car got stuck and I had to wait for a wrecker to pull me out. Thank you to the gentleman who waited until the park officials arrived. It was just another example of my ignorance on that day. A few days after the race, I was asked if I would run again next year. My response, "of course." I was then asked "Will you use the same race day strategy of 'going for it?' After a couple short moments I responded, "Of course. I don't know any other way." So see you next year and you will likely see me "fall apart" sometime during the race and I will probably slide by just before the cut off. But at least for a little while I will have a chance to run a great time. Thanks again Greg Y.- Birmingham, Al   Thanks to Dennis, Running Bear, and all the helpful and entertaining volunteers at this year's MS50. You continue to raise the bar every year. The weather was glorious and the aid stations continue to improve every year.  Mandy was 5+ months along in her pregnancy, but was a trooper throughout and we both had a splendid time, albeit a much slower time. Mothers-to-be are entitled to special treatment and so she happily took my offer to carry her across the deepest creek crossing so as not to add to her already increased weight-load. ;) We plan to be back next year, and plan to bring even more Stark-Villans with us. Mann Conrad--Starkville, MS A Panegyrical Discourse on Dys Course   by Rich Limacher The Troubadour (note spelling ;) Your friendly Middle Age 800-year-old lute plucker from France     Isn't there an old (OK, not 800 years old) tune by Flatt & Scruggs, Homer & Jethro, or some such that contains the lyric:  "It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud"?  And didn't they play the lute?  Or maybe it was the banjo.  Anyway, they lied.   If there's any "treating" goin' on along this totally incorrigible bayou-marsh-swamp-type enterprise through The Big Woods of Jones County (no booze please!) then it has to come from something hidden inside brown paper bags.  It is NOT coming from the ground.  The shoe-sucking MUD here is sooooooooooo amazing, that once (honest!) it did indeed suck my shoe off.  No, I don't mean the shoe getting sucked off the foot; I mean the sole of the shoe getting sucked off the shoe!   I forget when that happened (in 800 years, ya know, one tends to lose track of some details) but thankfully--and this is a great feature of this race--you get to run by your car every loop and, bingo:  if you have an extra pair in the trunk, your race is saved!   This year, which was one of the COLDEST March 6ths known to Mississlipperians in the past eight-tenths of the millennium, it was "Yankee Weather" and I couldn't help but notice all the hats, ear muffs, gloves, jackets, and running tights (just like in France! :) being worn by everyone in front of me.  And, let me be perfectly clear here, EVERYONE was in front of me!   Unfortunately, despite all the crystal-clear-blue-sky and stately pines forming a beautiful photo-op everywhere you turned (and there were a few who turned too much, and got lost!), this is Mississlippi and the terra firma is never firm.  I'd call it a "mud bowl," or what we up north (France is north, no?) call a "character builder."  I believe Ol' Miss gets an extra day each calendar year (366 or 367 depending on "leap") just so everyone can say, "Mississippi gets 365 days of rain every single year."  The extra day only gets sunshine.  This past Saturday was that day.   Boom:  a brand-new treat this year!  Trailside philosophy signs!  What a brilliant concept!  While you are throat-parched, in pain, and nearly dying out there... suddenly... wow!  The cure for being brain-dead!  Before you'd get to two of the aid stations, you had to THINK!!!   Aid station number one was (yes, spelled just this way):  "Bubba's Trucks Stop."  It was the place where, apparently, they were giving away "Marlboro Reds and Water Just Ahead."  Hmmm... I must confess that when I saw this, I assumed that what Bubba meant was that, at his fueling station, you could Just Add Water and wham:  instant Marlboro Reds.  Wow, what a concept, huh?  Imagine instant ciggies inside all those trucks just ahead of you on the highway--and all the fumbling around inside the cab while the driver tries not to spill all that water all over him/her self while trying to assemble a smoke.   So I asked the dear people there at the cash register, "Hey, if this is a truck stop and I am stopped, am I a truck?"   Nobody laughs anymore at twisted syllogistic jokes coming from just-barely-alive Trouble Doers still stuck in the Middle Ages.   But another one of Bubba's signs said something about "lunch specials" including a short list of menu items, one of which, I swear, said "Pee's Cornbread."   So next loop I asked Bubba.  And he told me, "Oh yeah.  It's 'cuzza the designs on the cornbread.  They're made by peeing them on."   Ya really gotta love the South.   Aid station numbers 3/4 (double duty!) was even more cantankerously philosophical.  As we approached, runners were greeted with a whole lotta signs!  Here's just a few:  "Ants Never Sleep!"  Hmmm...  "Dolphins Sleep With One Eye Open!"  Again hmmm...  "Cleopatra Married Two of her Brothers!"  Huh?  That one needs checking!  "Violence Isn't the Only Option" and a little farther down the trail:  "But It's Still an Option!"  I'm guessing Julius Caesar thought so, too.  'Cuzza what he must've done to Cleo's bros, ya think?  Was that were the term "fratricide" comes from?   By far, THE BEST sign was:  "Why Isn't Number 11 Pronounced Onety-One?"  Hmmm!!!  Then 12 would have to be "onety-two" and 13 "onety-three" and so on.  I like this!  In fact, I remember having this very discussion when numbers were first invented back in my Middle Ages.  We were all gathered around some kind of round table, and good ol' King Hoozits finally said:  "Nah.  Sounds fake.  Besides, I have teenagers!  So, we need numbers-teen!"   I asked, "Well, sire, how about 11 being oneteen, 12 being twoteen, 13 being threeteen, and so on?"   But Merlin quashed the whole dys-cussin'.  "It has to be eleven and twelve," he said, "because of future truck stops.  Marlboro Reds will be sold for eleven cents a pack, in the 1940s, and then go to twelve in the '50s.  And there's just no way a Mississippi--or any other state's--convenience store clerk is gonna be able to handle, or even pronounce, 'onety-one.'"   That, of course, seemed to settle the matter... well, at least for the next 800 years.   My wife, the kindergarten teacher, however, when I told her about these amazing thought-provoking signs, said, in all seriousness, "Well, that's what I deal with every single day!  Five-year-olds, who haven't been taught anything yet, will look at an eleven and say 'onety-one!'"   So, now I guess we know the true age of the author of THAT philosophical sign, huh?  One of the volunteer's little kindergartners, would be my guess.   Well, by now y'all are probbly bored to tears readin' alla dys--my wordy equivalent to peed-on cornbread--so maybe I'll just sign off by saying, "Thanks for reading this, even if it's only your onety time either reading or running!"   'Cuz it truly is, after all, (just like I've been sayin' now for the eighty-tenth time :) a treat to beat your twoty feets in the Mississloppi Mud!      [the end, delivered now as promised to: Mr. fully-clothed, though spelling-challenged, Running Bare]  ;-)  I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of my son-in-law Donald (Mutt) Hardin.  Within 3 miles of the run, Mutt stepped in a hole and thought he only sprained his ankle.  Through his willpower, Mutt completed the race! Today, Mutt though it might be a good idea to have his ankle checked.  Yes, the ankle is fractured!  He will be in a cast for 6 weeks!  A small setback…….  I am very proud of Mutt finishing the race that he trained so hard for, but being an athletic myself, I know how it feels to be defeated by an injury! I just glad my other son-in-law, Richard Goldman finished the race without injuries!!  With all this said, I’m proud to say your organization has put together a well organized race.  Good luck on next years event!  Yakōki (Thank You)   Nancy Moody Dear Dennis ,   You have done a fantastic job.   We have especially appreciated the support at aid station 1 with Charles and his buddy and aid station 3-4 with Ava and her team!   This was our first ultra and it was awsome and friendly. What an experience.   At the finish I have received third Jumper with a skeleton in the back...and I was wondering why as my running mate did not get it?   Not important for me however it was bothering the curiosity of my friend :o)   Thank you.   David Genecand the Swiss guy from Illinois and Tobias Woelfert the German guy from Illinois.

Still my favorite race!  I think I want to be a trail runner when I grow up!  Thanks for all your hard work.  I could not figure out how to post a comment, so i am sending it to you to post.  Audrey
 
 In order to do this race, I had to plead with my stats professor to take my exam on Friday, and show up late for class.  So, unfortunately, I had to miss the Friday night festivities.  Hated that, but loved the opportunity to do my favorite race. The weather was perfect!   I was better prepared this year than the previous two years, so I had aspirations of bettering my time, and my top secret aspiration was to place in the top three.  Well, my first aspiration died quickly when I started hitting the mud.  My shoe was sucked off, and it took me forever to  recover it, then get it back on.  I quickly realized, the course was a little more challenging than the last two years.  I still started off too fast, Eric let me go and said he would catch me later, (and yes, he did catch me and passed me for good around mile 10).  I twisted my ankle once, (not anything too bad, I recovered after about a mile), slipped but managed to somehow stay upright, and did lose my shoe once more.  The water at one spot was mid thigh, and I don't  know how that can be, because no one else seems to have stepped in water past their ankles.  I can't tell all of you how much I enjoy the challenge of this race!  The concentration and focus that is required to keep your footing, and the up and down of the terrain just makes it the perfect run for me.  I always have difficulty understanding when runners say "just enjoy the run".  Most of the time I push so hard, I feel like someone beat the life out of me when I finish a race.  This type race is a physical and mental challenge.  I  can  say, I pushed just as hard, but I truly "enjoyed the run".  I am still jazzed.  The cherry on the top of the pie, was that in this race I was the "official" first female.  The  really fast people either stayed home, or they were the real studs and ran the 50K or 50mile.  There was actually a lady that did finish this race ahead of me, but she dropped back from the 50K.  It's all good though, because well, did I say how much I love this run?  There were some Pacers at the race, and I will be interested in their responses to this race.  Charles jumped in at the last minute, and this was the first time he has done this one.  I don't think he was quite as excited about the whole trail thing.  I finished in front of him, (which always makes me happy :) )  but he is coming off a marathon.  (I will take it anyway).   So, thanks to Elmer, Dennis, and everyone who volunteered.  It was a great experience, as always.  I look forward to next year, and who knows, I may someday bump up to the next level.  Catch all of you on the Run!  Audrey

Okay, I just have to tell you that I had THE BEST TIME EVER!!  Well, maybe not during the last 5 miles of the 50k, but at least for all of the other parts of the race and the weekend in general.  This was my first time to run a 50k (I've only run marathon distance), though I regularly volunteer at the Bartlett Parks Ultras in Memphis (if you have run it during the last two years, I've been the timer/checker at the start/finish aid station), so I at least had a vague idea of what starts to happen mentally and physically as the miles wear on just from witnessing the runners trying to finish that race in 103 degree temps.  I only hope that I have been as good to those struggling runners as the MS50 volunteers were to me on Saturday!!!  Charles and Randy were great, so were the guys at aid station #2 who made suggestions on what to try to eat to keep going.  The enthusiastic crowd at aid station #3 were a hoot in their costumes - which had to be pretty warm as the day got along.  And the gal at the start/finish aid station made a mean PB&J.

But my most enthusiastic thank you goes to the two fellows and gal at the orange loop aid station.  Please please please let them know that the girl in the red singlet from Memphis who was convinced she would not be able to even crawl the last 4 miles actually ran most of it and still had energy to shout with joy when she finished.  I am not kidding.  With me in a state of low-blood-sugar-exhaustion-near-panic, they totally talked me down off the ledge.  From what I recall, it was an inspired pep-talk.  I'm pretty sure it involved at least one of them saying "No, you aren't going to die.  Really, you aren't" and another saying "Do you feel like you need to throw up?  No?  Then you are fine."

You do a terrific job as a race director.  All of your hard work showed and was very much appreciated.  And thank you for arranging such gorgeous weather!  Even if you should have invested a bit more in some light cloud cover, you made up for it with the really cold creek water that felt so good on tired calves and feet!  Thanks again for a great event.  I will recommend it highly and might even see you down there again.

--lisa o (Memphis, TN)

THE CARL TOUCHSTONE MEMORIAL

MISSISSIPPI 50 TRAIL RUN

MARCH 6, 2010 RACE REPORT　

The Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi Trail 50 was held March 6, 2010. Publicized as an excellent event for first time trail runners or those wishing to take on a new distance, runners selected from an introductory 20 kilometers, longer 50 kilometer and longest distance offered of 50 miles as their courage allowed. Runners were credited with the longest distance they complete and were awarded medals for the shorter races and a buckle for completing fifty miles.

Winter weather had been more wet and cold than it was in recent years. The Race Director worried about the condition of the trail in the days leading up to the race. Many horses had been on the trails the previous weekend for an endurance horse race. The horse race along with wet muddy conditions threatened to leave the course a real mess. But the weather turned sunny and windy on Tuesday leading up to the race. At the pre race meal and meeting the course was announced as “not that wet.” Those knowing the history of the event remember that twice the race was closed mid day due to high water in creeks. Swimming the course lead to concerns about safety of runners. The race directors evaluation was, if not welcomed by all, accurate.

Nothing so drastic as course closure occurred this year. But, the course was unavoidably muddy. Fortunately the creeks were knee deep and running clear enough to wash weighty mud off participants shoes every few miles. By the second 12.5 mile loop mud had been packed down and was drying in the sun leaving a clear path around most muddy sections but still without any way around the six knee deep creeks crossing the course.

Participants started the day bundled against the mid 20 degree temperature in the glow of the sun rising in the clear sky only to peel off layers of clothing as the sun and temperatures rose higher. Some participants ended up shirtless by the end of 50 miles with temperatures in the high 60 degrees.

Aid on the course was abundant with “Bubba’s Trucks Stop” just over four miles on the course and at eight miles hula girls alternated with cartoon characters providing aid. Runners were seen wasting time for pictures with various inhabitants at aid stations.

Fifty runners completed the 50 mile trail run and 68 completed the 50 kilometer run. Sixty five participants completed the 20 kilometer run for a total of 183 runners completing a distance. Almost 100 participants ran a new distance although not all were successful. The field included representatives from 25 states with the majority from the states of Mississippi and Alabama.

The relatively flat course can be very fast when dry but when wet has resulted in runners diving into mud to retrieve shoes. The past four years proved to be dry and fast. This year resulted in slower times but a more memorable fun event.

Many participants run the Mississippi 50 because of the varied distances. The 20 kilometer race is long enough to introduce runners to what trail running is all about without being so long that they are reluctant to try another trail run or step up to the 50 kilometer race in future years. The standard trail running distances of 50 kilometers and 50 miles may be too much for an introduction to trail running but those attempting such a distance know what is in store. A long day of adverse conditions always leads to a great trail running experience.  

In continuing with "Positively Wednesdays," I cannot think of anyone more
deserving of this exaggerated honor than the man in whose memory the race
I've just run, the Mississippi Trails 50/50/20, yet endures.  Although my
good friend departed this life in the year 2000, there is nothing that says
my subjects for this series need to be living.  And so it is that I would
now like to pay tribute to The Man, my friend and hero, who actually did
once say to me, after I'd given him my PowerBar somewhere out on the trail
of the Ice Age 50M race in Wisconsin, "Rich, you just saved my life."

Sadly, however, I didn't.

He is the late Dr. Carl Touchstone, DDS, and THIS is Positively Wednesday!]

When he would invent a race, he'd expect EVERYONE to attend his race.  And
when he'd gets calls from the Jackson International Airport that one of his
attendees can't make the race because his driver's license had expired and
they won't rent him a car, this race director would fly his own airplane
from Laurel to Jackson, pick up the stranded attendee, bring him to the
race, and then return him to Jackson afterwards.

When he was a racer himself, he could finish 50 miles in seven hours.
Later, in his largesse as an RD, he would give folks (nearly double that
time) twelve hours to do the same.

Instead of making peeps buy tix on Northwest Orient to run Western States,
he would buy the airline himself, and fly all his friends out there for
free.

He was known to set his plane "down just over yonder" and run Wisconsin's
IAT practically every single year of its existence.  Afterwards, if you
needed a ride, he would take you back "over yonder" on a magic carpet, and
then fly you to wherever you needed to be.  Even if you lived in a totally
foreign country, like Canada!

If you showed up at his race on your birthday, he'd have a birthday cake at
the finish line, and direct the choir of finishers and volunteers in a
rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday To You!"

After you got home, he'd give you a couple days to let the mud cake and the
dust settle, then call you on the phone to ask how you liked it and what you
might suggest to improve it.  If he interrupted your workday, he would mail
a check to your boss to reimburse the company for lost productivity.  If you
were self-employed, he'd send it to you.

If you showed up on race day and wondered where to put the parking sticker
that the National Forest Service had just issued to you, he would take it
and wing it directly into the nearest trash barrel, saying, "That's where
you put that, right THERE."

He'd be the ONE man in the cosmos who actually *could* get nOrm and Helen
Klein to show up, volunteer, and guest-speak at his pre-race banquet.  Then
the next day, during the monsoons, he'd also be the ONE man that could
actually GET nOrm to do any work!  nOrm and he would then push all the
rental cars out of the mud so his runners could get out of the woods.

If anyone throughout the whole South ever had impossibly crooked teeth, he'd
be the ONE orthodontist who could straighten them.

In heaven right now, there is a forest, and he is the ONE new race director
enlisting all the angels to start running 50 miles, and all the archangels
to volunteer, and all the devils (from down below) to issue the permits,
sell the parking stickers, and serve as rangers to close down the race
whenever the monsoons get too heavy, the Good Lord ISN'T willing, and the
creek DOES rise---to a level somewhere over your head.

He's been The Most Interesting Man in the World.

"I don't always need dentistry; but when I do, I prefer the Touchstone
Touch.  Stay smiling, my friends."

( 00  )
      V

My mark:

XX
Barkley scRitch
[aka Rich Limacher,
The TroubleDoer at sbcglobal-dot-net]

Yankee Folly of the Day:
The "folly" part follows IF y'all bother to check my damn time this past
Saturday. 

Some 50 runners complete 50-mile, MS Trail 50 run

By Dennis Bisnette, Mississippi Trail 50 Race Director for the Laurel Leader Call

March 15, 2010 01:26 pm

— Some 50 runners recently completed the 50-mile Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi Trail 50 and 68 completed the 50 kilometer run.
Sixty five participants completed the 20- kilometer run for a total of 183 runners completing the distance.
Florida’s George Sekzix won the 50-mile race with a time of 7:22:22. In second was Mississippian Greg Gearhart with a time of 8:06:12. Georgia’s jason Overbaugh came in third with a clocking of 8:27:19.
New York’s Dana Culbreath was the first female finisher. She finished the course in 8:46.21. Candy Tranum was second in 10:13:20, while Anita Fromm was third with a time of 10:46:50.
The results of the 50K run had Mississippi’s Matthew Darby win it with a time of 4:35:01. Runner-up was Louisiana’s Brian Novak with a time of 4:49:16. In third was Mississippi’s Jacob Berkowitz ( 5:00:29).
Female winner was Kellie Smirnoff with a time of 5:01:00. In second was Allison Betchick in 6:10:38. Kristel Liddle was third in a time of 6:35:50.
Jordan Perrett won the 20K run with a finish of 1:24:16. In second was Steven Rogers with a time of 1:25:48. In third was Mississippi’s Drew Carter in a time of 1:28:19.
Mississippi’s Audrey Jackson was the first female finisher. Her time was 2:01:18. Alabama’s Sarah Gilberti was second with a 2:05:58. Mississippi’s Lynne Leonard was third with a 2:09:14.
Almost 100 participants ran a new distance, although not all were successful. The field included representatives from 25 states with the majority from the states of Mississippi and Alabama.
The Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi Trail 50 is publicized as an excellent event for first-time trail runners or those wishing to take on new distances. Runners picked from an introductory 20K, longer 50K and longest distance offered of 50 miles as their courage allowed.
Runners were credited with the longest distance they complete and were awarded medals for the shorter races and a buckle for completing 50 miles.
Local sponsors of the run were South Central Regional Medical Center, EMServ Ambulance, Bill McMullan, Holt & Associates, PLLC, Fleet Feet of Jackson, and Buffalo Peak Outfitters of Jackson.
Winter weather had been more wet and cold than it was in recent years. The race director worried about the condition of the trail in the days leading up to the race. A horse race, along with wet, muddy conditions, threatened to leave the course a real mess. But the weather turned sunny and windy on days before three race.
At the pre-race meal and meeting, the course was announced as “not that wet.” Those knowing the history of the event remember that twice the race was closed mid-day due to high water in creeks. Swimming the course led to concerns about safety of runners. The race directors evaluation was, if not welcomed by all, accurate.
Nothing so drastic as course closure occurred this year. But, the course was unavoidably muddy. Fortunately the creeks were knee deep and running clear enough to wash weighty mud off participants shoes every few miles.
By the second 12.5-miles, mud had been packed down and drying in the sun leaving a clear path around most muddy sections but still without any way around the six knee-deep creeks crossing the course.
Participants started the day bundled against the mid-20 degree temperature in the glow of the sun rising in the clear sky only to peel off layers of clothing as the sun and temperatures rose higher. Some participants ended up shirtless by the end of 50 miles with temperatures in the high 60s.
The relatively flat course can be very fast when dry but when wet has resulted in runners diving into mud to retrieve shoes. The past four years proved to be dry and fast. This year resulted in slower times but a more memorable fun event.
Many participants run the Mississippi 50 because of the varied distances. The 20 kilometer race is long enough to introduce runners to what trail running is all about without being so long that they are reluctant to try another trail run or step up to the 50 kilometer race in future years.
The standard trail running distances of 50K and 50 miles may be too much for an introduction to trail running. Those attempting such a distance know what is in store.
A long day of adverse conditions always leads to a great trail running experience.