Snowdrop race report

   It has been a little over 3 weeks now since completing 100 miles at the Snowdrop 55 Hour Ultra. Things have settled down a bit and I've had time to recover, reflect and react. Truly, the entire experience was amazing and will be with me the rest of my life. There were memories and friendships forged that will last forever. 

      My husband and I drove down to the Sugar Land Memorial Park a week before the race. My in-laws were coming in to watch and help support us and we wanted to get familiar with the area and take a look at the course. So glad we did. I heard the park was in a wide open field with no trees or cover from the elements. The information was all correct. The park is located along the Brazos river, a very beautiful and refreshing park. We ran a couple of laps around the .76 mile loop trail to get an idea of the task ahead. The wind was definetly going to be an issue to deal with all day and night long. With nothing around to block the wind, it came across the river whipping, howling and bitter cold with the cool December temperatures. We figured out pretty quickly that the race was gonna be a cold one and having wind gear, jackets and pants, was probably a good idea. Yeah!!, gear shopping was once again in my immediate future. Of course I thought staying warm in the wind was going to be the biggest issue to deal with, but once again the running gods like to throw a curve ball in the wind....rain before the run made the trail really wet in several areas. It poured rain for two days before the event, flooding the course but luckily the crushed granite surface is hard and drained fairly well on most of the course.The weather forecast wasn't looking to promising for nice race days either. The night time temps were in the mid 30's with daytime temps in the mid 50's, and mostly cloudy. The course was under a small amount of water in the beginning but by mid afternoon and with the help of a lot of hard working volunteers who wheeled in and shoveled more granite in the wet and sloppy areas to help repair the course. Thank you!! We were well prepared with plenty of gear, changing our very wet and muddy shoes and socks for dry ones at mile 25, a hot lunch cooked and served by the volunteers and we were back on the course. My mother-in-law and her husband helped us keep our water bottles full and seemed to enjoy their first experience of crewing. Seeing them every lap was great. The course was a .76 mile loop, 132 laps = 100.32 miles, and a 55 hour time limit. The ankle strap timing chip to count the laps was greatly appreciated. It's actually easy to lose count of laps pretty quickly. Breaking down the race in 25 mile increments proved to be a very good strategy. We came through 50 miles in 13 hours right on track for our finishing goal of around 30 hours. Another gear change to accommodate the nighttime falling temps and some hot food and we were ready to get back to the course and task at hand. It was dark outside so we sent my in-laws back to their warm hotel room for some well deserved rest, they had been helping us all day. They asked us when we were coming back to the room? When we complete the 100 miles. That's the point where they really began to understand what all this ultra distance stuff is really about. All of the explaining in the world can't replace seeing! Her jaw dropped with the realization that we were serious, a bit crazy and very motivated. No worries Mom, we'll see you in the morning. We had our new support crew friends show up in full force and ready to get down to business. Mike and Bobbie, our friends who are married and very experienced distance runners and Rachel, who is just starting her running experiences. The night time is usually the hardest part of distance running. We were ready to tackle the next 25 miles. Eating lots of hot homemade potato soup from Mike and Bobbie along with warm drinks through the night kept us going. My last minute purchase of wind pants really paid off, possibly the best $12.99 I ever spent! We completed the 75 miles mark around 5am. My husband needed to get off his feet and rest a little, massage some sore muscles and with one more change of shoes and socks we headed out for the final 25 miles. The plan was to run one lap and walk one lap for the last 25 miles. After a few laps of running my husband realized he was expending to much energy for pretty ineffective running on his part. The new plan - walk the last 23 miles as strong and quickly as he could. Clearly that takes longer but it was the right choice to get him to the finish line. The couple of hours just before daybreak always seem to be the worst mentally. Your tired and your ready to see the sun come up. A New Day! Oh yeah, we dreamed about the hot breakfast that was being cooked and served by the many fantastic volunteers. It was the best oatmeal and sausage I've ever eaten. Rachel was able to somehow scrounge up 2 extra sausage patties for us and all the nice table manners were definitely set aside. We inhaled them in one bite and gone! I had to laugh when I saw her look down and she actually counted her fingers to make sure there were still ten there. Onward and forward we kept walking lap after lap and got those last 23 miles covered. We completed 100 miles in 31hours 53minutes! A feeling that's truly unique and unforgettable.

Thank You to Our Amazing Crew!!!