Paced well in first half of race despite not knowing where I was, nor things like there was an extra 2.1mile loop tacked on at the end of each larger loop.
Despite thinking all day that surely someone must have paced better and would catch me, no one did.
I began to catch folks at single staffed Aid Station on 2nd loop and passed I'd say 6 either resting at Aid Station or in 10mins after.
A couple I later learned was from Oregon was pacing well, and it took a while for me to pass them. But the gal was clearly suffering from the heat, and despite boyfriend cajoling her to come on was stopping to walk regularly from over-effort.
I continued to walk when trail was rocky, and run when clear and finally passed them... saying to them "...Sometimes slowing down and finishing beats all...", and that we were "...All toast from the heat..."
About 20mins later, after having rounded another of the many hillsides along the lakefront I was down in a ravine that went inland to a stream crossing, when I caught a leaf-covered rock and stumbled forward, immediately catching another rock with my other foot and falling to the ground and rolling with a yell.
Folks I had been catching already across the ravine asked if I was alright. I immediately said yeeeees in a low sing-song-y voice, but that it was disappointing.
I had wrenched my pelvis, spine, and shoulders, my right knee was bruised and bleeding, right ankle slightly twisted, my left instep/lis-franc was strained and my right wrist was injured. Geez! It was so bad and I was so mad I didn't think of it as a low point to manage (as I had been thinking about frequently throughout the race already), I thought of it as game over. As I stood and assessed, I took off the headphones and calculated I could actually finish within the cutoff, but not by much.
I tried to remember what the Start/Finish Aid Station folks had said about the small extra loop at the end of each larger loop. Was it 1.7miles? I hoped so, as I was going to be cutting it close at my now survival shuffle-walk pace. Toes hurt the most, and running was out. I moved so slowly the 3 folks I was about to catch were gone in less than a minute, but no one caught me for about another 10mins. And when they did they reported not hearing me yell.
I had also remembered the gal early in the race while walking a very steep section saying that poison oak and ivy was everywhere, so I was sure, from the fall and roll that I was covered in it. I even began to lament driving 2 hours to my Mom's near Wichita in an un-air-conditioned car rather than staying in Lawrence. I was a down bound train for a solid 3 miles. I was 'making an effort' to move forward, but very disappointed at not having a time for 50K from which I could extrapolate further on my Ultra journey.
I decided I would use the time of the couple that passed me back about 10mins after the Fall. But I was still injured and hot, and I thought covered in Poison Oak and Ivy and couldn't run blah blah blah.
The thing that fully snapped me out of it was the Start/Finish Aid Station and realizing I COULD actually finish in the cut-off if I hurried. That 'new challenge' got me going mentally, and although I was still injured and walk-shuffling at least I switched my mindset towards finishing if I could within the cutoffs.
I really did go 'as fast as I could' and did the 2.1mile loop in about 35minutes.
Ironically, I finished at almost EXACTLY the time predicted by my performance to 27.3 miles at the Prairie Spirit 50mile (before the crazy blisters came in that race). BTW, back to no blisters ever in the last few weeks including runs and racing on the Greenland 8mile course, and this 50K.

NOT FALL. But the leaf-covered sections, where the trail went away from lake-facing hillsides down into ravine before coming back out on top or back out to hillsides, were very dangerous for exactly what happened to me. Even the winner of the 50k fell.
Probably not doing this course again.

Ate Hot Dog and Potato Salad. Eased to Car, then drove down to Aid Station to get Drop Box. Then Lawrence to Aquatic Center for Shower, which they gave me for free!
Center closed while I was drying off due to Thunderstorms, and in fact when I drove out of Lawrence the radio said "Golf ball sized hail over Perry" from where i had just come, and "Hen Egg sized hail along I-70 from between Mile Marker 185 and 200 while I was at 191! "Oh so that's why all the folks are under the overpasses" I thought, but I drove in only some rain which was gone before Topeka. And made it to Mom's before dark.


Really did well, pacing, and of course Aid Station, and for warm conditions and crazy uneven terrain I'd never been on, until falling and injuring myself.
PS 9 days later STILL have poison ivy or oak on the arm I fell onto and ground it into, on my other leg, even on my face over one eye. Ugh.
Also toes have really suffered and a total of 7 are still black9 days later, and really only stopped hurting badly the next weekend.
It was a 'Good Race' despite the 'bad' course, until it really really wasn't.


Just a bad venue for running really.
Amazingly, no trail here, even rugged Palmer Park, is so UN-runnable. By comparison they are smooth and almost super-highway like but still trails with plenty of 'action', twists and turns, up and down, scenery etc. Makes me think we should have more races on the Trails right here.
No Shirts, No Stickers, No 'Race Specific Mug' as pictured on Website. Just a generic "Trail Nerds" mug, which I pulled out a day later on the way back to Colo, thinking "Well at least I got a Race mug...", only to find, much to my disappointment it was only an advertisement for the Running Club.
However have received email that Stickers will be mailed. And that some provision is being considered for Shirts. I will contact them with the offer of paying postage.
In the same regard as my new slogan at work being "Bad design will ruin your life", as in it is hard to overcome being jammed 65 folks in a room in cubes, or not having enough staff to take care of both inside and drive-through customers leading to 100% turnover in branches where folks had been there 12 and 13 and 16 years, Bad running Courses cannot be fully overcome with any amount of enthusiasm by great volunteers. So It goes.