Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile - RunUltra Marathon

I did this race in 2010, so I had some idea what to expect and knew a few things to watch out for. My goal was to finish in less than 10:00, and I broke that down to 3:00 for the first loop, 3:20 for the second, and 3:40 for the third. My plan was to do a run/walk from the start. I thought I'd walk 1 minute out of every 10 for the first hour, then 2 out of 10 for the remainder of the first two laps. I thought that Lap 3 would be 3 out of 10, or whatever it took to get to the finish line.

Lap 1 - 3:00:47: Felt great the whole way and thought I did a good job sticking to the plan and pace. Especially during the first hour, it's so easy to get caught up in the moment and pick up the pace. I resisted the urge and managed to get in most of my planned walk breaks, but I did skip a few. After that first hour, I did a better job in sticking to the time and walking as scheduled. No big surprises during this lap.

Lap 2 - 3:15:38: Was still feeling strong at the end of the second lap. Maintained the 2 out of 10 walk schedule and chatted with a few different people. By the end of lap 2, the 100-mile and 50-mile people are all mixed together and you've got to ask or look on other runner's bibs to tell for sure which race they're doing. Saw an aligator in the lake towards the end of this loop.

Lap 3 - 3:34:10: Switched to 3-minutes of walking. Continued to feel good through about half of this lap. By about the 8-hour mark, I was getting pretty fatigued, with some stiffness in my feet and quads but nothing accutely painful. My walk/run schedule fell apart, but I think I stayed fairly close to the planned ratio. I hit the last aid station right at 9:00. I knew I "should" be able to cover that last 4-1/2 miles in an hour to come in sub-10, but was worried the whole way until the last turn when you can actually see the finish.

I ended up taking over an hour off my 2010 time, improving from 10:56:51 to 9:50:34, moving from 116th in 2010 to 54th this year. I'm very pleased with the improvement! To top it off, I didn't fall once the single race. That's a major accomplishment for a klutz like me!

This was a pretty ideal race for me. Halfway through the last lap I switched from Heed to Mountain Dew & Coke. The soda didn't sit well in my stomach. Heed was working just fine, and I should have just put up with it a few more stations.

No real warm down. Got a fresh shirt out of my drop bag and talked one of the volunteers into helping me get my shoes off. Hung out about 10-minutes then headed to the car and drove home.


At this point, my biggest limiter is weight. I'm sure my performance could move up a notch if I could drop another 10 or 15 lbs. Goal for 2013 is to get into the low 160s.

I did the 50k race at Bandera 3-weeks prior to this. I wondered if this helped or hurt my performance? I think it worked out okay, but I'm not sure if I was fully recovered from it or not.


WOW! RR is a fantastic race!

The course is flat and trails are gentle and well marked. It's an ideal course for the first timer or someone wanting to PR the 50 or 100-mile distance. If you want elevation or a super-tough course, this isn't the race for you.

The group at Tejas Trails does a fantastic job pulling everything together and supporting their participants.