faithrunner

Jason, Amy, Mikey, Ginger, and me at the finish line The alarm went of at 2:45 a.m. Saturday morning. Within the hour I joined Amy Nash, Ginger Becker, and Mikey Whittiker in Jason Smith's FJ Cruiser. We were headed to the intersection of Highways 59 and 259 in Eastern OK for the second running of the Ouachita Switchbacks 25K and 50K .  Jason had seen the Facebook post by Tommy Brenan , the race director and founder, on Tuesday, and the three of us had taken the bait for a no-training, why-the-heck-not, it's-a-trail-run, adventure . The 4-hour drive to the Pushabee Trailhead near Big Cedar, OK, was filled with getting acquainted, two pit stops, and keeping everyone awake. " Sleep deprivation is part of ultrarunning " is one of my mantras so no one napped. We watched the sun and temperature rise to about 30 degrees when we turned off the highway and parked our car at a campsite to begin our trek through the Ouachita National Forest. One of the reasons I l...

This weekend I will run my tenth marathon since 2000. The Grasslands Trail Run will be my first trail marathon but not my first trail run. Trail running is my preferred environment and community for running. Running on dirt in forests, fields, and mountains is how running has always been done . I have run as many 25M and 50K trail runs as I have marathons during this same time period, and I have finished a 50M run, DNF'd one other, and attempted one 100-miler, which ended me at mile 73. Why the partial running resume? I like to run . I haven't been to a psychologist yet to dig into why my obsession is so deep or why I started running ultras until I was 45. But, more important than why I like to run, running--distance running--has become a metaphor for life for me . I reminded my listeners this past Sunday as Legacy Church that long-distance running is a metaphor for life because somewhere in a long run  you come to the point you want to give up. It's usually ...