16th Annual Croom Fools Run

16th Annual Croom Fools Run

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See last year's race review here. 

So what did I do this weekend?  Well I did my first marathon and ultra.  I was scheduled to run 16 miles but had a change of plans. 

At the beginning of the run several people (about 45) of us took the “scenic route.”  We then got back onto the trail and took another “scenic route”.  We were really lost and I started to wonder how we were going to survive living off GUs and water. 

By the time I got back onto proper trail we added about 1.5 miles.  Just after getting back onto the route I heard Bonnie talking.  This must have been a sign I needed to run with her so I decided to run the entire race with her and her friend.

Bonnie and I

At the 16 mile mark I felt pretty darn good and I figured Bonnie would really like the company on her first 50K (30 mile) run so I said I would finish the race with her.  She seemed pretty excited and I think I won some brownie points :-).

I'm the hot guy on the left!

Needless to say the second loop was very hard but the two of us made it through the pain, suffering and temperatures in the low 90s to cross the finish line.  I finished the race with about 31.25 miles under my belt. 

This race is great and I highly recommend it.  Grade A+!!

The Team Donkey crew was awesome!

The race support is great.  Each rest stop is loaded with food, candy, heed, water, etc.  The staffs at the rest stops treat you like royalty.  They even grab your water pack and fill it up for you. 

At the end of the race the grill is fired up and you have a small buffet of food awaiting you.  There were cheeseburgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, pasta salad, vegetables, ziti with marinara sauce and lots of cookies, cakes, etc. 

Yummy!!

The course is very challenging and whoever designed it was a sadist.  The start of the course has about 1 mile of Florida sugar sand.  The last 6 mile is nothing but hills.  Some hills are at 45 degrees with sugar sand.  Even many of the best runners had to walk up and down.  My quads were (and still are) on fire.  Then you get to do that torture loop again for the 30K.  Even more times for the 50 mile course.

Again, I'm the hot dude on the left.

I had a great time and I am proud of Bonnie’s accomplishment.  It was nice running a race with her for once.

Hills!!

I'm on the top of the hill.  Bonnie is on the bottom left in the pink shirt.

PS: I would like to thank Rick (Bonnie’s friend’s husband) for being our “race crew.”  He brought us food, water, cookies, replacement running pants, beer, etc.  He is a great guy and I wanted to say thank him again.
For some reason no great ultra race review is complete till you get a picture of your feet.  So here are mine.  I love the dirt line.  My socks are ruined.

This will pull some wierd google searches