Lone Star Trail Run 25k/50k

I took the entire month of February off after RR100 to heal my torn calf and bruised pride but now it's back to work. So I decided to start out small and work back up with my base as well as race distances. Last Saturday I ran the Lone Star Trail Run 25k/50k at the Double Lake Rec Area in Coldspring, TX. The race is run by HART (Houston Adventure Racing Team) which means you'll have more to do than run the required distance. The race is only $25.00 for either distance with no race shirt and I did the 25k.

The aid stations (3) were unmanned with a minimalist amount of aid being a cooler of Heed, two 1 gallon water jugs and a bowl of oranges and bananas. There were no mile markers and since this was my first time on the Lone Star Trail I had no idea where I was and had to run on feel only.

This was the second year of the race and it's very low key and they have already changed the course from last year. I suspect this will go on every year. The race results show the field to be small as well. The totals were 59 finishers, 5 DNS and only one DNF. The race had to compete with the Prickly Pear 10 miler/50k in San Antonio on the same weekend and the Hogs Hunt 25k/50k scheduled just two weeks later.

The course is a trail runners trail filled with water crossings, lots of mud because of the heavy rains early in the week and a mostly up hill course. The growth of the forest is thick so you will come home with cuts on any part of your body exposed.

I ran the race with last years winner Andrew (1:49:xx), Juan and Carlos. All of us run for Team Luke's Locker and Carlos and Juan are part of a big Adventure Racing Team. Their team won Nationals in 2005 and went to Primal Quest 2006 where they placed 14th. Not bad for a non-professional team. Carlos was the only one of us running the 50k which he won in 4:21:02.

I'll spare you the mile by mile and aid station by aid station report and keep it simple. There was a group of 10 that were the lead back and after about 3 miles we had spread out into 3 different groups. I was in the back third with two other runners who were from HART and they new the trails so I stayed with them to make sure I didn't get lost.

The lead group consisting of Andrew and Juan were 1-2 until Andrew put his foot in a mud puddle and came up with just a sock. After fishing in the mud and putting his shoe back on he proceeded to make a wrong turn and that was the end of his title defense. Juan finished 1st at 1:57 with Andrew coming in 2nd at 2:12.

Back in the pack I decided to make a move and lose the runners with me. I based my distance from time gone by and hoped that I made the right calculations. After running up hill on a road that seemed to last forever the trail went back into the woods where you had to run through a small pond. This is where I decided to go for broke and turn up the pace. The trail was wet and muddy and I made sure I hit every mud puddle.

The move paid off and my Louisiana math was actually right for once. I finished in 2:15, 4th overall and 1st Master. They don't have this listed on the results but I knew the first 3 finishers and they were all under 40.

Next race is the Ouachita Trail 50 Miler just outside of Little Rock, AR on April 21st.

Congratulations on a strong finish, dirtrunner! I'm glad to hear you were finally able to finish a race without calf problems. Is everything completely healed now?

The torn calf problem is healed completely. I'm still having some pain or more like a tweak in the upper inside of my right calf. I think I just need to have heel lifts in my trail shoes. I think the problem stems from all my road running with cushion shoes and all my trail shoes have less of a heel. I've had some lifts in all this week and everything is fine.

So you ended up taking a month off -- I wondered if you'd be able to do it ;-) A great race to start off with. Congrats and thanks for the report. Good luck on your upcoming 50 miler!

Dirtrunner,

I just got some compression socks for my recurring calf issues. Did the trick in 48 hours. I went the walgreens rout for $30 or so before shelling out $60 at the running store. My .02. See ya out there.