John and his lovely wife Jeanie, who Scream Teamed for EVERYbody!
Mike, John, Ron, Mark, and Suzy a few minutes before the marathon started in a light rain
Listening to pre-race instructions from the RD, Rick Spencer. Rick did a heckuva job putting this one on
Trying to keep up with Doug early in the race, on the first two mile loop running by Lake Frances
The lakes (Lake Frances here) would provide welcome moments of beauty along the course
At the end of the first 2 mile loop you run by the Greenway entrance that was so hard to find in the dark!
RD's Mom was manning the aid station just before mile 4 as the rain picked up
There was plenty of mud all day - this is on the second loop that runs over by the Springs Rec Center on Hwy 160
It's really not that muddy - yet!
Somewhere past mile 5 John, Mike, and Bo passed me from behind - keep in mind they jetted away at the start. Turns out the really fast guys don't take the time to read directions, so it cost them a couple of extra miles.
Great volunteers all day, this aid station is at the Springs Rec Center
L to R: Doug, Brick, and Ron take a short break
In addition to great trails, there were elevated paths and bridges. Yep, they could be a little slick in a downpour
Most of the course was singletrack through the woods.
Only guy I passed all day
He was making his way down the middle of the trail, smartly running AWAY from the mud at the top of the picture
The course runs under several roads, here pass under Springfield Parkway as we head back to finish Loop #2
At the end of each loop you run by your vehicle. Great for those that remembered to bring extra shirts or gatorade or gels. Not so much for those of us who left them at home
It is amazing how slick good ol' Southern Red Clay can be when there are no rocks or vegetation mixed in
Now we are having fun
The main goal here is to keep your shoes on, avoid the ShoeSuckingSnakes that live just below the surface of the mud
Mark is finishing up Loop #3 as I head out
Here come John and Mike, they are at least 4 "official" miles ahead of me, plus the 2 extra they ran earlier
Ran a good bit with my friend Doug - he's from Charlotte and runs trail marathons and road marathons all across the country
Doug enjoying one of the drier sections of trail
More fabulous volunteers. This young lady (yellow jacket) handled pre-race registration, then made it out to mile 14 to run this aid station. When the female runner in the picture left the aid station ahead of us, we were now officially DFL.
Where there wasn't mud, we had Kudzu, the South's favorite landscaping plant
Doug ran a marathon last weekend, he has another one next weekend. So he decided he'd had enough and dropped when we came by the finish line around mile 17. I continued on, now in sole possession of last place.
Crossing the swinging bridge on the last loop. Mile 17.5. Up to here, I had averaged about 14:40 per mile...I know that is slow, but it was about to get slower.
Swollen Steele Creek from the middle of the bridge. Earlier in the day there were whitecaps at the peak of the morning downpour.
The mudpuddles got a little wider.
Somewhere before mile 20 (for me) I met Mark coming back he was close to mile 24.
Here comes John. Seems there was another detour along the way - maybe a total of seven (7) extra miles? Oh well, he's an Ironman in training. He could use the mileage.
We looped around beautiful Lake Haigler somewhere before Mile 20.
This is the back of the Horse Barn, with live horses!
Typical trail junction - you can see the orange flagging (hanging from the tree branch in the middle of the picture) that marked trail intersections. Coach Spencer did a good job marking a course that took many twists and turns, but you had to pay attention - I gave directions to several runners who were headed the wrong way
One more creek crossing, here you have a choice of wading, jumping (much too late in the marathon to have that much energy) or taking the bridge
One of the Weddington HS Cross Country girls perfoms the honors
She didn't want to get too close...
Shoes before we turned the hose on them
My lovely bride Wendy, the World's Best Scream Teamer, was waiting at the finish
