Monday, January 30, 2023

#66 Ultra - The Oracle 50K (Not) Turned 30 Mile AZT Trail Run

 Hi everyone

Well,  my adventure getting to my second Oracle 50K race did not happen.  However,  I took a different route on my own to cover another ultra marathon.  The race start directions from the race website did not help at all because the road  about halfway there turned out to be flooded and closed.  There were no indications that this was the case, and no messages were sent to runners either.  Lori and I were out in the middle of nowhere with nowhere else to go, but to go back.  There were only 2 roads to use to get to the race start on Freeman Road and we, as it turns out, were on the wrong one this year.   I thought it was very strange that we were the only ones that didn't know this!

Knowing that we had to go back and I was going to miss and not get to the start on time, I decided to do my own ultra using some the same ultra marathon route on the AZT trail.   We made it back to the Tiger Mine road near the end of the race and I started my own run there.  I did a couple 7 1/2 mile "out and backs" and I covered 30 miles.  I finished near the end where the race ended in Oracle State Park, and met Lori and Sunny there - which was awesome to see!  Lori took a picture and I headed to the car to get a beer!  I was pretty bummed and disappointed the whole day during my lonely 8 1/2 hour run, but I managed to pull off another one.  Sometimes you just have to dig deep even if you're disappointed and bummed.

Thanks everyone again for the support!  Take care!

$100.00 donated to the Shiley Marcos Disease Research Center  on 1/29/23