First let me say that I hope this is like childbirth, while painful at the time you later forget that and are willing to do it again. The race lived up to its name, 24thehardway. As I type my blog sitting in an epson bath there are still runners on the course with 8 hours to go. Now that's crazy. There were lots of people trying to set records over the course of the weekend. One guy was running with a 40 lb packback, one lady was setting the masters record, another made up his own race, 27 hours, and still more. There were handicap, seeing eye dogs, and crazies.

We got to town Friday night and picked up our packets. Others had already set up their awnings so we found a great campsite and set our camp up also.  Shirley started at 7:30 so we wanted to be able to focus on her race and not worry about setting up in the morning. After dinner we headed to bed early.

Saturday was a cold start so we bundled up and headed to the course. We had signs, glitter, and glow sticks. We hung our flashlights around the awning and got Shirley started. The one mile loop was wonderful because we were right on the course and saw nearly everything. As you ran across the timing mats your name flashed across the screen with lap splits, count, and times. Shirley finished with 4 laps. We left long enough to grab breakfast and let her shower. I changed clothes and we headed back for my 12:00 start.

My race report will have to be another post because the water had gotten cold in this tub and it's 1:15 am. Breakfast with my great aunt Sunday before heading home. Stay tuned.

Pictures: heading to OKC, campsite, and lap 1 for Shirley.