"SunMart" US Trail 50 Mile/80 km Championships
14th Dec 1996 - Houston, Texas, USA
well this was dawn's first ever 50 mile / 80 km race here - it was on forest trails around a lake about 80km north of houston, texas. needless to say, she thrashed me to bits - she ran 7:35 against my 9:35. she came 7th overall, and 3rd in her age group (31-39). this was pretty good as it was also the us 50 mile championships and there were runners there from all over the us. my excuse was that i was vomited 3 or 4 times at the 30km mark after having too much gatorade and potatoes. for her efforts dawn won a trophy of a bronze horse set on granite - perfect for carting around the world .. not !
the course was pretty good - all around a lake in the forest, mostly on very runnable single track paths, but some firetrail. in general, it was pretty flat - obviously did not compare to 6 foot or brindabella.
the event was combined with a 50km and there were 300+ runners in the 50 miles, and 500 + in the 50km - it was a big event. they gave away freebies such as bags, tshirts, bumbags, waterbottles to all entrants and a really neat race jacket and embroidered rug (!!) with the race logo on for all finishers. there was a small "expo" and eat-all-you-can at the sheraton where everyone was staying. we only just found a babysitter for jazmin the night before the race after much wheeling and dealing behind the scenes ie me on stage with the famous norm klein pleading to the 1000 odd crowd ...
