Isle du Bois race report 2012

A year ago, Dave Hannenburg hosted his first organized trail race, the Isle du Bois trail run.  Over the course of this year, he has established himself as a leader in the North Texas trail running community, putting on a variety of well-organized, well-supported, and just plain fun trail races.  Today he held the second annual Isle du Bois race, at Isle du Bois State Park on Lake Ray Roberts.

A few months ago, I signed up for the 54K, hoping to meet or beat my time at last year's race.  But 2 weeks ago, on my last long run, it became clear that my training had been inconsistent and not up to snuff, so I swallowed my pride and switched to the 18K.  I knew I might be able to finish the 54K before the cut-off, but that the last lap would be a miserable death march.  So I went for the fun, shorter race.  Good choice!

The course at Isle du Bois is rolling, sometimes rocky and rooty, winding through the woods.  I think it's a DORBA course, but I'm not sure I would want to ride a mountain bike on those narrow, rocky trails.  I didn't break any land speed records, but I kept a pretty consistent pace, not quite a negative split.  The second half wasn't too much slower than the first half.  Per my Garmin, my time was 2:03:28. Official results are pending; I'm guessing I finished no better than the middle of the pack.

[Official results: 2:03:29. 63rd overall (out of 141 finishers). 21st 40-49 male (out of 27).]

It was great to be out on the trail again.  This was my first race since the Hells Hills 50K in April.  Eight months between races is WAY too long.  I'll have to get one on the calendar soon!

Huge thanks go to Dave Hannenbuurg and his great volunteers for putting on another top-notch trail party!  I'll be looking forward to the next Endurance Buzz adventure!

No boring shirts and medals at Dave's races!  Long-sleeved Tasc bamboo tech shirts, local honey from Nature Nate's North Dallas Honey Co., and a hand-decorated wooden race medallion.