From time to time I get emails from various people...just wanted to post a few for your reading pleasure!!!  Leslie

I ran a 25K trail run (El Scorcho Dos) that started at midnite last nite.  It is now 1:30 on Sunday afternoon and I have not been in bed since 8:30 Sat morning. Now that was something way different.  My time was 2:35.

The wierdest thing about El Scorcho....there was a section of unpaved road through the park about 1/2 mile long that had no lights....completely dark except for moonlight.  There were reflective no parking signs along the side of the road.  I (and many others) was wearing a headlight.  When I would look at the signs they had an eerie greenish glow! Take that while running at 2:00 AM!  (and I saw that scene 5 times as the race was 5 laps of a 3.1 mile loop) The whole thing felt like a 15 mile interval workout....when I headed north on the trail along the river where there was some light I picked up the pace. When going south through the dark trails I was barely moving.  There was a story that some wild animals live in Trinity Park....I never saw any....only the certified mental patients who were out there running in the wee hours of the morning :)

Matt

Hi,
   just a note to let everyone know that i did not drop off the face of the earth. in case some of the club was wondering why i didn't re-up my membership. it looks as if my running days may be over with and i will certainly miss the fellowship and friendships that i have formed over the last 19 yrs. in the club.
    i originally had to stop serious training back in Oct. but still tired to maintain some sort of running routine. finally i broke down and went to the dr. as i was not getting any better on my own. the origanal diagnosis was a torn menascus membrane and would be no trouble to repair. needless to say the more exams i had (x-rays, mris) the worse things looked. 2 weeks ago i had my arthoscopic surgery and thats when they discovered there was almost no cartilage on the inside of my right knee. he also did a microfracture procedure which is supposed help some . i will be on crutches for 4 weeks with no weight on my knee. my chances of ever running seriosly again are slim and none but Mary and i are still holding out for that 5% chance.
  i have started therapy and it looks like cycling may be another option i have. the main reason i am e-mailing this is just to let everyknow how much the club and their friendship and support has meant to me these last 19 yrs. that i have been running. if you can please print this e-mail in the club newsletter and if not tell everyone i said hi.
                          Keep Running, TonyCollins

Thanks for your reply. I don’t know Papa John real well, but have been seeing him around the races forever. I haven’t raced a lot in the last 10 years, so there are a lot of new faces. Jenny M. has been running around the Shreveport area for several years now. When did you start running road races?

 I noticed David Woodard’s name in one of your result postings. Did you know he used to run in the 37’s to 38”s in the 10K? He may have run some 17 minute 5Ks’. He used to be quite a bit smaller (and younger).

Good luck in Texarkana in the Tri. I have never done one of those, I couldn’t swim well enough. Have you ever run the Quadrangle race in Texarkana? I used to never miss it, back in the late 80’s and all through the 90’s. I am from Stamps, Ark. originally, and would drive up to Stamps, spend the night, and make a lot of the Texarkana, Hope, Magnolia and Smackover runs.

The DeGray Dam Night Run is probably my favorite. If you haven’t gone to it, you may want to try it. Ronnie and Betsy Penny really work hard to put on a super race each year. I think they still probably give a Tail Gate Award for the club that brings the most members. Some club in Oklahoma brought a bus packed with runners one year. In case you haven’t been, it is an out and back 5K. They bus the runners across the dam about dusk dark and you run back toward the lake. It is usually quite hot. I tried for many years to get Ronny to have a 5K in October that ran the same route across the lake with a full moon coming up. That would be incredible. Usually their race calendar is so full, they could never get it going at that time. That is the same site that Tri’s are staged from, I think, and the bicycle leg is usually pretty tough.

If you ever run across any old runners from the Texarkana area, ask them about Roy “Iron Balls” Haley. He must be pushing 70 by now. One year he ran 4-100 milers, the “Grand Slam” of the ultras. He won a silver belt buckle, but he was as proud of it as if it had been a new pair of running shoes.

A tidbit of Trivia: I hope you get to meet Ronny and Betsy Penney from Arkadelphia, if you haven’t already. They are probably still active in the running clubs in that part of Arkansas. One year they went on the annual runners’ bus from Little Rock to Colorado to run the Pike’s Peak marathon. They ran the ascent on a Saturday and were married at the top of Pike’s Peak by a justice of the peace or preacher that was running with them. I always enjoy telling that story.

Good running.