Twilight 12 Hour

I ran the inaugural run of this race in 2016 when it was called Starlight Overnight. So glad I could come back to Flying Horseshoe Ranch and do it again. This time we rented a nicer cabin that had carpet and a heater! The run started at 7:00 pm Saturday night. The laps were 2.3 miles long.

 

After 10 laps, I found myself running all alone. Those next two laps were challenging as I was tired and lonely. Then, the next 2 laps I had runners in front of me and behind me. I passed some and some passed me. Those laps went by so quickly! I ran until about 3:45 am Sunday morning and stopped after surpassing the 50K mark. I showered in the community bathroom, went to bed (that bed was calling to me on the trail for hours), and got up a few hours later for a pot-luck breakfast.

 



Pre-run meeting with race director Gretchen.

We climbed the hill at 6:45 pm to arrive at the start of the race.

My family ran the first lap with me. Then, they came back at 10 pm with their headlamps on and ran another lap with me. It was so cool to run with them in the dark.

The moon came out, so it wasn't completely dark except when you were in the trees.

Some parts of the trail were in a deep rut. Here, it was easier to run beside the trail on the uneven ground than to stay on the trail. One part of the trail was really swampy. After a few laps, and after people tried going wide around it, it became a mud bog several yards wide.

Time to shower and go to bed for a few hours.

My support crew!