PsychoWyco Run Toto Run 2013

Wyandotte Park trails, aka Wyco, is about as fun as it gets for a trail race. When signing up for the PsychoWyco Race you have the option of doing 1 - 3 loops of the course with each loop being 10.35 miles. Two years ago I ran the 10 mile version, and you can read about that here. This year, I upped the ante and signed up for the 20 mile race.

Right about mile 2, no mud....yet.

My running has been very hit and miss lately. I have had some strong weeks and solid back to back runs and then I have had the last couple of weeks where I ran twice within two weeks of this race. So going into this I was not expecting anything spectacular. My objective was to have fun, enjoy the course, and be able to finish. That is exactly what I did. There is really nothing dramatic to report, I met a friend from Nebraska and his family at the race. He did the 50K and ran a great race. I mostly took my time, had some great conversations out on the trails, bombed down the hills where I could and successfully finished without falling. Trust me, the part about no falling was no small feat. The trail had several muddy areas that were either slick, or sticky enough to suck your shoes off of your feet.

Dancing over the rocks

Phew, I made it!

If you are up for a challenge with some great terrain and an awesome group of people, this is the race!

Going from one hill

...to the next

When I finally came through the finish 4 hours and 8 minutes later....

My legs and my shoes were a good indicator of the mud we had faced.

My mantra was to "just keep moving forward", and in the end it was well worth it. This is the largest race medal that I have ever received, and yes, the little tornado even spins.