Psycho Wyco Trail Run was crazy fun

(taken above a very steep incline to the lake dam after I and about 30 others ran 3/4 of a mile the wrong way)

I'm sore. In places like my lower back, arms and shoulders. I expected to wake up with some leg burn after running the KC Trail Nerds' Psycho Wyco run yesterday morning. That initial "Why are my shoulders sore" question was quickly answered by the memory of crawling up steep grades covered in ice, pulling myself (and others) up ledges using tree branches and stumps and keeping a generally tense upper body posture to ready myself for wipe out (which luckily didn't happen!).

I ran the 10 miler, but some braver souls did the 20 mile and even 50K. 10 miles, normally, is nothing for me. I can clock it off on the road in 90 minutes, max. I ran yesterday's ice-covered, extreme incline and decline race in exactly 2 hours. That shows you how tough the terrain was. The overall elevation was 2,500 feet. However, the trail acted more like an Antarctic roller coaster track. I've run trails before, but this one was the toughest by far.

(coming out of the woods and into the homestretch)

It was one of the most gratifying and fun runs I've ever done. The organization was wonderful and the finish-line food (donuts, boiled potatoes, chili and PB&J) hit the spot. Crazy? Definitely. I realized that this was not going to be a normal weekend run on the way out to Wyandotte Lake, with my friend Kevin in the passenger seat drilling screws into the bottom of my shoes (for traction on the ice). I can't wait to hit the same trail when the ice has melted, and continue to run with this great group of crazies.

(no blood!)