Land between the Lakes 50 mile race

Last Saturday I did the Land between the Lakes 50 mile race in Grand Rivers Kentucky. I was a bit worried about whether I would be able to complete the race since they said they had an 11 hour cut off. I had run 50 miles on the road in under 11 but never on trail before under this time. I was relieved a bit the week before the race when I learned you would drop down to the lower race- 38 miles if you were unable to make the 50 mile cut off.
There were quite a few of us from Mn as you can see from the photo. The horn blew to start the race right as the photo was being taken.
It was rainey and chilly. The course was nice single track mostly rolling hills nothing horribly steep but hillier than I expected, but it was pretty muddy. I was sure during the first and 2nd loop (the loops were close to 12 miles) that I wouldn't be able to complete the 50 miles in time. I kept tryng to tell myself to quit the negative thoughts and it is possible later in the race to get faster. The big cut off was finishing the 3rd loop in 8 hours. I had a really good 3rd loop- felt like I had more energy than the previous 2 loops- funny how that works sometimes. Ralph who lives near Ft Knox started following me early in the 3rd loop. Ralph and I both have family members who have died from Diabetes- both of us feel like we run to keep from getting diabetes, it was great meeting someone who felt like I did. He said he really had no intention of making the 4th loop- was almot an hour over the time last year. Him and his friends who were way behind him were like alot of people who know they probably won't make the cut off but sign up for the 50 mile anyway and are happy with the 38 mile finish. I pushed to make it - we made it with 10 mins to spare, I might not make the time limit for the race but at least I was going to get the 50 miles in. The 4th loop was slower for me, Ralph who was shocked to have made the cut off decided to go ahead and finish the 4th loop too. It was great making it out of the woods after the 4th loop- the volunteer told us to head up the road 1/2 mile and turn around before heading back to town- yes!!! I was not being dropped!!! There was 2.7 miles to go on road back to the finish. The road felt good. My pants were so muddy and hung below and under shoes. I finished in like 11:22- 3rd from the last.
It was a really fun trip. I am going to do this one again- hopefully with no mud.