This one is a bit unusual than most 50k's. First off you expect to get lost some. The markers are one to two miles apart at places with one being threes miles, which really got me lost. Their are no winners or lossers or prizes. Some parts you have just a direction to go and feel your way. One leg has no trail are all. It is a very wooded area, but no trail just a general direction and land marks. There are some markers, but you need to really look for them and other times the markers may be plentiful. You just do not know until you get there. There is also a Maze area where everyone gets lost. It is full of dead ends. It has lots of backtracking. It is suggested to run with someone, which I have the two times I have run it before with a friend from Nebraska, Dale Neilsen. We start together again this year. We were the first ones to finish in 2005 with 7:06. This gives you an idea of the course. You spend a lot of time just figuring out which way to go. You are given a map and directions to follow. With it being overcasted all day it was more difficult to follow. Lou sometimes, actually many times, gives you a direction only to go and without a sun it was very difficult for me. Dale is late getting to the start so we are the last ones to start. Lou, the RD, starts groups at one+ minutes apart. It starts at 8:00am. We take off at 8:17. It is snowing and windy, 15 mph. It is around 32 degrees out, but the wind chill is near 20. It will get all the way up to 34 in the afternoon, but the wind will become 20+ mph in a couple of hours. It is cold. The first leg is the longest of the six legs, 7.3 miles. This one has a clear trail to follow except for a couple of places, but I was able to recognize them. This leg is your near normal 50k run, except for the shortage of markers of course. Dale and I pass four runners on are way. At the end we are right behind two others. We finish the first leg in 1:32. A little slow, but not bad. It is the only leg, that I will not get lost on. The second leg is 5.6 miles, but it contains the Maze which is only a mile or so, but for many it is much longer. Dale's leg is bothering him. He seems to run better in the open area and slower on the trails. So I go ahead some on the trails and he does the same in the open area. A mile or so into this leg Dale is ahead going into a trail area. It is a dense wooded area where you cannot see very far. Guess what, I take a wrong turn and it is close to 3/4 of a mile or so before I notice it. I finally find my way back. I do not see Dale again. This is the first time for me to run this by myself and without the aid of the sun for direction either. Now I enter the Maze. Right away I go the wrong way. It is over half a mile before I see another runner coming back from the dead end. There several places here where you have arrows pointing in two different directions with a "?" in between them. My guessing becomes less than 50%. Finally I finish this leg at 3:07 for 12.9 miles that I get credit for anyway. I am told 6 runners of the 32 starters have dropped out. There will be others to drop and a few stopping at 33k to get credit for that distance. The next leg is 4.8 miles. Here the markers are still scarce. In the second leg and this leg I have a lot of trouble keeping my hands warm. The snow, having to check a map, directions, and holding a water bottle is getting to be difficult. I put one hand at a time into my pocket and it works for me, but it really slows me down. I take a wrong turn a couple of times, but no big loss in time. During this run I will have way to many wrong turns to count, that accounted for less than 1/2 mile each time. I finish this leg at 4:52. I have credit for 17.7 miles now. The fourth leg is 3.2 miles long. Near the middle of this leg you come to an old silo. Here you record your time on a page of a book and take it to the finish with you. My time here was 5:34. I wrote like a kindergartner. One more thing to worry about. Also you carry your number too, which is a 2 1/2" square piece of paper. Although the number is not important, I am well known here. After the Silo you now enter an area without a trial, a large stream, and a general direction to follow. At places there are many markers, but at others none to see for awhile. I got lost many times here. I go down stream some so not to get my feet wet in this cold weather. Now I am lossing track of my time. It just does not seem very important any more. I am so very tired. At least it is not snowing anymore, but wind is very strong and cold. I have now went 20.9 miles officially. The fifth leg is 3.3 miles. It is one of the shortest, but for me it may have been the longest. Here there is no trails at all just a general direction to go with markers here and there. At times there are many, but other times you may not see one for a while. Without the help of the Sun I got lost a lot. Twice I went in a circle. The first not so bad, but the second time I added a lot of distance. I am now so very very tired. The sixth leg is 6.8 miles. It is far the easiest to run, but it is at the end and there is a part that goes three miles without a marker. You are told to go South on a paved road, which would be great if the Sun was out. I get kind of lucky in that I actually do turn South, but after about 3/4 mile and not seeing a marker ahead of me, I figure that I went north. Just before I get all the way back I see Lou driving by and he tells me to turn around. I do not complain. I just turn around and run the next three except the hills. It is hilly of course. Here is another book to sign and tear out a page. With a lot of effort I write something that kind of looks like "Tom", then I just put a "D" instead of Detore. It was not very readable anyway. Now with only a mile or so to go to the finish I try to finish strong, but it is not there. I feel like I am running like an old man. May be I am. I am the oldest by 9 years and probably one of just three runners over 40. Ben Holmes is 51. My finishing time is 8:58. If I had not run 274 marathons/ultras without a DNF, I just might have dropped out, when my hands were so very cold. No, I would not, but I really was miserable. It was a very lonely, cold, and tiring out there. What I am most proud of in this run is finishing. One more experience to draw from when the going gets tough. Next is Run for the Ranch Marathon in Springfield, MO, on December 28th. My friend, John Dietrich, and I will drive down there together has we did last year. It does not start until 2:30pm, so a three hour drive is an easy one for us. TomD

Tom, Your reports from past Dude races stick in my mind. I remember thinking, Why would some one run this? Wow this is so different and sounds like a game inside a race. Tom is incredible. I couldn't wait to read this year's report. Terrible weather and you ran mostly alone, but I knew you'd finish. Great job. Hopefully the sun will shine next year's Dude adventure. Bet you'll be there!

I've been waiting for this report since I saw the name of it. Thanks for sharing and congratulations for finishing. That's a whole lot of mental toughness you exhibited.

Tom, I am just shaking my head in disbelief, but congratulations anyway on a very gutty and gutsy performance. I don't know you do it, but you certainly rise to the challenge every time. As always, thanks for sharing. huskydon

Wildchild, My estimate was 9+ miles. I am usually good of keeping track of things, but it was so cold out. I just lost interest in anything except finishing before dark. I just barely made it. I hate running in the dark. Dale finished around are normal time together, 7:17. You can see who is better at not getting lost. Just the RD and one volunteer were left at the finish line. The weather was terrible. Yes, I paid $20 for this experience. At least it was only about 30 minutes from home. TomD