Dino Series‘ Tecumseh Trail Marathon is a tough race. 26.2 miles of trails through the hills of South Central Indiana. December weather. Frequently changing conditions. Team Ragged Glory members Steve Kincade, Nancy Gawrys and I (Doug Theis) made the decision to run it together and give it our best. We even laughed about bringing our on-foot towing system that we use in adventure races so we could have a little fun with some of the other racers.
In the days leading up to the 2010 Tecumseh, Nancy had to bow out because of a scheduling problem. And the weather forecast became threatening. The temperatures looked like they would hold steady at around 30 degrees. The weatherman called for 2-4″ of snow and sleet starting at 8am, 2 hours before race time.
Steve and I talked the night before the race about what we should do. We decided to make the decision the morning of the race. Neither one of us was thrilled with the weather forecast. I was especially worried about getting cold and wet. Since the race is a point-to-point, there isn’t much chance to bail out if you get in trouble.
On Saturday morning at 5am, the sleet/snow combination was falling steadily. The radar looked like it would be a full day of precipitation. If Steve wasn’t running, it would have been over right then for me. The bed was nice and warm. We could stay in Indy and run with Nancy early, then help her with her move. I was assembling a sophisticated list of reasons to skip the race.
More of the Team Ragged Glory blog post from Doug Theis
