This weekend I headed to the inaugural Bobcat Trail Marathon. Located just outside of “nowhere”, Burr Oak Sate Park is a diamond in the rough for trail runners. With over 35 miles of trails you are bound to find some good running.

Once arriving at the park, checking in, and doing a quick little “loosen up” run it was time to head down to packet pick-up and get some food. For those of us staying at the park, they had everything you need.

After packet pick-up, runners were treated to an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner (well it was $12.00) or you could eat from the menu at the lodge restaurant. After dinner, I headed back to my cabin to relax and watch a little TV.

The 8am race start is about the only nice thing the race director had up his sleeve. After brief instructions, and the National Anthem presented by the OU ROTC we were ready to head out.

With only the first 0.8 and last 0.8 miles on the road and a few other spots in-between, the remaining miles were the most challenging trails I have ever run! The course was filled with hills, roots, rocks, hills and more of the same. It was by far the toughest course I have ever raced, and to put it in comparison the marathon took longer to complete than the last Buckeye Trail 50k I ran. Challenging yes, but the course was absolutely beautiful as it circled the entire Burr Oak Lake and never went far from the shoreline.

Aid stations were placed approximately every 3.5 miles and had everything you could imagine including PB&J, cookies, potato chips (my favorite), PowerBar Gel, water and lots more. They definitely did a great job stocking the stations, and the volunteers were outstanding.

Once across the finish it was all first class, as volunteers were there to hand you water, fluid replacement, anything else you needed and escort you over to your finisher’s sweatshirt. Yes a sweatshirt … no more medals.

Once done, the folks at Burr Oak Lodge extended the “late check-out” for the rooms and cabins until 2:00 p.m. For those of us with a long drive home it was much appreciated.
Overall a great experience, a great race and some really sore muscles. If you plan on participating in this race next year, I suggest multiple long runs in the 4 plus hour range. Yes 4 hours!