SUCCESS!!! 100 MILES!!!

JORGE DID IT!!! 100 MILES IN 28 HOURS, 53 MINUTES!!!

He is tired, his back hurts a little and he is getting cleaned up because he fell and got a cut on his nose, but he made it!! He is feeling pretty good and is happy to have made his goal. And earlier than expected!

On behalf of his family, we couldn't be any prouder! HOORAY!!

98 miles!!

Jorge just called Margaret to let her know that he is two miles away from the finish. He said he thought it would take him about 40 minutes to finish those last two miles. He is doing well and is totally focused.

80 miles and the point of no return...

At 4:15AM Jorge completed the 4th lap. He got separated from the trail at some point and had to spend about 15 minutes walking back to it. He says it is very difficult at night. He is cold and got another jacket from Margaret and a bunch more Goo (this hi-energy food). He is still going strong and is focused on his goal and determined. This was a critical point - he had to make the decision whether to finish or not. If you are unable to complete the race in 30 hours they pull you from the track and do not allow you to finish and we knew from the beginning that he would be close to this cutoff. He, of course, decided to go ahead and is on track to complete the race sometime a between 11AM and noon CST today.

72 miles!!

Jorge just passed the 72-mile mark at 1:20AM CST. He is doing well, but is realizing that he needs to not goof around so much at the pit stops. That means, for those of us watching his progress... no more posing for photos! Only a few more hours until he sees Margaret again, and her job is to get him in and out of the pit-stop in 2-3 minutes. Otherwise, he sounds good and is still going at it!

66 Miles...

... and keeping hydrated. He's feeling good.

60-mile mark

Jorge passed the 60-mile mark a bit before 9:00PM. He took about a 10-15 minute pit stop to change some clothes, eat some food and pose for pictures. Apparently no sock change was required this time. The next time Margaret will see him will be at 4AM. Yikes! However, we should still be able to post some updates through the night since he is carrying his cell phone.


Here's a shot of the pit-stop camp at night:


Less than 10 miles to go before he officially runs his longest distance ever! Go, Jorge, Go!!

55 miles...

... and listening to Celia Cruz, who is apparently a great running partner!

50 miles - half way!

Jorge passed the 50 mile mark at 6PM CST. He has 18 hours to finish the remaining 50 miles. He's got the headlamps on (it's dark already) and just finished eating what he called "the driest peanut butter sandwich he ever ate." They do, however, have good quesadillas apparently - and he is eating those too! So far, so good. Margaret is preparing for the next pit stop, and in addition to the Garmin, she will be preparing a bunch of new dry warm clothes, a bottle of Ensure, fleece vest, a bottle of Gu, and more clean socks!

40 miles

Jorge came through finishing the second lap (40 mile mark) at 3:30PM CST. He is still feeling good, wanted a change of socks, and Margaret is going back around 9PM to swap out his Garmin GPS watch with one that is fully charged. He was wearing a hat with a visor, but put on a Gator knit hat. He swapped out a leaky water bottle, but is eating well and everything seems to be on track.

2nd lap - update #2

Jorge just called to report that at 2:25PM CST, he is at the 4th aid station on the second lap. He said he feels good and is making good progress.

2nd lap update

Jorge is continuting to run loops around the park! As of 12:08PM CST, he was at the 2nd aid station - Dam Road, on the second lap. He sounds energized and good!

At 10:30AM Jorge completed his first 20 mile lap. He is feeling good and the weather is great. It's 40 degrees and sunny there.

At 7:30AM, Jorge was at the second aid station for the first lap.

A map of the course can be found here: http://www.tejastrails.com/maps/map_RR_course_2009.pdf

And here are the aid stations with their distances: http://www.tejastrails.com/docs/Rocky_Aid.html

2/5/10 Huntsville Evening

Thanks for all the emails. I did a couple of more walks on the course with Margaret and Vito. Went to pick up my race information. I will be wearing bib # 188. I turned in one of my drop bags with gear and food, that one is going to the Dam Road. I have the other drop bag almost done. That one will be at the start/finish. Margaret will have more stuff in the truck. Vito (the dog) cannot be near the aid stations so Margaret will have to give the the stuff not to close to the stations or leave Vito in the car. We had a pasta dinner that we defrosted in the microwave. It was great. I have been drinking gatorade all day. Thanks again for all the encouragement.

2/4/10 Huntsville

We got to Huntsville, TX yesterday. We have a nice room with fridge and microwave. We went yesterday to the state park and walked part of the course. They have already marked parts of it. It is a bit of clay and sand but a good trail. Will have to watch out for tree roots on the trail specially at night. Met the race director and a few of the workers yesterday. They are expecting close to 700 runner between the 100 milers and the 50 milers. Vito likes the trails. Today in the morning we went back for a one hour walk on a different part of the trail. We will try to locate the Storm Shelter in Huntsville where we will pick up the race packet tomorrow. I am trying to keep hydrated keep eating low fiber carbohydrates.