First, I am about 7 months behind on my blogging. I promise I will catch up on what happened the 2nd Half of 2016. But let's get the ball rolling with what happened last weekend in the Ouachita Mountains in southeastern Oklahoma.
This year was my 3rd time running the Ouachita Switchbacks 50K. It is one of my favorite races. The race director describes this as "Oklahoma's toughest and most beautiful ultra" and I won't disagree. In the week leading up to the race, colder and icy weather threatened to postpone the race. We got "lucky" with starting weather in the 50s, but would have to deal with already technical terrain made trickier by rain the night before the race.
I was able to wrangle a couple Team Ninja athletes to join me this year. Jay tackled his 3rd 50K finish. Julie ran the 25K, which was her first race in several months. Both had a great race experience and are ready to come back next year.
The oldest got a little taste of the climbing. I would love to have her try the 25K one year.
I didn't have any lofty goals coming into the race other than running faster than the year before. I was able shave a few minutes off last year's time. Success! I rolled my ankle(s) several times on the slick rocks, which took a bit of pep out of my step later in the race. So I know I can go even faster next year.
Data:
Strava & Race Results
Nutrition:
Pre-Race:
-Coffee+MCT Oil
-3Carb+Beet Elite
-(1) Vespa Ultra Concentrate
Race:
-Amphipod bottle (20z)
-(2) Tailwind Endurance Fuel+BCAAs
-(2) 3Fu3l+Beet Elite+BCAAs
© 2026 Greg Sisengrath
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