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Whispering Pines 2016

By Greg Sisengrath

May 23^rd, 2016

Team Ninja and (FOTN) Friends of Team Ninja descended on Tyler State Park for a wonderful weekend of racing and relaxing. Endurance Buzz Adventures always puts on a great race and this location happens to be one of my favorites. In short, everyone had solid races and even better time relaxing at Jellystone Park afterward. Cabin camping does have it’s merits.

7K Race

The future of trail running has arrived. These kids have been putting in the work during our weekly Team Ninja Trail Runs. They are absolutely hooked. We even had a photo finish for 1st Place, between Rylie and Marlo. Jailynn, Trinity and Tristan were not far behind. A Search and Rescue team (me) was dispatched for the knuckle head trio of Haylie, Diesel and Josh who scored bonus miles.

11 Mile race

We had 4 team members running the 11 Mile race. Helene and Ashley would be notching distance PRs on the trail, led by race veteran Faith (who ran her 1st 50K here last year). Lorie had a successful supported training run as she builds for an upcoming trail marathon. FOTN and running power couple, Long and Kayla, both bettered their one loop paces from last year.

Additional Photo Credit: Ryan Lange

22 Mile race

We only had one team member toeing the line for two loops. Cathy had a very abbreviated training cycle for this race, but knocked it out. Not bad for being on a “break.”

54K race

We had 3 team members (2 ultra debuts) and 3 FOTN toeing the line for ultra glory. Although just 2 weeks off a grueling race at OKC Memorial Marathon, Jay easily knocked out his 1st ultra. Did I mention that he also raced with a broken finger from BMX stunt riding? Nuts. Fiona and LisaLynne started and ran the 1st loop together. However, GI distress would slow Fiona some on the 2nd loop and LisaLynne would end up finishing her 1st ultra with FOTN, Michelle and Jill. Fiona recovered well on the 3rd loop and finished strong shortly after. This was also her birthday celebration run! There would be quite a bit of cake later. Last but not least, FOTN Pam would have to overcome some rough foot issues during her race. But she persevered for her first ultra and also notched the Tough as Nails Award.