Rod Jetton- Sycamore Log Church Long Trail Run

The Sycamore Log Cabin Church where Jami and I were married

I had been thinking about this weekends run for two days.  I knew I needed to get more actual trails in, but with the heat and my weight, I was worried.  I decided to run the 6 mile trail that starts at the scenic over look on Hwy 76 just before you get to the Sheppard of the Hills tower.  This trail drops, turns and climbs over to the Sycamore Log cabin Church and offers some very technical trail running.



I woke up at 5:30 am with a heavy fog hiding the sun that was trying to break through and light up the morning.  I was thankful for the fog, because it kept things cooler.  It was 70 degrees outside so I read a few Bible verses, and  said my prayers, loaded up on water, and drove over to the Church.

A look at the fog blocking the sun from the scenic overlook.

Once there, I put my camel back on and started jogging down the road to the trail.  It was further than I remembered it and after 10 min I went across the creek and onto the trail head.  My original plan had been to try and do two loops on the trail, which would have been 12 miles.  This extra mile+ down to the trail had me re-thinking that plan.  I decided to see what I felt like after one loop. 

I sure felt strong running along the creek on the trail, but then it turned west and went almost straight up a steep hill.  When you run trails around Branson they are seldom flat.  The hills are steep and this one was no exception.  I decided to walk up and save my legs.  Now, when I say walk, I don't mean some slow strolling pace.  I was power walking up that hill and huffing the whole time.  Sometimes, on really steep hills when you are overweight, fast walking is just a quick as jogging and it takes allot less energy.


I made it up that hill and kept going at a steady pace as this trail is a steady uphill from the creek to the scenic overlook on Hwy. 76.  I reached the top in 28 min.  I had run this trail last year starting at the top in 55 min, but I was thinner then.  I was happy with the time and thought maybe I could hit 1 hour since I had allot of downhill going back.  I was still thinking about running two laps at this point. 

Going down the trail I made good time and then I hit the switch backs that go up and down and started feeling a bit tired.  I hit the start of the final mini-loop, which had a very steep hill and walked up it.  After I got to the top of it I stated picking up my pace on the down hill hoping I could break the 1 hour limit.  Somewhere on that back loop, which is the easy part of the trail, I started fading.  It was a gently rolling trail but I was getting tired and slowing down.

I finally started the final steep downhill part and reached the bottom in just over 1 hour.  I considered just doing the mini three mile loop again, but after remembering the long steep uphill that awaited me, I decided to just jog back to the Church.  While it took 10 min to get to the trail from the church, it took 15 to get back to the church.

I rested and stretched a bit, then drove down to the creek and took a dip in the clear cold water.  That was sure refreshing.  I was tired but the good news is.... I wasn't dead like I have been after the last few weekend runs, and this was the most trail miles I have included in any my runs so far.  Seriously, a trail mile in Branson is just harder than a road mile.

My left knee is hurting some and I'm resting it but my goal is to do 2 laps on that course next week.  I may start up at the scenic overlook this time though.  My weight has dropped some but I don't think I will notice it until I get under 200.  Now I am down to about 12 weeks to train and completing a 8.5 mile run with 6 trail miles in it is a far cry from running a 50k race on some steep hills in October. 

Until next time take care and thanks for reading.
Rod Jetton 

The Freedom 1/2 marathon was hot!!!!

My whole family came into town for the 4th of July weekend so we had 28 guests visiting.  I woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 to get to Table Rock Dam in time for a 7:00am race.  I took some time to pray read a few Bible verses and eat a banana.  I was going to use the restroom, but was running a bit behind and thought I'll wait till I get down to the race.  I needed to register and it was about a 20 min drive to the Dam so I filled up my camelback and headed out while everyone was still asleep.

When I pulled into the starting area I was amazed at all the people.  They were running a 5k, 10k and 1/2 marathon but I really didn't expect this many people on a hot July 4th weekend.  Now, I was planning on using this "race" to just help me get a long run in for my training.  I quickly registered and picked up my race t-shirt and got my iPhone and music ready.  Then I realized my mistake.  The line to the two bathrooms was long.  I mean really long.  It was only 15 min to the race start and I counted all the people in line and estimated that if they all took 1 min I would get in there by 7:12.

Being a Marine I found a quite secluded place behind a bush and took a "natural break" as they say in the Tour de France.  Unfortunately, I was needing to go #2 and thought I'll just stop at the bathroom down at the campground during the race.  This course was a gently rolling paved trail that strolled along the lakes edge for a little over 4 miles.  The 5k runners had a turnaround at the 1.5 mile mark and the 10k runners did two laps of that.  Us 1/2 marathoners, went out past the Branson Bell and the campground all the way past the Marina and then turned around.  We had three laps to complete.

The whistle blew and I took off with the rest of them at what I thought was a nice slow pace, but with all the 5k and 10k runners in there I realized later that I went out a bit to quick.  It was a very hot and humid day but the first lap seemed so easy to me.  The nice thing about the course was you got to see all the other runners twice each lap.  When I started the second lap I was about 20th and told myself I needed to slow down and stay strong for the third lap.  I started getting passed some and being passed even when you know your slowing down takes something out of you.

I was feeling tired and very hot and all the ladies and old men were passing me and I was feeling dead.  But I kept at it and made the turnaround and started back.  The race workers were very encouraging and kept telling me I looked good but I knew they were lying!! ha ha

I finally finished the 2nd lap and started on #3.  I asked one of the workers if the 3rd lap would be more downhill than the first 2 and he almost dragged me off the course fearing I had heat stroke.  I was only joking with him but joking kept my mind off of how slow I was running I mean jogging and how bad I was hurting.  By this time I was walking up the steep hills and I just wanted to finish this race.  (For some reason each lap the hills got steeper. )   I knew if I started the 3rd lap I would have no choice but to run back since my car was parked at the starting area.

After being passed by several more runners the turnaround finally appeared.  It was a bit of a hill up to it but I made it up and was headed home.  At this point I was just trying to push the pain out of my mind.  The sad thing is I was barley running.  I mean this was the slowest pace I had EVER run ANY race in my life.  I kept pushing and went by the campground then the Branson Bell and finally into the finish shoot.

I'm embarrassed to say I ran a 2:04.  I saw that 2 hours was coming up but there was just no way for me to speed up and break 2.  I was dead.  That's a 9:30 pace!!  It made me come to the realization that I am out of shape and overweight and I have to do something about it.  I drank water all day and slept and was hurting bad.  The next day I drank water and slept and was soar.  Finally on  Monday I started feeling normal but my legs were soar.

If I don't drop at least 20 pounds this 50k trail race is going to kill me in October.  I wouldn't recommend running a 1/2 marathon with little or no training but it is a good way to suffer and motivate you to get back in shape.  Hopefully I will do better next week.

Take care,

Rod Jetton

First Trail Run in 2011

Ok, for all the experts out their I know this will sound crazy but today was my first trail run.  It was rough.  I have a 6 mile loop here in Branson with some difficult hills that took me 1:05 to run today.  I had to walk most of the steep hills.

Here is this years background though.  I was in great shape last summer and running that trail in like 50 min during the heat.  Then fall hit and Christmas and the cold.  My running stopped and I ate way to much then hunting season and graduations and vacation and I won't say how much I got up to but this week I was back down to 210 which I felt was light enough to try the trails.


Weight makes a HUGE difference on trails.  The hills are steeper than roads and I can feel each pound.  I need to get down to about 190 and then I will run a lot faster and feel better.  So my goal is to get some runs in, ride my bike some and get the weight off so I can get up the hills.  Then I can start going on longer trail runs.

I only have about 12 weeks till the Bass Pro trail race in September so I have to get my mileage up.   I will try to take some photos and keep you up with my progress.

Thanks and take care,

Rod Jetton