So you'd love to run the Boston Marathon, but the traveling and hotel rooms that you have to put up with to run in the qualifying events knock too much off your pace? Streams & Valleys of Wichita Falls has a great opportunity for you: The Duel!

The Duel is a two day running event pitting Trail against Trail, Runner against Runner ... and everyone wins.

The first day is Saturday, January 21st and takes place on the dirt trails in and around Lucy Park, the second day is Sunday, January 22nd and takes place on the paved Circle Trail. Both runs begin and end at the Hotter N Hell Hundred building at 104 Scott Street in downtown Wichita Falls.

The idea is that the fairly level course and hometown location will make it easier for some of Wichita Falls' local runners to hit the qualification mark for the Boston Marathon.

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The committee members have been putting in a lot of work getting the dirt trail ready and marking the different courses for the paved runs. There are distances for every level of athlete from a 5k course you can walk or run, all the way up to the Ultra Marathon course of 31 miles.

To make it a little more fun, the organizers of the run have come up with some interesting titles for those who choose to participate. If you run one half-marathon  you're a Deputy, two half-marathons and you're a Marshall. Running one full marathon makes you a Rooster Cogburn and two full marathons makes you a John Wayne. For those who simply don't know when to quit running one ultra-marathon makes you a Texas Ranger, and the seriously insane athletes who run two ultra-marathons (That's a total of 62 miles in two days!) will get the Chuck Norris finisher's pin. Which will you choose?

Dave D.

(Note: Much to his surprise, Dave Diamond recently discovered that he is on the Steering Committee for this event.)

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