I was really hoping to crack 3 hours, but I haven't done any specific training for this. My nutrition plan was pretty simple. I carried 2 Crank Sports E-gels. One in each sleeve of my arm warmers. I'd hit those at the each hour mark and chase it with water from the aid stations. I've read that if you're not doing some altitude work you can expect a big slow down at tree line. Pretty much what happened to me. I was making all my goals up to that point. Was supposed to be at No Name Creek in 52:44, got there at 48:00, Barr Camp in 1:31:36, there at 1:28:20, and A-Frame in 2:08:10, there at 2:06:16. I figured I'd just stay on pace till tree line and whatever happened after that I'd deal with when I got there. Up to No Name I was running/chatting with my buddy and rival Nathan McCrary (super fast guy who's been killing it this year) he picked it up some after passing some people and I let him go. Went by Tim Sandell after Barr Camp and managed to put another 5 mins. into him before the finish. Just before A-Frame I caught Nathan... he was having some serious GI issues (puking several times). I looked over and he was at full-on zombie state. I just kept plugging away and trying to keep my cadence up. I took a wrong turn and nailed my ankle on a tree that had fallen over and let out a yelp followed by some profanities. Within a minute of that I was stung by a bee. More profanities followed. Talk about insult to injury. Back on course after losing a couple of minutes. Got to tree line and was fighting the inevitable slow down. Started getting really dizzy with 2 miles to go. Ran when I could and walked when I had to. Hit the finish line, grabbed my bag of clothes/recovery drink, got dressed (cuz it was 40 degrees at the summit), laid down on a rock, and fell asleep. A buddy of mine saw me and kicked my feet, which brought me out of my comatose state. Chatted for a bit and then I walked up to the finish line to watch my wife come through. I saw her and could tell the altitude did a number on her. She was still within a few minutes of my predicted time, so I'm super proud of her. After that I wanted to get her back down to Manitou as quickly as possible so we grabbed her gear and got on the van. The day was done!

Some day I'll do this race and train for it properly. Either way it's very rewarding and I think everyone should do it at least once.

None


14,115 feet