This was a great race mostly because I was able to be part of a fairly elite team. Harvey Lewis, winner of Badwater, Jill Peters, who won this for the women last year, and several other. For all of my running years, I was always looking at these guys and their teams from the outside, but to be part of it was kinda cool.
My goal was to break 100 miles, which I did, but just barely, which was enough. The morning was cool, and if you weren't running, you would be wearing a light jacket. The race started very low key, just like most Ultras do. I stayed with Jeff H. and Mel for the first couple of laps. Mel was the first to take off, then Jeff. I did most of the first 60 miles after that by myself. I'd usually saddle up next to someone and talk, but for whatever reason, that just didn't happen here, so I put on my music and zoned out the best I could. After about 4 hours, it just seemed that this was becoming harder than it should, and I started getting kinda bummed out. I'm not one to usually go through the "highs and lows" during a long race, but it certainly happened this time. Eventually, some of our crew wanted to get some of their own running in, and Em and Andrew secretly joined me for some laps. Thank goodness too, because that was exactly what I needed. I guess I'm just not a "solo" runner any more. My quads were beginning to hurt, which was way to early, and that bummed me out as well, but as always, it just got to a certain point of pain and didn't go beyond that. Just before the sun went down, we made a plan to meet at the beach, which was just a few feet off the course, and let me do a clothing, shoe change, while at the same time letting me wade into the cold waters of the lake for a few minutes to let my quads chill out. As soon as I got in the water, my whole body got a crazy chill, and I wanted to immediately get out, but I forced myself to stay for about 7 minutes or so. I would have stayed longer, but my crew were yelling at me to get out and start running, so I did. They dressed me and sent me on my way.
My plan was to stop every hour at our crew tent and stretch for a few minutes, but this turned out to almost be my downfall for missing 100 miles. These sessions were taking to long and were cutting to much into my time. I was able to kinda calculate this out with about 25 miles to go and decide to not take anymore stretching brakes. I had been doing a walk jog for several hours too, and began increase my speeds on my walks and my runs as well. Twice during the evening, we had some kick ass thunder storms. I got caught out in the first one and had to do a quick shirt change as well as pick up a hat and jacket. The course had some nice deep puddles, but you eventually learn were each and every one is at, and avoid the deep ones. Rebecca came out and did several of the last miles with me, which kept me pushing and was good company.
Some of the fun stuff we saw during the day which helped pass the time was 2 weddings, 1 kids birthday party, some guy practicing tight rope waling between 2 trees, and some large men doing some workouts at a childrens area. I named one "Black Bain" because he was black and because he wore a mask like "Bain" in the Batman movie. He was there for about 12 hours working out, the last 6 of which I think he did nothing but jump rope. He kept all the runners entertained for sure.
The last few laps were me doing a lot of math in my head and trying to figure just how close my 100 goal was. By the last 10 miles, I knew I had to continue to haul ass and now take a break or slow down even a little. My walks got shorter, and my runs got faster. By the time I crossed the mat for 100 miles, I had about 10 minutes left, which was cutting it very very close. I had decided that since I knew I wasn't going to make another mile, I'd just walk and see how far I got. I ended up getting about half way around the loop to where the bathrooms were, and called it a day there. I put my little piece of "marker" wood on the ground, and made my way into the porta potty. That's where I heard the horn blow to signal the end of the race.
Lesson: Not so many breaks, and not so long. I MUST find out what to do about my quads. I have strong legs, but they seem to fatigue way earlier than I would expect them to. Hmmmm.

Less breaks. Shorter Breaks.

Hobble my ass back to the car and get back to the hotel for a shower.


Faster? I don't know how much speed I'll really ever have for an ultra.


Done with little loop courses. Want to get out to the "GREAT OUTDOORS" for the next one.....look, I'm already saying that there will be a "next one".