Going into the race I was confident in at least my ability to finish the thing. Training was fairly solid and I'm really bad at telling people I want to quit things. So if no one tells me to quit it's not happening even if I want it to end in my head.
My parents decided they would come with so Gretchen got to come along as well. We flew into Vegas (the grossest city in the US) and hung out for a day. Mostly this meant time in the pool with Gretchen. The next day we drove up to Bryce found the hotel and my super friend Katie. Who had driven down from Colorado to pace me for 22 miles overnight. I just wanted bib pick up, food, and bed as soon as possible.
Everything took a little longer than I would of liked. Dinner was 3 - 4 slices of pizza then back to the hotel to lay out everything I would need for the race. I didn't make a drop bag. I gave Katie some extra snacks to save for me and that was about it. I really have no idea what people put in those huge drop bags, like no idea. I can see not wanting to carry something like your headlamp the whole time but how do you know when you are going to need it. I was in bed a little later than planned at 9:30 ish.
Alarm went off at 4:00, I was up dressed and out the door at 4:30. My dad drove me over to the shuttle buses that were to carry us to the start line. I realized I had completely forgotten about breakfast so I ate a honey stinger waffle from my pack. Way fewer calories than I like to start a race with but to late at that point. It was a little chilly waiting at the start for a little over half an hour till the national anthem was sang and we were off.
Start-Thunder Mountain 10.5
The first miles went by quick with amazing views of the hudoos. Felt good, just tried to take it east and not worry to much. The trail went up and down but nothing crazy. The first aid station was there in no time. Reapplied sunscreen, ate a gel(only because of my lack of breakfast) and carried on.
Thunder Mountain - Proctor Canyon 19
Well this felt a little tougher but kept moving forward plenty of downs to make up for the ups. Still feeling fine at mile 19. Oranges and bladder refill of half tailwind/ half water. Thinking well the next section will probably be a little easier. About an hour later I'm thinking I should start paying attention to elevation profiles.
Proctor Canyon - Blubber Creek 28
This was the worst section of the entire race. I know I wasn't the only one feeling this. There were some serious climbs in this section and the temps were rising. It was hot out. Also there were a few areas that while I felt confident going across at the moment they looked like they might be a bit sketchy when I made my way back the next morning and I was a lot more tired and a lot less with it. You know like I step wrong and take a serious fall and cause some serious body damage.
I ran out of water about 20ish minutes before hitting the aid station( I think a lot of people did.) It was pretty early on for things to feel this tough. This is really the only part of the race I was unsure about finishing and thought about dropping out but like I said I don't really know how people drop out.
For the very first time in my life I sat down at an aid station. So it was tough. I refilled my water and had a piece of quesadilla and some fruit and Swedish fish.
Blubber Creek - Kanab Creek 36
This section was some trail and then fire road I think. It went much quicker and I was feeling a bit better about things. Don't really remember this aid station but I'm pretty sure I had a can of ginger ale.
Kanab Creek - Straight Canyon 41
Things got better on the way to 41. Illinois told me the worst was behind us and while I was a little disgruntle he was cheery and totally right. It was getting late in the day so things would begin to cool off and Straight Canyon was the station I'd meet Katie at, not at 41 but when I got back at 62. Mentally it made the race closer to the end than the start though. At Straight Canyon I had more coke and cheese quesadilla with pickles and water refill. I left fairly quickly knowing it was all up up up to the next station.
Straight Canyon - Pink Cliffs 46.5
It was mostly fire road up to the pink cliffs but they were pretty awesome to look out across. Took a moment then headed over to the aid station. More coke and and quesadillas and topped the water off.
Pink Cliffs - Crawford Pass 51.5
There was a lot of downhill in this section. I love me some downhill and I also love getting past the halfway point. I did quite a bit of running here. Once closer to the aid station there were a few spots where us shorter folk had to make jumps to get across. Just some chips and Swedish fish here. I left fairly quickly wanting to get past the jumps before dark.
Crawford Pass - Pink Cliffs 56.5
I had to dig my headlight out just before getting to the road. It was more up than down but nothing serious. Running mostly and then aid station for more quesadilla, pickles, Swedish fish and mello yellow. Topped off the water and was out.
Pink Cliffs -Straight Canyon 62
This went by fast in the dark, it was pretty much all downhill and I knew I'd be meeting Katie at the the next station. I got there just after midnight and Katie saw me before I saw her. She was all business. Got me a shirt to put on and my snacks. I ate some ramen more coke, water refilled and we were off.
Straight Canyon - Kanab Creek 67
This section went pretty well. Like I said Katie was way more business than usual trying to make me run everything that wasn't uphill. I did pretty good throughout these miles and they passed pretty quickly with Katie talking then putting on some tunes. Aid station I don't remember I think we split a coke.
Kanab Creek - Blubber Creek 75
I don't really remember where this section started or ended but we can just assume I was more whiny and slower than the last section but not quite as much as in the next section.
Blubber Creek - Proctor Canyon 84
This section was not so great. I might of gotten a bit whiny. There were pretty significant climbs here and I felt the need to catch my breath and felt a little nauseous but seemed to get over it as we started closing in on the aid station. The sun had come up and was feeling nervous but good as Katie was leaving me at this point and I had 16 miles left. Only 16 miles but it was a long 16 miles. I gave all my extra clothes since it was warming up again along with my headlamp, had here spray me down with sunscreen and I took off.
Proctor Canyon - Thunder Mountain 92.5
Getting here was a little rough, I took off thinking I was energized and it would be quick and downhill. I don't know why. There were 3 huge climbs in the first 3 miles and then it was just hot out. I could tell I was going to run out of water again so I was trying to be a little conservative but wanted to use it all up like immediately every quarter mile. There was a small water crossing, I totally got in it and drenched myself the best I could. It was so cold and felt amazing! At aid station I sat for a bit, water refilled and iced myself down. I think I ate something but it wasn't much, wasn't feeling the food at this point. Got up, next stop Finish Line but it felt so so far away.
Right after I finished. I have no idea what is going on in the pic. photo credit:Michelle Lingenfelser
Thunder Mountain - Finish 100
I may of walked most of this. There was still a lot of climbing to be had and I was feeling like I was on the verge of overheating or dehydrating the whole time and could tell I'd run out of water before the finish. There was a lot more people around once I started closing in on the last 5ish miles. Half marathoners were still out and the fastest 50kers were coming in. The last few miles were up, around and down multiple canyons, mountains, whatever they were till we finally came down then it was about a mile of road to the finish. I wasn't feeling great so I probably didn't really appreciate this until I finally saw the finish line, saw my dad then decided I could run the last few hundred feet in. Suddenly I was good, had some water and sat down. I really wanted my socks and shoes off but with all the sand that had molded itself into my socks along with my feet swelling a bit the compression socks did not wanna come off. Luckily Katie found some scissors and cut them off of me. I was good.
*I finished 88/135 finishers, not horrible can always be better but I'm good with it. They are saying 92 people started the race and DNF'd.
*I think my training was really pretty good for the race. My legs didn't tire out that much. I mean they ached and were tired but not that bad. My body didn't feel bad after the race. I was walking just fine the next day.
*I would of done a lot better had the temps not reached the upper 90's and had I not ran out of water multiple times. More aid stations would of helped for sure but it's a 100 mile race. I'm not going to complain about lack of beverages or food. I could of spent my money on a carnival cruise if I wanted to be catered to.
*I feel like I improved over my race at Never Summer 100k from last year.
*Still happy with my training the running, weights, stair master. Feel like I did it right.
*Only had a 2 liter bladder for water. Need to figure out a bottle or comfortable handheld option to go with. Especially for these zero waste races.
*I ate 3 quesadillas while writing this post. It's like I'm always training.
*So So happy I had Katie as my pacer, made it so much easier to get through the night and faster than it would of been by myself.
*The boyfriend sent a ton of nice inspiring texts through the day and night and next day. I only saw them when I occasionally turned my phone off airplane mode but they always perked me up.
My friends Leia Anderson ran the 50 miler and Shawn Daugherty ran the half marathon and wrote race reports. Good Reads.
Now what should my next 100 race be? Is it time for a 200 miler?
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