In awe

Tag: 100 mile race report

  • [673][626] 2024 C&O 100

    This past weekend, I had a chance to be at the C&O 100 helping out at an aid station and cleaning up after runners finished.  I love the race and had run it the year before.  If I could do it again racing, I would do it in a heartbeat.  But money is tight for me this year and I have to be careful in choosing which races to do. I can’t be like last year when I could just sign up every race that comes into my inbox.  Helping out at the race is the next best thing to running in it. I brought back memories I had when I ran it.

    I wrote the entry below right after my 2024 race, though I ended up publishing a slightly different and shorter version.  I still like the one I published more, but this version below I like it in a different way, maybe it expresses more what I was feeling while running it. It is more raw.  Basically, I like the race. I like racing.

    I reread it recently, and since I don’t have anything to publish this week,  So, here goes something from my old draft (rejected) folder:

    —

    This will be a big one compares to the last few races.  I did the New Taipei Marathon, and was throughly happy once got it done.  Then there was the Bull Run Run 50, which was another high point, with a result better than I expected. Last week was the Blue Ridge Marathon and I left my heart in that race, with another successful run.  Can we have more?  Indeed. Those who have been following weekly know I have a full summer of fun (in racing).

    We are going through the spring races. There will be many races before the fall season kicks in. 

    The C&O Canal 100 went well, far above and beyond what I dreamed.  I ran my personal best time.

    A bit of history.  I wrote about how I choose my races, especially the 100 mile races. There are not that many 100 mile races compares to marathons.  So, I “did my research” of which ones I want to run by either from a word of mouth or from reading some blogs. I wish I can recall the specific blogs I read about this race. There was one that left a good impression. I wish I had the reference saved.

    My interest in the C&O 100 might have started from a blog I read. I couldn’t remember which came first. The idea to run a 100 or I came across a blog that gave me the idea to do it. From reading the blog, I learned about the course and everything.

    The following events are kind of related.  In 2019 I ran the JFK 50.  A lot of the course was on the C&O Canal towpath.  I also did my first half marathon there and later did a marathon (with the Safety and Health Foundation) on the towpath, though in a section closer to DC.  Also one of my early 5k/10k runs (Fall in Love 5k) was on the towpath. It has some kind of attraction subjectively, that I need also to do a 100 miler there, because it has such a long personal running connection I built with the place. 

    What I wanted at the time was to do a one day hike (100k/62 miles) from George Town in DC to Harper Ferry. I was into backpacking/hiking at the time in 2017 and hiking on the canal was something I was building up to do.  However, each year, I kept missing the signup from the Sierra Club.  Then Covid came. The event was not held. To this day, I have never signed up.

    So what led me to decide to run a 100 mile on the canal?  I don’t remember but I was googling if I were to do a 100 mile which ones would I want to do.  And the short list were the C&O 100, the Blackbeard ‘s Revenge, Umstead, and lastly Rocky Raccoon (as recommended by a friend from Texas).  Covid closed a lot of them.  I did not get into Umstead, missed the signup, but the following year (2021), Rocky Raccoon was available for me.  C&O was too, but I did not want to wait till April and there was a risk that it might get canceled again due to Covid, so I flew to Houston, Texas and ran the Rocky Raccoon as my first 100 mile. Also, possibly, my a running friend was going to do the Rocky Raccoon, so I went there. I also wanted to travel needed for my 50 states plan.

    Now four/five years later I finally circled back to do this C&O 100.  It is not because I am a completionist, but so happened I needed a “training run” and also to pace a friend.

    It was also it happened two years ago (2022), the race sent out a call for volunteers and I responded.  During the event, I met an ultra runner (duh) who totally blew my mind of by running 100s like I was running marathons (which at the time I just got accepted into the Marathon Maniacs club, and was very proud of my standing, reaching 5th level out 9th). I have gone back to volunteer the following year because the race organization was special to me. Since so much energy is vested in this race already, it is reasonable to take the last step, to run in it.

    The last reason is, while training for the Bull Run Run around year 2022 (I trained over 3 years for BRR), I met someone (Iris, who crewed for me at Devil Dog 100 in 2022) who did both the MMT 100 and C&O 100 back to back in the same year.  It was an unimaginable accomplishment.  I  have the urge to imitate.  It blew the whole theory that you can only run one 100 mile race a year or in a season as my mom has been telling me.  It has been awhile since and finally, I feel this year is the year to go for it. Lets try for a multiple 100s!

    Side story, I am very afraid of the MMT 100 because I DNF’d there the first time and adding a 100 mile couple weeks before it doesn’t seem like a smart idea.  Anyway, I want to face that pressure.

    Now onto the race! I arrived Friday night near 9 pm. I timed it so I could go straight to bed for there was nothing to do there. I camped in the back of my truck, actually outside for the fun of it. This time unlike at the MMT 100, there was no condensation (dew) on me while I slept, which is something I always forget. (Side story: there I met my guy Jeremy for the first time, who now became a good runner partner).

    The start time was 7:00 am and we had full 30 hours to run it.  The start time was a bit late for a typical 100, but I love having the later start because it allowed me to sleep in a little bit more (the volunteers were arriving around 4 am though). I was actual up by then. I had me move my truck to where other cars were. They did not like how I parked.

    The night was cold and windy, I slept but was interrupted by the elements from time to time. I slept without a tent, which would have helped a lot in a windy time like that night, but due to being too lazy to set up and break it down in the morning, I did not use it. (I brought one but didn’t want to use it). I prefer cowboy camping.

    My goal for this run was getting it done and not break any records.  It was to me a long training run.  My friend Lynne from NY would join me and I was excited.  I promised to pace her at least for the half of it through the night portion. I was her pacer at the Rim to River 100 and Yeti 100 last fall and I did not do my job there and this time I wanted to make it up. I prepared a pace chart (28 hours), and was confident I could do it.  Normally, I don’t use a pace chart, because it gets me off my natural pace. I did it this time for Lynne.

    This race being in the local area means my other running friends would be there as well. Indeed. I saw many people I know.  Caroline was there to cheer and volunteer. I did not need to be crewed. I packed everything into one big bag and left it at the start (One big drop bag), which we would be passing by twice, at mile 40 and 70. I did not plan to leave a drop bag at Brunswick.

    The course: The course was one loop of 40 miles and 2 loops of 30 miles. 

    The loop goes like this: [(from West) North Turn around ….<—5 miles—>…Antietam (towpath Mile Marker 70) …<—5 miles—>…Dargan Bend (Camp Manidokan, 1 mile away off towpath)…<—7 miles—>… Keep Tryst, which is Harper Ferry … <—3 miles—>…Brunswick (Towpath mile marker 55)]. 

    We would start from Manidokan, then head toward Antietam and go beyond it to a North turn around point. Then we head to Brunswick and do another turnaround, then we would go back to, Manidokan, the start of the second  loop. Then a third loop and done.

    The first loop was slightly longer than the last two loops. Second/third loop we turned around at Antietam.

    During the first loop, I mostly walked the first 40 miles with my friend Lynne and then ran (15-16 min mile-ish pace, sometimes a bit faster) the next 60 miles. This year we could have a pacer starting at mile 1.4 due to security concerns (there were couple recent attacks on the towpath near the area at Point of Rock;  note, I did see a suspicious person on the AT bridge during the race at night watching us running through, but it could have been someome’s crew).

    If I really wanted to run for time, I would have several pacers with me, even early on.

    My friend initially did not want to run in this race. Somehow, it might be a late text message from me convinced her to come out. She signed up kind of late and did not have much training. I promised I would go slow. However, her lack of long runs really hampered her progress once we hit the ultra distance. I didn’t know the extend of her lack of training, and hoping she could manage, with a walk and run pace.

    On the flip side, it would help me, because I did not plan to go out fast in this race. I wanted someone to hold me back. The computer (ultrasignup) predicted my finishing time to be 25:30, and I thought it got to be joking at the time.  I believed it should be more at 28/29 hours, thus planned my race for 28 hours (with no stopping at the aid stations).  There were 20-21 aid station stops (7 total, but some we would encounter more than once). With the aid station breaks included, it should get us around 30 hours. I expected 3-6 minutes break per station. If I wanted a longer break, I would have to run faster in order to have the time.

    There were no earlier cut-offs at the beginning of the race so we could leisurely stroll along in the early part.  I did not have crew or pacer other than L. There were several other people I knew running in the race, but we were moving drastically at different paces. John was 8-10 miles ahead. Even the new guy Jeremy passed me. I only stayed with L at her pace.

    My friend Lynne kept me going until later when she was hurting from the run.  The first 10 miles were fine. We were moving fast, around 11-12 mins pace.  I wanted to tell her to slow down.  But many were going even faster than us.  They must be going for a sub 24 and that was like 95% of the runners, so likely running at 9-10 min pace.  Even people I usually think of them as slow (unnamed) were passing us.

      I knew each year there would be about 20-30 runners not going to finish. So I started to count how many runners who were behind me.  It was an out-and-back course, so I could see who were still behind me at each turn around point. I counted there were 25 runners (I underestimated, this year there were around 60 dnfs).  I felt we were mostly at the pace I wanted. As long as we were not the last bunch of runners, we would be fine.

    My friend Lynne, started slowing down after the first 10 miles.  We walked more than run.  Then the rain came as we reached Harper Ferry (towpath mile marker 62).  It was about 11 am, as the weather app predicted. I put on my rain poncho.  My friend Lynne on had her wind jacket and it was not waterproof. Soon she was wet and cold. She said she did not bring extra socks or shoes, since she wasn’t planning to run the whole 100 miles. Well good luck.  100k was her goal. I told her I had an extra jacket and socks (and shoes) in my drop bag at Camp Manidokan, but we needed to get there first and that was still 20-25 miles away.

    There was nothing we could do while still on the course (I did have one of those space reflective emergency blanket and some hand warmers on me in my hydration pack if it comes to that).

    We reached Brunswick aid station (mile 30).  There, rain came down heaviest.  I stayed under a canopy at the aid station until the storm passed.  Then we went back out heading to Camp Manidokan.  We reached Keep Tryst or Tryst Keep (I never remember which is which).  There, Caroline was volunteering. She gave me a ginger rice congee/soup. It helped keep me warm. Lynne loved the Congee too and it got her going again.  We still had 7 miles.  Lynne no longer could run.  She was in serious pain at every step. I could see her hands clenched and eyes focused. We stopped talking, and she said I could run ahead and leave her. I felt sorry she did not quit at Brunswick nor at Keep Tryst. We managed to arrived back at Camp Manidokan. 

    I already concluded, I would not stay with Lynne once we reached the Camp.  I actually went ahead first so I could get into camp to change shoes, etc and to prepare for the night portion of the race. It was about 5:15-5:30 pm, pretty much on pace for me. It would be dark soon.  I wanted to be sure I had dry clothes, a warm jacket, couple of headlamps, and food.  A volunteer prepared a cheeseburger for me while I was taking care my feet (and chafe in my private area).  This was my first meal of the day.  I had some rub burns (hot spots) that I needed to take care asap before they got worse. Lucky my clothes were mostly dry due to having a rain poncho covered me. So no clothes needed changing for me. I used baby wipes to clean myself.

    Lynne decided not to go back out. I agreed with her decision. I urged her not to use painkiller to subdue the pain, which was her original plan to get through the midnight portion. But now it was too early in the race for that, there was still 6 hours before midnight and then another 6 hours before sunrise.  The night was long, there were 60 miles to go.  It would be a suffering fest for her go back out. She could barely made it up the hill at the campsite. I believe she made the right choice to quit.

    Lap 2 (mile 40-70)

    My lap 2 and lap 3 were uneventful after Lynne left.  Going back out, I was still fresh and I followed the pace I had during the day time. I believed I hit it and gained an hour back ahead of pace by the time I reached Antietam.  My friend Jana was there  cheering and volunteering. She would still be there too later in the wee hours.  I didn’t know she was the captain of the aid station.

    I did not stay too long but headed back out after getting some food. John C came in. I was happy to have caught up to John C because he was way ahead of me in loop 1, but now he did not seem too good. He seemed to be in a terrible shape. I thought he would quit. Later seeing him again in the morning, I knew he pulled through whatever was troubling him and I was rooting for him to finish. People joke about me trying imitate the man, indeed. He ran at every race I did.

    My next target was to reach Brunswick by midnight. It got dark by the time I reached Harper Ferry (towpath mile marker 62). From there to Brunswick, I was surprised so many runners did not bring a headlamp.  Many were heading back toward Camp Manidokan (faster than me). They were running in the dark.  It soon got very dark on the towpath.  We were just couple days after a full moon but the moon had not risen yet and there were also thick cloud covering.  I don’t remember if I saw the moon at all during the night.

    I called those runners commandos.  They were practising their ninja skills or their superhero’s night vision ability.  The towpath was mostly smooth and without rocks or roots, but still there could be a million things a runner could trip on at night. Soon it was completely dark and there were still many runners running without a headlamp.  I was not sharing mine. Anyway, there were not many runners in front of me or going in my direction. Note as a PSA, I always keep a headlamp in my runner pack even while day time because you don’t know when you will need it. Too many runners were over confident in their pace of getting back to their drop bag before dark but they miscalculated.

    I wasn’t that ambitious, even if I run a 5 hr marathon pace, by mile 75, it would be around 10 pm. Yes, all those runners, were calculating based on 4 hour marathon pace, so it would still be light by the time they reach mile 75 (and would have gotten through to Manidokan to pick up a head lamp). 4:30 marathon pace would be, right on verge of getting dark, at 8:30, but that would be too risky. I would have packed a lamp at Brunswick if I were them (and of course they didn’t). Hindsight is always 20-20 they say. It goes to show, either they lack doing the planning or they were overly ambitious.

    As for me, I assume my pace was a 6 hr marathon, e.g., to reach mile 50 by 7 pm, and mile 75 by 1 am. (Sorry, I love math, hope readers get the gist, I simplify a marathon length to be 25 miles instead of 26 miles, to make mental math calculation easier).

    I arrived at Brunswick two hours ahead of my pace schedule, around 10 pm. My friend Mike E was there.  He asked if I could accompany a runner.  I said sure if the runner wanted a pacer, because I am a good pacer. I could guarantee a finish or at least get the runner to camp Manidoken by 3 am. Mike said the runner wanted to quit and I believe he wanted me to encourage them not to (we were at mile 60 [100k] by now at the time, so it was a high time to make a quit decision for a lot runners). 

    Unfortunately, that was something I could not help — I didn’t want to babysit someone. It is the runner’s own decision to go back out or not. I would not try to convince otherwise. It is hard decision for the runner. From personal experience, it is usually a multitude of issues a runner has to deal with all at once, food, foot issues, chafing, low energy, low motivation, lack of sleep, etc. When one part falls apart, everything too. It is seldom just one isolated issue to deal with. Having a crew would help manage some of those. I had own race to care about and no time for this. In the end the runner did quit. I headed back out alone.

    Running is no longer fun when things get hard in the wee hours. We were about entering that twilight zone (10 pm-4 am), the hours when our body was not used to running at, where things could get really ugly.

    As for me, I was just getting started. I told Lynne, nightfall is when the true race begins.  I got very excited for this, because I have been looking toward it. To me this is the best part of the race. The morning portion was just a rehearsal.

    My pace chart had me back at Camp Manidokan (mile 70) by 3:20 am. I was 2 hours ahead, so I expected to be back by 1:20. I reached it by 12:40, gaining 35-40 minutes. For the rest of the race, I held onto this 2.5 hours gain. Indeed, the race got hard for me after midnight as well, otherwise, I would have a 24 hr ish finish. 

    At the camp, I needed a bit of time to clean up. I don’t remember if I ate anything before heading back out from Camp Manidokan.  My clothes were wet from sweat but I did not have time to change them. I took care of some chafing issues (my private area was hurting, yes).  I ran many 100s and still haven’t figured out what the best underwear to wear, many recommend EXOskin, plus nutbutter, which I haven’t tried either of them, though in this race I seemed to zero in the right type (similar material). I am kind of allegic to lycra material, so a lot of sportwears are not good for me.  I did not change shoes or socks this time around. They were fine. My feet were in good condition.

    Loop 3.  Mile 71-100-ish.

    Now it is the final loop.  Just another 30 miles were left. By now, I was confident I could finish the race no matter what. I had roughly 12 hours to run 30 miles. 24 mins per mile pace.

    I was tired but still could run.  A volunteer asked me if I needed any food, I said, the next aid station is just down the hill less than a mile away at Dargan Bend, I could get something there rather than now.  I was going to get myself a cup of coffee but forgot.  When I got to Dargan Bend, I again forgot to grab a cup of coffee. I did eat. I asked for a vegan soup to be mixed with mashed potatoes. At the time, I did not feel like eating, but something watery made the food goes down easier. Dargan Bend had a tent set up with a fire going.  I sat down there each time to clean my shoes.  Running on the towpath, means a lot of grits found their way into my shoes  and I would have to clear them from time to time otherwise I would expect blisters forming soon. I consistently cleaned out my shoes and so had avoided having any blisters. 

    And since lap 2, I had swapped to my trail shoes, and that helped a lot compared to loop 1 when I was wearing the road shoes. I love my trail shoes. Someone (Jeremy) asked me the night before the race what shoes to recommend for this race, I said I swear by road shoes, but sadly, it was trail shoes that saved my butt! To future runners of this race, bring both, change them out if one doesn’t work.

    Now arriving at Antietam, mile 75 at 2:17 am, Jana gave me a rock with a heart shape (I need a picture).  She is someone who always find rocks in a shape of a heart. She was so happy I remembered about the rocks and she brought out a whole pitcher of rocks for me to choose.  She gave me one of the smallest.  A volunteer joked about letting a runner carry the heaviest one (1kg) back to the finish. We all laughed. She wasn’t going to give me a 1 kg. In the back of my mind was the Georgia Death Race a friend of my just ran, where they carry a 1 kg spike from start to finish to drop it into a casket at the end.  Jana is a sweet person I see at many of my races, either volunteering or running. She is a speedy runner.

    The night was quiet.  It was roughly 3:30 by the time I got back to Dargan Bend.  On the way, I saw more runners’ headlamps went out. Oh my goodness.  There were still few more hours to go before daylight. Now is the worse time to have a headlamp died. So I saw runners running in the dark again or some with very dim light. They were heading the other direction, so I couldn’t help them. These were runners behind of me. It was not poor planning, but unfortunate that their batteries died. Mine too was getting dimmer. I was praying the whole time, because on this run, the spare batteries were left in my drop bag instead of being carried on me.

    3:45 AM was the cutoff time at Camp Manidokan.  I wanted to see who was the last runner out before the cut off time. There were not a lot runners in the very back of the pack after Dargan Bend. Dargan Bend was a very busy place at this time as runners making in and out just before the cutoff (3:20-3:30). Runners have their sixth sense, so they all rushed ahead of the cut of 3:45. They liked bunched together in one big group. I was sure other runners were probably cut at Manidokan at the time and did not get to Dargan Bend while I was there.

    My last trip heading to Brunswick was pretty uneventful.  There were not many runners ahead of me. I ran for hours before coming across one or two.  I knew I could not make it under sub 24, those who were trying to make sub 24 were at least 8 miles ahead. I actually saw those runners on their way back from Brunswick as I was heading toward it. And there were a lot of them. I gave them labels, like 4 AM finishers, 5 AM, 6M, so forth. They also knew their time table too.  They were all running, none of them walk.

    Then John called me in the dark or I thought was him. I was intrigued knowing John (H) was not too far ahead. I made it my goal to chase whoever was in front of me.

    At 5-ish, I reached Keep Tryst.  My phone died so I did not know the actual time from there. Volunteers told me it would soon be daybreak. I did not want to know the time either. There was a sense of rush to get to Brunswick before day light.

    On my way to Brunswick, I was very sleepy. I was swerving left and right on the trail like a drunken runner.  I wanted to close my eyes so bad or lay down just a bit. I knew where a bench was on the trail but couldn’t find it. My headlamp then died. It was my turn to be a commando of running without a light. But luckily indeed daybreak came a few minutes later. I was saved. 

    Then I saw the real John H and Charleen. The real John and not the imaginary one I thought I heard earlier. They actually called me by name because I couldn’t recognized them as it was still dark, twilight zone. They are always smiling. They were coming from the other direction. That got me very  excited. My savior. They were only about 2 miles ahead of me. I could catch them! If I hurry.  They had maybe 7-8 miles to the finish. I had maybe 12-13 miles.  Let’s go. The race is on. I need to run almost twice as fast as John to catch him. I figure, if John is walking, I most certainly would reel him in.

    I arrived at Brunswick one last time. Emily (later I found this was the famous Emily whom I was wondering who all this time when I got into Western States 100, and here she was the same Emily serving me coffee, and I knew this Emily for two years but never made the connection), she handed me a cup of coffee.

    Actually she was not the one who made the coffee for me, but a volunteer behind the counter. She was dishing out her wisdom as an ultra runner by saying no need to make it too hot, so that I could drink it down quickly. She was right on, without me saying it. The coffee helped. They had made it in the right temperature. I then asked her what time she got. She said it is 6:07.  I said I will try to make it to the finish by 9 am. There were 12 miles left. I made it back before 8:30.

    People who saw me said I was moving strong. Charlie said I looked like being out doing my morning run like I was not tired at all. Emily said, she knew I could get it under 3 hours. I said, it is the coffee. Charlie replied, coffee helps but not like that. We joked.

    The finish.  I remembered people whom I passed earlier as I headed toward Brunswick. So now they were my targets to chase, especially John H. Behind me (on the other side), I saw the rest of the runners who were chasing their cutoffs (I think Brunswick was closing by 9 am). I saw the last runner, Judith. I was rooting for her to finish (and she did make it in with seconds to spare). She actually ran and finished this race several times before. She ran this race every other years or so, and volunteered on her off years. She has been at my other races, such as the Devil Dog, but I didn’t know her back then.

    I was praying that John would take a slightly longer break or walk a bit more, so I could catch him.  In my mind, I needed him to take a 15 min. But Charlene, his pacer is too good and kept him on pace. I was estimating, likely it would be at the final hill battle when I would catch him. I would have to run fast to catch him there. I found out at the finish, John finished just two minutes ahead of me.

    Indeed he was at the top of the hill while I was at the bottom.  Anyway, I was more than pleased to see John at the finish. My time was very good. 25:30 was a personal best. I did not plan to run that fast. I did it almost effortlessly. I am still puzzled over it, whether being slower at the first 40 miles helped me so I could run faster in the final 60 miles?

    A lot of friends came either to watch their runners or to volunteer.  Ram was there, he spent the night pacing someone, maybe Larry. I didn’t get to see Larry when he came in. My mind was fading in and out due to the lack of sleep for the next 5-6 hours. I showered, cleaned up, slept on and off a bit.  Also during the race, I had a strong urge to use the bathroom for #2, but I did not want to do it until after the finish. I was bloated.  I felt much better afterward. Everything was out of the system.  I talked to a first time finisher, Jeremy and then Charlie. They were tired but felt so happy. Also finding out who Emily C is was enough for me. It was like a piece of puzzle is completed. I was in a zen like state, happy.

    Aftermath. Other than suffering from being lack of sleep immediately afterward, I had no usual problems with legs being sore or having clamps or having any blisters. 

    This is pretty much first time that I finished a 100 and didn’t feel like dying. I was suprised my body was taking the race well. I had less fatique than when I ran in the New Taipei Marathon or the Roanoke Marathon. My body, the next few days though, was not in a runable state. More on this in another post. Basically, I am near paralyzed.

    There were two challenges. Rain came early around at mile 20-30 for couple hours.  I had a poncho on, so I did not get wet.  Shoes got wet. I changed those out when I reached the first bag drop area.

    The second challenge was after night fall, it got windier and relatively colder. I brought my winter stuff and had those, so I was toasty warm. I was also moving fine to generate enough heat until morning came.

    Nutrition was fine. This time I didn’t pack any gel or had prepared meals ahead.  I ate whatever the course had for us. I had two main meals: tacos and burgers, and some pb&j.  I snacked on fruits and chips.  My digestive system didn’t shut down. By mile 70, I felt a bit nauseated, so I held back eating a bit until the feeling gone. By morning, I was ok again. Coffee was a wonderful thing.

    I ended up finishing at my personal best of 25:30, by 8:30 am in the morning, and was able to take a long rest until evening before driving home. 

    I did not set out to chase my PR, but when I was at mile 90, it seemed doable and I still felt fresh at the time, so I went for it. Granted it was a flat course, but last year Blackbeard Revenge 100 was on a similar course, I ran a 26 hour something (26:17:50). This was my second time I finished a 100 below 30 hours.

    My next event will be much different. It will be running through streets of Atlanta. It won’t be a race in the usual sense. There won’t be cutoffs, or rules. Mostly will be self-guided. We had 18-ish hours. The pace would be faster (for me) and it would be on pavement. Temperature would be hotter.  We will see how it goes. It will be a fun run. Praying my body to be recovered in time for it.

    As this was only the beginning of many more runs.

  • [626] C&O 100

    I had a good run. Here go, I would be having a few 100 mile races stacking close one after another.

    I wanted to say I am fine after the first 100 of this year, but as I am writing this, my back is killing me.

    Somehow, I have been ignoring my coach’s advice on foam rolling after each of my run, and now they come back to bite me.

    I have been resting. Force-rest through this whole week.

    As for the race, it went more than well. I ran my personal best time (PR’d).  Set a personal record.

    I finished 25:28.

    I did not intend to break my time of 26:17 from last year on a similar course. I set out to run a 28-30 hour race.

    There is no such thing as taking a race easy!

    I had a pace chart too but that went out the window early on.  My friend and started out 7 AM.  We took it “slow” at a 11-12 min pace but the rest seemed to took off at 8-9 mins pace and an hour later, we ended in the back of the pack, with only 25 runners behind us.  I think about 180 started.

    I was a bit worry that we would not able to keep up, but we were two hours ahead of pace!

    It was good to take the gain early and hold on to it.

    However, that was short lived.  Soon after 10 miles we switched to run and walk. Another 10 miles later, we switched to the dreaded dead walk.  We locked our knees and matched to mile 40.

    In the interim, rain fell the next couple hours.  My buddy, partner in crime, Lynne, didn’t bring her wet weather gear and was completely soaked. No shoe change and no extra socks.  So soon she had to bail on me.  I thought she would accompany me to the dead of night.

    She was struggling with possibly an IT band injury. Grudgingly, I told her to go home. I know it was not my decision to make. She was happy to step off the course and turned in her bib.

    By mile 40, we gave up all our earlier gains, but we were still perfectly on pace for a 28 hours finish (otherwise, we would be targeting at 26 hours or less).  Don’t be too greedy because night fall was about to arrive.

    Kind of PSA or runner wisdom here, I brought plenty of flashlights and headlamps for this run, but about three of them died.  The first one, after I put in some fresh batteries refused to turn on.  The contact points were corroded.  OK. Try the next one. The next one worked.  I didn’t carry fresh batteries on me, by 5 am, this also died and my cellphone as well. Luckily, daylight was only less than an hour away. I was saved.

    I planned to entertain Lynne and all other runners with my chest strapped neon lights, a $10 knock-off of NOXgear, and it was pretty. I put that on. I also had those blinking bike red led clip ons.  I snapped one on my pack.  It was 5:30 pm and it would get dark in a few hours. I was at mile 40.

    The night was quiet. The rain has stopped long ago but there were still puddles. I tried to avoid as many as possible.  

    It was my time to shine. Having walked the last five or six hours, I felt pretty fresh and so I began my chase.  Chasing who?  I had a few friends doing this race. One was probably 8-10 miles ahead.

    Midnight came.  The fast people already finished.  The first place came in 16:11, at 11:11 pm. We the slower folks would brave the sleepless night. 

    Temperature wise was decent around probably 60 degrees.  It was windy from time to time. I was sweating because I was putting in the effort to keep up. I was moving maybe 15 min pace, run-walk.

    I would like to have a bed to sleep in.  I learned a little close eyes would do wonder. I was too stubborn to stop. Time is money.  There was nothing much to do but press on.

    I got sleepy at one point and was moving / swerving from side to side. Soon that passed and morning came as I arrived to the last turn around point at Brunswick.  Emily, the co-race director was there. She and her staff sent me back out.  I took a coffee to go.

    Morning has dawned. My spirit was high.  I realized I passed all but one friend during the night. Only John H was left and he was two miles ahead and we had 6 miles left.  I said, there is no way I could catch him, but I had to try.

    We finished “together”, John was two minutes ahead and was still there at the finish when I came in. I did not beat John but it felt good I was not too far behind.

    Many other friends came. They either were supporting someone and waiting for them to come or just there for the fun. I could not keep track of who’s who. 

    We had good celebration. Caroline brought me a cake! They joked I must have found it at the side of the trail.

    Jana gave me a rock! One of her specialty is an eye for finding rocks in shape of a heart.  She said I have to carry it to the finish. Someone joked, to give “him” the 1 kg one.  Teeheehee, I probably would have refused.

    Anyway, the race is done.  This year we had one of the most finishers. 120 runners.  The last runner came in just as the clock about to turn 1 pm (30 hours).

    I am happy. Along with many others.  If only my back would stop hurting, I would say, this race is a resounding success for me.

    Thank you RD, and all friends and volunteers to allow us have a fun day on the canal.

  • BR100 report [Day569]

    I have many thoughts about this race. I DNF (did not finish). It is one of dreaded word in a race. Now I have collected a few DNFs, it was not as dreadful as when I first got it at the Devil Dog or at the Massanutten Race last year.

    If I knew I was definitely going to DNF, I probably would not have run it. I felt I had a good chance of finishing before I started. I checked the course on paper and it did not seem too hard for me. The race was not hard, is what I still believe. It might be even easier than the Devil Dog. Most of the problems I found troubling, such as hills and rains happened early in the race. Technically, they could have overcome and I could have finished. … But that is a lot of what-ifs. I accept if I could not finish, I could not finish.

    As I reflected on it, I did not finish mostly due to reduced training after finishing the Massanutten race in May. Then I had an injury (actually several injuries) during the Catoctin run (50k). I rollwd my ankle in that race on my left foot and I forced myself to finish it in 11 hours, when I should have stopped halfway, maybe at 5 hours in. Immediately after Catoctin, every movement of ankle hurt. However, it was recovered enough for me to run Catherine Furnace 50K two weeks ago. So I thought I should be okay for BR100 (Burning River).

    The race started at 4 AM. This was like my 5th or 6th 100 mile race so I know the drill. I had my drop bags packed and ready. I arrived a day before. Sleep-wise, I felt I was ok. I was up before 3 AM. I had like 4 hours. I had been pulling usually 4 hours of sleep during the week. I was not sleep deprived, but I think a bit more sleep would have helped. During the race, that wee hours around 4 AM Sunday really hit hard and I wished I had more sleep the previous nights, so I was not too drained.

    Also, I had couple big runs right before BR100. I wished I had tapered my mileage so as not to be so exhausted for the race. Pretty much, I drained my reserve before the race, so there was not much left for the late push.

    I do not have hard feeling about the DNF. I felt it was just a matter of fact I came up short. I ran until I timed out, arriving at mile 86, Botzum aid station after they closed. I knew there was no way for me to continue. I did not fuss about it. I had whole night to think about it.

    Weather might have played a part. Rain started early almost immediately as the race got underway. First it was a drizzle. By the first aid station (4 miles in), the heaven opened. We were receiving buckets of water pouring down on us. Many cheered. Not me. It meant we would have a cooler run. The temperature high was around 80. At the time it was around 70 F. Humidity was off the chart, I think around 80-90%. It did not bother me, but many runners mentioned it made them unbearable. Rain did not initially affected me other than reduced vision. I could see better not wearing my glasses than wearing them, since they fogged up and rain droplets made them virtually impossible to see through. At some point, I put away my glasses.

    Occasionally there was dense fog. We had maybe 3-5 feet of vision. Since this happened early, and most people were walking up the trail anyway, it did not feel so bad.

    About maybe 2 hours in, the trail started being saturated with water and soon became a muddy mess. The muddy course remained a feature through out the race. Mud was at first not too much an issue but on a slope, mud became extremely slipery. The first few hills I was fine. As I started getting tired though, I started falling all over the place due to slipery hills. In a couple of those falls, I ended up scraping my left elbow. I might have injured my left foot by then but did not realized. This was a new injury. My old injury was the outside ankle of my left foot, but this was the inner ankle on the left foot.

    At the time, I did not feel any pain, but later in the race after 66 miles, somehow the pain became obvious. It was swelling.

    The first 50 miles were boring. I was mostly on pace. I was doimg 7 hours every 25 miles. It was not fast but it was on pace for a 28 hour finish.

    At mile 22, first dropbag was like a savior. It was 10 am. By then chafing was a big issue. I was cut by my shorts and underwear. My shoes were causing a lot of problem too. Feet being wet all the time was not good. I swapped shoes. I applied vaseline liberally. My private part and my thighs were cut from rub burn. So everything hurt when I moved.

    Nothing much happened between mile 22 to 50. The second dropbag location was at mile 34, which I reached around 2 pm. At the time, I believed I could get to mile 50 by 5 pm.

    My feet were in bad shape. I spent a lot of time to take care of them. I changed shoes and socks. I applied a lot of vaseline to places where I was burned. Luckily I had my sissors with me at that station, I cut the sides of my short to made them split-fly. This helped a lot, so that when I moved my legs the fabric did not tighten around my thighs and causing the rub burn. One thing I failed to do was cut my underwear to release some pressure at the time. I did not get back here until near midnight (8 hours later). I think my underwear had high percentage of cotton, so when wet, it was rubbing my private area and this race causing those areas to bleed. I regretted leaving the aid station without taking care of this stress point.

    By mile 40, I was tired but was still able to run. I think I reached mile 50 around 5:40. Unfortunately, I again needed to take care of my feet and other hurt areas. I did not get out the station until 6:00 pm. It was way too much time spent. Now 14 hours into the race. At this time I was still on pace of 7 hours every 25 miles. I was regretting of so much time wasted during the morning hour at the aid stations. I could have saved an hour by now.

    Mile 50 to mile 66 was hard. My running pace was just a slight faster than people’s walking pace. Many people passed me including some older people. I was not panicking yet. I reached Kendall Lake at 9:00 pm. The sun was setting. It was mile 62. 100K done. I knew I was a bit behind schedule. I wanted to get to mile 66 before midnight. It was only 4 miles away but it took me more than 2 hours to get there.

    Mile 66 was our dropbag station. I arrived at 11 pm. My average pace was 2.2 mph. It was a struggle. Again feet were pretty raw. I changed shoes or socks I think. My memory was a bit vague. I had a new headlamp. Unfortunately it did not fit me. It was too loose. It was my first time trying it on. I might have spent 10 minutes adjusting the strap and I was furious at the time wasted. I knew now was not time to waste on it.

    I then spent a lot time fixing my feet and applying vaseline. In my heart I knew, this was the turning point of the race. I wish I could have gotten in and out under 5 mins. I did not get out until 11:25. More importantly, I was behind on my nutrition, but I did not do enough to fix this deficit because I did not have the appetite to eat. If I could have done it again, eat up well at this station to get me through the night. Better yet, to eat up at mile 50.

    By then my body and muscles had cool off too much and I no longer could run. I made it to next checkpoint at mile 70. It was just a bit past 1 am. That was my goal. I knew I was moving very slowly. There I picked up a random pacer.

    I was calculating my pace in my head, from 6 pm to midnight, 6 hours, I only moved 17 miles. At most 18 miles. That was like 3 miles an hour or 20 mins per mile. We need to have a pace under 18 to be able to finish.

    Mile 70. Amanda was pacing her friend, but her friend decided to bail, so she ended up pacing me instead. She paced me all the way to the next dropbag station (Oak Hill), mile 78. We arrived at Oak Hill at 3:45 am. Unofficially, it was more than mile 78, because we were taken on an alternate trail due to flooding at the finish. I think it was at least 2-3 miles longer. However, station closing time was not changed. Oak Hill station still closed at 4 am. We had to get out before then. Normally it would not be a problem, but at this point, I knew I was chasing cutoffs.

    Again unfortunately, I could not move any faster. My feet were raw. Luckily I now had on fresh socks. I emptied all the sands and grits from the shoes. Feet felt a lot better. I was freezing though. My pacer was wonderful in helping and feeding me. Unfortunately, I was unraveling. I did not have enough food but I also could not eat much.

    Technically, we were still on pace to finish if we could keep a 18 min per mile pace. However, I was done. The next station was 11 miles long. Many parts of this stretch were runnable. Yet I could not run. My pacer had great patience. She got me to run every 25 feet and walk every 25/50 feet. Something like that, but to me my walking and running pace were basically the same. However, running was dreadful for me. Every time, Amanda asked me to run, boy, it was like the end of the world for me. She was a demon to me.

    The next 4 and half hours were unrelenting walk. Sky brightened after 5 am maybe around 5:30. The morning did not bring much hope. Amanda was hoping my mood would improve and thus to run faster when light again. I told her, it is not my mood, it was just impossible for me to move any faster. Even my walking pace was decaying too. No longer could I take bigger steps.

    Deep down I knew it was impossible to finish by now. I was thinking I needed couple extra hours to make it to the finish. I was not beating myself too much on wasting much time at the aid stations, though if only I had gotten out each one under 5 mins, I would have made it.

    Also I really wanted to sleep. I told my pacer it would be so good she ahe would carry me. I knew that would be a DQ, and of course she refused. I could hardly kept my eyes open. We passed couple people who just gave up and sat on the side of the roads to be picked up. My pacer urged me onward and would not let me stop. I felt if I could just sleep for 5-10 mins, I might feel better.

    The aid station seemed never arrived. 5 am. Then 6 am went by. Then 7 am. No aid station was in sight. 8 am. Still no station. By then we knew the station we were expecting had closed. The area was unfamiliar to neither nor to my pacer. We had no choice but kept on going. It was mostly downhill. We arrived then at Botzum, mile 87 officially, but probably mile 90 unofficially. It was 8:30. Botsum had closed since 7:30.

    Both my pacer and I decided to stop here no matter what. Luckily a volunteer was still around and could drive us back to the start/finish. He saved us an uber ride. I did not mind taking an uber, but having an immediately ride back was the best. It was obvious the station had closed.

    My legs were pretty dead afterward. Finally I could sleep.

    The recovery was not bad. The same day after a few hours of sleep, I was pretty much back to my old self. I could move around without much pain. I had some blisters which I did not take care until the following day. My ankle was swollen. It took a week for it to go away. There was still some pain today. However, I think I could run again.

    Summary: If I could do again:

    -prepare for the rain, bring a lot of socks, bring extra shorts and underwears

    -having a crew would have help, with a quicker turn over at the aid station. They could have dress the feet faster, apply lotion

    –nutrition wise. I felt I was behind on my nutrition. This was on me. I brought a lot of sweets but they ruined my appetite. I wish I had more solid food

    Shoes – grits got in. Having gaiters would have help. Mud was messy. I tossed away two of the three pairs used. I wish I had more shoes, like six pairs for this race. I wish I had shoe inserts. I could have swapped the inserts.

    Carrying sissors might have help. Cutting my shorts on the side splits was creative. I wish I had started this early in the first few miles. It might have help with avoiding the chafe. Chafe took so much of my time to deal with. Also carry a lot of vaseline (lube up) all the time.

    Sorry, there is no joy in describe much of my run. Most of my run was me just going through the motion. I started with high hope that I could overcome the weather and distance and hills. The race was wearing me down bit by bit until it was no longer possible to finish. Turning point was pretty much at midnight, but at the time, I did not know it. If I could quit, I should quit then instead of grinding it out the next 8 hours, for next 20 miles.

    Deep down though, I enjoyed the race. The grinding is what running ultra is about. Joy came when there was a finish. It seems depressing when the finish was impossible to reach. However, I praise the race and grateful for the opportunity to run it. I think it was well managed and I appreciate all the volunteers for their long hours and being out there regardless the rain or the late shifts.

  • Blackbeard’s Revenge 100, OBX [Day541]

    Just after the start of the 100 mile race

    While I had wanted Umstead 100 to be my first 100 mile race, Outer Banks’ Blackbeard’s Revenge was the runner up on my list. I ended up running the Rocky Raccoon instead in Huntsville, Texas as my first during 2021.

    Since then I ran other 100 mile races and finally circled back to this one.

    So I took Friday and Monday off to travel to North Carolina to line up at the start. It was necessary and worth the trip.

    Aside, we spent 10 hours in the car there and 10 hours back, the drive was almost as long as the run (gps calculated that the trip only would take 5 hours, but I had to make some detours to pick up my mom, etc).

    We had optimal weather window to run this. The rain did not come but only a little bit on Saturday afternoon. We did have some constant wind but it was calming down to about 15-20 mph. We couldn’t control the weather. Temperature wise was mild as well, ranching from low 50s to high 70s.

    I enjoyed my time there while met up with some recently made friends from other races. At the package pick up, I ran into Joe and Simon who were my pacers at the Fort Worth Marathon last month. During the race I happened to meet Fernando on the course whom I met at the Devil Dog 100. I was able to ran with Fernando a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes until we arrived at our second drop location around mile 41.

    sunrise of the first day

    The main thing was I got it done. It was on road surface instead of trail. This was my first road 100 mile race. It was a fast race because I PR’ed it, running my best time, of 26:17:00, cutting the time from Rocky Raccoon by almost 2 and half hours.

    The course was slight on an uphill at least that how I felt, but overall was flat as a pancake. It was also my first point to point 100 mile race. Logistics was about the same. I was worried about where to stay before the start. I chose Kitty Hawk to be closer to the start rather than near the finish. It was an option. One runner chose to leave their car at the finish and hitched a ride to the start, maybe about 3 hours drive. Another choice was to stay somewhere in the middle and I was kind of like that, about an hour from the start and 2 hours from the finish.

    The race also offered after race shuttle to take runners back. However, this was done at a 4 hr interval, so getting a ride back can be tough if you finish after one of the rides departed.

    I had no problem running this race. I was prepared by previous races. I did not specifically trained for this since I came off running the Devil Dog in December. I took couple months off to recover. After that I did couple training runs for BRR and MMT. I ran couple marathons (Ft Worth, Seneca Creek, and Virginia Beach).

    I packed a bit better. I had everything packed into four 1 gallon ziplock bags.

    I still over packed my things but I got the nutrition about just right and spaced them in the dropbags. My suggestions to myself from a previous race report about planning to bring my own food as the primary source instead of relying on the aid stations, helped me to throw in some cereals and candies into my dropbags. I glad I did. This is not saying it couldn’t be done by eating aid station stuff or that their stuff was bad, but it reduced a set of variables from the equation and give a better chance of finishing.

    I had a positive experience through out the race. The course was beautiful and we were blessed by good weather of neither too hot or too cold or other extremes (too windy). The beauty of the place was overwhelming. I have been to Outer Banks maybe 10 years ago and the memory of that trip left a deep impression of endless seasshore (and of course the lighthouses). I will try to share some pictures. It is subjective, but OBX is a place I love to vacation or retire to because it is just so beautiful. If one theme about this race is the peacefulness of everything.

    Another reason I like this race because it was a point to point course. It is hard to put up a point to point race both from the RD perspective and ours. It is a lot of work. The last three 100 mile races I did were all looped courses. Rocky Raccoon was like 5 loops, Rim to River was an out and back race, going out 50 miles and coming back with a bit of variation, and the Devil Dog was 4 loops in the Prince William Forest. Even Massanutten can be considered a single loop in a figure eight pattern. This race, Blackbeards starts at one end of NC-12 hwy to the other end, from paved road to end of paved road. The road continues on in either direction as an off-road path (and probably goes by a different name).

    For us runners, running 100 miles in a loop or point to point is the same. However, when the course is in a straight line instead of a circle, you get a sense of the large distance covered.

    Also everything is harder, so as arranging ride back or to the start. I like the extra challenge. Maybe more on this later. The race organization did an amazing job to lessen the burden of this. There are a lot of information given ahead of time in term of bag drops, aid stations, hotel, parking, shuttle rides, and dealing with planning for the unexpected such as weather, etc.

    Another reason, take this point as a grain of salt, I think it is an easy 100 for first time 100 attempts. I think the race organization babied us too much, but I understand it was for our safety. There were tons of information in the race handbook and the RD when over them multiple times. I did not mind being beat over of the head the same things.

    Now about the race and my experience, I think it was perfect. I am not sure how many people signed up. I wish there were more people running it. I felt we were very much under the capped. If this continues, the race might not be around in the future. Not sure why people are not running this, maybe too easy, too hard, not being on trails, the logistics factor, but anyway those can be overcomed.

    We had probably 100 runners in each event. There were four events (plus virtual events). We had the 100 mile, 100k (at 10 AM start and at different location than the 100 mile) and plus the relays for both distances. However, there were about only 50 finishers in 100 mile and 100k event. There were about maybe 5-6 relay teams. The exact numbers are on the race signup and results website. I think there were a lot of drops but I don’t know the drop rate. I felt there were close to 100 runners at the 100 mile start, but on about 50% finishes. This is typical I think.

    So what do I think is the challenges? Other than the distance, I think the main being weather. We were buffered by wind (strong headwind) through out the race. It could have been worse. The wind was ‘calmer’ on our race day. They were saying it was blowing hurricane strength the week before.

    We had only faced with 15-20 mph constant wind. Also the temperature. We had relatively warm weather to run in this time, however at early morning, I think it was in the low 50, and when I breathed, I could see my breath. My fingers were cold. Lucky I put in my dropbag a pair of gloves for the evening portion and buff/neck gaiters too. I wore sleeve inserts on either arm. It was my first time and they helped a lot.

    Then during the day the temperature rised to near 80. We were burning. I was sunburned on my face, neck, back, forarms, and back of my legs. I applied sunblock lotion but only did it once and in the early morning, but did not reapplied so, I was burned. Don’t misjudge the spring sun. It is still hot.

    The temperature, I felt could have been worse if it were to drop a bit lower or get higher. This depends if you like cold running, but for me, I prefer warmer weather. We also was rained on for a bit. maybe for 10-15 minutes. Thunderstorms were forecasted the day before and the day after, but we only had a brief rain session while out on the course, and I was actually grateful for the rain even though it made me wet and cold. The reason was, I was hit with ‘sandstorm’ during the afternoon. Not really a storm but the wind stirred up the sand and when it hit me, it was painful to have sand repeatedly blasted on your body. The rain actually prevented this, making the sand stick together. I appreciated that sand stopped blowing on me. We were so exposed out there. Wearing long sleeves helped. Facing the elements was probably the hardest challenges.

    Aid stations and drop bags. We had 17 aid stations. There was almost a station every 5 miles except for the first two. We had our drop bags at about every 20 miles. I think it was more than enough.

    My greatest advice to myself was to pack my own food as my primary source and rely less on the official aid stations. This is not a complaint. I reread my last 100 mile race report and that what stuck as being successful, and I said really? My MMT failed attempt was attributed to my lack of eating. So the trick was to bring my own food to eat at anytime and all the time.

    Because it was a road race, we shared the road with cars. We had to wear a safety vest/reflective gear throughout the race. There was a significant night portion. We had to have spare lamp and bateries. This was not an issue for me, for my light lasted through the evening. I wore one of those fancy lighted fiber optic tubes. They had their pluses and minuses. The plus is it meets all the required gear but having a spare. The disadvantages were the wiring get in the way of my running, and also harder to put clothes on and off or any other things that goes over the shoulders like a water pack. It was a tiny inconvenience. A lighted belt or a clip on blinker would have been better.

    And also, I should have gotten two sets, so that during the day, I could stove away once I reach my drop location and at night get it from a drop bag. Instead, I only had one set, so I wore mine the whole race.

    we ran on the left side of the roads. There were sidewalks but the course and directions were provided based on the lefthand side of the road. Road’s shoulder was wide enough. However, when cars drove by fast especially on the bridge, and at night, it was quite stressful to runners.

    As said, I had generally a positive experience. I had a fast race. It was peaceful. I was mostly by myself on the course. Because the field was small, I was not able to find someone matching my pace to tag along. There were maybe 10 people whom I was leading from the second half after 50 miles, but they were going a bit too slow for me. I gained about 30 minutes on my nearest competitor (Rich, a new friend I made while running) by the time I finished, not a huge gap, but far enough apart.

    A small critique was the aid stations were understaffed (they did call for volunteers) and I tried to ask my mom to help. I felt many families could have helped and I think many did, however, like my own, many spent much of their time wanting to crew their own runners. A few of the stations only had one or two people. They did their job well, but more volunteers would have been ideal. Also the food, I felt was quite limited.

    Not sure if it was because the 100k people (the horde) had just gone on ahead of us and ate everything. I had sufficient stuff from the aid stations, but I had done the three other 100 mile races where their aid stations were a buffet of hot food and an island of cheers. This race was more a solitude affair. Here we had mostly hummus and gels. I glad for having a sloppy joe and a cup of noodle that saved me at a portion of the course when I was most needed for real food. Also a slice of American cheese I picked up a long the way, helped so much later in the race when my stomach was turning from eating my own food too much. These were provided by the aid stations. However, bringing my own food was still the best advice to myself.

    sunset and beach time. This was the following day after the race when I recovered enough to walk around. I did cross the Jughandle Bridge during sunset.

    First Big Race of 2023 done. And PR’d it. The last 5-10 miles were very hard. I was exhausted. Singing got me through. I sang thanksful spiritual songs. That did it. It gave me tge energy to run to the finish. Finished in 26 hours. Originally I was targeting between 28-30 hours. But by the first 6 hours I was already knew I was 3 hours ahead of schedule and I could maintain the 3 hours lead through out. We were running at 12-14 minute pace, which meant a 20-25 hour finishing. This is fast in my book. The lead allowed me to stay in the rest stations longer. At couple of the drop bag locations, I stayed up to 30 minutes. In total, I probably rested over an hour to two hours. I could aim for a sub 24 hour finish, however, I love having my rest. There was no need to kill myself to get that sub 24 hour finish.