I’m heading back to Virginia this weekend for my fourth Devil Dog 100M. This will be more attempts for me than any other hundred outside of my beloved Eastern States. Given this fact, you would be forgiven for thinking this is one of my favorite races. In reality, it comes in as my 15th favorite hundred (out of 23). Why do I keep coming back? I’ve said in the past and firmly believe that I would rather run my least favorite hundred mile race than not run any hundred mile race. C&O Canal used to be my poster child for this statement (three attempts), however I think DD100 may now hold that place. I don’t want to dump all over the race, but nothing is overly scenic in the Mid-Atlantic during December. It’s a looped course (5) with somewhat generic trails. The argument for the race that keeps winning out though is that it’s a relatively short 2 hour drive from my house and nothing else is going on locally this time of year.
The typical 100 mile finish rate is somewhere around 60-70%. From a course standpoint, I would argue that this is an average race. The stats would tell you otherwise though as only one year managed to squeak into the low end of this range. My opinion is that the weather and looped format account for the higher DNF rate. Most years end up being cold and/or rainy, which is difficult to deal with unless you have a decent amount of experience running ultras. Now factor in the option to conveniently quit at the start/finish every 20 miles and you have a succulent recipe for the above chart. Current forecast looks less than stellar so probably another low-50% finish rate.
All three of my prior finishes have been +/- 26 hours. I’ve been happy with these finish times, but feel like I’ve left some meat on the bone. I should be able to run 24-25 hours on this course profile, but have yet to even sniff these times. Part of it is the weather as noted above. I’ve easily lost 30-45 minutes due to the cold and wet weather. I’ve either had to take extra time to dry out or the cold temperatures have impacted my nutrition. Or both. I’ve also typically gone into the race with an end of year, just git ur dun mindset. I’ve never had a solid block of training leading into the race. Just a bunch of random miles.
This year isn’t too much different so I should go into the race with tempered expectations, right? Screw that. If you’ve been following my adventures, then you should know by now that I don’t set realistic goals. What’s the fun of that?
Send It (Sub 24 Hour Or Blow Up Trying)
Each year I’ve run this race, I’ve gone out either somewhat (2021, 2023) or very (2024) conservative. My first loop average pace was about 13 minutes/mile the first two years and just north of 14 minutes last year when I tried to run an evenly split 24 hour race (lol). Now I’m not planning on anything crazy like a bunch of ten minute miles. Twelve minute pace though feels like a nice compromise. The challenge will be to average this for the full loop as there are sections where this is easy (road) and sections where this is impossible (first and last couple miles of each loop). There’s probably a 50/50 chance I can maintain this for the first lap and zero chance I keep it up much past that. Which is fine. Based on how I normally split hundreds, I need to get to the halfway point by 10 hours 45 minutes or a 12:30ish pace considering this course always measures a couple miles long.
Regardless of how I end up performing, I’m looking forward to another go at this race. Even though it’s not my favorite.