Eighth time is a charm.
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, then you know this is my favorite race. And it’s not even close. I love everything about ES100. The course is drop dead gorgeous. The volunteers are amazing. The community is awesome. The race organization is world class. If you were to look at my soul, you’d see the course elevation profile outlined.
I’ve been running ultras for 12 years now and my race resume is filling out nicely, however my proudest accomplishment is having the most finishes at ES100. This is a tough course in challenging conditions with a finish rate typically in the 50-60% range. Despite my track record here, I do not take this race lightly. A finish is not guaranteed and I know I always need to bring my A game to stay ahead of Scott Lee (6), David Lantz (6), and Ken Campbell (5) who are right behind me in ES100 finishes.
Game Plan
Typically, I try and ease into things a bit so I don’t blow myself up. This year I’m debating just sending it right off the start line. At some point, the YOLO strategy will pay off in a hundred miler. Why not Eastern States? Why not me? Push hard for the first two sections, then dial back the effort a bit once it starts to warm up on my way into Lower Pine Bottom AS. Then continue to chill over the next several sections into Happy Dutchman AS due to the amount of climbing involved. Just past there I’ll pick up the effort a bit as it’s flat(ish) and fast(ish) into Hyner. Grab a lot of fluids there and suffer (shuffle?) my way into the halfway point at Dry Run AS. From there on out, I’ll move as efficiently as possible from one aid station to the next.
Last year I went into the race attempting to run 28 hours (I’m an irrational optimist), which would have been a 2+ hour PR for me. I would love to finally break through the 30 hour barrier, however after two years finishing in 32-33 hours it’s probably just not physically possible for me. While I’ve spent the past 2 weeks running hills non-stop, my overall fitness likely isn’t too much different. I mean, how much improvement can I really expect after 2 weeks? LOL. I’m also another year older. So that’s a thing. It’s cliche, but any finishing time is a good finishing time at this race.
I have accumulated an excessive amount of personal timing data from this race over the years. I can easily look up my fastest and slowest times into each of the aid stations. I know my average paces between aid stations. I know where I can shave minutes and where I’m at risk to lose time. If I chose to do so, I could create the perfect pacing plan with several realistic backup plans when (not if) things start to slide sideways on me. But I think I’ve moved beyond that. I’m going to be less focused on aid station splits this year than I have in the past. I’ll have my watch set to lap pace and just move mile by mile. The only split I’ll keep in mind is for Dry Run. If I can leave there by 6:30pm, then I have a chance of a sub 30 hour finish. And if not? Well, it definitely wouldn’t be the first time.
