I’m going in a slightly different direction with this race report than my typical ones. If you’re looking for a traditional storytelling format, I’ll direct you to my 2021 and 2023 race reports. This one will be more a random collection of musings on my race. Or maybe thoughts on. . .
Thoughts on. . . Race Organization
While this race has only been around since 2016, this team has things dialed in. Pre-race communication is on point. Packet pickup, swag, course markings, and all the other various logistics were handled smoothly from my point of view. Having to shuttle in from offsite is the one thing that’s annoying about the race, however every year I’ve managed to catch a ride back within minutes of wanting to leave.
Aid stations and volunteer support is the one thing about my races that I don’t include in my annual rank of hundreds as they are universally good across all races. I do want to highlight one way the DD100 volunteers went above and beyond for me though. During one of the night loops, a volunteer unprompted offered me hand warmers. My hands were doing fine at this point, but I thought why not? It didn’t impact my performance, but it made things a little more comfortable. And a little more comfortable during a hundred mile race is really a pretty big deal.
Thoughts on. . . The Perfect Pacing Plan
So I had this awesome experiment lined up for this year’s race. Last year I started a little faster than 2021 and finished slower. So this year I was going to start quite a bit slower which would guarantee a faster finish.
Yeah. . . not so much.
It turns out a slower start did not result in a faster time. Sigh. It’s impossible to know whether my fitness was the same, but my guess is my overall endurance was quite a bit lower than 2021. I’ve only had one long run since late September and lots of weekly miles in the 20-30 range. Not ideal. Even with this, my pace was only 5% slower than Wild Goose which had 5% less elevation gain/loss and a little less technical trails. And that race was proceeded by a really solid training block.
While I wasn’t able to maintain what I thought was a conservative pace, I was able to hold it through mile 55. Things deteriorated a little overnight as my caloric intake dropped a bit (#typical). I felt like I was barely hanging on during the last loop, however I managed to pass a couple other runners so maybe it wasn’t as bad I think.
Thoughts on. . . My Knee
I fell on a training run a couple weeks out from the race and jacked up my left knee pretty good. This is one of the reasons I didn’t get much training volume immediately leading up to the race. I did everything I could to get fully healthy and thankfully my knee held up without any issues. Whew. After the race, my left knee was slightly more sore than my right one so even with the extra rest it probably didn’t get all the way back to 100%. Close enough though.
Thoughts on. . . Falling Down
I have a bad habit of falling down when I race (see prior section). I must have tripped a good 30-40 times during the race. No lie. And when I say trip, I mean stumbling forward arms windmilling tripping. Somehow I managed to recover on each one and remain upright. If you think the odds of this are rather low, keep reading.
Thoughts on. . . Finishing Rates
Unless your name happens to be Keith Knipling (8x finisher), there’s a decent chance you’re not finishing this race. Just saying.
Thoughts on. . . Course Length
Officially, the race course is 100.75 miles long. Twice my Garmin has measured it at about 2 miles longer (102.77 this year). Ultra race distances are an inexact science and you should expect there to be some wiggle room as you’re moving along the course.
Thoughts on. . . New Friends
Shout out to Sean and Rob! The miles I spent conversing with you were among the highlights of the race for me. Happy trails, my friends.
Thoughts on. . . 6th Place?!?!
As I’m about to leave the start/finish for the last time, a volunteer mentioned that there were only a couple runners out ahead of me on the last loop. I initially thought they weren’t very good at counting. Then I thought they were just trying to pump me up (in which case, how bad did I look?). It was very shocking to find out only five other runners finished ahead of me. I guess you never know who’s going to show up and/or be able to finish a hundred miler (see finish rates above).
Thoughts on. . . Identicality
I was assigned the same bib number (#63) as last year. Given the number of runners (mid 70s), use of same bib numbers (1-100), and methodology (alphabetical), it’s not too much of a stretch to think I’d get the same number at some point.
Much more improbable is that my finishing time this year was 5 seconds faster than my best time from 2021. Not 5 seconds per mile faster. Five seconds total. As in 0.005% faster. As in less time than it’s taken you to read this paragraph. I couldn’t have planned this in a million years. Frankly, the odds are just. . .
If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go play the lottery.