Badger 100 race report
If you don't mind and out and back and out again mostly flat course, this is a great race. The volunteers were top notch and very helpful. All were experienced and very helpful. The course was as exciting as a mostly flat repeated course can be. It was hot and sunny during the day and cool at night when the bats came out. It was more exposed than I expected. I put sunscreen on every 10 miles and still got sunburned. At one point during the race, you go to Dot's Tavern for an aid station. It's a 70 year old little dive bar and the people are so nice.
It was kind of a deceptive course. I think a lot of people thought it would be easy, but 65 people ended up DNF'ing. My official end time was 29:20:07 and I finished 31st out of the 75 people that finished. I know a few people got injured, but I'm sure a lot of people went out too fast and weren't careful with the heat.
You end the race with a hug from RD Scotty. The buckle is really nice, and there was a bunch of swag with the race - shirt, socks, patch, buff, bandana.
I pushed pretty hard at the end to get sub 30. I spent more time at aid stations than I normally do, mostly because of the people I ended up running with, but that was ok. I was on pace for much faster early on but I think I started to get in my head. I was able to still run towards the end of the race, which was something I really wanted to get better at. At Bandera and my first 100, I death marched most of the last half of the races. I wasn't quite as consistent as I had hoped, but I'm getting better.
All in all it was a really good race, but I think a lot of people underestimated it. It was a good mixture of experienced people and people running their first 100.
If you don't mind and out and back and out again mostly flat course, this is a great race. The volunteers were top notch and very helpful. All were experienced and very helpful. The course was as exciting as a mostly flat repeated course can be. It was hot and sunny during the day and cool at night when the bats came out. It was more exposed than I expected. I put sunscreen on every 10 miles and still got sunburned. At one point during the race, you go to Dot's Tavern for an aid station. It's a 70 year old little dive bar and the people are so nice.
It was kind of a deceptive course. I think a lot of people thought it would be easy, but 65 people ended up DNF'ing. My official end time was 29:20:07 and I finished 31st out of the 75 people that finished. I know a few people got injured, but I'm sure a lot of people went out too fast and weren't careful with the heat.
You end the race with a hug from RD Scotty. The buckle is really nice, and there was a bunch of swag with the race - shirt, socks, patch, buff, bandana.
I pushed pretty hard at the end to get sub 30. I spent more time at aid stations than I normally do, mostly because of the people I ended up running with, but that was ok. I was on pace for much faster early on but I think I started to get in my head. I was able to still run towards the end of the race, which was something I really wanted to get better at. At Bandera and my first 100, I death marched most of the last half of the races. I wasn't quite as consistent as I had hoped, but I'm getting better.
All in all it was a really good race, but I think a lot of people underestimated it. It was a good mixture of experienced people and people running their first 100.