I've been trying to think about what to say about my race, and I've started and stopped several times. I guess I'll start from the beginning.
Buffalo Run was my first 100. It's a 50 mile 2 loop course. The race started at 6:00 am on Friday. We flew in to Salt Lake City on Wednesday and hung out for a bit with one of hbc's childhood friends in Park City. Thursday, we moved to a hotel closer to the island. I checked in for the race Thursday evening, so I got to the start around 5:30. There was plenty of time. Although there were over 500 people total there for the races, there were only about 65 registered for the 100. There was one DNS (Ashley Paulson). You could tell that there was a lot of community around this race. I met a few other runners that this was also their first 100, but I met a ton of people that were repeat offenders.
The race started in the dark with probably the most boring part of the course, but running in the dark, you could see SLC wake up across the lake. It was a cool view first thing in the morning. Most of the climbing is in the back half of the loop. Some of the climbs are straight up and some are switchbacks. I made it through the climbs on the first loop and made my way down to the base of the mountain where there was an aid station. To my surprise, Brandon's friend and 3 kids were there also to cheer me on. That gave me a pretty good boost. I made my way back to the start/finish where they all greeted me again before I headed back out on my second loop.
I was starting to feel it a little bit in my feet but I was still in pretty good spirits. I went out with a lady that I stuck with for most of the second loop. We were helping each other through the parts we were each having trouble with. She was falling asleep overnight, so I made sure she stayed upright.
With about 30 miles to go, both of my feet started killing me. I couldn't extend my foot, so the downhills were the worst. I was still climbing pretty well, but I couldn't run or shuffle any of the downhills. We decided to start leap frogging. She would get ahead on the downhills, I'd catch up on climbs, and we'd check on each other in between.
About this time, the weather changed. it got very windy and it started raining. It was cold, but not unbearable. It was really just annoying at this point in the race. When I came down to the last aid station after all the climbing, I told hbc I didn't need anything, and I was just going to keep going and get this done. There were about 3 miles to the finish. I'm not sure how I did it. I was barely moving downhill, and there was still one big descent.
There was a street crossing to get to the finish, and they had someone there will a cowbell to escort the runners in. I was good until I saw her, then I lost it. I have no idea how I finished that race. I just kept telling myself that I'm a grinder, and I'm tougher than these miles. You can tell yourself that you're tough and that you can do this, but I guess you just never really know.
I finished right under 32 hours, which was off my goal, but I did fight through some hard last miles. I remember thinking to myself "there are only 30 miles to go" and immediately thinking that's the stupidest thing you've ever said. I feel like I still have more to prove, although I don't know what or to who. There were 14 drops. Karl Meltzer came in 3rd. The winner ran 18:24.
They had beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers at the end, but I didn't stick around very long. It was well supported. The community was great.
Hbc's friend commented later that he was really surprised about how the race was. He didn't expect it to be so laid back and for everyone to be so friendly.
At one point, I thought I was dying and for a split second, thought I'd have to quit. I stopped to pee on a rock and looked down and saw dark orange. All of the overexertion and rabdo threads flashed through my mind until I looked around and realized it was something growing on all the rocks, so don't worry, all my internal organs are fine. I started to lose my vision in my left eye right after I crossed the finish line, so I guess that was pretty good timing. It came back after about 10 minutes or so. Happy to share more about the terrain and whatnot if anyone is interested in the race.
Animals I saw on course: buffalo, 1 antelope, some young bighorn sheep, and some mice.