Salt Flats 100

10th place overall 25:30:51 The first 20 miles was the flattest and easiest section of the course. I ran it a little faster than planned, but decided at the time it made sense to take advantage of the cool morning temperatures. Overall I felt great until mile 40, where we crossed the “mud flats” - thankfully dry this year, but loose and sandy and exposed during the hottest part of the afternoon. The plan had been to reach mile 50 in 11 hours while still feeling relatively fresh. I made it in 10 hours 39 minutes, but feeling less fresh than I’d hoped. I was nauseated and depleted from the heat, and my heels had some big fresh blisters on top of the still-healing damage from the Desert Rats 100k I’d run 3 weeks before. Christian met me at mile 50 and paced the next 11.5 miles. We hit the 100k mark around dusk. I was able to rally a little, at least for awhile. Kept the stomach but lost the legs. I could maintain a quick 15-16 min/mile march, and jog short stretches here and there, but my muscles just felt profoundly fatigued and wouldn’t tolerate sustained running. I’d probably gone out too fast those first 30-40 miles. Christian and Hanna met me at the next few aid stations, and were a huge help with refilling bottles, refueling, and reminding me of all the critical tasks that my addled brain was too tired to keep track of. I mostly used my supply of Tailwind high carb mix + Naak salted soup packets for fueling, and supplemented with food at the aid stations (chips, tacos, hash browns, ramen, and EtOH-free margaritas at mile 30). The biggest climb of the race started around mile 82, and I gained ground here, passing a few runners. I almost always have the fitness to make fast climbs late in these races, but lack the leg stamina to run well on the technical downhills…so many of those that I overtake on the climbs end up passing me again on the descents. Christian met up with me again at mile 96, pacing the straight & seemingly endless 4 mile stretch of pavement leading to the finish.