Day 2,617 —Worth the Wait— with a PICTURE from the RACE

    We all started at 6 a.m. and ran about a mile on pavement to a single file path into the woods. It was steep inclines and a lot of walking from that point, and I was stuck behind a group pacing inconsistently. I broke free of that pack at the first aid station and caught up with a group of guys I stayed with more than half of the run. I talked to these guys for hours, and they made the run much more memorable. 

    There was a guy from Minnesota that I talked to the most that was nice and had a lot of running wisdom to share. I kept calling him Tim, but his name was Matt. He talked about running the Leadville 100 and had such an efficient pace. He was killing me on the walks up the hills, but I could catch him on the flats. 

    This guy Laban was doing the race with his entire family. His wife, brother, etcetera were all there. He picked up my Chapstick when I dropped it once. 

    Laban broke from Matt and I after the first lap (27 miles). I went out a couple minutes before Matt and he caught up with me walking up the hills. We both started talking about how we could still make 10 hours. It was in our reach. 

    Around mile 35 I couldn’t keep up with Matt anymore, and he pulled away. I was still moving as fast as I could, but I started struggling more up the hills. I stopped thinking about pace and focused on just moving my left foot and then my right foot. 

I took my hydration pills and another drink of water. I ate watermelon at the aid station.

    Once I got through one of the more difficult hill sections I began to rally. I started being able to push it through the flats, and I started gaining on my pace. Then I saw Matt. 

    He was still about 10 minutes ahead of me, but I knew I was gaining on him. I caught him and ran past him around mile 45. I was just cruising from there, picking up speed and staying focused. I was pacing under 10 hours! Only two miles left to go. I saw a sign that said, “Marathon left and 50 /100 right.”  

    I went right and kept going strong. When I got to the end, I knew something was wrong. There was no finish line. I started shouting and asking people “where is the finish!!” someone told me I had gone the wrong way. 

    I walked back to the sign. I couldn’t convince myself to run. As I was approaching the sign, I saw Matt go left and pass me. I looked at the sign again and someone added “50” next to the “Marathon” side.

I finished officially 10:07 😩 

I found Laban and talked to him, and he said he did the same thing! 

    He still finished 8th overall. I finished officially 16th overall but would have been 10th by my estimation if I hadn’t turned the wrong way at the end. 

It was still a great race and a great experience.