I had a great idea for this race. Instead of just suffering and finishing the race, I thought – hey, why don’t I just suffer a little faster? There were 2 races starting together (50 mile/50K) and I ran the opening 1,200′ climb hanging just outside of the top ten overall. Way too fast for me in a 50 miler, but I was game. It was definitely one of my better opening climbs in an ultra.

I was working, but running well. I eased off a little on the next climb and a little more on the next. Then it got really HOT. I couldn’t keep up with my fluid losses and started suffering a little more than I had in mind. Despite sucking down tons of water and staying on top of my salt intake, it felt like there was a cramp convention in town and every muscle in my body had a ticket. Thankfully, my legs weren’t too bad, but my abdomen, chest wall, and even neck muscles were giving me tons of grief. That slowed me down quite a bit.

I had a tough day, but managed to come in 7th place in 9:45 and took 2nd in my age group. I don’t know how many finishers there were, lots of carnage out on the course. I was in rough shape at the finish, barely managing to avoid the post-race puke fest. My calves were jumping and twitching around like there was some sort of alien cage match going on inside them. It took me about 90 minutes to recover enough to gather myself and get to my car.

I was down 9 pounds when I weighed in at home after drinking another 60oz on the drive. Ouch.

They mentioned at the start that there were over 40 people in the events racing their first ultra. They picked a tough one!

Since I took the time to take a bunch of photos and video footage during the race, I thought I would string it all together and put it up in case anyone was interested.  It’s long, but I think could have some value for those who are about to run their first 100 miler and want to see what it’s like from a first-hand perspective, or for someone that is thinking about running Big Horn and wants to see the entire course.  The pictures and clips are in chronological order, so it gives you a good feel for the toll doing this kind of thing takes on a person.  My voice is strong and vibrant early on, then deteriorates quite a bit later in the race.

Maybe I should give a buckle to anyone that watches the whole thing…

The shorter version can be found here.

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My approach to this race was a relaxed one.  I didn’t focus on ‘racing’ at all, but just took it as an opportunity to get some more experience at this distance in a beautiful setting.  I carried a camera and shot 300 photos and 90 minutes of video.  Hopefully, the finished product conveys a little bit of what it was like and allows the viewer to go along for the ride.  Buckle up.

The music is from my running buddy, Kirk.  Turns out he was a rock star back in the day.  Good stuff!

(Also, see the extended version here.)

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