A Short DNF Report
I don't usually write DNF reports, but....
Prelude
In the weeks proceeding this event, I realized that I hadn't had a 100M finish in two years. I finished Vol State last year, but that was like 3, 100 milers.
I've been in a weird place in my ultrarunning since finishing LAVS.
Living in MI, the three things on my ultra list were
- sub 24 100M
- Vol State
- The Midwest Super Slam
Coming into this event, I had little to no motivation. I had completed the two things on my list that I could as of today. I already had a buckle from completing it in 2019.
So it was not that difficult to drop at mile 70.
The Event
As I mentioned, I completed this race in 2019. It's a 4 mile loop. At mile 2.5, there's a water drop that's manned at night. There's a 6, 12, and 24 hour option in addition to the 100 mile.
The course is all the trail I want. There's no single track, it's all just wide paths through the woods, with some dirt roads mixed in.
To finish within the 30 hour time limit for the 100, one has to average 72 minute loops.
It was a beautiful day. About 55 degrees at race start (8am Eastern). I took off my shirt halfway through the first loop cause it was getting warm.
I just cruised along with my music playing. I was running all the down hills, and power walking everything else. I knew that my pace for the first two loops was not sustainable, so I dialed it back a bit.
I met up with a guy, Erick, and a girl, Leslie, at the end of loop 5. They were doing the 24 hour race. They were going pretty slow. I stuck with them for loop 6, knowing that it would be too slow. At the end of that loop, I took off again by myself.
My goal had evolved into banking 100 minutes in the first 10 loops. That would an extra 6 2/3 minutes per loop in the last 15, which would be just over 1.5 minutes per mile.
I banked 113 minutes and 23 seconds in the first 10 loops. I rewarded myself by sitting down, putting my feet up, and eating a piece of pizza.
A brief pause about the shoes I was wearing.
I've had these pair of Altra Lone Peaks 2.0 for many, many years. I'm not a big trail runner, so they've lasted me. The've been a part of many of the buckles I've earned.
End pause.
At the end of loop 10, I felt a rock in my shoe. Not like you normally feel a rock in your shoe. I'm talking about a huge rock, caught between the sole of the shoe and the bottom of my foot. Apparently the shoes had finally given their all.
Where the stone was
Turns out the back of the other one was equally cooked
So I had to stop after loop 10 and change my shoes. I had put my shirt back on, and added a long sleeve tech shirt on top of that. Now that the sun had set, it was getting chilly. Well these shoes had a tighter collar, which was causing some rubbing. So after loop 11, I had to retape my feet. I added a buff to go around my ears, and my gloves.
IMPORTANT NOTE
If you don't know, always take the time needed to fix your feet correctly. Taking that time may very well save your race.
END NOTE
So I took the time needed to retape my feet properly. But those three loops had stolen all of my momentum. That, added to the fact that it was now in the low - mid 40s and my legs were cramping up, was not making for a pleasant experience.
I was hoping to hold out until it started to get light ~7am, but at the water drop ~70, I asked the volunteer there if I could drop. It was just becoming too arduous to keep going.
Here's where that lack of motivation comes in. It wasn't a question of will power. If I wanted to, I could have picked up the pace a bit and coasted through until the sun came up. That would have given me enough push to finish.
I just didn't want to.
Here's a table of my loop (4 mile) splits
https://www.strava.com/activities/6128298031
Lessons Learned
This was my lowest total training mileage for any event I've ran. Here's the link to my training sheet. Maybe it wasn't enough. Maybe I missed too many long runs (three).
Those things may have been factors, but I think the main issue was the fact that there was no motivation for me to finish.
