Team, This experience was extremely personal for me. I’m going to share more at the end, but suffice it to say that finishing a 100 mile ultra is about 90% mental in my estimation. For as long as I can remember, I have had some demons that have been chasing me and causing me mental anguish. This was the mental test that I needed to vanquish them for good. This is a long post. This is catharsis. RACE BUILD UP: I shared previously that my build up for this race was in a word, suspect. My back got obliterated working out a month ago and it significantly limited my prep. Two game changing calls with Jordan and Ryan got me in the right headspace for the race. I realized my limitations and that helped me reframe my race and avoid any self-doubt and fixation (as I am want to do). I was going to do the best I could and that was that. If I came up short, I could always try again. I also got a very deep muscle massage 5 days before, which I highly recommend. All of this put my mind at ease and I slept like a champ the night before, which I greatly needed with all the travel in the weeks before. THE RACE: I chose the AT100 for two reasons: - It fit my race calendar - It’s known for being extremely well-supported, which was important, as I was running this solo The course is 16 miles of single-track and then an out and back. It’s hilly (16k) but you wouldn’t classify it as ludicrous mode. However the way the course is laid out makes it more challenging than you might think just by looking at the elevation profile. The way out has more climbing and the downhill is very rocky. There isn’t much time to make up in those downhill sections, but that plays to your advantage on the way back. Secondly, there is almost no flat, you’re working your quads the entire time. The need for a crew became apparent almost immediately. Despite getting there with 45 mins to spare, I had to park about half a mile away from the start and schlep my gear. The race started with a pig seuy chant, because Arkansas, and we were on our way.

I wanted an easy race to practice better race execution. This was not it! Still it was my best executed race to date despite a very humid day and more elevation and technical sections than expected (why do they always get the vertical wrong on these things? Is it intentional?). Very little sleep the nite before (about 3 hrs) and a 4am wakeup call. I was determined to get there early after almost having to sprint to the start of the 50m in July. Much better pregame experience. Got there way before the bathroom queue up and was able to triple check everything with plenty of time. Check. Start of the race was near 100% humidity. In looking at the course, my plan was to try and execute a quicker 12.5m at the beginning before what looked like a slog of a climb in the middle. Well, that first 12.5 was single track and extremely rocky, including the downhills, where there wasn't really much of an option to let it fly. Heart rate was higher than I wanted, but it wasn't easy going. I stuck to my 30g gel packet every 20 mins. I rolled into the first aid station at around 5m and was pretty dismayed by what I saw. Just a bunch of candy and shitty cookies. I briefly pondered what it was going to be like if the rest of the aid stations were stocked like this. I chugged down some LMNT (part of my plan was 1 packet an hour). Just then started getting passed by folks running the 25k, which was mildly annoying. About two miles after the AS, got a pretty big cramp in my side, right below the ribcage. I thought it was humidity related, but later read that this is called a side stitch. I hadn't had one before, but I learned after that it's likely caused by gulping and eating too quickly at the AS ( I did pound liquid there as quick as I could). That cramp stayed with me until about mile 20. The next 10 miles in particular where very tough terrain-wise and attitude-wise. I was not a happy camper with the side stitch and my downhill times were pissing me off. I was getting a bit sloppy with my footwork and tripping on the rocks and roots everywhere, so my feet weren't particularly happy either. Coming into the second AS at mile 11, I was pretty upset but determined to still give it a good go for what was really practice.

Lean Horse 100 Reflection I hadn't ever been more excited or felt more ready for an Ultra than I did the weeks leading up to Leanhorse 100. That being said, I did not get the result I had hoped for. It was especially disappointing because my race execution was piss poor. I made too many big mistakes leading up to and during the race that I completely handicapped myself. Here are my big 3 lessons learned: - Fueling - This is especially disappointing to me because I have run into this issue on several other Ultra runs. Those have been 50 milers and I was able to suck it up to finish. Not for a 100. Right away I saw the temperatures were going to be between 90-95 with high humidity. Ryan and I discussed some adaptations the morning of the race to help handle the heat. Mistake 1 was I decided against throwing my camelbak in the back of my vest. The Aid stations ranged 6-9 miles apart so I thought I could get by with my 2 bottles on the vest. BAD IDEA. Mistake 2 was loading 1 bottle with tailwind and the other with a high carb drink. By mile 4 I was completely out of fluids and probably had started the stomach problems that would plague me later on by slamming all those carbs when I was clearly overheating. Mistake 3 was not respecting the course. I thought the heat would not be so bad because the course was wooded through the black hills. The first 15 miles had no trees and was a full climb in the beating sun up Crazy Horse Mountain. - Pace - The race began and quickly groups separated themselves. I found myself up front with about 20 guys. Several of them I had talked to a bit pre-race and they mentioned they were just looking to go sub-24. Before the race had started, I decided my strategy would be a lot of walking and moving slow early up the first big climb then once the sun went down I would start pushing harder. Mistake 3 was I quickly ditched my planned strategy to run with the group up front. I pushed the first 15 miles at an extremely aggressive pace. Between the heat and the climb and lack of fluids, my HR was running between 145-150 for a long stretch of that. During that time I flew through aid stations, spending less than 5 minutes at both of the first 2 stops.

It has taken me a bit to get to this race reflection. I have been struggling over the past 2 weeks to come up with the words to describe how I felt, and my take aways from the race. I finally got to connect with Goldstein this morning and continue my clarity for this experience. From a pure race perspective... I set a freaking 50 min PR and the conditions were far from perfect. 3 Foot Rolling White Caps on the swim, 95 degree sunny heat on the run.. But it was exactly how it was supposed to be. It was the perfect culmination of the truth is in the training. The past 6 months leading up to the race have been far from ideal conditions. My dad diagnosed with a rare cancer, my cousin diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer (treated and gotten the all clear), my father in law getting diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and becoming a new dad. Far from ideal circumstances to train for another major race. And that didn't include the fact that my dad planned to host 70 people at the house the weekend of the race for a Billy Joel Cover artist. I had every excuse in the book to chalk this race up as a loss, and throw in the towel before it even started. But... This year was different. I had a plan. It was Saturday before the race, I went for a 30 min ride and came up with my mantra for the race -- "Calm and Confident". I knew what I had to do, I knew that I could do it.. no matter what got thrown my way. The day before the race I felt this calmness come over me, I just felt great. I had shown up for myself, my family, my wife, and my daughter for the past month, and I knew that the race was going to be a pure celebration. A smile on my face from beginning to end, no matter the circumstance. And that is exactly how it turned out. I trained for 7 minutes in open water this year. No... Turning my head into a 3 foot roller was not something I had practiced, but I adjusted on the fly. I took a punch and realized that I needed to sight every breath or go into a breast stroke to catch my breath, but keep moving forward. Slower than last year, but we got it done, and i felt SO STRONG the whole time. There was never a doubt.