Did not finish this one. Pretty disappointing. Started out pretty good and was feeling strong through the turnaround at mile 31 (50k) but then I really slowed down after that, feeling worse and worse with every mile, not being able to eat anymore and just not wanting to be out there anymore. So I dropped at mile 55 where Kelly and Leah had come to meet up with Jeff and I. Had we felt better they were going to pace us to the finish but we were done.
Jeff had been feeling bad most of the day. Here's a picture of him at mile 31:
How he made it another 24 miles after that I do not know. The guy is TOUGH.
What went wrong? I think it was a combination of a few things. Some little things like that I was just having a bad day, my stomach wasn't quite right, the sun took a toll. But mainly I think I was just unprepared for how tough a 100k is. This was my first and so I had to make some assumptions. One of those was that it would not be much tougher than a 50 miler but it really is - much tougher. So that incorrect assumption resulted in me not taking my training before the race seriously enough and also in not being prepared mentally to suffer for so many miles.
I enjoy running long distances because of the highs and the lows, which get higher and lower the longer you go. The highs are great for obvious reasons. The lows are terrible while you are struggling through them but the reward for having made it to the other side is greater than the highest high.
So Kettle was overall a bad experience because I was unable to make it through that really bad low point. But, it's just running. And there's always the next one. I have Dances With Dirt Devil's Lake this weekend. Prior to Kettle I had signed up for just the 50k but after DNFing at Kettle I feel I have something to prove so I moved up to the 50 mile. It will be hot and the course will be difficult but I'm going to finish - and the reward for finishing will make all the suffering well worth it.
