The Bighorn 100 is in Wyoming, and required a 8 1/2 hour drive to get there. I carpooled with Davy Crockett to save on travel expenses, which gave me an opportunity to learn a lot from an experienced 100 miler. We checked into the Alamo Motel in Sheridan, but the clerk didn't see the humor in checking Davy Crockett into the Alamo. Oh well.We checked in and had dinner at Ole's with Phil Lowery. Phil is quite a character, what more can I say. Thursday night several severe thunderstorms rolled through the area, with down pours, hail and lightening strikes within hundreds of feet of the hotel. We looked at each other wonder if we would see such weather the next day on the trails.
The Bighorn starts late Friday morning, with the pre-race at the finish area at 9am, allowing for a easy morning prep and breakfast. We rode a bus up to the start area with a few clouds overhead and a few drops. The race started and we were off.
I pushed myself for the first hour on an agressive pace, hoping to not get stuck on the single track in the back. I actually kept pace for a little bit with Phil, but my heart rate was too high, so I slowed down a bit. After the initial canyon section, the trail wound up onto beautiful alpine meadows. It was steep, but the overcast sky kept it from getting too hot.(Sunday, July 20) I haven't had much opportunity to finish this, so I'm going to post as is and maybe come back later (been watching too much Tour de France). Here is the summary:
I realized half way through that even though I was 2 hours ahead of the cutoff, with two major climbs on the return trip, I was in trouble. I began pushing myself, to the point of exhaustion near the end, to make the final three cut offs times (the last one by only minutes), and finished with an official time of 33:49:27.Damage: micro-tears in my right calf, left tendon on top of my foot sore and stiff. Major blister on the left heal (gold-ball size) that broke and rubbed raw. No old injuries resurfaced.
No comments:
Post a Comment