Wow! Been a while since the lost post. I 'll start where I left off. The weeks leading up to the Bear 100 were perfect. Enjoyed some great runs and an easy taper that left me feeling fresh and ready to go the week leading up to the race. The DNF at the Bear sucked. No big mysteries to uncover, no long stories, just didn't manage things well in the days leading up to the start and during the race. I felt fantastic in the legs and lungs, but after three complete stomach melt downs I was done. Could I have finished? Yep. No doubt in my mind I could have sat, recovered, moved forward and done the drill a few more times if needed and made it in under 36 hours. Did I want to death march it in the last 30 miles? Nope. Would I have felt any less disappointment finishing with a death march than I felt dropping out, probably not. Huge congrats to all my friends who finished and had great days out there. Thanks for the support of friends and family that got me further into the race than I would have made it alone.
Looking forward to learning from the mistakes and going forward to better races in the future. The upside to only making it 70 miles, 20 of which was walking slowly, is that my recovery was almost instant. My legs felt fine on Monday. I was running light by Wednesday and had a great easy jog up a peak on Saturday. 10 days after the race Cory and I made a quick mid-week trip to the Tetons and ran the big loop one more time. We left Jenny Lake in the cold early morning and returned 7:15 later after 36 miles and 7500 vert . We took it pretty easy, had fun and enjoyed the generally deserted Teton trails. I felt perfec. Strong, with solid energy the whole way.....calling this one of the best runs of the year. Rinsed off in the lake, grabbed some dinner in Jackson and made it home just over 24 hours after we left.
Been enjoying some fantastic fall running in the local hills over the last month. Got shut down this week by a pretty nasty cold.
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