"I went to the well, and the well was dry." -Scott Jurek, after 2009 Western States 100 DNF at mile 48 Old Dominion 100 report: DNF at mile 75, 13:15 UPDATE: Full race report has been posted. I'll do a full write up on my blogger later, but I'll just put an update here for anyone wondering my result. Short version is I generally felt good through mile 57, running exactly on my 17:10 schedule and in 4th place, then crashed hard. A planned 80 min section took 110 min. Nothing wrong like blisters, puking, hydration, blown quads, etc. Just felt no energy, tapped dry. Limped into mile 65 aid station where Barry covered me in ice for 20 min to get me moving again. Had about 30 min of rebirth, then crashed again even harder. Reached mile 75 over 80 min behind schedule and fading, somehow still around 6-8th place. After an hour of sitting, I stopped my watch and pulled out of the race. Like I often say, "Go big or go home." I had tried to go big and just didn't have it today. I probably could have walked though the final 25 in 7-8 hrs or so, giving me a 20+ hr finish, but that didn't really interest me. I had shown up to compete all or nothing. But my body was tapped dry, so I DNF'ed. Barry went and had a blast running Sherman's gap without me, and I got a ride to our car at mile 86 where I spent several hours talking to crews and runners (and generally feeling pretty good). I'm sure some people will question not continuing, especially since a top 10, sub-24 hr finish was still likely. But I weighed what I wanted, and acted accordingly. I was there to compete, not to finish. Unlike past ultras where I had multiple projected finish times prepared for my crew, this year I prepared only one, and went all in. I missed, and bailed. Cody and Paul, you'll understand what I mean when I say there was no "Oh Crap Slow" goal today... A few stats: 50 miles in 7:53, 56 miles in 8:49 (9:26 avg). Next 18.6 miles in 4:25 (14:17 avg pace). Finished with 75 miles and 8300 gain/8600 loss in 13:15. Big congrats to Neal Gorman, with a 16:16 win, and podium finishers Karsten Brown and Eric Grossman.
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