Summit 200 (Race Recap)

Summit County, CO

Monday, July 28

200+ mile attempt #11

Weather - a bit of everything, rainy

Preface

After last year's heartbreaking DNF, I initially said that I would not sign up again. Much like when I DNF'd Cocodona the first time, I really wanted the buckle and figured I could learn from my mistakes and get it done the second time around. I spent nearly a full year working on my climbing skills, thinking that had been my downfall - adding in weekly time on the StairMaster. More time was spent at elevation, including two races in Leadville where I was mildly successful and close to my "A" time goals. Seeing all my 200 buddies and other friends, I admitted I was scared and told everyone who asked how I was feeling "I hope I can get it done this time."

Spoiler. I failed for a second time.

At race check in with Olive, Jillian and Ben

Race Morning

Got less than three hours of sleep, after weeks prior to the race of marginal sleep quality. Really tried to not let the physical and mental exhaustion set the tone for the day/week. Since I had woken up nearly two HOURS before my alarm and was unable to get back to sleep I was ready to go on time, and managed to scarf down my breakfast, including some of the chocolate cake I had picked up at for dinner that I never got around to eating.

We headed over to Lee's to get Jillian since she wanted to be there for the start. We arrived with about a half hour until we started, which was fine since I had nothing to do other than get my tracker and use the bathroom a few times. My stomach was feeling off, it was chilly, and I was a bundle of anxiety.

Photographers took some pictures of us all under the archway, and before I knew it, we were counting down to start.

Start to Peak One (Miles 0-21.7)

I was relatively excited about the course change that had us doing all the paved stuff early on. After last year's catastrophe, I figured I would be able to do some running early on and hopefully bank some time. We started running on the bike path towards Frisco, and I had set up intervals of 2:30 running and 1:00 walking. I was alone right from the start, so I had my headphones in. I was using my headlamp and wearing my thin gloves, but I could tell it was going to be a warm day and I was glad I hadn't done anything crazy like start with an extra layer. I could not tell if I was running "too fast" because my splits were in the mid 12s, and that was WITH walking. My stomach was continually churning and I was keeping an eye out for "all the bathrooms" Lee said were along the bike path. FINALLY about three miles in I saw one. Thank you!!! I was glad to have toilet paper on me as there wasn't any in there, but I felt much better. 

With the course change I had not done this section of the race as it was the last segment before finishing last year. We remained on the bike path until just before the Peaks Trail parking lot, at which point we started to head up a faint trail. I was already grateful to have the turn by turn directions on my watch as markings were sparse and there were a lot of trails in this area! 

I soon recognized where I was when we dropped down near Rainbow Lake and we started the climb up Miner's Creek. I felt like I had moved well in these early miles. I had started with less water knowing that I would be able to filter at Miner's Creek junction. I topped off my Katadyn filter and tried to take a drink and... nothing. Uh... I took a second and pulled out my nearly empty flask and tried to filter the Katadyn into that and barely got more than a drip. Crap!! I did a voice text to Ben and asked him to research why a bottle I've had for a while would suddenly not filter.

I was maybe 8 miles into the race. Distracted because my bottle wasn't filtering and trying to message with Ben (on my new phone, that I unfortunately got a very slippery case for), I got DIVE BOMBED BY A BIRD. The first time it happened, I didn't hear anything, I just felt the movement next to me. Obviously my first thought was it was a ghost or a moose, but I didn't see anything. I said wtf to myself and kept climbing. Within the next few minutes I got swooped at two more times! I still never actually SAW what it was, maybe an owl? Either way, it was pretty weird. Kept climbing, and then made the turn towards Gold Hill. I had been up as far as the junction but hadn't actually gone that way, that I remember. 

Finally heard back from Ben that "shaking the bottle aggressively" would hopefully clear anything that might be clogging the filter in my bottle. Happy to report that while I looked a bit loony, it seemed to work and I was able to get water out of it. Finally. There was a junction that didn't have any flagging and I almost went the wrong way (and didn't get a turn notification on my watch) but thankfully I pulled out Gaia and got on the right trail. A runner caught up to me and we talked for maybe 5-10 minutes. Wish I could remember what his name was, he was the only person I encountered this entire section. He was definitely hiking faster than I was so I moved off trail to let him pass and he was out of sight pretty quick. 

About four hours in and I seemed to be cresting the top of the hill and could finally see Lake Dillon in the distance. Saw a few cyclists and through hikers in this section. I was jogging a bit on the descents but overall I was already tired, hot, and looking forward to getting to the first aid station. 

Finally seemed to recognize where I was, on the other side of the highway. When I had initially helped to scout the course with Casey and Chase back in 2023 I had done this section. I knew I was getting close to the rec path, but I still had a ways to go before hitting that aid station!

I had hoped to continue to do run/walk intervals when I finally got to the path. I was pretty tired, so I didn't run nearly as much as I had thought I might. I still did some running here and there but nothing like I envisioned. Finally got close to the peninsula! I have run these trails a ton, but never counter clockwise, so it was "fun" to go that way. 

The aid station was actually inside the campground at a campsite. No real food at this one, unfortunately. I took some time to rehydrate and drank a full can of coke. Used the bathroom before grabbing some food and heading out. Spent a little more time here than I had planned. I had the volunteers research what food was supposed to be at the next aid station so I would have something to look forward to.

Peak One to North Shuttle Lot (Miles 21.7 to 38.9)

I have also run these trails a decent amount and was familiar with the Perimeter Trail that would take us back into Frisco, passing the Nordic Center where the start/finish was last year. Did some running here and there, but I mostly just walked this section. Tried to move with purpose. It was hot and I was not having a wonderful time here. 

Since it was not at all technical, I was texting a bit with Lisa and joking how with one marathon down I only had 7 to go. Not sure why 175 miles sounds insane, but 7 marathons seemed... reasonable?

I have run the rec path many times, and even on fresh legs it isn't great. 

Every time I see this sign, I take a picture

I was running low on water but expected to be able to fill up at a drinking fountain near one of the bathrooms or the amphitheater. Much to my dismay, we did NOT pass a fountain and the amphitheater was chained up! Crap!! I texted Ben as I tried to remember if there was anywhere I couldn't remember where I could get water, since I still had a LOT of miles to go in this section. I was about a 50k in when I could finally see the hotel we had stayed at. Seemed like a zillion years ago. What I *did* remember is that a). the hotel was in town and b). Scrappy's would be nearby and worst case, it's on course and I could run in and buy a water.

Seemingly took forever to go around and up the big hill back into Dillon, but I could see tiny strip mall and was very thankful at the idea of getting something to drink. Arrived at 1:30ish to discover the pizza place did not open until 3 pm!!! Luckily, the liquor store next door was open and took Apple Pay. I got a huge bottle of water and a can of Dr. Pepper and headed back out.

The course took us across the highway and up a road towards Tenderfoot. It took most of the walk to finish my Dr. Pepper and I was hoping I would find somewhere to toss the can so I wouldn't have to carry it all the way to the aid station. Thankfully, there was a trash can at the trail head, so I sat for a minute and finished up, throwing out my can on the way out to Keystone. Last year we took an immediate left up the trail, this time we went straight. I was happy to not have a ton of climbing at this point, but I was still overheating and this whole section was pretty exposed. 

We had views of Dillon and the lake and some rollers, but in general, there was no one out here and I was having trouble figuring out where we would get dumped back out into town. 

I still hadn't seen anyone else from the race and wondered how that was possible. There were very few markings in this section so I kept checking Gaia. Eventually we ended up near the shooting range, which was fun.

A small amount of shade and some downhill.

Finally, I could see through the trees and see the parking lot where I knew the aid station was.

I had a lot of work to do at this aid station! I had been using my UltrAspire Zygos 5.0 for the first two sections to keep my pack lighter with the bare minimum required gear. I had to transfer over my bib and tracker and a few of the required items I didn't have duplicates of into the giant random pack I had bought last week - this time an Ultimate Direction Fast Pack. Well, I did like the bigger pack pocket and had opted to use the soft 2L bottle like I did at Monster, thinking it would be less annoying than a bladder. It really wasn't great with this pack as the overall frame wasn't as stiff. I digress.

I also was STARVING here. I made sure to eat a lot, I think we had burgers here, and they were delicious. ALSO!! When a volunteer grabbed a coke out of the cooler I saw a 4 pack of Outer Range and the volunteer (wish I could remember his name) offered to share with me. I didn't want a full beer, but it was super nice of him and In the Steep is one of the best IPAs out there, I was so happy!! Once again, I had wanted to be in/out of this aid station pretty quick, but it took a lot longer than planned with eating and re-hydrating, etc.

North Shuttle Lot to Tiger Road (Miles 38.9 to 62.4)

Headed out of the lot toward Tiger Road, and my first pacer!! It was still light out. I had actually arrived at the early side of my optimistic time goal and would not need my Kogalla for a few hours. There was still some bike path to do leaving the aid station and I ran very little of this. Pretty flowers by the golf course!

I had picked up my poles at the last aid station and quickly remembered how annoying poles can be to hold if you aren't using them. With all my pack shenanigans, I didn't have anywhere easy to store them. A funny story on this section was a guy on a bike coming up behind me saying "are those big sticks of jerky?" No, but that sounds delicious!! 

The pavement in Keystone was another section I expected/thought I would run some, but didn't. I did keep up a nice, brisk walking pace, however. I got passed by JJ, Steve and Tek in this section. Even just walking, I was surprised at how much quicker they were moving! Maybe in the future I just need to really work on crazy fast hiking? Anyway, I remembered the weird section that paralleled the road through the neighborhood, and after a few miles, we were finally back on the trails.

The fields were simply gorgeous in this section! Lots of wildflowers and colors.

We were approaching sunset and saw a few cyclists and people running with dogs, but nothing crazy. Anastasia was in this area taking pictures. At some point, Charity caught up to me. We chatted for about 5 minutes before she took off.

Back to being completely alone. JJ apparently took off but Steve and Tek seemed to be staying together. I would catch up to them once in a while if they were unsure of where to go and were looking at devices, but otherwise, alone. Except for them briefly waiting for me to show me these two moose!

Can't remember too much else in this section. I am relatively sure that this was mostly the section that I had scouted (formerly to the Horseshoe Gulch aid station?) but it seemed all brand new being in the dark. I was beginning to have some labored breathing here and leg fatigue, but was still moving well ahead of my goal paces. Definitely got a little tired in this section, but I don't think I napped? Heading into the aid station I finally saw Nico!! He had already done the whole loop (what a stud) and I told him he was awesome and to get after it. 

I was really looking forward to trail time with Jillian, and had initially told her I would be skipping sleep at this aid station. That didn't happen. When I FINALLY got to the Tiger Road aid station, I saw Lee. I told him to let Jillian know that I was going to eat and try to take a nap for 45 or so minutes, hoping to be rejuvenated with sunrise. I had put a puffy blanket in my drop bag and put on my layers in hopes that I would be able to sleep. I may have dozed off here and there, but it was still too cold to sleep, although not as bad as last year. 

Tiger Road (North Fork) Loop (Miles 62.4 to 80.9)

I had never done this section in the daytime, and I was looking forward to it! We headed back up the road to the trail, running into Tek, who wasn't sure where to go. She passed us almost immediately after we got on the trail. We weaved in and out of the trees and saw quite a few tents, probably belonging to through hikers. Last year the climbing had seemed really terrible and I was having a hard time picturing what this would look like. We passed the husky dogs (who were barking and howling) and continued to climb. It was GORGEOUS and not at all what I imagined after last year. Lots of lush trees and just overall really pretty. I did enjoy this a LOT more than last year.

Nothing else of note in this area, except I of course got tired and told Jillian I needed to take a short nap. Of course I chose an area of single track and said I kind of felt like a jerk spanning the trail, but figured if someone needed to pass me they could just step over me - I had found the perfect tree to lean up against.

I think I only took a few minutes and then we were off and ready to go. Wasn't sure where/when we would hit the pass. Spent a long time wondering if it was Geneva or Georgia Pass. (Georgia Pass, FYI). Two hikers told us that we were close to the pass and to look out for mountain goats! We were pretty excited about this and both pulled out our phones. 

Wondered if we had been bamboozled since we didn't see any. When we got out onto the road where some vehicles were parked we did see two goats, but they weren't close enough to get very good pictures. We headed down the pass and saw some ATVs come up the trail and then moved onto the flat single track area. 

We had also done this in the dark last year, although some of it I had seen when I helped Ben scout the area. Time went by pretty quick here, but we didn't do any running.

Finally we got onto the dirt road and were headed back to the aid station. A fellow runner came up behind us and he seemed fast and not someone I had seen earlier, so I asked if he was out for fun or? He said he had gone out to do the loop and done it the wrong direction so he had to go back and do it over. Womp, womp.

We had to put our cheap ponchos back on. Our entertainment in this section was a guy on a dirt bike that kept stopping to talk to us. He had forgotten to close his toolbox and had lost a bunch of stuff on the road. He would let us know when we found things. Arrived at the water crossing and Anastasia was there taking pictures. Jillian and I both managed to cross on the logs without getting our feet wet!

Where oh where was the aid station? I hadn't remembered it being "this far" away. We saw some huskies out for a sled run, and finally we arrived at the aid station.

Once again, I had not planned on napping. Paul was there and offered to let me sleep in his sprinter van, so I took him up on it. I don't know how much I slept, but it was warm and comfortable. Ate some food and then Jillian and I headed out for the section that I was dreading the most, going up Chihuahua Gulch to Montezuma.

Tiger Road to Montezuma (Miles 80.9 to 93.7)

I remember this section being the beginning of the end last year and had a lot of apprehension about this section. On paper, it isn't that long, but it is steep and goes to over 12,500'.

The lower part of the section was fine, we were just heading out from the aid station back up to the North Fork loop, so we had a nice, brisk walk pace going. Even the lower section of the road wasn't as bad as I remembered. I kept telling Jillian, I can't remember when it gets really steep and awful, but it does!

We got passed by Steve somewhere in this section - he was an absolute machine at climbing! I did NOT remember this water crossing at all. I think Jillian made it across with dry feet, my head was hurting trying to imagine the path across, so I just got my feet wet.

Pictures never do it justice, but I promise this is steep. I was already struggling with my breathing and my pace was slower than I would have liked. 

Ok, this maybe looks a little steep?

I did think that I was moving better than last year and I think that knowing how long this part was helped a bit. 

I had a HUGE surge of confidence when we exited the trees and saw the first summit. Again, I think it helped that I knew we still had some big climbing ahead of us, but the first hurdle was done!

Second one was short and steep, but we knocked it out pretty quickly, with minimal breathing breaks.

I was telling Jillian that around this section was where we had seen all the mountain goats last year. The gradual climb up wasn't that bad and sure enough, I could see in the distance that the goats were back!!! Jillian was very excited to see them close up, and so was I - adorable!! Plus, there were babies this time.

In my mind, all the climbing was done in this section and we should have just had a junky descent into town.

It seemed like it was going to be a beautiful sunset and evening. 

And then I saw this hill that I had totally forgotten about. UGH. But at least I did know that we wouldn't have to be going all the way up the whole hill, we would turn off at some point and THEN it would all be downhill. 

I decided to stop and get my Kogalla out. Jillian also stopped but she was having so many issues getting her Kogalla to stay on and her headlamp was flashing like it was low on batteries. We tackled the climb and then decided we should add some of our layers since it seemed like it was going to be getting colder. As we thought, the sunset was absolutely beautiful, but we went from "maybe the sun is setting" to basically pitch black by probably 8:45, which seemed a lot earlier than the previous night.

There were a lot more rocks on this descent than I remembered and it was taking us a long time to go down. We both kept slipping but neither of us actually fell, so that was a win. I was really looking forward to getting to the aid station! Of course everything took longer than we planned and I finally pulled out the map to see how far we were. Close!! Both of our watches navigated us into town to an intersection off the Main Street and... no aid station. It was really dark and we didn't see anything that resembled an aid station? Thankfully we had service so I called Ben and asked him where the aid station was because we were "at" the aid station according to our mapping. He found us and told us we had to go up and over a couple blocks? Weird.

Aid station was outside and COLD. Candice was aid station captain and had brought a pizza oven, which was amazing!! Ana and her pacer came in shortly after we did, they did NOT have the issues finding the aid station that we did. I ate a small pizza and then changed my clothes and took a 45 minute nap. I definitely could have slept longer, but I really felt like time was already slipping away.

Montezuma to Duck Creek (Miles 93.7 to 110.9)

It was the middle of the night when we headed out. Thankfully I was now familiar with this section. I was still somewhat dreading Webster Pass, but since Ben and I had just been out there over the 4th of July, I was a bit more confident in the three boops. Especially knowing that they only totaled about a mile.

Unfortunately pretty much as soon as we got on the "road" to Webster Pass, I noticed my breathing was getting more and more labored. WHY? Is it just because it was now cold out? I was working hard to try and breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, but I was going so slow!! Any time I tried to speed up my breathing became erratic and I would be gasping for air a bit. Jillian was very patient with me and I tried to just keep moving and not stop just because I was struggling for air.

We approached the saddle and I briefly wanted to sit to eat something before the climbs. We could see headlamps approaching and I knew it would be Ana and her pacer. I thought I had a decent head start on her, so it was definitely disheartening to for them to catch up.

We all tackled the climbing together, but it was very obvious that Ana is a stronger hiker than I am - either that or she has lungs of steel! Even moving at a snail's pace, I had to continually stop to gasp for air. SO FRUSTRATING.

It was still dark, barely even an inkling of the sun coming up when we crested Red Cone. While this was hard for me, it did not seem as bad as the first year - again, maybe because I knew what I was up against.

Down the backside of Red Cone and it was time to turn off onto the South Park trail for one of my least favorite sections - the out and back to Duck Creek. At least this time it would be during the day!!

As the sun was coming up, however, I was getting tired so I told Jillian I wanted to lie down for a 15 minute nap.

Prepping for nap time

Haha, that's meee

Jillian "do you want me to set an alarm?" Me "nope, I've got it!" So it seemed that I didn't sleep at all and finally I sat up and went to see how much time I had left on my alarm and... I never set it?? That is so weird because I definitely "remember" doing it. I told Jillian I didn't sleep and she said, that's funny because you were snoring. LOL. Heading down the single track and I took a picture of the "magic tree" from last year. 

At the base of the long descent we saw Ana and her pacer - that's weird, she must have also stopped to nap because we weren't moving THAT fast. I can say that this section definitely looks different in the daylight. We didn't run here but we moved relatively well since it was mostly downhill. I did struggle a bit on the small areas of climbing, which worried me.

We saw quite a few runners heading back towards us, already having been to the Duck Creek aid station. Maybe that's what I don't like - knowing all these people are SO FAR ahead of me.

Numerous water crossings in this section, but I managed to keep my feet dry. Even though I've done this a few times, nothing really looked familiar. I am glad that I double checked the mileage as this section DRAGS FOREVER AND EVER. To try to stay awake we played a game. Name something you consume (food or beverage) and starting with the letter A until we ran out of words then moved on. BTW, we made it all the way to "M" I think... (GOLDFISH - THE CRACKER, NOT THE ACTUAL FISH!!!) When we hit the entrance to the road I knew we still had MILES to go. I didn't want to spend a lot of time at the aid station so I told Jillian I needed to sit for a short nap. Glad she got a picture haha.

Ben was supposed to take over for pacing, so imagine my surprise that he wasn't there when we arrived! I was pretty hungry so I got some food (no idea what) and he did show up when I was eating. Just sitting had made me tired so I decided to lie down for a few minutes in the sleep tent.

I don't know that I slept much (story of my life) and at one point it sounded like kids were playing outside and then suddenly I could hear torrential rain and lots of thunder. It all sounded like it was very close by and I was glad to not be on the trail at this point. Finally decided to get up and when I opened the tent I saw that it had also hailed. Glad I missed it.

Tried to eat some more and Ben was getting his stuff ready also - he had brought me some breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts which I had to put in my pack. 

Duck Creek to Hall Valley (Miles 110.9 to 123.1)

We headed out, shortly after Tek. We could see her orange rain jacket flapping in the wind. I don't remember starting in my poncho, but I might have. The first few miles were spent catching up on how things were going for my race. I did let Ben know my cough was pretty bad and I was glad that he had picked up some Mucinex for me. It didn't STOP the coughing, but it made it lessened it. 

This section truly messes with your head. Where am I? I did it one way in the light and doing the other way in the light and still have no idea where I am and how much further we have to go. 

We get to the end of the tree section and it started to rain. A lot. Soooo, on goes the poncho again. At some point Ana and her pacer (and the sweep) caught up to us. Once again, Ana annihilated me on the climbs. I was still coughing and no matter how much I wanted to just keep moving (even if it was slow) I was still sucking wind and having to stop. Not as much as I remembered from last year, but enough that it was infuriating and making me get into a bad head space.

We finally get to the top of the climb, and in my mind, it's just a mile or two down a garbage road to get to the Hall Valley aid station. 

SPOILER - It is a lot longer than you think. Tried to do some light jogging here and at some point we actually did get back ahead of Ana and her pacer. 

Was a bit dismayed to not see a tent at the aid station - last year this was a sleep station (it did not claim to be one for this year, but I didn't remember that). I took off my shoes and put my feet up and got under a blanket by a heater. Messed around with my pack a bit and ate some potatoes and ramen. At some point Ken showed up and said "where's the third runner?" We were like... uh, it's me and Ana and her pacer and the sweep. That's it. Some time goes by while we determine it is Tek that is missing and she did show up in this time. I spent way too long here. Both Ana and Tek left before me and then it was just me and Ben, heading out into the section that took me out last year. The sweep was there also and was doing the next section as well. We told him as nicely as possible that we did NOT want his company and to take his time heading out, giving him a brief story about what happened last year and how uncomfortable I got with the sweep.

Hall Valley to DNF (Miles 123.1 to 140ish)

Andrew's girlfriend, Regina, was the aid station captain and brought the avocado with her. Of course we had to get a picture with it! Sigh, like last year, this would be the last picture of me smiling for the race.

Ben was trying out some "tough love" with me. He reminded me how much time was spent "resting" in this section last year. I concentrated on breathing, but my cough was so much worse at this point. I was moving steadily, but way too slow. Every time a mile ticked by and I saw it was over 30 minutes my heart sank a bit more.

Soon it was getting dark. The road to the lower switchbacks to go back up Webster Pass of course seemed longer than I remembered. There was not as much water as last year, and for that I was grateful. We finally started the switchbacks. My cough was pretty bad and I put in headphones so I could try to concentrate on ANYTHING other than my racing heart and shallow breathing.

We could see a headlamp disappear around the top of Webster Pass and knew that we were REALLY far back. At some point the sweep caught up but disappeared pretty quickly - still not sure if Ben talked to him or if he realized that we were much slower than he anticipated. He didn't seem to be dressed for a night at high elevation, so maybe he went back to the aid station? It's a mystery. Finally we got to the saddle at Webster Pass. I remembered to get a picture of the random outlets for Jillian:

I commented to Ben - should we just keep going back to Montezuma? I don't know that I can do this. At this point I did actually know my race was going to be over. AGAIN. I don't know if it is/was PTSD from last year, my breathing or just being beaten down and having zero confidence in myself.

Through the scree section and then the long single track to the high meadow that seemed to stretch endlessly into the night. We stood at the top listening to my coughing, trying to analyze what I was coughing up (looked like teeth, tbh), while nursing a bloody nose. By now the wheezing had set in which had me freaking out. Every single time I tried to take a breath in it sounded like a death rattle or that I was an emphysema patient on the verge of passing out. I tried to not panic but then I took a minute to spin in a 360 and SAW NOTHING. Not one single headlamp. Not one sign of civilization. 

Ben was very quiet and I could tell he wasn't sure how to keep me calm. We are heading to the cliffs, which of course went on forever, but I knew they weren't going to last that long and we trudged along, trying to get to the road. At this point I'm crying and sad and cannot believe my race is over IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE AS LAST YEAR. 

I told Ben I was just exhausted and wanted to take a nap, we had to wait until we found somewhere a little sheltered because it was so windy. I was only allowed 15 minutes because Ben was afraid he would get too cold. Disappointing, because I did actually sleep. From here we were just heading down the hill. Middle of the night still and not sure what the plan was going to be. Ben had called Casey to let her know what was going on (AGAIN, LIKE SERIOUSLY WTF IS WRONG WITH ME) and we just had to actually pull the plug. At some point when we started down the road where we had called Lee last year, I pulled out the map to see how many miles left to the Lodgepole aid station. 13 FUCKING MILES??! There is no way. So we continued down, remembering this is the section that parallels the Tiger Road section. When it got to be a reasonable hour, we called Lee and asked if he could just head up the same way as last year and get us. At some point I caught my pole in between two rocks and almost fell and/or broke my pole. Instead, my pole caught on my pants and ripped a hole in them AND my new phone (like got a week ago) fell out of my pocket and into some water. BECAUSE OF COURSE.

After a few hours we think, none of this looks familiar. Is this actually the way we went down last year? We have absolutely no service, how on earth is he going to find us?? Finally we decide that we can map ourselves to Tiger Road and from there we can figure things out. I found a trail on Gaia that would take us to the major water crossing. We came upon a clearing and saw a moose!

Not more than a few minutes later, did we see a truck coming up the road and it was Lee and Jillian. Well, strike 2, I'm out. 

Thoughts:

• I felt like I went into this race very humble. I knew what had happened last year and I really thought that I had figured out things to get me through this race. I thought the first DNF hurt. I was wrong, this one feels like a personal attack against everything I have worked for. Only person who DNF'd last year and this year too. ONLY FEMALE TO DNF. I'm heartbroken at this outcome.
• For some reason, this race just takes it out of me. It is so hard with the altitude and crap terrain. But I wanted (and let's be real, STILL WANT) to conquer this. Even reached out to Casey to see if it was silly/reckless to try again a third time. And... basically it probably is. As much as I want to feel skilled and invincible, I'm not. I'm weak and cannot overcome the challenges of this beast of a course, so I think I have to move on. 
• This is only the second course I have ever attempted a second time after a DNF (the other being Cocodona). Normally if I have a DNF, I move on. I REALLY WANTED A FINISH SO I COULD DO THAT.
• Of note: I immediately scheduled an appointment with a pulmonologist after this race. I was able to get in for an initial appointment just a few days after the DNF. Unfortunately no answers or solutions were garnered at that visit, he just wanted to schedule some tests. His concerns are that my symptoms and ailments don't necessarily mirror anything specific and he doesn't just want to "prescribe things." I am scheduled for an echocardiogram and a PFT (pulmonary function test) in a few weeks. I know this will be expensive but I cannot understand what happens to my body during these prolonged exertions, and even if I never give THIS race another go, I want to continue to enjoy the mountains.

Gear:

• UltrAspire Zygos 5.0 for the first 40 miles, Ultimate Direction Fast Packher 20 for the next 100. Packs have truly become my nemesis. I just have struggled to find something that is going to work for these distances with long stretches between aid. I end up buying last minute packs in hopes they will be my miracle and they never are. First 40, not irritated. Next 100, lots of irritation between too much stuff, heavy pack and my tracker digging into my shoulder.
• Secondary "packs" - Janji waist belt that was great for storing extra calories and also my poles would slide in behind the pouch when not in use. During the night I switched out to my UltrAspire belt that my light could attach to.
• Two 600 ml flasks and 2L Hydrapak collapsible bottle once I had the bigger pack.
• Katadyn water filter.
• Random - Garmin Enduro 2 (charged once at Duck Creek and when I stopped still had a ton of battery left), Leki poles, Goodr sunglasses
• Two pairs of Topo Athletic shoes - First 80 miles were Ultraventure 4's, the next 60ish were my last pair of Ultraventure 2's, brand new out of the box and so comfy!
• Two different rabbit sun hoodies, shorts - rabbit 5" leggy smashems, Patagonia 8" Maipo (these are really the most comfortable for me) and a pair of CVG 5", Smartwool and Stance socks, trusty Zensah high neck sports bra. Patagonia R1 Techface hoodie (yada yada, best piece of gear on earth), Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer, REI rain pants, $1.50 poncho from Amazon, Smartwool gloves, OR sun gloves, Bula fleece lined hat, trusty Tahoe hat & for 40 miles a new Death March RC, but I don't know that I liked the fit on that one.
• Headlamp - Petzl, Kogalla.
• SOL Bivvy (again, takes up some space but so much better than standard Mylar and sooooo warm comparatively. 
• Food etc - LMNT raspberry (even had some Lemonade LMNT this time as for some reason I was missing a packet leaving an aid station), Nerd Clusters, Nature Valley Granola bars, applesauce and whatever else I could get my grubby hands on.