What a scorcher! Highs in the mid to upper 90's in some parts yesterday, took a beating and heavy toll on the largest starting field ever.
I missed my primary goal (aside from running Rio again for the hell of it) of beating Jean Pommier for the 132 PAUSATF Ultra Grand Prix points, as he was able to come through with a solid run commensurate with his speed. So I'll lose the 50% race discounts for next year, but maybe this will help me get out of my "PAUSATF rut" as fellow ultrarunner has called it. Even after I figured I wasn't going to catch Jean, I came up with other goals to keep moving. At one point I really thought that just finishing would be a major accomplishment. 4th place in my 4th running of this race. 3rd time not quite able to come under 20 hours in a 100-miler this year.
Plenty of great blogging fodder-- numerous mishaps, amusing moments that I didn't think were amusing at the time, race director Norm Klein's signature confrontation/pep talk/thrashing, some in a toilet stall) with/of carpool buddy Joe Swenson and his wife, terrorizing the wildlife, volunteers crouching to do special favors for me. (NO, NOT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!) I met a couple of new up-and-coming runners (two would later pass me for good). Despite the extra nasty stench and recurrent low grade nausea, had an ultra-fun time.
Instead of pulling a STORMY or a Tahoe-- that is, still not having posted yet weeks to months after the fact because I can't find the time to get it completed, but please read them if and when I do them-- I'll blog this race in installments, sort of the way you sometimes have to mentally break down these monster races into smaller segments to get through running them.
