My first DNF or earning the "Wuss Out" Javelina Jundred 100 km Buckle-Sneak Preview Race Report

At the start of the race. You will notice several things about this picture:
1) I started 1 minute 18 seconds after the starting gun. This is about 20 minutes faster than Marine Corps MArathon last week!
2) There appears to be snow...this is not snow, this is dust/dirt. The dust was brutal. I HATE dirt. In fact I have tossed or retired more shoes because of dirt than I can count on one or two hands.
3) I am the last person lurking around the start line...

As the sun was rising it was a beautiful sunrise. The temperature was pretty nice at this point just needing a long sleeve shirt and a light pair of pants. During the day it got to the 80's and the humidity stayed in the low teens. This did not bode well for my running as my sauna seems to be a wet sauna at the local pool/fitness facility I use.

The early morning hours were beautiful. The course was very beautiful and throughout the day there was not a cloud in the sky. Sadly about 1 in the afternoon I would have appreciated a cloud or perhaps even a torrential downpour like VT50!

Here I am with my friend Anthony who finished the 100 miler in under 24 hours. He is a running machine. I did not see him finish but imagine I was on the course sitting, standing or walking along the side.

Because it was so dark before about 6:30 a.m. it is kind of hard to recognize people. It was only about 7 a.m. on the second day I started being able to see runners as they approached the finish. I had so many friends running this race and so many finished the 100 miler. I am so proud of everyone who finished whether the 100 mile or the 100 km.

With my friends Rob and Susan during the race. I know Rob from several hundreds including Umstead and VT100 in 2008. We ran through an awful storm together that to this day still gives me the heebeejeebies.

Rob was running his 550th ultra and Susan has run well over 100 ultra's! They super impressive ultra marathoners but just as sweet as can be.

It was alot of fun to run and catch up with all my running friends who were doing JJ100!


I made the best decision this past weekend and now have my first DNF for a 100 miler. But alas I did earn a 100 km "wuss out" finish buckle so I did earn a consolation prize for my 64+ mile endeavor (as per Garmin). I am really proud of this and feel amazing. If I had gone on for the entire 100 mile I am sure I would have DNF'd off because of time and I would have risked injury and even missing my plane home.

My 3rd lap I "checked out" of the 100 mile race because I was slowing down, missing the 80% humidity I am accustomed to and was exhausted.

I have never felt this way in a race before. And even though I have had ups and downs I never have been so depressed by mile 35 or 40.

I suspect running Marine Corps Marathon 6 days before JJ100, the lack of humidity (which brought on a few nosebleeds and made me feel like a raisin) and a few nights lack of sleep earlier in the week (I was pining for my mom after MCM Marathon because this is an event she always attended) all contributed to my bailing into the 100 km option.

But this decision was the best one ever. Because of my JJ100 km, after I finished, I could lurk around, chat with other runners/crew, sporadically refill bottles for a 100 miler and just soak in the energy of the main aid station. And by Sunday morning my legs were refreshed enough so that I could walk out on the course cheer on runners and pace a few folks back to the main aid station.

My favorite memory of this race was running a few miles with my friends Susan D. and Rob A. during their final lap. Both Rob and Susan are so nice and such accomplished athletes both having done hundreds of ultra's!

In fact I also ran a bit of their second to last lap as well since I had been going out backwards on the course then jogging a bit with runners looking tired or lonely. It was during their second to last lap while jogging with Susan and Rob as we approached the start/finish I learned Susan wanted pictures of her running (this is an issue I face as well, you will see lots of pictures of my friends running as well as me standing still but very few pictures are of me running--granted in my case it is because I really don't spend much time running, but in Susan's case it is because she is the "official photographer"). I was able to fulfill Susan's wish and took lots of action shots during their last several miles. With "fresh legs" it was fairly easy for me to dart ahead and take action shots. This was great fun for me and hopefully provided a boost to Rob and Susan.

Finally, by doing the 100 km I was able to easily catch my plane which was only 4 hours and 30 minutes from the 30 hour cutoff. Phoenix Airport is HUGE and I am not sure I could have walked the long distances from the car rental to the shuttle to the southwest check in and finally to the terminal. With less than 70 miles on my legs this was relatively speaking a piece of cake:-)