Across the Years 2025 - 2026

I was very prepared on paper going into the race, pretty much I followed the same approach as with BLU.  I even had the packing lists already done.  Same shoes (new versions of), same hydration, same gameplan/schedule.

During the race I made notes on my phone so I've added those to properly remember how I was feeling.  I don't have a ton of clarity with time or with what my brain was doing either.

We stayed in La Quinta right opposite the venue.  It was so easy, comfortable and it was absolute bliss to be in a soft bed.  I have a firm mattress at home because ‘it is good for me’.  

We park the car at the venue the night before and walk over for 9am on Tuesday Dec 30th.  It's a warm sunny day with blue sky - the high will be 25c.  Really quite lovely.  We line up at the start being careful to let runners already on the course through.  Since it's a 6 day event there are people starting all distances on all days.  Okay, looks like we're going.

The first lap is an intro to the 1.4 mile loop, it's interesting, it's new.  There are big baseballs (moved for construction at the entrance), 5 warm indoor bathrooms, concrete, the aid station. a lot of orange gravel, and tents.  The second lap is not new, I count the bathrooms again.  By the third lap I somehow pull something in the back of my arse and start to hate everything.  My Strava is showing in kms, shit I forgot I have a new phone.  It must have reset.

We see some familiar faces from BLU including Lee who I love to bits, the F-Gs, one of our bunk mates Walter plus Ann Trason for the first time since Jackpot 19.  She’s a force of nature, always with a story or a kind word. 

In my BLU race report I wrote I kept waiting to feel bad, physically and mentally.  Then I didn't, nothing above the wear and tear you would expect at any rate.  I feel pretty bad in both directions almost right away at ATY, very similar to Jackpot 25.  Things just keep piling on after that.

12pm note on phone:  Shit, arse hurts up left side, got a Coke, feet hot and sore.  Bit of wind otherwise HOT.

Onward.  There are hot dogs at the aid station, really good hot dogs.  My hands are very swollen, I can't seem to get on top of that.  I have a packet of crisps.  I hate my sports drink.  Focus on getting the miles in.  The baseball practice fields are having great care taken of them, watering, raking, watering.

Oh look my Strava has stopped itself.  How does that happen.  It gets dark at 5:30ish.  We decide to go ahead with the scheduled break at 6pm.

6pm phone: Fuck this want to quit.  Feet not happy.

I am back in the motel (we can't even bear to walk so we drive) and I honestly can't imagine continuing this.  My brain is behaving as though course = death.  I have no perspective.  We had picked up a Cheesecake Factory pasta for the fridge and somehow that restores us enough to cause a restart 2 hours later.  I am having to retape my feet and since I'm having all sorts of foot issues already I change my Hokas out.  I thought I had figured this out, this course is awful and I once again have blisters.

9pm phone: 29.62 miles at 12 hours.

It's pitch dark but the course is well lit and I think I prefer it at night.  It's still very warm, no need for coats.  I don't feel awful and we continue through the next few hours.  I have a cup of potato soup at the aid station, it's really good.

11pm phone: Going in circles, potato soup, feet ok.

By 12am Kevin wants to go back for a break so I decide to defer my scheduled next 3 hours of movement to the next morning as long as it's within the 24 hour window.  

12 - 6 = break in motel.

Wednesday 6am phone: Feel a bit sick, not hungry.

It's a beautiful sunrise, still cool and very pleasant.  By 9am we are at 24 hours and I have reached my goal of 48 miles. I have been behind BLU by an average of 5 miles all day and this pulls it back to 2 behind.  There's more cloud today which is fantastic.  Everything is still on track.  I am really happy with that but why do I feel so bad?  It's very difficult to keep going, I have to sit with some Coke but I feel like my grip on things is falling away.  It's a weird and unpleasant feeling.

11am phone: Car, heart rate too high.

I should be building on the 48 mile foundation I have, running up to 60, then 70, then there's hope no matter how slowly I get there.  I am in fact not doing that, I am in the car wondering what's gone wrong.  I can't get my heart rate down and I have literally zero energy.  

We have another break, not in the plan.  I am losing time in the prime moving section of the day and it fills me with despair.  Kev gets Chick-fil-A (it's practically joined to the motel) which is the first thing I'm able to eat today. 

2pm phone: Can't stand the idea of going back out, so tired.

I get out again at 2pm, hoping for some kind of magic or at least a return to normal service whereby shuffling becomes possible for an extended period.  I get through 3 more hours and do some encouraging math, at a walking pace I can still get to 85 by midnight.  That's a solid plan.  Except I can't do it.  Every mile is a Kubrickian nightmare.  

I reach just short of 100k but stop in the car before the end of the lap.  I'm done in again.  I can't figure out what's going wrong.

Instead of finishing my lap and handing in my chip, we go back to the motel for a longer break.  I can't fucking believe this has gone so wrong.  Kev is well off his target time - by about 20 hours.  However he has hope of finishing at this stage as he has been faster and I do not have hope because 40 miles on this concrete is a life sentence. 

The next morning Kev finishes his race and I hand in my chip at 100k and take the DNF.  FUCK ME.

I don't know exactly what it was - the heat and getting dehydrated, calorie issues?  Maybe just not being strong enough mentally to deal with 2+ days of all the combined mess.  I think for me, a person of dubious athletic ability, I need a lot of things to go well to be successful at 100 miles.  Many of those things I can’t control. 

We got home and picked up our little cat Pepper, she's being very loved and fed at all hours.  I am so happy to hear her purring again.