My very first DNF at mile 35 during the Gore-Tex 50 mile. Race day weather was perfect and I was only 20 minutes away from the start staying with some relatives. I had a really good feeling about the race because everything was coming together perfectly. My conditioning felt really good and I was much stronger compared to the 50 mile race last year. The course is hardly technical, very scenic with changing forest and open prairie views. There are a lot of hills with total elevation change of 6300 feet. Overall, environment, weather, and race support volunteers were top tier in my opinion.
Reasons for the DNF. Hard to pin down one reason/excuse for stopping at mile 35. At that point, I was simply out of gas and moving slower due to a slight injury. I just lost a boat load of time during last 7 miles so was mentally cashing out. My inner left leg around the knee was giving me trouble on the up hills, but wasn't an issue on the downs. Other factors were very sore feet, stomach went on strike starting at mile 28 so wasn't eating enough, had a really bad bonk between miles 28 and 35, and getting some strange feeling I was doing internal damage (can't explain this one). The lights were going out fast so I exited stage left, sat down, and iced my knee at the aid station. My wife was persistent just enough and then agreed it was time to pull the plug on this one. Really bummed because the setting was perfect for a great result. Stomach really shut down because I didn't feel like eating for about 30 minutes after stopping, which isn't typical for me. The only thing I felt like was the sugary drinks.
I have another race coming up so can't sulk about this race result. Just need to recover quickly and get back on the horse. | 