Initial Bighorn 100 Thoughts

(I'm not going to have internet for the next five or six days, so I thought I'd write something now although I'm only 24 hours removed from finishing my first 100 miler, the Bighorn Mountain Wild and Scenic 100 Mile Trail Run. Obviously, my body, mind, and thoughts are still scrambled eggs, so we're gonna go bullet points and save for the narrative and fancy writing later). 

• I would not have finished without my crew and pacers. Number one. 
• I was in shape to break 20 hours, yet almost nothing in my race went according to plan
• The first 30 miles were 30 of my worst ever ran. First sidestitch came at mile 2. 
• About 30 people went out extremely fast. I became quite overwhelmed (and overheated).
• I was 45 mins behind schedule at mile 30. I walked most all of the 2000' decent into that aid station
• I would have dropped at mile 30 if it wasn't for my crew. I gave myself a 5% chance of finishing there.
• I would have walked in from mile 87 if it wasn't for Chrissy
• I almost cried at mile 87
• I usually eat gels and honey stingers. That only worked for 2.5 hrs. Switched to all solid food.
• Ate waaaaaay less than planned
• Ramen and broth are delicious, especially in the cold night
• I'm so sick of PB&J
• I ate more bacon in those 22 hours than I had in the past four years combined.
• I ate shrimp at mile 95?
• Making purposeful passes on uphill is a poor idea in open terrain
• Bighorn National Forest is gorgeous with more wildflowers than I've ever seen
• 100 miles is physically and moreso mentally stressful
• I felt good for maybe 15 of the 100 miles
• I felt okay, like I was able to keep going, for about 30 additional miles of the 100
• I felt absolutely terrible for the remaining 55 miles

Alright, almost all of those bullet points are negative. The race, during, just was not very enjoyable! Still, some things were awesome:

• Wildflowers, canyons, moose, scenery
• Wyatt and I walking 15 miles together
• Glove and I blaring tunes out of a portable speaker at mile 50
• Chrissy and I turning headlamps off at 430 am and listening to the birds in the twilight 
• Turning competitive around mile 60
• My dad slapping me at mile 30
• Patrick McGlade getting second place!
• The fact that I ran through an entire night
• All the people I knew who were cheering for me
• Running relatively quickly the last five miles which take place on a dirt road
• This: 

21:51, 7th place. Photo: Wyatt Lowdermilk