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2023 Hardrock Hundred CCW Race Report - Fire and Ice Year

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"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." ~Khalil Gibran Spoiler Opening Paragraph: I am proud to report that I finished the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run in a grueling 40 hours and 25 minutes. This course tested ever fiber of my being (physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually). It is the toughest and most grueling endeavor I've ever done in my life by a landslide. I dealt with extreme personal highs and lows throughout the entire 40 hour journey. It is a race I worried about all year and it actually exceeded my fears. I can't fully explain this experience but I'll try to indulge a bit by sharing my journey. As if Hardrock isn't already "hard" enough, this year was known as a "fire and ice" year, with record breaking heat juxtaposed with near record snowfall on the course (thanks to a brutally long winter in the San Juan mountains). We had to manage 13 passes/peaks all nearly 13,000 feet a
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2019 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run -  "The Sequel" How often does one get to go back and re-write their history? I first ran Western States in 2010 at the age of 33, exactly 9 years ago. Youth, along with some raw talent and speed was in my favor then, but proper experience in 100 mile races was not. I came in with no concrete plan on how to execute the race. No spreadsheets, little crew or pacer instructions, little thoughts about gear, and no real heat training. Instead, I hoped that my large aerobic base would get me through efficiently.  It was a snow route year and I enjoyed being able to make the detour onto easier fire roads instead of the slushy stuff up on the higher ridges of the original route. I ran close to the first half of the race at sub 20 hour pace and all seemed to be well. Until it wasn't. Once I left Last Chance aid at mile 43 it was the beginning of the end as I descended into the notoriously hot "canyon" section of the race.
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