TL;DR - participated in the Antelope Canyon 100 miler, slipped in mud at mile 73 and had to drop from a busted ankle. Freak weather conditions, lots of pain, 10/10 would do again.

Training: I’ve been running ultras for ~10 years now, but never anything above a 50 miler. I followed the Relentless Forward Motion free plan, which while good in structure maybe could have had 10% more volume to be a bit stronger. I posted about a month ago looking for any addition exercises for avoiding tendinitis in addition to the routines from my physio. Lots of rehab and careful exercise since then got it in good shape before race day - no pain for the last two weeks!

The Race: Holy cow northern Arizona is beautiful. The actual canyons were a blast to run through, and Horseshoe Bend was breathtaking. Vacation Races really picked a great route. That said, all the fun was in the first 32 miles - from there you head to the Page Rim Trail, which is a 10 mile loop you run washing machine style.

En route from mile 32 to the loop, it began to rain. Hard. And then it hailed! Keep in mind, prior to race day there was less than 0.1 inch of rain predicted all day.

By the time I reached the loop, the sand and clay had turned to mud. Some stretches were close to a half mile of six inch deep mud. The rain continued, and it got real cold.

That said, it was still a blast! My crew were incredible, and my wife (a road marathoner) ran her first ultra while pacing me for 30 miles.

As the loops went on, the trail got worse. Eventually, at 2:00 am, I took a fall on the ridge, popped my ankle, and I’m now sitting in bed icing it.

What’s next: I am going to run 100 miles. I’ll let this heal (hopefully it’s a quick one) and then I’ll tackle this chip on my shoulder.

Major congrats to the finishers - the race director told me this morning that this was by far their lowest completion year, and I can see it.

See y’all next year!