CANYONS ENDURANCE RUNS 100 MILE | Suffering To A Sweat Soaked DNF

On Thursday afternoon, my buddies Clay, Jeff and I arrived in Auburn, California, host of the inaugural 100-mile distance of the Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB.

I was looking forward to running with catching up with friends. At this point of my running season, it was all about getting ready for the Summer Spine in June and Tor des Geants in September.

Severe winter and devastating wildfires from the previous year caused significant course changes to this year's inaugural 100-mile event, changing a point-to-point race to an out-and-back race. That meant that downtown Auburn would now be both the start and finish location. The weather forecast called for extreme heat with temps in the 90s for both Friday and Saturday.

While I had not been able to train in these conditions, I felt a conservative race strategy coupled with ice bandanas and plenty of fluids would remedy any potential issues. Unfortunately, that would not be the case.

On race morning, we left our hotel early enough to give us time to drop off our drop bags near the start line. We also wanted to be able to get our bearings with no need to rush things leading into the race. My buddy Clay was attempting his first ever 100 miler and I wanted him to have the time to soak it all in and to settle his pre-race jitters.

At the race start, none other than UTMB co-founder Catherine Poletti gave runners the pre-race pep talk. Canyons Endurance Runs had recently been acquired by the UTMB organization to be its major UTMB World Series event in North America. As such, it awarded runners twice the amount of the coveted running stones compared to regular UTMB World Series events. Each stone equals one lottery ticket to the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc event lottery in Chamonix, France. Without at least one stone, runners will not be able to enter the lottery, and the more stones, the higher the likelihood of actually winning an entry.

I made it back to the No Hands aid station at mile 36 hours ahead of the cutoff, the writing about my race's outcome had been on the wall. After checking the progress of my buddies Clay and Jeff, I realized that Clay was progressing well and ahead of me, while Jeff was about 2 hours behind. It looked like he would not be able to make the next cutoff, so rather than wait for him to decide what I would do next, I opted to make my way to the next aid station, which was 4 miles out. By the time I made it to mile 40 at the Mammoth Bar Aid station, I had made my decision. I had not been able to muster much more than a hike and my legs had not improved one bit. I handed in my bib and waited for a ride back to Auburn, determined to fight another day.

0:02 - Title

0:19 - Race Expo & Bib Pickup

2:17 - Race Day

2:51 - Drop Bag Drop-Off

3:56 - Race Start

7:41 - No Hands AS (Mile 3.5)

10:25 - Cool AS (Mile 6.5)

13:43 - Cool AS (Mile 14.3)

14:22 - Browns Bar AS (Mile 16.5)

18:58 - Alt AS (Mile 23.9)

29:24 - No Hands AS (Mile 36.4)