Bruce Layne and I made up to Ottawa Kansas for what turned out to be a hot muggy 40 mile trail run. About 68 degrees at race start with 98% humidity and warming up to mid 80s. Most of the field was relatively new ultra runners jumping up from 50ks and shorter distances. First 2.5 miles was through town on pavement and the rest of the course was on packed limestone vacated railways with most of it shades by canopied trees that have grown over the trail. I started off at a pace I thought that was very comfortable and ran 4-5th to the turn around. The first 3 guys had about 6-7 as they passed me heading for home and looked like they were moving along well. My Ultimate Direction water bottle malfunctioned, the rubber nipple came off the lid so I had to take my fingers and hold on to keep the water in the rest of the way. Bruce caught me and passed as fiddled with it at a water stop. About the 50k the leaders were walking and Bruce looked like he was starting to tighten up. I was still running well and didn't have any difficulty getting in. I was glad to get in under 6 hours even though I didn't have any goals for this race other than getting a long run in before WS100. |