Boston Marathon

Arizona Monster

Morning Trail Run, AZ 300 Information

Easy Run

Hiking Hill Repeats

My final race of the year.  Might as well go out with a bang!  Actually, it went out more like a whimper as I stumbled half delirious into the aid station at the 148-mile mark.  148 miles in rugged mountainous and desert terrain.  This was so far beyond what I thought I could do, starting the race with legs that were in terrible shape, with knee injuries, and almost no training whatsoever.

Things were going so well early on that I was actually entertaining thoughts of being able to finish the race coming down off Mt. Lemmon.  Sometimes you gradually slow down and sometimes it all crashes down at once when you've reached your limit.  This was the latter.

Sleep deprivation (less than 3 hours sleep during 82 hours on the trail), total glycogen depletion, blisters, dehydration, short on calories, hallucinations... I had to deal with all of that to get to the aid station where I could drop.

Until that last section, however, the race was glorious!  Beautiful scenery and the shared camaraderie of doing something epic. 

I wanted the climb up Mt Lemmon to be a true challenge, and there was no disappointment there.  Mt. Lemmon is a 9,171 foot peak overlooking Tucson.  I started the ascent at sunset and reached the summit just after sunrise.  Along the way there were three heartbreaking false summits.

What a way to cap off my race season.  I don't expect that I'll run the Boston Marathon next week, and I cancelled my entry in the Sedona 125 a couple weeks later, but I'll most definitely be doing six days of trail hiking and running in late May with a group of friends.

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Gene Dykes

Arizona Monster

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Boston Marathon

Arizona Monster

Morning Trail Run, AZ 300 Information

Easy Run

Hiking Hill Repeats

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