Shawnee Hills 100
I’ve had a lot of inquiries about the race, and now that I have cell signal again—and have regained consciousness—I can finally give a recap:
Dropped/missed the cutoff just shy of 72 miles. My ego is not bruised, though. In fact, it had the opposite effect. It solidified for me that I’m 100-miler ready. This course was nasty. Technical, which I usually enjoy, but a lot of it was running on rock paths—rocks just the right size to bruise your feet—and through ankle- to knee-deep horse shit/mud muck.
My problems started early, around mile 20. Mainly shoe issues and trenchfoot, both of which got progressively worse. I’ve been using Inov8 Roclites for trail running, and I love the tread and protection, but I’ve started to notice they get uncomfortable after about 25 miles. By the end of the first 50K loop, I couldn’t stand to wear them anymore and switched into my road shoes—no traction, no protection. Worse than the slipping and sliding was how much water they held against my already soggy, blistered feet. So that was fun.
Then came the hydration fiasco. At the aid station before the longest gap between stations, I asked for just water in both bottles. I was getting to that point where I couldn’t tolerate anything sweet, so I ditched the plan to add Roctane powder to one of them. A mile out, I took a sip and realized the volunteer had accidentally put HEED in both bottles. I wouldn’t be able to tolerate that under normal conditions, let alone after 50+ miles. It tastes like sweet dish soap. Every sip made me dry heave. But it was that or nothing.
Eventually, I was just miserably staggering around, tripping over everything, trying not to puke, thinking about literally nothing besides real water. Luckily, a girl caught up to me, asked if I was okay, and when I explained, she insisted on giving me some of her water. I dumped the HEED and she filled my bottle halfway. Huge help. Funny how water is just water until you don’t have any—then it becomes everything. (Found out later she won first place female in the 100K, which made me happy because she was so damn nice.)
I’d estimate that whole mess cost me over an hour. Up until that point, I’d been hitting every aid station on or ahead of my planned times. Afterward, I went full throttle trying to catch up (ironically, I probably would’ve done better if I hadn’t). By the time I reached my drop bag at the start/finish before loop three, the trenchfoot had gotten excruciating and honestly kind of alarming to look at (still debating whether to spare you the photos). I was totally worn out from over-pacing to chase time.
I knew I’d be up against the cutoffs in the state I was in but decided to hobble it out anyway. (P.S. I found a Lee there, so we decided to hobble it out together, which made it far more enjoyable.) The last few miles were pathetic—complete with walking sticks to take some weight off my feet—but I have zero doubt I gave it my best. If I’d dropped before loop three, like I was tempted to, I think I would’ve carried some regrets.
All in all, I don’t regret doing the race. It was a solid learning experience, and honestly, I’m kind of glad I got to make these mistakes on a race I didn’t really care about—one I only picked because, well, it was happening. 🤷🏻♂️
As of now, I’m on the waitlist for my next 100-miler in October.
