Cliff Notes: Finished slower then I wanted but finished. I was shooting for a sub 2hr finish and finished in 2:25. Placed 139 out of 359.

Race Report:

The race is a local race here in ABQ touted as one of the toughest trail races in the country (not sure about this one but OK). It's a 9 mile race that climbs over 5000 ft by my watch it's about a 5200 ft cumulative gain. The race starts on the paved Forest road that leads to the trail head, so it's a 2 mile run on the road then 7 miles on the trail itself. Its a lottery race capped at 400 lucky folks to make the climb.

Prerace:

I went for a 6 mile run Saturday, then painted all day, followed up by my DS soccer scrimmages until after 9 pm. So we stopped and ate dinner around 930 and was in bed by 11 pm. That right there was strike 1, 2, and 3 against me and I should have known better.

Race:

I woke up around 5, grabbed a cup of coffee and ate a couple eggs. All was well and seemed normal to me as I left the house. I had to stop by the bank to grab some cash for the Gondola ride down the mountain and headed to the race start. I parked the car and began my mile walk up to the start line. Warm-up complete. Milled around the line and waited for the start. The gun went off and we began the climb on the road, about a mile into the run my stomach went into full revolt! So for the next couple of miles I fought with myself mentally. I went from "You're a fucking dumbass", "I'm not racing anymore after Oct" to "Focus on what you can do, and not what you can't do". So once I worked through my negative thought process I turned to save the race and just finish the fucking race. My prep had been ok after running the 50 four weeks prior and on top of the 3 strikes Saturday I probably was a bit to confident then I should have been in my fitness.  At the end, I finished slower then I wanted but I finished.

Postrace:

I decided to take the gondola ride down the mountain, not knowing the ride was a mile and half from the finish so I ran / walked to my ride. After the 15 minute ride down, I had to run 1.5 miles back to my car. All and all I got in 12 miles of training.

Final thoughts:

Will I apply for the race again, maybe. Is it worth running at least once, yes.

Thanks for reading and I have no pictures.

139 out of 359 ain't too shabby...well what the hell did you eat that caused you such gut problems.

"I'm not racing anymore after Oct".

I've said that to myself, except it's more like " I'm not racing anymore. . .   ever !!! "

With that kind of gain and elevation, it sounds to me like whatever you eat it is not gonna be good.  I agree with QoN, 139 out of 359 ain't too shabby.

Congrats.

You may think it sucked, and maybe it did. But that kind of vert did you some good that will be manifested in October.

    And congratulations! (thanks for sharing, too).

Finish at 10,678 ft and I ate McDonald's sans soda and I may have had some ice cream. Again my own fault.