Last year a documentary came out on the Ouray, Colorado 100 Mile race, rightfully name the Ouray 100. The story featured Avery Collins's win during his 2016 race and the issues he faced during the race.
Watch the documentary on Amazon Prime HERE
After the movie was over I printed out the very detailed course details which quickly reflected 83,724 of total change at an average elevation of 10,239 (Peak 13,365 & low 7,640). I quickly threw the newly printed packet in the trash since I was only two weeks post inguinal hernia surgery recovery. I made Stephen watch the movie a dozen more times that summer and we were even watching it while we both pulled the trigger for the Georgia Death Race lottery...
Road to Ouray 100...
2017:
- I ran one Ultra all year, the Chattanooga 100 on Dec 1st and had a miserable performance finishing in 31:19:33.
2018:
- Inguinal Hernia Surgery: March 11th (Thank you Snarkle: REDEMPTION)
- Savannah Sultry Swamp Run 20K: July 28th 1:51.54 - My core was still so weak and continued to have a significant about of pressure when I ran
I get into the Georgia Death Race but don't have a qualifying race... What was I thinking?!
- FATS 50K: October 7th 8:01.11 (I dragged myself through 8 hours of hiking so I'd be able to run GDR the following Spring. Miserable, miserable day.
- One EPIC Run: December 1st - 26 miles (pacing duties with Stephen) miserable wet cold night.
- Decided at this point that I was ready to sign up for the Ouray 100 (even though I didn't have a qualifying race... maybe I could use GDR)
Noah Moore texts me and says, "you know, if you don't run my race next month, this will be the first year in 8 year that you didn't run a 100?!" Dammit Noah... Rich and I pull the trigger with less than 3 weeks before the race. Oh, yeah this seems like a great race to use as a qualified for Ouray too!
- Charleston 100 Miler: December 28th 25:51.20 - not miserable considering my longest run in over a year was 28 miles. Rich ran an awesome first 100!!!
2019:
- Foot Hills Trail (Whitewater to Table Rock 51ish miles): February 16th - Awesome day out on the trails with Rich and Lainey, everything felt great! Started sleeping in the Hypoxico Tent at 12,500 feet each night.
- Georgia Death Race: 74 Miles 22:21.38 - Training leading up to GDR was going great, started having some Achilles/ Arch/ Leg issues leading into the race which stuck around through May.
- In June I was finally able to hit my training hard again with the use of an incline trainer and Hypoxico Elevation Machine getting in more than 20K of incline per week
At this point I feel that I put in all the miles and training to give me the best opportunity to finish this race considering that I live below sea level. Thanks to Coach Pat Regan for keeping me on the right track! I decided to drive to Colorado and meet my Crew Chief, Victor Fallon there to acclimate to the elevation before the race and car camp out before the event. More to come!
Event Website: Click Here
Live Tracking: Click Here
