This is a long oneā¦. Pine To Palm 100 is the toughest ultra I have ever done. Itās been about 2 weeks, and Iām still filtering through all the emotions of getting this one buttoned up. Itās taken me 9 years to get back there since I DNFād it in 2016, and man what a journey it has been. I found out this was the last year and by the time I started training in May I knew I barely had enough time to get in shape. After a back injury set me back a month and several long hauls with
@jasonthienel and
@calebgilbreath I found myself in Williams Oregon at the P2P start line. The first 50 miles went by like the first half of these things usually do. Pretty easy. Big climbs and descents no doubt, but it mostly felt good. Then night fell, and the cold and rain came in. Got up to Dutchmanās Peak where
@calebgilbreath ās sainthood was solidified as he stood in a freezing cold tent while medics patched up my blistered bleeding feet for 40 minutes, then he GAVE ME HIS JACKET just as a sub 40 degree front came through with ran and all the fog you could ever hope for at 3:00am on the side of a mountain. The last 40 miles of this thing were brutal. Slow, painful, and it really just felt stupid to even keep moving. But I knew it was my last chance. Iāve never had to chase cutoffs before, but Caleb kept me honest and only let me sit down at aid stations when he knew I absolutely had toš Anyway, we ground down the mountain, and eventually finished in the golden hour with 40 minutes to spare. I kept waiting for some grand revelation about life to hit me. After all that pain, and all those miles something usually does. But nothing ever did, until
@riveternashville called me after the finish and said āYou got it done! You finished what you started.ā I broke. Into a teary eyed mess. I guess sometimes things just get ugly, sometimes life gets ugly. And the only thing you can do is finish it. I can truly say at this point it really is better to limp across a finish line, broken and slow as it might be, than to just wonder if you could have done it.
