Europe

I would like to be the first person to point out that upon hearing of UTMB's delayed start on Friday afternoon, I proceeded to throw a fit and denounce the entire race organization for the rest of the day. And then I dropped out. I'm aware that this places me awfully close to being full of s***.

The simple truth is that my race went poorly and I didn't have the drive to continue. Since Hardrock I have had very little desire to endure suffering of any kind, and in the weeks leading up to UTMB my enthusiasm was constantly fluctuating. I was afraid of going through another Hardrock. So I started slow and even then didn't really have a lot of mojo in my legs, and by the time I was running along the ridge to the Bonatti hut after 90k my mind was completely out of it. So I dropped. That's that.

However, I'd like to recognize Hal Koerner. I have never witnessed such a comical display of abject misery. Hal's race has got to be the most exaggerated example of suffering ever endured by an elite athlete. Here is what I mean: He reached the Courmayeur aid station, roughly mile 45, in ten hours. The next half of the race took him - hold on to your socks - twenty nine hours. He went from uncomfortable, to bad, to worse, to downright torture. The last quarter of the race took him longer than his best Western States time. But he finished. From the perspective of someone who has suffered through other races, and who was at that race and dropped precisely because I would have had to endure what Hal went through, I have an incredible amount of respect for him grinding out thirty-nine hours of UTMB, at all costs, racing only the cutoffs. That's the mark of true strength and desire. Topher Gaylord said it right when he rode up the trail mid-afternoon Saturday, "just to see what three hours for 8k looks like." He looked a little tired. And Hal was not the only one out there moving for forty hours. To all the runners who got to the finish no matter what: congratulations.

I would also like to recognize Kilian Jornet. I got to spend a little time with him before the race, and that experience combined with watching his UTMB has convinced me that he is a machine. His athletic ability is so far beyond anything I've ever witnessed - he's unreal. From his house to the top of Mont Blanc is about ten miles and 12,000 ft up. He ran that eight days before the race and then again with six days remaining. Then on Monday, with four days to go, he ran for six hours. Apparently he just couldn't help himself - the weather was so nice. To do all that and more, then to line up and defeat one of the strongest fields of runners in the world is an incredible accomplishment. Yet he does things like that on a routine basis. And he's a super nice, totally humble guy. He deserves all the awards and recognition he has received.

Dropping out of a race sucks, but I have taken a lot away from the experience. I have a better idea of how to train now, and will be much more prudent when structuring my race schedule in the future. My only excuse for giving up was that I am burned out and didn't want to go through all the pain required to complete a 100, even though I could have physically gotten to the finish line. The race was disappointing, but many good things have come from the past three weeks. I would not trade them for anything. People have many different thoughts on dropping out of a race, and they are all hotly debated on blogs internet-wide. But one of the most important reasons I run is to enjoy myself. Oftentimes I can enjoy myself even while hurting, but I have run so much lately that the desire is lost. I need a rest.

Congratulations to Mike Foote, for being a super strong runner and the fastest American at UTMB this year. To Mike Wolfe, for having a bad day and still sticking it out to the end. To Nick Pedatella, for continuing to have super consistent races. To Darcy Africa, for being third woman - an achievement of incredible scale. To Roch Horton. To Scott Jaime. To Hal. To Kilian. To everyone who got to the finish line. To Geoff Roes, for recognizing that it's time for a break and some family time. And to Nick Clark, for having an incredible season and being strong enough to realize when it's time to stop.