JMT50 recap

It was said that Kyle Skaggs broke the record by one minute, but that's not accurate. The course is much harder this year, so there's no comparison. Kyle's record TOTALLY blows away his old record!

I've never been a super-athlete. I ran the quarter mile in one minute flat. And I still get upset when I don't do better, as if I'm taking my ability to run ultras for granted. But it sometimes boggles my mind - how does the human body do this? My body just keeps putting out energy when it was supposed have stopped miles and hours ago. And people like Kyle do it so very fast. Just what IS the limit?

I had some hydration issues that slowed me down, but I've gradually been hearing about other issues that people had. Some DNF'd because it was all so beyond extreme. Others kept going in spite, like Olga. On the one hand I feel lucky my run was fairly uneventful, but on the other, I scold myself for not having done better, since I have no excuses (how's that for typical type-A?)

When rounding a turn with a splintered tree trunk, I didn't quite clear it. A piece of wood sliced my thigh so barely that the blood scabbed over black, but nothing ran down. That was close!

Then coming down Guaje Ridge early in the race, my sprained left ankle started hurting enough to make me limp and slow down. But the pain mysteriously vanished soon after under all the endorphins.
My nose started bleeding slightly from a sinus infection. about the same time.
Issues with my sinuses are not improving. My lungs totally fill with so much fluid, that then foams up and you can even hear it - it sounds like bubbles in my lungs, it feels like bubbles in my lungs, there's so much fluid coating my lung linings that I can barely take advantage of my high-altitude lungs. I can't get oxygen.
Coming down from Pipeline, when I fell, I gashed a knuckle. The thigh cut was not nearly as bad as it looked, but the opposite was true of my knuckle. It bled. I lost a nice chunk of flesh with it.
I lucked out late in the race, though. When I go down really steep stuff, I habitually grab branched of trees and bushes, but I don't grip. They just slide through my fingers unless I slip and need a brake or something to steady me. Only there were these bushes with big vicious thorns on them. I wrapped my hand around and barely realize in time.

At home Monday morning, my electronic bathroom scale said I was still about 163lbs, but for the first time, it said I was a teenager again - 19. Dude! I could get drafted!

Tonight, I ran hard around Wash Park. I didn't feel like running hard, it's just that I feel like a race isn't over until I've gone back to work on time, all day, and attend my Tuesday evening runs. If I don't, I'm wimping out. Okat, I don't have to after 100, but certainly after shorter stuff.
My quads are screaming again, and my lungs are jacked again. I think I have a cold, but when you know you have a nasal infection, and you're pretty healthy, it's hard to tell when you're really sick. I keep sneezing, my eyes are runny, my nose is running, but I had a decent run tonight.

Bed.