Boulder 100 Report

The 12 Hours of Frisco taught me much about being prepared, and past experiences with Gemini Adventures races taught me about some of the temptations that have led many to DNF. They REALLY take care of you! They have more food types than most races. More, probably, than even the LT100. But the best (worst) thing is the heat tent. They have a tent with chairs and a big gas heater. So many people get into one of those chairs at night and never get up.

I bought a box of 1-gallon Ziploc bags. In each was an 11.5oz can of V-8, one gel, 20oz of sport drink, and either a bag of potato chips or a trail bar of some type.
For sport drink, I bought an 8-pack of Gatorade (for the bottles). I mixed some of them half-strength and others had my own mixture of orange R4, Gatorade, and Heed. Between those bottles, and my Ultimate Direction and bike bottles, I had enough for all 14 laps.
I made leashed out of duct tape for the Gatorade bottles.
Even though I didn't use the tempting main aid area, I did use the aid station at the far end. Every time I went through, I grabbed some banana and refilled my bottle.

Each 1-gallon bag contained 400-500 calories in food. With sprot drink calories, it added up to 9500 calories consumed.

Registration for 100's are not cheap, and by supplying myself I forfeited a chunk of money, but I saved a massive amount of time on the course.
Rules allowed us to receive aid anywhere on the course.
The course begins with a .4 mile loop. I stuck my pile of stuff at the junction of this loop.
Aid transition went like this...
If I had a Gatorade bottle, I stripped the duct-tape leash off .8 miles from the turn-around and threw the tape in one of the garbage can along the course, and threw the bottle into a recycle container at .7 miles from the main aid.
If I had an Ultimate Direction bottle, I threw it down and ran empty-handed the last .4 miles.
I'd make sure they recorded my number at the turn-around, then I went back .4 miles to grab a 1-gallon bag. No need to stop. My aid stops consisted of about 3-4 seconds because some bags were geared more for hot sun and some for cold nights, so I had to pay attention. While I walked, I put the food in one pocket, the empty bag in another, and I would drink the V-8 in time to toss it in the recycle bin at .7 miles.
A mile later, I would eat half my food.

So many faster runners would pass me well before the turn-around, then after being on the course for a mile, they passed me again. So I was doing an additional 1-2 miles while they were at the aid stations. That's how affective my few-second aid stops were.

The day was warm and the sun was a scorcher! I was using my beau jest flap on my cap, plus a white bandanna to shield from the sun. Humidity was extremely low - 50-60%, so the dry-rate was extreme. I didn't pee most of the day, but felt fine. At night, I began peeing three times per lap.

The only time I stopped more than 30 seconds the entire race, and the only time I sat was to use the porta-potty during the night. My longest stops were for hugs, and talking to friends I only get to see at races.
Theresa Do from the LT100 was volunteering. Paul Grimm and Paul Gross were both there. Jack from Hard Rock was there at the aid station.
Uli Kamm was there. I walked with him a couple of miles. He's full of sage advice and kept my psyche under control not to go too fast.
Ryan Cooper ran 128 miles in the 24-hour event. GEEZ!! That guy is incredible.
Alene Nitzky also did the 24-hour, but I lost track of her in the dark night. She's always very good company.
The night was particularly dark for the first several hours. And even after that, most people wear head lamps on their foreheads, so you can see their faces.
Mike Quispe and Justin Mock met me during the night. Justin had asked Mike how they would be able to find me, but Mike just said, "Look for tree-trunk legs." Sure enough, "Jeff?" "Yeah? Who are you?" They went about 4 miles with me and kept me laughing the whole way.
Paul Grimm volunteered until 4am, and then he paced me all the way to the finish.

My goal was sub-24 hours, but I was easily managing a 22.5 hour pace. But during the night, I forgot my down vest the first lap I needed it. I didn't get real hypothermic, but I did start shivering. Maybe my building dehydration through the day caught up to me, or my electrolytes weren't right? All I know is three laps were dismal and I fell way off the sub-23 pace.
Then at mile 88, I had this amazing resurge. I've only read about stuff like this. No I wasn't Superman, but it was like when the fever breaks after having the flu. I could run again. So I did. Run-walk-run-walk.
My pace chart allowed me to finish in 23:48, slowing down 2 minutes per lap through the whole race. I didn't follow the chart - it was just something to gauge myself by (and very useful.) I finished in 23:45. How's that for close?
Official cut-off was 30 hours, but seriously, if I can't do this in under 24, then I can't do the LT100 under 30. So to get my revenge, I had to do this under 24.

Also, I got 2nd place!

It was a fantastic time - and now I hurt like hell.