DNF at Rocky Raccoon 100

I ran a perfect 80 mile race and then I just plain died. I hit 80 miles in 18:03 and had 12 hours to do 20 miles on the last loop. It was 32 degrees and the humidity was high enough you could see it in the air. I was no longer able to run so walking 20 miles in the mud and cold was asking for death. My nagging calf muscle finally won a race and also destroyed the chance to complete the Texas Trilogy.
I did get to see Anton Krupicka, Akos Konya and Jorge Pacheco battle it out along with Jenn Shelton setting a new women's course record. Patrick Russell (6:01:07) set a new course record in the 50 miler by more than 48 minutes. I was there in 2005 when Sean Meissner set the 50 mile record as well.
Learning Lessons:
1. I am now 0-3 in 100 milers. Each race I was on pace to finish and each race had over night low below 40 degrees. I hate cold weather but better make friends with it or else I can forget about running anything out west with elevation.
2. Never run 100 milers with bad injuries. I doubt that I will listen to this one. I would rather fail trying and take a DNF than not show up and take the DNS.
I have no plans to race the rest of the year but I've said that before. If I do race, I'll post something here.

dirtrunner, sorry to hear things didn't work out at RR100. Thanks for your lessons learned too! What's the deal with the calf injury? Did you ever figure out what it is and why it doesn't go away? Was it bothering you for the first 80 miles or did it reappear suddenly?

Looking forward to your next race report later this year!

Marcel, It's a torn calf muscle that I blew out on a 50k in October. I ran the race 3 weeks after a 100 miler and I never gave it enough time to heal. I ran Sunmart in December and it flared up at mile 9 and I kept going. Then I ran Bandera 100k and it flared up at mile 11 and I kept going. Last weekend at Rocky it flared up around mile 15 and once again, I kept on going. The reason it will not go away is me not taking time for it to heal. I need about 4 to 6 weeks of no running. I'm sure that will drive me insane.

Yeah, that would drive any of us insane to stop running entirely for that long. Just think, though, how much better you'll do once you let your injury heal :-) Anyway, sorry about the DNF but as always, thanks for the report.

Oh - I forgot to ask -- how did Anton Krupicka do? After his out-of-nowhere victory at Leadville, it'll be interesting to see how he does in other races. Plus he has some interesting philosophies.

He's a complete freak of nature. Watching him run was worth the price of admission. There was a point in the race when he, Jorge and Akos were all running side by side and you could tell he was going to win. I think if the course would have been clean and dry, the record might have fallen. All thinks being equal, it was much more fun watching Jenn fly around the course. She was talking to everyone on the trails and even "flashed" some of the runners. Both he and Jenn stayed well after they finished cheering on the field coming in.

Sorry to hear about your DNF, dirtrunner. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to make it 4/5 of the way, only to have to bow out because of a calf muscle. Still, it sure beats the hypothermia you might have gotten if you had tried to walk the last 20.

Taking time off has always made me insane. I had to take 6 weeks off because of a patellar tracking problem this fall. The knots in my quad and tightness in my IT band were so bad that they were pulling my patella to the outside rather than letting it move in a north-south direction. It became so painful that I couldn't even cross my legs, let alone run. Thankfully, I learned my lesson. I now stretch a lot more than I used to.

I'm sorry to hear about your DNF, but I'm immensely impressed. I'm hoping to take a shot at a 100 miler in the next two years. I'm also one who has trouble laying off an injury. I've got a foot injury right now and I haven't run in a week and a half. I'm beginning to go crazy. Luckily, I'm feeling a lot better today and am hoping to go out tomorrow and see how it feels. Good luck getting better.