Battling with
the Demon DNF race…
Wow, so last
time I ran Canyons albeit a different course
it was HOT – this time it was cold and
wet! I prefer California heat! I
was cold from the get go and wet pretty quickly!
So where did I stack up on my goals:
- Got the vert in!
-Improved my fueling
-60% run on the runnable bits
-I felt strong on the steep ascents even though
they are hard (devils thumb particularly)
but the steep technical descents were harder
– I need to strengthen my quads!! And
the last 4 miles was still a power hike much
more than any running.
Also other learnings:
- My jacket was not water proof enough
-Rookie mistake my drop bag got wet so did
all my spare clothes (thankfully my support
crew – Heiko – dried
some of it in on the car heater)
- Water crossings (multiple) did lead to a
number of blisters
So overall I am proud that I finished because
26% of the field dropped and I can tell you
the thought of DNF’ing was a constant
as I shivered my way around and fought my
way down those knee knackering descents!
So a win for
mental toughness … did I love the process?
Umm ask me tomorrow and I’ll probably
be planning how to do better next time!
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