Kettle Moraine 100K

Saturday was the Kettle Moraine 100K with most of it on the Ice Age Trail. It was my first return there since 2007 and the DNF. My main goal was to just finish it this time, but I really wanted to have good day. I felt even at my age, I could possibly finish in 12 to 12 1/2 hours.

I drove up on Friday afternoon, checked into the Baymont Inn in Whitewater, and then headed over to packet pickup at the Start/Finish area. Got my number and met one of co-race directors. And I was able to pick up a great gym bag from a previous year for $20. That night I packed my drop bags and laid out my stuff for the morning. After a bite to eat, hit the sack.

Woke up at 3:30 am to about 62 degrees. Weather for the day was supposed to have a high about 78 with some rain and possible thundershowers. After the pre-race meeting we were off at 6:00 am sharp. The 100K and 100 milers went off together. The race starts off with a pretty easy first mile and then the rolling hills start for the next five miles or do. But is on a nice wide trail. There are several distinct sections to the course.  After the rolling hills, we get into single track and lots of pretty technical ups and downs for another six miles. After the Emma Carlin aid station, we get about ten miles of prairie and savannah mixed with some short tree covered areas. What made this section harder than normal is no shade and about 80 degrees. Near the end of this section a light rain started and kept up off and on for the next couple of hours. We now entered the Scuppernong area which would take us to the turn around. There was some real technical steep trail through this area, but once through it, we finished up with some forest roads to the turn around. I thought it was the halfway point at six hours and fifteen minutes. But I was very happy with it, especially since the legs tended to feel on the heavy side for most of the trip out which really preyed on my mind. I wasn't in the greatest mental state. And later, I found that the return trip adds a couple extra miles. 

But making the turn and knowing I was heading back really gave me a lift. I ran really well back through Scuppernong, the savannah and the prairie. What was crazy, though, was that I was getting passed by a bunch of runners on the way back and couldn't figure out why they weren't ahead of me already. Then it dawned on me that the 50K runners started off from Scuppernong between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm and they were running on very fresh legs and were only doing half the distance than I was. I did start to slow a bit going back after Emma Carlin again. But during those last thirteen miles, I was only passed by one person who was not in the 50K, so I must have still been moving okay. 

I finished easily while it was still daylight for a nice run: 13:25:40.9, good for 15th place out of 95 starters and 1st in my age group (60-69) out of 5. All in all, a good day!