Mines of Spain 100 Recap
Now that we’re a few days removed I’m finally feeling like a human again. The muscle soreness wasn’t terrible, don’t get me wrong, there was plenty, but I kinda enjoy muscle soreness. The hardest part was the waves of nausea, swollen feet, and the general feeling of lethargy/brain fog.
As for the race, the area we ran in was amazing, the beauty of the blended fall colors in the trees was stunning during the daylight hours and the weather was perfect. The course was 5 loops, each of which was approximately 10% road, 60% single track trail, and 30% grass trail. There were aid stations approximately every 5 miles and I had a large drop bag setup at the start/finish that I accessed between each 20 mile loop.
The first loop went smooth, I maintained my normal long run pace, hiked the uphills, talked to several friendly folks, and finished in 4:50. I felt a little hot spot on the ball of my left foot, which surprised me as 20 miles is a normal Saturday distance that my feet are accustomed to. I figured a little moleskin would help, but after turning my drop bag inside out I realized my moleskin was sitting uselessly in my Air BnB, so I settled on just changing my left sock.
I started feeling some muscle fatigue/achiness on the 2nd lap, but nothing too significant and I enjoyed the transition to late afternoon. I maintained a similar pace to lap 1 and as the sun set coincided with finishing the lap, I braced for the overnight adventure ahead.
The 3rd lap represented only my 2nd trail nighttime run which was an interesting new challenge. The grass and road sections were easy enough to cruise along on, but the technical single track segments were slow going as I continually worried about a misstep causing an ankle roll. I spent this entire lap solo, which ending up costing me, as around midnight I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen a pink ribbon in 20+ minutes. The trail was marked extremely thoroughly so I knew I had to be off course. I began backtracking and came across another runner in the same predicament, so we journeyed to our wayward point together and rejoined the correct path. The side trip cost me some time, but it’s always fun to tack on a few bonus miles, right?
By the 4th lap, foot and shoulder pain had fully set in and I just accepted that most steps were going to hurt. I continued chugging along, but my pace slowed and all I could think about was when will the freaking sun come up!? When it finally peeked out from behind the trees I was hit was a renewed wave of energy.
I made a couple mistakes at the final start/finish aid station, leaving unneeded and heat producing extra layers in my pack and failing to switch from my toboggan to a regular hat. But, starting the final lap with the sun finally rising I felt rejuvenated and clicked off the first 10 miles at a nice pace, starting to believe I was going to be able to finish the last lap super strong. Unfortunately, the weather and my body had other ideas, as when I got to the open grassy section the sun was beating down on us and 60 degrees felt like 90. I began feeling an all too familiar heat-induced wooziness, which I combated by slowing down and periodically dumping water on my head to regulate my body temperature.
This pattern did the job, but also reduced my pace and in turn allowed my muscles to start tightening up. The result was a painful shuffle hike I was forced to maintain for the last 8 miles, which was surely a site to see, especially when struggling up the climbing sections. Every mile felt like an eternity as I inched forward 1 step at a time. With 6 miles left I became increasingly nauseous, so I nixed all eating and drinking, as even sips of water made vomiting seem inevitable. All of this combined for a tedious final stretch, but fortunately I was far enough ahead of the cutoff time that I still managed to waddle across the finish line with a little over 2 hours to spare.
After collecting the finishers buckle I grabbed my bag and started wobbling towards my car. Thankfully an amazing volunteer saw I was in rough shape and offered to get my car for me. As I waited for her, I bizarrely flipped from being over-heated the last 4 hours to shivering uncontrollably. The race staff and volunteers were unbelievable throughout the entire event, but this final act of kindness really blew me away, as a quarter mile carrying that bag while shivering like a madman would’ve been cruel and unusual punishment.
Overall, it was a wild experience that I will never forget. There were ups and downs throughout, but I truly loved it and wouldn’t trade even the lowest points for anything. It was a helluva challenge and I’m beyond proud of overcoming it. I made a few mistakes, but learned a ton, and I’m already strategizing on how to perform better during my next 100 Mile adventure!
A few stats:
- 104.6 miles
- 30:50
o Loop Splits
4:50
5:24
6:45
6:44
7:07
- 14,000 feet Elevation Gain/Loss
- 232,387 Steps
- Food approximates
o 16 GF Honey Stinger Waffles
o 6 Cans of Boiled Potatoes
o 8 Strips of Bacon
o 4 Baggies of GF Crackers with Peanut Butter
o 6 Gu’s
o 3 Larabars
o 4 pouches of fruit snacks
o 3 applesauce squeeze packs
o 2 Bananas
o 2 Caffeine Chews
o 1 Jar of Pickle Juice
