We arrive in Sheridan, WY on Thursday. We meet up with some of the other Texas runners for dinner. Then a few brews to celebrate just being there. Got to carbo-load, right? Friday morning, we get up with the intention of making it to the 100-miler start to see our comrades off. Having directions to the start would have been nice. We drive around the little town of Dayton before we figure out where the start is. We make it with about 10 minutes to spare. We joke a little with everyone and then they are off. We spend the rest of Friday prepping our drop bags, picking up our race packet and just hanging out. Would like to look around the town a little more but there just isn’t enough time in the day. We turn in early. 3am will be here soon. At 2:45am, I wake up. No need for the 3 alarms I set to make sure I don’t oversleep. Must be pre-race jitters. We leave Sheridan by 3:15 and drive to Dayton to catch the bus. Dano, Clarence and I pile onto the first bus and claim our seats. From here to the start, we are each lost in our own thoughts and worries. As the sun starts to rise, we get our first glimpse of the day’s battlefield. It’s very beautiful here. There are still a few snow drifts along the road and in the mountains. This is going to be fun. How often does a runner from Texas get a chance to run in the snow? After about an hour and fifteen minute bus ride up the mountain, we arrive at the Porcupine Ranger station. The aid station here is shutdown since the 100-milers are through and on there way back down. Wonder how everyone is doing? It’s a little on the cold side, so we all huddle in the ranger station until closer to start. Everyone is in good spirits, laughing and joking. We are all ready to go. About 10 minutes before the start, we all strip off the extra layer of clothes we brought to stay warm and head outside. The national anthem is sung and off we go. As we hit the trailhead, we also hit the first muddy bog. Little did we know, this was foreshadowing of the day’s terrain. The eight inches of snow that fell the previous week had to go somewhere. The first sections of the trail were a mixture of mud and snow. For the next few miles we were in mud and going over 3 foot high packed snow banks. This isn’t just a little mud. It’s that shoe sucking mud and it’s everywhere. The 100-milers have churned it up very well. It’s going to be a long day. The day is going well. I feel great. The temperature is great. The mountains are absolutely gorgeous. I’m running along at a good clip stopping occasionally to take pictures. This first eighteen miles are predominantly down hill. How awesome is that. Just put the engine on cruise and go. I love down hill. At about mile 11, my whole race changed. I must have been enjoying the scenery a little too much. I tripped over something and went down HARD! It takes me about 10 minutes to get up. I’m wondering, did I break a rib or just crack it? Hurts like hell. I begin slowly walking down the trail. After I clear the cobwebs out of the head and can breathe again, I try to run. Not happening. With each landing of my foot, the pain in my side intensifies. Great, might have broken it. I keep walking down the trail. Many of our 50-miler group pass me while I’m walking. We speak briefly and they are on there way. They are all looking good. I jog a while until the pain is too much then walk again. I start to think that I may have to drop at Foot Bridge. At the pace I’m moving, I might not have a choice. After about 2 more miles, my side starts to loosen up a little. Still hurts, but depending on how my foot lands, I can run. So I start running again. Still being on the down hill helps. I slowly pick up speed again and soon I’m back to a reasonable pace. I tell myself that I’m not dropping. I’ve spent too much time training to drop because of a silly cracked rib. I start trying to push the pace a little. I am now all too aware of cutoff times and know that it’s going to be close. I finally pull into the Foot Bridge aid station a measly 20 minutes ahead of cutoff. I had run into Stuart Skeeter just before coming into Foot Bridge. He mentioned that the climb after is basically a river a water so don’t mess with changing socks/shoes at the aid station. Good advice. I grab a little stuff from my drop bag that I need and roll out very fast. I know we have a massive climb first and I need all the extra time I can get to stay ahead of the cutoffs. The climb out of Foot Bridge did me in. I had to stop numerous times on the way up to allow the pain in my side to subside. Once I got down on my knees and wanted to stop right there. But I eventually got back up and kept going. By the top of the climb and Bear Camp aid station, I was dropping. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Bear Camp wasn’t a place to drop. There was no vehicle support so I was either going to have to go back down to Foot Bridge, no way in hell, or on to the next AS. I sit down under the trees for 10 minutes to recover. The guy checking people in keeps an eye on me because I’m sure I don’t look too good. I finally get up and stumble down the trail before he can make up his mind to stop me. Throughout the day, I think about my friends and comrades on the trail and wonder how they are faring. Hope all are making the cutoffs. They are tight. The section between Bear Camp and Dry Fork is relatively flat with some rolling hills thrown in to keep it interesting. The scenery is still gorgeous, but I have no time to take pictures any more. The cutoff at Dry Fork still looms. Along this section, I hone my power walking skills. I’ve always heard said that you can go faster than people running sometimes when power walking. You know what, sometimes you can. I start passing people attempting to run up some of the small climbs. The closer I get to Dry Fork, the more confident I become about finishing again. I make Dry Fork AS about 30 minutes ahead of cutoff. Yes, I’ve gained back 10 minutes on the cutoff. As I come into the AS, I see Janice, Moogy and Gabe (on crutches). I sit down in a chair to change my socks and Janice and Moogy jump into action, refilling my bottles, getting my drop bag, anything I need. It was greatly appreciated and a much needed morale boost to have someone there giving you words of encouragement when you are spent. As I’m sitting there, the clouds roll in. The wind kicks up and it starts to rain. Cold rain too. I’m freezing while sitting there and Gabe lends me his rain jacket as I’m leaving the aid station. Thanks Gabe. Now it’s the final push. The rain stops soon after I crest the next hill and the sun is back out. I roll along running when able, walking when needed. My dry socks do not last long. There are still many mud bogs at the lower elevations. I pass the next AS and then get hit with the last climb. What a crummy place to put in a climb. It hurts. My legs are spent. When I get to the top, I am treated to a great view of the valley between the mountains that I know I’ll be running down through. It’s a long down hill from here until the trail head. I no longer like down hills. My quads are trashed. I run down as best as I can having to stop from time to time just to get control again so my legs don’t give out and I crumple to the ground. I get to the last AS before the trail head. They tell me just 2.2 miles until the trail head. Longest 2.2 miles I’ve ever run. I finally make it off the trail at the trail head AS and start down the road to the finish. Five miles of running on a dirt road back into Dayton. With every corner, you think you’ll see the bridge of the highway that you know you have to get to. And every corner lets you down. It’s slow going but eventually I see what I’m looking for. I cross the bridge and head into the park for the finish. As I’m coming in around the ball fields, I hear the cheers of spectators and of our awesome group from HCTR and Rogue. I feel like I glide into the finish an hour ahead of cutoff. I’m done. I’m spent. It was a very tough race with all new challenges. Mud, wet feet the entire time, possible cracked rib, worrying about cutoffs. But even with all of this, I was able to make it. I will remember this one for a while. What a great feeling it is to be able to do this in such great places and with such great people.