well I'm back home licking my wounds!

Borrowing info from a blog on the Bridger Ridge Run I laid out a plan for a sub six hour finish (my finish in 2014 was 6:39, my 2012 finish 7:49) with goal split times for major land marks. The race starts out with a really brutal climb- ascending over 2000' in 2.5 miles, to add a little misery to this , the narrow trail is strewn with rock of varying size, making footing tricky. My goal split for summiting Sacajawea Peak was one hour. I passed quite a few folks on the way up and made it in 50 minutes- 10 minutes to the good. After summiting the peak the route drops off quickly for a really tricky descent through loose talus- I brought a pair of stout gloves (seeing others doing this in past years) to assist the downhill- it really helped.

The route then turns into one of the very few runnable sections, I felt like I was making pretty good time on this stretch. The next split goal was at Ross Pass where the first aid station is (5 miles in)- goal was 2 hours 10 minutes (elapsed) I made it just under two hours- sweet! I went right through the aid station as I had ample water/calories- it was tempting to stop and rest, but pressed on. The climb out of Ross Pass might be the worst climb of the race (of many. many bad climbs!). It's tiptoe steep, grabbing trees/bushes steep, make you cry like a baby steep smile Even making it to the top of the ridge wasn't the relief I was hoping for- really tricky up/down rocky sections- very slow going and labor intensive. After what seemed like forever I could finally hear the yelling coming from the Bridger Bowl aid station- frankly I was in poor condition going into this aid station.

My split goal for this aid station was 3 hours 15 minutes, I had lost the 10-ish minute buffer I had and added an additional 5 minutes- I was still pretty pleased with being so close to the splits. I knew I needed to stop at this aid station and get a little sit down rest. My stomach wasn't great, but managed to eat a little. I filled up my 2 liter bladder which had about .5 liters remaining- so I was drinking pretty good. I had also been taking in small bits of calories and electrolytes on a timely basis. I left after about five minutes, but was hoping I would have felt more relieved/rested, but I wasn't. The next stretch to Saddle Peak has several smaller, but steep climbs. This is where the wheels came off. Whenever I start climbing, I was getting a massive cramp the full length of my inner left quad. There was so severe it involuntarily straightened my entire leg. I've never cramped there before, almost every race I get calf cramps towards the end, but have learned to deal with them. I knew I was in big trouble. I took a handful of electrolytes and really hit the water hard, to no avail. If the route was relatively level or downhill, I was OK- if it was the least bit steep- very painful cramps. I made it to the base of Saddle Peak (12 miles in) and looked up- the trail goes straight up to the peak- not a single switchback. I could see tiny colored dot ascending the steep peak- they looked like ants. It was a very sobering moment.

[Linked Image]

I knew I had no choice but to turn around and head back the two miles to the Bridger Bowl aid station and call it a day. Of course I'm heading the wrong way on a very narrow travel and lots of folks heading the right direction. Lots of supportive folks on the way back, probably most have been in a similar position. I made it to the aid station and officially dropped. I had to wait until the station was closed with the cut off time- I was in pretty good company with about twenty other folks who had to call it. We had to hike another 3 miles to the crews waiting vehicles where they shuttled us back to the finish line (about a 20 mile trip).

What went wrong? I can only speculate. Too aggressive start possibly. I raced the weekend before, where typically my races are spaced roughly a month apart. Combination of both? It could have simply not just been my day. Either way I got a solid seventeen training miles in laugh