Pine To Palm 100
By Zapmamak
My crew said I had been closing down aid stations all day since they saw me at Squaw Lakes. Left behind me was a wake of bodies wrapped in space blankets lying on the ground waiting to be taken off course. I was the closer for very aid station. It seemed weird to me at the time that I was always DFL because I remember passing people. In fact, I passed about seven guys coming over Stein Butte. A few of those guys were in pretty bad shape. They had run out of water on a hot and exposed section of the ridge before they got to the aid station. In fact, we all anticipated that aid station being A LOT closer. If I had water to share with them I would have, but as it turns out my hydration pack was empty as well and I still had another tough climb ahead of me and a couple miles to go before I got a refill. Yeah. That was pretty rough and it took a lot out of me.
I had done my homework. I knew this was a tough course with some technical sections and some long climbs. Out of 160 people registered only 120 were on the starting line at Pine To Palm 100 miler on September 14, 2013. So 40 people dropped even before getting to the starting line. According to realendurance.com this race was ranked slightly harder than Western States, Tahoe Rim Trail, and Leadville. I knew it wasn't going to be a cake walk, but I have a tendency to make things out to be much harder in my head than they actually are in reality so I figured this race was one of those races.
Um. NO. I was sorely mistaken.
To continue reading, please visit: http://nakedonsharppointystuff.blogspot.com/2013/09/pine-to-palm-100-september-14-2013.html?m=1 (Contains some colorful language, but hey, that's our Zap, right, colorful?)