Found out about a shuttle opportunity over the weekend and had the day free, it was kismet! I had been wanting to try this again particularly as races and training plans changed with covid though thought the chance might be gonezo with heat and trail quality. Stoked it worked out!
Ate: 7 gels, 2 gu chomps, 1 lara bar, 100+ calories of Gatorade.
Drank: 17 oz Gatorade, and about 60-70 oz water, filtered via katadyn be free soft flask.
Officially I only needed to go faster than 6:13 for unsupported but I wanted to go faster than the supported record of 5:40 if possible, as it seems there was almost no support on that effort in march. I honestly didn't think I'd have it but things clicked well, I was pretty fresh, and the weather miraculously held out and wasn't a gnarly heatwave. I started at 4:59am, as soon as I could do it without bringing a light. Friends JC, KC, Aaron and Chad started later at 6:30 and I hung out at the end and got snacks from rafters until they arrived and we carpooled back.
I knew I needed to at least put myself in position in the first hour or 10 miles which I figured was about 8 minute pace. As it turned out, after what felt like maybe a too hard first hour.. I came through 10 miles in 1:22, almost perfect. Then had to duplicate that through 20, and came in at 2:46, almost right on again. 8 flat was a slightly faster pace than I actually needed/wanted. So after coming through 20 on pace, I was able to relax my concern about the time a bit and fell into just running along, as I was feeling smooth anyway. At 22, some dirt road starts and I felt good and just rolled through, and much of the second half is faster trail than the first 10 miles at least. I came through the marathon in 3:34 and 50k in 4:12. I knew if I could get to 10 miles to go (29 miles) at 4 hours flat, It'd be in the bag ... also was hoping for the best with down trees. I came through in 3:56.
Finally, it wasn't until 34 miles that the down trees really started. I estimate (and having talked with my friends who ran it behind me) having added about 5-10 minutes from the trees blocking trail. I knew some would probably be there and when they came I just charged them, picked a line under over or around and went through and back to running immediately. The bushyiness of the trail in the second half was maybe worse than the blowdown to deal with?!
I didn't feel hot until the last hour and actually had no direct sun on me until 3.5 hours into the run at 8:30 am.I ate my last gel with 3 miles to go.. that was scary that it came that close but couldn't have been better!
4 minutes of stopped time for one #2, and two or three quick creek water refills.