Cool Moon 100 Mile 08-08-2015

So... This blog post is coming very very late... but here it is.

On August 8th of 2015 I ran the Cool Moon 100 for the 3rd year in a row.  In 2013 I had a successful race and finished in a 2nd place tie with my friend Ed "The Jester."  I went back again in 2014 and had to drop out of the race at mile 50 because I just couldn't mentally keep my head together.

After my DNF (Did Not Finish) I signed up for the 2015 race as soon as the registration was up.  I went into this race very focused.  I had one goal... to finish.  The trail was not going to get the best of me like it had last time.  I had put in the hard work, the mentally and physically draining runs and bike rides in the Fresno heat.  I was more positive that I wasn't going to mentally unravel at this event.

My friend Catra had DNF'd with me in 2014 at Cool Moon, and we were both back in 2015 to get some redemption.

Cool Moon 100 doesn't live up to its name.  It's in the middle of summer and it's hot as shit on the trail.  Most of it is exposed so you're in the heat all day on the trail.  There is nothing "cool" about this run, but that's what I like about it.

The race consists of a 14 mile loop and an 11 mile loop.  You start with the 14 mile loop, then go onto the 11 mile loop, and then repeat doing that until you've reached 100 miles.  Generally in a 100 mile event you are allowed to have a pacer run with you for the last 50 miles.  My plan was to have my friend Scott pace me for part of the second half of the race and my friend Keith pace me for the other part of the race.

The first half of the race went well.  I stayed hydrated and kept up on my nutrition, and was feeling pretty good overall.  I was very focused on the run, and just being smart about not going out too fast and just staying confident about being able to finish the race.

At mile 50 my friend Keith was nice enough to come out and join me for 25 miles.  I had another friend (Scott) lined up to pace me for the other 25 miles of the second half of the race, but unfortunately he wasn't able to show up.  Keith decided to stick around a little bit longer, and after pacing me for 25 miles (mile 50-75) he decided to stay with me for another 14 miles.  It was really nice having Keith there to pace me through the evening.  He kept me moving forward, and kept an eye on me when I was getting tired.  Out of all the 100 milers I've done, this one seems to take the most out of me physically.

It was great having Keith out there all night keeping me company.  My friend Eric was also manning one of the aid stations, and Jimmy (my friend and the race director) was manning everything going on at the start/finish area.

My parents do their best to show up to all my races.  I have become a lot more self supportive at events now, and typically don't require much of a crew anymore, but it's always nice to have friends and family out on the course.  It was nice having friends on the course running, pacing, volunteering, and race directing.

Cool Moon 100 is by no means an easy race.  I was happy to be able to safely cross the finish line this year, and I was even more happy that my friend Catra was able to finish as well this year.

Will I be back at Cool Moon next year?  That's hard to say... I plan on running from my home in Fresno, Ca to Washington D.C. next summer as a fundraiser for Campaign For Free Tibet.  My buddy Kyle has jokingly expressed interest in giving Cool Moon a try, and if he tries this race I would defiantly be out there in some capacity with him.  I don't know yet if I would want to run the entire race with him, or just crew and pace the last 50 miles.


Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!