Vermont 100 (+degrees)
July 20/21 2019 - Vermont 100, Reading, Vermont. 2nd time finishers of Vermont 100 and two totally different experiences!!! Last year, weather was perfect and we took the 17,000 feet of elevation gain/relentless hills in our stride. We finished our first 100 with a 3.5 hour buffer for the cutoff time of 30 hours.
Fast forward to this weekend. Temps in the 90s with over 50% humidity. Absolutely brutal, especially with all the elevation. Literally spent hours (overall) in the aid stations cooling ourselves down. We did everything we could to keep ourselves “safe” during the hottest hours of the day. This, of course, drastically changed our overall pace, bringing us very close to the cutoff times. Luckily we had banked some miles early in the day so, we figured, once it got dark, we could pick up the pace.
However, it had been so draining trying to stay cool and climb those relentless hills (albeit a slow pace) that we were absolutely zapped physically and mentally by the 100k mark. The drop out rate was increasing drastically as the day went on (totally understandable) - and we were TOYING with the idea of calling it quits as we weren’t confident that we could make the cutoffs. Fortunately, we had a great crew and pacers that talked us off climbing on to that ledge. We had to dig really, really deep and we made the decision to continue. And then it was full steam ahead. It was night time so air was cooler. We took on the last 30 miles trying to beat the clock and we succeeded with a finish time of 29:12. Crossing the finish line was one of the best moments of my life...it taught me so much about myself and those that are there for you every step of the way.
