Devil’s Gulch Recap

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

There’s this saying people float around when confronted with an occurrence that they don’t quite know how to respond to, and it goes something like, “there’s a first time for everything.” There’s actually not a first time for everything, though. There is not a first-time-pigs-have-flown, for example. We only say, “there’s a first time for everything” when something unexpected happens. Monday, I sat in an Urgent Care clinic and thought to myself, “I guess there’s a first time for everything,” when the doctor diagnosed me with Rhabdo after testing a urine sample. I also said, “shit.”

But I should back up a bit first. I signed up for Devil’s Gulch 100 after AC 100 was cancelled. I felt compelled to run a 100 miler now, a testament to my severe impatience. I’m already signed up for a couple more this fall, and this race fell smack-dab in the middle of a very busy month. It also fell smack dab in the middle of a very hot weekend, where temperatures in Wenatchee, WA exceeded 100 degrees. I knew it would be hot, but I’ve delt with heat before. I know how important it is to stay hydrated, to take salt and electrolytes, to keep eating even when I don’t feel like it. But just because I know how I should handle the heat doesn’t mean I executed correctly.