Sometimes you just hang on for dear life and hope you survive (without getting too roughed up) when it’s all over.

The 2019 Eastern States 100 Miler did not treat me kindly (at least, certainly not the last ~20 miles), but I made it one piece, in a total time of 35:05:45!

Running / jogging / walking / eating for 35+ hours, on just 3.5 hours of sleep, was the longest I had run continuously, and that combined with the significant elevation change of ES100 (Garmin watch says 20,738 feet elevation gain, 20,896 feet elevation loss) made for a race that brought me to full (~98%) physical and mental exhaustion at its end…

My approximate halfway time (at Mile 54.7, AS9 Halfway House) was about 15 hours and 15 minutes, if my memory serves me correctly, so I slowed down by almost 5 hours on the second half (~15 hours for first ~50 miles, ~20 hours for second 50 miles).

Every 100 Miler I learn something new and fine-tune my strategy for surviving, and possibly one day, thriving.

My main downfall during this race was switching into Size 10 Altra shoes (started with Size 9.5 Altras) at AS 9, Halfway House (54.7 miles).