Podium Finish and buckle #6!

   
The BLU Relentless 100 was definitely a challenge. The course was originally suppose to be a 5 mile trail loop but thanks to some crazy horse ladies removing the course markings, it was changed to a 2.5 mile loop that included 2 miles that were flat and partially sandy and .5 miles of steep rock climbing. At first I was really disappointed when I found out that the course was changing, but it isn’t safe to do a trail race when the are people removing the markings. I mean it would be good training for my future Barkley attempt this wasn’t the weekend to get lost.

Excited to get started

  
When the race started I was really excited to climb some rocks and see how much it was going to suck at night. Right before I got to the rocks I was having a blast, I got to see most of my California friends and I got to run over this really cool suspension bridge that bounces you up (lets see how long I like that dang bridge). When I started climbing the rocks it was like a dream come true, I could climb rocks as fast as I wanted without having to wait for my sister or parents.
   

Before I knew it I was at mile 20 and was already hating the bridge and rocks. My adrenaline rush made me go waaaayyyy too fast on the rocks, while jumping from rock to rock I messed up my knee. I was forced to walk until my friend Nicole generously gave me some tylenol. Thankfully after walking for a little bit longer my knee felt good as new. Everything went well until about mile 30 when my friend Emilio suddenly stopped running and suddenly hurled his cookies all over the place. Watching him lay down on the ground and just look awful and made me feel bad. 
   

As my mileage went up my hatred for the bridge and rocks did too. Since the bridge bounced you up you had put your leg down more which resulted in you having to stretch your leg more which hurts when you are sore. Since it was getting dark and the RD didn’t want me on the rocks by myself my friend Tanya started pacing me. It was nice to have Tanya around because she was upbeat, positive, and made sure I was safe while climbing the rocks. Tanya paced me for about 15 miles and then got tired and went to sleep, so Nicole’s friend Cameron paced me.
  

Things went well until about mile 75 when it started to get cold and I realized that my fingers were covered in cuts (from the rocks). Thankfully 3 jackets and a pair of gloves solved my problems. Cameron paced me a total of 10 miles and then Tanya came back out with me. When Tanya came back out I had good news, I was 3rd male and 4th overall! At the time I was at mile 80 and I had 1 lap on Sarkis (4th male). Sadly though I wasn’t eating enough so I thought that 2 Boosts (bad idea) and a hot dog would fix that. It turns out 2 Boosts at once is a bad idea. I quickly became nauseous.
   
At mile 90 Tanya decided she was done so while she was waiting I checked on Sarkis, it turns out he had passed me and was 20 +/- minutes ahead of me! Thankfully my friend and winner of the 50k Patrick Sweeney was willing to push me for the last 10 miles. Patrick was great because he was a lot faster then me so he could push me harder than I could push myself. Knowing that I was no longer 3rd male gave me an adrenaline rush, so I started doing 9-12 minute miles so I could get 3rd place back.

  
At about mile 92 it started to rain, the rain felt really good but it made it even harder to climb the slick rocks. While I was going up the hill I saw Sarkis going down, he was moving about half as fast as I was and didn’t look good. Now that I knew where he was I started to push harder. I really wanted 3rd place! Right after I hit mile 95 Patrick and I sprinted past him! We kept running until we couldn’t see him and then speed walked most of the lap. When I hit the last lap I was extremely excited, I only had around 35 minutes left and I had gotten 3rd male back! It was so cool to know that after that lap I could be done! Just to make sure Sarkis wouldn’t catch up Patrick pushed me to run as much as I could. When I could see the finish I took off! It was so cool to get my trophy, BLU Relentless buckle, and the jester 200 buckle!

Top 5 Relentless Finishers:
Jesse Sjoberg- 23:12:59.70
Joshua Holmes- 23:49:22.03
Michelle Patuto- 24:58:50.34
Colby Wentlandt- 25:21:25.87
Sarkis Defterderian- 25:53:56.61