The Forgotten Florida 100 Miler takes place about 30 minutes east of Orlando crossing multiple state forests, conservation and wildlife management areas presenting runners with one of the most biodiverse race courses I have ever experienced. Large sections of it utilize the extensive Florida trail. While the terrain is mostly flat, it provides plenty of challenges to runners like myself with its hot and humid climate and sometimes swampy terrain.
This race marked my thirteenth state with an official 100 mile or longer distance event. It also marks my 30th official event of 100 miles or more as well as 153rd ultramarathon.
On the shuttle ride from the finish to the start line, I reconnected with Jason Brock. We both had finished the 2022 Tahoe 200 (Jason winning the 2022 Triple Crown of 200s, no less) and ran into each other at last month's Shippey 100 Miler outside St. Louis, MO. We both have ambitious 2023 race schedules and decided to stick together at least for the early miles of the race to ensure we didn't go out too fast. As it turned out, we managed to stay together for the entire 100 miles, both hitting lows at different points of the race and relying on each other to get through them. Neither one of us used crew or pacer, so he was welcome company for the adventure.
I relied on the following for fuel:
- 23x Spring Energy Gels (Koffee, Canaberry and Awesomesauce)
- Nuun Elecrolyte tabs
- SCaps
- Various drink mixes provided by aid stations and myself (1x 400ml bottle per hour containing 100-150 calories)
Supplemented with aid station foods:
- Tortillas with Avocado
- Gummi bears
- Banana
- Pancakes
- Coke
I used the following gear for the race:
- Altra Timp 4 trail shoes (first 50 miles)
- Altra Olympus 4.0 trail shoes (second 50 miles)
- CEP midcut length merino wool compression socks
- Altra trail gaiters
- Path Projects shorts & separate Path Projects liner
- Rabbit High Country SS shirt
- Trucker hat (duh!)
- UltrAspire Zygos 5.0 running pack
- Coros Vertex 2 (with race course loaded)
- Buff
I carried the following items in my running pack all day:
- Headlamp with 2 spare lithium batteries
- UltrAspire Lumen 600 3.0 waistlight with 3 spare lithium batteries
- AuviQ pen
- Dude Wipes
- Caffeine Pills
- Benadryl Pills
- Ipod (never used)
- GoPro with spare battery
- 5-7x energy gels plus 5-7x drink mixes at a time (drop bags at 2 aid stations contained additional nutrition only as they would not be returned to runners)
- Body Glide
- Phone with GPS and Mapping details or race
- 2x soft flasks (400ml each)
The drop bag setup and lack of crew required that I carried everything but additional nutrition/fuel in my running pack throughout the entire race. I usually try to utilize drop bags for more than just nutrition to keep loads as light as possible.
A shoe and socks change was required at 50 miles due to trench foot and hot spots that had developed over the last 35-50 miles. The change eleviated the issues for a while, but they would return later. Trench foot gave the sensation/pain of severe blisters under the balls of both feet. I would only find out after the race that I did not suffer a single blister, but the trench foot certainly resulted in sustained pain.
Next up, Black Canyon 100K in AZ in February (bucket list race) followed by Prairie Spirit Trail 100 Miler in KS in March (first KS 100 miler for my lifetime goal of running 100+ miles in every state).
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