Pulse 100
March 15, 2024
Eagle, Idaho
28:36, 2nd woman (of two), 68th hundred
I’ve wanted to do this race for several years and it never fit into my schedule, well this year it did and I convinced Van to come check it out with me, yay. We drove 8 hours to get to Eagle which is just west of Boise. Driving to a race means you can bring all the stuff, extra shoes, chairs, a cooler, etc. even if you don’t use much of it, you get to bring it because you are driving rather than flying to the race.
We ran on a 2.5 mile rocky, bumpy and partially paved route through Eagle Island state park. There were lots of turns so we went the same direction for each of the 40 loops. During the day, because of construction we had to run on an even bumpier grass section to stay off the road. Bumpy grass is no fun. We did luck out with weather, sorta, as it was sunny and no rain. At night though it got into and stayed in the low 30s. So a puffy coat and eventually extra pants were required.
One aid station with lots of food options, but the breakfast burritos were the best. Volunteers were quite supportive and the race directors have it down so this is a well run race.
I had a good time staying positive for the whole race and I listened to a really great book called The Measure. Fascinating. Then I listened to some music and another book I had already listened to before, Educated. Quite a shock as I don’t remember the violence as vividly as the first time I listened to it. I enjoyed supporting the other runners with my positive peppy self and they were very kind with lots of positive comments towards me. I stayed in running motion the whole way, sure I took walk breaks but just felt better doing the ultra shuffle. Van kicked ass as usual, sub 24, winner winner chicken dinner, although with we had Thai with tofu, yum.
One curiosity was that there were a lot of gopher or moles or whatever those animals are that dig the holes and leave piles of dirt. During the night there was one whole with a large pile of dirt and people were running on it. Well the animal who made it must have been upset and it dug another whole about six feet away. So during the night the terrain of the course changed. A new mole pile of dirt and of course some runners ran over that pile too, glad I didn’t step wrong in any of those holes.
The park also had some activities going on for our entertainment. Hot air balloon, zip line and a snow course with human made snow. You could hear the kiddies scream and laugh as they rode inner-tubes down the course.
New state for me for a hundred, I think I’m 21 states with a hundred or more? All in all a good run at 2500 ft elevation with very little elevation gain over the hundred miles.