Just a little rain fell during the night, but nothing torrential. By 6:30am race morning, I'm on my way to the Lodge. I get there in plenty of time to haul my drop bags (bag is such a loose term. More like tubs.) to the trucks. With that done, I just settle in to wait for the start. Ran in to fellow Rogue Off-road members as well as HCTR members. Small talk to pass the minutes. A little before 7:30, Joe let's us loose. With this being my first attempt at a 100k, I didn't really know what to expect for the day so I hung back in the pack. Felt pretty good at this point. This was soon to change. It was warm, much warmer than I had expected or realized until later. By the time I get off of Ice Cream Hill and turn towards Nachos, I'm already feeling the mugginess. The first aid station couldn't come soon enough. I was in and out of Nachos fairly quickly. On to Chapas. Things were continuing to warm up and my energy was continuing to drain. All I could think about at this point was that if I made it back to the Lodge, I was done. To hell with the second loop. I'd take my first DNF and be happy about it. I didn't realize what the problem was until I rolled into Crossroads for the first time. I was starting to dehydrate. All I had taken with me is on water bottle filled with my energy drink of Spiz. With the warm temps, I needed a second bottle with fluids. Since I didn't have one, I dumped my spiz, filled the bottle with Gatorade, sucked down about one of those and then refilled. Grabbed some food from the table and off I went on the inside loop. Same sequences of events when I got back to Crossroads, sucked down a bunch of Gatorade, refilled, grabbed some food, and off I went. I didnít want to linger at the aid stations too long. Not good for my mental games. Now that I've had quite a bit of fluids, I'm starting to feel better. Running is coming easier and less labored. Maybe I will start the second loop. If I can finish this first loop in 7-8 hours, I can walk the second and still make it before cutoff if I had to. Things were looking up. I was feeling so much better that Lucky's Peak seemed like just a little bump. HmmmÖthere is something to this crashing and recovering in the middle of a race that I've heard everyone talk about. Kind of cool. On through Last Chance and on to Cairn's and Boyle's. Boyle's was great. There I am running along the top being hit with warm, muggy air. And in just a matter of a second, that air went cold. Yes, cold front has arrived. Felt a little surge of energy and picked up the pace down the back of Boyle's to the start/finish. OK, I've survived the first loop and surprisingly, feel pretty good. I stop off at my car to change into a long sleeve shirt and pick up a second water bottle. Run by the aid station, grab some more food, and off I go on the second loop. Everything seemed to be going pretty well. Up Big Nasty, around Island in the Sky, over Ice Cream Hill and into Nachos for the second time. Sweet, they have warm macaroni and cheese this time. Spend a little more time here to eat the mac and cheese. Very tasty. Out of Nachos and on my way to Chapas. Start thinking about what I need to pick up at Chapas, change shirts, pick up wind jacket (donít' know if I need a rain jacket, it's been off and on with the rain all day, but never heavy), camelback, lights (it will be getting dark soon after Chapas). About half way to Chapas, I start getting a feeling on the ball of my left foot. Probably mud, I'll dump it out at Chapas. When I roll into Chapas, I sit down and dump out the gunk from my shoe. Much more than I thought, but that should alleviate the discomfort. Grab all the gear I need, a cup of hot ramen noodles and off I go. Again, about halfway to Crossroads, I start feeling problems on the ball of my foot. Must me more mud. I make it to Crossroads and dump my shoes again. Not much to dump this time. Fish the headlamp and hand torch out of my camelbak and on I go. About 1/2 mile down the road, I again feel the hot spot on the ball of my foot. At this point I understand, that's not mud. Great, 15 miles to go and I have a nice blister. No turning back though. It will just prolong my time out here. I trudge on to the3 sisters. Running across the flatter parts doesn't bother me too much, but the downhill's send shooting pain up my leg from the blister. Think I'll work on it a little when I get back to Crossroads. At crossroads for the last time, I tend to my feet. I get my first look at it. Not good. Nice and big on the ball of the foot extending into the bend of the big toe and in between the big toe and the next. But with only about 10 miles to go, I'm going to finish. I drain the blister, pad it with the bunion pads and duct tape it down. Put on a new pair of socks, put on a fleece vest (since I know I'm going to walking a lot more due to the blister) and head out. That seems to help me a little. Running the flats and the slight rises go much easier now. But I am still reduced to walking the uphill's and downhill's. By the time I am approaching Lucky's, the wheels have fallen off. I'm toast, can't run much any more because of my foot. Not so happy with Lucky Peak this time around. Then Cairn's and Boyle's, well, let's just say, I had a few choice words here. About the only cool thing about these last two hills was the dense fog we were running in. Kind of neat. But the downhill's were treacherous by this point. All the moisture from the day had finally turned the tops of these hills into slop. Very tough to run even on the flats. I was sliding this way and that. Each misstep causing a nice level of pain with the blister. Oh well, I'm almost finish. Just navigate down Boyles' without tripping over the rocks that are so caked with mud that you can't really tell there are rocks. Finally I make it down. That was the longest downhill in history. Every time I thought I was at the bottom, there would be another turn and then another section of down hill. Boy do I hate life right now. I just want to be done. Finally, there it was, the bottom. I felt a little pick up, it's just down this road to the finish. As I trot on down towards the finish, I just keep thinking, "Wow! I'm actually going to finish this". As I cross the finish line, Joe hands me my buckle. He and Joyce asks me how I liked it. Told them to ask me later, I wasn't feeling too great about the experience at that point in time. Probably more because of the pain in my foot. Now, all I can think about is, if I hadn't had the blister, I could have shaved off another 30-45 minutes of time. Guess I'll be back next year.