Burning River 100 2025 - Nature kicked everyone's butt

Burning River 100, the 19th edition. Heat, humidity, food baby, and nasty toe blisters. What isn't there to love? 

I don't advertise what I have going on it my head regarding my goals. I mean the big goals. I keep those to myself, my wife, and my coach. This year at BR with all the training I did for Georgia Death Race I felt like I may have the fitness to go under 24-hours. A goal I thought I could achieve in my first hundred, in 2020 at the same race. While my training was very good, what I had a long way to go was my understanding of nutrition and knowing how my body reacts to the heat and humidity that Ohio can dish out. 

I am a big fan-boy of David Roche and all year he has been quite public about his training, more so on heat training. I purchased the CORE 2 Heat sensor and for 6 weeks did the majority of my runs in the hottest part of the day with the shorter 30-minutes runs wearing a heavy wool layer and a coat with the hoodie pulled over my head. I also have been making sure to read up on how to do proper heat training so as to not get myself into a dangerous situation and overcook myself. There is absolutely a science to the dos and don'ts for heat training. I was 100% adapted come race day, surely this would give me an advantage and perhaps delay the suffering just a little bit.

Race day came and while it was not predicted to be at hot as it had been the day prior, the humidity was going to be a big challenge for everyone. Temperature was 73* at the start and the humidity was 90+ percent and the dew point was in the 70s. Ouch. 100+ of us toed the line at 4am and we were off. I stayed close the front pf the pack, not because I had goals of winning anything but more so to take the race seriously and not get caught in any lines on the trails, which never happened. Fueling was spot on. First two gels at 30 minutes (90g carbs like I had been doing in training for months) and a high-carb and high sodium drink my two hand bottles. No way was i wearing a vest with how much I sweat. If I could get away with it, I would use the Naked Belt the entire race and keep that vest off me to avoid unnecessary heat.

Around 9 miles in, it started to rain. At first it was a nice calming gentle rain. It soon turned into a full-on downpour. Honestly, it felt great. I've come to enjoy running in the rain and lean into it. After a quick and much needed potty break at the Botzum AS I was feeling good and moving well. My first crew spot to see Angie would be at Oak Hill, about 22 miles in, where I stopped to refill my bottles, load up the ice bandana (I wasn't messing around this year and jumped on it early), ate some avocado and took an avocado wrap with me and as I continued on to the Plateau trail. It was starting to warm up and I could feel like the Naked Belt was starting to lose it's luster already. Having something around my waist has never been something I enjoyed until I was introduced to the Naked Belt, however, as comfortable as it is, it does add some pressure to the waste. By the time I made it to miles 34 at Pine Hollow Aid Station and Crew point, I was done with it. It felt like it was going to cause more harm than good if I kept using it, so I dropped the waist belt and went with two 500ml bottles and just double fisted them. I have trained enough doing this to know that it is quite comfortable and still keeps the vest off of me. It immediately felt better as I left Pine Hollow, but shortly after that feeling came back again. It wasn't nauseas at all, but it felt like food was just sitting in my gut and not being processed. Super frustrated because I began to not eat on my fuel plan, which sucks this early into the race.

Six miles later I was at the Kendall Lake AS where I had a dry bag packed with a spare vest and poles for the return trip if I felt the need as well as road shoes and of course all my fuel. I made a quick (ish) transition but had a chance to talk to a fellow trail runner friend Eric who helped me trouble shoot my gut issue. Tried eating some fried rice which is usually really good, but it just wasn't going down easy. I refilled my bottles, one with part Ginger Ale and water, on Erik's advice. I liked that combo and it sat well. My legs immediately thanked me for the road shoes. So much lighter and felt great, especially on the mind numbing 5 mile stretch of the Bike & Hike. Also known as running on the surface of the sun section of the course. Nobodies favorite. The gut issues just kept getting worse, with no end in site. I ended up having to run walk because it was so uncomfortable. I was texting Angie with how frustrated I had gotten because until now I had been on pace to reach the turnround at Silver Springs in ten hours. I reached Silver Springs roughly 40-45 minutes past my goal time. Crapola. After getting to Angie, we tried to trouble shoot but I really was clueless. I had never experienced this in any race or training run.

Arriving at Silver Springs

Tried using the bathroom, nope. Nothing moving. I did  a full clothes change and that was when I first pulled off my socks and saw the disaster that the morning rain had caused. Three toenails had blood blisters that formed underneath the nails. Ewwww. Whelp, I never felt it when running so I just wrapped a band aid around each little piggy, then wrapped luka tape to make sure the band aid was going nowhere and carefully pulled each sock back on. Yeah, that really wasn't going to do anything, but it was "something". I wasn't about to lance these mini balloons right now. That would just be downright painful. I drank a can of carbonated LMNT. The sodium was needed, and I was hoping that the carbonation would let me burp, something else that I seem to be lacking on this day. As we were wrapping up it started to thunder so we decided to have Angie pack up the car so she wouldn't get stuck doing it in a t-storm and it gave me another chance to use the bathroom again. Still nothing. Ugh. One last change was to shift to using my new Salomon Pulse 3 vest and Lekki Poles. I wanted any weight or pressure off my waist, so it gave me the opportunity to move food items from my pockets and into the vest. This ended up being a really good decision. I hated pulling out the poles so soon, but it seems to have been one of the key decisions that allowed me to turnaround my race. Check the box here for being adaptable and not so stubborn that I continue on in misery.

I'm not sure exactly what it was, likely a combination of things, but when that storm hit the humidity tanked and I immediately felt better. May have been that and that cold can of LMNT I slurped down, but I felt so freaking good at this point that I, just barely, negative split the 16 miles section between Pine Hollow and the turnaround point. I had other hundred-mile runners ask what I ate or what I was on because I was visibly moving that well. I was shocked myself. It's like I had a new lease on life. My legs felt really good, like a weight had been lifted off of them. I could increase my pace with little effort. I had 3-4 sub ten-minute miles heading back and after hitting the trail, when I felt like I was moving really good I would glance at the watch, and it read 9:00-9:30 pace. What the heck?!?!This rarely happens to me. Maybe once in a blue moon on a training run, but never in a race and never AFTER I have run 50 miles. So, I just rolled with it. I wanted to take advantage of this second wind as long as it lasted and apparently that was for a very long time. After I had left the turnaround point, Angie figured at the pace I had been moving I would not be at Pine Hollow until 7:30pm, but I reached it around 6:40pm. Yeah, I was moving so much better!

Maybe it was the shoes? I didn't feel this good going to the turnaround point, so likely not the reason. I was still carrying the food baby as I was not successful in any attempt to rid myself of it after numerous tries. Best guess it was the major drop in the humidity. When I got to Kendall Lake my plan was to change back to my trail shoes. Makes sense, right? But the shoes felt so damn good that I wanted to ride the wave and I decided to keep my road shoes on for a little longer. After the next six miles of trails, I met up with Angie at Pine Hollow for the second time. Sat down, enjoyed yet another LMNT because maybe it was the LMNT?? It was decision time, do I keep the road shoes on over one of the gnarliest trails in the race (Wetmore) especially after all the rain we just got or switch back to trail shoes which would be the logical choice. Damn ... that wave I was riding was just too good. I kept the road shoes on and took the risk of rolling an ankle or slipping around in the potential mud. Just had to be mindful and extra diligent with watching my line. 

While at Pine Hollow Angie and Jess had planned to surprise face time me. Well they did surprise me and the second I saw her face I was fighting back the emotions to burst out into tears. Yeah, I’m kind of an emotional guy when it comes to my family. I don’t remember what she said or what I said. I was so out of it at this point yet so narrowly focused on the mission at hand continuing to battle.

In my first two Burning River 100 completions, neither time did I exit the Wetmore/Langes trail system before it got dark. At this point I was roughly 45 minutes off my original time goal for reaching Pine Hollow inbound and I left the AS in fifteen (ish) minutes after arriving at 7pm. The sun sets at 8:40 (ish) so I had plenty of time. This was probably one of my favorites runs on Wetmore, knowing that I would exit the trail system in the light. I was smiling ear to ear. In fact, I was able to make it through the next two aid stations before I needed to flip on the headlamp. Way cool to experience. Definitely a first for me.  So, this is how the fast kids get to experience the race?

The food baby had not made a return appearance, but I knew full well it was a matter of time. The legs were still feeling good, by some miracle so I made quick work of the Plateau and Oak Trail systems before meeting up with Angie at my favorite Aid Station where a number of my local run group members volunteer their time and make the best damn food at any of the aid stations. I was loaded up with a carry-out package of pierogies and I refilled my bottled after a quick chat with Angie and I was off (thank you Rick, Greg, and Bob!!). As I made my way along the trail I know of a bathroom right along the course and as luck would have it, that urge hit me. A quick dash into the bathroom and woo hoo!! Successful. Was so happy I texted Angie. LOL I know, TMI. At this point, the gut was better but the magic had gone from the legs. Now 80 miles into the race, fatigue was starting to set in. I could feel my legs getting heavy, mostly in my quads and of course my toes were not happy piggies.

Yup, still sporting the road shoes and here is where that becomes a very bad decision. The Buckeye trail that is a 1.25 mile climb (with some flat spots) was a hot mess. Two to three inches of peanut butter mud and road shoes just don't mix. I was cursing myself for not changing over, but up to this point (other than a few short spots on the Valley Bridal Trail), the trails had very little mud. This was a literal slip and slide with mud that would stick to the bottom of the shoes. I was wishing I had trail shoes until a couple of the relay runners "ran by" slipping just as much as I was, so perhaps the shoes really didn't matter a whole lot. Due to the conditions this trail seemed to take forever to get through, but finally I was back on the road and within a mile at the Botzum AS where I met up with Angie again. I was amazed at how awake she was, she is such a rock star!! Not much is sitting well at this point. Not that i felt nauseas but being 88 miles into the race food just sounds less appetizing. I refilled the bottles, can't recall if I ate anything and finally made a shoe change. I know the next set of trails and they drain really well, but not wanting to risk another peanut butter fest, switched over to trail shoes. It was a relatively quick stop, and I was off. 

From here on out the aid station stops were short. I was mathing while running figuring out how much time I felt I needed for the final 4.4 miles of road to the finish line. Ideally, I would have 1.5 hours, which meant arriving at the final aid station at 2:30am. I managed to reach the final aid station a few minutes before 2:30am which gave me time to refill, chat with Angie, and get out of dodge. I could have walked it in from here and been fine, but never wanting to leave anything to chance I ran as much as I could muster the energy and as much as my body would tolerate. Very much a run/walk that was evenly split down the middle. Finally running through the finish line in 23 hours and 26 minutes. What a day. It wasn't until my friend Dave texted me the next morning that I learned I had won the 50-54 age group. Sweet! Angie and I were so tired that it didn't even dawn on me to check results. We left, got cleaned up, and headed to bed.

Sub-24-hour 100 miler goal achieved with a bonus of an AG win! It was a tough day on many runners. The humidity was relentless until those afternoon storms and then all the rain wrecked people's feet, including mine. It's not pretty, but this isn't my first rodeo. I need to figure out a better solution for keeping my feet healthier in these big races. As for the heat training that I did, I feel like it really helped. I can honestly say that while it was warm, I don't think I felt the effects like most. I never got nauseas or had any hint of my stomach going sour on me. I think I mostly felt it because I was getting dehydrated and that tends to get the nody generating more heat. This is where the carbonated LMNTs helped as well as always having high carb / sodium mixes in my bottle along with plain water. The reason I struggled to eat was with how my body was not processing the food I was eating, and it just sat in my gut. Would love to know what that was all about.

Major kudos, props, and all the hugs and kisses to my wonderful wife who was with me the entire race through thick and thin. She is amazing. I don't deserve her. Love you sweetheart!!

The volunteers and all of the aid stations were clutch! Every one of them had water and ice which is critical in the heat and humidity. My favorite AS of them all is at Oak Hill inbound. A number of the volunteers are good friends from our local running group and my goodness; these folks treat every runner that comes through like they are the king or queen of the land. Getting what they need, helping them figure out issues they may be dealing with, and helping them stay on track to finish the race. Absolute rock stars each and every one of them. Thank you!!