My very first DNF. Oh boy. Despite the travel and sleep deficit, plus the left hip issues lately and feeling crappy at the start, it was really shaping up to be a good race. Hit the first aid station in 33:32, over a 2 minute improvement from last year, and feeling at least as good. Unfortunately, about 1/2 mile out of that aid station, I rolled my left ankle pretty severely. Of course, I didn't quit there. Oh no, I proceeded to shake it off and ran another 5 or 6 miles at a good clip on a stretch where there's quite a bit of climbing (2900' total) and was keeping a pretty good pace. Unfortunately, on cresting the climbs, the flats made my ankle pain spike from not great to bad and short decents were even worse. Backing off the pace didn't help much and before too long I knew I was DNF'ing at Ranger Creek. Unfortunately, that was 2 more miles, which were slow. I finished that section in 1:39 versus 1:31 from last year, but that was with a couple of miles of run/walk, so I was definitely on a good pace before the drop. At Ranger Creek, the only options were to hike back the way I'd come (7.8 miles) or hike down another trail hit later in the race (5.1 miles). I took option 2 and made my way down the mountain one painful step at a time. Uli Steidl passed me about a mile from the road, 26 miles into his race. Medics put some ice on it until it started turning an ugly red, at which point they said go to the ER. I did, and some Xray's later, diagnosed as a bad sprain. Which probably nukes my plans to run Cascade Crest 100 in 4 weeks. Yeah, a pretty crappy day. | 