{"id":8199,"date":"2017-06-10T13:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T18:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2017-06-07T10:01:42","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T15:01:42","slug":"101-peregrinos-race-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=8199","title":{"rendered":"101 Peregrinos Race report"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 29, 2017 I ran the 101 Peregrinos Ultramarathon in El Bierzo. Here is a review of the race.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I am a runner because I love exploring, and running enables me to see more. I am an ultra runner because I have a poor sense of direction while out exploring.<\/p>\n

The 101 Peregrinos was my first ultra in Europe. I am a Minnesotan, meaning, I am conversant with running on cold, snowy, flat terrain. The 101 Peregrinos offered none of that, but I decided to sign up anyway. It couldn\u2019t be all bad\u2026<\/p>\n

Technical aspects include a course length\u00a0of\u00a0101 km\u00a0(\u201cm\u00e1s o menos\u201d),\u00a0\"Screena terrain profile that\u00a0looks like an echogram of a stable heart rate and\u00a0then an injection of adrenaline, and an elevation gain of 3,721 meters (had I been more conversant in the metric system I may have realized that 3,721 meters is quite a bit different than 3,721 feet). I have no idea why the race\u00a0initially started years ago. I do know that it\u00a0involves Templar castles,\u00a0Roman mines,\u00a0small Spanish villages, skipping the siesta
\n\"IMG_1605\"(unless you are a lot faster than me), and pulpo.\u00a0More about pulpo later.\u00a0The race is a combination of mountain bikers, 101 km ultra, 48 km marathon,\u00a0and 101 km team runners. Those biking the route leave in shifts before the runners,\u00a0and only the fastest runners and the slowest bikers ever see each other.\u00a0A 9 am race start was a first for me as well. I suppose this counts as \u201cSpanish timing,\u201dand I admit, I enjoyed waking up late!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_2901\"<\/p>\n

In the first kilometers we passed a 12th century Templar castle, crossed a Roman Bridge, and checked off a section of the Camino de Santiago winter route. From kilometer 4 to approximately 47 the race winds through the Spanish countryside, over hill and dale\u2026mostly hills and not many dales. Vineyards and forests, little villages and remains of Roman gold mines break up the routine of climbing hills.<\/p>\n

Somewhere in this\u00a0\"IMG_1689\"segment I\u00a0managed to add a few extra kilometers (see first two sentences). I have no idea how,\u00a0but it became glaringly apparent when I skipped an aid station to hit the next one in 3 kilometers.\u00a0I had run out of water but figured I could fill up my hydration vest at the next one. Three kilometers came and went with no aid station. Then six kilometers passed. The Spanish sun began to do it\u2019s work of drying out\u00a0every fiber of my being, at least that is what I felt like. I tried to compensate for my thirst by eating whatever I had in my running vest. One. Great. Idea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1691\"<\/p>\n

When I finally did get to the aid station I downed two glasses of Aquarius, a ham and cheese sandwich, and an orange.\u00a0From this moment on there was something wrong with my stomach.\u00a0I managed to hit the mid point of the race, Puente de Domingo Florez,\u00a0maintaining my desired speed to finish in 12 hours, taking into account the horror that was about to come, \u201chorror\u201d meaning the 30 kilometers of consistent elevation gain.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1600\"<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes into the upward climb the clouds rolled in,\u00a0the temperature dropped, and my visions of a quick dip in a mountain stream turned to how to cover my shivering arms. I had left my windbreaker at the bag drop in Puente. Another awesome idea.<\/p>\n

The 30 kilometer climb and final 20 kilometers can be summarized fairly quickly. Diarrhea. Lying on the side of the trail trying to convince the passing runners that everything was fine, I normally look like this, and not to call the Red Cross. Trying to get fluids down. More diarrhea.\"IMG_2909\"\u00a0Cows running down the trail. Aid stations with wild boar stew, Pulpo (fried octopus), and other great food for someone who can\u2019t keep anything down. The long walk to the finish line was alleviated by a friend improvising as my\u00a0search and rescue team, my wife and daughter stoically shivering in the wind beneath the stone walls of an ancient castle,\u00a0and the accompaniment of a friend for 20 kilometers into the early morning hours.\u00a0His designation of \u201cfriend\u201d is up for review since<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1692\"<\/p>\n

he would not let me quit in the last two\u00a0kilometers\u2026what kind of a friend would do that!?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With all that, of course I am going to run it again next year. I think the 101 Peregrinos offers a great experience not just in ultra running, but in history, culture, beauty, and of course, pulpo.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1619\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 29, 2017 I ran the 101 Peregrinos Ultramarathon in El Bierzo. Here is a review of the race.\u00a0 I am a runner because I love exploring, and running enables me to see more. I am an ultra runner because … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34kFn-28f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8272,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions\/8272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}