Halibutron Forest 100

The Haliburton Forest 100 miler is a beautiful course through some pristine forest.
The trail portions of the run are very challenging, rutted out for miles.

The day for me started out on a bad note.
My pre-charged Garmin was accidentally turned on before the race and only had 30% of the batter life.
My plan was to race the Virtual Partner at 8 minutes per kilometer pace for the first 50 miles.
The watch died at 43K.

Next my pre-race meal was a bust, our propane ran out before we could boil any water.
I ended up trying to eat porridge made with cold water, I couldn't eat it.

5 minutes before the race I was handed a coffee, too little to late.

The race started out as planned however within 15 minutes of running I was in last place running my 8 minute pace. I was surprised that everyone was running faster than me.

Once we entered into the real trail system I started to catch the runners 1 by one. It seemed as though the runners were apprehensive when the trail became difficult.

The rougher and muddier the trail... the quicker I progressed through the field.
My new Nathan pack workout fantastic.
At the 40K mark I was in 10th place running precisely on the 8 minute pace.

My concussion on August 20th didn't seem to affect me at this point.
I tried to run carefully however on a difficult sections of logs and trail I went down hard and hurt my leg but not my head.

The injury to my leg was not bad enough to stop me from continuing.

After falling, I realized the night time loop was going to be a challenge, I kept thinking about what my Doctor told me about hitting my head again so I proceeded cautiously.

At the 65K mark I went off course, I travelled 8k in the wrong directions...it was demoralizing for me..I felt so stupid getting lost in the daylight on the best marked course I have ever raced.

I had to run another 4k back to the aid station where my crew was waiting for me
.
I lost confidence in my ability to navigate the course at night and I wasn't sure the race director would recognize my 100 mile finish and DNF me anyway for running off course.

I made the decision to quit 70Kinto the race.
The first DNF of my life, it was tough to choke down.

It wast likely to right decision however I did take a huge loss of confidence.