AC100 DNS - I'm not so stupid after all, or not.

Jim Bridwell, credit "Valley Uprising"

"There's a fine line between boldness and stupidity, and I might have been right on it." - Jim Bridwell


A lot of dumb ideas have a dumb origin story. This one is no different. Summer of 2015, I was coming off a high from finishing my first 100k and an even tougher run in Switzerland. I hadn't put much thought into running a 100 miler at this point. Then AC happened.

Before 2017, AC, the Angeles Crest 100 mile endurance run, uniquely among the prima ultras, had a first-idiot-come-first-idiot-serve entry rather than a lottery. When I found out the registration period had opened, I took just a split second, less time than it takes my dog to decide if cat puke is edible, to decide, unimpeded by the thought process, to try a few times to hit their server. Apparently my natural instinct is pretty stupid, maybe bold. At least Jim Bridwell had the excuse of being high most of the time. I'm stupid while sober. Anyway, too late now. As dumb luck would have it, I found myself entered into the 2016 AC.

A year long training plan for an idiot that doesn't make training plans looks like this:

1. Attempt RDL 100 in November, DNF
2. Attempt SD 100 in June, DNF
3. And… I dunno, third time's a charm?

For the AC this year, things did not fall into place. The required volunteer trail work hours seemed easy at first, but so much got FUBAR'ed that I ended up driving to Pasadena to fill them. After San Diego, Errol "Rocket" Jones strongly recommended that I skip AC entirely and focus on something easier like RDL. When a veteran idiot ultrarunner tells you something, you listen.  I bounced back and forth between skipping AC, doing only half of it as training, and just going for it all. 

Things did not fall into place for the AC organizers either. They weren't able to get a permit through some forest land, resulting in 10-12 miles of road run as a detour. The Sand Fire started just two weeks before race day, enveloping the mountain in smoke and ash, with the containment line drawing precariously close to the course.

None of those things really matter. When you commit to a 100, each challenge only makes it more attractive. We are however still human and prone to temptation. And when you lose the drive, the overriding commitment and desire to want it, temptation is a sly devil.

While making contingency plans in case AC was cancelled by fire, I thought about the Headlands 100. Marin headlands. Ocean views. Clean, cool air. The Golden Gate Bridge. Beautiful trails and scenery. Local support. Familiar trails. Would I pass up all that so I can run in hot, smelly, L.A.? Of course I would! Turns out, I'm not so stupid after all.


So I did not start (DNS) AC. At home, watching the AC take its course online, and seeing that a third of my friends did not make the start either, a third did not finish, and a third are on their way to finishing, I still have pangs of regret. Could I have done it? Possibly. Are my back and ankle hurting that badly or am I making them play outsized roles in my head? No matter. Even though I wasn't planning on running 100 miles until AC came into play and it's not any more, I'm still as hell bent as ever on finishing a 100 mile run somewhere. Hopefully, next month will be it. If not, there's RDL in November again. Maybe I am that stupid after all.