Desert Rats Race Recap

April 14, 2026•9 min read

Desert Rats Race Recap

Dylan's Race Recap

The race that was good until it wasn’t…

The training was great. The planning was perfect. Fitness was exactly where I wanted it to be. I knew I had a good chance to run between 9 and 10 hours for the 100K depending on the conditions and that was the plan.

First off, the race course was amazing and so beautiful. It was probably the prettiest scenery I’ve ever had in a race. I would highly recommend it.

Soon as the race started my legs were heavy and I was breathing harder than I should have been. I was questioning how the altitude was effecting me, being sick all week, and wondering if I was going too fast. I kept an eye on my heart rate and tried to let it not wander up too high on the climbs but it was staying a little higher than I wanted for the first bit of the race. As the race spread out and I got into a rhythm I still never felt comfortable and everything just felt harder than it should at that effort level. Alas, I kept going and had a pretty good pace still. I was slowly moving up in the field , making good time at aid stations, and was right on my pacing plan.

My hydration and fueling plan was a bit more “vibes” than I planned for and I think I could have done a little bit better job trying to over hydrate from the beginning. Hence, comes the beginning of quad and hip flexor cramps around mile 24 going up a climb. Heather Jackson (1st female) passed me here and looked strong running most of that section without hiking. I tried to course correct at the aid station at the top of the hill and filled all 3 bottles with water/electrolytes and proceeded to chase Heather all the way to the next aid station at mile 32 where we had crew support.

I cramped my way all the way into that aid station and was really not doing well by the time I got there so I knew I needed to spend a little more time there trying to fix the cramping issues. I drank about a liter of fluids and filled 3 more bottles and looked back and my friend Tay was coming into the aid station as the 2nd place female about 2 minutes back from Heather. I went out with Tay and thought I’d drank enough water and taken enough electrolytes to get my legs back. For a few miles I could run decent and I drank all 3 bottles I brought with me but cramps came back with a vengeance and relegated me to jog/walking the next couple of miles.

I didn’t know how far the next aid station was and knew my original race goals were out the window and I didn’t see any reasonable coming back from how bad the cramps had gotten. I saw another runner and woman getting into a car to go back to the last aid station so I asked them for a ride back at mile 36. As I sat in the back seat I basically had to lay down to keep my hip flexors from locking up.

By the time we got back to the aid station I was shaking and nearly hypothermic and had to sit in the car for 20 minutes with the heat blasting just to get my body back warm. I know how important it is to rehydrate quickly so I did that like it was my job until I was back to normal. As soon as my day was over I just shifted gears into becoming the crew for Tay and Josh.

Was I disappointed that I didn’t finish? Of course. I’m not mad that I DNF’d though and I think it was a good choice given the circumstances. My goals for the race were to race the race. I didn’t plan to have a longer day and maybe that’s part of the reason why I didn’t try to course correct for longer. I got exponentially more sick following the race with an upper respiratory infection and that made it clear it was just bad timing. So on to the next one. I still ran a solid 50k in 4:33 and ran into the top 10 by the time I stopped so I’m thinking of using the training stimulus for something fun coming up soon….any guesses?

Side note: Tay ended up running an amazing race and stayed in 2nd place overall female and gained an automatic entry into the 100k world championships at CCC by UTMB in France. This is the biggest international race at the end of the trail racing season FYI. Josh also got his Western States and UTMB qualifier done. So proud of both of them for getting it done!

Learnings: The best plans come down to perfect execution, mental toughness, and a little bit of good luck. Good outcomes aren’t free and easy and A+ days don’t happen without all the things happening to perfection.

Josh’s Race Recap

The prep:

We registered for this race in July last year and since then it has been just a target on the schedule. For me it was going to be my first 100k race and I had no idea what to expect. I’ve done lots of ultras including two 100 milers but a 100k is so different. If training goes well I was thinking I could run most of the race. Training went great through the fall, then a stress fracture caused me to hit the reset button. Managed to get back into fitness and nail a great 50k at mountain mist and then a tough and challenging day at stump jump. But even with that I still felt like things were coming together for a great race. Slowly but surely race day arrived.

The race:

Race day morning started off a bit unexpected. They decided do male “elite” and female “elite” separately followed by everyone else. We were on the starting line and planned to start all together for a while when we found this out. So in a haste to figure something out we all got separated, Dylan first, Tay 2 min later and then myself 5 min after that. I was completely alone leading the general start for 2 miles before catching dozens of non-elites walking up the first climb and had to zig-zag for a long while. Other than that things were going smoothly.

Gels were going down pretty well with just a bit of heaviness in the belly, fluid not as much as thirst just wasn’t there, and with the dry air I think I under hydrated a fair amount throughout the day. Rolled through the miles and managed to hit the 50k mark at 5:15 right on pace for my goal of around 11:00 if things went well. Then the day got interesting.

Met with Ryan and Julia at a big aid station before a lollipop loop and loaded up on more gels and an ice bandana because it was getting hot. Not even a half mile later a thunderstorm rolled over the canyon and it was 30+ mph winds, freezing rain and thunder. Forced to a walk in this weather and quite honestly I was a bit scared with how exposed and cold I was and would be for the next 10 miles. Really went to a dark place for a bit and quitting was on my brain. Managed to suffer for a good 30-40 minutes before it let up. Now the ground was thick sticky clay and my shoes were bricks. This and the cold made my legs completely start to lock up and I was run/walking for a long while. I was really hoping for a second wind and to regroup but unfortunately that never happened. So for 25+ miles I just did everything I could to keep moving forward. Oh did I mention after a couple hours of heat and sun another storm hit and this time it was larger than pea size hail…. Thankfully I found some small trees to hide under because I would have had welts head to toe. It was wild. After that it was shuffle and cruise where I could to the finish line. Managed to get it done in 12:54, quite a bit over my A and B goals but glad to have been there on such an incredible course with unbelievable views and friends cheering me on.

Post race thoughts:

I think my feelings will change as they usually do after a difficult race. But my brain often comes back to what am I putting into it and what am I getting out. Perhaps some of my competitive nature is waning at times but going out hard and fast as the training and data shows has led me to some challenging days and “failures” in my mind on these long races. But also there is some fear of missing my peak which is itself a challenge. All that to say I think I’d like to spend some time just enjoying the runs and training and less racing. Pick races that excite me for the experience of it and try something a bit different perhaps (looking at you hyrox). And then, come back with a bang when the time is right and the body is ready.If you have questions or want help dialing in your training, feel free to reach out to us at Return 2 Sport with questions.

Needless to say, racing is funny and fitness doesn't always equal results. And even when you think you have it figured out there will be a curveball that changes plans. Want to set out on your own adventures and need some coaching guidance? We have a few spots left this season for runners and would love for you to join the team.

Happy running,

R2S Team