"Experience the beauty and history of one of Kentucky’s prettiest properties at the Hot Hot Hundred. Held on a private tree farm just north of Morehead, KY the Hot Hot Hundred is a 10k looped course. Runners have the option of a single 10k lap or a 1- to 5-person team 100k relay. Battle the intense heat and your urge to give up as you encounter steep off-trail ascents, plummeting descents, and a wide variety of plan and animal wildlife. You’ll find great views from the ridgeline above and the valley below. Pass by old homestead sites and even grab some wild blackberries and blueberries that grow right along the course!"
Pre Race: Initially this wasn't a race on my calendar but when a tweet popped up saying first person to register would get in for just a dollar I jumped on the opportunity! The awesome folks that organize this race on also put on the Rough Ultra so I knew it would be a well ran event.
Gear: With temps in the mid 70s for the start this is what I decided to wear.
- Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 6
- Socks: Injinji Trail Socks
- Shorts: Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts 5"
- Shirt: Champion C9 Shirt
- Tracking: Magellan Echo + iSmoothRun + Garmin GLO
- Other: Amphipod Handheld, Champion C9 Compression Shorts, Half-Buff & Calf Sleeves
Pretty standard kit for a shorter trail race. In hindsight I should have gone without the shirt, compression shorts & calf sleeves as it ended up getting much warmer than anticipated. The race photographer caught me pre-race giving a good picture of the outfit.
Obligatory Start Line
Luckily the fog lifted just in time for the start of the race. With a short countdown & a blast of the air horn we were off! The first .25 miles is down a gravel road before turning onto the service road. I probably let myself get too excited during this stretch & up to the first real climb. Running sub 7 minute mile pace for the first .5 miles. Once we hit the first hill the pace slowed a good bit, it was also at this point I realized the hills weren't going to be a joke. No switchbacks here! The next mile saw about 350ft of gain.
And they're off
During this section I was in about 7th place, following my pre-race plan of just hanging around with the lead pack & seeing how it went. Unfortunately I got gapped a bit around a corner by the guy in front of me. When I rounded the corner I saw tape blocking off the road & immediately thought I was going the wrong way. I turned around & quickly headed the other direction, unfortunately dragging a few folks with me. After about a tenth of a mile we weren't seeing any ribbons & decided to turn around again. It turns out there was another flag on the left of the blocked off part signifying a turn & I flat out missed it. My detour cost myself & others around a quarter of a mile. I felt terrible for causing others to get lost, but was happy to finally be back on course.
Follow the ribbons....
The next .8 miles saw a descent of 350ft & another 350ft climb, this race takes it's hills seriously! It was also during this stretch that I got off trail a 2nd time. Coming down the trail to a clearing I was presented with 3 choices in direction. Finding myself in between packs again I just came to a stop & waited for the group behind me to catch up. Someone yelled out "Go right", so I started down the middle & they yelled again "no further right". This found us doing a bit of bushwhacking while the next group of runners caught up. This group went middle & saw the ribbon we'd missed. Thankfully they yelled back to us & we were able to get back on course relatively quickly. Not much added distance here but a good chunk of lost time.
The next 1.5 miles included some pretty easy running, with some small rolling type hills. Concluding with another 300ft ascent over half a mile. I can remember hoping this was the last hill to climb as it really took the last bit of energy I had for climbing. Luckily it was the last significant climb with miles 4-5 being comparatively "flat". With the rest of the race being a wicked descent I was able to pick off one more runner before coming into the finish in about 70 minutes for 10th place.
Strava Activity: Hot Hot Hundred 10k
Conclusion: Overall a very positive experience. I take full blame for getting lost as I should have paid more attention. I'm confident that without those two detours I would have likely made top 3 overall. I really enjoyed the course & the people that put it on are top notch. I'll likely look to add this to my calendar for next year but may think about joining a relay team.
Finisher's "medal"
Such a beautiful location
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