JACKPOT ULTRAS 100 | Would YOU Run 44 Laps for 100 Miles?

Finished work Friday at 4PM, sat in a plane by 5:30PM to travel across the country to Las Vegas, Nevada to run the 2026 Jackpot Ultras 100 Miler at Cornerstone Park in Henderson, Nevada the next morning. I arrived at my hotel just a couple of miles from the park at midnight. By 1AM I was finally able to go to sleep, only to wake up again at 3:30AM due to the Westcoast time shift and my body clock thinking it was 5:30AM already. Oh well, nothing like running 100 miles through the night after a restful 3 hour nap. The Jackpot Ultras offer various distance races and timed events from 6 hour to 48 hour and 50K to 100 miles. I had signed up for the 100 mile event as part of my goal to complete a 100 mile event or longer in every state of the US. The event also hosted the USATF 100 mile national championships, which had already started Friday morning on a shorter 1 mile loop and saw the women's 100 mile world record be broken in dominant fashion by Ashley Paulson. My event wouldn't start until Saturday morning at 8AM (6AM for early race starters) and on a longer slightly less "mental" 2.3 mile loop. My only goal was to finish. Temperatures would be a mild 60 degrees during the day and low 40s during the night. Turns out, both would be challenging as the day featured zero clouds (resulting in some sunburn) but nice temps while the night got much colder than I anticipated. Thankfully, I did have some gloves and a light puffy packed, just in case. I started the race a little too hot pace-wise, finishing the first 50K in around 5 hours. While that would have made for a new PR by a lot, I knew I'd pay the price soon enough as that early pace would come back to haunt me, so much so that even the reasonable goal of sub 24 hours became elusive. Nonetheless, I was able to stay in it mentally, certain that I would finish this event, even though multi loop courses are my nemesis. When it was all said and done, I had earned by Nevada 100 mile finisher buckle in 25 hours and 39 minutes, earning me my 26th US state finish. The most challenging thing about this race by far is the multi loop nature. Some folks love this format for its simplicity and ease to self-support with access to your stuff every 2+ miles. I, on the other hand, really struggle as I much prefer journey ultras that send you on a single loop, point to point or single out and back adventure. With all that said, ‪@AravaipaRunning‬ put on another world class event and I have nothing but good things to say about their ability to host ultras. This was my third Aravaipa event after completing both Black Canyon 100K and Cocodona 250. Hopefully, this video conveys the course and a bit of the vide of this cool event. So take a chance and give this race a spin;-)