Put another 100-mile race under Bainbridge runner’s belt

Published 6:02 pm Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Six months after finishing a 100-mile race at Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach, Florida, local runner Harold Allen pushed his body to the limit again.

Allen headed into the Wildcat Ultra in Pensacola last weekend with the goal to beat his 28-hour mark from his last 100-mile race. Unfortunately, he hit 28 hours again.

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But he thinks he could have cut it down to 22 hours if it weren’t for the blistering on his feet. Allen ran around a 2.5-mile circuit 40 times, each time passing through a grassy field that got wet with dew.

“My body wasn’t tired, but the blistering on my feet was just massive overnight,” Allen said. “I was pretty much smooth, I was pacing myself through the heat and humidity. When night fell, the blistering got worse.”

Allen ran 80 miles with the blisters getting worse in his soggy shoes every step. Despite the finish time and the pain, he puts the difficulty level about on par with Fort Clinch back in March.

He isn’t through yet, however. Allen will run the Daytona 100 in December, his first non-circular 100-mile race. The Daytona 100 starts in Jacksonville, Florida, and ends in Daytona.