This is an african crested porcupine who I purchased from someone on Taxidermy.net. This animal died of old age in a zoo, and upon inspecting his skull after it was cleaned and comparing it to a friends skull I realized he had something very, very wrong with him. I had never seen an african porcupine skull before (or even a north american one) so I thought they just had oddly shaped teeth. After seeing my skull she informed me he had severe malocclusion, which is abnormal growth of the teeth. This fella also seemed to have a pretty nasty cavity, which I also photographed.
Race information
- What? Moab 240
- When? October 8-12, 2021
- How far? 240.3 miles (386 km)
- Where? Utah, USA
- Website: Moab 200
- Strava activity: Strava
- Finish time: 92 hours 50 mins
- Blog Blog with Pictures + Videos
###Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Sub-96 hours | Yes |
| B | Finish | Yes |
Training
For the last year or so I had been hearing a lot more about 200+ mile races, and after watching many great videos on YouTube/Vimeo, I came to the conclusion that this was a different ultra running experience compared to 100 miles. I was intrigued, but not yet willing to pull the trigger on a race. Whilst back in the UK for Christmas I mentioned the idea to Sam. After a bit of discussion, he said if I signed up, he would crew. This was the extra bit of motivation that I needed, and over a New Year's catch-up beer with friends, I decided to pull the trigger!
A few months prior, I had completed Yeti 100 (September 2020), and subsequently attempted an FKT in San Diego. Unfortunately this resulted in a tweaked knee, which meant a couple of months of light running. Thankfully, the knee pain subsided after this period. Post the resolution of the knee pain, I began a structured plan incorporating 3 days a week of strength training and a gradual ramp-up to about 60 miles (100km)/week of running.
Whilst Moab was my A-race of 2021, I also had a mile and marathon running goal. To achieve these goals I first focused on building a base and then hit a mixture of speed sessions and long runs. Things were going very well and I was starting to feel the strongest I had ever felt, which was great.
Just as the plan was coming together, bad luck struck. Whilst doing a 10km run with 1km fast-floats (5min/mile pace), an obstacle unexpectedly veered into my path. I had to abruptly correct course but as I stepped off the curb onto the road, I tweaked my left calf muscle. At first, I thought it was just a leg spasm, but that didn't feel quite right. After standing around waiting for the pain to subside, I decided to abandon the run. I jumped on a scooter, went home, and arranged to see a physical therapist. Unfortunately, the injury was a strain of the soleus muscle, I would say between a grade 1 and 2. This happened on June 14, which gave me around 4 months to recover an
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