My introduction to the Honey Badger 100 was in 2021 when crewing and pacing for my running brother Tony Brown. I was brand new to ultrarunning at the time, having completed only two 50Ks and a 50 miler. I was not anywhere close to being ready to run a 100 miler. As I watched Tony battle through the heat and adversity, I saw him grind and power his way to the finish. I had a front row seat to a live masterclass on mental toughness. I didn’t think this would be a race I could complete down the road.
After finishing the Heartland 100 (my first 100 miler) in October, I set a goal to complete Honey Badger in 2026. I didn’t think I was ready for the difficulty of this race and wanted a few more 100 mile finishes to help prepare me. That was the plan, until weeks later when it was announced 2024 would be the final year for the Honey Badger. If I were to do this race, I had one shot. Due to the difficulties of heat, this race usually has several DNFs (did not finish). After a few days of thinking about it, I decided that not only would I sign up, but I would find a way to finish. I wasn’t concerned with my time against others, I was only concerned with finishing my own race. The race has a cut-off at 36 hours and I felt confident I could pull off 33 hours, which gave me extra time if things went horrible.

The night before the race felt a bit like the “Rocky” movie scene on the night before his fight with Apollo Creed. He says to Adrian “the only thing I wanna do is go the distance. That’s all. Nobody’s ever gone fifteen rounds with Creed”. I knew I had no chance of placing towards the top of this race and I didn’t care. I had a 100-round bout scheduled with the hardest road 100 miler in this area and I planned to go the distance.

The race began at 6am on Saturday and my legs were ready to go. The first 38 miles went smooth and I was running ahead of schedule. I began experiencing stomach pain at 38 but managed through it before it wore off. Mile 40 marked what I expected to be the hardest stretch of the course. This 13 mile portion is extremely hilly and I arrived at the hottest part of the day, 91 degrees with an asphalt temperature of 120. As an added bonus, we ran straight into 20mph wind. My heat preparation plan worked as the temperature was not a factor. My crew did an excellent job keeping me hydrated and full of electrolytes.
I took a break at the Loves Travel stop to enjoy a few minutes of air conditioning and a hot dog at mile 43 before heading to St Leo at mile 53. I planned for a longer break at St. Leo to eat while enjoying compression therapy on my legs. I felt strong upon my arrival and the bacon cheeseburger hit the spot.

Matt Anthony joined me as the first pacer for the next 12ish miles. Half way into this portion of the run, I began to experience stomach pain. This would continue off and on for most of the run but was manageable. My body was resisting any food beyond this point. I tried every hour. My body felt like I had finished two pieces of rich chocolate cake and any food item looked like a third piece. If I did manage to swallow something, it resulted in an instant stomach ache lasting 30 minutes. I didn’t eat anything substantial over the final 14 hours of the race. I was able to swallow Meurten’s energy gels and Ginger Ale. This would end up being my primary source of calories, but each hour I would accrue more time with a significant caloric deficit. But there was nothing I could do about it but keep moving.
Shortly before wrapping up with Matt, a truck ran us off the road. Our lights were bright and there was 0 shoulder space with no one coming towards him. Instead of moving to the left lane, he accelerated his speed towards us while we jumped in the grass. Ironically, he did all of this in front of a police officer who pulled him over. The officers met up with us down the road to inform us he cited a “phat ticket”. PSA, be nice and move to the left lane for 15 seconds. Also, shout out to the Kingman County Sheriff’s department. We saw them frequently, and they checked on us a few times. I really felt like they had our backs this weekend.

Kevin Johnston was my next pacer and did an excellent job keeping me awake as we progressed through the dark night. Clouds came out blackening the planes of Kingman County. Staying alert was difficult but I managed to keep moving. This is the part of the run where things begin to get blurry. Around mile 70, I felt a large blister on my right foot just below the toes. I could tell it was a deep blister, the width of my entire foot and about inch and a half long. I made a shoe change, but felt it in every step. We kept moving as the night progressed and I grew sleepy. Somewhere during this stretch, Andrew Schinstock showed up to run a few miles with us. Nice surprise!
Mark Benefiel came in at the third spot, sometime around 3am. Mark paced me through a pivotal part of the race. I was up for 24 hours and running 21 by the time he joined me. I was extremely tired and his most important job was to make sure I didn’t doze off and plant my face on the road. I’ve only talked to Mark a few times briefly before this weekend, but now I know him much better now. What a fun way to get to know someone, right? Shortly after joining me, I noticed pain in my heel. I’ve never had Achilles pain, but I immediately knew it was angry. With every step on my right foot, I felt the blister and then the heel pain a split second later. This continued with every step of the race and there was not a way to work around it. Eventually I began to take 3-minute breaks to sit down every two miles. Getting off my feet for just a few minutes would give relief to the sore foot and power me through the next few miles. Eventually the sun rose and not long after, Mark handed me off to my next pacer, Ashley Nichole Jacobs with 12.5 miles remaining.

Let me first say, Ashley was a saint for putting up with me. I was a bit cranky at this point. I told her, “I don’t know how I am going to do this” while also knowing quitting wasn’t an option. I would need to simply find a way to run just one more mile, 12 more times. My focus was only on the mile ahead of me. I took an extended break at 91 which included 20 minutes of compression therapy and a few minutes to close my eyes. I was tired, but too wound up to fall asleep for a cat nap. When we began moving, I felt noticeably better, except the blister and Achilles pain which continued to ramp up each mile. Around mile 7, we began taking a break every mile. Each mile was a blur, but there was a sense of relief when completed. My body had been in a caloric deficit since the evening before and I was fading fast and falling apart. The temperatures were rising and we were back in 80 degree weather with steady increases each hour. Slow and steady took us home and while I slowly jogged over the finish line. We slayed the Honey Badger at 30:30:40! And I have never finished a race as depleted and broken as I did on Sunday. I didn’t know how broken I was at the time, just happy to see my family, my mom & dad, Ashley and Kevin at the finish. Tessa has not seen me finish a race longer than 50 miles. I hope one day when she’s about to give up on something that she’ll remember the weekend Daddy refused to quit.

I was not able to put weight on that foot after finishing the race. The adrenaline kept me on two feet had nothing left. I hobbled around on one foot as needed but laid around most of the day. After a 3 hour nap, the foot/heel worsened and I was concerned I would need to see the doctor on Monday. When I woke up Monday, the heel was instantly 75% better. I took a 3.8 walk that morning, just 20 hours after running 100 miles. My blister has been the most annoying part of my recovery. The heel is sore and will take a while, but it improve steadily each day. I’ve been in the cryotherapy chamber almost every day and have spent several hours in compression therapy boots. My recovery from this race has been much quicker than the Heartland 100 miler and running 72 miles at KUS 6/12/24 in June.
There were only two things I did differently to prepare for this race that paid off:
-Once per week, I would complete a workout of 400-500 pushups and 400-500 body squats within one hour inside an infrared sauna at 130-140 degrees. It’s my most miserable workout but helps condition my body to fight through misery while building stronger heat tolerance.
-I increased my DDP Yoga frequency over the final 6 weeks before this race. The additional stretching tuned up my body to withstand the trauma I would impose.

Finish time: 30:20:40. Total moving time: 26:41:43.

When I look back at the weekend, what I cherish most is the support from the crew and pacers. The pacers gave up a huge chunk of their weekend and the entire weekend for the crew. The pacers either arrived early to help crew and/or stay late. This allowed Ashley, Rachel and Tessa some much needed nap time. They treated me like a king. They looked like a fined tuned Nascar team during my stop at St Leo. Everyone was doing something different to support me, including setting up compression therapy, cooking a cheeseburger, checking my supplies, refreshing water and so on. I joked, “I have 5 handlers right now”. Their execution was flawless and put me in the best position to finish this race. The pacers helped keep me awake, but I thoroughly enjoyed spending several hours of 1 on 1 chit chat. I know all of them better after this weekend. Thanks to my crew and pace team: Rachel Magnuson, Ashley Nicole, Tessa Magnuson, Matt Anthony, Mark Benefiel, Kevin Johnston and Ashley Nicole. I couldn’t have done it without you. And I need to give Rachel Magnuson extra thanks. She does so much behind the scenes to support my races and gives up a lot of her time. I could not do this without her! Love you baby!

And thanks most of all to my ultimate pacer, Jesus! After finishing this race, I reflected on the journey over the past several years. I was a bum with no ambition, treading water through life with horrible lifestyle choices and habits. My relationship with Christ has grown throughout the stages of this journey, while beating alcohol to conquering spinal stenosis and the ups and downs in between. I am truly blessed and thankful for his grace, mercy and miracles in my life. I wouldn’t have become the guy who completed Honey Badger without Him guiding me through some insane battles.

Fun fact: I did not see any other runners between mile 30 and mile 70. It was only me, the road and my crew.

Food fact: Aside Gatorlyte, gel and ginger ale, my only calories came from 2 Kind Bars, 4 ounces of trail mix, 1 bacon sandwich, 1 bacon cheeseburger, 1 hot dog and a bowl of ice cream. Easily half of the food I consumed in my prior 100 miler. I burned 10,684 calories and did not replace anything close to that.

Running geek stuff:
Maurten Caffeinated gels every hour while temperature was below 80 degrees; decaf gels when above 80 degrees.
1 salt tab every 30 minutes if temperature above 80 degrees, every 60 minutes if below 80%
12 oz of water and 12 oz Gatorlyte every 2-3 miles
I used two watches:
1. Garmin Fenix 6+Solar – tracked my run, 32% battery life remaining
2. Apple Watch Ultra 9 – used for voice texting crew, 54% battery life remaining (did not use GPS)