Antelope Island Buffalo 100


I had an incredible experience running the Buffalo 100 last month. The race threw a few curve balls at us with severe wind and cold temperatures to deal with, but overall it was an awesome experience and you can read my full trip report here on Refuse2quit Buffalo 100.

I have now had 3 weeks to fully process the race and I have given it a lot of thought. There are so many things that have run through my mind and I'll share a few of them:

What I could have done better:

Looking back I realize that I wasted so much time at the aid stations even though one of my goals going in was to do the opposite. Some of that was due to the weather, but I wasn't very efficient with my clothing and gear and lost several minutes messing around getting in and out if tights, gaiters, shoes and all of those tasks become much more difficult when you're cold and getting stiff. I really should have left my tights on for the whole race and limited my first long stop at the Start/Finish aid at mile 19. I believe I would have come in closer to 9:20-9:30 on the front 50 without all of the gear stops. I spent 40 minutes alone on the front 50 at aid stations messing with my clothes or trying to warm up as a result of that and I'm sure being cold slowed me down on the Mountain View trail
.
I need to do a better job of pushing myself. On the back 50 I got too comfortable hiking the hills. I told myself I was saving my legs, but looking back I wish I would have pushed it a little bit harder. I also spent way too much time on the back 50 trying to get warm at aid stations. I could blame the weather for that, but the bottom line is I didn't push hard enough and wasn't mentally as strong as I should have been.

What I did well:

One thing I have learned to do very well is compartmentalize the race into sections from a mental perspective. I break the distance down into 5-6 sections that I know I can complete. Before the race starts I think about everything I want to accomplish during those sections, what I need to do and then prepare as well as I can to get it done. 100 miles is just a long distance and there are so many things that are going to come up that you are not expecting or planning on, so getting yourself in a good mental place is imperative in order to keep moving forward. Inevitably you are going to have issues that come up. Something is going to start to hurt and if you start thinking something like "I can't do this for 60 more miles" you are setting yourself up for a DNF. A good example of this for me in this race was my low point at mile 38. I was very cold and my knees were really starting to bother me. I came into the Lower Frary aid station to change my clothes and one of my pacers, Nate was waiting there for me. I talked to him after the race and he said that I looked horrible and he was thinking there was no way I would be able to go another 62 miles. It kind of shocked me when he said that because at the time I wasn't even thinking about going 62 more miles, I was thinking about getting warmed up, getting back into a good rhythm and making it to the 50 mile mark where I could pick up a pacer. To me I was only thinking the next short section and when he saw me 6 miles later at the next aid station he said I was a completely different person and at that point he knew I could do it.

I also think I did an excellent job of fueling and hydrating. I felt like I had energy the entire race and I never felt bonky at all. I would eat 1-2 gels between each aid station and then eat whatever I could get down at the aid stops. I mostly ate salted potatoes, cookies and Mountain Dew. I only used one water bottle the entire 100 miles that would top off at every aid stop.

What really sucked:

The wind and the cold have been talked about ad nauseam and for good reason. They were horrible. I can make excuses about how they cost me my sub 23 hour goal, but in the end every 100 miler is going to have unforeseen challenges and you just have to get over them and get it done.

My knees hurt. I haven't had any knee issues at all in the last two years and I certainly wasn't planning on having any out there, but I did and it really made this race more challenging for me.

What was really awesome:

The race. Jim Skagg's puts on an excellent race. It is very well organized, a sweet course and a really fun event to be a part of.

The volunteers. Wow! I can't say enough about the volunteers out there. Bart and Jason at the Elephant Head were incredible, Sarah McCloskey helped save me at mile 38 and all the other volunteers were outstanding as well.

Having my family there cheering me on and seeing me finish.

My pacers. These guys took a day out of their lives, froze their butts off and helped me in so many ways out there. I can't thank them enough and they helped make the 100 miles awesome.

Here are a few pictures from the race:

Kristel, Craig, me and MattVH

The only time I could 'hang' with Metlzer

Me and my pacer Nate at mile 50

At mile 93ish

Finishing with my pacer, Rob and daughter, Julia

Me with my pacers and the buckle



50K at the San Rafael Swell

The Wedge 50K at the San Rafael Swell with Craig Lloyd, Matt Williams, Aaron Williams, Rob Bladen, Sam Jewkes and Davy Crockett Sat February 16th 2013.

I was up at 4am to meet the boys at the American Fork park 'n ride. We traveled down to the San Rafael Swell to run the Good Water Rim trail around the Little Grand Canyon area. We had a lot of laughs on the way down and hit the Wedge overlook just as the sun was coming up. It was 15 degrees and there was a lot of snow on the ground which we weren't expecting, but that wasn't going to stop us from having a great day.

Davy, Craig, Aaron, Matt, Rob and Sam at the Wedge overlook

We took our time on this run stopping at several overlook locations to take pictures and enjoy the views, but we did run at a fairly good pace between stops. The first 4-5 miles we tried to stay on the trail around the rim, but the snow was pretty deep and it was very challenging. There was no way we would have been able to complete the full 31 miles under our time limit on the rim trail, so we decided to make our way over to the road where we were able to pick up the pace significantly. We stayed on the road all the way to our original turnaround point overlook where we took a quick break. It seemed like it was uphill most of the way, but it was all very runnable and never too steep.

Me flying on the rim.

The run back down was a lot of fun. At mile 17 we had placed a cache of food and we ran a solid pace all the way there where we stopped to have some lunch. I had some pizza, Reeses sticks and a Mountain Dew and it was awesome, like rocket fuel. It was 4 miles back to car at the Wedge overlook and my muscles were a bit stiff after the break, so it took about a half mile to get going again. The last mile is straight up hill and I ended up running most of it with Crockett as we had dropped the other 3 guys (Craig and Matt were ahead of us). It was fun running that hill and we ran mile 21 at a 9:00 pace on a pretty big long hill climb. We took another break here and then ran a few more miles on the rim in the opposite direction of where we started the day. Running the rim was a lot more challenging with loose rocks, shrubs and the constant cliff and cracks that had to be avoided, but it was a lot more fun and the views were outstanding.


When we got back to the Wedge overlook at about mile 23ish we all had different goals for the remainder of the day. Rob, Sam and I wanted to hit 31 miles for an ultra distance, Craig and Aaron wanted to set up a highline and Crocket wanted to keep running near the rim. All of us minus Crockett started running back down the road and within about 10 minutes we started to spread out. We had been running an 8:00 flat pace and Craig passed us like we were standing still. He wanted to get in some solid miles before he set up the highline. Aaron started to fall back a bit and Matt stayed with him and that left me Rob and Sam running together for the next 7 miles. Rob had never been over 26.2 and Sam only one time, so it was a lot of fun running with them. Rob started hurting a lot about mile 25, but we kept pushing strong and ran mostly in the 8's. He stopped a few times to get a gel or a drink, but I told him not to stop if possible, because it is so much harder to get going.

Me at mile 29

I was feeling really good the whole day and it was by far the best I have felt during a 50K run. At about mile 28 Rob had gone into the pain cave and wasn't talking at all. I tried talking and singing to him, but he only grunted back. Haha. So I put on my ipod to get some juice and I think it ticked him off, so he picked up his pace. From mile 26-28 we were running strong, still in the 8's and occasionally going above 9:00, but everyone was looking good. I failed to notice that we had been running slightly downhill, so I had this genius idea to turnaround at mile 28 and run back the other way, as Matt would be coming to pick us up after he finished his run. Mistake! After a mile it was all uphill for the final two and it was tough. The pace fell off big time, but all of us continued to push it hard to the finish only hiking once up the end of the steepest hill. We all finished within a minute of each other and I was feeling great. It was an awesome day.

Craig on the high line above the canyon

We got back to the overlook just as Craig and Aaron had set up the highline and we got to watch Craig walk the slackline over the edge of the canyon. It was pretty intense and fun to watch. Crazy! Check out the vid from the run below.

The Wedge video

February training

My training goals for February were to up my miles to 50+ per week to get ready for the Buffalo Run 100 miler that I will be doing on March 22nd. I have been slowly ramping up my miles over the last 8 weeks trying to be careful not to overdo it and get injured and I think I was very successful. I averaged 47 miles per week in February and had some really incredible training runs.

The Avenue Twin Peaks became my training run of choice during the month and I ended up running to the summits 6 times. The trail was in great shape the entire month, it us 100% runnable and it is less than 15 minutes from work, so I was able to hit it early in the morning and still make it into work on time. I had some excellent runs with great friends.

Matt Williams and I completing the Ave Twins

I also ran Lake Mountain 3 times in February and like the Ave Twins it was in phenomenal shape with a nice packed track all the way to the saddle.

Summit jump on Lake Mountain

February was an excellent month of training for me and I feel pretty confident going into the Buffalo 100 with only some minor nagging soreness in places, but no injuries. I am very excited to run a 100 miler that isn't a tough mountain run. It will be a new experience for me and hopefully I'll do well. I certainly expect to have a PR in the 100 distance, so in that respect it is good knowing that I won't be out there as long, but 100 miles is still 100 miles, so it will be a challenge for sure. I'm fully psyched!

Altra Zero Drop Ambassador

I am excited to report that I will be representing Altra Zero Drop Footwear as an ambassador in 2013. I first started wearing the Altra Lone Peak trail shoe in the fall of 2011 and noticed right away there were some features of the shoe that I really liked. The extra wide toe box, the extraordinary comfort and the incredible traction gave me exactly what I was looking for in a trail shoe. The Lone Peaks proved to be the perfect shoe for easy trails as well as tough mountain terrain and I have run several ultra distances in the shoe without getting a single blister.

Not only are Altra's phenomenal shoes, but they are just a great company with a product that is intended to help people run correctly and more comfortably. I am excited for the opportunity to represent such an incredible company. I stopped by their booth at the OR show this week and got a look at the new Lone Peak 1.5 and I'm drooling. I can't wait to get them on my feet and up on the peaks. You can check out my profile on the Altra web page here: Altra Ambassador.

BST marathon

On January 9th our Refuse2quit running crew ran a marathon in the hills above Salt Lake City.
Our original plan was to run 30 miles on the BST starting at the zoo. We were going to run all the way to City Creek Canyon and then hop onto the trail on the west side of the canyon and climb up to the radio towers and then run all the way back to the zoo. With several peaks on the way we thought we would tag those as well. We did most of that, but ran out of time and didn't quite make 30 miles, but I'm totally ok with that because it was a lot more difficult than the miles would indicate and it ended up being the perfect training run.

We started out early this morning on the Mt. Wire trail. MattW joined us for the first section and it was fun chatting away and climbing up Wire. We saw several deer and elk and the views as always were really good. From Wire we traversed over to Red Butte Peak and tagged that one too. The ridge on RB gets more technical with a lot of rocks and ice and from the summit back down to the BST is actually the most challenging part of the whole run. I was a bit slower here as we made our way down to the living room (chairs made out of stone). We hung out there for a few minutes and then MattW took off on a side trail back to the BST, while we continued on into Red Butte Canyon.

The trail down into Red Butte was snow covered and awesome. It was probably my favorite part of the whole day. At the bottom we crossed over and hit another trail that would take us up Mt. Van Cott. We slogged our way up to the summit where we again enjoyed some killer views. The run back down off of VC was a blast. It was fast, steep and fun. Back down to the BST we went up Dry Fork where we had to climb all the way back up to the Ave Twin Peaks. There was a ton of climbing today and my legs started to feel it on this climb.

Craig and MattVH on one of the Ave Twins

We finally topped out on the Ave Twins and took a quick break. I took my 4th gel and Craig asked if we wanted to go tag Little Black Mountain too, but that didn't sound appealing to me at all, so we stayed with the plan and ran back down to the BST again, where we ran all the way back to the trailhead in City Creek Canyon. My legs were now pretty hammered and it was tough to make them go fast. The other guys put some distance on me and for the rest of the run I was trying to catch up.

We were hoping to get water at the City Creek trailhead, but it was shut off which meant I would for sure run out on the way back. MVH was pretty low too. The hike/run back up the BST was pretty brutal. I was shattered. My legs were worked and my energy low. At the top of the climb we had about 6 miles to go. Every step the rest of the run was tough and I felt really out of shape. With about 5 miles to go I ran out of water and I was starting to feel dehydrated, so I knew the final miles were going to be a total death march and they were. I stopped a few times to eat some snowballs, but otherwise I would have to wait to the finish to rehydrate.

All of the vert was now taking its toll on my legs and I'll just say it wasn't fun running it in. I have a lot of work to do before the Buffalo run. Craig and I both said this run felt more like 35 miles. It was tough, but we did have a total blast out there. There were a lot of laughs, the views were super good and overall it was a pretty sweet day.

Here are a couple of videos made by Matt and Craig:

 

December Training

I was recently asked my my good friend Craig Lloyd to contribute to his blog refuse2quit.com along with the other guys in our running crew. My first post was a recap of my peak bagging exploits in 2012 and you can check it out here 116 in 2012. Even though I'll post about some of the bigger adventures on Refuse2quit I'll still continue to post here about my training.

December was a challenging month for me. I had to deal with my nagging sores on my heels and left ankle from our snow climb of Grandeur on November 13th. The sores were open and oozing for a few weeks and then it took a good month after that for them to really start to heal. The one just below my right ankle was the worst because it would rub on my shoe if I ran on anything remotely technical, so I had to stay on easy trails for most of the month.

Even with the injury I still got out a lot and had some excellent mountain runs. Lake Mountain and the Ave Twins became weekly runs and I also did the Grandeur loop a couple of times as well. Here are a few short reports from a few of the more memorable runs in December:

Grandeur Loop 12/8/12:

This is one of my favorite loop runs in the Wasatch and it didn't disappoint. Met the fellas at 6:00 at the Grandeur West Ridge trailhead. It wasn't as cold as we thought it would be and we settled into a slower than normal pace up the steep WR. About 3/4 of the way up Craig and I put a bit of distance on the other guys and we hit the summit in a slow 1:14 which was still an hour faster than the last time in the deep snow. It was cold on top and we waited for 5 minutes for MattW and about 10 more for the other guys. Craig and I froze our tails off and resorted to some snuggling.

From there we ran down Church Fork to the Pipeline. The trail conditions were really good. At Rattlesnake Gulch we checked for the Millcreek Flasher (darn no luck) and then took Bambi hill up another few hundred feet and then dropped back down to the steep trail that would take us back to the WR trail. I took a dive at one point, but landed in a pile of dry leaves. No damage done. It was an incredible morning with really good friends.

MattW, AaronW, MattV and Craig on Grandeur

Lake Mountain 12/26/12:

I woke up to snow this morning. It was coming down hard and I was meeting some of the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers aka FLUFFERS at the American Fork park n ride to climb Lake Mountain. By time everyone made it there and we were driving to the mountain the roads were a mess and the snow only got worse, but I told Craig that the worst thing that could happen is we end up running and playing in the snow for a few hours. Hitting the summit was in questions, but I knew we would give it a good try.

It was pretty much a slog the whole way. There were 6 of us that took turns breaking the trail, but at about the half way point it was me and MattW (mostly Matt) breaking the trail in the shin to knee deep snow. We saw a few deer on the way and at one point there was a pretty big buck that started running down the road right at us full speed. Matt and I stopped and after about 5 seconds in put on the breaks when he saw us, slid a few feet and then quickly turned around and went back up the road. Awesome.

Me and Matt getting abused by the wind

Craig joined us the last mile and the 3 of us pushed it pretty good to the top. It was now blowing really hard and I was wishing I had my windstopper hat and gloves, but we pushed it on up to the top where it was blowing and cold. We snapped a few pics, took a frozen gel and waited for Aaron and Mindy to hit the top. After a few more pics we got the heck out of there.

The run down was fun in the snow and a few hundred feet below the summit we ran into 3 guys on snowmobiles that were shocked to see us. They called us crazy and gave all of us high fives. Pretty much awesome. The rest of the run was a little tough in the deep snow and I didn't really ever get into a great groove, but it was still a total blast. Summit #114 for the year and it was a good one.

On the summit of Lake Mountain #114

Lake Mountain

Lake Mountain has been one of my favorite training runs for a few years now. It is the long mountain on the west side of Utah Lake with the radio towers on top. I run to the summit via Israel Canyon and love the route because there is a really nice 4X4 road all the way to the summit and it gets tracked out in the winter by a snowcat in order to service the towers, so there is usually a nice packed trail all the way to the to. I love it because it is 2700 feet of vertical climbing and most of it is runnable and you get 8.4 miles round trip.

In the last week I have run to the summit twice, first with Craig Lloyd and then yesterday with Van Horn, Craig, Jared Kennard and Eric Jeppson. We had a blast both times just talking and enjoying incredible early morning sunrises over Utah valley. Craig and I both agreed that this has to be added to our weekly routine during the winter.

Here is a video that Craig put together and it has some of our run to Lake Mountain from last week. It also has some running from the BST above City Creek Canyon which is also one of our favorite places to run.

Random Nov running

Grandeur Peak

A week ago I met Matt Williams and Matt Van Horn at the Grandeur Peak trailhead for an early morning climb to the summit of Grandeur Peak via the West Ridge. The plan was to complete the loop by going down into Church Fork, run the Pipeline and then back to the WR trailhead, which is one of my favorite training runs in the Wasatch. That was the plan until we encountered deep snow most of the way up which required us to break the trail on about 3/4 of the mountain with 2-3 feet of new snow. It was arduous at best and slowed us down a lot and we ended up taking a little over two hours to hit the summit, so the loop was out.

Even though we weren't able to do the whole loop we had a total blast and Van Horn shot a sweet video which I will post below. I haven't been wearing my gators since they were stolen out of my car at the Wire trailhead last year and in my morning fog while getting ready I put on short socks which ended up being a huge mistake. I had a lot of snow and ice buildup on my tights and some of the ice was rubbing on my ankles and heels and when I got back to the trailhead I saw blood on my socks. Are you frickin kidding me? So now I have these oozing sores on my heels and ankles and now a week later they aren't much better. There might be a silver lining in all of this because the wounds have forced me to wear a different shoe and the only shoes I have that don't rub on the sores are the Altra Lone Peaks. I wore the Lone Peaks on a trip up Lake Mountain and they were incredible! They are extremely comfy and have excellent traction as well. I think I will slowly start to mix them back into my shoe rotation.

Grandeur Peak video

October Training

I have really dialed back my training after Wasatch 100 to help my body recover and to give myself a break. I was doing 40-50 mountain mile weeks with about 10K vert before the race and since then I’ve been right about 25 per week. I am actually feeling really good right now, but I still have some nagging soreness in my left hamstring that has been bothering me since February. It only flares up when I am running fast on steep downhill slopes and it seems to be getting a little better, but I still feel it when I go fast.

Our fall weather has been pretty mellow and dry and I took full advantage getting out with our running crew. We were able to get in a lot of excellent trail miles over the last 6 weeks until the first major storm of the year hit over the weekend. Craig recently purchased a Sony action cam and we have been messing around with it over the last few weeks. He put together 3 videos from Mt. Wire, View Benchmark and Grandeur peak. These are the peaks that I climb the most because they are close to home/work and I can get up and down quickly.

Speaking of peaks last week I hit a milestone that I was pretty psyched about. I hit 100 peaks for the year in 2012. My original goal was 75 for the year, but I shattered that, so my stretch goal was 100 and it looks like I should be able to get to 110 without much of a problem. That also gives me 232 peaks in the last 3 years. I have seen some of the most incredible views, sunrises, sunsets, just about every wild animal you can think of and created some incredible memories with good friends. I can’t even describe how awesome it has been.

In case anyone is interested here are the 3 videos that Craig made:

Grandeur Peak

Wire Peak

View Benchmark

Wasatch 100 2012

September 7-8, 2012

I had the opportunity to run and finish the Wasatch 100 for the second year in a row over the weekend. In some ways I had a much better race than last year, but overall it was definitely more challenging for me this year. This course is so tough that you can't even believe it until you run it. I still can't believe people are dumb enough to do this, but it is also pretty incredible to complete it and I have to say it is awesome.

Matt Willianms had several of us over for a pre-race barbeque and then Craig Lloyd, Josh Greenwell and I stayed there over night because he lives so close to the start. I was awake about 2:45 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up at 3:30 to get ready. I choked down about 900 calories (the Hostess fruit pie was money) and we made it to the start with plenty of time to chat with some other runners before the start of the race. The temps were cool, but it was definitely warmer than last year and I could tell that it was going to be a hot day which would end up making things pretty tough. I wanted to hang with Craig and Josh for as long as possible, but after a few minutes Craig took off and Josh and I settled into a decent pace that put us ahead of the really big pack. Over the next few miles we passed a several runners and found ourselves in a pretty good group power hiking up to Chinscraper. I think we stayed with the same core group all the way to the summit where we topped out in 2:17.

After we hit the Chinscraper summit we ran on the ridge tops for the next several miles. I really love this part of the course. You weave around high summits and hit the east and west sides of the ridge, which provides some pretty sweet views of Davis County to the west and Morgan to the east. I was still feeling pretty good and felt like I was right where I wanted to be. We hit Groben's corner (13.5) where we were able to fill up our bottles for the first time.  Josh said he wasn't feeling well and I know he wanted to push a faster pace, but I was happy to have him with me all the way to the Francis Peak aid station (mile 18.7). My legs were still feeling really fresh and we ran everything that we could and I thought held a pretty good pace. We hit the aid in 3:56 which was 21 minutes faster than I did it last year. We stopped to refill our water and quickly grab some food and we were back onto the trail. It started getting hot on the next section and I just tried to hang with Josh and push through. The steep hill up to Bountiful B is a killer and I was so happy to hit that aid station (mile 24). There was a runner down and I heard one of the aid station workers say we need to call 911. I kept thinking hydrate hydrate hydrate. We were only there for a few minutes. I ate some salted potatoes, cookies and had some Coke. We grabbed some gels and took off.

The next section was just a grind. It was getting hot and I was starting to feel some fatigue in my legs, but nothing serious at all. Again Josh and I stayed together and it was nice having him there to help me push when I wanted to hike. We ran everything that wasn't too steep and made decent time into Sessions aid (28.2) where we only took a few minutes to grab some food and refill our bottles. I was carrying a handheld bottle and 30 ounces in my hydration pack. It was working perfectly because I could barely feel the pack on. I had been drinking pretty well up to this point, but after Sessions I made the mistake of not drinking enough. It was now getting really hot and the steep hill climb out of Sessions is brutal. We grinded up that and then settled into a nice pace along the ridge to Swallow Rocks aid (34.9). I had only consumed about 20 ounces of water between the aid stations which was a huge mistake, but I was still feeling good, so I thought I was ok. At the aid I again downed some potatoes, cookies, Mountain Dew and we both carried a rootbeer popsicle out of the aid station. They told us we were in 56th and 57th place. I know Josh wanted to be moving faster, but we were right where I wanted to be.
                                          High five with Josh at Big Mountain

Photos by Lori Burlison

The run to Big Mountain was fun. I put on my ipod to get some energy and we grinded out the miles in pretty good time. Both of us were feeling good and with a little over a mile to go I noticed that I was getting a bit dehydrated. I had only consumed what was in my bottle and hadn't even touched what was in the hydration vest. I quickly took a few big gulps from the vest, but with Big Mt. (mile 39.4) coming up I forgot to keep drinking because I was so excited to see my crew there. I told myself to stay a bit longer at the aid to make sure I hydrated and cooled off because I knew the next section would be a killer. I hit Big Mountain almost two hours faster than last year, but I was down 3 pounds and my crew quickly put me in a chair and started asking what I needed. They brought me a tuna sandwich that I choked down and two cups of Coke. I sipped some Gatorade but it was too sweet and I only got a few gulps. Greg rubbed out my IT bands and my pacer Becky had a cool wet towel that she gave me for my neck. As awesome as my crew was they really rushed me out of the aid quicker than I would have liked and I didn't take the time I should have to get hydrated. My stomach went south and I told Becky I needed to walk to let it settle. Josh was with us, but within about a half mile he went ahead because I started to slow down. I ran into Kendall from the blog and we chatted for a minute before he took off and went on to run an impressive race.
                                                       My crew working me over

After about a mile I completely went into the tank of misery. I had zero energy, I couldn't push the pace and I felt like I was going to puke. I couldn't run and I could barely hike. Finally I sat down on a log and took a gel and an S-Cap. 3 groups passed and all asked if I was ok. I probably looked like death. What was going on? Just an hour ago I was running hard and strong. I got back up and slogged for about 20 more minutes and I finally went pee and when I saw that my pee was brown it hit me that I was severely dehydrated. Damn! Why wasn't I drinking more? Why didn't I spend more time hydrating at Big Mt? Stupid!!! We were now at the hottest part of the day on the hottest section of the course and I was in trouble and I knew it. Catching up was going to be tough. I started chugging my water and quickly drank the entire handheld. Becky was so good to me through this section even though I was a total mess. She kept giving me her cold water to drink and kept the towel around my neck wet and cool. My stomach was still a mess and I thought maybe a trip to into the bush would help, but as I stepped off the trail I got attacked by a yellow jacket that started stinging my left calf. Low point. The more I drank the better I felt, but my steam did not come back quickly at all. In fact through this entire 14 mile section I never had it. I was passed by dozens of runners. Demoralizing.
                                                        

At the Alexander Ridge aid (47.4) Becky got me some ice water, a peanut butter sandwich and some cookies. I drank a lot and then I noticed Josh sitting in a chair and not looking very good. He looked totally wrecked and was having some major issues, but after a few minutes he got up and hiked out. It helped inspire me to get out of the chair and get moving. There is a long climb in a grassy meadow out of the aid station and last year I ran about half of it, but this year I walked every step. The heat was brutal. I was wrecked. I just grinded every step and at the top where at the connector trail I had to stop to sit on a rock for a minute to keep from puking. From that point on I slowly came back and started feeling better. We were now out of the sun which made a huge difference and I had been drinking constantly. Becky was amazing through this entire section. She talked the whole time to keep my mind off of the grind and she helped me out so much. Without her I would have been toast out there. The last few miles we picked up a decent running pace and ran it into Lambs Canyon aid 8 pounds down. Wow!
                                              Me and Becky trying to stay cool

My crew quickly went to work getting me food and fluids. I drank a lot and took a lot of time getting refreshed. My second pacer Seth Wold was anxious to get me moving, but I needed to make sure I took enough time to cool off and get my body back into the game and it worked. As soon as we hit the Lambs Canyon road I felt better. We actually ran some of the hills and when we got to the trail up to Bear Pass I felt great and we really pushed it up to the pass, passing at least 10 runners. At the top I still felt great so we ran strong all the way down to Elbow Fork. Just before we hit the road we had to put on our headlamps because it was now dark. Seth was incredible. He kept track of what I was eating and drinking and would tell me when I needed to drink, take salt or a gel. He also pushed me to run up several hills that I probably would have hiked if I had been by myself. On the way up Millcreek Canyon we were pushing it up the road when I saw some eyes peering at us just off the road. I said hey check out those eyes and we both put our headlamps on a large cougar that was checking us out. Seth went for his camera, but before we could get the picture the cat took off back into the brush. Awesome!

We got into the Upper Big Water aid (61.6) feeling good. Seth got me some soup and Coke and I put on some warm clothes. It was cold! He got me back up and moving and we pushed and slogged to Desolation Lake. Seth kept pushing me to run and it really helped. I was now feeling great again and things were definitely looking up. At Desolation Lake aid (66.9) we stopped to grab more soup and I downed a hot chocolate as well. There were several runners stopped there including some that were laying down by the fire. I remember it being brutally cold going out of this aid station and I didn't warm back up unitl I hit the Wasatch Crest. From there we got into a running pace again and ran a good portion to Scott Hill aid (70.7) where I went into the tent for more soup and tried to get warm. Seth got me moving out of there which was smart. It was so cold leaving the tent and again I shivered for several minutes until I warmed back up.
                                         Me and Seth coming into Brighton

This year I was actually able to run a good section of the road down to Brighton where last year I had to hike it because of my feet. Brighton was also really cold and I decided I was going to put on all of my warm clothes. We got into the lodge and I was actually up 4 pounds. Seth had done an amazing job making sure I ate, drank, took salt and pushed myself. It was the perfect balance and I am so grateful he was there. In the lodge I was greeted by Kelli and my crew who were so good to me. They took care of me and made sure I ate and drank and Greg gave my IT bands another rub. I had to put on more glide (sorry eveyone in the bathroom) and I took off my shoes for the first time to shake out the rocks and sand. My good friend Rob would be pacing me to the finish and I was happy to have him with me.
                                                    At Brighton aid stop

Going out into the cold was hard and I seemed to have lost some steam hiking up to Catherine Pass. My climbing legs were gone. On the descent down into Ant Knolls it became apparent that my toes were not happy with all of the descent and they were on fire just like last year. I was wishing I had my poles and I knew it was going to be a grind to the finish. I also noticed some pain in my right calf and with each descent the pain got worse to the point where running became very painful. We were so slow and finally hit Any Knolls where I wanted some breakfast, but they weren't serving it for 50 more minutes. I would have to wait until Poll Line to get my pancakes, sausage and Coke. The steep climb out of Ant Knolls was hard, but it felt much better than descending. After the climb we tried to get into a running pace again on the flatter sections, but I could only shuffle along because my calf was now cramping pretty bad. Every time I ran Rob would encourage me and keep reminding me of the under 30 hour finish that I wanted. At that point though I didn't care. The pain in my toes and calf was much greater than the desire to go under 30 hours.

At Poll Line I did get my breakfast and just like last year I fell asleep in the chair. Rob had to get me up and moving again and the next 4-5 miles were very hard and painful. What a grind. Rock Springs aid seemed much further than last year and when we finally made it I just wanted to keep moving, so I filled my bottle, grabbed two gels and we left. The next section is one of the most difficult of the entire course. With 'The Dive', 'The plunge' and 'Irv's Torture chamber' I was definitely worried about my feet and legs and for good reason. It was just plain hard and painful. After several minutes Rob made me laugh with "I'm tired of diving and plunging". Rob made me laugh a lot even though I was hurting and it was really good having him there. Irv's Torture Chamber was indeed torture and it was a major slog to Pot Bottom (93.1) where we stopped and I ate a banana, cookies and some Red Vines.

The last 7 miles were really hard and I was glad to have Rob there to push me along and make me laugh. The rocky road was once again a miserable run and with my hurting toes it was downright brutal. I lost count of how many times my big toes banged into a rock ,which would send a shooting pain up my leg. When we finally hit the single track I knew that the finish was close and I really picked up my pace. I was now running faster than I had in the last 12 hours and I kept it up all the way to the finish, running every step of the last two miles. I think the adrenaline kicked in because I couldn't feel the pain in my calf and toes until after the finish. Finishing was just as sweet the second time around. My wife, kids, mom and dad were there along with several of my running friends. Awesome! What an experience. I'm still trying to process all of it. I know I will do Wasatch again, but I think it is time to try a 100 miler with a little less elevation change and one where I won't lose both of my big toe nails (yep they are gone again).Thanks to eveyone that helped me in some way. I appreciate all of your support. To my pacers and crew I could not have done it without you and especially thanks to Kristina for putting up with all of my craziness.

Utah Triple Crown (Highest 3 peaks in Utah):

I attempted the TC for the first time back in 2003 when a reporter for the Deseret News that I knew from the Highpointers website invited me to go and attempt to climb the highest 3 peaks in Utah in one day and I invited Craig Lloyd to join us as well. We made the attempt from an advanced base camp at Dollar Lake. After hiking in to Dollar and making camp we woke up early the next morning to make the attempt. We made decent time up to the summit of Kings, but I was hit with a pretty severe case of altitude sickness that required me to barf several times just off the trail. The last time I was on all fours extricating the last remnants of stomach acid into the bush while the D-news reporter looked on in horror. Needless to say I didn't complete the route. Craig and a photographer from the D-News continued on and finished it off and the D-News did a two page spread on the hike that they coined the "Triple Crown". It was pretty cool even though I didn't make it and I knew I wanted to go back again to make an attempt at some point.

Back in July of this year I went back to the Uintas with Craig and Josh to try the Triple Crown again. Davy Crockett upped the TC ante back in 2008 when he did the whole thing from the trailhead and back in one day which doubles the miles and Craig was going after the speed record that he had set back in 2010 which had been broken by some local elite ultra runners in 2011. Jun was a little faster than we were and after summiting Gilbert we were thwarted by a storm that was moving in just as we were getting to Gunsight Pass, while Craig was at the base of Kings and was able to continue on to bag South Kings as well and get down before the storm rolled through. He went on to set a new speed record of 8:29 which is an incredible time for that route.

After our debacle in July Jsh and I swore we would never go back to attempt the TC again because neither one of us wanted to climb Gilbert Peak. While Gilbert is the 3rd highest mountain in Utah and has a pretty decent view everything else about it pretty much sucks, but after a few weeks of licking our wounds we both wanted to get back up there and finish it off, so we decided to add Gilbert and South Kings on when we did the Quest for Kings marathon.

We drove to the Henry's Fork trailhead with Craig and Matt Williams and as always had a really great time laughing, eating greasy food and this time buying a cowboy hat in Mountain View, Wyoming. Craig offered to wear it on the entire trip if someone bought it. Matt obliged and Craig good to his word wore the sexy thang all the way to the top of Kings Peak and back. Gotta love it.

We arrived at the trailhead and met some other guys that would be running the race in the morning and after setting up our tent we all hung out by the fire cracking jokes, laughing and participating in various other forms of tomfoolery. I slept ok in the tent nestled in between Josh and Craig for the first 3-4 hours even though our tent smelled like the Great Salt Lake on a windy day, but at around 2:00 am a few dudes woke me up while they were getting ready to start their hike of Kings- LOUD! After that it rained and I just couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about the weather and hoping it would clear up. I really didn't want to run in the rain. At 4:00 the alarm went off and Josh and I got dressed and went to the van to eat breakfast and get our gear ready. It literally rained until we opened the door of the van to start our run and then it stopped. It was cold, but not too bad with the cloud cover.

At the gate we started our watches and settled into a nice trot up the trail. It was muddy and wet and there were a lot of puddles to deal with and in the dark it was tough to get into a fast pace on that trail. It is a rocky nightmare. We got into a good groove though and slowly busted out the first 5 miles to Elk Horn crossing where we stopped to take a quick break to stash our headlamps and take a gel. Now that it was getting light we were able to move well and we got into a good pace that we were able to keep up all the way through the Henry's Fork basin. It was a beautiful morning and we just chatted away and enjoyed the run. Just past Dollar Lake we ran into 3 bull moose... or would that me meese?? They were right on the trail getting a drink from a spring that was flowing pretty well and they were startled by us. We stopped and just let them move on making sure not to look threatening in any way. Awesome.

We skipped the switchbacks up to Gunsight Pass and instead went straight up through the rocks while we both took another gel. At the pass we saw a family of hikers and said hello and then kept moving to the Gunsight plateau where we passed another group of hikers that were going up too high on the flank of Gunsight Peak. They saw us and eventually started working their way down. Over the plateau and then we started making our way over the tundra to the trail where we found a nice flowing spring and we stopped and had a great drink and Josh filled up his bottles. We ran/hiked to Anderson Pass and both of us were feeling good so we knocked out the 900 feet up to the summit pretty quickly topping out in 3:56. Not bad considering we were about 20 minutes slower to Elk Horn than we were back in July. This was my 10th time on top of Kings Peak.

We took a few pictures and didn't stay long as we continued to traverse the ridge and began to drop down to the saddle between Kings and South Kings. Almost immediately it became apparent that the rocks were much less stable the further away we were from the well-traveled Kings Peak. Just about every other rock was wobbly or would slide and our progress slowed a lot. Saying it was quite tedious would be an understatement. It sucked. Once we went over the saddle and started going back up our speed picked up some and we were able to slog our way over the false summit (curse you false summit) and finally up to the summit of South Kings Peak, the second highest peak in Utah. It was pretty cool being up there and we took a few more pics and then headed back down. More wobble, slide, roll, jump... awwww shite! Rocks!!!

Back at the saddle between the two Kings peaks I was telling Josh a story of some sort and trying to get him to laugh (which was successful) but at the climax of the story I wasn't quite paying attention to my footing and I slipped on some loose rocks and went down hard. I landed on the same hip that I fell on during our night run a few weeks back and I also really banged up my leg. It hurt a lot, but no serious damage so I just needed to get up and keep moving. We made good time back up to the summit of Kings and we started running into some of the guys we had met from the night before. A couple of the dudes offered us food and they were really cool. Just below the summit we ran into Cowboy Craig and Matt. It was good seeing them and we had hoped that we would be able to run part of the route with them and we all met up back at Anderson Pass where the 'crew' was once again reunited. I downed a bean n cheese burrito at the pass and after joking and laughing with some hikers we ran back down on the trail to the spring where we had filled up earlier and all of us took a few minutes to replenish our water.

It was fun running/slogging back over the plateau with the fellas and we were all feeling really good and we made good time. Back at Gunsight Pass Craig and Matt stopped to talk to some other runners and Josh and I kept going down, but after a few minutes they easily caught back up just as we got back onto the trail. We all got into a solid running pace and it was fun because I felt great and my legs were feeling strong. We quickly came up to the chute that would take Josh and I up to Gilbert, so we parted with the other guys and started our traverse over to the chute. Josh stopped for a quick break at the base of the chute and I continued up at a slow pace so that he could catch me and after a few minutes he caught me and then put a good distance between us as well. Our overall time was around 7:45 at this point and we still had a shot to put up a respectable number. I was still feeling pretty good, but obviously Jsh was feeling stronger.

There is a spring that flows through the chute and it was gushing. When we had come through back in July it was a mere trickle, so we were surprised that it was flowing so well, but we took advantage and filled up our bottles and I took 4-5 big gulps right off the rock of the cold fresh water. It was pretty awesome. At the top of the chute we got blasted by the wind and it never let up again while we were on the mountain and as we made our way up the Gilbert plateau it seemed to suck the energy right out of me. I hate this mountain! I knew we had the Triple Crown in the bag because the weather was holding and I knew getting to the top wouldn't be a problem, but as we climbed higher and higher I lost my juice. The wind was so annoying and I cursed the mountain several times. Not only was it annoying but it was cold. Josh got ahead of me and a few times he stopped to wait, but there was no reprieve from the wind, so he had to keep moving and he beat me to the summit by at least 10 minutes. As I crested the final apex I just had about 40 yards of boulders to hop across and I was happy for the first time on Gilbert. On the summit Josh and I congratulated each other and there was an older couple up there as well, which seemed odd because it is just such a desolate place. Completing the triple felt pretty awesome, but now we needed to get back to the car which was about 10 miles away.

Getting off of the mountain was horrible. Gilbert Peak is a massive pile of boulders that move and wobble. There really isn't anything redeeming about the place except for the fact that it is the 3rd highest peak in Utah and since I am a peak bagger at heart I am able to glean something positive out of it. I was getting low on energy and I probably should have eaten something on the summit but I just wanted to get down. What I was really hoping is that we could find some kind of a wind break to stop for a minute to get out of the wind, but there isn't much of anything coming down, so eventually I just told Jsh I needed to take a minute to eat a Snickers. I felt my energy coming back some, but the wind just kept decking me in the face. I felt puch drunk. That mountain is a psychological mind screw, especially after the long day that we had put in.

We took the ridge above Dollar Lake down and then just went straight down the steep mountainside that dropped us just above the lake. It was so nice to be out of the wind, but the thought of running out wasn't a good one. I was pretty darn wrecked. We made our way on a game trail and eventually picked up a trail that took us back to the main trail where we were finally able to get back into a running pace. We ran well back to Elk Horn, but we were super slow. We stopped to pick up our gear and I took another gel and some salt.

The last 5.4 miles from Elk Horn to the trailhead are always the worst. I told Josh that if hell exists for me it will be running this 5.4 mile stretch for eternity. The 5 miles ended up being ok other than the fact that I was wrecked. I think running at high altitude takes more out of me than almost anything. I just lose my steam. We did put a few good stretches of running in and even ran some big hills, but we were slow. I'm sure Josh would have finished this 2-3 hours faster if he didn't have to wait for me, but he was awesome and never complained that I was slow. We finally rounded the last bend and could see the gate at the trailhead. Heaven. Now we actually had completed the Triple Crown. 9 years after my first attempt and it felt great to finally finish it. That terrain is just plain harsh. With the altitude and massive endless piles of unstable rocks it is very difficult to move quickly through this terrain. The time Craig did last month is incredible and I don't think anyone will beat it for a long time. One thing is certain for me: I will never do this route again. If Gilbert wasn't involved there would be a sliver of a chance, but since it is there is no way. I'm done. Another cool thing to note: This trip helped me to complete two goals for the year. First, the Triple Crown and second, these three summits were #73, 74 and 75 for the year so I hit my goal of 75 peaks for the year.

Check out this video made by Matt Williams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu25FgVvlBo&feature=youtu.be

It has been almost a month since my last post- lame! I usually post a few times per week on my training blog, so it is hard to get over here and post because I just don't have any time, but I do like to keep a log of my fun training runs, races and other random thoughts that I sometimes don't post on the other blog. http://scottw.fastrunningblog.com/

Considering how busy life has been over the last month I feel pretty good about where my training is going into Wasatch 100 in less than a month. Wasatch has been my focus all year and everything else is just part of the build up. Last year at Wasatch was an incredible experience, but this year will be different. There were so many unknowns last year and just getting that first 100 under my belt and having that experience gives me quite a lot of confidence going in this year. Last year I was jut a wreck about the whole thing, so I think I can actually put together a pretty solid race this year. My goal is to go under 30 hours and if I do that I will be thrilled.

Recently my training has been a lot of View Benchmark... and a lot more of View Benchmark. While not the coolest peak in the Wasatch by any means, it has become the perfect training run for me. It is close to my home and on my way to work, so I can be at the trail in 15 minutes and done with the run in less than 90 minutes. And what do I get in those 90 minutes? Almost 8 miles of solid trail running on a nicely graded trail that is 100% runnable. 1600+ feet of vert and some of the best views in the Wasatch, plus if you know when to hit the trail you rarely see a soul, just the way I like it. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be cruising up the Pfeifferhorn and Lone Peak and other Wasatch peaks, but I just don't have time with my job and family to do that right now. For now VB has become my treadmill and I haven't grown tired of it yet.

I did hit Timpanogos for the second time this year with Craig a few weeks back and we had one of the best runs of the year. I love that mountain. Here is a brief TR:

Mount Timpanogos with Craig:
One of the best runs of the year so far. I met Craig at Kohlers in Alpine at 5:30 am. The Timpanookee trailhead was packed, so we had to park 1/4 of a mile below the TH. We had a nice jog up to the TH where we saw probably 100 people getting ready to hike up the mountain. We were quickly running up the trail and lucky for us there wasn't a lot of people on the lower mountain, but as we got higher we started passing several groups. It was fun picking them off and making good time up the trail.
Just before the upper basin we ran into Davy Crockett who was coming down from his first summit of the year and looked pretty good. We said hi and it was good seeing him back in the mountains after recovering from injury. In the upper basin we passed several more groups and Craig kicked it into high gear. I pushed up to the saddle and he was now about 5 minutes ahead of me. We got a ton of comments from hikers on the way up and down. From the saddle I tried to push it hard and I felt really strong on that section. It was fun actually seeing it because the last 3 times I have been up there it was in the dark. On the final push I really picked up my pace and hit the top in 2:02 which is a PR, but I really only pushed the last half, as we took our time on the first few miles chatting and taking pictures, so I know I can do it faster.

We chatted with a few people up top that were surprised to see how fast we had made it up and also we talked to a few girls that also ran to the top. After a few pics and signing the register we took off.  Craig pushed the pace a lot and I ran with the girls and another guy (who did Wasatch 100 in 2010) back to the saddle where Jun was chatting with some folks. I was feeling really good, so I just cruised down the trail. Again more comments from hikers asking how fast we went up and telling us we were amazing bla bla. It was kind of fun though. My legs felt really fresh, so I pushed the pace a lot more than I ever have on this trail. It helped that we were doing it in the light and I felt a lot more comfortable, but I was just feeling good.

We probably passed at least 150 hikers on the mountain and several that we had passed on our way up. That was really the only thing that slowed us down out there. With a few miles to go Jun said I could go under 3:15 so I was pushing for that, but didn't quite make it. 3:15:15 total time. It felt good and we had a blast. I love that mountain.

Triple Crown attempt with Craig Lloyd and Josh:

Congrats to Craig for setting a new fastest known time on the TC posting an 8:29. Josh and I were there to complete the TC as well, but we were not going after the FKT with Jun. I went to sleep the night before at midnight and was up at 2:30 am to meet Jun at 3:15. I was hoping the lack of sleep wouldn't come back to bite me later in the day. We picked up Josh and then had a fun ride to the Henry's Fork trailhead laughing and joking most of the way. We saw an incredible lightning storm just before Ft. Bridger and then it rained hard for a few minutes and I was nervous about the conditions in the Uintas.

We pulled into the trailhead at 6:00 am. It was cool and there were a lot of cars there. We got all of our gear together and we were standing at the gate about 15 minutes later ready to go. After a few pics we all started our watches and settled into a nice 10:00 min mile pace. You might think that sounds easy but I can assure you it isn't. At 9500 feet running a 10:00 min pace feels like sub 8 and to make things more challenging the trail is one of the more technical that we run on. It is full of rocks large and small and it is very hard to stay off of them and after a few hours I'm always beyond annoyed at all of the rocks. After about 2 miles Craig slowly started pulling away. I wanted to stay with him, but my heart rate was already up pretty high and I didn't want to push it too hard, so I backed it off a bit and Josh and I ran together to Elk Horn crossing (mile 5.3) where we stopped to take a quick break and cross the stream.

We pushed a slow pace into the Henry's Fork meadow and Craig was already out of sight. It was a beautiful morning and we had the entire place to ourselves. This really is one of my favorite places in Utah with high peaks, wild flowers, trees and a stream running right through the heart of the meadow. It was pretty awesome. At Dollar Lake we saw a few campers and they seemed surprised to see us running. We went around the Lake and tried to find the best route up the ridge to the Gilbert plateau. It was basically straight up the mountain and we just got right to it. Hard! The next two hours were by far the most difficult of the day for me. We were now over 11,000 feet and would be climbing to 13,400 in some of the most difficult terrain in the Uintas. After humping the ridge and gaining the plateau it is basically a massive rock pile with uneven tundra all the way to the top. Slow. We ran where we could, but it wasn't much. We were both feeling the altitude and it just seems to suck the energy right out of you. Slow progress.

We finally ran into Craig coming down off of Gilbert. He was moving well. We chatted for a few minutes and then he took off for the chute on the western spur and we got back to the massive pile of boulders that we had to negotiate to the top. I finally started feeling a little better a few minutes before the summit and Josh was surprised that we were actually there. The summit of Gilbert really is isn't all that great. It is just a really big pile of flat rocks with a little rock shelter right at the top. We stopped for a break and snapped a few pics and then started the tedious slog back down to the chute that would take us back into the Henry's Fork meadow. It seemed to go on forever and both of us ran out of water. Luckily when we found the chute there was a spring flowing in the rocks and we took another break to fill our water and cool off. It was awesome.

We made good time down the chute, although both of us tweaked/banged our ankles on the rocks and a few curse words were said for sure. At the bottom we stopped again to dump sand from our shoes and I ate a bean and cheese burrito. The first half of it tasted amazing, but toward the end my tummy started to protest. Back on the trail and back into a running pace to Gunsight Pass. We stopped just below the pass so Josh could fill one of his bottles in the spring there and it wasn't running very well. We noticed that there was a large black cloud now over Gilbert and moving south toward East Gunsight and also the pass. I was a little worried and as we made our way up the switchbacks it only got larger and darker. Uh oh. Just below the pass Boooom. Rumble. Thunder. Shiiiit! We stopped to assess the situation. We figured we would wait a few minutes to see if this would burn off, but the clouds continued to build and we heard a few more shots of thunder. After about 20 minutes we both realized we were probably done. I did not want to get caught up on the plateau or on the Kings summit ridge in a storm. That would be terrifying. We waited another 25 minutes and finally decided we were done. Well, that blows. We were both feeling solid and would have made it for sure, so we were pretty bummed. We hiked back down off the switchbacks to get our legs back and then slowly ran back to Dollar Lake.

The clouds only got darker and there were several booms of thunder. It also started to rain and it would rain off and on the rest of the way back. We took our time and stopped several times to take shelter under trees from the rain. Back at Elk Horn crossing it was wet and there were several groups of hikers that all seemed rather impressed that we were running. A few of them asked us what we were doing and couldn't believe it. The run back from Elk Horn to the trailhead is and always will be the worst 5 miles of running anywhere. By then your feet and legs are trashed and the rocks are everywhere and the trail goes on forever!!! It is hell. We passed everal groups of hikers that were on their way back to the trailhead and one guy called us "showoffs", so naturally we picked up our pace and powered up a large hill. We kept it up for a few more minutes passing another group before we stopped for a quick break.

With just under two miles to go Craig finally caught up to us and he looked fresh and was moving well. We ran with him for a while but neither of us were in the mood to push the pace at all, so we backed it off again and he pulled away. At the finish Craig looked amazingly good and it was pretty awesome that he got back the FKT. We were bummed that we didn't get the Triple Crown, but I still had one of the most fun days of the year running with Josh in an incredible place. The thought of returning to do Gilbert again is not a pleasant one, so I'm not sure if I will ever attempt the TC again. It has to be the worst mountain I have ever climbed. For only doing 25 miles I was pretty wrecked. This terrain and the altitude beat you up like nothing else. It is unreal. I feel like I just ran 50 miles. Congrats again to Craig. What he did out there is pretty incredible. I'll post up some pics later.

Wasatch Ridge Running:


This last Friday I ran to the summit of Timpanogos with Craig and Matt Williams. We left at 9pm and hit the summit in 2:08 which is a pretty decent time considering we weren't pushing it too hard. It was awesome up there. That was my 53rd peak of the year so far and I am on pace to shatter my goal of 75 peaks for the year and I should easily pass last year’s total of 78.


Last Thursday the crew (Craig Josh and Mark) met at 4:30 am to do a fun ridge run above Snowbird. It was a total blast.

Sugarloaf, Baldy, Hidden, AF Twins and Red stack peaks with Craig Josh and Mark:

I think this was the best pre-work run of the year so far. Up at 3:30 to meet the guys at the LCC park n ride at 4:30. We took two cars and left one at Snowbird and then jumped into Craig's and drove to the lower Albion Basin road where we parked and started. As soon as we got out of the car we could smell smoke and it was pretty thick for the first few miles. I felt like I was back at the Ritz dance club smoking cloves circa 1990. My stomach felt like crap and we were all moving slow. At the Catherine Pass trailhead I stopped for a quick break and that seemed to help my stomach, but it didn't settle completely for about an hour. We slogged up to the top of the Apline ridge where we were greeted by the standard wind slap in the face. A few more minutes and we topped out on the first summit of the day (Sugarloaf).

After a quick break we ran the ridge over to Baldy where we stopped again and had a break. I downed a gel and then we ran over to Hidden Peak. I love this ridge! It is one of the most scenic places in the Wasatch. At the top of Hidden Peak we could see the next objective, the two summits of American Fork Twin peaks, the high point in Salt Lake County. The ridge over to AF Twins is a bit sketchy with some scrambling and Jsh decided to head down the road while we continued on the ridge.

I really loved the scrambling across the ridge, but it did slow us down a lot while we negotiated a few precarious spots. Incredible! I'll post some pictures later. After the spicy section it is a scramble up some loose rock and boulders to the top of the east twin. Another sweet view and out 4th peak over 11K for the day. Does it get any better? We ran over and tagged the west twin and then negotiated the ridge over to Red Stack Peak where we took another break.

The descent off of Red Stack is horrendous! Steep, boulders and nothing resembling a trail. It sucked, but after that we picked up the dirt road above the Gad Valley lift and ran it in back to Snowbird. Awesome!

Wahsatch Steeplechase:

The Wahsatch Steeplechase has to be one of the most unique race courses in the state of Utah. It is steep, rugged and challenging and I was really excited to run it. The race starts in Memory Grove and climbs 7.5 miles with over 4,000 ft. of elevation to the summit of Little Black Mountain. From there it is a wicked downhill on some steep technical trails to City Creek Canyon below and then back to Memory Grove. I arrived at the start, got checked in and then hung out for about 30 minutes trying to get loose. It was already warm and I was glad I had on my hydration vest. I chatted with Dan Gardiner for a few minutes while we waited for the gun and I knew he was going to have a great race. My goal was to go under 3 hours, but I knew I would have to run a perfect race to do it and with the warm temps I was getting worried.

My goal was to keep a strong pace all the way to the summit and then really push it on the back half if I was feeling good. I went out pretty fast at the start, but there was a large group that went out really fast and I hung back a bit knowing that there were plenty of steep tough miles ahead. Within a mile I was already passing guys that were walking that had gone out too fast. After about a mile the crowds thinned out some and for the next 2-3 miles I was running with the same group. I was feeling really good so far and really enjoying the run. I didn't hike at all until the first aid station at the bottom of the Pipeline hill where I took a gel and S-cap as I hiked up the steep slope. At the top I picked up a solid run and held it most of the way to the base of Little Black Mountain. During this section I passed 7-8 runners, but I was also passed by a few dudes that were running pretty fast. I wondered if they could keep up the pace.

At the base of Little Black the trail becomes extremely steep and it is almost a necessity to settle into a hike. I was in a group with about 5 other guys and we just pushed it up about as fast as we could hike, but about 3/4 of the way up I passed 3 of them on a very steep slope. As we crested the ridge I got back into a run and was surprised to see so many people still hiking. The ridge is not an easy run. It is craggy with a lot of rocks and I passed a few more guys on my way to the 'climbing' section. Jun told me that in order to go under 3 hours I would have to be on the summit in 1:45 and as I reached the downclimbing sections just off the summit I was right there at 1:45.

There are two pretty steep down climbs that require the use of both hands and feet and the race website rates them at 5.4, but I would say they are solid 4th class, but not too bad. When I got to the first of these two down climbs there was a small queue of people backed up because a girl was frozen on the climb and wouldn't move. One of the guys behind her started to coach her down and a race volunteer was there trying to help her with her foot placements down below, but she just wouldn't go. It was so frustrating as the minutes clicked by and I couldn't do anything but stand there. Finally she made it down, but then proceeded to not move out of the way and ran to the next down climb where she got stuck again. When it was my turn I quickly found a foot and hand hold and jumped down within a few seconds, but I realized I was going to be stuck again and had to wait for a few more minutes again as the she tried to get down the second climb. Luckily it wasn't as long as the first, but she still didn't step aside and allow anyone to pass, so I made a slightly sketchy move to get around her as she was still blocking the path on the ridge and moving slow. I can understand that she wasn't comfortable on the terrain and don't have a problem with that, but she should have stepped aside after the first downclimb to allow the 10ish runners to go by that had been waiting for her.

The rest of the ridge is fairly technical, so I took it easy, but still passed 4-5 runners on my way down to Smugglers Gap. I pushed it faster than I normally would on a training run, but still didn't get out of control or move too fast because there were a lot of rocks and roots and the trail was steep going down to Smugglers. At SG aid I pulled off my hydration vest as I ran up to the table and quickly opened up my bladder to get some water. The volunteers said I couldn't take too much, so I had them put in about 15 ounces and I hurried to get my vest back on and started the run down on the Smugglers Gap trail. I was now alone for the first time during the race and I ran for at least a mile by myself. Again I ran faster than I normally would have, but still stayed in control because the trail is a bit sketchy in places.

After about a mile I saw 3-4 runners ahead and within a few minutes I had passed them. I don't usually pass anyone going downhill, but I was feeling really good. At the bottom there was another aid station and I drank a cup of water and one of Nuun and grabbed a gel as I started to run down the canyon. As I took the gel a pretty fast runner passed me, but I was running a 7:20 pace and didn't want to push it under 7, so I just tried to keep that pace and knew I could do it for the 5+ miles to the finish. My hamstring has been bothering me for the last 4 months and it felt pretty good until this last section. It was pretty sore and my legs were feeling it from the climb up to Little Black, but it never got too bad.

At about mile 12 a girl and guy caught up to me and the 3 of us paced together all the way to the finish. We took turns leading, but we stayed together most of the way back. It was really good to have someone to help push the pace because my legs were really feeling wrecked the last few miles and it was getting hot. I ran out of water with about 3 miles to go and the only thing I drank was a small cup of water at the last aid station. My two new friends didn't stop, so I had to pick it up a bit to catch back up. When we were on the canyon road we were running a solid 7:20 pace, but when we got back onto the trail it was tougher to keep that up and we went over an 8:00 pace for the first time since getting off of the Smugglers trail.

With about a mile to go I was feeling really good, so I picked up the pace and dropped my two pacing friends. I had been passed by a couple of guys and I was trying to finish strong. I ran a high 6, low 7 pace to the finish passing one more guy about 100 meters from the end. I finished in 3:05 which was 5 minutes slower than I had hoped, but I was happy with my race because I pushed it as hard as I could have and felt like I ran the best race that I had in me. I maybe could have pushed it harder on the way up, but I might have blown up on the way down. I guess I need more experience with knowing just how much I can push in these races, but I do know that I gave a solid effort and I am happy with the result. I have no idea what place I came in because I haven't seen the results yet. This is an incredible race and I hope to do it again next year.