I'll get to the why in a second, but just enjoy the worst picture of me ever taken.
This course is 100 miles, has 6 major climbs from the valley floor to the top of the Mogollon Rim, and over 16,000 feet of climbing.
Mile 40 - completed 4 climbs and was feeling like death
Mile 90 - funny thing is this below picture was taken 12 hours later and at mile 90 after being on my feet for 24 hours. I'm finishing up my last climb and enjoying being done with most of my climbs.
Here's why:
The happiest adults I know can suffer
The ones who try to avoid pain end up so obsessed about every little detail, they worry and stress their lives away because they can't deal with the discomfort that comes from a small thing going wrong. The adults who can endure discomfort don't mind when something small doesn't go their way, they deal with the small stuff and keep it small. When you can't deal with discomfort, just getting through the day will feel enormous and hard.
Our brains aren't wired to live in the modern world. We're some of the first humans who don't have to worry about where our meals come from. Historically, we needed minds that would look at a full belly, warm fire and say that's not enough I need to go get more. Our minds would make up discomfort to get us to leave the safety of our cave and the warmth of our fire. That wiring doesn't work well in the modern world.
If we don't do hard things, our mind will make up hard things. You know this. You've seen people who have great lives who imagine everything is hard.
So, I do hard things so my mind doesn't make up hard things. I do hard things so the small things seem easier. Plus, I like being outdoors.
I set out to do this adventure at the start of 2023. I've been running for years, and had doing a 100 on the bucket list. I turned 40 and figured I'm getting closer to the bucket. Might as well do it now. I was coming off a really good training block, and decided to click buy on the race entry.
After almost 100 training runs, 7 months of effort, and 700 miles of training runs, the weekend had come.
I asked several good friends to help me in my effort.
Matt was the crew chef who would drive everyone everywhere, know all the stops, and have everything I could possibly need. He's the one who would be there at 1 AM to put ice in my pack or to give me a jacket. He was ready for anything.
Kevin was my first pacer who'd watch out for me from mile 45 to 60 who had the "Runnable" section. This would be laughably false course description, but we'll get to that later.
Bridgit was my rock on mile 60 to 80. She's the one who had the overnight shift and would get me to sunrise and through endless rolling hills and 1 massive climb. This section is just relentlessly uphill and hard.
Kirk's job was to get me home. We had scouted out the last 2 climbs before and the last climb kicked his butt in training, so we named it "Kirk's Revenge." His job was to get revenge on this climb and get me home.
We met up and reviewed the final strategy before work
Lily had written motivational notes on my gels, peanut butter, and protein drinks.
I got a campsite near the startline so we didn't have to spend much time in the car on race morning. We got there nice and early Friday afternoon and just spend time off my feet. Bethany had a new inflatable mattress she was testing out. It didn't work great, but it was a good idea!
Race morning Bethany dropped me off at the start line at 5:30 AM and I was ready to go.
I even met the Monster.
This race is no joke, and they sent you scary emails telling you about how you're on your own once you start.
When i saw Matt and Bethany at the first stop, it was a quick refresher to get moving again. it's such a mental boost to see friends and have a quick drink and get some more ice. It was hot and keeping cool was my major goal.
Lily took the time to write 20 motivational slogans on my gels. These helped me so much. One of them made me tear up and almost break down crying on the side of the trail. Her love meant so much to me.
The views and the terrain on this course don't translate to the blog. It's epic, vertical nature is just unmatched in anything I've ever done.
This is the trail and uphill. There is 1 mile that gains over 1,300 feet and took me 41 minutes of max effort to hike up. The climbs would have 4 or 5 miles of uphill then the last mile would be straight up.
Bethany had a little extra energy
Sometimes it was great to lookup and see where I'm going, sometimes it was best to keep my eyes down. But, I saw a rainbow.
I'm not crying, you are. It said, "You're the best and I love you." I had run so much part of it rubbed off.
At the top of climb 4, after 40 miles, I stopped for a minute to watch the sunset. It took so much effort to get to this point. I was so excited to see the sun go down on my first day and get into night mode. I was hoping the course would get "flatter" and easier for the night. I was kinda right and kinda wrong.
This picture is the top of "Myrtle" and the home of the worst picture ever taken of me. It had been 3 hours since the last aid station, and I was tired. This aid station was like a triage center, guys were getting IVs, calling for rides home, and staring blankly at their cups of soup while shivering under blankets. I had paced myself appropriately, so I wasn't as bad as they were.
After this section, I had to cover a quick 5 miles to get to Kevin and my first pacer. I was so excited because it was getting dark, I didn't have a headlamp (mine was with Matt and Kevin and I didn't think it'd take that long to get up Myrtle). So, I barrowed a headlamp from a paramedic and left it at the next aid station.
The night shift was awesome. Kevin's section was labeled as "runnable" and "where you can make up some time." That was a bold face lie. It ended up being up and down a river valley where we had to craw on all 4s at one spot. I mean it wasn't as brutal as the 4 climbs I'd just done, but in the dark, after 50 miles, it wasn't a quick trail. There were about 30 people who dropped out on this section because they weren't expecting it to be so hard. That's where having Kevin was so helpful.
At 2 AM or so Bridget, Matt, and Bethany were there to pick me up and dust me off. I knew once I made it to Bridget she'd get me to Kirk. Mainly because the handoff point was within 100 feet of the cliffs edge and it was straight down from the moment was started, so there were no other options than keep going forward.
Bridget was a rock. Just solid. The trail had to be re-routed because of a fire and it turned out to be an extra 2 miles to an aid station. That doesn't seem like much, but at 4AM, I was really looking forward to getting a coke and sitting down, those extra 2 miles were a little much.
We made it up climb #5 a little after sunrise and I was feeling really good about getting ready to take on Kirk's revenge!
Kirk and I were off on the last 20 miles of the journey with the last, and steepest climb, left to go.
This hill is the final climb from the bottom up to the top. During training, it gave Kirk heat stroke and a really bad day. So, we named it Kirk's revenge and took off down it ready to do some work for the last time.
It felt so good to get to the top and get back to the car to take my shoes off and change my socks! Matt was there with Bethany and Bridget hangout to see me get to the top for 1 final time.
It's the small joys in life that keep you moving. A fresh par of socks and shoes are amazing.
We took off ready for the "last" part. Little did we know the trail had been re-routed and we'd have an extra 3 miles to do. But, that wasn't heavy on us, yet...
After 4 hours of descending the hill, telling Kirk to set a hard pace and me staring at his shoes for 55 minutes without talking (he timed it), we got to the trail to take us down.
This trail had just been redone, and it had endless switchbacks that went on for ever. My GPS was saying 100 miles already, and we still had 1 aid station to go.
I was ready to be done at this point, but Kirk kept me moving to the last aid station where my family surprised me. They even brought tons of my friends with them!!
I filled up my water, got a popcycle, and hugs from everyone to take off for the last 2.5 miles to the finish.
Joe had all the kids in the back of the pickup and they drove next to me cheering and singing songs.
This was the easiest 2.5 miles of my life. I hadn't felt pavement in 30+ hours. Running on the road was a joke. So easy!
We saw the turned for the finish line, and we turned for it!
And, it was done! I spiked my poles in celebration and got hugs from everyone!!
Afterwards, I gave Lily a big hug and told her how much her notes had meant to me. She stayed up late writing them and they just meant the world to me!
After that, we headed back to the cabin to relax and go to bed. I felt surprisingly good and woke up the next day not too bad. It felt nice to sit, but I had felt worse after some training runs other times.
The Elk are like bunnies in Pine, they just are everywhere
The next 2 weeks saw me needing more naps than usual, but now that it's a month later, I'm 110% and feel better than I ever had. I did it!
