I am going to call these miles threshold miles, they were not fast miles but they were HARD MILES. In the trail running world they would be considered MARATHON MILES.
After my run on Saturday morning I had to get home and get ready to go and help my friend Dan M with his Wasatch 100 Endurance Run. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself after watching the 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning and wishing that I could have ran the race, especially after reading everybody's race reports. How ever Saturday after noon I was not feeling sorry for myself any more. I realized how important this race was to Dan and I was glad to be a part of it.
I dropped Dan's wife off at Big Mountain Pass and she ran 14 miles with him to Lambs Canyon, for there Bryan B ran with Dan to Mill Creek, I was going to pace Dan from Brighton to the finish, but when Dan hit Mile 60 at Mill Creek he asked if I wanted to run the rest of the way!!! I hadn't slept since Saturday at 5 am and I know what an additional 15 miles in the mountains can do to the body. Dan was feeling nautios and needed some extra encouragement so I quickly said sure with out any hesitation when he asked. It was 38 degrees when we started running from Mill Creek, but the night was calm no wind and the sky was so clear.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
From the Mill Creek Aid station we had about 5 miles to Desolation Lake Aid Station, it was so awesome to be hiking on a mountain trail at night with a head lamp on and watching flashlights in front of you and behind you on the trail They also had glow sticks hanging from the trees so that you could stay on course it was such an awesome feeling. We passed several people and then the same people would pass you. It is not possible to drive to Desolation Lake, so at this aid station the support crew has to back pack everything in. Baked potatoes, noodles, spaghetti, coke, water, Gatorade, pretzels etc..... They are the nicest people and so willing to help, tape feet, pop blisters, and wash your feet you name it. My job as a pacer was to make sure that he didn’t go to fast or to slow, but most important to make sure that he ate and drank. We make it to Desolation at 12:37 am, we make this a long stop still trying to get rid of Dan's nausea in his stomach, we also wait for a friend that was with us, his knee was in bad shape, he makes it to the stop but looks really bad. We check out of Desolation at 1:03 am.
Next Stop SCOTT'S PASS 4 miles...
Dan was finally starting to feel better, he at a bunch of pretzels along the way and ate 2 extra GU's along this route along with some accelerade. When we hit Scott's Pass Dan wanted to make it a short stop so that he could get to Brighton and take a longer stop there. I am feeling great still and am very glad that I am a part of this whole crazy adventure.
Next STOP BRIGHTON 5 miles
This was a good down hill section, rocky but down hill. We hit asphalt with 3 miles to go to Brighton I tried talking him into running my marathon pace for 3 miles on the asphalt; he said I could try :) We were very happy to finally hit Brighton, his wife was there waiting for him, he changed his shoes and got some good calories in him and then it were off to Ant Knolls Aid Station.
Next Stop ANT KNOLL'S 5 miles.
When you leave Brighton you have a 3 mile climb to get to the top of Katheryn's Pass, it is a 2,000' climb in about 3 miles. This is the second steepest climb on the course; we passed a lot of people along this portion of the trail. When we finally hit the top my watched read 10,240 in elevation, the sky was so clear and we could see down in to Salt Lake and we could even see in to Heber and Park City, they call that portion of the trail Lovers Ridge? We then had a 2 mile drop into the next aid station. We hit Ant Knoll's at 4:23 am, we needed to get some good food into Dan at this Station, from here we hit the 3rd steepest part of the race. THE GRUNT!!! It is a 3 mile climb of switch backs and loose terrain.
Next Stop POLE LINE PASS 3 miles
From Ant Knolls to Pole line is a short distance to aid stations, mainly because of the climb up, at this aid station there are several runners sleeping, not sure if they are just resting or if they had dropped out of the race? Dan is tired and is ready for the sun to come up. After a while it becomes quite annoying looking down at the ground with a flashlight, and after 83 miles I am sure even the most little things become very annoying. I also wanted the sun to come out; Dan was needing something to give him a boost of energy. I had now been awake for 24+ hours and on mile 23 of this race not counting the 15 that I ran with Kellie Saturday morning. I was still feeling great and was on such a high that I could be part of such a great race.
Next Stop ROCK SPRINGS 5 miles
We hit Rock Springs at 6:55 am, this is another aid station where they back pack everything in, the water comes from a Spring, so they don't have to pack water but they do have to pack all of the food. When the sun finally came up we had just come around Point Supreme, you are at about 9,000+ feet in elevation and you are looking right at the back side of Timp, and down into Alpine. This was a huge energy boost for Dan, it was light, the scenery was absolutely breath taking and he was getting closer to the 90 mile range. We had to stop and snap a bunch of pictures; Dan made a quick potty break here. We made a quick stop at the aid station Mile 87, 3 miles from hitting the 90 mile mark.
Next Stop POT BOTTOM - Last and FINAL AID STATION 6 miles
When we left Rock Springs we had some SERIOUS DOWN HILL, the first of the 2 is called the PLUNGE, it is a 2 mile down hill, loose rocks, it is hard to even stop yourself from running to fast. I made sure that Dan was staying balanced in his run, making sure he didn't fall and get hurt. My quads and hips were now starting to ache, 33 miles and had now been awake for 27 hours. I can't even imagine how Dan's legs were feeling, he was still talking and joking around but was ready to be done. The next down hill section is called the DIVE, this was a little better than the plunge, not as rocky and not as steep, Dan ran great through this section great, after the plunge you have 7 rollers until you get to Pot Bottom, we would run down the down hill and the walk up the up hills. We passed 4 runners along this section, I think that we passed 15 runners from Brighton and we never got passed once after we left Brighton. I made mention of that to Dan so that he would have a good mental boost to run strong in to the last aid station. My Garmin had been on for almost 11 hours, it ran out right before the aid station. 32.5 miles or 11 hours is about how long the battery is good for, I have never ran the battery dry on one run. Dan had a fresh watch from Brighton so we still had a watch to help us with the mileage. When we hit pot bottom we told Dan to eat what ever sounded good to him, he only had 7 miles left so he was going to make, he just needed to eat what ever made him feel good at that time. He was tired and really wanted to be done. We left Pot Bottom at 8:43 am, I wanted Dan to finish under 30 hours, there are not a lot of people that can say that they ran 100 miles in less that 30 hours.
Next Stop The HOMESTEAD "THE FINISH LINE" 7 miles
We had a 2 mile walk up a dirt road before we peeled of onto a single track trail for 4 miles and then there would be 1 mile of asphalt to the finish line. We walked for a mile and the surprisingly Dan asked if he could run up hill for the last mile??? I said sure, if you feel like, I could not believe that after 94 miles a person would want to run up hill. At this point of the race I felt very honored and blessed to be able to do the things in my life. I was so glad that Dan had got me into running 18 months ago, Dan use to run marathons, he was very fast and always finished in the top of his age group. He has completed several tri's and has completed 3 Iron Man's. He is so mentally, physically and spiritually strong. There were several time prior to this race that I was worried about getting injured for St. George, Dan also made mention several times that I needed to be careful so that I wouldn't injure myself for my own race. Dan is not selfish at all, last year I asked him at least 20 questions a week about running, I know that is why I have been able to accomplish the things in my running career that I have to this date. At one point in this race I said, this will either help me hit a 2:50 at St. George or it won't. I laughed and said it doesn't really matter; we just needed to get HIM in under 30 hours.
THE FINISH
We hit the asphalt and his wife and boy were there waiting for him, Evan my son was there waiting for me. Dan ran the 6 of the last 7 miles; I could not believe that he could still do that. I learned and gained a lot of mental toughness today, the thoughts of Boston kept coming back to me during this last 7 miles. I remember how bad my leg hurt for the last 5 miles of Boston and how bad it hurt to keep running. I could ne imagine how Dan's legs felt at this point. It was so cool to watch his family finish with him, it is not like a normal race where you are so worried about the clock, the mileage being right, it was all about finishing the task at hand. Dan finished the race and came in 44th place over all, out of 264 runners that started the race. I think that there were less than 50 that finished under 30hrs. I will never complain about being sore and in pain for 5 miles ever again. | 