Like the canyon

6 miles on the trails in the dark.  Legs still worked a bit from Monday's effort. 

Blahhh! Felt like garbage all day.  Chest congestion, tired, achey.  Thought it might be a cold, but pollen counts are way up on grass and weeds, both are toxic for my allergies.  So not sure what's up.  Set out on a run with good intentions, got about a half mile out, turned around went home and went to bed.  1 mile. :-)  Slept 10 hours, feeling a little better. 

Still feeling really low energy and congested.  Seems having a cold is a pretty common theme on a few blogs this week.  I'll accept that may be what's going on with me, though allergies are most likely. 

Got out tonight for what I wanted to be a moderate to tempo paced run.  Legs weren't there at all.  Am I still feeling it from Monday's hard effort?? or is it this funk?? The way I have felt this week I'm starting to think the red-line effort on Monday may have been too much.  I feel  like I have been right at my body's recovery limit in this training cycle (especially when combined with very long and stressful work days) and Monday may have pushed it over a little. One thing I know it did was aggravate my knee a bit.  It's felt a little tweaky all week (pops a lot, some pain).  I know it will calm down in a few days. 

7 miles easy to moderate pace, 750 vert. 

My half-arsed training plan for this 100 mile run coming up was to back off a bit on the mileage the last few weeks and work on power and speed a bit to cap off the endurance base and speed up the slow legs with a little faster running.  Given that, I wasn't planning a big mileage run today, but wanted to run a moderate distance a little faster than normal.  With the funk I've had all week, I wasn't sure either was a possibilty going into the run.

The plan Friday night was to run Ben Lomond, just out and back to the peak, from the pass and try to PR the route.  I haven't really run that trail hard all year as usually I'm combining it with a longer run, or have felt crappy and tired going into it.  Like I said, the funk (cold or allergies) has left me feeling low energy and crummy all week, it was still hanging around on Saturday morning so I had no idea what to expect.   

Starting the watch at the trailhead, I decided not to look at it until the place I ususally to a split check, at the first switchback overlooking Ogden Valley. The plan was to run a what felt like a moderate to hardish pace to there and check my split to see where I was at. Sometimes when I feel crummy what feels like a fast pace is actually slow so I was happy to see I was 3 minutes up on what is my normal moderate pace at the check. Just before the overlook, I could see a guy run/powerhiking a half mile or so in front of me, and decided to use him to push me over the top of the switchback section by being determined to pass him before he topped out.  I actually caught and passed him much more quickly than I expected and topped out the switch back section another 1:30 ahead.  My next split is the last switchback befroe the trail crosses to the West side of the ridge.  50 minutes is ususally a good time for me to here, today it was under 46 minutes. Funny, I passed two guys hiking here, and one of them asked if I was going for a 2:30 round trip? Kinda funny 'cause that's exactly the number I had in mind.  I said I hoped so. 

I hit the saddle before the last climb at 1:05, passing another couple of hikers here.  Started up the last climb and the wheels started coming off.  The last switchbacks turned into a staggering red-lined combo of run/shuffle/hike/run/shuffle/hike/try-not-to pass-out suffer fest. I couldn't breathe at all, I felt like I was at 12-13,000 feet not 10,000.  The congestion in my chest was still lingeing just enough that I couldn't catch my breath.  I was seeing stars as I appraoched the last couple hundred feet of climbing, but my watch was ticking close to 1:30 and I really wanted to get there at or under 1:30.  I staggered and weezed up the last little grunt to the peak, passing a couple of, now frightened at the sight a of guy who looks like he might die, kids in the process.  I grabbed the summit register box to keep from falling over, looked at my watch, 1:30:15, close enough and a huge PR.  I open the register, stuck my head inside for few seconds (probably looked like I threw up in there to those poor kids) no reigister book still (note: take one up next time) .  Caught a couple of breaths, turned and headed down, passing the startled parents of the startled kids on the way down. 

I left the peak at 1:32, I tried to calculate in my foggy head if 2:30 was possible, couldn't do it, tried to remeber if I had run the down in under an hour, couldn't do it.  I leaned downhill, let gravity pull me and tried to keep my feet under me.  Looking at my mile splits after the run, its funny how they go straight down in time from 8:35 in the first to 7:10 on the last, each mile getting faster on the way down. The descent went by fast. It was fun to re-passs all those I ran by going up.  Power hike/run guy was shocked that I had been to the peak and back already, 2:30 time guy, gave me a good cheer and some encouraging words.   

I hit the end of the trail in 2:31.  Ahhhrrr! so close.  I'll take it though, a huge PR for me.  I felt really solid coming down and felt pretty strong the whole run except the last climb.  That's 2 huge PR's this week.  I'm really happy with where I am at overall.  A little more speed work next week, combined with one or two longish runs and it'll be a slow coast to the Bear 100 start line. 

Run stat's 15.65 miles, 3485 vert. 2:31

PR: for Malan's up and round trip and Ben Lomond this week! About 38 miles, 7500 vert or so. 

Easy 4 miles with a few strides mixed in (I think?).   Ha, don't know that I have ever posted that I did "strides" before, I think I know what those are?

Moderate paced and very unremarkable 9 miles below Snowbasin.  Bike race held on these trails a week-and-half ago left a mess.  Picked up 20-30 gu wrappers, pulled 2 plastic trail marker signs from the race, pulled dozens of flags (the wire kind with the pink flag on top and flagged trees).  C'mon people!! It's great to have a race on these trails, but sweep'em when you're done!

9 miles, 1250 vert, caught a toe on a rock or root at least 10 different times. (dropped a few sweet words about the 8th time!)

3 mile hike/jog with the dog.  Knee is sore from the clumsy runn'en yesterday.  I'll give a few days.

Got out for a good 7 miles tonight.  Body is starting to feel human agian after the hard efforts last week.  Actually running tonight rather than shuffling along. Amazing how long it takes to recover from an all out effort or two. Felt about 80% tonight, ran moderate with a few pick up's (fartlek) mixed in.  Had to put in the word "fartlek", another roadie word like "strides"that I don't really know what it means, but I figured Lilly might say "fartlek this" which I thought would be hilarious. :)

***NOTE TO ME** I think the mistake I made, which seems minor, was the couple of miles I logged running barefoot while shagging golf balls on the beach at Bear Lake on Sunday.  Usually this is my total decompression day, no physical activity, no stress, lots of rest.  A couple of miles in deep soft sand, while not a major workout, meant I didn't get the deep rest my body needed.  That and the Oreo shake, cheetos, Diet Coke o.d., chocolate chip cookies, bad Asian food on Saturday night, potato chips, and what ever other junk I could scrape up (Geeze now I'm sounding like a few brothers that hang out on this blog :) )

7 miles, 850 vert, moderate, knee tweaky, but not as bad

Last hard effort run before the Bear 100 in less than two weeks.  I have taken it pretty easy all week, felt flat from last week and my knee was tweaky from running like a clutz early in the week, which clumsiness was probably the result of feeling flat from the week before, funny how its all related.  I still managed some runs, though nothing approaching a harder effort. 

Plan today was to get a solid run up Lewis Peak, then take it easy on the way down.  Figured it would be some good vert and an hour or so tempo pace with a easy 45 minutes to finish.  Felt great up the initial climb, fully recovered legs, but still have the congestion going on a little.  PR pace to my first split at the end of the flattish section on top of the switchbacks, PR pace to the high point.  Wasn't really planning a PR run, but as I rounded the last corner to the peak, my watch was just over 57:00  (PR is 58:15) I gave it all I had up the last hill and pretty much dove to the top hitting stop at 58:10. PR! barely!  I was gasping for air though, gotta get past this slight cold in the next two weeks.  ( I'm sure its a cold now as the pollen counts are way down). Took it very easy on the down, taking almost as long to get back down as the up. 

This is the last hard effort before Bear. All running form here on out will be at a for fun pace.  Proabably just cruising with no watch and not too many miles, maybe a few pick up's here and there to remind my legs that they aren't on perma-vacation. 

Bear training is done!!!!  Lots of highs and lows over the last 6 weeks.  I really feel like I put in all I could given the amount of time I had available to train and the load my body would take. I am feeling strong, I have PR'd all of my usual test/training runs in the last week and a half. Everything feels healthy except my knee, but I know how to deal with that.  Just gotta recover and enjoy a few easy runs over then next 13 days. Trick is going to be believing in the work I have put in and knowing it will be there race day, even with the let up for the next two weeks.   

As for the Bear,  dead last or a strong finish, doesn't matter to me.  I'll take what my body has to give, and I'm going to ask it for 100%. 

Very enjoyable 3 miles on the bench right before dark.  Easy pace, no watch, quit while still wanting more miles, perfect.

9 miles on the Wheelers/ ice box/ etc trails late.  No watch, no music, no plan, just enjoying the change in seasons.  Crazy how fast the leaves are changing.  Had to switch on the lights at Art Nord, talked with a mountian biker most of the way down who was using my lights to see.  A few pick ups, 9 miles or so, 1700 vert or so.  Easy pace overall. 

11 miles around the trails below Snowbasin.  A few good pick ups, with a couple miles sub-7.  Legs feeling great, fresh, but a little sluggish.  One week to go!! Gotta remeber the race starts on Friday, doh!

Funny thing, I called a friend who had said she was interested in pacing part of the Bear to she if she would like to run a 15-20 mile section.  I aplogized for the short notice, she started rattling off all the things she would have to cancel, but said she was totally up for it and would be there for sure.  In my head I was thinking geeze you sure know your schedual well and are pretty booked if you know exactly what you have going and what to cancel a week in advance, but I didn't say anything to her.  I ended the conversation saying I would get with her with more details later and probably get her some stuff to bring for me.  We hung up and about five minutes later my phone rings and she asks what time the race starts tomorrow! Now that's a good friend and pacer.  She thought I was calling her at 6:00 PM the night before the race to pace me, and she said she could do it! wonder what went through her head when I said I'd get more details to her later?? Hilarious!

Very easy hike/run with the dog.  Ran into a couples of old friends who were coming down from Malan's.  Hadn't seen them in years so it was good to catch up.  3 miles or so.

Easy paced 11 miles part way up Ben Lomond trail and back.  Legs sluggish on the climb, felt good on the down. Most miles were sub 8:00.   Having a little shoe dilemma, been running in my Wildcats as they are what I am planning to wear at Bear, but I seem to run crazy clutzy in them.  Catching toes, tweaking knee, ect.  Bought some Inovate 320's last week, and have put some miles on them, but not crazy about the fit or feel.  I've run hunreds of miles in the Wildcat, I think it's the shoe, but need to pay better attention when running in them.

Spent a couple of hours reading Wasatch race reports and scaring the hell out of myself.  Seems like most of them go, "felt good to such and such mile, wheels came off, threw up lots, couldn't eat or drink for a while, finally came around and cruised to the finish" Holy sh**!!, Really?? Guess that's the deal with these things sometimes.  Whahoo!  Seriously, I'm a little freaked, but totally excited about this thing.  From my very first trail runs, 40 pounds heavier and a more than a few years ago, I remember running 5 miles in an hour or so, being totally cooked, and thinking, "all I have to do is that 20 more times and its a hundred miler!" Ha! Well, this is what its come to.

Ended up with about 36 miles this week and guessing 6500 vert or so. I feel totally recovered, maybe too much so, worried my legs are getting lazy :)  5 days! (beat you to it Jon)

Easy to moderate 5.5 on mellow grade trails.  Scared the living day lights out of a poor kid on Icebox.  Came up behind him while he was hiking behind what was probably his mom and dad . I thought for sure they had heard me say "trail" a couple of times, I even gave the obligatory throat clear a few times.  I got right behind him and said "trail" in a normal voice, not loud at all.  Poor kid had no idea I was there until he heard that . He jumped at least a foot in the air and climbed right onto his mom's back, literally.  He was about 10-12 years old, so he almost knocked his mom over.  I felt terriable and apologized as I ran by to the sound of his mom and dad giving him a tounge lashing for being a freak! Ha! 

Getting my stuff together for the Bear.  Like a freaking expedition.  I've traveled for a month with less crap I swear.  The calories are what is blowing my mind.  1000's. and 1000's.  Now if it was only chocolate cake or brownies instead of, you know, "fuel". Ready to roll! wish this thing started tomorrow, I'm bouncing off the walls!

This thing is a hundred miles long.

Short version:

Great race, better than expected, no major issues, great support by family and friends, will do it again.

Long version:

I am finally sitting down to write this thing and I don’t even know where to start.  What an incredible experience.   Going into this thing, I thought I might just be a “one and done” 100 mile runner.  You know, get it done, check it off the list , put it behind me and have more ”fun” running 50 mile and 50k type races.  I couldn’t really understand to allure of running multiple one hundred mile races, being out on course for a whole day and night or more, and the drama that always seems to go with the reports and stories of running that distance. 

Well, if this race was any indication, I think I have found my favorite distance. I absolutely enjoyed every step of the entire race.  There were significant highs and lows (more about that later) but overall, a completely positive experience.

I was a bit of a wreck in the weeks leading up to the start.  I was more nervous than usual  about the unknown.  I had run up to 50 miles, but never beyond, and I had no idea what waited for me in the night during the second half of the race.  I had been told all the horror stories of hallucinations, sickness, stomach shutting down, crazy hunger, sleepiness beyond anything experienced before and on and on.  Basically everything I had heard scared the hell out of me.  Interestingly, as race day approached my nerves started to relax to the point that standing in the dark at the starting line, listening to the countdown, I was totally calm and excited to get after it.   

The go was given and we were off into the night.  A couple of blocks on the road and we were on the dirt heading up Dry Canyon.  I could see FRBer Jon a few yards a head, and spent the first little bit running next to Tom, Corey, and Scott Jamie.  I didn’t realize it, but I guess Scott grew up in the Ogden area, so here we were a bunch of Ogden runners (3 with incredible talent and experience and one wannabe) laughing it up in the first couple of miles.  Pretty quick Scott took off, next Tom, and Corey and I stayed together all the way up Dry Canyon, talking with lots of other runners along the way.  The pace was very comfortable, just as it should have been. 

It seemed we reached Logan Peak aid very quickly.  Amazing how much easier that section felt at that easier pace than when I have done it  in the past during the Logan Peak race at full red-line pace.  Once we passed the Logan Peak aid, every step of the course would be new territory for me. 

Leaving the first aid, we enjoyed a nice gradual climb for a bit up a road through thick pines before cresting a saddle and starting the long descent into Leatham Hollow aid.  After some nasty descending on loose rocky road, the course split off onto absolutely perfect single track trough thick pines and aspens.  This was the best section of trail on the whole course.  I felt great and let it roll pretty good through this section catching and passing a few people, most of whom would catch and re-pass me in the next 19 hours or so.  It was in this section that I passed Davey moving well downhill. 

I pretty much blew through the Leatham aid.  I grabbed a banana and a hand full of watermelon, FRBer Cody said hi and told me Jon was just up the road, I said, ya right, just a couple of hours up the road.   There were about 8 of us leaving the aid at the same time and it turned into a bit of a footrace up the wide mellow grade road to Richard’s hollow.  It seemed one guy would speed up and we would all follow, on and on, until we were all probably running faster than we wanted to be. 

I was kind of frustrated with myself for getting caught up in that at that point.  I had told myself going into the start “my race, my pace.”  Mentally, I kept up the mantra that the only concern I had was the 30 feet in front of me and 1 foot behind me.  I didn’t care who was chasing and I wasn’t going to run a pace faster than what I thought was conservative no matter what was going on in front of me.   

I got through Richard’s Hollow pretty quick, taking a minute to say hello to the Moore family who I spent the day with last year helping out at the same aid station.   The climb up to the 4^th aid station, Cowley, was getting pretty hot and I hit my first low point here.  The trail was great and canyon we were in were stunning, but my energy was low and I couldn’t seem to get moving as quickly as I liked.  I had been running with a couple of guys and they were good company, but as I waivered they pulled away and I was alone for the first time in the race.  I stepped off the trail to take care of business (the standing kind, clear as water by the way) and just as I got back on the trail and going again the first girl came barreling by.  I looked up as she went past and could see the determination and work on her face.  It was exactly what I needed.  It snapped me out of my lazy low spot and I jumped in behind her and let her pull my up the trail.  Within a few minutes I was feeling great again.  She asked if I wanted to pass, I told her no her pace was perfect, and that I appreciated the lift.  Within a mile or so we caught and passed the group I had been with.  We crested the long climb out of Richard’s hollow much more quickly than I thought we would and endured another boring, but smooth dirt road descent into Cowley aid. 

I pulled into Cowley a good hour ahead of my estimated splits.  I was really hoping that my wife and friends were able to see on the live updates that I was ahead on my times so that I wouldn’t miss my buddy Melinda who would pace me from Right Hand fork to Tony Grove.  After pacing me, she then planned to spend the night as crew and company for my wife as they would follow us to each aid station that allowed crew beyond Tony Grove.  I was also concerned that I might miss my wife and 2^nd pacer Cody, a friend from Logan, at Tony Grove.  I told them 6:00 at the earliest, but was looking like I might be there between 5:00 and 5:30.  As it worked out, Melinda was literally walking up the aid station table just as I came into Right Hand Fork.  Perfect.

We grabbed my drop bag and took off.  About a mile up the trail, I realized I had left my S-Caps in my drop bag at the aid station, and had no extras on me.  I was hot and I was fighting a few cramps and testy stomach already.  My awesome pacer volunteered to run back and pick them up while I went ahead.   I continued on slower, so that she would be able catch up quickly.  I stopped for a minute at the creek and soaked my shirt which helped.  A half hour or so had gone by and nothing.  I hoped all was o.k.  Just then I noticed something on the trail in front of me, a package of 6 S-Caps, pretty much sealed, that somebody had dropped.  I guess if we had just trusted in fate she wouldn’t have had to go back.   Eventually she came back up the trail, but was pretty beat from having to run so hard to get down to the aid and catch back up. We enjoyed a nice fast paced run down into Temple Fork.  A quick thanks to Brian K for pointing out the tricky right hand turn onto single track off of the Temple Fork dirt road.  Might have missed that, thanks.

Poor Melinda was trashed when we got to Temple from having to run flat out for probably nine miles so she elected to get a ride up to Tony.  I settled into the second longest climb on the course, from Temple to Tony Grove, about 2600 ft in 5.5 miles or so.  I knew it was going to be a grind, and it was, thankfully most of it was in the shade and all of it was beautiful.  A few false summits later I found myself running nice single track downhill through the pines and over to Tony Grove lake.   My buddy Cody, was waiting for me at the lake and ran with me the last ½ mile or so into the aid.  As we approached the parking lot I could hear my sweet wife and Melinda cheering loudly for us, a welcome sound that would lift my spirits over and over again for the next 14 hours. 

I changed shoes here, switching from my Wildcats to my Hoka’s.  When I took off my socks, my feet were pretty trashed.  I have never ever had any foot issues at all, not in long races, not in long training runs, heat, water, never an issue.  Leave it to my first 100 to have my first blister issues.  I spent way too long dealing with that and chatting with my wife.  Thankfully she kicked me out of there or I would have been there for who knows how long.

There is a short climb out of Tony Grove, and Cody and I took it pretty easy.  Chatting about the race up this point and being glad that I was way ahead of where I thought I would be which meant  we would be done earlier hopefully.  When we hit the long descent into Franklin Basin, I let it roll a bit and soon we were flying down perfect single track with stunning views in every direction.  The fall colors were really out up here.  We were clicking along at a sub 8 minute pace downhill which neither I nor Cody could believe that I had in me after 50 plus miles.  All good things come to an end though, and just before we got to the Franklin Basin aid I hit a bit of a low and we ended up walking the flatish section before the aid. 

We pulled into the aid station right at dark to the cheers and encouragement of my wife and Melinda.  I changed shirts into a long sleeve, grabbed my jacket and lights and sat down in a chair at the car to do inventory on my gear.  Again, it was so comfortable to sit and chat with my wife that it was hard to leave and we ended up spending way too much time stopped in the chair.  Which really, I’m o.k. with for this one.  My goal was to finish and to have a good time doing it.  I was alright being conservative and relaxing a little.  I know I could have shaved an hour off my time if I had been a little more efficient about this, but that’ll come next time, for this one it was more about getting to the finish than getting there particularly fast. Oh, and I had some hot chicken soup broth here, ohhh that hit the spot.

Leaving Franklin Basin, I was extremely cold.  I took a good ten minutes of uphill hiking to stop shivering.  I knew the next 20 miles or so were going to be the crux of the course.  Cody and I named the section between Franklin and Beaver Creek the three wicked witches, because if you look at the elevation, there are three climbs in a row that look like witch hats, pointy, straight up and straight down.  We were now rolling into the first of the three witches.  It was dark and my stomach felt horrible.  The thing I feared most coming into this was stomach issues.  I have to be really careful about what and when I eat even in shorter races. I had no idea how my gut would react after so much time and so many miles.  My legs were good, but we were crawling uphill because every time my heart rate would rise my stomach would get fowl right off the bat.   We saw lights coming up from behind and I said to Cody I’ll bet that’s Tom and Chad, even though I hadn’t seen them since passing them before the first aid station.  I knew Tom would be flying on the last half, and just had a feeling that was him.  We pulled over to pee and let them pass, and sure enough it was Tom and his dog followed by Chad and another guy.  Tom made some funny remark about going out too fast, I said ya, ya rookie mistake.  I could hear Tom yelling back at me for the next ten minutes even though he was well out of sight “come on Bryce, keep up!” “get up here” “you got it”.  Such a good guy, the encouragement really dug me out of that low and soon enough we running along again following the lights out in front of us.  The stomach issues would come and go throughout the night, but were never horrible, and I never puked!

We only got lost twice, and probably lost a good 30 minutes.  The first time was coming out of Logan River.  A lady told us to head down the road to a glow stick, turn left and cross the river.  Well we turned left at the glow stick, and after following several cow trails around in the sage brush figured out we turned too soon and made our way back to the road and down to the correct turn.  After crossing Logan River we had a great time on the gradual climb.  As we got higher the trees thinned out and we were able to turn out our lights cruise by the light of the huge full moon. It was awesome!  The second time was both coming into and leaving Beaver Lodge (another aid we spent way too much time in).  Just couldn’t find the right trail (it was poorly marked).  Thankfully Darcie G and her pacer bailed  us out on that one and we followed them and had a good time talking part way up the road to Gibson Basin.  I was feeling good and started to run again, telling Darcie and her pacer as we went by that I was sure we would see them again in a few minutes when this high spot wore off.  They cheered us on and told us to stay strong.  Gotta love the people that do these races.  

Gibson Basin was cold.  Like scary cold for me.  I was shivering uncontrollably as we walked out of the aid station, despite having drank a cup of hot broth and carrying another.  I couldn’t get warm.  My incredible pacer Cody, gave me his jacket to put over mine and encouraged me to run a bit harder to warm up.  Did the trick perfectly.   It’s unbelievable what an awesome job he did.  Made the whole race for me.  Kept me focused and moving when he needed to, pushed me just the right amount.  We had some great conversation.  He took care of all kinds of little things that made a huge difference, from holding my gloves when I needed my hands, to opening gels for me when my fingers wouldn’t work. To having very detailed course notes on him and a GPS with aid stations marked, and only telling me when we were very close to the aid stations, not saying we still have 4 miles to go (in fact refusing to tell me when I asked if we still had a long way to go), but instead waiting until we were close the saying, hey we’ll be there in ½ mile lets pick it up a but for this last stretch.   Having my wife out there also made a huge difference.  It was indescribable how great it felt to come into an aid station and have her there taking care of us.

It was hilarious to me how the mind goes out in the middle of the night.  I remember, not the exact numbers, but the conversation, saying to Cody, well we have been out 19 hours we probably have 8 left so we should get to the finish at 29 hours.  Him correcting my basic math mistake, and me arguing that 19 plus 8 is indeed 29, not 27.  And the hallucinations. Crazy.  The full moon made it worse I am sure, but I remember clearly seeing someone on the side of the trail several times and it always turned out to be nothing.  Tree shadows across the trail started to look like logs laying in the trail.  I swore I saw flagging on a tree off on a side trail and thought we missed a turn.  I argued with Cody a little on that one, pointing my light at nothing, saying, see it’s right there.  Him saying ummm, there’s nothing there.  I didn’t take any caffeine at all during the night for fear of getting sick, I’m sure that would have helped with the focus. Nothing too major, but a funny thing to look back on. 

Toward the end of the race, at Beaver Creek and Ranger Dip, I knew my time was going to be better than I expected so we took it easy a bit.  I sat by the fire for a few minutes at Ranger Dip, which was divine. Even leaving the last aid with less than 8 miles to go, I never let myself think I am going to finish.  I still was waiting for a wheel or two to come off, for something to go horribly wrong. I had really been conservative the whole race and I think because of that, nothing did, everything felt solid. Melinda joined Cody and I for the last stretch from Ranger Dip to the finish.  It was great to her along.  We all found a hiking stick and used them to help haul our corpses up and over the last nasty climb, Ranger Liftoff, the steepest hill on the course.  When we got to the top, the sky was brilliant orange and red and Bear Lake stretched out huge in front of us glowing in the twilight. It was absolutely stunning!  The daylight and site of the finish gave me a big lift and we started really pushing the last downhill.  We made great time, pushed up and over the last little grunt and we were on the final couple miles down groomed road to the finish.  As soon as we hit the road, it hit me.  I had it, I was going to finish and in great time, much better than expected.  We kept a good strong run all the way to the highway.  Once we made the turn and I could see the finish I made sure to consciously think about the moment, how great it felt and what it took to get there and how incredibly thankful I was for the support of everyone involved in getting me there.  As we rounded the corner into the park I could see two of my sisters had come up to see me finish and my wife all cheering loudly as we came through.  Hugs were exchanged a pictures taken.  It was early and there was nobody around really.  The 23 people who had finished in front of me were either sleeping or had left, so it was kinda nice having the place to ourselves.    

My sisters hung around for a bit but had to get home.  Cody and Melinda left with them so my wife and I had a great day being lazy and hanging out at the finish talking with other runners and their families. The people who run these things might be a small band of lunatics, but they are some of the best people I have ever met. 

The most inspiring moment of the entire race came just as we were walking to the car to leave.  It was 5:50, ten minutes to the cut off and we looked down the highway and could see a runner surrounded by people making their way to the finish.  They were going to make the cutoff, but it would be close.  All day, I and some of the other Ogden runners had been wondering about Ogden local Celeste C.  She has started a bunch 100 milers and has yet to finish.  She is a solid runner, she does all the races and can usually be counted on to finish, but has never been able to complete a 100, either missed time cutoff’s or dropped herself.  I know one year she got to mile 80 something at Wasatch and was stopped by not making a cutoff. Well, the runner coming down the road was Celeste.  She was running with Jim Thornberg, another Ogden local who finishes Wasatch every year, and her brother Mark C, who, like Jim, is a multiple Wasatch finisher.  Mark was freaking out, jumping around yelling “you got it!!” “it’s right there, you got it!!”  “you’ve made it!!” Celeste was bawling, Jim was even cracking a little.   I couldn’t help it, I ran over to the finish to watch her cross.  I don’t think anyone there had a dry eye. Unbelievable!   

Such a great race.  Perfect course, perfect time of year, put on by great people.  This thing will be a lotto entry like all the other good ones soon.  Do it while you can.