Epic Race! One that I will remember for quite a while. Where to begin? This run was to be the toughest/longest run of my life and it still lived up to both of those, barely. It is one that I have been planning on running since January 1st. It is a tough course with 13K+ feet of gain over ~52 miles. One of the toughest in the US. It turned out quite different than everyone expected. The weather forcast looked good with only a small amount of rain for the start. It turned out that the first 2 miles were the only 2 miles that were dry. Jon and I decided to stick together and help each other out until the final 1/3rd of the course and then it would be a war. We didn't get that chance. The rain grew in intensity over the first 8 miles of the course with the trail becoming a goopy mess where people were sliding all over the place. I was feeling great and keeping everything in check and pacing myself perfectly. We had a nice group of 4 runners and we passed the time chatting. The leaders were long gone as they flew right from the get go. No worries as I was not in it to win it. A quick stop to top off my hardly used water bottle at the first aid station (mile 8.5) and we were off climbing the first huge mountain. The rain was steady and the cloud over the mountain that we had to summit was not looking good. For the next 3 miles we climbed up 2000 feet with most of that over the last mile. The hike was brutal, but Jon and I had scouted it out a few weeks ago and knew what to expect. Good thing because we couldn't see 100 feet in front of us. The rain quickly turned to sleet/hail and the winds picked up to 30-40 mph (who knows?) It was bad! My hands were frozen and my face was unhappy, but I kept a steady pace up the hill. Jon, on the other hand was worse off. He was in a bad way and was saved (literally by someones extra jacket). He needed a little extra attention as it was questionable whether he would make it to the top and be able to descend the 5 miles to the aid station. After some time, it was clear he would make it and we descended out of the blizzard and into the rain. 3 hours on the nose to mile 17 aid station. Right on schedule in-spite of the horrible weather and sloppy trail. I quickly stripped off my wet shirt and put on a dry one and then put on Jon's dry one as he had decided to DNF at that point (don't blame him as he is lucky to be alive) . It took me a bit to get situated but 4 mins later I was heading back uphill and back into the same storm to summitt the mountain right next to the one we just went over. Smart? Nope. In-fact, only 30 mins after I left, they kept everyone else from leaving and doing was I was about to do. 5 miles of climbing from 4600' back to 7000'. It was slow but steady and it got progressively steeper and snowier as I went. By the top, there was 3-4 inches of fresh snow/sleet and the winds had not let up. It was over a mile exposed on the ridge until I could follow the trail down the other side. I quickly did the best I could to speed up that process and by doing so dropped the group of 5 or so runners I was with on the climb. The back side had less wind but no shortage of snow. It was a complete whiteout and I was luckily able to follow the tracks of those who went before me down. I was really starting to wonder about Scout Mountain (the final mountain the summit) as it is 1500' higher that the one I was on. Could I survive it. My body was feeling ok, I had energy, I had warm and dry clothes to change into before setting off. Would I do it or would I drop at the next aid station? I had 10 miles to mull it over as I splashed my way through endless mud and snow. There was no where to step that was not 4-6 inches of liquid mud. Whatever, I thought and continued on down the hill. I hit the next aid and as they filled my bottle, they said that they closed the course and are making people stop. Hmm, my decision just got easier. I decided I had better not save anything then since I only had 7 miles left so I picked it up and started chasing down people. Some were relay runners but I was clicking them off one at a time and was having a blast flying down the trail completely disregarding my safety. The trail was horrible and was so covered in mud/snow that I was sliding all over the place. I ran off trail, on trail, who knows where the trail is? It was crazy. About a mile from the aid station, a guy came hiking up the trail telling everyone that indeed the race is over. I put on more speed to catch the next guy but couldn't do it. I did get a final mile split of 6:41 as the snow turned to rain and started to finally let up. Figures. I finished 33.1 miles in 5:48:38 (10:31 ave) I am not sure of my place as everything was in chaos and they were more worried about people dying on the mountain than who finished in what order. I will post it once I know (maybe 11th?) *Post Edit: 10th Place Overall (4th in 30-40 age group)
I made my way back to my car and found out that Jon had gotten a ride from where he dropped to the car, but then proceeded to lock my keys in the running car. He was sure having a bad day. He had gotten it all resolved in time for me to arrive. I was quite covered in mud but quickly rinsed off and tried to warm up in some dry clothes. I was tired and glad I was not slogging through the snow once more to summit another mountain, but disappointed because I thought I could still make it. Another day I guess. I just hope everyone makes it off that mountain in one piece and with all limbs still working. T-5:48:38 (10:31) Ave hr 158 (only wore it the first 17 miles) (33 miles with .5 mile warmup)
*6800' climb 6700' descent (sport tracks)
Elevation Profile of what I ran - 
Profile of the entire course. I ran the red and yellow sections with the Purple section being the big mountain that nobody got to run. Smart choice. 
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