Did a 67 mile run with the help of jun, Dorsimus, and buddy Josh. I'll do a full writeup on my main blog. Jun ran about 50 miles with me. We had planned to run the entire Skyline Drive, 110 miles, most of it above 10,000 feet, but wet conditions turned about 30 miles of it into a deep mud slog. At its worst were areas where the mud was clay and would grab on to your shows like cement. For long stretches I had several extra pounds on each shoe and we slowed to 25-30 minute miles.
We started in the evening. I struggled with kinks from the marathon on Saturday, but after seven miles felt much better and could keep up with jun. But then we hit 6 miles of clay mud that turned our crew back. They would have to drive around and meet up as mile 29. It took us two hours longer than planned to get there. But it was great fun running at night. My headlamp went almost totally dim before I arrived. At first it was a fun challenge to run with the dim light, but soon it was almost out.
At mile 30, we hit thick fog right before dawn. It was almost like running with the dim headlamp again because you couldn't see very far down the road. The sunrise was spectacular and eventually the low clouds cleared out. The crew had to turn around again at mile 39 because a massive snow slide was blocking the road. I then worried for the next hour about the crew that was heading down the rough Manti Canyon. When I worry, stress makes me slow way down and walk. I just couldn't reach them by phone for a long while. I didn't haul these guys out here to just get them injured or in trouble. Jun ran on over a mile ahead of me and then waited at mile 45.
The crew came up Ephraim Canyon and caught up with us about mile 50. At that point Jun's stomach wasn't working and he had to quit. I was now fieeling great so pressed on ahead. The road was muddy, but I was pretty used to it by then and found ways to find some speed by running on little plants on the side of the road.
At mile 53.5, the crew had to turn around yet again because of another massive snow field covering the road. It was very steep. They waited to make sure I could get across it. I crossed under it in the mud, but it was just as slick. I took two muddy falls and my cell phone went flying into it. I worried that I had lost my only contact with the crew for the next 15 miles. I finally got across and then stopped at creeks to try to clean myself up, including the incision on my hand which had broken open in a spot and was all muddy. I got the phone working and called the crew.
The next ten miles were the worst section of the entire route. The mud was deep and I was only traveling about two miles an hour. There was no evidence of any vehicle traffic. Much of the wetness was due to the wet season this year. I crossed over a couple mud slides, one that was massive and would probably block the road all year. Boulders, huge trees, etc.
Soon elk tracks were spotted all over the place, their tracks fresh from the morning. The crew arrived at mile 67. I was still over four miles away going very slowly. Josh got on his mountain bike to ride toward me and caught me around mile 64. The road was drying out at that point and I could run again, but my legs and feet were thrashed because mud running uses different muscles. Finally the vehicle came into view. I had decided to quit so we could all get home before evening and recover for work the next day. I had a great night's sleep and felt very good in the morning.
It had been an amazing birthday, the toughest adventure run I had ever done, especially those last 15 miles or so. But I had seen amazing beauty along the way. Thanks to some good friends for putting up with my crazy adventure. I forgot to warn them that every single Crockett adventure run I have ever done has always been much tougher then anticipated. | 