My first Wasatch 100 was in 2015 and the heat monster tanked me early. I rallied in the night to get to the finish line. I had a good friend get me out of an aid station and tell me to shut up and run. I had planed to come back to Wasatch some day. But knew if I wanted to do better in the heat I had to learn how to manage it. Bryce 100 was my testing grounds. I used arm sleeves with ice, bandannas with ice, drank more, and other things I can't remember. It worked. I then changed from a 2 liter pack to a vest with 2- 16 oz bottles. I trained harder, Ran more miles and set out to run my best at the Buffalo 100. Well...Didn't go as planed. Like most I wounder what I did wrong. I worked so hard and failed. But did I really? For the next 3-4 months I tried to get back to normal training but couldn't. I was tired all the time making it hard to even get up to run. With the help of some friends I realized I was feeling the effects of over training. Running more miles wasn't the answer. I had to train smarter. Buffalo 100 taught me many lessons that would help me in the future races. 2018 was the year I was ready to take my revenge on Wasatch. I changed how I trained with the help of new friend. I changed my diet and started to drink less Mountain Dew. I know, that is a sin.
The big race climbing 24,000 ft of joy
After 3 miles of easy trail we started up Bair canyon (4,200 ft in 4 miles) I felt a sharp stab to my right calf. Then I saw the hornets. I got stung 2 more times before pacing them. Almost everyone I was with got stung. I took bair canyon very easy to not tank myself. The next few miles descended to the first aid stop. I brought along several El Monterey Chimichangas to eat. I put them frozen in my pack and they defrost over time. I ate one about every 2 hours. Mmm goodness. The first major aid station was Big mountain mile 32. I was doing great. Big mountain to lambs was the part I tanked when I did Wasatch last. The temperature started heating up and I put in to place the tricks I had learned. I never felt like I beat the heat. Just managed it. When I hit Alexander ridge I sat in the kiddie pool they had set up and drenched myself with water. Mile 45 Lambs canyon was where I met my first pacer Steve. I had him bring me a "Son of Baconator" from Wendys. Oh it was so good and hit the spot. The miles kept clicking off like nothing. I didn't turn on my head lamp until about Scott's hill mile 63.
Met my wife and family at Brighton mile 73. It was great to see them. I couldn't do this without their support. I also met my next pacer Jeremy and he would push me to the finish. Leaving Brighton was easy but the climb to point supreme wasn't. The Quads didn't want to move very fast. They were toast. I kept moving on despite the lack of energy. There is not much that I remember about climbing to point supreme. I was in the pain cave taking step after step. Jeremy told me we where at the beach. The beach is a very sandy part of the climb just before the hitting point supreme. I told him there was no way we where there because we hadn't hit Catherine pass yet. We argued for several minutes over this. In the end he was right. Where had the past 45 mins gone? I was excited we had hit the top. I love the downhill and can run it well even on tired legs.
We crused for many miles down and got quickly out of aid stations. Then there was more uphill. Still the legs didn't want to move fast. I tried to move but the legs said no way. Resorting to the walk run technique for most of the rest of the race. With 25 miles to go I wondered if I could do a 5 hour marathon. We ran the numbers and felt that would be hard. Then the main goal would be back up to sub 26 hours. Coming in to the last aid station we stopped briefly to for a snack. "#250 checking in." I told them. A minuet later the ham operator said "#250 I have a message for you". Then a long pause. "You have been disqualified." What the.... I had to quickly think if I had done any thing to deserve that. Hell no I didn't. "Why am I being DQed?" The radio operator replied "Because you run faster then them." Again What the.... I quickly realized it was a joke. I still don't know which one of my buddy's pulled that one on m but I had a good laugh.
The last 6 miles had some down hill and some up. If we where going to make the sub 26 we had to average a 10 min mile. We started off at 10-11 min pace. Jeremy kept about 5 paces in front of me setting the pace. I tried to run most of the up hill even if it was slow. The steeper hills we walked quickly. With 2 miles to go I was pushing him faster to a 8-9 min pace. With 1.5 miles to go we dropped down to a 7:30 pace down hill. The last mile was all up hill on pavement and I was going to run it even if it killed me. We ran the last mile in 8:13. Finished in 25:57 and good enough for 15th overall.
I ran 3 hours faster than my last Wasatch. I didn't cramp at all or want to quit ever. Almost did in 2015. My stomach didn't feel that good for most of the 2nd half of the race. I also had lots of painful bowl gas. I didn't let it bother me. I just kept putting things in the tank. I puked one time late in the race. I had had broth and chicken noodle soup. It set well. But this "Cup of noodles" cup stuff didn't sit well. Had it down for 1 min before it all came back up and then some. Never again Cup of noodles.
I only Krashed 4 times during the race. That is a PR over last Wasatch where I had 5.
I couldn't have done this with out all my family and friends supporting me along the way. Thank you stable mates for pushing me and making me a better runner.
