Wasatch was to be my
final race in a very long 2012 season that started back in January at The HURT
100. I had an incredibly consistent
Spring and Summer of training, having run every single day leading up to Wasatch
since my last week off in mid-January. I
pulled in to Salt Lake early Thursday afternoon for the pre-race packet pick-up
and briefing. I had planned on running
solo but got hooked up with former Wasatch winner and 15 time finisher, Tim
Spence, who offered to pace me from somewhere near Brighton to the finish. After the meeting I checked in to my downtown
hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and got to bed early for the o'dark thirty wake
up call and 4:00 am bus ride to the start.
On the 30 minute bus ride to the start I sat with fellow Colorado runner
Jason Koop and the easy conversation kept the pre-race nerves to a dull
roar. When we got to the start line I
lined up near the front and without much ceremony we were sent off into the
darkness on a trail that contoured to the North on a bench a few hundred feet
above the lights of Kaysville.
The pace was pretty fast
at the start and I soon found myself running behind Koop in a small pack about
50 yards behind a large lead group of 20 or so.
I was trying to conserve as much energy on the first 4 undulating miles
but wasn't too concerned about pace at this point because I knew the 4 mile
climb up Chinscraper would keep me from going out too fast. We hit the turn to begin climbing and I was
surprised at how runnable the trail was considering what I had heard. In training I definitely would have run every
step of the climb but with 96 miles to go I dialed it back and just power hiked
behind Koop and one other guy.
Eventually, when the trail got steeper I found our pace too slow and
punched ahead of our group. I had really
good climbing legs and made pretty easy work of the early climbing miles. I popped out of the trees just below the
Chinscraper summit and was again surprised by how short and easy the supposedly
steep last couple hundred of feet of climbing were. From the top of Chinscraper we had an amazing
4-5 mile stretch of ridgeline trail running with the sun just coming up to the
East and expansive views of the Great Salt Lake and the city off to the
West. I ran most of this stretch with
Koop and we easily cruised the long downhill dirt road section into the Francis
Peak aid station (mile 18.76) after a little more than three and a half hours.
I did a quick pit stop to
reload on gels and Perpetuem for the next 20 mile stretch to my drop bags and
left the aid at an easy jog. The next 5
miles were a mix of dirt roads and faint game trails and except for one short,
steep, downhill it was generally uphill to the next aid at Bountiful. This section passed mostly uneventfully but
it began to warm up quite a bit and I went through both bottles. At the Bountiful aid I took on a lot of water
and left the aid station at a walk to let my stomach settle. This marked the beginning of a battle I would
fight for much of the next 25 miles with my stomach.
I had to back off my pace
during the 4 miles or so to the Sessions Lift Off aid station to keep my
stomach in check. When I came in to the
aid I filled my bandana and bottles with ice and headed out with another Colorado
runner, Eric Truhe. We were chatting as
we hiked out of the aid station through one of the many beautiful trail
sections but I eventually let him pull ahead to keep my stomach in check. I was right on the edge of losing my stomach
through much of this section but tried to stay on top of my nutrition as best I
could. I began to get passed by a
handful of runners coming in to the Swallow Rocks aid at the 50k mark but I
couldn't be bothered to care. My energy
was tanking and I was getting sleepy and dangerously close to having my entire
day unravel.
At Swallow Rocks I ate a
couple of popsicles, refilled my bandana and bottles with ice, and left at a
really easy effort. Through much of the
next 7 miles to Big Mtn Pass I struggled with low energy and stomach issues but
managed to just keep it together. I took
it easy on the switchback descent to Big Mtn and pulled in to the aid at a
relaxed trot. After a quick weight
check, I refilled on ice, Perpetuem, and gels and did a quick relube of my feet
and sock change. Cindy and Tim Spence
also met me at Big Mtn with an ice cold Mexican Coke (sweetened with sugar
instead of HFCS) and Tim walked a ways out of the aid giving me the lowdown on
the next 13 miles.
The Coke helped my
stomach settle and gave me a nice shot of energy which carried me through the
early rolling climbs to Alexander Ridge.
I ran a good portion of this section with a local runner and multiple
Wasatch finisher (Rodger Smith I think).
He gave me great beta on the run into Alexander Ridge and Lambs
Canyon. It was getting very hot and
exposed through here but at least I was expecting it thanks to Tim and Rodger's
info. The course went through a series
of steep, rocky, up and downs before eventually dropping in to the Alexander
Ridge aid. I did a quick bottle and ice
refill here and headed out on the tough grind up to the halfway point. I pretty much survived the climb and ran a
relaxed descent into Lamb's. The run in
to Lamb's is a little mentally tough because the aid is visible for quite a
while and the course runs back and forth past the aid station a couple of
times.
When I got to the aid, I
did a quick refill of Pepetuem and gels from my drop bag, refilled on ice, and
was again met by Cindy and Tim with an ice cold Coke, and a cup of chicken
noodle soup. Tim and I walked up the
road from the aid station together and he gave me a detailed breakdown of the
next section. He also explained where he
would hike in to the course and meet me to begin pacing duties a few miles out
of Upper Big Water at the Blunder Fork trail junction. Since I had no idea where he was talking
about I just nodded and said OK.
I began to feel much
better on the climb out of Lamb's since it was in the shade and, once off the
road, on a smooth singletrack bordered by a creek. I was climbing well and soon found myself at
the top of the ascent. I wish I could
say I flew down the backside of the climb but I was descending a little slower
than I would have liked. I eventually
hit the road up to Millcreek and was feeling pretty good for the first time
since the early am. I ran/walked most of
the lower angled sections of the climb and had a good powerhiking gear for the
steeper parts. I pulled in to the aid
with a fair bit of time before it got dark and took a few extra minutes to take
care of my feet, cleaning them, relubing them, changing socks and insoles,
etc... I reloaded gels and Perpetuem
from my drop bag, grabbed my lights, and headed out to meet Tim somewhere in
the next few miles.
I didn't realize that the
course climbed for the next three miles but I was still moving well on the ups
and was soon descending past Dog Lake just as darkness was beginning to settle
in. Not half a mile from the lake I came
to the junction at Blunder Fork and there was Tim ready to pick me up for the
last 2 miles to Desolation Lake. We
settled in to a nice run/walk rhythm and soon saw the light from the bonfire at
the Deso aid station. I only stopped
long enough to grab a cup of soup and refill my bottles avoiding the warmth of
the fire at all costs. Tim and I left
Deso at a nice run but soon switched to a power hike as we hit the grunt up Red
Lover's Ridge. From the top of the ridge
there was some great running interspersed with the occasional uphill but it
didn't take too long for us to reach the Scott's Pass aid (mile 70.79). This was another quick stop and we headed
down the rocky dirt road for around a mile or so before we emptied out onto a
long downhill paved section leading to the Big Cottonwood Canyon highway.
My feet weren't feeling
too great heading down to the Brighton Ski Lodge and I wanted to get some
blister problems taken care of when we got there. Marc Collman, who is a dentist and helps out
at Brighton, took a look at my feet, gave them a good cleaning and relubed
them, but didn't want to risk popping the blisters so I just tried to get out
of the lodge as quickly as I could. I
was probably in there 5-10 minutes longer than I wanted to be but I was in good
spirits and feeling pretty strong for the steep climb up to Point Supreme.
Tim and I took the better
part of an hour to top out on the climb and, after a bit of routefinding, began
the steep, treacherous descent (1500 feet in 1.5 miles) to the Ant Knolls aid
station. The descent pretty much reduced me to tears and really stoked my
fears that the last 20 miles were going to be so much worse than I had
heard. I was really tentative on the
descent with all the loose rocks, technical steps, and hints of exposure from
the void beyond my headlamp beam. I
could see the lights from Ant Knolls far below me and, while it felt like an
eternity, we eventually made our way to hot soup and a quick bottle refill.
We left Ant Knoll's and
immediately confronted the 1/2 mile climb known as the "Grunt" before
rolling our way down to the Pole Line Pass aid station (mile 83.39). I stopped at Pole Line one last time to try
and work out my foot issues but wasted too much time cleaning, lubing, and
changing socks for the whole 5 minutes of relief that brought me. The next 9-10 miles from Pole Line to Pot
Bottom was an emotional roller coaster for me with periods of solid running and
good energy and greater periods of incredible lows where even my best attempts
at running barely cause Tim to break out of his power walk. The climb to Stephens Point wasn't too taxing
but was a noticeable effort this late in the race. Even more demanding than the climbing was the
two named descents "The Dive" and "The Plunge". Both were incredibly steep, loose, and rocky
and both entailed multiple falls. The
dust was so bad and my fatigue pretty extreme so I was having trouble seeing
even with my very bright headlamp and an additional flashlight in my hand. At some point after the "Plunge", I
had a nice burst of energy that carried me most of the way to the Pot Bottom
aid station (mile 93.13).
After a quick cup of
soup, Tim and I began the 1.3 mile climb out of Pot Bottom and the last
substantial bit of uphill before the finish.
The sky was beginning to grow light in the East as we reached the Crest
Road of Wasatch State Park. After
topping out on the road we hung a sharp right turn and began the 4 mile descent
down a rocky ATV track to the last mile of singletrack before popping out on
the road 3/4 of a mile from the finish at the Homestead Resort in Midway. I crossed the line in 26:48:30 and took a
seat in the grass just past the finish line to soak in the experience. After a while I hobbled over to the showers
at the Homestead, had a great breakfast with Cindy and Tim, and caught a ride
back to Salt Lake to fetch my car. I
hung around Salt Lake for lunch with a friend and then had to drive back to the
Homestead for the awards. The logistics
of running a point to point mostly solo were a little difficult in the end but
I managed to make my way back to Crested Butte by early Sunday and didn't fall
asleep at the wheel so a total success on the whole.
