100 Miles in Blue Jeans

I know running 100 miles in blue jeans sounds miserable, because it was, lol. Our TRIP running club had an event planned for June 2021 that involved running in a pair of denim jeans, The BlueJeans FKD. The individual who got the furthest distance in a single activity would take the win. I was already planning on doing a long attempt for this challenge. And had planned to go for our Gambler Bottle-cap Award.

The Gambler requires you to put $50 on the line and declare that you will win the event. But another club member Jeff declared his intent to go for the Gambler. I had some internal turmoil, because this would make it much harder. But in the end I ponied up the cash and declared as well. I knew it was go time and the 50-75miles I had been planning probably wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to think bigger, 100 miles became the plan, hopefully it was more than Jeff was planning.

Preparation

Preparing for this attempt I realized that my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration/Family Reunion was Friday-Sunday. But this presented an opportunity, we were having the celebration at my uncle’s cabin, why not run home from the cabin? I charted out the course and found that it would give me my first 50+ miles, and keep me in slightly cooler temperatures the first day. Then I could run loops in the heat, closer to home and water/ice to finish up the last 50 miles. And since I was starting on Sunday afternoon I decided I should be dressed for the day. So I added a button up white shirt and tie to the jeans.

I ran several test runs in jeans to try out different pairs of denim. And found that at least in the cool early morning hours I could run in jeans fairly easily. But then I did a 20 miles in blue jeans midday heat test run to test water requirements. And it was then that I realized what a bad idea this was. So many miles in the heat with jeans that don’t breathe but retain the heat against your body. Fortunately for me the temperatures dipped a bit on Monday. This didn’t make it easy, but I’ll take 95 F over 100+ F any day.

Prior to my parents 50th wedding celebration/reunion, a few of my siblings and I invaded my parents home. They were on the tail end of a kitchen remodel and just needed the floor finished. We got this done but it took a lot of hours, many more than had been planned. I got back home after getting things finished up at my parents and still needed to pack. Not only for the reunion, but also for my hundred miler. I scrambled to get my pack, drop bags, and the cooler ready to go. I kept remembering things that I had nearly forgotten, which would have totally derailed my plans. Headlamp, fluid bottles, fuel, etc… it was a comedy of errors for sure. But I finally got everything packed and we headed out.

This quick packing created a bit of frustration and humor for others as I started checking for things. I would find my headlamp missing from my running pack, but later find it in my suitcase. This happened multiple times but fortunately in the end I had everything that I needed to get underway.

My amazing wife dropped/hid some frozen water bottles for me in New Harmony, Pintura, and Leeds. These strategic drops helped give me enough water to stay hydrated on the road. They were all melted by the time I got to them, but at least they were wet. She also dropped my car with a cooler full of Ice and water at the Cottonwood Trailhead. This would serve as an anchor point of my ending loop. Providing a refueling point where there was no water in the desert.

Running 100 Miles in Blue Jeans

About 2 PM on Sunday June 6th 2021 I got underway. The high elevation provided cooler temperatures. And the head wind which I first thought of as a pain helped keep it cooler, so the extra effort was worth it. The first afternoon was fairly uneventful, not many on the dirt roads heading toward New Harmony. But once I got into town I did get several strange looks from passers by. I could see them thinking “Who is this guy running in jeans, a button up shirt, and tie?” Further down the road just before sunset I ran across a couple herds of cows. The cows were easy enough to scare, but the bulls just stared at me, considering wether my tie was red enough to get mad about. The view from New Harmony into the Kolob Fingers area was breathtaking.

I was planning on 12 hours for the first 50 miles getting me down to the Cottonwood trailhead, and almost did that, had some really rough terrain during part of the black ridge area so that slowed things down a bit. And I did take a quick detour off my path to see the New Harmony Aviation Arrow, which is the only one in Washington County I hadn’t visited yet, I know it’s just a cement arrow on the ground, but I think their cool 😉

Running Through the Night

Along with the Gambler bottle-cap, another award our club has is the Zombie Dave bottle-cap. This one was named for a club member who is frequently running at all hours of the night. To receive this award you have to complete an activity from Sunset to Sunrise without sleeping. I have received this award in the past, but this attempt would require me to stay awake for the duration anyway, so it made the list.

The roads after New Harmony area got progressively worse. And at many times were too rough to run on, there were just too many large rocks. So the going was hard, but I kept moving. I had planned the route using Google Earth, which is an amazing tool, but it can’t tell you the current state of things. It just gives you a nice snapshot in time from way overhead. It was a good thing that I had created and loaded a GPX file of my route onto my Coros watch. There were several locations where the road, which was clearly visible on Google Earth, just disappeared.

While running all these miles in blue jeans I had routed myself through some private property which I discovered when I arrived on the back side of a couple “No Trespassing” signs/gates. I hope they didn’t mind a lone passer by in the middle of the night. I promise I didn’t touch anything besides the dirt on the road 😉

In order to avoid as much traffic as possible, I used a route that took me through a couple washes. And proceeded under the freeway in each. A couple of them were pretty eerie, and I wondered if I would survive the trek through them at night. Fortunately I was able to make it through them with nothing besides a slightly raised heart rate. Eventually I made my way to some familiar trails, and it felt good to really “know” where I was.

Once I got to the Cottonwood Trailhead I was joined by my brother Trevor. He was fresh and could keep me moving in the dark while he made his own BlueJeans FKD attempt. I took a rest, swapped shoes and socks. And had a few bites to eat. After so many miles alone on the trail it was nice to have some company. In the wee hours of the morning I was starting to drift a bit, having someone to talk to kept me more alert. Together we were able to make it through the rest of the night.

The Miles in Blue Jeans Brings on the Chafe

Just after sunrise we stopped at a Maverick convenience store to refill our water and ice. We also got a couple sausage egg muffins to eat for breakfast, they really filled up the void. After we ate with the sun up and the Zombie Dave bottle cap secured I laid down on the grass. I tried to sleep for a few minutes while Trevor logged some more miles in an empty lot nearby. I think it was about this time that I started to notice my first chafing. My ankles under my socks were raw and red, not even from the jeans. I tried to clean the area and put some Squirrels Nut Butter on it. But throughout the rest of the run it was a constant reminder of what I was doing.

As the heat ramped up our pace slowed, till it was almost a crawl. Ice in bottles quickly melted and the temperature of the water warmed to the ambient temperature. The warmer it is the more you learn to appreciate ice and ice water. I had a bandana that was sewed in such a way that it could hold ice behind the neck and keep you cool. Trevor used it until we had finished his 22 miles, then he passed it to me. Wow it made such a difference, I am pretty sure that it was the primary factor in my second wind.

After Trevor took off I stayed at the Cottonwood trailhead to eat and tend to my increasing number of irritations. I was wearing a pair of 3/4 length base layer to help cut down on chafing under the jeans. But here I noticed that the part of my lower leg that was still exposed was bright red, it looked and felt like it had been sunburned. In my drowsy state I tried to understand how I could have been sunburned through he jeans.

I later came to realize that this was purely the result of running in jeans. Also despite having liberally coated all sensitive areas with anti chafing creams, and continuing to add more along the way. I started to notice chafing in many unexpected locations. And many of those areas were not because of the jeans. The strangest one being right toward the end of the run when I noticed my arms feeling chaffed as they brushed against the flowing untucked bottom of my button up shirt.

After dealing with the chafing issues, and with a bag of ice around my neck I headed west along the Prospector trail. I quickly found my second wind, and was able to log some decent splits down the trail despite the heat. When I got back to Maverick I grabbed some lunch and then again laid down in the shady grass and closed my eyes for a few minutes. Then after restocking my fluid and ice I headed off again.

Winding Down to the Finish

At this point it was the hottest part of the day, the ice I had picked up was melting fast and the logistics of getting to the next refill/ice location was not looking very appealing. So with about 20+ miles left to go I decided to switch up the plan and finish up on Randall’s Loop. With the short 0.95 mile loop length and only being a few feet from a parking lot made water and ice a bit easier. My wife was an angel and brought my car and a restocked cooler up to highland park so I could get refreshed regularly.

I was not sure but had calculated that Jeff would probably do 100 miles as well. But I didn’t know how much padding he would add as a buffer. So initially I had thought about doing 120 miles, then during the activity I brought that down to 110, and toward the end I almost stopped at 101. Fate as they say was on my side, my wife insisted that I was not going to drive myself home. And for good reason, I was basically asleep on my feet. So while I waited for her to come pick me up I kept meandering and logged a few more miles. Giving me the total of 105, which fortunately was more than Jeff’s 101 ;).

Running 100 miles in blue jeans was an amazingly challenging activity. In the heat with clothes that wouldn’t breathe, just concentrating that heat around your body. And then all the chafing. I thought I had planned sufficiently so that I could avoid most of the chafing, but that wasn’t the case. I found I was chafed in areas that I have never been chafed before. And after a week I still have many areas that are healing.

Bottle caps earned:

• TRIP Hundred (100 miles in a single non race activity)
• Zombie Dave (Single Activity from Sunset to Sunrise with no sleeping allowed)
• Jean Machine (Accumulate at least 100 miles in blue jeans over the course of a week)
• Gambler (Declare your intent to win an event, and put $50 on the line, and win it back)
• Event Winner (Winning a TRIP event)