For those unfamiliar with the race/format. The race takes place on a 10k long paved trail in the heart of St. George, Utah. Although the race is called Last One Standing, there can be more than one finisher. The race is over when only one runner remains or the runners reach the maximum of 17 laps, totaling 102 miles. Every 90 minutes a new lap is started, if you don’t get back to the Start/Finish line before the next lap begins then you are eliminated. You cannot start the next lap until the 90 minute mark. So you only need a 15 min/mile pace to stay in the race, which is easy at the start, but as the laps mount it becomes increasingly difficult to balance your speed on the trail, and time refueling at your aid station before the next lap starts.

As you complete each lap you are given a pin for each lap number you have completed, with some big pins for the 30, 60, and 102 mile marks. They also award a Rabbit and Turtle pin to the fastest and slowest on each lap.

This was my third time running the race, previously I had completed 60, and then 75 miles. Those were also my distance PRs at that time. And I also learned that as the miles/laps mounted the precious minutes at the aid station became few. Eventually it was impossible to take care of everything that needed to be done to get back out on the course. Previously I had been crewing myself and realized that if I wanted to finish this race I would need some help. So I begged, conned and cajoled my wife to come and crew for me this year, it made all the difference.

The Race Begins

The race started like normal, an easy pace with lots of good friends and conversations. It was warm while sun was still up but getting ready to set during the first lap, and then it was dark and getting cooler. It was fun to visit and share miles with so many that I knew and many new friends as well. Just like previous years the crowd which started at 91 runners began to thin. A few runners dropped after a lap or two, and a large number had dropped off once we reached the marathon distance.

Chasing the Rabbit

As we got to the 30 mile mark I got this burst of energy and felt like pushing hard. Just before the 2 mile mark I found that I was in front. I have never received a rabbit pin, and figured it was out of my reach, but this looked like this was my chance. With this realization I dug down and pushed hard, busting out 8ish min/miles for most of the lap. Hearing the sloshing water in my handheld I felt like I had someone on my tail the whole way. This kept me digging deeper and even had a 7:40 minute mile right before finishing the lap. With that finish I got my rabbit pin, and a 51 minute lap, the next runner came in 5 or so minutes after me. So he wasn’t on my tail but it was a good incentive.

After my rabbit lap I dialed things back considerably and we continued to run on through the night.

My wife, Becky, was the star of the show she took such good care of me, and got very little sleep during the night. I could not have gone the distance without her. She prepared and fed me bacon, breakfast burriots, Nutella sandwiches, and fruit, and always had my water bottles ready to go. When there was time she used our impact massager to keep my legs feeling good. A couple of times we realized that I had forgotten to pack something and she ran to the store during the lap to pick it up.

On lap 12 I decided to come in last for the lap and pick up a turtle pin to compliment my rabbit. I only intended to get one but later on lap 15 I picked up another one.

The Second Turtle Pin

Coming out of lap 14 with 84 miles under my belt I had made it further than any previous attempt. I wasn’t the turtle but I needed to sit on the toilet, reapply sun screen, and address some chafing. With only about 8 minutes before the next lap would start. Becky grabbed what I needed and joined me in the restroom. She got the sunscreen reapplied while I took care of the other business. And although we were quick, once all was handled and I had ice on my neck and was back on the trail I was 5 minutes behind the pack.

It was about 4pm and the sun was baking everything in the 100+ degree heat. Although I was able to make up the 5 minutes I was down at the start of the lap and get back to the finish in less than 90 minutes. My pace was a crawl when I came  back in and arrived in last place, so I got my second turtle pin. I was so ready to drop when I got back. With only a handful of minutes left before lap 16 started I was bruised, broken, tired and melting. I didn’t think I could continue and go the distance.

The Rally

My wife calmly but firmly reassured me that I could finish the race. There was definitely an undertone of “I didn’t come here to help you all day and night just for you to give up and drop out now”. But I didn’t feel like I had another lap in me, I was dragging so badly. I don’t typically take any sort of stimulants, I like to stick with real food and drink. But in this case I decided the only way I was doing another lap was if I got some help. Becky grabbed me a sugar free Red Bull, which I quickly downed despite the disgusting taste (Honestly that stuff is horrible). And I set out on the trail again.

Becky grabbed her own running gear, some honey stinger gels and run gum then met me after the initial out n back to help pace me on the trail. I was 7 minutes down when I hit the 1 mile mark shuffling along trying to get moving.

Being One of the Last Ones Standing

It did take a bit for the caffeine to kick in, but when it finally did I was able to keep a pretty steady 10ish minute pace. By the mile 3 water/ice station we had made up the 7 minutes and was right on the 15 minute pace. After getting some more ice we were on our way again. Becky was getting sluggish herself between miles 3 and 4, and told me to keep going without her. I pulled ahead and was able to keep the 10ish min/mile pace most of the way back to the Start/Finish, passing several of the other runners in the last mile.

When I got back in there were many more people there ready to see the action of the final lap. With Becky out on the trail I was not sure I could get ready and to the starting line on time. My friend Josh who had looked like death warmed over a few hours earlier  when he dropped, had come back and asked what I needed. He grabbed me another Red Bull which I downed, and I grabbed some more run gum and a Honey Stinger gel. Then with my hydration bottles in hand I headed to the starting line with a bit of time to spare. After the last couple laps I was not going to start another lap with a deficit.

The Final Lap

Starting the final lap were 7 runners of the 91 that had started the race. In the past 2 years there had been only 1 and then 2 finishers respectively. But now we had 7 toeing the line.

Starting out the final lap Roberto took off, leading the pack from the start (he eventually finished with a 55 minute lap). I was next in line and feeling fairly good considering. My pace was staying steady at about a 10 min/mile, but Todd blew past me just after mile two. As he passed he exclaimed he was probably going to blow up, but he didn’t. I kept pushing and when I got to the bridge at mile 4 I saw that Marc was not to far behind me. But I could also feel that the stimulating effects of the caffeine were starting to wain.

Going For The Podium

At that point I had a decision to make, everyone that finished that last lap would get the coveted belt buckle. The buckle has been mi primary goal, but at the moment I was in 3rd place overall. I could either push to stay in 3rd place, or just worry about finishing. With about 15 minutes in the bank at that point my buckle was virtually assured.

I decided to hang on to 3rd, I doubled down and pushed. After about 3/4ths of a mile I slowed and decided to see where Marc was, and if I had widened the gap. As I turned around I saw that he was only about 100 or so feet behind me. I took off again and kept digging deeper and deeper, trying to pull any strength out of my tired and beaten body that I could. My pace was around a  9:30 min/mile for the last mile or so, not letting up and not looking back. I wasn’t sure if he was still on me or not.

Video that my sister caught of me passing on the trail during this section of the race revealed that he was right on my tail.

Crossing The Finish Line

As I approached the finish line the cheers of the large crowd gave me a little extra strength to push to the end. I crossed the line in 3rd place and sure enough Marc was only steps behind me, he had been on my tail the whole way. After he crossed he assured me that if I had let up one bit he had been ready to pass me.

I was thrilled to have completed this monster race, I had done 4 other 100 mile races/runs over the year prior to this run. But my fastest time had been over 31 hours. This one was 102 miles in just over 25 hours. According to Strava, there was only 20.5 hours of actual movement. So this was a big achievement and improvement for me. I was so happy to finally have the buckle! But when my friend Kevin came in a few minutes later I was moved to tears. Kevin had completed the race, set a personal distance PR, and did that only 7 months after having completed chemotherapy, That was probably a bigger highlight for me than my own finish.

Last Ones Standing

In the end of the 7 runners that started this last lap, all 7 finished and received their buckles. So there were 7 Last Ones Standing, It was pretty stinking amazing. I am humbled to have been able to share the trail with that amazing group.

I am so grateful to all the volunteers that helped keep the race rolling, sprayed me with ice water during the heat of the day, helped top off my ice, or just cheered me on.

My sweet, amazing, dedicated wife Becky deserves this buckle as much or more than I do. Her willingness to stand by my side, get me what I needed, and just being willing to take the time out of her busy schedule to dedicate to me and helping me achieve this goal is mind blowing. I love you Sweetheart.

And finally to my TRIP running family, thank you so much for the love, support, and encouragement. It was great to see so many of you at the race, share trail time with you, and I know that all the crazy challenges we do helped prepare me to finally finish this race. Max Kudos to you all!!

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)

My journey to run my first 100 mile ultramarathon, and running the Zion 100 specifically, started a decade ago. I helped with the inaugural Zion100, volunteering with the local Ham Radio club. We helped radio in the bib numbers of runners as they passed through several of the aid stations. This amazed and inspired me with the determination and pain that I saw on so many runners faces. What would cause a person to decide to put themselves through such an arduous experience? I did not realize it at the time, but a seed had been planted and slowly started to grow.

I was not a “runner” at that time, and wouldn’t be for several more years. But as I started running in 2017 the desire really started to grow and set me on a trajectory for running the Zion 100. I was initially signed up for running the Zion 100 in April 2020. But as issues with the Covid-19 pandemic started to arise the race got cancelled and I was forced to wait another year.

I continued to train after the Zion 100 and most of my other races were cancelled for the year. And even ended up completing two 100 mile activities, but not in a race setting. So I had run the mileage, and had been building up for over a year of training prior to running the Zion 100. But the pressure and excitement of an actual race is much different than just completing the hundred mile distance.

Preparing for running the Zion 100

Over the eight or so months leading up to the 2021 Zion 100, I had focused on becoming a fat adapted runner. I hoped that this would give me an edge, avoid bonking, and to keep moving when things got tough. After completing many training runs between 17-30 miles relying on fat adaption, and felt like I had a handle on things. But I had not spent much time zeroing in on exactly how I planned to fuel overall for the full one hundred mile ultramarathon. So I talked with other fat adapted runners and searched the internet for strategies that others had used and cobbled together an assortment of all the options. In the end my drop bags were filled with nut butters, Ucan Super Starch, Honey Stingers, electrolyte powders, Vespa, and more. At the outset I felt prepared and ready to roll.

In my inexperienced mind I had planned and hoped for a 22 hour finish, but decided a 24 hour finish would be acceptable. But after the experience, the 31 hour and 53 Minute finish was just fine with me. I had a pacing chart all ready to go, with anticipated paces adjusted for elevation changes and duration. But plan all you want and the reality of the actual race will break all of your expectations, one after another.

Race Day Arrives

Starting the race with just a few hours of sleep probably wasn’t the best and I am sure I paid for that later in the day. But there was lots of energy at the starting line as the 300 or so of us took off. It was a beautiful morning, got some good chatting in with with friends. We made it to the Goosebump aid station and continued around the Gooseberry Mesa loop. At this point the group started to fracture as we got split up in the crowd.

The view at the tip of the mesa was amazing in the early morning twilight. But that slick rock was no joke. It beat me up and made it hard to keep any sort of running rhythm, the South Rim especially. So I fell a bit behind my desired pace on the loop, but made up a bit with some great runnable dirt road leading back into the Goosebump aid station.

Descending the Mesa

I followed Rick as we started down the side of the mesa, and I was determined to keep up with him. We bombed down the hill at a break neck pace. Although my feet weren’t loving the thin Altra LonePeaks I was wearing, their awesome tread kept me in control.

I tried to recapture some lost time on my way across the desert to Virgin Desert Aid. But my feet were begging for a little more cushion. So I called my wife/crew to have her bring me a different pair of shoes. It cost a bit of time to wait for them to arrive, but it was a good decision. My feet were much happier after that. But the long wait at the aid station allowed my muscles to cool down. And it took a bit to get things going again. At the same time the temperature was steadily rising, and that was gonna make things fun.

Race Nutrition Issues Begin

My nutrition strategy in hind site needed some additional refining with some long runs prior to the race. I used Ucan super starch at the start and halfway points as a long burn carbohydrate. Ucan bars and Stinger honey were a carb supplement along the way. Trail butter and Ultra fat as my supplemental fat source, and Vespa to pump up the fat burning. I consumed those along with a small amount of the other fare available at the aid stations. But that combination was not working like I had hoped, and later would almost prove my undoing.

Dodging the Bikers

This next section of the race course was extra fun. The BLM had “accidentally” granted a permit for a bike race on some of the same trails as we were running. It was the most fun was running the bottom part of the Jem trail. Bikers were bombing down that section from behind us. It really threw off your rhythm jumping out of the way of the bikes. But it was great to finally get off the shared trail.

The desolate, rocky and hot final couple miles leading to the Virgin Dam aid station beat me up. Upon arriving all I wanted to do was sit, and get out of the sun. I ate a few things and sat for what seems like a long while. Finally I used the vault toilet that was at the aid station. It was much cooler in that cinderblock cube. I was selfish and almost didn’t let anyone else use it. And I was just glad to be out of the heat. But I finally gave in, left the cool, ate a couple more items and headed out again. These miles were some of the toughest I had. And it was a chore just to keep moving.

As I approached the Smiths Mesa climb I had recovered a bit and was determined to make up a little bit of time. I had pegged a 18 minute mile pace for that hill but was able to keep a 16:30-17 minute mile pace for the duration of the climb. It felt great to pass the 8 or so runners that I did on the ascent. And that bolstered my flagging spirit a bit.

Running The Zion 100 Without Water

Once at Smiths Mesa I made a big mistake. I added ice to my electrolytes bottle. Now this may not seem like a problem to you, ice in the heat is amazing. But I put electrolyte powder and ice into my electrolyte bottle. Then I added ice into my water bottle. But after I filled up my water bottle I neglected to add water to my electrolyte bottle. I didn’t realize my mistake until I was about a half mile from the Smiths Mesa aid station.

The course map showed a water only aid station about a mile or so ahead. It indicated we would hit the aid station before we started the Flying Monkey loop. So I didn’t worry about it my lack of electrolytes and forged on ahead. But apparently they changed the route from what was on the map. We turned up onto Flying Monkey without hitting that water station. As finished the initial climb on Flying Monkey, I turned around and could see the large blue water cooler way down below. As we started up the climb we had probably been within 200 foot of it. But I didn’t want to backtrack, or make the climb again so I just kept going.

Wrath of the Sun

I do most of my training in the wee hours of the morning. So knocking out a 10k with no water at that time is just a daily activity for me. This probably affected my decision to continue on despite the reduced amount of fluids. The loop was brutal, rough, and popular with the local cattle, they had rutted it completely. So my progress was significantly slower than it could have been. And that kept me in the sun and heat for a longer period.

By the time I had reached the far end of the loop I only had about a quarter of my water left. Because I had been stingy with what I had I could hardly run at all in that heat. But I very slowly crept through the final miles of the loop. And eventually made it to the end of the loop and the Water Aid Station.

Dehydration Sets in

I filled my bottles and drank, and drank, and drank. Immediately I must have downed at least 48 ounces. I sat for a few minutes in the shade before determining to start my decent down Smiths Mesa. As I got up it was obvious that I was seriously dehydrated. My stomach was starting to have issues with all the water I had ingested. I believe this may have slowed down the rehydration process a bit.

My arms had become numb and tingly, also my balance was not doing well, and my head was foggy. This descent was not what I would call a well worn trail by any means. With rock hopping in parts, down climbing with a rope, and narrow ledges I was concerned. The NewBalance Hierro shoes, which I had traded for at the Virgin Desert aid were not up to the task. They were great for the flat trails as a cross trail/asphalt shoe but didn’t have any teeth. So I kept slipping, that along with the other mental and physical issues made the descent a crawl. All this lead me to make a decision. And even though the next aid station was only a mile away, it would be the ending point. I was hot, delirious, and unstable on my feet, I needed to drop out for my own safety.

Problems Compound

I had used the “racejoy” app that the race director had provided. This allowed me to share my location and progress with my pacers and crew. I wanted to make sure they knew when they could anticipate my arrival. But it had sucked the battery life from my phone.By the time I had started my descent I only had about 3% remaining. And in low power mode the app was no longer updating my location. I was going to die out here, and wouldn’t have the ability to call for help 🙁 The last mile seemed like an unconquerable enemy, it was just too far to travel.

The Miracle

Then a miracle happened, and it’s name was Josh! Josh had been waiting to pace me from the Virgin BMX aid station. But I was now hours behind schedule. He headed up the trail to look for me, and I am so glad that he did.  I will never forget his cheerful shout of “Randall” as he saw me and started to easily and effortlessly “bounce” my way. It instantly Buoyed my spirit. He said “you may feel awful but you look great!” His optimism and smile broke down the dark walls that were forming in my mind. And in short order he even had me running into the aid station.

Grabbing an ice cold ginger ale to calm my stomach I sat in a reclining chair. I rested for a while, ate a bit, and then eventually with Josh’s encouragement we got ready to head out. The next 20 mile stretch with Josh over the Guacamole loop was planned to happen during the mid to late afternoon. Now the sun was setting, it was going to be a nighttime loop. So to ward off the cold Josh hunted around for warmer attire. He borrowed a long sleeved shirt from a friend. And found some of his son’s socks for gloves, thus clad we headed into the night.

Pacers Rock

Josh was a godsend, he kept the conversation lively and constantly checked to make sure I was doing well. He also carried my pack which was amazing! One of the most infamous segments I had heard of while preparing for running the Zion 100 was the Guacamole loop. But seemingly against all odds, we made it up the climb to the Guacamole aid station, ate a bit then headed into the dark. The loop was almost like a scavenger hunt, no real trail to follow, just cairns and trail markers. You could see the lights from so many other runners on different parts of the loop. So although it was not very runnable it was on of my favorite parts of the race. We helped a group or two get back on the trail after they had lost their way.

The 20 mile Guacamole loop ends right back at the Virgin BMX Aid Station where I had picked Josh up. My wife was going to meet us there to take over from Josh for the next 10 miles (70-80). But given the early hour she wanted me to call and wake her when we reached mile 65. I pulled out my phone to call, but the call failed, only 1 bar of 3G service. So we ran on for a bit more and then tried again, still nothing. Repeatedly I tried again and again, same service same results.

Switching Pacers

Finally when we were at the top of the last hill, and I could see Virgin I tried again, still nothing. Then I thought to have Josh try his phone, and it worked just fine. We made it to the Aid station and I said goodbye to Josh. Becky helped me set a good pace as we started toward Gooseberry Mesa. I knew this distance was going to be a stretch for her, but I was so glad that she decided to run it with me. If it had seemed steep going down Gooseberry, it was at least twice as steep going back up. What a crazy climb, Becky pushed me all the way and as daunting as it appeared it was done much more quickly that I had anticipated.

At the top I had some broth and bacon. Becky rubbed my shoulders for a bit and one of the volunteers brought over a massage gun. WOW that felt soooo good. Rejuvenated after that short rest we got underway again and made quick work of the final 5 miles back to the start/finish line area where I was supposed to pick up my brother Trevor to pace me for the final 20 miles.

The Final 20 Miles of the Zion 100

About a mile from the end of that stretch we passed a runner that was growling loudly with each step. I had visited with him at the Guacamole aid station where he complained about some leg pain. We asked if he needed anything or if we could help. He responded with a curt “NO” and then followed that with a respectful “Thank You”. So we left him to is growling, I expected he would be dropping.

At the 80 mile mark I kissed my wife goodbye and Trevor joined me. He took my pack and we started off. He had never done 20 miles at once before, so this was a stretch for him. And he was totally amazing. He was constantly reminding me to take fluids, telling witty stories or singing silly tunes which helped keep me going.

Less Fuel = Better Results

Since the issues with my stomach heading into Virgin BMX the first time I had changed up my fueling strategy. Other than a bit of real food at each aid station, the only supplement I was consuming was Vespa. But with it I found that I had plenty of energy for the rest of the race. The biggest hurtle I was facing was mental fatigue. My brain was foggy with little sleep the night before the race and having been awake and moving for almost 30 hours. A couple times I felt like I was sleep running.

I had this strange focus and drive that kept me going. Although I wanted to be a part of the conversation Trevor was having, most of the time I couldn’t summon the mental energy to respond. All my mental capacity was focused on the trail and continuing forward. If Trevor hadn’t been there I don’t know that I would have thought about staying hydrated. And I am sure I would have suffered a severe setback. But as it was we continued forward and passed many runners in those twenty miles. Trevor’s constant encouragement I am sure was a large part of that.

The Finish

When we finished the Grafton loop we started up the hill for the last 1.5ish miles to the finish line Trevor told me to take off if I was feeling like it, and I was. I was so close to the completion of running the Zion 100, this goal I have had for years. Even as I was heading up the hill my eyes started to tear up at the thought of finishing.

As I approached the top of the hill I saw my wife and kids cheering me on, this almost overwhelmed me and I started to break down. But I reigned it in as on of my sons ran with me for a bit then I just wanted to lay it all on the line and broke out into a full on sprint as I headed into the finish line. Where I found my parents and siblings there cheering for me. I was overwhelmed and am even now tearing up with the thoughts of gratitude for all the help love and support. Gratitude fills my heart for all the encouragement, insights, examples and strength I have received along the way. 

This race was an experience never to be forgotten. The beauty and grandeur of the location is unrivaled. The amazing volunteers were so helpful and giving of their time, and always had a smile on their faces. The sheer magnitude of the distance and vert. And the outpouring of love and support was humbling.

The Afterglow of Finishing the Zion 100

I got a chance to talk with Jeff Browning for a few minutes after the race and he gave me some good food for thought on my nutrition strategy as a fat adapted runner. I don’t know how much of what he said that I actually remember, but it was nice to get some extra insights from a world class runner like him.

As a final note, it was inspiring, to see the growling man hobbling his way toward the finish line. His was one of, I am sure, many such stories that happened during the race. Overcoming crazy obstacles to achieve your goals. But one thing when I saw him at the end, he had a pacer with him. I can only think that his pacer had the same affect on him that mine had on me. Running may be an individual sport, but it is never a one man show. Running the Zion 100 was a life changing event for me, and I am sure it will be for you as well.

Who decides that running 50 miles in a small circle is a good idea? Probably no one you know. A member of our running league came up with a crazy idea. Let’s all run around a baseball diamond and see who can do complete the most laps/runs. The name of this interesting endeavor was “Foul Play”. I decided that sounded like an fun but challenging adventure so I got signed up for the event.

​The event was scheduled to take place the last full week of March 2020, Sunday thru Saturday. One member of the league set the bar at 260 runs on the first day. So on my first attempt I pushed a bit beyond that and hit 305 runs. I knew that would make that the target to beat for all the other contestants. I had to come up with another more substantial effort if I wanted to win.

While thinking about what to do for my final Foul Play run, I looked at professional baseball’s highest lifetime scorers. I found a list of the top 1000 lifetime runs scored. Before looking at the list I had fantasized about completing the same number of runs as one of the greats. I quickly realized that in order to run the same number as Ricky Henderson, Ty Cobb, or Barry Bonds that I would be running over 121 miles. That just wasn’t in the cards. So I started at the bottom of the list and worked my way up and found “Shoeless Joe Jackson” with 873 lifetime runs scored. I calculated that this would be just over 51 miles.

If I’m going to be running 50 miles anyway…

Our running league likes to give out custom bottle caps as awards for special achievements. The thought of running 50 miles hooked me. If I was going to run that far, I might as well try for the Zombie Dave Bottle Cap award. That award required the winner to complete a single activity that started at sunset and lasted till sunrise. At this time of year that would be 12 hours of running, and I was sure I would take me at least that long. Completing the challenge would also make me the first league member to achieve this prestigious award. So on Friday I Started about 10 minutes before sunset, about 7:45 PM, and embarked on my first all night running adventure.

And so it begins

Starting out things were clicking well. There were a few individuals in a nearby field that were giving me strange looks. Who is this guy running around the bases over and over again? But they eventually left and it was just me and the field. I settled into a pretty good routine, using a handheld clicker to mark off the laps each time I crossed home plate. The number of completed laps was slowly growing. Meanwhile I was keeping my brain occupied by listening to an audio book. Given that this was happening during the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought it was fitting to listen to Spillover. A book all about how viruses make the jump from species to species. It was not light listening but was very interesting.

As the night deepened my brain became drowsy and I started to become paranoid, seeing things moving in the distance. Having never done an all night run, this was a new experience for me. It was a strange and eerie feeling. I spotted a set of power meters installed around a wooden power pole which looked like someone watching me. Even thought I knew what it was it freaked me out virtually every time I rounded third base.

Time for a break

As part of “Foul Play” we had side achievements, one that I attempted was called “Benchwarmer”. To win this achievement you had to sit in the dugout for the longest duration between laps. So I took an hour during the activity to warm the bench, and fought to keep myself awake. Towards the end of my bench warming I was startled as another league member, Dave, walked around the corner of the dugout. We both jumped and I let out a bit of a yell/scream, it might have been a bit girly ;). I guess the paranoia of being alone and drowsy out there combined to really put me on edge.

Dave totally startled me, but it was nice to have someone else on the diamond with me. It was about 4AM when he arrived, putting me at 8 hours on the diamond. His arrival gave me some added energy which helped me get going after my bench warming session. But that was soon depleted leaving me at a walk. I was still listening to my amazing audiobook. But even though I was super interested in it I found that I was starting to nod and shut my eyes while shuffling around the diamond.

Asleep on my feet

After a couple dozen sleepy laps I decided that I needed to turn off my book and switch to some music. Almost immediately after getting some good music going my body perked right up. And after a couple laps I was logging some of my fastest laps for the night. It surprised me how I could go from almost not being able to walk any more to a good strong run in seconds. And this was after having about 40 miles under my belt for the evening.

Dave’s company was good, he stuck with me for 175 laps and left just as the sky was brightening in the east. I can honestly say that I don’t know if I would have made it through the night without his help. Even though we didn’t talk much, and ran at our own speed. Just having another human nearby gave me a ton of additional motivation.

The Morning Comes

I was able to squeeze in 45 miles before sunrise, but that still left me about 6.5 miles to complete. Running in the dark had brought it’s own specific challenges, paranoia and the like. Those were washed away with the coming of the dawn.The rising of the sun also reminded my body of just how long it had been working. So these final laps were the toughest mentally. I was so close to my goal, but it was a fight to keep going.

Continued effort finally brought me to my efforts conclusion. I completed the 873rd run and was elated at having completed my goal of running 50 miles on a baseball diamond. And to have honored “Shoeless Joe Jackson” with the effort. I had made it through the night, won my bottle cap award and hopefully had secured the first place spot for the event.

I Ran 50 Miles Overnight!

It was a transformative event, I learned that I could make it through a long overnight run. But that it would help to have other people with me. That the brain would play tricks as it gets drowsy, so you have to fight against them to maintain your reality. And finally that as good as an audio book is to pass the time, a good beat goes a long way on the trail.

On a side note, my Coros Apex Adventure Watch did a great job tracking the mileage. Because I was running in a circle rather than a square each loop was about 311 feet, and with 873 loops that comes to 51.42 miles, only .23 miles difference from what the watch reported… which is probably just my trips into the dugout to get food and be a benchwarmer. So I was quite impressed with it’s ability to track accurately with such a small loop.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
13:09:22 hours	10:53:19 hours	51.66 mi.	15:17 min/mile	7:40 min/mile	915.35 ft.	7,482 kcal

While thinking about what to do for my final Foul Play run, I decided to look highest lifetime scores for professional baseball and run the same number of their lifetime runs/scores, I found a list here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/R_career.shtml I quickly realized that in order to run the same number as Ricky Henderson, Ty Cobb, or Barry Bonds that I would be running over 121 miles... and that wasn't in the cards... so I started at the bottom and worked my way up and found "Shoeless Joe Jackson" with 873 lifetime runs scored. I calculated that this would be about 51 miles. So that got me thinking that if I was going to run that far, that I might as well try for the Zombie Bottle Cap award, and be the first to get that. So I Started about 10 minutes before sunset yesterday and finished up about an hour or so after sunrise this morning. As the night wore on and my brain became drowsy I noticed that I started to become paranoid, seeing things moving in the distance. And there was a set of power meters surrounding a power pole that totally looked like someone was standing behind the pole and looking at me. Even thought I knew what it was it freaked me out virtually every time I rounded third base. I took an hour during the activity to warm the bench, and fought to keep myself awake. towards the end of my bench warming I was startled as Dave walked around the corner, and we both jumped and at least I screamed a bit. But it was nice to have someone else on the trail with me. Dave gave me some added energy so I was able to pump several miles out and then I was back to a walk. I was listening to an amazing book "SpillOver" about how viruses jump from species to species. But even though I was super interested in it I found that I was starting to nod and shut my eyes while shuffling around the diamond. After a couple dozen of those I decided that even though I was enjoying my book I needed to switch to some music. Once I got some pounding music going it perked me right up and I was able to log some of my fastest miles, even after having about 40 miles under my belt for the evening. On a side note, my Coros watch did a great job tracking the mileage. Because I was running in a circle rather than a square each loop was about 311 feet, and with 873 loops that comes to 51.42 miles, only .23 miles difference from what the watch reported... which is probably just my trips into the dugout to get food and be a benchwarmer.

​

Ok, so maybe running around in circles isn’t your thing, but there was a reason behind it so hang with me for a bit.

Who’s Idea Was This?

One of the running clubs that I am a member of on Strava loves to issue all sorts of crazy challenges, check out The Treadmill Ultra post for a taste of what we get up to. Of note are two different challenges, one is to pick your favorite trail and set a goal to run it 100 or more times in a given year. And another one is to run a Half or Full Marathon in a microloop, which is a loop of less than 1 mile.

For 2019 I had chosen the Highland Loop as one of my goal loops, with a goal to run it 300+ times during the year. The loop is approximately 0.9 miles, so it meets the microloop requirements. So when I found myself running on the loop and saw that there were several tracks crossing the trail from a trackhoe, I had only completed 240 loops for the year. I decided that my available time to complete my 300 loops was growing short. This gave me an Idea, our club had records set for individuals running Half Marathons and Marathons around very small microloops. But no one had performed a run in the Ultra Marathon range. So calculating that to complete my remaining 60 loops on the trail for the year would give me 54 miles (which was also longer than any previous run I had done to date) I decided to give it a whirl.

The next Saturday April, 27th 2019, I showed up at the south end of the loop with a table, chair, cooler, and water cooler for an aid station, and a clipboard/paper to track my progress at about 2AM. After a few minutes setting things up I finally got underway at 2:32AM. It was a clear/cool night and with my headlamp cutting a path of light in the darkness, I got underway and started laying down miles.

Running with a friend is always good

I had a running friend, Dave who had indicated they would show up to run some with me, and after about 10 miles in the cool quiet I ran into him. At about 4:30 it was still cool and dark but in the far off distance I spotted a pair of bobbing lights heading toward me on the trail. He was sporting both a waist belt light, and a handheld light. Dave hung with me for several loops, It was good to have a companion for a few loops. With him joining me for a while we had some great conversations and ran into our first snake of the year, fortunately not a rattler.

After Dave had to depart I continued to bust out loops, and a little after twilight I my first regular user of the highland loop show up. We had a good chat, I found out he was the individual who originally built the trails I was running on. And had been a professional trainer for marathon runners before retiring to the area. Quite an interesting guy, after a brief chat he headed on his own adventure for the day and I continued my loops.

At around sunrise and about 20 miles into the journey I had another unexpected visitor show up. Brett, who heads up our local running club stopped by to have a raspberry jelly filled donut and push through a few more loops with me. I was trying to pace myself, realizing that I had a long way to go, but I have to admit, he is fast and forced me to push hard, while he was up there with me I logged my fastest mile times for the day, clocking in an 8:15/mi for mile 21.

After Brett departed I continued to knock out loops, but now the trail was getting pretty busy with lots of the locals showing up to walk their dogs and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was sometimes an interesting challenge to avoid the dogs and other trail venturers, but it kept things interesting.

Running in the Sun is not my first choice

After the sun came up my pace quickly took a dive averaging between an 11:20-12:30 mile with about mile 24-25 and hung in that area for about the next 30 miles. During which the sun arched ever higher, and the temperatures continued to increase along with the amount of sweat that was leaving my body. To compensate for this loss I consumed more and more electrolytes, water and calories. I feel like I did a pretty good job with the balance of consuming the right number of calories and electrolytes up until mile 52-53 when it all went south for a while.

But before that, with the sun still a bit from its full fury I was surprised at 40 loops in to the adventure to have another unexpected visitor, J or Rusty as he is known by some came by with his wife and kiddos to cheer me on. We had a good chat while he completed one loop and then left to take his kiddos home. It was a brief but excellent break from this dizzying experience.

At 51 loops or about 47 miles I was getting very tired, my legs were feeling a bit like jelly, knees were hurting, and I was really feeling the enormity of the task before me. Then I took a look at my Apple Watch and noticed that it was showing only 20% of the battery left. I was worried that I might not have enough battery left to complete my journey, so I decided to take a break and let the watch charge for a bit. It was about this time that I also solidified a further goal in my mind, rather than just the 60 laps, if I took it to 70 that would also bring me to a full 100k distance so that became my new final goal.

High Temps call for Cool Refreshment

This was now in the hottest part of the day, with temperatures around the 93 degree F mark. So while I waited for my watch to gain a bit of a charge I noticed I was also running low on water, which was also warming up, and I had a craving for a popsicle. So I called my wonderful wife up and asked if she could bring me some ice and a popsicle. A bit later she arrived with a bag of ice and a bottle of water from the service station along with, not a popsicle but, a slurpee! That Slurpee was so much better at that point than a popsicle would have been, it really hit the spot, and the ice cold water that started flowing from my water cooler was a great source of reinvigoration.

After my watch got back up to 50% I started off again and got about another loop down before I had another unexpected visitor, J or Rusty had come back and was ready to help me pound out the rest of my goal. After one time around with him I decided to consume some calories and although I had been eating regular foods all day I pulled out some Clif Blocks, which I normally love, and downed a whole sleeve along with a large drink of Gatorade. This was the wrong move apparently because about a quarter of the way around the next loop my stomach started churning and my pace ground to a halt.

Who needs a Stomach Anyway

The next several laps were pretty agonizing. it was hard to just keep my feet moving one in front of the other. If I hadn’t had J with me to keep me going I am not sure what I would have done. He kept me on the trail and kept me talking. It must have been so bad for him. Here he was fresh and wanted to go, but I could only shuffle along barely keeping things together. He stayed with me until I had achieved my original goal of 60 loops +1. And at that point I was so tired, I probably should have just bagged it at that point and been done with it. At least I would have had some help to take down my table and get everything to my car.

With the initial goal completed, J headed home to wrangle his kids. I was starting to feel a bit better at this point and got another 2 loops in, bringing my total to 63. With 7 more I would hit the 100k mark. But my watch was up to no good again. The battery was almost to single digits again so I took another rest and let it charge. I think that the battery consumption may have increased with the size of the tracking file or something like that, because once I got it up to 22% I took off again and was able to keep about a 10:30ish pace for most of a loop, but by the time I finished that one my battery was already back down to 16%… it was well after 5pm at this point, I had been up all day and in the best case scenario I would be about 1 hour waiting for enough charge to get me through hopefully the remaining 6 loops, but with the increased battery consumption I wasn’t sure that would work, and if I had to charge the watch again… The thought of being out there another 3-4 hours to complete another 6 loops made my decision for me.

Ok, I guess I’m done

Once I finally made the decision to stop, my main goal achieved, and ended my run I immediately felt all the energy in my body leave and if I hadn’t been close to my camp chair I probably would have ended up in the dirt. It was such a dramatic experience, which I think attests to how much of an endurance activity like this is more mental than physical. As soon as my mind stopped telling my body that it still had work to do it just completely shut down.

While sitting there scarfing down jelly beans to get some quick energy going, I had the first dog walkers of the evening stop by. While talking with one of them they brought up the digging around the trail that had prompted this quick finish to my 300 loops, and indicated that they had contacted the developers to ask them about it. And it appears they are in the initial phases of seeing what development is possible, but lack the water pressure to build up there. So it may be a number of years before they have something in place to provide the requisite pressure to develop the land. And as a result the loop may be around for a while yet. So no rush but come take this beautiful Highland Loop for a spin.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
15:35:05 hours	11:19:19 hours	58.49 mi.	11:37 min/mile	5:50 min/mile	3,727.03 ft.	9,659 kcal

My Apple Watch started this nonsense, and ended it... Every month it gives you an exercise challenge based on your previous performance. This month it decided that having me complete 3480 minutes of exercise was a good idea. I had taken it easy the first two weeks of April, only logging a total of 590 minutes on the trail. Last week I stepped it up but only added 569 more minutes. Giving me a grand total of 1159 minutes exercised and 2321 remaining. Additionally I had set a goal this year to run the Highland Loop 300 times in 2019, and using it frequently during my 150 day 5k+ streak I had banked 230 laps. But over the last two weeks I had observed survey markers being placed in that area, and then a large trackhoe had come through and done some digging at each survey marker, giving me some worry about how long the loop would be accessible to complete my goal. So that is when those two things combined in my crazy brain to give birth to this insane idea. Run a-lot up to about 3 hours per day all week long and then cap it off with a Uber long run to finish off my goal on Highland. So throughout the week I had a lot of 3:30 mornings getting in 60.8 miles as of Thursday, but feeling myself flagging a little more each day, I decided to take Friday off and recover a bit before my Saturday run. The goal on Saturday being to get my 60 loops in with possibly a side order of 10 more to push me up to a 100k, if possible. But not having run more than a 55k... I wasn't sure wether either were possible... Ok, now that the backstory is complete, now here is my report on the run: Woke up at 1:30 on Saturday morning and got my stuff up to the loop in time for a 2:32AM start. I knew that it would be tough to remember how many loops I had completed in my head, so I brought along a clipboard to track them on. (this usually worked...) The night was quiet and cool with clear skies, excellent running conditions. Sunrise was at about 6:42, and I was hoping to knock out the first half of the run before things started to heat up, with a high of 93 forecast around 2, I was hoping to be done by then if possible. I also figured that since this was my longest run to date, that I should listen a really long book, so I started up War and Peace as my audio stimulation (FYI, the book won, it clocks in at about 60 hours of audio, so even at 2x speed I have a long ways to go after listening to it during this run.) Dave joined me at about the 10 mile mark and ran with me for about 4 loops in the dark and we ran across our first snake for 2019. It was great to have some company out there in the dark. Thanks Dave After Dave left I continued my solitary vigil and was rewarded with amazing sunrise. Continually fueling myself up with Franz Raspberry filled donuts, sweet nut clusters, Mandarin oranges, Fig Newtons (100 calories for only 2 cookies), Smoked Almonds, Slim Jim's, Gatorade and Vitamin water electrolyte to which I had added a couple tablespoons of chia seeds in each bottle a day before. (f you haven't tried it before... do it, it adds about 60+ calories per tablespoon, and some of the chia seeds get stuck in your teeth so you get to keep snacking on your run as you discover where they are hiding.) At about sunrise and almost 20 miles in I had an older runner meet me at my aid station and ask me what I was up to. Turned out he was the guy that built the highland loop about 10 years before, and had run the Wasatch 100 when it was a new race, cool guy. About a lap later I was surprised to see Brett. He joined me for about 6 laps before running the loop one last time and taking the CR from Josh. While he was with me I logged my fastest splits, so he was pushing me. Thanks Brett As the sun came up and the temperature started to climb (and my mileage increased...) I saw my pace drop from a 9:40-10 minute mile average to an 11-12 minute average, and was about 25 miles in, so not quite half way yet. The desert flowers this time of year are just amazing, and with the wet winter we have had they are unlike any past year I have seen. Especially the Yucca plants, they are all going full force, raising their amazing bunches of flowers into the air. There are hundreds of them up on this trail, and still amaze me, even after seeing them over and over again like I did. It was also about this time that the Dog walkers started showing up, lots of folks hike/walk up in this area, especially on Saturdays. It was pretty fun to see their reactions after they asked what I was doing (the aid station was a bit of an anomaly on the trail), they ranged from cool, good for you to you are absolutely insane 😉 The dogs did add a new dimension to the running, at times giving it an air of ninja warrior and I wove and dodged the doggies. But as the temperature ratcheted up eventually all the doggies disappeared. I always try to run in the cool of the mornings, I would run during the day in the winter, but I was not really prepared for how much tougher it is to just keep running and running as things heated up. During my morning runs I typically am able to get through a half marathon with a drink before leaving home and 550ml of water on the run, that was not sufficient here. The warmer air dried out my mouth more quickly and kept me reaching for my water bottle, but I tried to moderate my drinking of electrolyte and water so that I didn't consume more than my body needed, or cause stomach issues. In the heat of the day I was again surprised with another visitor, Josh having been called out by Brett and getting notice of the loss of his CR he came out along with his whole family and joined me for part of a loop. It was great to meet his family, and some of his kids legitimately looked excited to be there 😉 As Josh departed I was at about 32 miles in, approaching the 55k mark and the furthest that I had ever run. Everything beyond that was undiscovered territory for me. I was feeling strong, but fatigued. I was keeping rhythm, even if it was a slower rhythm than I may have wanted. But I kept busting out loops one at a time until at the hottest part of the day, 93 degrees, I noticed that my watch was running low on battery. I had just completed loop 51, but figured that I should stop and charge my watch to ensure I didn't loose the record of my run. (in hindsight I forgot to turn off the heart-rate monitor, which typically will add a few hours to the watches tracking time, thought about it while charging the watch, but wasn't sure if disabling it mid run would cause any issues so I left it alone) While the watch was charging I kept walking around the little triangle at the end of the loop, hoping to ensure that my body didn't cramp up or crap out. And I got this crazy craving for a popsicle, I am not a lover of popsicles but man one sounded so good at that moment. About that time my wife txt'd me to ask how I was doing and if I needed anything, I had noticed my water was warming up, I had about a gallon left in my cooler which at the time I thought would probably be enough. So I asked her if she could bring me some ice and a popsicle. She showed up in a few minutes with a couple gallons of water, a bag of ice and half of a chiller from Maverick (I guess they don't have popsicles there...). I have never been a big fan of icee drinks (Chiller, Slurpee, you name it) but man that was the most amazing thing I had had all day, it was just what I needed. Thank you Sweetheart. So with a more chill outlook and 50% on my watch battery I took off again and started busting out some more miles. Shortly after 3 I got a txt from Josh indicating that he was headed back out to run with me. His presence was a welcome one, in the heat of the day there had basically been no one out there besides me. But while he was out there for some reason even though I had been eating regular food all day I consumed a whole sleeve of 6 Clif Blocks, which I normally love, but something happened when they went in my stomach and my belly didn't like it. It was all I could do to keep walking, if Josh hadn't been there I probably wouldn't have been able to move. But he was patient, and walked along with me, keeping the conversation going to keep me distracted from my stomach issues. That continued for 4-5 loops, and the completion of the 60th!! My initial Goal of 60 loops and 54 miles had been achieved! Thanks Josh With the initial goal completed, Josh headed home to wrangle his kids. I was starting to feel a bit better at this point and got another 2 loops in, bringing my total to 63. With 7 more I would hit the 100k mark. But my watch was up to no good again. The battery was almost to single digits again so I took another rest and let it charge. I think that the battery consumption may have increased with the size of the tracking file or something like that, because once I got it up to 22% I took off again and was able to keep about a 10:30ish pace for most of a loop, but by the time I finished that one my battery was already back down to 16%... it was well after 5pm at this point, I had been up all day and in the best case scenario I would be about 1 hour waiting for enough charge to get me through hopefully the remaining 6 loops, but with the increased battery consumption I wasn't sure that would work, and if I had to charge the watch again... The thought of being out there another 3-4 hours to complete another 6 loops made my decision for me. So my Apple watch had started this nonsense with its silly goal that it gave me, and now it was ending it because it was burning through the battery at an unsustainable rate. Once I finally made the decision to stop, my main goal achieved, and ended my run I immediately felt all the energy in my body leave and if I hadn't been close to my camp chair I probably would have ended up in the dirt. It was such a dramatic experience, which I think attests to how much of an endurance activity like this is more mental than physical. As soon as my mind stopped telling my body that it still had work to do it shut down. While sitting there scarfing down jelly beans to get some quick energy going, I had the first dog walkers of the evening stop by. While talking with one of them they brought up the digging around the trail that had prompted this quick finish to my 300 loops, and indicated that they had contacted the developers to ask them about it. And it appears they are in the initial phases of seeing what development is possible, but lack the water pressure to build up there. So it may be a number of years before they have something in place to provide the requisite pressure to develop the land. And as a result the loop may be around for a while yet. So no rush but come take this beautiful loop for a spin. If you have made it this far you are a trooper, or don't have anything better to do, might even be as crazy as I am 😉 A big thanks to all who came to run with and support me, you're the best! And just a quick post run update, on the morning after other than some sunburn, a blood blister on my right heel, and an overall slightly achy feel I am actually doing pretty good. No knee pain, taking the stairs just fine. So almost 60 miles yesterday and I feel like I could run a half today, albeit a slooow one... 😉

If you have made it this far you are a trooper, or don’t have anything better to do, might even be as crazy as I am 😉 A big thanks to all who came to run with and support me, you’re the best!

And just a quick post run update, on the morning after other than some sunburn, a blood blister on my right heel, and an overall slightly achy feel I am actually doing pretty good. No knee pain, taking the stairs just fine. So almost 60 miles yesterday and I feel like I could run a half today, albeit a slooow one… 😉 But I am definitely in the market to do a run of this length again, with some of the lessons learned it will be even better.

Adventure Video

Running on a treadmill is not usually considered a trail run. And I’m not doing that here, but this was a fun and challenging adventure, so I thought it should be included here with our other adventures.

A running club that I am a part of does some pretty crazy things, and interesting challenges. One of these was the 24 hour treadmill challenge. The gist of the challenge was to see who in the club could get the most miles pounded out on a public or private treadmill in a 24 hour period. With some extra perks for the individual that got the most consecutive miles (miles run without stopping or no more than restroom/drink breaks).

As I am sure you are thinking, that was a terrible idea, but it was also an amazing experience.

I have not been much of a treadmill runner, all my running has been outdoors except for a couple of brief runs on treadmills in hotel fitness centers. But when this challenge was scheduled I decided I wanted to take part in it, and found one I could pickup fairly cheaply, used. After picking up the treadmill, I parked it in our garage and installed an old flat screen monitor in front of the treadmill so I could watch something interesting and distract from the numbness that certainly would ensue.

With everything in place and the scheduled day of the challenge close at hand, I put in my first 4 mile test run on the treadmill (my most miles on a treadmill to date) and learned a few things.

• I sweat a LOT more indoors than with a nice breeze.
• Don’t Forget to wear my sweatband, or I will be constantly wiping sweat from my eyes.
• Make sure to have a towel handy, to wipe down my face and neck when the sweat gets to be too much.
•  With all this sweat it is a good thing that I am doing this during the winter rather than Southern Utah summer.
• It might be a good idea to have a chair available to rest on in between stretches.
• Giving the treadmill some extra lubricant during the event would be a good idea.

With those notes in hand I made my final adjustments, tuned up the treadmill, and prepared mentally by getting lots of trail miles in the days leading up it.

The event started at 8PM on Friday Feb 8th and ended at 8PM the next day. I was not at home when the appointed hour arrived, but arrived home a couple hours after 8. After which I got on the treadmill, put on The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey and started the monotony… I started off at a leisurely pace, not wanting to go out too aggressively, I still had about 24hours to go.

Although the movie kept me distracted a bit it was obvious that this challenge was unlike anything I had attempted before. I soon was yearning for the beautiful vistas or changing surroundings and varied running surfaces that my body was used to. My feet were almost numb with the repeated perfectly flat surface. I was frequently having to grab my towel and wipe the sweat away from my face and neck. I also found it difficult to try and keep myself centered on the treadmill band, I kept feeling like I was drifting to one side or the other. And I had a hard time keeping a consistent pace so I was constantly fiddling with my speed, not the best performance on the treadmill.

Finally at about 12:30AM I ticked over 14 miles, had finished the first Hobbit movie, and decided that to keep going the next day I should probably call it a night and get a bit of sleep. After all 14 miles was a decent chunk of miles, and the others participating in the challenge wouldn’t get to crazy would they?

The next morning I awoke to see that some of the other club members had posted A LOT more miles than I had put in, one, Brett, had completed a non-stop 50+k (32 Miles) in a public facility, another , Scott, seeing that the 32 miles Brett posted completed 33 miles in a public facility, and Jeff pushed all the way to a 40 miles non-stop on his treadmill at home. I was blown away, these guys had certainly set the bar high, I had not even done half the miles that they had put in. And I knew, based on my performance the night before, that I wasn’t about to get a full stretch of 30+ non-stop miles in. As well I was in the middle of my non stop 5k streak, which would require me to get out on the trail to keep that going, so I was going to need to break it up a bit.

So I got to it, putting on the next Hobbit movie (The Desolation of Smaug), I got going again, and experienced a lot of what I had the night before, but even more sweat, since things were warming up a bit outside. I finished off 6 more miles to bring me to an even 20 miles for the event. Then I took a break before heading out to get my trail run in during the warmth of that February day.

After finishing a 6 mile trail run and taking care of a couple items around the house for my wife and kiddos I got back on the mill and turned the second half of the movie so I could finish it up. I was able to get 8 more miles in before the movie ended, which left me with an even average of 14 miles per movie.

I took a bit of a break, but at 28 miles I was still several miles behind those that had posted their big miles already. So I got back in and aimed for the 34+ mile mark to hopefully get me in second place… I got The Battle of Five Armies playing and kept moving forward, but it was obvious that I should have had more practice runs, fueled up better throughout the event, and maybe should have pounded out some more miles before going to bed the night before.

I got about half way through the final Hobbit movie and had knocked out 7 miles, but that was basically the end of the road for me. 35 miles was by far the furthest I had ever ran on a treadmill but would it be enough to secure 2nd place?

At the end of the event I found I was not in the 2nd place spot, although I had enough miles to be in that spot previously Scott had busted out another 4 miles during the day for a total of 37, And Jeff had gotten another 10 for a total of 50 miles on the treadmill. So that put me in a solid 3rd place.

So it was an interesting if not totally boring event 😉 and although that was a lot of time on the treadmill, I think I will be back from time to time. The treadmill has it’s place, but I wouldn’t recommend it for running an ultra marathon, unless you are a type of crazy like me!

Realizing that my goal of running 1000 miles for 2018 was about 80 miles away. I decided that I should run a half marathon or more each day of the week Monday through Saturday. This effort would give me the necessary miles to accomplish the goal. So I set to the task on Monday Oct. 29th 2018 and proceeded to hit the Half Marathon mark each day for 6 days. In the process I hit my highest distance of any previous week, 90 Miles.
 
 

Day 1: My Prospector Loop Half-Marathon Course

I started with my favorite Half-Marathon route which takes me down Prospector Trail, connects in to Church Rocks, then up on and down Highland ridge. I have run this route many times in the past and it has a warm spot in my heart. The weather was great if a bit chilly, but clear and dry. The sunrise was a wonderful treat as usual.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
02:35:19 hours	02:28:41 hours	13.61 mi.	10:55 min/mile	5:04 min/mile	1,075.46 ft.	2,301 kcal

Before breaking my collarbone I was ahead of my goal pace to run 1000 miles this year by about 120 miles. But while out of commission I lost all that and fell behind pace a bit. Now after a few strong weeks I am ahead by about 100 miles again. And I now have about 70 miles left to hit 1000 for the year... 6 half marathons look like they will get me there well ahead of schedule. So I am going to attempt to run at least a half marathon distance each day this week... we will see how it goes 😉

Day 2: My Prospector Loop Half-Marathon Course Again

I ran the same route again the next day with similarly great weather conditions, and another great sunrise. But after a sluggish run which ended up with me completing the course in a decently longer time than the previous day I decided I should mix it up the next day.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
02:50:39 hours	02:41:58 hours	13.76 mi.	11:46 min/mile	2:43 min/mile	1,040.68 ft.	2,318 kcal

HalfMarathon #2 was a bit sluggish but at least I was able to get a PR on one segment. But the morning was wonderful cool and rewarding.

Day 3: Church Rocks Repeats Half-Marathon

My favorite trail in the area has got to be Church Rocks. So I decided to run some repeats on Church Rocks to get my Half Marathon in for the day. Again I was blessed with great weather and found that it was quite difficult to do the repeats. Either I didn’t like this trail as much as I thought or my body was not liking having been put through 3 half marathons in a row… either way my time to complete the half marathon had was

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
03:07:25 hours	02:44:04 hours	13.56 mi.	12:06 min/mile	4:20 min/mile	1,637.80 ft.	2,348 kcal

Day 4: Mayors Loop Half-Marathon

Given my sluggishness on the last two days I decided to mix it up again and head to a nice flat and smooth route. The Mayors Loop in St. George fit that bill. This run was the ticket, I was able to kick my speed back up a bit and completed that days Half-Marathon in less time than my run on Day 1. It felt great and seemed to get me back on track. I started this run a bit earlier than the others, so I got a little more time in the dark and I had the opportunity to spot several shooting stars during my run, this was the first time I have ever seen a shooting start whilst running.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
02:32:27 hours	02:20:48 hours	13.26 mi.	10:37 min/mile	6:33 min/mile	222.44 ft.	2,162 kcal

Mayors Loop cool and faster for Justin. Get better my friend. Shooting Stars🌠, Foxes 🦊 and Bunnies 🐰 4 down, more to go. Note to self, if you run faster your headlamp battery lasts for more miles.... Let No Rest November begin!!!

Day 5: Pushing Tin Repeats x 7

The T.R.I.P. group that I am a member of, was starting their Pushing Tin Repeats: Last One Standing event at 7 PM that evening, so I took a little bit longer rest and waited until that evening to run my Half-Marathon for the day. I arrived at Pushing Tin a little after 7 PM and got started. One of the club members had brought out a table so we all brought items that we wanted to eat during the event. It sure was nice to have that aid station to keep up my calorie intake and electrolytes on a regular basis. But as the crowd grew it was also easy to stop and chat with others at the aid station, that was fun and added to the event, but definitely impacted my overall speed both days during the event. But it was also great to have some others to run with during the event, and they usually got me to pick up my overall pace.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
04:40:39 hours	03:10:02 hours	17.02 mi.	16:29 min/mile	3:19 min/mile	1,559.06 ft.	2,983 kcal

Great run this evening as part of the TRIP group 24 hour Pushing Tin Repeats event. Awesome to be out running with so many great runners. They were blowing by me... good crowd!

Day 6: Pushing Tin Repeats x 6

The Pushing Tin Repeats event was still going on so after getting some sleep for the night and then attending to some familial duties I drove back out to Pushing Tin and started pushing some more. It was a different experience than the night before with the sun out. Demanding a bit more from me than the night had. But with plenty of electrolytes I was able to push through and just barely got my Half-Marathon distance in before I realized that my wife was awaiting my return home. So I ended the Pushing Tin event with 13 repeats on the loop and 6 days of Half-Marathons.

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
04:43:01 hours	02:58:27 hours	14.66 mi.	19:18 min/mile	5:58 min/mile	1,348.43 ft.	2,565 kcal

Final tally was 13 loops. Great time out there on Pushing Tin.

This journey was an amazing experience, pushing my body in a way it had not been done before. And I guess that is part of my reason for running, to explore what is possible to achieve with a bit of determination and a set goal. Even though some of my runs were sluggish and took a bit longer I spent that time listening to some of my favorite books The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. So every second was that much more enjoyable along the way.

After arriving in Salmon Arm, BC we enjoyed several days of family activities in this beautiful area. Although I was not running as much then as I am currently I had brought my running gear and planned to get a run or two in. But wasn’t planning on anything as amazing as some of my other adventures.

The Run Begins

I didn’t even give a second thought to the fact that bears might be close at hand. Waking up before the sun I ran along some roads heading up to the forest and some trails. On the edge of the old growth cedar forest I found some mountain bike trails. These meandered nicely up the mountain under the canopy of the forest. Eventually I reached the top of the trails and connected with a single track dirt road. This road meandered up the mountain offering some beautiful vistas periodically between the trees.

On the corner of one of the turns the road passed a couple caterpillar machines. One was a large track hoe with bars around the doors and windows. It appeared like a machine that could make quick work of lots of trees.

Running With Bears?

Shortly after passing the heavy equipment I checked my watch and noticed that I was approaching 5 miles. That was about the distance I was planning on running before turning around. So I pulled out a GU gel to give me some calories when I spotted it.

There was a small black creature on the road up ahead, so I decided to get a picture. It was fairly obvious, even at a distance that the creature was a baby bear. I figured I was safe to snap a few pics, but then I noticed a larger black creature lumber into the road. This was the mommy bear, and it promptly stood up on its hind legs and looked my direction.

The bear was a ways away from me, but when it stood up it didn’t give me any warm fuzzies. No thought had been given about bears being around the area. I was completely unprepared for this eventuality. Not only did I have my pack off, but a GU in one hand and my phone in the other taking pictures. The Bear standing up looking at me sent feelings of panic through my body. And what happened next sent that panic into action

More Like Running From Bears

The momma bear dropped back to all fours and started running toward me. There was a good distance between us so I had a few moments before my eventual demise. Things seemed to go in slow motion as I tried to remember what to do in a bear attack. Did you run, stand your ground, or play dead? And was that advice about Black Bears, Grizzlys, or other bears? As my brain tried to decide what was what, my fight or flight instinct took over.

With my unzipped running pack and GU in one hand and phone in the other I turned and ran. It was a rather awkward flight I am sure, with bag flailing and dropping its contents on the road. And I may have run faster either before or since, but it seemed like my fastest in a while. I remembered the heavy equipment around the corner and thought that might be my salvation. So running up to the track hoe I climbed up and tried to open the door. The door was locked, my mind chided me for wasting the time and gave me visions of my impending demise.

Ok, Obviously I survived

I started running again and kept it up until I was about a quarter mile down a straight section of road. When I finally risked a look back over my shoulder and saw a completely empty road behind me. I took a deep breath to calm me down and started to easily make my way down the mountain and back home.

When I got back home my Father-in-law told me about how he had speed tested a black bear once. He found that the bear could run over 35 miles per hour. His revelation didn’t make me feel any better, but did make me glad the bear lost interest. This experience got me committed to being more prepared in the backcountry. Now I take Bear Spray and a Bear Bell (Sponsored Product Links) so I won’t go running with bears anymore.
 
 
 

Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Average Speed	Max Speed	Elevation Gain	Calories Burned
02:13:21 hours	01:59:51 hours	9.89 mi.	12:07 min/mile	2:48 min/mile	1,578.41 ft.	1,658 kcal

Took a run while at a Family Reunion in BC