The Wasatch... 61.7mi

September 8, 2007

For those very few that might be reading this, thanks for your patience :) Alas, the complete 100 miles did not come to pass. I will post my splits below, and you will notice a certain "lingering" that begins to happen around the Alexander Ridge aid station at mile 47.44...

Start: 5am
Francis Peak 18.76: In 9:02 Out 9:09 - I spent a few extra minutes waiting for my brothers to show :)
Bountiful B: 23.95: In 10:21 Out 10:22
Sessions: 28.23 In 11:20 Out 11:22
Swallow Rocks: 34.91 In 1:03 Out 1:03
Big Mountain: 39.40 In 2:08 Out 2:16
Alexander Ridge: 47.44 In 4:39 Out 4:50
Lambs Canyon: 53.13 In 6:12 Out 6:54
Upper Big Water: 61.7 In 9:36.... DID NOT FINISH

I'm not entirely certain what was up, but somewhere between 39.4 and 47.4 I started getting stomach cramps and feelings of nausea. We came down from the greater elevations of earlier in the day, but after 9+ hours on the trail this was also the hottest part of the course, so perhaps that was a factor. I did pretty well on the water intake, but for whatever reason the food options were very unappealing. I was also nervous about throwing up and losing too much ground in the hydration department. After my longer rest at Alexander Ridge I had a rally of sorts enroute to Lambs Canyon... Nervous about my food/water intake, I spent some time at LC (perhaps too much) and headed up the road to Big Water. The first half of this leg was good, but my Cliff Blocks induced vomiting just about the time it was getting dark. I recovered briefly, but subsequent waves of nausea spelled the end...

The hardest part in all of this: Not finishing. I had "planned" a 28hr pace for myself early on. Despite the stomach issues I was only 6 minutes down from that upon entering Upper Big Water. In my mind, and in reality I suppose, I was on a downward spiral -- at 9:30 pm -- with 40 miles and unknown hours to go...

So it went. My friend Dan had a much better time of it and ran really well throughout. He finished in about 28 hours -- a time that included the "rescue" of his pacer brother who was suffering from the altitude and needed Dan's assistance to make it slowly to an aid station. 27 hours already under his belt, Dan blistered the final 6 mile leg in just over an hour. Good stuff!

Will I try one of these again? We shall see...

I'll post a few race photos when I get some, and keep running until the snow flies (perhaps even this year amidst the white stuff), but for now the attentive efforts to this training log are taking a break.

Ciao!