A few thoughts: It feels good to be able to type in the numeral '50' as the distance I ran Friday. And I ran 99% of it. I must have done something right. Training, nutrition, attitude--it all came together for me Friday. I wish I would have had more and deeper sleep than I got, but being used to early morning alpine starts to 12+ hour dayhikes, I knew that lack of sufficient sleep would be the least of my concerns going into my first ultra race. Until Friday, the longest distance I had run was 32 miles. I did not know what to expect. So I just did what felt comfortable and called upon my abilities. This is what I had trained for. I arrived with my father at the Lookout Campground, the starting point for the 100 and 50 mile races. The temperature was chilly enough for sleeves and thin gloves. Did all the checking in, saw some friends. All the anxiety I had the previous day had evaporated. I was just ready to run and see what I could do. Scott Wesemann was waiting for me when I checked in, and he gave me some last-minute advice. The plan was to have Scott ride with my dad until mile 20 or so, then he would run with me to the finish. Then the countdown, and a modest group of 2 dozen crazies began bobbing up past the Christmas light-lined fairway to the road. Everyone was in slow motion. Holding back. A minute after the start I had unintentionally moved to the front of the pack, and at the same time, Seth Wold appeared at my side, running with me. We had a nice four-mile conversation. During that first four miles, I was aware that there was no other runner ahead of us, and I expected dozens of them to pass me at any moment. I did not look back, just continued running with Seth. At mile 4 he made an exchange with his crewman--his father in a white pickup--then he wished me a good day and in a minute was a quarter mile ahead of me. I continued the pace I had set from the beginning, trying to stay at or below 8 minutes per mile. I was familiar with this road. I knew how far away Simpson Springs was, and in my mind it wasn't that far away. Easy. On the gradual uphill before Simpson I passed my first 50 mile early starter. I felt terrific running up that long grade. Really good. Then down to the corral, back up to the road. That is when I felt the first hint of fatigue. Not to worry, still lots of gas in the tank. I just needed to stay on top of fueling. I should write at this point that from the very start, Scott W. acting as chief crewman and my father as driver and assistant crewman were better than I could have asked. Scott was out of the van at every stop asking me what I needed, running back to get it. For the first half of the race I did not stop at the van, just kept running and they would pull up on my left and hand-deliver my supplies. This worked well for me. My plan was to keep moving. Scott really knew how to provide support that allowed me to keep my forward momentum. Honestly, I was concerned about losing him as crew chief when he got out to pace me at about mile 21. He was doing such an excellent job. But then he actually stepped it up, running with me and then at every two miles he ran ahead to the idling van to grab fuel not only for himself but to make preparations for me. Outstanding. From Simpson Springs to Dugway Pass is a very long, straight stretch of desert road. Really, 18 miles I believe. Most of it went by in a blur. I felt pretty good for most of it. Scott helped me keep my mind off my aching joints. A few miles before the pass I was aware of the heat. Overall, it wasn't that bad. Never became intolerable for me. I kept my shirt on. This entire time, not one other runner had passed me. Did I dare hope for second place? Here I was, 35 miles into a 50 mile race and looking back I could not see anyone making a move. Now of course, I did not win the race. That rank was reserved for the elite runner Seth Wold. But damn, I could taste 2nd place all the way through mile 37, when I finally was passed by a stronger runner. I had turned to look back before the curve that leads to the pass and saw someone in an orange shirt. He hadn't been there all day, but there he was, moving dangerously close. After every complaint about losing my 2nd place position Scott would tell me, "Don't worry about him, just run your race, make the finish your goal." I had to accept it. I would get passed soon after the pass. And he did pass me, about mile 38. "Good job" he said as he moved past me on my left. By this time I was hurting. I wish I could have bombed down from the pass, but it wasn't possible. My joints were rusted. I just had to keep moving. At about mile 40 my wife and kids finally caught up to me. I was afraid they were going to miss my finish because I told them it would probably take me 10 hours. But the way I was moving most of the day I was on track for an 8 to 8.5 hour finish. Every two miles I met my family and my dad, filled my bottle with fresh water, and tried to graze out of a nice variety of high energy foods available to me. However, my appetite was gone, and I just wanted to run in with nothing. I did manage to stuff some food in me because I certainly did not want to bonk five miles from the finish. About mile 43 I looked back and another runner appeared, a woman. She came up pretty fast, passed me, and was gone. She was the one that almost caught me at Simpson. She looked strong and was running smoothly. OK, fourth place is pretty good too. Scott and I just grinded out the last handful of miles. He was hurting too and had slowed noticeably. He had run Wasatch 100 the month before, and then the St. George Marathon. By the time his day was through he had run another 29 miles. Finally I got my first view of Blackrock finish line. I had to pass it, run down .75 miles and turn around. It wasn't that bad and went by quickly. I wanted to get under an 8:30 finish, so I picked up the last .20 miles and crossed the line at 8:29.58 for 4th place. Good enough. My first real race. Loved it. Thanks to those who have mentored and coached me. You know who you are. If you have gone running with me, I consider myself the least-talented among you.
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