My Finish Line Video At Zion 100

I came across a video Mel shot of me crossing the line of the Zion 100 a few months ago. As you will see, I saved up just BARELY enough energy to jump across the finish line.

NOTE TO SELF: After running 100 miles your legs will nearly collapse when you try to jump across the finish line.

This sissy jump across the finish line is a bit deceiving. It doesn't show the incredible highs and incredible lows I encountered over the previous 35 hours to run those 100 miles to the finish line. Just know that this little jump was the ending of a profound and life-changing experience.

My friend Jared Thorley ran his first 50 miler that day at Zion. Jared is a seasoned runner and skirted in 10 minutes under the cutoff. Just incredible. It goes to show how grueling these events are. He wrote afterward "Indescribable how difficult that was." A picture of him at the end summarizes everything so perfectly. You can see the indescribable challenge, indescribable pain, and indescribable exhaustion. And the indescribable sense of accomplishment!

Lots Of Jumping (And Misery) This Week

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." ~ Juma Ikangaa

 Monday, July 23rd 2012: 10 miles @ 10:59 minutes per mile. The time on my alarm clock started with “4”. That is sick and wrong.

Tuesday, July 24th 2012: Pioneer Day 5k! This is the first (and hopefully last) time I have ever run a race in jeans and a cowboy hat. My friends Lyle Anderson and Jason Smith had equally uncomfortable clothing:

This is the first race we have ever done as a whole family. The kids were really excited about it BEFORE the race started. (AFTER the race……not so much.) Mel ran with the girls, a niece, and our friend's daughter. Only a few tears were shed over those 3.1 miles.

Eventually everyone found their way to the end. Jackson wanted to jump across the finish line. There were large quantities of donuts waiting for us and the kids were in heaven. It is remarkable how deep-fried trans-fat can erase the pain of three miles.

Afterward I ran 5 more miles @ 10:53 minutes per mile in Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.

Wednesday, July 25th 2012: 24 miles @ 13:02 minutes per mile. I went to the Warner Valley dirt road for some non-technical, easy (cough, cough), fast (cough, cough) miles. But here’s a useful nugget of info: when it is 836 degrees outside and four bajillion percent humidity, there is no such thing as easy, fast miles. I knew by mile three that it was going to be a long, not-so-enjoyable run.

You know those runs where you start bargaining with yourself because it sucks so bad? “Just cut the run short and you can make up the miles tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the day after never. Plus…what is the point of this? You could be sleeping right now instead of trying not to die.” I hoped a cheesy jumping picture would get me out of my funk. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t.)

I was out in the middle of nowhere and you’ll never believe what I saw……A HUMAN! Seriously! A HUMAN! I have run hundreds of miles out here and never, ever seen another runner. I was so happy to see another person out enjoying this area that I could have hugged him. But that would have been gross. And sweaty. And slightly awkward.

The humidity was suffocating. All you east coast runners who live with this all the time….wow. I bow down to your supreme awesomeness because if I had to run in this all the time I would find a new hobby. There were some big puddles of water that had some sweet reflections of the clouds. Check out this stick in the water.

Here is my philosophy on running: Running MUST be fun. MUST. Occasionally it is okay to take one step across that line if you’re training your body to build and adapt. But this run was way, way too many steps across the “Fun” line. I’d go so far as to say it was downright miserable for all 24 miles.

Thursday, July 26th 2012: Nothing.
 
Friday, July 27th 2012: 5 miles @ 11:42 minutes per mile. I got a harsh reminder that I didn’t re-fuel and re-hydrate adequately from the 24 mile sauna run. I felt like a slug the whole time. That night I went on an hour and a half bike ride with Mel which was a lot of fun.

Saturday, July 28th 2012: 10 miles @ 13:40 minutes per mile. I took my friends Jess Jensen, and Shane and Karrie Nielson to the Guacamole Trail. The trail is challenging in some sections but the scenery is great.

The trail involves following little rock towers which can be hard to spot. More than a few times we ended up just standing there trying to figure out where to go. It was pretty funny to watch. Even though it slowed us down, I liked how it felt more adventurous. Later the gang reached the top of this slick rock ridge:

Karrie said that in honor of the Olympics, she brought medals for whoever had the best jump in a jumping contest. I decided to go for the High School Cheerleader Reject pose. I resisted my urge to call for a re-do.

I felt good for the whole run. For better or worse, the Never-Jump-Like-This-In-Public jump earned me a medal......made out of a Hostess Cupcake! A great run is always even better when it ends with Hostess.

I bumped up my mileage a little bit this week because I realized that I'm close to getting 200 miles of running in a month for the first time ever. I have a few more days and a few more miles so I think I'll make it.

Running With My Peeps. Literally.

Recently I found a box of marshmallow Peeps in the back of a cupboard. After rejoycing in my good fortune, I decided to take them out on the trail for a mid-run snack. Against the background of the red mountains, the Peeps are bright enough to burn your retinas.

It was fine with me that the peeps had become a little crunchy. No matter how long these heavenly morsels sit in the cupboard, you can't kill delicious.

I would like to meet the person who thought "You know what? Marshmallows look so boring! Lets get creative and shape the marshmallow like a bird. And you know what? Marshmallows aren't sweet enough. Lets cover them with a coating of dyed sugar." I think this person deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

My Running Partner Is A Tarantula

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon." ~ Alan Cabelly

Monday, July 16th 2012: 4 miles @ 8:58 minutes per mile. I'm not ashamed to admit that 8:58 per mile is sometimes enough to trigger chunky burps.

Tuesday, July 17th 2012: Rest. 

Wednesday, July 18th 2012: 12 miles @ 12:55 minutes per mile. I've heard that the Guacamole Trail is a mountain biker's paradise. The trail is only about 20 minutes from my house so I thought I'd give it a run for the first time. Much of the route is on slick rock and little pools along the trail were filled by an earlier rainstorm. This made for some great reflection pictures.

Even though some sections were fairly technical, the scenery more than made up for the slower pace and difficulties.

This trail is right up against Zion National Park. I saw this little rock window and put Zion in the background:

It was hot as the devil's lair out there and I was more than a little tempted to take a dunk into one of the little pools along the way.

For me, the hardest part of the Guacamole Trail wasn't the technical difficulty, it was actually FINDING THE TRAIL! The route was marked with rock cairns, but sometimes I would reach one, then stand there dumbfounded trying to find the next one. I'll give you an example. Can you find the rock tower in this picture? Right. Neither could I.

In all honesty, most of the trail wasn't too hard to find. Even though the trail is not fast, it is definitely fun. And I will definitely go back. On my way back to the car I was joined by an overly big and overly friendly running partner:

Thursday, July 19th 2012: Rest.

Friday, July 20th 2012: 20 mile walk! My wife and I were in charge of Youth Conference for our church group this year. We had planned to walk 14 miles from Hurricane, Utah to the St. George Temple. Our group of 65 headed for the trail at 3:00am (OUCH!!!!) to try and beat most of the heat.

But as we got driving down the dirt road to our starting point, things got ugly. A flash flood last week washed out large portions of the road making it impassable to cars. We decided there was no other option but to start at the washed out section, but this added an extra 6 miles to the trip.

We walked for hours by the light of our flashlights until we were treated to an amazing sunrise:

After more hours of walking we finally reached the crest of a hill and saw the St. George Temple ahead of us. We took breaks along the way, and finished after nine hours when the temperature had reached 101 degrees. I am so inspired and proud of the youth and leaders who were part of this experience. That sense of accomplishment from walking 20 miles is something they will be able to keep with them the rest of their lives.

Saturday, July 21st 2012: 6 miles @ 13:08 minutes per mile. Let me tell you amigos, I was exactly 0% excited to go out running after finishing the nine hour walk a few hours earlier. But I had already planned to go out with my friends Shane and Karrie Nielson and didn't want to back out.

We ran around the Jem Trail. The first few miles felt like my legs were cement, but things loosened up and we had a fun run together. How much fun you ask? This much fun:

I Got Centerfold Of UltraRunning Magazine!

Life has been crrrrrrrazy busy lately so I just cracked open the July issue of UltraRunning Magazine. I was thumbing through the pages and then got to the centerfold. I realized it was a picture I snapped during the Buffalo Run 50 miler!

I got goosebumps thinking about what an amazing blessing running has been to me. Not only was the race itself such an awesome experience, but to have others get a taste of that experience in the magazine.......I just feel very thankful. I am so, so thankful. I noticed a few of my other pictures as well.

I really love this magazine. It has been known as "The Bible of ultrarunning" for 30+ years. There are three things that they do so well in each issue:
1) Informative, educational, and inspiring articles.
2) Great race reports (often from the race directors).
3) They post the finishing times of ALL finishers of the ultramarathons. Not just the top three finishers. They include EVERYONE. First place to last place. I think it's pretty symbolic of ultramarathons in general. The races feel so inclusive. Slow runners respect fast runners for their amazing abilities. Fast runners respect slow runners for their grit and determination.

If you're looking for inspiration or considering going beyond 26.2, you ought to subscribe to UltraRunning Magazine. I'm not sponsored by them and I get nothing if you subscribe. From one runner to another, this is worth checking out.