The HARDEST LONGEST SLOWEST 25 MILES EVER!!!!!!!!
I ended up doing my hair brain idea after all. Ever since I paced a 70 year old man from New York 25 miles on the Wasatch 100 race I have wanted to do it, but have also realized it is out of my league. I paced about 8 years ago from Lambs Canyon to Brighton. I thought it would be fun to hike the last 25 mile section from Brighton to the Homestead in Midway, to see what that portion of the race was like, and thought what better way than to go the night of the race and follow the glow sticks and be a little fly on the wall and have a mini Wasatch 100 experience. So on Friday morning I called Gary and asked him if he was up for it and he was totally up for the adventure. I thought I might have to twist Harold's arm but he agreed, knowing I would have begged him until he gave in anyway, so we decided to get up to Brighton and start running around 11:00pm. We didn't want to interfere with the race at all, so we packed all our food and water and avoided the aid stations, and we would move off the trail and give every runner the right of way. I felt we did a great job of staying out of everyone's way and yet we got to experience a part of the thrill of this amazing race.
This last part of the course was so much more difficult than the Lambs to Brighton section that it blew me away. I have never been up and down so many mountain in a 25 mile distance in my life. As near as I can tell from my garmin we climbed over 10,000 ft of elevation. The highest peak of the race is on this last 25 mile stretch. We climbed from Brighton to the top of Sunset Peak and then down into the American Fork Canyon and back up and down several mountains, it was very steep and very rocky. I fell 6 times through the night, many of the sections were so steep that my quads were screaming to keep me from going too fast and going out of control, the climbs were exhausting. I was so impressed with all the runners who had already run 75 miles pass me with such strength. Ultra Runners are an amazing group of people. It was hard to see at night and my depth perception felt off, I wish I could explain our experience better. I learned today that my dream of ever doing the Wasatch 100 has been put to rest. I have no desire to do the whole race, it is definitely out of my league. I would love to hike the first 50 miles so that I can see what the whole course is like but I would never be able to do it in the 36 hours allowed.
I have to thank Gary, he stayed with me the whole time, I know he could have done it in half the time, but he was kind enough to wait for me when I got too far behind. I know he is young enough and strong enough to do it, so I hope he does one day, but this old gal got a good taste of reality today and realizes it isn't happening for me ever. Now that I have had a nap, I can already look back on our night as a fanatastic adventure. I am so impressed with the RD and his wonderful crew, this race is a gem. | 