I finally got into the Wasatch 100 this year. It took me 3 years but finally did get in. This is the race I have been training for all year long. It has 25,763 feet of elevation gain and 25,252 feet of elevation loss. My goal going into the race was to finish in 32 hours. Worst case would be 36 hours, the maximum time allowed, with best case being 30 hours. 30 hours would be a definite stretch.
Went to the weigh in / pre-race meeting. My pre-race weight for this event was 202 on Friday morning. At the weigh in I was 208. I was wearing shoes, socks, and street clothes that accounted for the extra weight. The meeting itself was 10 minutes at the most. There was really nothing said that made it necessary to attend the meeting. I did see some familiar faces there and had some friendly discussions with some of my running friends. I am very fortunate that I have been able to meet and become friends with quite a few local runners in the Ultra Running community. This has been helped a lot by my son Josh who has included me in so many of his Ultra Running events. Most of these runners have know him longer than me and I have been fortunate to be able to become part of this group throughout the last several years. I also appreciate them all accepting me and making me welcome to their group even though I am generally older, and way slower than most of them. These are genuinely good individuals that truly care about the ultra running community and the individual people in it.
Race morning I woke up at 3:00 am. I ate my usual race day breakfast of a banana, and toast. I would also eat 2 bagels on the drive to the starting line. I know this next part will fall into the category of TMI (too much information) but I am generally like clock work as far as my bathroom habits go. Not today! for whatever the reason I was not able to........shall we say get down to my preferred morning race weight. Which of course meant it would happen during the race at some point. Another thing to be floating around in the back of my mind today. Josh wanted to go to the start so he drove me there. I was happy for him to do that as if he didn't I would have had to take the bus from downtown to the starting line, making me get out of bed a little sooner. We soon arrived at the starting line and talked with several of our friends who would be racing today as well. As we got a couple of minutes from the start they wanted to move up in the crowd and I would stay towards the rear.
Promptly at 5:00 am we were off. 321 people started the race. The crowd of people started down the dirt path. it was slow going as the path very quickly narrows and everyone has to fall into place. After a short period of time it was obvious that I had started back further than I should have. The pace was slow even for me. I have been in this position before and once you are there it is impossible to get out of it. You can aggressively try to pass runners on sections of the course. However the reality is that most of the first 10 miles of this race are on single track trails, this is where you do a lot of climbing as it takes you from the valley to the mountain tops. Even if you pass a lot of people it is a conga line in front of you and you will never get through everyone. As a result you pass people when the trail widens and then settle in for the rest of the first climb.
As a result I came into the first full aid station, Francis Peak (18.4 miles), 45 minutes later than I wanted to. I would remain around an hour behind schedule for most of the day. It was frustrating but I was hopeful to make up time later in the race. I spent about 10 minutes in the aid station refilling my water bladder and restocking my gels. I also drank a couple of Coke's, had some chips, and had some watermelon.
I felt good and went into the next aid station Bountiful B (23.8 miles), just less than an hour behind schedule. I had a 6 minute stop and was back out on the course. From here I was starting to feel a little down. You have a lot of mood swings in a 100 mile race. At times you feel on top of the world, at other times you feel like the entire world is on top of you. It was at this point that there was a long, long section of dirt road that was an uphill grind. I was really down. I'm not sure exactly why, probably partly due to my time being off from where I wanted to be, coupled with the fact that I had now been going non stop for more than 7 hours. Whatever the reason, I was in a down patch. Then just before the Sessions Mountains aid station (28.2 miles) I see Matt Van Horn sitting on a recliner on large throw rug with a book case, full of running books, an end table, holding up a poster with "Bart Greenwell" printed on it. I stopped and talked with him for a couple of minutes. This really lifted my spirits and I really appreciate the effort he put out there for this race as a non racer. I did a quick 3 minute stop at the Sessions aid station and was out.
From Sessions Mountains to Swallow Rocks is listed as 6.5 miles. This section goes on forever. It feels like a 9 or 10 mile section. You go around one bend after another and you think the aid station is just around the next bend, well it isn't. It also has a couple of good climbs that make it seem longer than it is as well. I got into Swallow Rocks (34.61 miles) feeling good. I had just got off the phone with Brenda and let her know where I was exactly. They would be meeting me at the next aid station with my first pacer and I wanted to make sure they knew that I was about a hour behind so they didn't have to sit around for me. From Swallow Rocks to the next aid station, this is a section I am very familiar with as I have hiked it over the years while elk hunting. I felt good at this point, had about a 5 minute stop at the aid station for water, Coke, chips, and even had a sandwich as I ran out.
Coming into Big Mountain (39.1 miles) is great. it is a long steady downhill and the first aid station where your crew can meet you. As a result there are a lot of spectators at this aid station. There is cheering and all kinds of noise being made. My wife Brenda, son Josh, and my first pacer Sean were all there greeting me as I came in. I spent 17 minutes at this station, probably too long, Brenda had brought me a strawberry smoothie from McDonald's (I requested this), it was awesome. I also ate quite a few chocolate chip cookies, M & M's, a lot of watermelon, cantaloupe, and chips. I also think I talk too much. I took a bottle of Coke and two strawberry frosted Pop Tarts with me as I left the aid station with Sean in tow.
I was a bit slow for the first couple of miles out of Big Mountain as I had eaten quite a bit. Once the food settled in I picked up the pace a bit. I was still about a hour behind my pace and I knew that we would not get to the Lamb's Canyon aid station before dark. There was nothing memorable or eventful from Big Mountain to Alexander Ridge aid station (46.9 miles) we did a quick in, refill water, grab a Coke, chips, watermelon, and out. After leaving Alexander Ridge it was starting to get dark. I had hoped it would not get dark until after Lamb's Canyon. I was not going to get my headlamp until then. I did think ahead and had told Sean to make sure he had a flashlight app on his cell phone in case we were later than I anticipated. With a couple of miles to go to Lamb's Canyon it was totally dark. We both pulled out our cell phones and used them to light our way. They actually worked really well as a flashlight.
We came into Lamb's Canyon (52.5 miles) still about an hour off pace. At Lamb's Canyon I changed shoes, changed clothes, reapplied Glide, ate and drank, and changed pacers. Josh's girlfriend Susan had joined Brenda here. I spent 34 minutes in this aid station. I took too long for everything, plus I was in a talkative mood. I probably could have done this aid station in 25 minutes or less if I would have focused a little better. I thanked Sean for pacing me and picked up Josh for the last 47.5 miles.
From Lamb's to Upper Big Water I felt good. There is a steep climb from Lamb's to the top of the ridge between Parley's and Millcreek canyon. I felt good on the climb and once we hit the top you have a very runnable trail down to Elbow Fork in Millcreek Canyon. I felt like a flew down that hill. We made good time and also made good time from Elbow Fork to Upper Big Water (60.9 miles). At this aid station I had several grilled cheese sandwiches, they really hit the spot. I also had the usual Coke, chips and watermelon. I was only in this aid station for 8 minutes, which I was very happy with as a lot of runners were stalled there. We probably passed 10 runners in this station.
The next section I am very familiar with. It is one of the sections I run 5 to 10 times a year. I didn't have any issues through here and felt good. We came into the Desolation Lake aid station (66.0 miles) feeling good. I had the usual Coke and chips and had quite a few M & M's at this stop. They had the giant M &M's at this station and they really seemed to do it for me at this point. I was at this station for 12 minutes as I sat down longer than I should have but it definitely felt good to get off the feet for a few minutes.
The next section to Scotts Pass (70.0 miles) has some up hill at the beginning. I didn't have any issues with it but about a mile before the aid station I felt a rock in my shoe jabbing me in the ball of my foot. I would wait until I got to the aid station to get it out. Got into the aid station, took off my shoe, no rock was found. Put my shoes back on and as I was leaving I realized that my neighbor was one of the radio operators at this station. I talked to Bill for a couple of minutes and went on my way. The pain in the ball of my foot was still there. I sat down, took my shoe off again, then rolled down my sock to reveal a blister on the ball of my left foot. Threw the shoe back on and went on my way to Brighton.
I had been faster than I had anticipated going from Lamb's to Brighton (74.6 miles). I had made up some time in the last 23 miles. As a result Brenda and Susan were not at Brighton when we arrived. That worked out okay as I was finally able to go to the bathroom and that took a few minutes. I know.....TMI. They were there when I came out of the bathroom. I was a little slower going into Brighton as the blister on my foot was hurting quite a bit. I went into the back room at Brighton to get a good look at the blister on my left foot. When I got my shoe off and was looking at the blister the doctor who was there asked if I wanted him to take care of it. I should have said no but I said okay. He pulled out the needle and started to drain it. Before he stuck the needle in he said "you won't feel this"..... the hell I won't! I definitely should have left it alone and just let it go down its path of popping on its own. He then put a cover/clear bandage over the blister. that was absolutely worthless. Traditionally at Brighton they also have disposable toothbrushes there. My mouth really felt great after brushing my teeth. The stop at Brighton was a bit long due to the blister, eating, and my bathroom break. I was there for 41 minutes. Way to long. I think I might have talked too much. I see a common theme for aid station stops.
The climb out of Brighton was not well marked for whatever reason. Josh and I have done this multiple times so we knew where to go. I am guessing some people who did not know the course well had some issues in that area. It was getting light as we were climbing out of Big Cottonwood Canyon. We made our way up the mountain and over Catherine's pass. We then made the descent into Ant Knoll's (79.1 miles). Erik Storheim was running that aid station. I talked to him for a few minutes while I ate some pancakes and sausage. I stayed in the aid station 8 minutes because I talked to Erik for 5 minutes. I talk way too much.
We then made our way into Poll Line Pass (82.3 miles) nothing special about this section except Matt Van Horn had ended up working at that aid station after he put his recliner away. We briefly talked to Matt and then we were on our way. At Poll Line Pass 9 minutes. I definitely talk too much!
Nothing much to say about the next section to Stanton North (87.3 miles) a couple of solid up hills, on dirt roads, but nothing extreme. In the aid station 5 minutes. I'm not sure it was really that long but that's what the official time sheet states.
From Stanton North to Decker Canyon (93.9 miles) there were a couple of uphills but again nothing crazy or particularly memorable. There is place to exchange pacers in this section where there are some people there cheering you on. It's always good to have people giving you encouragement, whether it is aid station workers, spectators, and especially family and friends.
From Stanton North to the finish at Soldier Hollow (100 miles) it is very easy in relation to any other 6 mile section on the course. It is generally flat with a few rolling ups and downs. Nothing difficult and the majority of this section is on a good gravel road. I ran most everything in this section that was not uphill. If it was uphill at all I walked it. I passed a few people in this section which always feels good this late in the race. It let's you know that you are doing better than you probably think you are. With about a half mile left Josh ran ahead to let everyone know I was coming, after all you have to make sure they get your picture as you cross the finish line.
I finished the race in 33 Hours, 40 Minutes and 56 seconds. I can honestly say that I felt good when I was done, except for my feet. My next challenge is to figure out how to keep my feet from blistering so bad. Both of the 100 mile races I have done have really taken a toll on my feet. I also lost two toe nails and blackened two. Much better than my first 100 where I lost 8 toe nails. My next challenge is to get faster. If I can do some speed work and lost some weight I think I can definitely improve on future races. I also talked way too much when I saw people I knew. I believe I could have shaved an hour off of my time if I would have been a bit more focused. Brenda encouraged me to eat clean for about 2 weeks before this race. I think it did help with my recovery. I didn't have much muscle or joint pain. Big improvement over last race.
I want to thank all of the people who volunteer to make this race possible. I have volunteered for several races and it is definitely a sacrifice to do so. The ultra community is very supportive. It doesn't matter if you are fast or slow they are always there to encourage you. Most of all I want to thank those who directly supported me, Sean Housel, My wife Brenda, son Josh and his girlfriend Susan. I was very pleased with the overall experience. It took me 3 tries to get in through the lottery, but it was definitely worth the wait.
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