Pacing and Crewing at The Bear

Jacob got into The Bear 100 about three weeks before the race.  When he signed up for the waitlist he was about 200th and I know that there was at least 100 people after him as I had looked at the waitlist to see if Jacob was moving up.  As it turns out everyone on the waitlist got into the race.

I flew into Salt Lake on Thursday afternoon and Jacob's girlfriend picked me up from the airport.  After a brief stop at their house, Jacob and I headed up to Logan for race checkin.  We were able to get there before 6 which was good since Jacob was able to do the medical check.  Since I had an afternoon flight we were a little worried we might not make it before 6 and he'd have to do the medical check on race morning.  After the medical check, we picked up Jacob's race packet (needed to do it by 9 pm) and headed to the hotel.  We ate dinner and since it was still early, we drove to the start to make sure we wouldn't have trouble getting there in the morning.  Then we headed back to the hotel and went to bed about 8.

Race morning we got up at 4:30, ate breakfast, and headed to the start.  We showed up about 10 minutes before the start which worked out great for Jacob.  We sat in the car for a few minutes, then Jacob lined up for the 6:03 am wave and soon was running.  I headed back to the hotel and slept.

Just before the start in Logan, UT

Jacob heading out in Wave 4 (6:03 am start)

I only slept about an hour and half so I had some time before I needed to leave the hotel.  I ate breakfast, watched a recorded Zoom lecture for Heat Transfer and then headed off to Tony Grove aid station.  I got there about 11:30 and that left me with plenty of time to hike around before Jacob would arrive.  Record pace would put a runner at Tony Grove around 2:50 pm.

Hiking between Tony Grove at Temple Fork

The Bear is a race that has alway intrigued me so I wanted to scout out the course a little since I had the chance.  Plus, there was nothing else to do, so I started hiking toward Temple Fork, 7 miles earlier on the course.  It took about an hour and 15 minutes before I saw anyone running toward me.  The first runner I saw was Jimmy Elam who I figured was about on record pace based on when I left Tony Grove and where I saw him.  (He won in 18:38).  The next couple runners were about an hour back.

Looking back toward Tony Grove about 3 miles from the aid station

There were some cool rock outcroppings on this section of the course and a lot of cows.  Most of the trail was narrow and not too steep, but there was a few short, steep pitches.  After hiking for a couple hours I decided I should head back to Tony Grove and get ready to pace Jacob.  That would put me back at Tony Grove about 2 hours before I expected Jacob but I didn't want to miss him!

I felt lucky I got to see this tree growing between those two rocks.  It was blocked from view for uphill traffic, but I was hiking downhill in the opposite direction the runners were going.

Cows...there were a lot in this section that I hiked

There was quite a few rock outcropping like this which I found pretty cool

After hiking toward Temple Fork I headed back to the car at Tony Grove and got ready to crew and pace.  I got all my pacing stuff together and organized the car so I could quickly grab anything Jacob might want.  Pacers were allowed at mile 37 (but no crew) so I decided I'd hike backward on the course (again toward Temple Fork) and catch Jacob before Tony Grove.

Almost to the short descent into Tony Grove

I caught Jacob a couple miles before Tony Grove and we hiked up the last section of the climb.  Jacob was in good spirits and moving well which made me happy!  After we crested the climb there was a mile long descent into Tony Grove.  Halfway down the descent I asked Jacob if there was anything specific he wanted, then took off for the car to get ready to crew him.

After a quick crew stop at the aid station, Jacob headed out and I ran back to the car with all the things he didn't need.  Then I took off down the trail, caught up with Jacob, and started pacing.  It was a cool time of day to be out there.  It was still plenty light out, but it was clear that the sky was starting to dim.  The climb out of Tony Grove was pretty open and a little rocky in spots.  This section was all hiking, but Jacob was making good time and we were enjoying the nice views.

Jacob is just to the right of the closest tree, a little left of center in the picture

Climbing out of Tony Grove

Upon cresting the climb, we had a long descent down to Franklin Basin and the next aid station at mile 61 (9 miles from Tony Grove).  We started the descent in the light and I was impressed how well Jacob was moving.  He seemed to do really well when the trail was steeper which meant that his quad were doing well.  On the steeper or rockier pitches, we passed a few people who had pulled away from us on the climb.  About a mile into the descent we needed to turn on our lights which meant that our world would be reduced to a small circle of light for the next 10 hours.  (Well, Jacob's world at least, I'd be heading back to the car and racing off to the next crew point).

Just beginning the descent

Heading into the night on the way to Franklin Basin

Night running...harder to see, a lot of darkness, yet somehow magical

Well, magical for a while, but the novelty wears off

The descent into Franklin Basin went well, but took a little longer than expected.  This was no problem, because we'd never been on that descent before so it was hard to tell what the course would have in store.  Jacob ran all the downhill on this section and hiked well on the few short ups coming into the aid station.  After fueling up at the aid station, Jacob got a bit cold leaving the aid station which made me a little worried.  Fortunately after putting on a very light raincoat leaving the aid station, he was hot in 10 minutes.  It amazing how much of a difference moving makes compared to being stopped.

Jacob had hiked the climb out of Franklin Basin in the snow, so he pointed out the tree where he'd seen a porcupine.  We did the climb with few other runners and were able to chat a little bit as we moved along.  About three miles out of the aid station, I needed to head back to Tony Grove and Jacob pressed on toward   Logan River aid station.

On the map, I had found a cutoff trail which looked like it would take me back to 9 miles earlier on the race course in about 1.5 miles.  From there I just needed to follow the course in reverse for 4 miles and I'd be back at Tony Grove.  After leaving Jacob I saw the sign for Shorty's Cutoff which gave me a lot of confidence that the trail would actually go through.  The trail started out a little less used than anything I'd been on earlier, but was still easy to follow.

After cresting the ridge, I started descending toward the race course.  I could see lights quite a ways off on the opposite hillside which was reassuring.  Then, the trail started to get a bit more overgrown.  Shortly after that it branched and I took the right hard fork as it looked more promising.  At this point, my confidence was waning a bit.  After following a rough trail for a while I reached another junction.  I was thinking I'd reach the course here, but there were no markings at this point.  I decided to head down the canyon as that seemed a more promising route reach the course.  Running down the canyon I could see lights on the other side, but they were still a quarter mile away.  After running for awhile, my trail started to get farther away from the race course.  I was a little worried at this point, so I decided to just go cross country to reach the race course.  This was pretty easy since it was only a quarter mile and there was just some small tumbleweed-like brush in the open areas and no undergrowth under the trees.

After getting back on course, I started running the route in reverse to get back to Tony Grove.  I expected this to be a lot faster, but I ended up stopping repeatedly to tell every runner I passed that yes, I was okay, yes, they were on course, and that I was just a pacer going back to Tony Grove.  In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea to run backward on the race course...especially at night, but it worked out fine.  Mostly....I ended up reaching the course a mile or two farther from Tony Grove than I was expecting.  When I did get back to Tony Grove, I got in the car and drove fast to Beaver Mountain Lodge since I was a little worried I might miss Jacob if he got ahead of schedule.

Turns out I had plenty of time as Jacob was still on schedule.  I ended up waiting for about 45 minutes before he arrived.  When he got there, we made a quick crew stop and off we went.  Jacob headed down the trail and I raced back to the car with his extra stuff before catching up to him on the trail.  It took me a little bit to catch up, but soon I did and was started talking a little bit.

Jacob said he was a bit tired on the previous descent, but he did drink an energy drink at Beaver Lodge and the caffeine perked him up a bit.  It didn't take us long to cross a paved road and begin the long gradual climb up to Gibson Basin.  Somewhere along this climb Jacob pointed out it was his birthday.  Yeah, pretty special.  We contemplated how often someone has a birthday during a race and decided it probably wasn't too often since most people wouldn't opt to run 100 miles on their birthday.

On the way to Gibson Basin

The climb up to Gibson Basin was never too steep and Jacob kept moving well.  He was also in good spirits the whole climb which was encouraging.  We talked a bit and only saw a couple other runners in this section.

When we reached the aid station I was planning to run down road 411/011 back down to Beaver Mountain.  I was confident it would be easy to find the road because Jacob and I saw road 011 spur off of the road we climbed up to Gibson Basin aid station.  Of course, when we reached the aid station, no road.

Jacob was pretty quick at the aid station, but the brief stop and wind made it necessary to put on our jackets.  Like usual, within just a few minutes, the jackets were off and we were again only wearing short sleeves.  At this point I didn't have a watch because I had given mine to Jacob because his watch had died.  I didn't want to ask about the time, but was curious as I thought I should be turning off on the road soon.  But, we were still following a dirt road that looked like trucks had driven on it to get to the aid station so that was a little reassuring.

After a while we reached yellow and pink ribbons which meant that there was a junction ahead.  Good.  When we got there the road the trucks had been driving on continued straight and the course turned off on a ATV track.  I told Jacob good luck and decided to wait a minute or so for the next runner to go by so they didn't see my light and get confused.

But the road didn't seem quite right.  There was no road number which I was expecting to see as the road was labelled at the other end.  Plus, this road branched off to the left and my road needed to go to the right of the course.  I hustled up the hill to catch Jacob.

I told Jacob that it couldn't be the right road and I said I'd keep going with him.  Based on the planning I did before the race, I realized that the road was probably farther out of the aid station than I thought.  Still, I also realized that we were getting pretty close to the point where I would need to run farther to get back to the car than Jacob would need to run to get to the next crew point.  Hopefully the search for the road was more entertaining than stressful for Jacob, but I was sweating bullets.

There were a couple other runners we ran with in this section.  Jacob would get ahead on the downhills and lose a little ground going up.  Since we were at least 2000 feet above the finish line, I was glad he was doing better on the downhill than most runners.  At some point I told Jacob that I'd just go all the way to the next aid station with him since the road probably was there.  Right?....I figured you need to drive the road to get to the aid station....

We both could smell the aid station about 5 or 10 minutes before we got there so we were anxiously looking around the corner for the aid station as we approached.  When we did catch sight of the aid station, I told Jacob, "Well the road's either here or I'm #%@&ed".  It was supposed to be funny, but it was the truth too.  He had 8 miles to the crew spot and I had over 9 running backwards on the course, just to get the car.

Beaver Creek aid station

Fortunately the road was there.  I was pretty pumped about that.  Anyhow, I helped Jacob get a few things in the aid station, then headed down the road as he continued on the course.  The road descent was largely uneventful.  There were a few small roads branching off to campsites, but no junctions that even made me hesitate.  I had no clue how long it was taking me (Jacob had my watch) so I was happy to see the course marking and other lights a few miles later when I got back on course.

Since the descent had gone well, I figured that I'd follow the pavement road back to the aid station instead of following the trail in the opposite direction of the runners.  When I hit the pavement, I headed down the road (left turn) as when we left Beaver Mountain Lodge we headed up and crossed the road further up.  After running down the road for a while I hit another road.  That's when I realized I goofed up.  I had run back to the highway, Beaver Mountain Lodge was up the road.  We hadn't crossed the road further up as I thought, we crossed the road below the aid station.

I made this mistake because I didn't see any of the course marking when driving to Beaver Mountain Lodge.  And I wasn't paying attention leaving Beaver Mountain Lodge since I was trying to catch Jacob.  All of sudden I realized where we had actually gone.  But now I was 1.5 miles from the aid station (according to the crew direction I had read earlier) and I had no clue what time it was.

I headed up the road quickly and made it to the aid station without any further screw ups.  I jumped in the car and saw it was about 1 hour 15 minutes since I left Jacob.  Not too bad, but I needed to hustle to Ranger Dip.  I knew that the last 5 miles into Ranger Dip were on dirt roads and some of the dirt roads I had run on had been pretty rough.  Suddenly I realized it I was doing 10 mph on the dirt road, I'd probably miss Jacob.

So, some quick driving down the highway lead me to Swan Lake Road.  I turned off and the road and kept going fast.  The road was wide and pretty smooth, but I wanted to make time when I could in case things got rough.  The road did get a little rough the last mile but at that point I realized that I'd have no problem making it there in time.

The view from Ranger Dip - mile 92

I grabbed everything Jacob might want from the car and started hiking backward on the course.  I caught Jacob a little ways out of the aid station and ran back to the aid station with him.  Then we made a quick crew stop and he was off the final 7.8 miles to the finish.  There was a steeper, one mile climb, then all downhill from there!

Jacob making his way to Ranger Dip

Leaving Ranger Dip...just a short climb from here, then all down

The view from Swan Lake Road which is used to access Ranger Dip aid station

Same view as the previous picture, just a little different angle

I left the aid station and drove to the finish line.  This was the only time I felt like I had plenty of time all day.  It was a good thing since I was starting to get a bit drowsy.  I knew that I needed to take a nap before driving back to Salt Lake.  I might have made it without a nap, but that would have been very irresponsible.  So I tipped the front seat back and curled up for a nap.  I only slept for 30 minutes, but I felt way better after.  I decided to hike up the road and find Jacob.  I had wanted to meet him further up, but I knew I needed to get a little sleep.

It didn't take long before I saw him coming down the road.  He was running well and must have been moving well since the last aid station since he a bit earlier than I would have guessed.  We ran together for a little ways on the road, then I peeled off as he headed down the finishing chute.

Jacob coming down the road.  He's on the right side almost out of sight.

Less than half a mile to go

Jacob crossing the finish line

Jacob finished in 27:20:48 which was good for 50th overall out of over 200 finishers and close to 300 starters.  That was a pretty cool way to celebrate his birthday!

And that wraps up our adventure at The Bear.  It was a blast to spend the day out there with Jacob.  I was a little bummed not to get to do a hundred miler myself this year, but crewing for Jacob definitely made up for that a bit.  The Bear is a pretty cool course from what I saw and Jacob told me that the rest of the course was just as awesome.  Hopefully I'll be able to make it out to The Bear some time soon because it looks like it'd be pretty fun.

Also, thanks to Leland Barker, the Race Director for putting on a great race.  And thanks to all the volunteers out there helping with the race.  I was impressed how helpful everyone was at the aid stations!  All the volunteers I saw had a mask and gloves to help prevent the spread of COVID.  It seemed very safe and I appreciate the extra effort that took!  Thanks.

And thanks to Injinji, SNB, and VFuel for continuing to support my running.  I wasn't racing this time, but it was still a great adventure and I'm glad I was out there.

Course Direction Analysis of Hardrock

Each year Hardrock 100 is run in the opposite direction as it was run the previous time.  While the same ground is covered, the uphills become the downhills creating different challenges for the runners.  One common theory is that the clockwise course is faster.  At first glance this makes sense because in 2008 Kyle Skaggs's unbelievable 23:23 finish came in the clockwise direction.  Then came Kilian Jornet's 22:41 in 2014 on the clockwise course.

The logic is that on the clockwise course, the runners go up the "walls" and down the "ramps".  While climbing the walls might require a slower pace than the ramps, the walls are shorter which means fewer miles at a slow pace.  The ramps lead to a faster downhill pace than the walls because the walls are so steep its hard to get moving fast.  This means more miles downhill at a faster pace.  When this all gets added up, it means on the clockwise course, runners will gain a little time on the uphill because the uphills are shorter and a little more time on the downhills because the downhills are faster.  I have run enough hills that I can say from personal experience, you are almost always better off going up the steep route and down the gentle grade, at least when you are looking to go fast.  So on the surface, this theory seems to hold.  The steeps ups and "easy" downs on the clockwise course have yielded that fastest times in the history of the race.

However, I've always been a little skeptical of this theory.  I have never been to Hardrock so there are certainly other people who know the course a lot better than I do, but here's my opinion.  First, looking at the elevation profiles of the clockwise and counterclockwise courses, the uphills and downhills look equally steep in both directions (images below).  Second, there's the snow.  Since 1992, Hardrock has been cancelled twice because of snow (2019 and 1995).  Snow conditions vary and there are years when runners face a lot more snow than other years.  Sometimes its good as glissading down the snow is a lot faster than picking your way through technical terrain.  But it can be bad too, as slipping and sliding up a steep snowy slope is a lot slower than a dirt trail.  Also, Diana Finkel's course record of 27:18, set on the counterclockwise course, is substantially faster than the women's clockwise record of 28:32 also set by Diana Finkel.

From the 2018 Hardrock Runners Manual

From the 2017 Hardrock Runners Manual

While speculation is a lot of fun, I thought it would be worthwhile to test the theory about which direction at Hardrock is faster.  To do this, I imported all the Hardrock finishing times into an excel spreadsheet and calculated average times for each course.

Counterclockwise: Average time: 39.66 hours, Standard Deviation: 5.78 hours

Clockwise: Average time: 40.00 hours, Standard Deviation: 5.58 hours

So, it looks like the counterclockwise course is faster, just the opposite of the walls-and-ramps theory.  And doing a quick two-tailed t-test, we can say with 80% confidence that there is a statistically significant different in the average times.  In statistics, 80% confidence is not very high, but it does show that there is some difference between the times based on course direction.  And with the average counterclockwise time being faster, it almost certainly means that the clockwise course is NOT faster.  Right?...

Well, I created a histogram (images below) of the time from each course and these start to tell a different story.  First, the histograms reveal the times are not normally distributed which is one of the assumptions when using a t-test.  This means that the t-test might not be an accurate evaluation of the data.  When looking at the histograms, the right side of the normal distribution(if it is a normal distribution) is cutoff which is likely due to the 48-hour race cutoff.  The clockwise direction sees the most finishers in the 43-48 hour range while the counter-clockwise direction sees the most in the 47-48 hour range.  Additionally, the shape of the distributions is different.  If these were normal distributions, with the right sides cutoff, then it looks like the "mean" value of the normal distribution for the clockwise course would be around 46 hours and the "mean" value of the normal distribution for the counterclockwise course would be >48 hours.  Of course, now I'm starting to speculate again which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.  At this point, I haven't shown one direction to be faster than the other.  To show one direction is faster, I will need to acquire some more stats skills to be able to deal with these (not normal) time distributions.  In the meantime....keep speculating.

Counterclockwise Histogram

Clockwise Histogram

Combined Histogram

Beaverhead 100K

Beaverhead 100K started at 5:00 am on Bannock Pass on the border between Idaho and Montana.  I was thinking that I wouldn’t need a headlight to start the race because 5:00 am was pretty light back in Corvallis.  But as 5:00 am approached it became clear that I would need a light.  Fortunately, we brought a few lights for the race, so Dad gave me a handheld light just before I took off.

The start
Photo: Jacob Miller

We counted down the last ten seconds, then took off up the road.  Less than a quarter mile up the road we turned off onto the trail and headed into the sagebrush.  I was first onto the trail with a few other runners close behind, but it didn’t take us too long to start to spread out.  There were a few places in the dark early miles where I had to look twice to see which way to go as the trail was a little rough and overgrown in spots.  However, that was a small price to pay for the views you get at the front of the line.  Before the first aid station I saw a deer and two pairs of elk.

Around 30 or 40 minutes into the race, we had all started to spread out a little bit more.  There was one runner maybe 30 seconds behind me and maybe a few other about that far back from him, but it was a little hard to tell.  It was still a bit dark and the trail didn’t make too many turns where I could look back.

I ran through the first aid station because it was only 4.5 miles in, and I started with a liter of water.  By the first aid station I had turned out my light but was surprised that I had needed to light for the first 30 minutes.

We climbed a little more after the first aid station, then began descending down to a big open meadow.  I think this meadow was the prettiest part of the course.  We traversed across the meadow then began ascending some switchback on the other side.  Just before we started climbing, Jakub Galczynski was maybe 30 seconds behind me, but it seemed like I was pulling away as we ascended.  I looked back across the meadow but couldn’t see anyone else coming.  I lost sight of Jakub as we entered some trees and I didn’t see him when the trail opened up into another meadow.  I knew that I was gaining a little ground going uphill but didn’t want to be giving it back on the downhill, so I was glad no to see him as we started the next climb.

After following a trail for the entire race, the course turned onto an ATV track.  The ATV track made a steep ascent along the ridge before it levelled off and rolled into the second aid station.  Here I refilled my bottles then headed out.  I looked back as I left the aid station to see if anyone was coming but no one was in sight.  I figured I could see about a minute back and that it would probably take a minute to fill up at the aid station giving me at least a 1-2 minute lead.

The next few miles were on fairly smooth ATV track.  Most of the time I was focused on giving a solid effort without pushing too hard early on.  There were a couple hills where I hiked for 20 or 30 seconds, but mainly I was able to keep running along at a pretty steady effort.  This section was mostly small climbs and descents which made it easy to keep a relatively constant effort.  There were also two short patches of rock-hard snow here.

I ran through aid station 3 and without stopping to fill my bottles.  Like aid station 1, I had planned to skip it because I thought I’d have plenty of water.  Seeing no need to change my plan, I kept running down the ATV track.

On the descent down to aid station 4 there were a few rough sections of ATV track, but also some smooth sections.  At bottom of the hill, the race turned off onto some overgrown single-track.  We climbed around a hillside, descended down a brushy trail then continued on.  We climbed around another hillside then headed into an open meadow where the trail was little more than an elk track.  After traversing the meadow, the course turned onto a road.  For some reason I was expecting the aid station to be much closer to the bottom of the descent, so this section seemed to be taking a long time.  After hitting the road, I followed it for a few minutes then climbed up the trail to aid station 4, Lemhi Pass.  Dad and Jacob were able to crew me at this aid station, so I got an ice bandana, some gels, and two new water bottles.

Climbing up to Lemhi Pass
Photo: Jacob Miller

Still going up
Photo: Jacob Miller

Leaving the aid station, the trail climbed up pretty steeply.  I ran all this section and once I reached the trees the trail levelled off a bit.  There were a few rocky sections where the trees opened up a little more, but there wasn’t really any chance to look out and get a view on this climb.  Once I reached the top of the climb, there were a few more rollers before the trail dropped down to aid station 5, Warm Springs Road.  This downhill had some rocky sections but there was enough smoother trail I could run the downhill pretty fast.

On the 100 yards of road at Lemhi Pass aid station
Photo: Jacob Miller

Dad and Jacob were able to crew at aid station 5 as well, so I got water bottles, more gels, and another ice bandana before taking off down the trail.  There were a few gradual climbs and descents leaving the aid station, but none of the climbs were very steep so I was able to keep a faster pace through this section.  Between here and Cutout, aid station 6, the course was all in the trees except for a few burns.  The trail was mostly gradual, so I was able to make good time this whole section.  At Cutout, Jacob gave me another ice bandana, two more bottles, and a bunch of gels.  Dad and Jacob had split up at this point and Dad had gone back to Lemhi Pass to crew Mom.

Coming into Cutout aid station I was starting to pass some 55K runners but leaving Cutout I really started to pass a lot of people.  I like running by myself, especially later in races as I usually have built a good rhythm.  When I’m out there on my own I can run each section of trail exactly how I want to.  With other people, you can’t because you have to get their attention and find a way to get around them.  A couple people is no problem, but I ended up having to pass quite a few.

Outside of more runners, the trail was a bit rockier and the trees were a bit thinner.  I felt like I was running well, but there were a few grinding climbs that were starting to feel pretty tough.  Still I felt like I was moving along well.  At least until I hit the snow.  That when things started to slow down a bit.  Unlike the rock-hard snow of the early morning, this snow was soft snow.  I don’t think I was ever on snow for more than a minute at a time, but there were quite a few small patches and even 10 or 15 steps sinking into the snow slows me down a bit.  Some sections were just a bit slick and I didn’t sink in too much, but there were a lot of sections where I’d sink in at least 8 inches.  Not great for speed, but since I couldn’t change it, I just tried my best to keep moving fast.

As I neared Goldstone Pass aid station, the trail climbs up to the ridge and follows it right on the crest.  The trail got pretty rocky here and the ascents and descents were a bit steeper and rougher.  There were probably a lot of nice views here, but I was pretty focused on the trail, so I didn’t look out much.  I finished up my water a little bit before I reached Goldstone Pass, but fortunately I wasn’t thirsty when I got there.  I hurried through the aid station and headed out to Janke Lake which I was told was just 4.7 miles away.

From Goldstone Pass to Janke Lake, the trail was still rocky and rough, but there was a couple section of ATV track which were a little easier to run.  Most of this terrain was still running for me, but there were a few times I had to hike.  I’d like to think this was because the terrain was steep or snowy, but it was probably because I was getting tired.  I really don’t remember too much about this section other than working pretty hard, passing a lot of people, and wondering what the scree field would be like.

From Janke Lake, we started down which surprised me.  I thought we were just going to head straight up the ridge and hop along the talus for a while.  Soon enough though the trail started up toward the ridge and back into a little bit of snow.  I can’t remember the climb up to the talus too specifically other than trying to run a bit of it, then giving up and hiking; initially because it was tough to run on the snow or through the scrubby trees and rocks around the snow, and later because the footing on the rocks got so bad it was easier to walk.

On the talus I hiked up, shuffled down, and looked for flags.  There wasn’t a lot of places for flagging and I was looking approximately 3 feet ahead which made it difficult to spot any flags.  Of course, it was pretty clear to just stay on the ridge, but my fear was that when the course turns left and leaves the the ridge, I might miss the turnoff and keep trucking along through the talus.  The turnoff was completely obvious, so I had nothing to worry about.

Once we left the talus, we got on a rough old road which climbed up gradually.  At this point, I was glad to be running again as the talus was a bit tedious.  After a little bit of up, we headed down the hill down a steep, loose trail.  I much preferred this section to the talus since I could actually run.  After leaving the trail we hit a rocky road and descended a few minutes before reaching the final aid station.  I filled one bottle and took off.

The road out of the aid station was pretty rocky to begin with.  I was told I’d cross the creek twice before the finish so I was looking for it.  It wasn’t long before I splashed through the creek the first time and only a minute or so later before the second time.  The second time it was knee deep for me which felt pretty good as it was getting warm out.  After the creek, the road was a little smoother as there was a bit of grass on the road which covered some of the rocks and help keep the dirt in place.  There were a couple sections where there was a bit of water flowing down the road and a few sections where the road got a bit rockier but overall it got smoother and faster as I descended.

We left the road and headed on to a trail into the sagebrush.  Now that we were at the bottom of the valley and in the direct sunlight it started to feel warm.  I knew I was close to the end though so I ran as fast as I could.  I knew there was a few short hills before the finish but wasn’t sure how many.  It ended up being three, but after each one, I was hopeful that it would be the last one.  After the last hill, we headed down a trail which looked like it was halfway between a cow trail and a real trail.  Fortunately, all the sagebrush had been cut back, so it was pretty easy smooth running.  After just a few minutes of downhill, I crossed a creek and then could see the finish line less than a minute out.  I finished in 9:31 which was good enough for the win and course record.  I was pretty pumped about that because the extra snow on the course probably made it a little slower than previous years.

We descended down the valley between the open hill and the treed hill behind me.  Then we crossed over the open hill doing a few small climb in the process before descending to the creek (where the close trees are) and finishing
Photo: Jacob Miller

Masks required at the Start, Finish, and Aid Stations
Photo: Jacob Miller

Photo: Jacob Miller

Thanks to Dad and Jacob for crewing for me all day.  Being able to have crew at Lemhi Pass, Warm Springs Road, and Cutout definitely was great.  Also, that to Injinji, which kept my feet comfortable all day, SNB, I had no chafing (although sunburn was a different story), and VFuel as I had no stomach issues all day.

Yeah, this spring was a little weird with so many races being cancelled so I was happy to be able to race.  I was feeling strong all spring so I was excited to see what I could do at a race.  Race day is a lot different than training though, so I was glad to see that not only was I feeling good, but I could race fast too!

Mom ran Beaverhead 100K too, but unfortunately, she missed the cutoff at Goldstone Pass at mile 47.5 by 2 minutes.  This was especially unlucky because her watch got paused early on in the race (probably climbing over some blowdown – there was only a little bit but two or three trees right away), so she wasn’t sure of the exact race time.  I’m sure she would have got it done had she known the time more accurately, especially since the last cutoff at Janke Lake, 4.7 miles later, was extended from 7:30 pm to 7:45 pm.

I really enjoyed Beaverhead and I think I’ll go back some day soon.  It was a fun, tough course with some amazing views.  The race directors did a good job putting on the race so I should give them a big thank you!  And thanks to all the volunteers out there!  There are a lot of aid station that are tough to get to which makes it tough to put on the race.  But having those remote aid station sure leads to a beautiful course!  Thanks everyone...I hope to be back soon.