Silverton was a blast! The course is a not so easy 1 mile loop that features 250 feet of climbing, oh and it's 9300 feet above sea level! Going into the race I thought "oh 250 feet isn't to bad, that's just a little hill." But when the race started I changed my mind...
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| With my sister Mimi at the start |
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| beautiful course! |
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| Cameron and I. I was about 55 miles in here |
As the sun went down and I did more miles the thought of 100 miles seemed impossible. The hill was just so intimidating, and it felt like it was taking me longer to finish the mile then it actually was. My mind played a trick on me and for some reason I didn't feel like I could keep going for another day. My Dad and I were just trying to stay up and get more miles in. Finally at about mile 41 we took a little break and my dad called it a night and asked our friend Mark (who happened to be the race director) to help me find someone to run with.
It was nice to run with Mark and distract myself by asking him questions about the race. After a couple miles Mark got busy and I started running with one of his friends named Willy. Willy was in the 6 day and had about 150 miles done already. It was cool to run with someone I didn't know and hear his story. At mile 50 I took about a hour nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open. When I woke up I ran with my friend Rachel who was in the 48 hour and was at about the same mile as me. Rachel and I ran until the sun came out and my parents came back.
Seeing my parents and having the sun slowly come up again felt great. I just felt encouraged again. After I did a couple of miles with my Dad our friend Ed also came out. Ed had already done 100 miles and was trying to get 150 for the 72 hour male record. Mile 60 -70 went by fast because I was talking to family and friends a lot since the 24 hour runners had just started.
At about mile 70 Brandon Plate started running with us. Brandon is a kid ultra runner as well he was in the 72 hour and was at the same mile as I was. Talking to a fellow kid runner was pretty cool because there aren't very many of us. At mile 75 it got hard for me. I was hot and tired and lost motivation with every step. As we came into the aid station my Mom and friend Deb quickly changed that, they loaded me up with Mt. Dew and pasta which quickly changed my attitude!
Since my dad had gone to sleep I gained 15 miles on him. My dad wanted to catch up with me so he sped up and I stayed with Ed. Right after my dad left Brandon's brother Cameron started running with us too. After the top of the hill we always took a break and I had a certain stump that I always sat on. So as we get to the top Cameron takes my seat! Ed's reaction to that was to lift up his skirt and let a juicy fart come out all over Cameron! After that Ed and Cameron started having a farting contest, which was a funny but really disgusting if you smelled it!
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| 75 miles done |
At about mile 95 I heard Mark yelling "Attention runners there is a bear on the mountain! Do not approach the bear, I repeat do not approach the bear!" I decided to keep going and that I could take on a bear if it was in the way of my buckle!
I finished!!! I couldn't believe it but I finished! My last mile took 20 minutes which is pretty good with that monster hill. After 100 miles I sat down had some soup and decided to go out for one last mile and make it a distance PR. I did the last mile the group of friends that I had been running with and took it slow. I am very proud to have finished 101 miles and coming in second place male, third place overall. Silverton was so fun and brutally difficult from the first step! I will wear my buckle with pride and can't wait to come back next year!
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| My second 100 mile buckle. Yes, I would have fought a bear for it! |
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| My friends and the RDs, Sharill and Mark |
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| My Dad thought I deserved a lift! |
