I’m still smarting from my Leadville DNF two weeks ago. Stopping was probably the right thing to do, but still, all the focused training time and expense seemed to be wasted on moments of exhausted weakness at midnight near Fish Hatchery. But what is done, is done. That huge investment can now be rolled forward on the next race, The Plain 100.
My recovery from my fast 76 miles at Leadville was rapid. I never felt very drained like I normally do after a 100-miler. In a way, that turned out to be a tough 76-mile training run. The week after Leadville was spent on soggy 45-mile backpack in the Oregon wilderness near the Three Sisters. During the second week, I just couldn’t pull myself outside to run. I felt burned out, not very interested in running. I did go out for one 4-mile morning run, but the hip pain returned and I was reminded why I needed to quit at Leadville.
It’s funny, when you go dormant, worries come that maybe you are losing your conditioning. Recreational runners at work were putting in more miles than me. I knew that I needed to heal and recharge my running batteries.
On Saturday morning, I decided to go do an early morning run of Mount Timpanogos to test my legs and to rebuild my confidence. I hit the trail at about 2:15 a.m. The parking lot was full with cars. This weekend is usually one of the busiest times on the trail as it is full of BYU students getting in one more adventure before the start of the Fall semester. They start as early as midnight to make the long 7+ mile hike to the summit by sunrise.
My run went very well. No, I wasn’t losing conditioning, far from it. I pushed up the mountain stronger than ever before, passing nearly 100 hikers. I was the first person to arrive to the summit. My trip up was a fast 2:11. I knew that I had a good chance to break my PR for a round trip, so I decided to go for it and push the downhill hard. My left-over injuries from Leadville were doing OK. The hip pain was just mild, and the tendonitis in my knee wasn’t terrible.
With about 200 hikers on the trail below, making their way up the mountain, it was a challenge for me to maintain speed and pass them all. I felt strong and fast in darkness. My foot agility and balance was good. As I approached groups, I would call out loudly, “Hi there!” “Coming through! Coming through!” “Thanks!” Most of the groups of young hikers were courteous and stepped aside to let me pass. But some who saw me would think they could just put in a few more steps on the trail before I approached. It wouldn’t work because I was moving fast. This resulted in a few bumps. I would apologize and move on. Many groups, especially the groups I had passed on the way up expressed words of amazement at my speed, cheering me on. One girl who recognized my green light asked, “How many are you doing?” “Just one today,” was my reply.
A dawn glow arrived in the sky above as I really pushed it hard during the last mile. Could I do it? Yes! I finished in 3:35:50, breaking my PR by eight minutes. My run down was a fast 1:24! A guy at the bottom asked me, “How many summits is that for you?” I replied, “That was my 53rd.” He said that he had seen me on the mountain last year on this weekend. Of all my 53 summits, that was the fastest round trip that I had ever run. I felt great. No, I wasn’t losing it. I’m still getting stronger and faster.
What made me feel even better, is to think about my previous fastest round trips. Those were not in the total darkness like this trip was. And those also involved short-cuts bounding down snow fields. For this trip, I did the entire trail in the dark. This required pretty intense, alert concentration and agile footwork. Somehow I pulled it off.
That little run re-engergized me. I was now ready to focus on Plain 100.
