About once a year I like to update my buckle collection. This picture shows all my 100-mile buckles. Additionally I have a few 50-mile and 100K buckles not in the picture. I think buckles should be reserved for the 100-mile distance or further. I am missing ten buckles. Bighorn 100 didn’t issue them for two of my years there. I didn’t get a couple buckles sent to me, one from Bear and one from Pickled Feet. Moab which is no longer held, didn’t issue buckles. And Vermont didn’t issue them unless you finished below 24 hours (a shameful approach). Plain issued rocks instead of buckles.
And then there were the ten DNFs. Two issued 100K buckles. In all I’ve started 92 100-mile races and have finished 82 of them.
Looking at the buckles throws me into deep reflection mode. There is a story behind every buckle. Every story is different and most of them are documented on this blog. I see the pile of Bear buckles and have generally warm feelings about those races there, where it all started for me. I see the five Rocky Raccoon buckles and think of the successful finishes there and the long nights on the trail. I see the Wasatch buckles and generally just think of pain and suffering. I see the Salt Flats buckles and think of slogging through mud flats, but always a good finish. I see the pile of Across the Years buckles and think of competitive high finishes and a surprising win. But I also think of a year that caused my leg to crack, leading me into long months of healing.
It is odd to look at a picture and have pieces of the picture bring back both happy and painful memories together. This is what is so unique about this sport. But overall it does bring me good feelings of accomplishment.
Five years earlier the collection was much smaller, with just 24 100-mile buckles. This picture includes 8 50-mile and 100K buckles.
How would you rate the difficulty of Wasatch vs Bear? I did Bear in 33:45 a few years ago, and I’m thinking about giving Wasatch a go in the future. Thanks…Mike
I think Bear is about 1-2 hours easier. It is usually cooler and less climbing. My best at Bear is about 26.5 hours on the current course. For Wasatch it is about 28.5. The new Wasatch course will probably be even harder that the one used the last couple years.
Thanks for the info! Looks like I have some work to do then if I want to keep it under the cut off. I always enjoy hearing about your runs–keep up the great work. Impressive.
Really inspiring!