The Last 25 of the Wasatch 100 Course

i am the pig, and this is the shit.

i had looked at the maps, but when karl meltzer tells you "Enjoy the run, it's a tough one backwards...all uphill" you give 'em another look. ajw had also commented on my lambs canyon to alta wasatch run post that the wasatch 100 mile course from mile 75 at brighton to the finish had some terrible trail conditions. and it was super rocky, rutted and loose from all the motobikes. i knew i'd be in for a long day.. but that was the point.

yesterday i locked my bike up at brighton so i could ride the 25 miles mostly down hill home after my run. today i drove to midway, parked at the wasatch mountain state park and ran the 25 miles to brighton. the trail was awesome, beautiful, loose, knarly and rugged. i kept thinking "this is mountain running" and envisioning myself trying to run it with 80+ miles already on my legs.

yeah, karl wasn't kidding. it was tough backwards. it had 9,440ft of gain in 25 miles... and i was the pig.

iPhone photos

the view from lower old goat junction mile 94
some loose knarly trail
teddy bear junction mile 91 east ridge trail
up "the plunge" at mile 89
my favorite section between plunge and dive

up "the dive" at mile 88
the view from "the dive"
ahhh - the backside of devil's castle out of alta

from brighton down sunset pass is all on trail 157 (picture at pole pine)

view of catherine lake from catherine pass at brighton

my transition for the ride home

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Backcountry.com Pray For Snow Party

i was lucky enough to tag along to the backcountry.com"pray for snow" party. it was off the heezy fo sheezy.

marit interviews some of backcountry.com's pro rippers in this vid. karl makes an appearance with his fresh off the appalachian trail fully rounded beard, but jon atencio steals it. i guess he used to be sponsored by lee jeans as a rodeo rider!? who would have thought.

Another Great Run in the Wasatch Mountains

there are some incidentals that come with doing adventure runs. on occasion you have a rough one that includes bushwhacking, being out twice as long as planned and running in the pitch dark. to make our odds of this happening even greater we were running on a seven year old memory of the route, an injury that hurt from step one, no maps and no headlamps. how many times do i need to learn the lesson - always take the petzel e-lite.. it's .95oz - just take it!

yesterday marit and i got out and ran some more of the wasatch 100 course. up emigration canyon we started at affleck campground, a few miles and about 1,000 ft below where we picked up the wasatch 100 course at big mtn pass. we then headed north on the great western trail. what followed was a mix of great running, good times, hard to beat views, bushwhacking, mass vert (6,000+ ft), bloody shins, not one but two sasquatch encounters, excruciating achilles pain and two solid hours of trying to run trail by brail - in the pitch dark.

i took lots of photos and video at the very bottom... enjoy.

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gear i used on this run (or should have):

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Sharing Things

"how many people on their deathbed wish they'd spent more time at the office?"

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some things of interest:

sean meissner wins another marathon! - check out his race report, he ran a 2:42 at the spokane marathon!

in karl's words - karl meltzer is back in the slc. he told me yesterday he's even run a couple of times. he wrote about his journey from maine to georgia.

the man who beat lance - nyt article on dave weins who beat lance armstrong at the leadville 100 mtn bike race aug. there is a good lil' video included too.

straight chuter.com - win a free pair of black diamond boots from andrew mclean by playing his game and guessing the location.

nyt article on fast and old - nyt article on olympic swimmer dana torres.

avalanches are scary - uk pro gets caught on film

Stepping it up? - article about black diamonds new freeride touring ski boots

Resting, Running and Rhetoric - the "alaskan flash" geoff roes started a great discussion on resting and recovery for ultrarunners.

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help support CoachingEndurance.com by going over to Backcountry.comand buying a ton of gear. with free shipping and the best prices on the internet it just makes sense really.

Mountain Hardwear Phantom Down Jacket Review

one of the greatest things about backcountry.comis the reviews of the products we all lust over. the reviews are often great, totally aplicable and answer a lot of the questions you need to know. as a backcountry.com athlete it's my job to contribute. i just posted this review on the mountain hardwear phantom down jacket (click link and check out the other reviews).

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Lightest and Warmest

i chose the mountain hardwear phantom over the mountain hardwear sub zero for two reasons:

1. it's warmer with 800 fill vs. 650 for the sub zero.
2. it's lighter at 15oz (440g) vs. the sub zero 1lb 11oz (765g).

i am 5'10 with 31 inch waist and i even went a step further and went for a size small. it's perfect, but any smaller and it would be too small. it's light and super warm. i like the shortness of it in case i need to wear a harness however some might feel it's too short. it packs down into a nice little package for packing on the skin up. AND the fleece lined pockets are a very nice supprise luxury for a superlight jacket.

Running Lambs Canyon to Alta

my first real run since the transrockies was a boozy. i am trying to run the entire wasatch 100 course before it's consumed by snow. yesterday i had marit drop me at the lamb's canyon section off i80 on her way to work. i had an amazing 27 mile run to alta in t-shirt and shorts. rather than heading up to sunset pass i exited the course instead coming down catherine's pass to it's trailhead in little cottonwood canyon/alta ski resort.

photos taken with iphone

the trail up lamb's pass starts 1 mile down the road
on the way up lamb's
desolation lake (you might remember this lake from my ride this weekend)

great western trail - how sweet it is
lake martha
on the way up catherine pass
albion basin on the way down catherine pass trail
the nuun van was a welcome site (devil's castle 10,920 in background)

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i ran in the Montrail Hardrock. my neuroma appreciates the protection plate.