How'd it go?

Haven't seen anything on Facebook or instagram. Just plain rude.

I set a new personal worst time!

But I finished. Traveling today, will post more later.

I'm interested in running an ultra, but I don't know where to start.

I'm confident in my ability to train for and run a regular road marathon. I've done 4 of those with sub 4 hour times. But ultras feel like a different sport. I've always just followed online training programs.

How do I get started? I live in Golden, CO so access to trails is not an issue!

TIA!

I used a marathon plan to train for my first ultra, which was a 40 miler. You will probably need to train for more vert out in CO, though.

You should look at Denver Trail Runners. I know there are some ultra runners in that group. Also a lot of local run clubs have some people who run ultra or know someone who does.

I'm doing the Grand Canyon R2R2R in a month and am getting my gear list together. For anyone who has done the Grand Canyon, is there a particular prep list (or website) you recommend?

I've already got a bunch of trail running gear, but also curious if anyone has suggestions for things that might not come up on the regular lists of gear.

i don't think i really did anything different than a normal ultra, other than carry a water bladder for extra water capacity, and I also carried some iodine tablets, just in case one (or more) of the water fountains weren't turned on. If you are going in a month, you should be fine with the water fountains, as they are typically turned on the first weekend in may. Make sure you are prepared for the weather. It can be below freezing and 100+ degrees on the same day. Also, don't forget that the north rim is 1000ft higher than the south rim, so it can be much colder than where you are starting. Both times I did it, it was snowing heavily on the north rim. We didn't spend much time there, as our fingers and toes started hurting. Have a good headlamp and backup batteries.

canyons this weekend. Both fields are stacked, but the men's really sticks out to me. There's no live feed this weekend, so will have to go old school and just refresh various sources. Really hoping Hans Troyer can score a golden ticket. There are several of the top men who are either already in States or have stated they will not take a ticket if they win one, so he potentially only needs to be in the top 6, depending on who finishes ahead of him.

oh, and if you are playing freetrail fantasy, get your picks in!

or join the league: https://fantasy.freetrail.com/leagues/join/6979fe3b55

i guess i never really gave much of an update on Leona Divide...slow work morning before I have to head to a conference, so i guess i'll do a quick update. I'll have a quick recap video up soon, as well as an eventual long form, so won't go into great detail here.

The race starts in Lake Hughes, CA which is about an hour and a half or so from LA. I flew in to LAX and my brother-in-law picked me up. Once traffic got "decent," we headed up to the race location. I grabbed my bib from race HQ and then we drove 20 mins to the hotel to check in. We tried to find a flat trail to do a shakeout, but ended up at a place where almost everything went straight up, despite the descriptions online. We ran around a little retention drainage a few times and then decided to try and do a small loop on a UHV trail. We immediately ran into a rattlesnake and went back to the drainage loop. Grabbed food and a beer after that, hit the grocery store and then back to the hotel. I packed my drop backs and passed out.

Got up at 4:45a and drove to the race site. went to drop my bags and realized i misread the guide and there was no drop bag allowed at one of the places I'd planned to have a drop. had to scramble to move nutrition around, but it wasn't a huge deal.

Race started with a 2.5 mile climb up a UHV road/trail. The grade was pretty nice, so was able to move decently. After the climb, we jumped on the PCT. The whole area was gorgeous. Weather was great and I was moving pretty good. The PCT was essentially just a series of long climbs and descents with little "flat" between. The aid stations were at the bottom of the descents. My brother-in-law met me at the first two aid stations, then I had to make it out to the turn around at mile 20 and back in where he'd be waiting at mile 26. I felt good all the way out to the turnaround, but quickly started having some stomach issues after the aid station. It was a big/slow climb up from the aid station, so I walked quite a bit while I tried to nurse my stomach. About halfway up the climb, I almost stepped on a rattlesnake (it didn't rattle). Then about a half miler later, another snake cross the trail right in front of me.

I was able to jog the descent down to the next aid station, still not feeling great. I sat down and got a lot of water and electrolytes in. Headed out on another big climb up and then down to the next aid. At this point, I had started feeling a little better and was able to move slightly faster. I had 8 more miles to get to mile 40, where the 3 biggest climbs of the day were at. However, my brother-in-law was pacing me the last 22 miles, so at least I'd have someone to complain to.

It was a LONG 8 miles, though the last 4 were a nice cruise-y descent. The bad part was knowing, I'd have to come back up those 8 miles. Made it to mile 40, still not feeling super great, but moving, albiet slowly. I refueled and then started the first of the 3 biggest climbs. It was very slow progress, and the climb felt like it was never going to end. Eventually, it started leveling off a bit and I was able to start moving. I saw the road I'd be descending, so I thought I was close to making that turn. I was wrong. We eventually hit the turnaround point for the 50 miler, where I falsely assumed I would hop on the dirt road. I could see runners on the road, but the trail just kept going. This mentally crushed me. I was walking a lot (and cursing the trail). After about a mile and a half (and what felt like forever), i finally hit the dirt road.

Spirits came up and I was able to descend pretty quickly, trying to to think about having to come back up the road. I cruised down the road, passing a few people. I knew I was in danger of not breaking the 17 hour threshold, so I told Kyle I needed to get in and out of the aid station in a few mins. I think we were there for about a min. I turned around and started the push back up the 4 mile road climb. Almost immediately started dry heaving. I had to ditch the food I had b/c it was making me gag and I didn't want to throw up my fluids. The grade was terrible, so I was able to wak/run and push up the climb. We got back onto the single track and my energy was just gone. Lack of calories. Kyle had a pack of fruit snacks, so I ate that, and luckily they stayed down. The only other calories i had on me was tailwind, but I didn't have enough fluids to mix them.

It was at this point I did the math. I needed about an hour and 45 mins from the last aid station to get to the finish in under 17 hours. I only had an hour 40 left and I still had about a mile to get to the last aid station. I broke the news to Kyle, but he tried to stay positive and said I could still do it. I knew what that last climb looked like. No way. Maybe on fresh legs, but not 55 miles into the race. I reiterated the math. Mentally, I gave up hope, but kept pushing on. We got into the final aid station and I refilled fluids. I ate a snickers bar and drank a redbull.

We started the final climb and I was feeling much better. I started running the climb in short bursts and power hiking. I figured I still had a long shot, but maybe if I could push hard enough to give myself 23 or 24 mins for the final descent, I could possibly hammer it in. Unfortunately I couldn't make fast enough progress for that to happen, so as 17 hours approached, i backed off on the climb to save some energy. We finally got up the to dirt road for the final descent. I knew this was it and just wanted to be done, so I picked up the pace and was going sub 10 min miles. I passed 6 people on that last stretch. And while it felt good to move, it made me wonder what the day would have been like had I not had stomach issues slow me down. Ended up finishing around 17:40, which was a new personal worst! No WS100 qualifier, but I've got another shot in 6 weeks.




Also, i talk a little about the race at the beginning of our Q1 update:

Your worst is still better than my best. I think I'm going to have to stick to 100 milers for qualifiers.

If you ever want to get in a run down south I'm in Highlands Ranch and get my weekend vert in along the various foothill parks.

My only advice after a year up here and doing a mountain ultra last year is get in way more vertical than you think. Should be plenty easy in Golden. My go to is Mt Morrison when I just want to slog away vert. 3.5 miles will net you just over 2k.

I'm looking forward to the full recap video.

Out of curiosity, how much extra weight/gear did you have on you for vlog purposes? I assume Kyle muled a battery or camera at the least, but am curious on your load none the less.

johnson2012 said:

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I'm looking forward to the full recap video.

Out of curiosity, how much extra weight/gear did you have on you for vlog purposes? I assume Kyle muled a battery or camera at the least, but am curious on your load none the less.

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only thing i carried was an insta360 GO, which has a total weight of just over 60g.

I had a second camera with interchangeable batteries that Kyle had in the truck in case I went through the entire internal battery on the Go3. I didn't even carry a selfie stick. That one is a bit bigger and it needs a case, but i never had to swap. I actually get better footage on that one but I like the Go3 b/c its so much smaller. I'm able to pop out the camera and attach it to my hat if I've got the poles out.

Kyle always runs with the GoPro and extra batteries.

If I wasn't racing and was just out running to film somewhere, I'd probably have at least 2 cameras + batteries, a selfie stick/tripod, and a small drone.

if you want a sneak peak at an upcoming video Kyle put together. Check out the "trailer" below. Kyle ran to goodwill, picked up 22 books and then ran 19 miles while distributing the books to Little Free Libraries.

Anyone doing Pandora's box of rocks out at reveille ranch on Saturday?

In one or two of his most recent YouTube updates, Hans talked like he feels really good going into Canyons. Sounds like he's grown a lot since his rhabdo experience a year ago. It's hard not to like the kid and that childlike goofiness he still possesses. Really pulling for him to get that golden ticket this weekend.

Yea he really seems to just like being out there. Hoping he's put it all together.

He'll be up front for sure. But that's a stacked field. That said, whoever gets tickets will be going against an even more stacked field at WS100.

Oh, and don't forget, The Chase releases on aravaipa's YT channel this evening!

I've been waiting for it. I need it to get hyped up. Feeling very doubtful about where I am right now, although that's pretty normal for me going into a race.

Canyons just got started. First checkpoint is at about 11 miles.

Looks like there's a big pack lead men pretty close together.

Where are you finding updates? I can't find anything anywhere.

On the canyons page there's a link "live"

https://live.utmb.world/canyons/2025/100k

Ah, I was trying to find someone doing live updates or something. Should have defaulted to the website, even though I hate utmb's tracker.

I hate it too but I couldn't really even find any Instagram posts

AggieOO said:

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Oh, and don't forget, The Chase releases on aravaipa's YT channel this eveningW

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Watched it during my treadmill run this morning. Great stuff!

oldarmy76 said:

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Anyone doing Pandora's box of rocks out at reveille ranch on Saturday?

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How was the Box of Rocks?
I ran that as my very first trail race ever probably 11 or 12 years ago. I swear I'm still picking at blisters I got from all the switch backs on that course.

Here's a follow-up on the little free library run my brother-in-law did. this is full short film:

It was good. Humidity was 97%. I was going to try to take it easy but hr was redlining just a couple miles in and it was tough from there. Time was substantialy slower than had hoped but placement was equal or a little better than expected so I think the humidity hit everyone.

I hear you on the blisters. I never struggle with them but my feet were starting to bother me a little bit by the end. Something with the new inserts I have were making my feet slide a little in shoe on all the uneven granite outcroppings.

Awesome landscape to run through though! Clocked 1500 feet of gain over the half marathon. Would like to see what I could do on the course in better weather conditions.

Well, I'm over here wrapping up work and trying to gather all my crap to head out to AZ on sunday. Its gonna be a long week crewing at Cocodona, but should be a lot of type B fun!

There's someone else out there who is a heck of a lot more nervous about next week than me, but I won't speak for her.

If anyone is interested, I'll try and pop in next week and give some first hand updates/perspective on what's going on during the race.

I'm not necessarily nervous. Really more in denial.

How's that rain, snow, hail treatin' yall?