Moab 200

Moab 200

On Oct 12 at 6am I was standing at the starting line for the Moab 200. This is a 237 mile running event that travels in one loop through the mountains, valleys and plains around Moab Utah. It gains ~30,000 ft. of climbing over this distance. The high point on the route is 10.500 ft.

When I menschen that I have done this, I can tell most people do not have a reference for what I have done. To help with this, many years ago I completed a 50k run. The next year I completed a 50 mile run. The following year I completed a 100k run. I year or two latter I completed a 100 mile run. A year or two latter I completed two 100 mile runs one month apart. In 2011 I completed four 100 mile run in a three month period. Two years later I did one 100 mile run each year till 2016 and I did my first 200 mile run, Bigfoot 200. As you can imagine I did many training runs to get myself ready for each year’s goal.

To get ready for Moab, I did many solo, self-supported training runs in the cascades. The pinnacle of these training runs was a 100+ miler up by Ross Lake called Sourdough Suffer fest on the Ultra Pedestrian Wilderness Challenge FB page.

At 6am in Moab Utah in Oct it is quite cold. I am wearing many clothes I know I will be taking off very soon as the sun rises and I warm up from the running I will be doing. I have to carry with me what I will need to survive from aid stations to aid station at distances up to 22 miles apart. The temps I will encounter will range from teens to 80 with varying wind speeds. I can place items in drop bags that will be waiting for me at each aid stations that allow them. I have a crew of John with will meet me at some of the aid stations along the way

It is a little after 6 and I am running with the pack of 136 other people. In the beginning of each race I seek out the pace I wish to be at. It is single track and we are jockeying for our place to be at our pace.  As predicted, I have to stop two times to remove clothes and each time has to reestablish my place in the line. The first aid station, Hurrah is 15 miles out.  The running is easy and we are all finding our place and pace.

After Hurrah, it is 18.7 miles to Breaking Bad. It is getting warm now and there is a constant wind. I am not sweating due to the low humidity and wind. I have to be careful to keep the pace slow and remember to keep drinking. I have 90 oz. of water on me leaving Hurrah. I play a game of guessing where the trail goes next. The trail goes in and out of each draw as we contoured around this amazing beautiful terrain. There is no water out here. I wonder how the native people and explorers of past time survived.

I enter Breaking Bad out of water. Each of the people I pass by is experiencing the same thing. Luckily for me it was only the past 10 min. I fill up water wishing I had my second bottle stashed in a drop bag ahead. It is 22 miles to Hamburger Rock the next aid station.  I know I will run out of water before I get there. My only hope is that the approaching darkness and cooler temp to come will help.

Again, the running is easy; it is mostly off road vehicle trails. The sunset was amazing. The wind is a constant. I am yo-yoing with other runners along the trail. I do run out of water, but to my luck one of the other runners has half a bottle to give me that allows me to get to the aid station. My first drop bag is here. I change out socks, reload the pack and fuel up from the aid station before heading out to The Island 15.5 miles away. John is here to say hi and help as he can.

Night moving is different. I slow down as my world is now contained in the beam of my headlamp. I know there is a this amazing world I am traveling through. I trust the markers along the trail, my gps watch, gps app on my phone and a good dose of common sense to take me on the correct path.

When on a run on this length, you pass, get passed and run with other runner based on how you feel. This is true as I run with a gal for a while. At some point it starts getting light as we approach the next aid station Bridger Jack. It is Saturday morning now. In 18.5 more miles I will be at Shay Mtn.

On my way to Shay I spent a lot of time with Phil from CO. We would mostly run together in silence. We are approaching 8,500 ft. in this section. This was a nice section as it went through a valley. The terrain was different than the other areas. There are trees to shade the sun. I really enjoyed the change in terrain. I was getting beat up by the full sun and constant wind. After Shay comes Dry Valley. This was an interesting section as we were in a wash with a small stream for part of it. It got dark here. With all the tech and runner here and there, staying on route was easy enough without a trail under our feet.

Once at Dry Valley I took a 2 hour nap. It was quite cold here. They had a semi heated tent with two cots to sleep on I started in a chair then when a cot opened up I got to lay down.  It is sat night now and 121 miles into the event.

The next section to Wind Whistle is road, dirt then paved. I could look back and see a light or two in the distance from other runners. I got off the route on a side road but realized my mistake quickly and got back on course.  While on the paved road a car stopped and asked if I was ok. I said I was fine and asked what the temp was showing from their car. It read 20. I was wearing two layers on bottom and six on my top with two hats and one balaclava. All these were light layers combined to keep me warm. Two layers of mittens for the hands.

At Wind Whistle I put my head on my knees for one more hour of sleep sitting in front of the fire ring. One might think this is crazy, but to see people pushing it this far out there, this is quite common behavior.  

On my way to Road 46 aid station the sun came up. It is Sunday morning now. This is all dirt roads running. This part if the country is breathe taking watching the sky turn from dark to light.

I am at road 46 now and Mike M and John are there. Mike is going to run with me for the next 34 miles. Pole Canyon is next at 17.3 miles away. We will spend a lot of time climbing to the high point of the course at 10,500 ft. coming up after Pole Canyon. This section is quite open and lots of sun. Runners come and go. We share the aid station with 8 other runners. The crew tells us of how it got down to 8 there last night. Once we all hear this story we all hustle out of there as darkness is a couple hours away.

If I had a low point in the run it would be on my way to Oowah Lake. I was getting whipped out. I was into the event 166+ miles approaching 10,500 ft. and it is night three coming on. I had a slow mile at 55 mins in this section. Luckily what goes up comes down and with Mike leading; I could follow his feet in the night traveling faster than I could have on my own. After too much time we arrive at Oowah Lake. We were both whipped out. It is cold out now. I eat and go down for three hours of sleep.

I wake up Monday morning ready for traveling to Porcupine Rim with John.We start out running through this amazing Aspen forest. The sun is still low and the light is something else. After a while we are on a dirt road for easy travel. The views are breathtaking as we are working our way slowly down into the valley.Once at Porcupine Rim I bid John and Mike goodbye and head off with the MT bikers down the trail. Sections of this trail parallel the rim with great view of the valley floor. If you are in this area, this is a must do trail. After a while I am at the end of this section for a short paved bike trail. It is becoming Monday night. I experience a party boat on the river with the canyon walls being lite up for them. I do not know this until I come across a couple that walk with me to the aid station, Arches mile 220.

Mike and John are at Arches to greet me. Refuel and I am out with John for the final 17 miles. We work our way through town to the trails. Someone had messed with the markers leaving us to find out way to the route. It was not a problem and I have everything I needed. The trail contoured along the hills till the water stop. We then went up and over to the slick rock section. This was unreal to walk up and down slick rock that I know the rock here in the PNW would not have this traction.

The last section is along the road leading into the camp ground. I get there 94 hours and one min after leaving Friday morning. It is 5:01am Tue morning and I am tired, time for me to get some sleep.