and you think I lead deathmarches?

[ilanarama]

There's a little race being run right now in the mountains north of here: the Hardrock 100, a 100-mile trail run that loops out of Silverton and runs through Telluride and Ouray as well as over Handies Peak, one of the 14ers (mountains over 14,000 ft). Beautiful and rugged country, with stream crossings, snowfields, etc etc and a ridiculous amount of elevation gain/loss (33,000 ft!!!).

Kyle Scaggs just crossed the finish line this morning in 23:23:30 (and he's 23 years old; too bad he wasn't 7 seconds faster!), smashing the previous record by over 3 hours and finishing over 6 hours ahead of the second-place runner. Think of it: this guy ran a hundred miles of rugged terrain in basically one (extremely long) day. This sort of thing completely fails to appeal to me personally, because if I'm going to be in those mountains I want to be taking my time and enjoying myself, not a sleep-deprived zombie running by headlamp, but I can't help but be hella impressed.

(also, to amuse a certain segment of my flist: one of the runners is named Paul Gross. :-)

Comments

[r-becca.livejournal.com]

We have a family friend who has done a run like that -- 100 miles, through Death Valley. Oy, vay.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that one goes from Badwater to Whitney - from the lowest point in the lower 48 to the highest. INSANE.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Holy fuck.

I can't even summon admiration right now. All I'm thinking is "OWWWWWWW."

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

If you get a chance, read the FAQ. It blithely talks about vaselining your feet so that you don't get blisters from all the stream crossings, how to run by headlamp, etc... It's like - a whole 'nother level that I can't contemplate.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Jeebus.

I'd pass that on to my coaches, but I'm not sure how well they like me spamming them...or they might just think I'm crazy.

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you on the lack of appeal. I can't imagine doing it. But I can't imagine doing anything more than 26.2. I know a couple of people in my running club are talking about a 50 milers, and I'm thinking, WTF? After I've run 15-20 marathons, I wonder if the challenge of it wears off?

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's what it is. During the Steamworks Half in June, I ran for quite a ways with a guy who was training for this one (he ran to the start - 13.1 miles - and then raced the half) and he said that what happened with him was he stopped making his marathon goals, stopped improving. So because he couldn't run 26.2 faster, he started pushing the distance to 30 and then 50 and then...

(He came in just after midnight last night - that's 42 hours of running. INSANE.)

I actually can see doing a longer race, but I draw the line at sleep deprivation. I sort of wish they hadn't stopped doing the Silverton Alpine Marathon because I wanted to do that, maybe.

[de-wynken.livejournal.com]

I saw them up there 2 years ago at Animas Forks. The runners were cool..all the subarus BLOCKING the trail were *not*.

Like I said previously..it's insane to comprehend the idea of RUNNING at that altitude. I wonder what they can do at sea level.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Heh, there's so much support needed for that thing, I guess. And for me, the insanity is running ONE HUNDRED MILES. At once. I mean, GAH.

[de-wynken.livejournal.com]

I could do it in..fifty foot increments :D

[(Anonymous)]

Dang. That cannot be healthy, long-term...

Eric W.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

And yet there were 170 people on the WAITING LIST after they filled 140 slots! And the oldest finisher this year was 72 years old - and he's run it 13 times! One guy has run it 14 times (out of 15 that the race has run). I think it takes a special kind of physiology to do this kind of race - and an extreme tolerance for pain.

[(Anonymous)]

"special physiology" -- Yeah, one that I don't have :-)

Eric W.

[riverlight.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I didn't realize you were near Silverton! When my sister and I did our two-month road trip, one summer during our college years (not so long ago—yes, I'm a baby still!) we passed through Silverton, and I loved it. So beautiful!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we are about 50 miles south (on winding mountain roads). We make it up there 2-3 of times a year for various recreational reasons.