The Ultra Experience

Here's to the adventures of my life which are usually ultra marathon trail running or fly fishing but may include other trips, experiences, thoughts, opinions, or pretty much whatever I want. As co-founder of Altra Footwear my life and adventures seemingly revolve more around developing and promoting the best footwear in the world...and I love it!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Moab Red Hot 55k 2014

Its been 7 years since I last ran this event.  Bad memories of starting out too fast, getting lost with Eric Storheim for an extra 3 miles, suffering in for the last 10 miles, and week long soreness from the pounding.  However ALTRA is now a sponsor for this event, so a little representation was in order.  That along with my aggressive Spring schedule and I figured I needed a long early challenge.
I was surprisingly relaxed at the starting line.  It was fun seeing so many great people at the start.  The ultra-community is pure goodness.  I had no watch and my plan was to just run.  In the back of my mind I wanted to run a sub 5 hour race but really treated the race like a tough training run.  Ran most of the first 6 miles with Seth hales, Zac Marion, and Matt Conners in a rather raucous conversation.  I skipped the first aid station having taken more water than necessary (training for UTMF) and found myself alone.  So with a few tunes I kept going.  I stopped several times to take pictures through this section as I found myself alone through incredible terrain.  I was BUZZED and loving it.  At aid station 3 I took several minutes to reorganize my pack a bit and refill my bottles adding my favorite juice (Generation UCAN).  I felt great and knew that this run/race had plenty more enjoyment to dish out!
So I powered along feeling oh-so-good.  On the climb up to mile 20 I relaxed a bit not quite knowing my fitness level (wished I would have pushed harder here).  Ran quite a bit with Altra lover/wearer Matt Muncha who was gushing over the Lone Peaks (rightfully so but I was running/testing the new Olympus's which performed beyong my already high expectations).  Once on top I was again BUZZED and took off down the mountain (see below photo).  Got a little humbled on a couple of the steeper rollers but seemed to pick up steam all the way to the finish.  I think the last 4 miles were the fastest of the day!  I had no issues what-so-ever and was on such a high for most of the race.
I ended up 25th overall with a time of 4:52.   Results here.  Seems like a terrible spot for a race I feel like I crushed but that's how competitive this race has become!  I finished with a shout of joy and plenty of energy.  I enjoyed this year so much more than 2007...and intend to come back.  Its also given me quite a bit of confidence knowing that I never really pushed my limits on this race yet I still ran super well.  Even had enough energy to go hiking with my boys in Arches that same afternoon.  Good day, great race, and happy for Spring to come!