156

156 miles is how far BS and I rode and ran last Saturday. Friday afternoon, I left with my friends to go to Logan for the Little Red Riding Hood ride. This is an all girl 100 (turned out to be 105) mile bike ride. BS had the kids and after his pre-race meeting, took the kids to Grandpa Judy's house to hang with Aunt Jenny. He signed up for the Squaw Peak 50 mile (turned out to be 51) ultramarathon. Not your typical ultra-marathon

BS is not a runner, so why exactly did he sign up for a 50 mile run that climbs nearly 15,000 feet, and 7 miles of it would still be in the snow?

Provo from high altitude

I still don't know that answer! He's crazy.
The plan was that he would probably finish in 14 hours or so, and I would meet him (after my ride) on the trail and walk the last few miles with him for support. He swore he would not be running at that point so I went along with it. Plus, he wanted me to see "Windy pass" where the Clark boys religiously go deer hunting every year.

Springville around 9am

His brother Adam, Josh Chase and Jason Lowery were going to meet him at mile 33 and run the last 17 miles with him making sure he kept his wits, didn't start hallucinating, and didn't have a mental meltdown. What he and they didn't realize is that mile 36-39 were absolutely brutal.

Mile 36-You are kidding me, right?

For 3 miles the trail literally went straight up hill on a deer trail. Along the trail people were dropping like flies. Mile 38-Almost there

Adam saved a poor lady that was severely dehydrated and couldn't stop licking her arms. She was hoping her sweat would replace some of the lost electrolytes. The poor lady nearly emptied his camelback! At the top they noticed Jason was no where in sight, but trusted he would find his way to the finish. Mile 39.5-Finally to the top of the final climb

11:17 after he started, he crossed the line, never happier with a finish, and never hurting so bad. I got an emotional phone call from him (on my friend's phone because mine broke) letting me know that he was finished. Wait, what? Finished already? I was just leaving Logan, in anticipation of having at least 2 hours until he would be finishing (IF he did finish). I could not believe how fast he did it, especially since he hardly trained due to his torn calf injury. He really is a freak of nature.
So much for the original plan. Unofficially, BS finished about 3 hours earlier than his goal and was 38th place out of 270 real "runners". His friends Eric and his pacer Jason finished a couple hours later. There is a GREAT write-up of the race at thezeph.wordpress.com (he ends up losing 7 toenails from this run). We are super proud of him as well. Turns out Jason was one of the people dropping like flies on mile 38, good thing he had plenty of snow to fill his camelback! Sorry Jason! What is next adventure for BS? I hate to ask. But I'm soooo proud and happy for him.
The next day, he could not even walk. He even tried getting out of going to church ;) But he survived and I found it hard to feel sorry for him. He did that to himself.

BS and Eric at the finish line

Meanwhile, up in Cache Valley, I gleefully accomplished my goal of 100 miles in a day. Perfect weather, beautiful scenery, and awesome girlfriends! It was also so much fun spending a nice evening away with the girls...dinner, laughs, and a nice hotel room.
The only problem was that my cell phone finally bit the dust early Saturday morning so my mind was racing all day, wondering/worrying about BS and how he was doing, and the kids.
At one point I had to decide if I wanted to ride 80 (turn right) or 100 (turn left). I knew that if I rode 100 I would definitely not make it back to Provo in time to pace Sam to the finish. But my friend Jen was feeling good and so was I, plus she was my ride home and I didn't want to be responsible for her not meeting her goal of 100 miles. So, we went ahead and did the whole thing. I felt much better this time than when I rode this 2 years ago and rode 80 miles. At the time, I couldn't fathom riding one more mile. Probably because I was such a rookie. Even now, I still feel like a rookie sometimes. Thanks to my friends for such a fun experience!
And a huge thanks to Jenny for taking great care of the kiddos! They had a blast!

p.s.- The cousins from Minnesota are here! I'm writing this from beautiful Island Park, been here since Wednesday. We are coming home today and as usual, we wish we had more time here.