Three Trail Monkeys, running on a trail.
One somewhat slow. One very fast. One fairly sick. (left to right).
And on this day, all three had success in one way or another.
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Signing in at the beginning of the trail,
about the only time all three of us were together. |
The Quest for King's Marathon is our annual trail run to the top of Utah's highest point, and it is our favorite run of the year. Or at least the run we look forward to the most. This year was no different, and the 13 miles from Henry's Fork to King's Peak and back are now familiar to us, although being familiar with the trail is the blessing and bane of this route. It is good to know the route, to know where you are going, to be well aware of what challenges are there on the trail. It is also daunting to know how difficult it is to breath at this altitude, how tedious the boulder fields are between Gunsight Pass and Anderson Basin, and how easily the death march of the last 6 miles can trip you up.
Before getting into any particulars, it must first be said that Steve killed it. He started strong, he held his strong pace and he finished strong, improving on his best time from a year ago by 48 minutes. He ran like a monkey possessed. And for that, we salute you.
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| Blurred Sam. |
There is one stretch of running on this trail that captures everything fun about trail running. It's about 6 miles in, you've just completed the boulder trail and have passed Elkhorn Crossing. It's about a four mile stretch in a clearing, you can see the top of King's peak, the sun is rising and the trail is perfect. You're note yet in total pain, you've hit your stride, and the elevation hasn't slowed you yet. It really is a perfect moment. We all separately commented on how great this section of the trail was, even though we all hit it at different times.
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| Best part of the run. Stepping towards Gunsight Pass. |
During a long distance trail run, there are challenges you know you will encounter before beginning. Running at high a high elevation, you know it will be difficult to breath in some stretches. Running for long stretches by yourself in the wilderness is a mental hurdle at times, and a perfect respite at others. The large boulders that litter the trail jump out and grab your toes, you know that a sprained ankle is there at any step. These are the things that can plan for, hurdles that you are aware of before the run and hopefully control.
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| Steve Descends, just in time to say hi and bye to both Sam and I. |
There are also things you cannot control, and you simply have to deal with them. You sometimes have to deal with elevation sickness, stomach/G.I. issues, or simply hitting the proverbial wall. And once you are 10+ miles up a mountain, there's no way to tap out, you have to fight through whatever those challenges may be. Steve overcame everything that was in front of him, as his awesome finishing time obviously indicates. Sam had some stomach challenges, and despite the nausea and feeling much less than his best, he finished with a very good time. Jake didn't have enough time for proper training leading up to this race, but was happy to just finish.
So, another successful summit of King's peak, another great day on the mountain. Thanks to the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers for hosting this officially unofficial race,
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| Sam hopping his way to the top. |
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| From the Top. Of Utah. |
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| The OTM were here. |
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Leading the pack down the mountain. My daughter saw this photo and
asked "what is he going to do with his hairdo?" |
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Sam and Steve had never had any type of energy drink before,
and we hid 3 cans of Red Bull in the river at Elkhorn Crossing.
So we got a caffeine induced boost to help us close out the last 6 miles.
No wings, but at least it was a push to the finish. |
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Sam didn't feel so well after the run, and pizza was the last thing he wanted.
This was just before he puked. The boy scouts had occupied the Men's restroom.
So he made it to the women's restroom. The entire restaurant heard him heave a few times,
and it scared everyone away. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves after that.
You can try that trick if for some reason you need to empty a restaurant. Four or five
loud dry heaves tend to scatter people that are trying to eat. |
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| Steve's Trail stats, by far the fastest of the Monkeys and the only time worth posting. |
Steve's Time 6:19:34
Sam's Time 6:54:28
Jake's Time 7:27:00
