Le Troisième Le Grizz - pourquoi pas?



garden gnomes on the Le Grizz course



For reasons I still don’t completely understand I decided to go ahead and run Le Grizz on Saturday.  This is a 50 mile run along the Hungry Horse Reservoir on rolling road that I completed as my first 50 miler in 2007 and then again ran in 2008.  Although I was already wrecked from the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim the prior weekend (which I did already wrecked from pacing Jill 48 miles at Bear the weekend before that), I figured I’d see “just how much this thing can blow up!" (to quote Jill who did something similar this weekend).  My initial plan was to crew for Utah visitors Meghan and Bryon -- Meghan is training for her annual MDS adventure and Bryon needed a Western States qualifier -- but since Iris was willing to devote her entire weekend to crewing and making things happen, I figured why not run.  Bryon particularly made it seem like a great idea since he was reportedly untrained, having done nothing but work around the clock like a madman all summer.  Stupidity loves company.  And, rather than get a good night’s sleep and all that, thus increasing the likelihood of a successful day, we enjoyed a pre-race sampling of various Montana beers and whiskey. 



Hungry Horse Reservoir

4:30 a.m. rolled around just as early as it sounds and we headed to the start, which is probably only 10 miles from my house as the crow flies but is a 2 hour drive.  I felt pretty calm about the run since it is incredibly easy to drop out (what with it being on a road and all) and I had no business being there in the first place.  It’s not like I *want* to be injured.  I did, however, want another day of doing nothing but being outside, listening to music and snacking.  It occurred to me that one of the appealing things about ultra running for people like me (who stay within their comfort zone during runs as much as possible rather than pushing to the limits) is that it’s a way to do nothing for many many hours under the guise of doing something.



more views during the race

 Anyhow, despite being pretty tight from my feet through my lower back, I ambled along for close to ten and a half hours and crossed the finish line feeling no worse for the wear. Well, maybe a little but not too bad. Bryon and Meghan both finished somewhere in the mid eight hour range -- Bryon with his flask of whiskey, which reportedly got him through when his legs began protesting. My friend Rebecca finished her first 50 miler as well and seemed pretty cheerful when she crossed the finish line. All in all a success.



Bryon and Meghan at Kintla Lake


The rest of the weekend was incredibly fun but went by too fast. Meghan, Bryon and I went to Polebridge for some pastries and visited Kintla Lake, which I had not yet visited in my nearly six years here. Such a fun weekend.



Meghan has the best smile/laugh

 The gloomy grey sky has settled in here in the Flathead. This time of year it’s entirely possible that the sun won’t make another appearance for a long while, so I’m glad summer ended with a bang and that it’s now time to rest.



Kintla - winter's a comin'



Allison turns 30 in the Grand Canyon - badassery ensues

 My buddy Allison, pictured above, just turned 30 years old this past weekend.  I know, so widdle.  At some point she expressed interest in doing the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim as her gift to herself, and naturally I thought it would be a great idea and facilitated this exercise in self-punishment.  Nobutreally the Grand Canyon is a beautiful place but ultimately, in my view, a double crossing is just plain hard. 

 We followed the South Kaibab trail down, which offers exceptional open views, the North Kaibab trail up the other side and the Bright Angel trail back up the south rim.  I like this route and it offers some variety.  My two Garmins recorded different distances and I'm still not clear on total distance but it was somewhere between 45 and 50 miles.  The Grand Canyon is a tricky son-of-a-gun since going down is so easy and pleasant (and fast) but ascending is so slow-going and challenging.  This is particularly true when the temperatures are a little warmer, as they were this past weekend (as compared with Thanksgiving and January, the two times of year I've been there).  This reality (that it's really hard) set in like a baseball bat over the head for Allison as we neared the end of our climb out of canyon on the north rim.

 As we neared the end of our ascent, Allison informed me that "this is the worst thing I've ever done" and "I hate the Grand Canyon."  She told me that she had promised she wouldn't even think it or ask but that she wondered whether there was a shuttle on the north rim that could transport us back to the south rim.  It turned out that there was, but we would have to sleep on the rim and wait until the next morning.  This was not an option as we had nowhere to stay.  So, we sat and I watched as Allison processed the predicament she was in -- namely the reality of having to do the thing she least wanted to do in the whole wide world: descend back into the canyon and double back.  I could completely relate to how she was feeling, so it was a little heartbreaking to witness.  That said, I knew she'd recover and be fine and that she could do it.  She just needed to let her mental game cycle through until she was back from the depths of despair.

 And then, suddenly, she popped up and said "LET'S GO."  Yeah!  After that she didn't complain a peep and kept a solid hiking pace the entire remainder of the day/night.  We watched the sun fade and the light turn "slanty" (to borrow my friend Emily's phrase) until there was no light whatsoever and only a million stars.  Once darkness enveloped our surroundings the scorpions, tarantualas and rattlesnakes came out of their hidey holes which made for some interesting wildlife sightings.

 Carefully avoiding what appears to be an epic attack squirrel problem, we eventually climbed our way out of the south rim.  Despite the long rest on the north rim and essentially hiking the entire thing, we still finished within a few hours of our target finish time but missed the pizza pub and had Combos, chips and beer for dinner before passing out at our hotel.

I think Allison brought in her 30s impressively and showed herself that she is fully capable of doing the seemingly un-doable and digging deep to push on.  There are times we can't imagine anything worse than what lies ahead, yet by taking one step at a time we find ourselves on the other side, a little weary but stronger.

So a Mormon and a half-Jew run through the mountains...

 Jill finished the Bear 100 this past weekend.  There was no doubt in my mind that she would finish and finish strong, but this was something of a test for her.  She timed out last year at Tahoe Rim Trail 100 and while she has only been running for a few years, her immediate ambition was to run 100 miles.  She is just like that.  Her only other "summer" attempt was at TRT, and I think she was left feeling like she had something to prove to herself.  So, this was a pretty big deal but it was obvious to everyone (except for her) that it would be a slam dunk.  This was also the romantic scene of her and her boyfriend Beat's first date, which made it an even more emotionally charged place for her.  I suspect that her lovey-dovey feelings waned as the exhaustion set in.  I didn't ask though.

One reason I knew Jill would be fine is because she comes from a long line of Mormon pioneers and, as we all know, Mormons have endured some pretty substantial hardship (not to mention persecution) throughout their journey.  In fact, Jill is a direct descendant of the founder of Hyrum, Utah, which is in the Cache Valley where Bear 100 is held.  Said founder was one of Bringham Young's right-hand men.  Or something like that.  Perseverance and an ability to endure hardship and suffering is in Jill's blood (though she'd probably want me to note that she's not a practicing LDS peep or even a religious person).  So, it comes as no surprise that she uneventfully made her way 100 miles through the mountains from Logan, UT to Bear Lake, ID.

I paced Jill for 48 miles and it was actually quite enjoyable.  There were multiple moments where I wished I was asleep instead (as a half-Jew my capacity for suffering is less than a Mormon I think, so half the race was about right), but on balance it was a fun and high-quality night/day I wouldn't trade ever for beer and a good night's sleep.  I am incredibly proud of Jill in every way and am glad to have a friend I can point to as far nuttier when people give me a hard time for my strange hobbies.

This weekend Allison and I run in the Grand Canyon and go to Vegas.  After that my training starts for White Mountains 100 in March.  Yee-haw!