Zion 100 Mile Ultra

Poof ... that's better - I finally got this thing all dusted off and ready to go again.  That cartoon is almost not funny it is so real.  Anyways, I got some stuff coming up that I wanted to talk about and I got a whole lot of stuff that has happened that I want to talk about too so I better get started.  For now, I will focus on the upcoming Zion 100 and later bit by bit I will go over some of my discoveries and adventures of the last, oh almost a year now.



On the very near horizon, actually exactly two week from tomorrow morning I will me starting the Zion 100 mile Ultramarathon.  This will be my first race of this distance - last year I ran the Bishop High Sierra 100K, which is 62 miles so everything after 62 miles will be completely new territory for me.  The Zion 100 takes plase in Southern Utah, adjacent to but outside of Zion National Park.  The race starts in Virgin, Ut at 6:00 on Friday Morning, April 4th and goes up and down the red cliff mesas of the region following single track trails and gravel roads. The elevation of the course is between 3,500 and 6,500 so is fairly moderate and the total elevation gain and loss is 10,000 feet each. 

Right now I am in the taper phase of training, slowing down and letting my body recover and be a some sort of a peak come race day.  My last long run was last Saturday when I ran to the top of Gass Peak which is right here in the Sheep Mountains just north of Las Vegas.  I started from Seastarnd Park and it took me a little under 9 hour to make the round trip of about 40 miles.  If I could keep that type of pace for another 60 miles (a pretty big if)  I will finish the 100 miler in under 24 hours which would be phenomenal.  In actuality, I will be happy to finish in under the cutoff time of 32 hours. More details on my training leading up to the race and plans for the race to come in the next few days.  For now, here are some pictures of my run up Gass Peak.

Starting out, early morning, 3/15/14 - about 19 miles away at this point.

Just one major wash to cross on the way up.

Followed by about 6 miles of open desert, very runnable with about a 2 % steady climb.

Eventually I link up with a gravel road that cuts though a pass in the mountains.  Once on the other side I still need to run 6 miles alongside the mountains until I come to the road that leads halfway to the top.  This road is quite steep, 20% or more in places.  Eventually the road stops and there is a faint hiking trail that leads the rest of the way to the top.  The peak is fairly in accessible and most days I never  see anyone else out there.

View of Las Vegas from the top of Gass Peak

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