A tour it was for the Wasatch Speed Goat Mountain Racing Team as I spent over two weeks in the San Juan’s acclimating for the ultimate foot race. The picture below is mile marker 90.5 coming into Cunningham aid station, my goal was to give this marker a tap on the way by to my first Hardrock finish, mission accomplished!

35:16 for 16th place.

Three scrapes for the whole team and everyone who raced this grueling event!

Full report coming after my hooves heal!

Squaw Peak 50 ended up being one of the craziest 50 milers I’ve ever run! The race started out with lot’s of rain as we climbed our first ascent we entered the snow zone! Yes it dumped 2 - 4 inches of snow in the morning then the sun came out and we all got to enjoy the MUD! From the winner on down every one’s time was about an hour slower with all the slip sliding we did. I had the pleasure of running with Jean Coulter who eventually took the lead  as we cruised down windy pass! Nice job Jean, see you at the Speedgoat 50k, the Wasatch 100 warm up!

There was another stellar performance from Master WasatchSpeedGoat Dave Hunt, he really enjoys the big vertical and posted a 5th place finish. Dave gives credit to his pacer and teammate Bryon Powell who was fired up for the task! Three scrapes to the masters winner.

Photo - Julie Mason

Scott Mason - mile 50

Check this out, Cheryl Meltzer Karl’s wife ran her first 50 as Karl paced her from mile 26 to the finish, they passed a total of 31 runners the last 24 miles. Nice coach/pacer to have along side!

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Two moons of madness, thats what director Chris Scott put on for Easter! The inaugural ultra offered both 100 mile and 100k distance; I ran the 100 miler only to discover the course to be tough as or even tougher then the Wasatch 100. The vertical included 7 massive out and backs off this huge ridge that towers over the cool town of Ojai, California. The Wasatch 100 course gives you chances to recover on those short climbs unlike the Two Moons which sends you straight up or down with no mercy. The out and backs were any where from 12 to 16 miles long with 6 - 8,000 combined vertical. When I reached the ridge for the last time Chris Scott was in a full Easter Bunny suit handing out peps to the runners. These guys will certainty entertain you while you suffer through one of the toughest 100’s around! Warning, this course will crack your will if you are not prepared!

The race was a experiment for me! I was injured and only ran 9 times since last October, I always rest November December and hit it hard in January, but the thirty feet of snow and the AC separation halted all training until March 1st. I decided not to race but Karl Meltzer said, “what do you have to lose?” So I told Chris I will be there. I remember the year Meltzer had a budging disk and didn’t run all summer, sure enough he lined up for the Wasatch 100 and won it! That was the real “off the couch 100″ which convinced me I could at least finish! My result was 30:16, 11-12th overall?. Go figure ~

SUPER THANKS to the boys at Frozen Valley and Cozy Dell aid station, these guys pulled me out of the swamp and gave me some hot soup when the temp was 24 degrees! Thanks to Cheryl Meltzer for kicking me out of Cozy Dell aid were things were getting ugly before the last 4,286 ft. climb of the night! This race was mind over fitness levels for me.

Race diagram, very deceiving! Check out Karl Meltzer’s results, he destroyed the course!

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Top four men all break the seven minute mile pace! Imagine trying to hang with this crew for a 50k! Nice run Todd and another Skaggs showing up near the top rounded out by the timeless Scott Jurek!

1. Todd Braje 3:32:12
2. Erik Skaggs 3:34:17
3. Dan Olmstead 3:35:05
4. Scott Jurek 3:35:09

Looks like Suzanna Beck (3:55:22) winner of the Red Hot 50k beat Ann Trason’s record by almost 4 minutes! Suzanna was the odds favorite for the women! Check out full results for the Way too Cool 50k !

Keep the votes coming, I am going to leave the polls open until February 2nd which is Hard Rock 100 lottery day! For all you 100 mile junkies the mighty Hard Rock will be posting the 2008 field this weekend!
Another big event is the Rocky Raccoon 50 and 100 coming up this weekend in Huntsville, Texas. My pick is Anton Krupicka (riding the wind) for the 100 miler!! What is your pick for the 50 and 100?

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li Steidl wins the Northface 50 Mile Challenge over the Matt Carpenter! Wow! With 10,000 dollars on the line Uli and Matt ran close the first 44 miles and Uli was able to burn Matt off the last 6 miles to win a thrilling race! I raced Pikes Peak two years ago and watched Matt beat Uli on the technical mountain race but the less technical California course played into Uli’s hand as he won the biggest paying Ultra of the year!

Uli Steidl’s race report

Wasatch Speed Goat

The Bear gets slayed!

After three attempts at the Bear 100, I have finally raised the bar a little. It helps to go with fresh legs. Cool temps, a 30MPH tailwind…that’s right, a tailwind, and dry conditions left the record of Hal Koerner to get chomped up and thrown away. Negative splits didn’t hurt either, 19:35-19:15. I think the older I get the longer it takes me to get warmed up.

It may be the last running of the Bear on this particular course as a new one is slated for next year. The Rogue Valley Runner may have to return next year to set a new mark as my plans are a mystery. Leland Barker put on a stellar performance running second in 20:54, Jared Campbell was solid as always about an hour behind and David Goggins finished his 9th 100 of the year with one to go

On the Women’s side, WasatchsRunningCenter standout Milada Copeland defended her Bear title in just over 27 hours. It was a crazy race, When I finished it was 68 degrees, the last 12 hours of the race were run in a snowstorm, pays to be quick at this one!

Scott Jurek repeats at Spartathlon

Is he Ultrarunner of the year yet? Of course with a road win overseas, he is a shoe-in to win it. Doesn’t matter how many hundreds you win….all about performances of the year. I willl now rest as Scott takes on the loop da loop at acrosstheyears24hour and determines if he can get dizzy…go get it Scott! Is there 166 miles in you?

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Valmir Nunez crushes Jurek’s record at Badwater

All the way from Brazil, Valmir Nunez ran an incredible time on a somewhat cool day at Badwater last week. The evening temp dropped to a chilly 93 degrees allowing the runners to escape the standard 100 plus temps which normally plague the race. Valmir ran 22:51. Same time as Scott’s run at Spartathlon last year………Hmmmmm, what a coincidence. Same mileage, same time, more heat. Strange things are happening this year. 3 scrapes for Valmir! Baaaahhhhhhh

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The Capitol Peak 50 mile, 55K, and Relay results are now posted on the website: The weather was finally nice to everyone out there, especially those who returned from suffering in last year’s snow madness, and the previous year with the “thorny carwash”! All I can say is… it’s about time! Hopefully the weather is this nice this same time next year!! There were record breaking performances on all levels, which I posted I a new link on the website. Van Phan broke her own course record by 51 minutes, with a time of 8:58. And Jim Kerby, after winning Mt Si 50, 6 days previous, also came and claimed the Capitol Peak crown and broke the course record with a time of 7:31. The 55Km also saw outstanding performances with Allison Hanks setting a new course record of 6:12, and John Berta setting a new course, beating the entire field by almost an hour, with a time of 4:58. John Berta was also the “First to the Peak”, which was the first to summit Capitol Peak at about mile 22 and then finished. We also would like to recognize our 1st seniors who were Max Welker in the 50 mile and Kent Holder in the 55Km. The 2-person relay “Team Slow Boy” which included Benjamin Chafflin and Tom Maciukena, proved their name wrong, by running just shy of the relay course record in a time of 7:13. And as far as I know, all Capitol Peak repeaters PR’ed by a long shot! Congratulations to everyone who finished or gave it their best to attempt in this year’s Capitol Peak Ultras!

Sign up on-line for the WasatchSpeedGoat 50k rugged trail race through Snowbird and Alta Ski Resorts. The race takes place 7/21/07 at the Snowbird Tram deck, get ready to run through the tunnel~race app

CROWTHER WINS ANOTHER BIG ONE! A relatively unknown to most…until Sunmart, Greg Crowther wiped out a stellar field to win the US Championship 100K at Mad City in 7hrs 14min. Scott Jurek put together another solid performance running 7:32. Kevin Setnes rounded out the top 3 and smoked the older boys running 7:50. Julie Udchacon won the womens race and finished 4th overall in 8:09. The next three finishers were women making them the real winners of all! Crowther takes home $2000 making him the richest Ultrarunner on earth with the exception of Yannis Kouros, the WGUR. Looks like Crowther is in the running for Ultrarunner of the Year…Meltzer better get moving! Congrats to all! 3 scrapes! baaahhhhhh!

Sign up on-line for the Wasatchspeedgoat “Get High” 50k rugged trail race through Snowbird and Alta Ski Resorts. The race takes place 7/21/07 at the Snowbird Tram deck, get ready to run through the tunnel~race app