Hanging out at the Hardrock 100

“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” 

-William Shakespeare

HR Trail Marker

This was my first year to be a part of what is considered to be the most difficult of the traditional 100 mile races in the country. (The Barkley Marathons is a non-traditional race.) The plan was to pace Sheila the final 27 miles from Telluride to Silverton. I was excited, nervous and anxious to get out on the storied course and experience it for myself.

I drove down early Thursday morning to meet up with Sheila and the fam at our hotel and managed to get there in time to catch the last half of the mandatory runner’s meeting at noon. Afterwards, I got to reconnect with my R2R2R pals, Steve & Deb, Doug and Drew as well as Julian from Colorado Springs, Bob from Denver and Katie from Ft Collins. After only six months doing this sport, it was surprising how many people I already knew personally. Our trail pals from Bighorn, Scott & Matt were also there as Matt was pacing Scott. (If you read my Bighorn report, Matt was the one that was suffering from back pain in the last 10 miles and still gutted out a finish.) Such a small world of crazy ultrarunners. 

The weekend was a virtual who's who of micro-celebs in the UR world. Besides the runners that I recognized -- Joe, Seb, Darcy, Nick & Jamil, Jared, Karl, Scott (Jaime) & Diana, I spotted their familiar crew/pacers  -- Anton, Scott (Jurek), Matt, Krissy and Dakota. Even met legends David Horton and Pablo Vigil too... how cool is that?

The rest of the day was spent packing up my Chapman drop bag, going over last minute details with Sheila and her huz John (crew chief) and poking around Silverton. The only place that I knew of was Café Mobius, and I probably gave Megan Kimmel at least $50 worth of business in the four days I was there between daily java jolts, green chili burritos & cookies that I ate.

We got ourselves in bed at an early hour and were up at 5am to dress and head down to the school for the 6a race start. The gym was buzzing with excitement as runners milled around, took pictures and made last minute adjustments prior to the start.

Drew, Doug, Steve, Julian, Sheila & Bob before the start

The runner and her pacer

John helping with last minute adjustments

Before we knew it, the Star Spangled Banner was sung and the runners were off.  In the excitement, we almost forgot to give Sheila her trekking poles. Once she was gone, we had a few hours before we would be meeting her at Cunningham (mi 9.3). I hit Café Mobius for b’fast, where Bryon Powell from iRunFar was already there starting a 37 hour workday along with Meghan Hicks and the rest of the field reporters.

Bryon hard at work and keeping caffeinated 

We headed out to Cunningham around 8:30a and as we parked at the aid station, we saw Sheila arriving --  oh snap! hurry! She was looking and feeling great. After refilling her flasks and giving her some snacks for the road, she was on her way.

It was mid-morning and we had the whole rest of the day to kill as they had decided to meet up at Grouse, later that evening. So we checked out of our hotel and headed to Ouray to soak in the hot springs there and relax a bit.

Knowing that the front runners would be arriving in Ouray (mi 57) around 6pm, I hung out to watch the fasties come in and take pics. Joe Grant and Seb Chaigneau (the eventual winner) had been running together in the lead for the first 40 miles, but we got word that Joe was peeing blood at Grouse (mi 42). Since this is a sign of kidney failure, I wasn't expecting him to look so good when we saw him. 

Seb arrived first...

...and left 11 minutes later with Scott Jurek, his pacer

Joe came in about 25 min later

When Joe arrived, it was clear he was at a low point. I felt bad for him as I was really hoping that this would be his year, but with hundos – especially Hardrock – anything can happen. 

Joe & his sweet wife, Deanne

Troy Howard arrived and assumed 2nd place when he left

Joe giving one more valiant effort to finish

After leaving Ouray, Joe tried to go up Camp Bird Road, but his condition worsened and wisely, he dropped before things got any worse.

Diana Finkel was on CR pace when she came in, but unfortunately showed signed of Rhabdo and had to drop at KT (Mi 89)

Diana was flying through aid stations in 1-2 minutes

After about 90 min, I headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.  I was sharing a room with Cindy Stonesmith, who was pacing Sheila from Ouray to Telluride. We got up early the next morning and learned that Sheila’s stomach started rebelling as she came off of Handies Peak (~40 miles in) and after spending an hour at Grouse trying to repair herself, she left, but continued to have trouble. She couldn't keep anything down and was moving at a snail’s pace. With not a lot of time banked to clear the cutoffs, she decided to call it a day around 1:30a.

By the time she got back to the hotel early the next morning, I knew that both she and John needed sleep and time alone together. I decided to hitch a ride to Silverton (where my car was) and figure out what I’d do for the day. One of the aid station workers named Maple that I had met the previous night was heading back around 9a so I hopped in his truck and enjoyed some nice conversation back to HR central.

Maple telling me all about the Ouray Ice Climbing Festival

Once I got back to the finish line I watched some of the front runners coming in. I got to see last year’s winner, Darcy Africa, repeat history and come in 9^th overall, followed by Adam Hewey and Jonathan Robinson, Katie's brother.

Darcy coming in with Krissy Moehl, her pacer

The Hunchback of Hardrock, Adam Hewey

Adam’s finish was so inspiring. He gutted himself on a tree coming out of Telluride (Mi 73) and as his Psoas muscles were no longer able to support his abs or back, began to hunch forward, making breathing difficult. Somehow, he managed to climb three more peaks and finish in the top 10, with the help of a walking stick. What a rock star!

(You can watch a video of Darcy and Adam’s finish here and read Adam’s account of his run here)

Possibly the best UR no one has heard of -- Jonathan Robinson

So…what to do, what to do. I decided to head back over to my fav café to grab another sandwich and coffee. Who did I see there, but Joe Grant, sitting on the couch chatting with folks. As I waited for my sandwich, I had an opportunity to say hi, introduce myself as one of his tweeps and chat with him about his run. Sounds a bit mysterious as to what happened in the way that the mind / emotions are so interconnected with the physical state of being. Maybe he’ll be able to decode some of it and share more through his blog at some point. He’s been one of my fav runners to follow and I really enjoy his writing, so I wished him well on his recovery and told him I was proud of his stellar effort. His day at Hardrock will come, I have no doubt.

After talking to Dale, (Race Director) I decided to head back over to Telluride after noon in case another runner needed a pacer. Long shot, but with time to kill, decided to go for it. By the time I got there, the last two runners on the course were about to come in. John W. had a pacer and the other, my friend Drew, did not; however, there wasn’t anyone there who could drive my car back to Silverton. So, I decided to follow after them and do my own fun run going up Oscars. Had a nice chat on the Bear Creek Trail with John W’s pacer, Tom Remekes, before hiking the singletrack on my own and catching up with Drew. I didn't get all the way up Oscars Pass, but managed to do about 4.25 miles before time constraints forced me to turn around. 

Going up Bear Creek trail with Tom

Catching up with Drew

Remains of Nellie Mine

Just before I turned around

Looking back toward Telluride

Flat is rare on the HR course

Even tho' John W. was the last runner out of Telluride, he put the pedal down and passed 13 runners before he finished. 93rd out of 106 finishers. Good work!

After grabbing a bite at Brown Dog, I headed back to Ouray and was able to check in on Sheila and chat with her awhile. It’s hard to accept a DNF, especially when it’s attached to a larger goal, like the Rocky Mtn Slam. But she realizes that she did the right things and followed her coach's instruction, so it wasn't because of some obvious mistake that she made. 100 miles is a long way (regardless of what Karl says) and the variables are great when you take into account a long, exhaustive exertion, extreme weather changes, and altitude. She’ll have her finish at HR and I’m proud of her taking on an enormous challenge and giving it all she had.

By the time I grabbed a shower and got back to Silverton, it was after 11p. With only 7 hours left until the 48-hour cutoff, I wanted to see the back-of-the-packers come in. They are my favorite runners, because they're the ones I relate to and they suffer so much longer than the elites. Can’t help but be enormously inspired and in awe of them. Most of the people I know were coming in during these hours and I hoped to see them finish.

Between a couple of hour-long naplets I managed to see all but one of my friends, Julian Smith, who managed to sneak in sooner than I was expecting, so I had to congratulate him the next day. Got to see our Bighorn pals Scott and Matt after Scott finished in a very impressive 41:45. 

Scott and Matt

Steve and Deb both finished in the same year – a first for them in 10 years of running Hardrock. Steve became an official Hardrocker, having completed the run in both directions (This year it was run counter-clockwise). I had the joy of running with Deb the last few blocks and seeing her kiss the rock.

Steve's 3rd HR finish

Deb was not Last Badass Over the Pass this year

I got to run a few steps with 73-year-old Hans Dieter Weisshaar. When I saw a light coming down Reese street at 5:34a, I hollered asking if he was a runner or pacer as I couldn't tell if he was alone or not. He hollered back "Runner, NO pacer!". Running up to him and seeing who it was, I asked if I could run with him down the street. He just stopped and looked at me blankly. "Don't stop, you still gotta kiss the rock!", I reminded him in his 100 mile brain fog. What a stud. I think that's #136 for him and his 100 mile finishes.

My favorite moment, was seeing Claire Ketteler finish. With 10 minutes left before the cutoff, I had parked myself at the trailhead which spilled out to 10^th street, roughly 4 blocks from the finish. With 4 minutes left, I saw Claire's pacer, Bethany Spiller, come into view. Claire came shortly after, plodding along slowly. I started hollering to them that they’d better run or they’d miss the cutoff. Watching Claire put the hammer down and run that final hill, tired and sore as she was after 48 hours, was such a delight. She kissed the rock with only 16 seconds to spare. Talk about an exciting finish!

Bethany (in black) hugging Claire at the finish

I have to pause and say it meant a lot to me as a slowpoke to see an elite runner like Jared Campbell (7th place) get up at 5a to cheer the last runners as they arrived. I would encourage anyone (elite or not) who has the ability to hang out and cheer those that are coming in at the end to do so. I’m usually in the back and it really does feel good to see people congratulating you on your hard-earned finish.

I stayed for the awards ceremony and found myself a little misty-eyed at times when stories were told of the runners that completed this very difficult run. I loved the various anecdotes that were shared on the runners and acknowledgement of those that have completed this run 5, 10 and 15 times. 

Jamil Coury spent 4 hours at Grouse repairing his stomach and went on to pass 95 runners to finish 14th. Wow!

Jamil receiving his shirt and print from Dale

Seb's speech was first class... loved it

My R2R2R pal Doug Seaver finished in 38 hrs... 39th overall.  Boss!

Steve & Deb Pero... my heroes!

Said my goodbyes to Steve, Deb, Julian and Doug before heading back home. What a great weekend. Even tho’ I didn't get to pace as I expected, I managed to have a great time nonetheless and still got to run a piece of the course. I told Dale that he’d better remember my name as I’ll be back until I’m dead.

Let's see if Dale remembers me next year...

Huge thanks to Bryon, Meghan and the rest of the iRunFar crew for their coverage of the event. Their tweets kept us up-to-date as the race unfolded.

iRunFar's Meghan Hicks and Bryon Powell

Congratulations to all the finishers for their hard-earned accomplishment. For those that were not able to finish, you also dared greatly and have my respect. Rest and recover well. Learn from the experience to become a better runner. You live to fight another day. Get after it.

Don't know when or if I'll ever put my name in the lottery. I feel I need a lot more experience before trying to tackle something as challenging as Hardrock. Right now, I’m content with being a part of the HR experience through pacing or volunteering. We'll see... 

Next up... Leadville!

Happy Trails,

Shelby