“Let’s run a 100-mile race before we die!” said Cole.
What a great idea!
Except that none of us were in running shape………………………
I had an even better idea: Let’s run a marathon next month for my birthday.
Cole hated this idea, mostly because he hates running.
But I was in love with this idea 😄
I moved to Salt Lake City on August 11th, and on this first night in town my friend Cole told me that we should run a 100-mile race before we die.
So the very next day I ran half a marathon to see if I was even close to being in shape for a full marathon.
And sure enough, I ran 13.5 miles without stopping! It was a little painful, but I was still able to go to the gym the next day.
Trying to Convince Friends to Run With Me
After the test run, I was all in. I knew I could go run a marathon.
I knew the most fun way would be to get a bunch of my friends to go run with me.
That way we could all do it together. I love some good ol ‘comradery.
4 Days of Training
I really didn’t care what time I would get, I just wanted to complete a marathon in the mountains.
So for 4 weeks, I went on 1 big trail run per week, and spent all of my other time doing crossfit, biking and working.
I was desperately trying to convince people to go run with me, but no one was down! Not a single person was willing to come do this with me.
Then it hit me: Why wait for an official marathon race? I could just go do it next week.
Planning out the Marathon the Night Before
Welp, at the end of August, I did an 18-mile run, and realized there was no reason to keep waiting.
So I made the decision to go run a mountain marathon by myself on 9/2/23.
The day before, I was over at AJ’s house, and started to plan out my run.
The idea of running to 3 different ski resorts made me excited. So I planned out my run to start at Mill D, then go up to Canyons, then up Brighton, then down Alta and up Cardiff pass back to Mill D.
Water was a big concern, fortunately AJ lent me his water filter, and packed a ton of carby snacks.
No Drinking Water
About 6 miles into the run, I drank all of my 2-liter Camelbak, so I stopped at a lake to fill up on water.
But for the life of me, I couldn’t get the water filter to work.
It felt clogged, and since I was borrowing it, I did not want to squeeze it too hard and break it.
So I needed to come up with another solution to quench my thirst.
The closest ski resort was Brighton, and I thought that if the general store was open (even though it was summer, when ski resorts are closed) I could go buy water there.
Fortunately it was open!
So I took a massive detour to go grab some more water.
Then I climbed up Albion Basin, and ran down into Alta.
6.5k Feet of Vertical
As I was climbing up Cardiff pass, I checked Strava and saw that I was at 6,500 feet of vertical climb.
Dang.
Since I had changed my route last minute, I didn’t know how much vert I was going to complete.
But 6.5k sounds like a lot, so I was stoked!
Racing Day Light
I started making my way down Cardiff pass, and a new problem arose.
The sun.
It was dusk, and I did not have much daylight left, but I had about 4 miles left to go.
I was trying my absolute hardest to pick up the pace and get back to my van at a reasonable time.
But sure enough, as I rounded a corner not but 2 miles away from my van, a massive Moose was standing in the trail.
Aww shit.
I thought about barking at him to scare him off – but I decided it was best to save my breath.
The good news was that there was a creek bed just up the trail a bit.
I ran back up to the creek bed, and started running down it.
Lone and behold, the moose moved closer to the creek bed than the trail! Looks like I should have waited for him to pass in the first place.
But I kept moving forward, and passed him with no issue.
I just ran my first marathon, and it had 6.5k feet of vert.
A screenshot of my trail run
Boy was I dirty!
Dirty feet
At the end of the day, the only logical thing to do next was to go smack down a massive chicken burrito from Lone Star, and eat 5 scoops of homemade ice cream.
And honestly, that wasn’t even close to enough calories for me to consume. My Fitbit said I had just burned 7,751 calories on this run.
You better believe I enjoyed the absolute fuck out of that post-marathon meal =D
Your Turn!
You should run a marathon.
Seriously!
Or honestly, you should do whatever the fuck you have been thinking about doing.
You know what it is, and I have no idea what it is.
