First of all, this is not a brag by any means. While I do consider this a huge accomplishment, I finished near the end of the race, under the cut-offs. It took me much longer than I anticipated. I am your typical mid-pack ultra runner, so here is my account of the race. People always ask me about the details, so this post is for them, and for myself. I also do these blog posts, so that I can always remember the experience. A digital scrapbook of sorts, since the details will soon be forgotten. There were several people that did not make cutoffs and did not finish, so I feel blessed…especially being an East Coaster on the more seasoned side of life.
This was a monster of a course. Just shocking, and believe me, I enjoy tough mountain routes. The following puts this in some perspective:
Many of you are familiar with the Promise Land 50k race. It is one of the tough-er 50ks, on the East Coast. It is 3 miles longer than Rut, but Rut has around 3000′ more climb. The Rut is way more technical and has elevation over 11000′. I use Emily H (a great adventure friend and accomplished ultra runner) as an additional reference. Emily had a faster finish, than me, at the Rut, but it took both of us over 4 hours longer to finish the Rut, than it did Promise Land. Huge difference.
The Rut Mountain Run 50K is big time mountain trail race in Big Sky, Montana. Arguably THE toughest 50K in the US. Some friends suggested this race a few years ago and I had been wanting to do it ever since. A few of the same friends raced it a few years ago, but icy weather caused a course change and they were not able to go to the summit of Lone Peak! The 28k-ers did get to go to the peak, that year…not the 50K-ers. HUGE bummer. They planned to go back and race it another year. I told them I was in, when they went back. We decided to go in 2020 and were all registered for it, but Covid derailed it. We deferred to this year.
This has been my goal race for 2 years now. My training has been set up around this and Promise Land, along with hopefully/maybe doing a tough 100 miler, in the near future. Training involved 50 mile and 10,000′ climbs per week on mostly rugged terrain-like North Mountain. Promise Land 2021 went very well, which was shared in a previous post. I may not be in as good of shape, as I was for Promise Land, but I should be fairly close. The winter and early spring is much better training-wise, as Promise Land is always the end of April. The intense summer heat and vacations made the summer training much tougher, but I was still able to train a decent amount and felt ready.
My wife, Maria, was not able to go, due to work. I am planning to take my daughter Jenna on a nice trip in the future. My son Connor was able to go with me. This was his first time out West and we flew out together on Thursday. We visited Yellowstone National Park on Friday and Grand Teton National Park on Saturday. It was an absolute blast. My wife and I had honeymooned in Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons 26 years ago. Neither of us had been back since. Doesn’t seem like it changed at all.
The VA crew showed up: Gilberts, Hutchins, Lisa-Tim and Wade all got a cabin at Big Sky. Connor and I did our own thing on housing and stayed at Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky, which was great.
On Saturday, after the day in the Tetons, I went to Big Sky and got my race packet. I like the bib, shirt and drop bag a lot.
I usually fold my bibs very small, to race in, but I was going to go full display for this race.
The Rut is not just a one day and one distance event. It has a VK(Vertical climb) on Friday, a 28K on Saturday, the 50K on Sunday, plus an 11k and a kids “Runt” run. The atmosphere is epic. Some people do all 3 main events-VK, 28K and 50K..amazing.
Josh did the VK and the 28K. Tim did the VK and the 50K. Gina did the 28K. Jeremy did the 28K-his longest race ever! Lisa, Emily and I did the 50K.
Sunday. It’s Race day. Connor dropped me off at base camp. It was pretty crowded pre-race but luckily Emily and Jeremy saw me. We had Jeremy take a pre race pic.
Here is some more information on the race.
https://runtherut.com/50k-race-details/
As mentioned earlier, this is aruably the toughest, most epic 50K, in the United States. There are so many factors that go into play on this race. There is over 10,000 feet of climbing in this race. That is a ton for a 50K! Another huge factor is how steep and technical it is. It starts at over 7200 feet and goes over 11000 feet, with a ton of exposure. Weather is a huge gamble. It could be snowy, icy, windy, rainy, cold and storming. You register in hopes that you can run the whole course.
We started off at 6am. The whole race course was beyond amazing and the first several miles were runnable and enjoyable. I had plenty of energy early on, the weather was fantastic, there was a beautiful sunrise and so much excitement in the air. I was thinking to myself that I was “living the dream”….doing a big time trail race in the majestic and rugged mountains of Montana. There is a big climb at the very beginning of the race, but I don’t think I felt that one at all. We came into the first aid station..the atmosphere there was great. So many people cheering and spectating. By far the best race atmosphere I have ever experienced. I topped off my water and adjusted some things and continued on.
Emily may have caught up to me around this part. We ran together off and on, for a few miles catching up. Some of the downhill near the first aid station was a big field of loose rock. That was not easy to run on.
Mile 8 started a 7-sh mile climb, that was really tough. This is where I started feeling how tough the race was really going to be. The climbing in the 14/15 mile sections was surprisingly tough. I had to grind it out and stay focused, both mentally and physically. We got a short downhill section and another another climb to the mile 18 aid station-Swiftcurrent. This is where our friends, Josh, Gina, Jeremy and Wade were stationed to cheer us on. It was so great seeing them. I came in a few seconds behind Emily, so that was good that our crew did not have to wait. I was already getting tired at this point and still had the hardest part of the race to go. I knew the super tough and technical climb to the summit of Lone Peak was coming up. I could see it towering above me. Gina and Josh talked to us, for a minute or two and took some stuff from us, that we no longer needed. I handed them my jackets and flash light. They were surprised that I had 2 Patagonia Houdini jackets with me. I had no way of knowing what the weather would be like, on the peak, so better safe than sorry. Houdini jackets are super light, so not a big deal to carry around.
We were off to the brutal climb to Lone Peak. Part of this is named the “Bone Crusher”. I cannot fully describe how hard this climb was. It was starting on this climb, that I started to worry a little about cut offs. I think the grade of this climb is around 40%. It is super technnical rocky steepness that had us to a crawl. This was harder than any 14’er climbing that I have done. Took forever to summit.
Words and pictures do not do this course, justice.
Even after the summit, there was an immediate steep technical rocky downhill, that was almost as hard as the climb, but in a different way. So challenging!
The last 11 miles: It was all beyond tough, but the last few miles I dealt with fatigue, no interest in eating, quad cramping and low energy. I had no energy for the climbs and very little for the tame stuff.
Struggles:
Light-headedness: There were a few times that I felt light-headed and my surroundings appeared yellow. I stopped and it would pass. Only for a couple seconds at a time. I assume this was caused by altitude on top of exertion. I have done several 14,000 foot mountain summits and never had any elevation issues…but that level of exertion was not there, with my 14’ers. They were laid back shorter hikes.
Cramping: Even with all the climbing training I did, my quads were tired and cramping most of the last several miles. This really slowed me down.
I never sit down at aid stations, but did at one, later in the race. I drank some water, started moving, but threw the water all back up. Ugh. Felt ok though. Kept going.
Around mile 25 or so, I was below tree line and alone. There was a steep short climb up to a gravel road. There was 5 or 6 volunteers and race fans, that were looking down on me, wildly cheering every step. They could tell it was a struggle for me. I stopped for a second and they got even louder. When I finally made the road, it erupted into a major party. They cheered, like they had just won the lottery!
At the next aid station, a volunteer was all over me, trying to do anything they could to help. I thanked him and kept moving. The volunteers were absolutely great!
At this point, I knew I would finish, no matter how slow I went. I jogged in. It was a fantastic feeling to go past the finish line, with the my friends and crowd there. Done!
EdgeofMountain 