Wasatch 100 Preview video

Here's a compilation of the video we took over the past weekend. Peter and I took turns with the camera, Gomez, Get Miles is the soundtrack. Greg, Brian, Sam, Peter, Mike and myself all played the action heroes.

Without further ado, the second MRC production...

MRC Conquers the Speedgoat 50K

Ouch!! What a course. After looking over the map I knew the race would be brutal, but I had no idea.  When the race started the jack rabbits took off and I was not going to be one of them. Erik, Christian and I ran at a conservative pace letting a few runners burn out in the first 5 miles. Erik was about 3 minutes ahead of Christian and I approaching Hidden peak for the 1st time. When we finally crawled over the top Karl and Jared Campbell were there waiting. Christian and I left together and headed over Baldy. I passed Christian while he was picking up e-caps he dropped. After that I never really saw him. I knew he was breathing down my neck a couple minutes back the rest of the race. I ran with a nice guy originally from England named Dominick. To be honest the fact that he was wearing  a pink camelback lead Christian and myself to think he was in over his head. I was wrong he was a strong runner. I followed him all the way to the final decent from Hidden Peak. Mineral Basin was super rocky. I rolled my ankle twice but it never really got swollen or tight. What was really scary at that point was how far down we ran before there was any sign of returning up to Snowbird. The people at the Mary Ellen Gulch aid station were great. Rock Horton was there with a smile. At that point he told me Erik was 12 minutes ahead. The climb up  M.E.G went on forever. It was starting to warm up and the water station in Mineral Basin came at the perfect time. Up,up,up to the tunnel then down, down down to the switchbacks that took us up,up ,up,up to the cirque ridge then up ,up, up to the road just below the tram. We were finally to the Hidden Peak aid station again. NOT! OK, I do not know how the express in words how I felt or what I wanted to do to Scott Mason when he said "Just run down there across Little Cloud Bowl and up through that snow field." I was in shock at how far we ran down just to go up,up,up. On the way up Little Cloud Nate McDowell blew by me then the 2nd place runner. A few minutes later Anita Ortiz ran down past me on the snow. I saw Erik on the road almost to the top of Hidden Peak. My wife and kids were up tops. It was awesome to see them. It really gave me a second wind. Uncle Dave filled my bottle and sent me on my way. Erik had gone through just over half an hour before me so I knew I couldn't catch him. I was in 6th place at this point and I really wanted to finish in the top 5. Dominick was just in front of me and I had one other runner a couple minutes back. I felt great all the way down. I passed Dominick for 5th place and was able to run the decent in about 35 minutes. I had to tell a few runners they were of course. It was sad. They were below Mid Gad restaurant. The climb back up to get on course would have be a killer. I think they all dropped. After it was over I felt really good about the run. Christian finished a few minutes after me (With the Millcreek 50K win on his legs). Greg had a great run as well. I hope the MRC made Dr. Lindgren proud. Jason Berry finished strong and must have taken off to the symphony right after. Congrats to my friend Tom Nelson on finishing his 1st ultra. He was sick the day before and still managed to pull through and have a great race. Greg's friend from Virgina (I think) called the race the "Barkley of the West" That sums it up for me. See you all soon on the trails and Congratulations to all the finishers! -Rich

Unofficial Results (I Think?)

4th- Erik Storhiem 6:09

5th- Rich McDonald 6:33

Christian Johnson Sub 7 hrs

Greg Norrander Sub 8hrs

Jason Berry Sub 8hrs

Tom Nelson Sub 10hrs

 P.S. In light of my recent near fatality, I will be adding the helmet to my running attire!

Salt Lake City Man Attacked by Tree

On Wed July 16th 2008 while trail running Rich McDonald was viciously attack by a teenage quaking aspen. It began like any summer run up Millcreek Canyon. Starting at Upper Big Water, McDonald ran to Dog Lake, then up to Desolation Lake. From the crest he ran down the Great Western trail back to his car. The run seemed like just another spiritual experience on the trail. Then things took a dramatic turn for the worst. As McDonald ran down the Great Western he spotted his attacker laying across the trail. Moving at the speed of light McDonald attempted to duck underneath, but instead was struck. The blow to the head stunned the runner. He remained on his feet and was able to verbal assault the tree, until he saw the blood! McDonald stayed calm and applied pressure to the wound as he walk back to the car. Face and chest covered in blood he passed several hikers who wanted to help. He explained that he was "SUPER TOUGH" and continued to his car. On his return he was also responsible for traumatising 3 young children with the 3 gallons of blood on his head and body. On McDonald's return to the city he received 3 staples in the head. When asked if he was worried about future encounters with hostile trees, McDonald replied "It's the trees that should be worried!"

Miwok 100k race report

Definitely put this race on your to-do list. This race embodies all of the reasons we like to run off-road. The course has just about every possibility you can imagine, sand, fire-roads, singletrack, stairs, pavement, ascents, descents, redwood forests, meadows, creeks and some of the friendliest aid station volunteers I've ever had the pleasure to be around. In a nutshell it would be hard to have a truly terrible day while running this course. Here are some race day photos from other runners, here and here.
I ended up running the first half of the race with Peter's brother-in-law Mike, while Peter decided to hang with his sister. Mike and I had similar time goals (10:30), but since this was going to be the farthest he had ever run he was wise in being a bit cautious. I didn't really think about it to much but it was the second longest distance I would be attempting, the longest being the Bear 100. The race started on the beach then immediately started climbing to an overlook of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge just as the sun was coming up (see the photo below from Peter). The course rolls up and down for the first 16 miles before hitting the first big climb of the day up to Pan Toll aid station at mile 21. While it felt like we were climbing it wasn't that bad compared to the climbs we do in the Wasatch. The next section was the one that started to take it's toll on me as we left the shade of the redwoods and made our through exposed grassy hillsides to the Bolinas Ridge aid station. Mike had a bit of a cramp through here and decided to ease off, while I pressed on. I could feel myself getting dehydrated in the sweltering 70 degree sun (compared to highs of 55 in SLC) so I tried my best to empty my bottles before the next aid station. After Bolinas aid the course rolled up and down through the redwoods for a good 5 miles before descending 2 miles to the turnaround and the next aid. It was here that Helen Cospolich caught up to me and we ran together for a few miles until I was stung by a bee on my forehead. I stopped for a second to make sure I got the stinger out and the gap had opened up to Helen. It was through here that I started seeing the leaders coming back from the turnaround. Mackey was a 15 minutes up by this point, Jurek looked good, but Hal was walking (I believe he started injured). I hit the downhill and found my groove again, catching up to Helen at the aid station. Filled bottles and we left together, tackling the 2 mile climb back up to the ridge. I felt like we were going a bit slow, but at the same time I knew I had to be careful. Sure enough I started to slow on the ridge and Helen pulled away for good. On the way I found Shane Martin who was having some GI difficulty, Mike who was overcoming some cramping issues, and Peter and his sister Leslie, who looked fresh as could be. By the time I got back to Bolinas aid I saw Hal climbing in a car, which was a little discouraging but everybody has issues sooner or later. On the way back I went through a couple of low spots but I was always able to run the flats and descents. However, I began to realize that 10:30 was definitely not in the cards so I focused on a sub 11. I hit the last aid with one 800' climb and descent over 3.7 miles between me and the finish. I felt really strong so I started to run up the climb and passed a few runners. I asked one guy if he thought a sub 11 was possible from where we were at and he replied it just wasn't possible. He did wish me luck in my attempt though. I powered up the climb, took a left at the top when I should have taken a right and lost maybe a minute or so. The thing I wasn't prepared for was that the descent to the finish was mostly pavement. My left knee was acting so I had a hard time pushing to much on the descent and came across in 11:03. No biggie, I felt great, I didn't puke and I had a great day running in the hills. Helen came across in 10:44 or so, Mike followed behind me with a strong 11:30 and Peter and Leslie made it through in 13 hours. Check out the rest of the results here.