Issy Alps 100 - Trip Report

Motivation : 

I started trail running at my neighbors suggestion when we moved to Issaquah in 2004, nothing ever serious just a exercise activity I enjoyed being outside in the mountains. I think in that time I only ever went to one race (Cougar Mountain Trail run) and I never really trained or attempted to get faster.  I just wanted to be fit enough to have mountain adventures.  I started getting curious about completing 50 miles in one day as I approached turning 50 in 2017.  After completing 50 miles - I got curious about a 100 miler and I designed and completed my own 100 mile Issaquah Alps route that was all on Tiger, Squak and Cougar in May of 2018.  For that 1 100 miler I did training, a bunch of research and active preparation.  During exploration I came across the Boneyards Issy Alps 100 mile route - and initially I was bugged by the fact that it was called Issy Alps but really starts in the Cascades.  Later I became attracted by the aesthetics of the route and how hard it appeared to be.  I started thinking about this route in 2020, when on a whim one Saturday I attempted the 50K, but I was too early in the season and I ran out of time and gas. As I planning for running the Bear 100 in 2023, I thought about giving the Issy Alps 100 a go early in 2023.   I arranged a date (4/21) with my schedule (work and family) and went for it in April of 2023. That year ended up having heavy snow late in spring and the snow really slowed me down, and I got super stumble tired at 22 hours and after a nap I called it at 50 miles - my first DNF.  After completing the Bear100 I recovered quickly and was feeling super fit and decided to give the Issy Alps another go that fall.   November isn’t known for perfect weather, but again I had to pick a date for schedule and the weather looked ok-ish but as it can - it got worse as the time approached.  This time there was less snow - so I made better time on the first 50k, but walked all the way to Rattlesnake Lake where I picked up Wright Noel who paced me through the night up and over Rattlesnake ridge - which just so happened that evening to have 50 mph winds - which surprisingly weren’t that bad - given we were on the otherside of the ridge - though the whistling and howling of the wind through the radio towers was impressive.  Route finding off of the end of the ridge and then across the 2nd creek was bad - and there was som awful bushwhacking that slowed us down.  Wright peeled off at 5am as I went up to East Peak - but again O got super stumbly tired - and this time couldn’t take a nap due to the persistent and consistent drizzle of the rain and no shelter.  So as I plodded along up toward East Peak -  I got colder and colder and when I couldn’t feel my hands and was still getting colder I deciding to bail and descended back to Hwy 18 - completing an alternative 100K route.

I was now a bit obsessed and making another attempt was the next focus.

Preparation

I put in a lot time training - this was in between travel for pleasure and work - Mexico, Arizona, Beijing China, Taiwan and Nashville - I put in the hours and the specificity of the work (intensity, long runs) - in the dark, the rain and the snow. I enjoy the process. I enjoy the journey. I sometimes have some dread about intervals - but I know the value of the process and give it my best.

I also specifically wanted to get a better idea about the route down off of Rattlesnake Ridge and the crossing of the crossing of Deep Creek.  I went out on a Saturday with Trevor Griffith, Wright Noel (my pacer before and planned for on the next) with some tools and we scouted and cleaned up the route in both sections. We parked off of 18, walking up the road to the top of Rattlesnake Ridge where Trevor showed us the cut off onto the side trails, which was right or north - when before both times I’d gone left/south.  Then we tromped down the Raging River - where thankfully the construction has erected what looks to be a temporary bridge, and then over to Deep Creek - where Trevor again showed us the correct crossing and the obvious ascent up a gully that lead to the road on the other side.   That gave me a boost of confidence in these sections and for sure cut off an hour time from prior attempts.

Picking the Date

I have a busy summer planned in 2024 between more work and personal trips and May was the best month to make another attempt.  Same issue as November, marginal weather was possible - though at least generally warmer than November.  I had set aside May 31st and potentially June 7th to give me two weather window opportunities, but then I was ready, and I got anxious and after discussing with my wife and looking at the weather decided Sunday of Memorial Day weekend as the weather looked the best.  Of course as the week progressed things predictably deteriorated but not substantially.  This was also not the best weekend for getting assistance as a lot of people had understandable vacation plans.  But Wright was up for a Sunday night pacing across Rattlesnake Ridge again and I had my son and wife to help out along with Inga Anderson who offered to help.

Expectations

Making a pace plan for a race is a dangerous exercise in prediction and that sets expectations that are likely to end up getting missed - setting yourself up for disappointment against predicted times. But you have to plan -  you have to let people know when you’ll be at various stages where you can get aid.  I had a detailed spreadsheet of splits and destination times.  Chatting with my coach - we figured on a great day I’d end up at 32 hours and on a bad day I’d end up at 36 hours. All of those ended up being way too optimistic but things started out more or less on plan.

Issy Alps 50K - Miles 1-32

After spending the evening putting together all my calories, breaking them into bags and organizing all my gear.  I drove our van out to Teneriffe Road and stashed a bunch of calories in a bag on top of the big stump next to the gate.  Then I drove to the Mailbox trail head and parked and slept in the parking lot.  I had my alarm set for 4 am and planned on being on the go by 4:30, but I never sleep well the night before a big event.  From 11:30 pm on - I kept waking every 30-60 minutes.  Finally at 2:50 am I just got up.  I showered. Made myself a couple of packets of oatmeal, slammed a electrolyte drink, grabbed a banana and my pack, started my Garmin InReach Mini tracking and started my watch and started stomping up the road.

I made good time up the old Mountaineer trail to the summit, arriving 2 hours after I started - right on pace.  The wind wasn’t blowing at all and things were quite mild.  As I descended in the trees I saw a headlamp below : “Is that another Griffith?”  Trevor yelled “yup” - (he was doing the 100K) and we bumped fists with an encouraging word - and I said : “I suspect you’ll pass me on the CCC road.” -  He pushed up and I ran down.   I stopped at the Van at the bottom, I changed my shirt and threw on a different pack, slammed another electrolyte drink and then locked the van and set up off on the Granite Connector trail. I felt strong - and ran the flats and gentler hills; the descent down to the Granite Creek trail head has some very slick muddy sections and I managed to not fall down on the slippery slide.  The creek before Sitka Spruce has enough rocks you only get one foot wet - and the trail had been completely brushed out!  Super nice to not have stinging needle.  I felt strong here as well and managed to run the gentle hills until the CCC road where I again ran at a moderate pace.  I took one portion of the new CCC trail they are building and had to do a small bit of alt/road bushwhacking to get back on the main CCC road.  

I was only 10 minutes behind schedule at the Teneriffe Road - I’d had a couple dark fantasy thoughts off and of about what would I do if a bear had stolen my calories - but they were there intact, which was a relief because I had loaded up 3200 calories to carry me through to LIttle Si parking lot.  When I did the 50K - I had not taken enough and ended up being low on food going up Mt. Si when I ran into Kirsten Woody Scott out for a trail run and she’d been kind enough to give me some of her spare calories. Still feeling strong I ran up the trail until the steep rock that starts up to Kamikaze Falls; here Trevor passed me and moved on upward at his faster pace.  We again said some encouraging words as we passed.  I stopped at the falls to get some water and then up the steep trail. This is by far one of my favorite sections of the trail - the steep ridge that follows the spine and then the big steep slopes with the big Doug Fir.  I started to get a bit tired here and slowed slightly - until finally topping out on Teneriffe just past noon; still roughly on pace.  

There was still quite a bit of snow on the ridge between Teneriffe and Si - which slowed things down a bit; but by the time you descend the Teneriffe trail - things are clear.  I am always surprised by how rocky this trail/road is though my feet and ankles didn’t really hurt here like they had in the past.  Then connecting over to Mt Si - I stopped at the one creek to refill my water bottles again and was grateful for the perfectly graded new Mt. Si trail that feels so nice after the steep ups of Teneriffe.  After topping out - down the old Si trail - which is lovely to ascend but kind of a pain to descend as it’s just steep enough that you are constantly checking yourself and making sure your feet don’t slip out from underneath you.  Through the boulder garden to the Little Si trail - stopping at the creek to get water and then up and down - I arrived at Little Si parking lot at 6:15 pm - (15 hour 50K) right on pace.  My wife and son met me there - I changed my shirt and socks and switched from Topo Pursuits to Altra Olympus - which had more cushion. I drank a big thermos of Miso soup - whose salty savory flavor always tastes so delicious.

Issy Alps Miles 32-66 - Next 50K

I said good bye and set off down the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to Rattlesnake Lake.  In the past I’ve been too tired to run this section but I was determined to run it - I had tried to find a pacer but given Memorial Day weekend was solo.  My headphones (Aftershokz) had died about 12 hours into the first 50K - Stac had brought me a fresh set of airpods - and I put on some music.  I put my head down - set my eyes on something 12 feet ahead of me - and just pushed a turn over pace to run.  They were not fast miles at all (14-15 minute miles) but they were a very slow run and faster than I’d have gone if I’d done a slow walk.  Wright and Carol were waiting in their truck at Rattlesnake Ledge parking lot - I jumped in - changed my shirt again - loaded up more calories - ate a McDonalds hamburger and then Wright and I set off up the Rattlesnake Ledge trail.  Things were still light for a while and finally we had to stop and put on our headlamps.  The ridge is long and we made a good hiking pace up and over the top before starting the long descent.  There is only one creek on the ridge and we were both on empty and thirsty when we got there - should have had an extra bottle of water. 

We finally connected to the power line road;  The transitions off the ridge trail are a bit tricky - with all the mountain biking trails that criss cross that area.  Finally we came to the big power line towers were we turned right/north onto the mountain biking trails to drop off the cliff and reconnect with the power line road which we descended all the way down to the Raging River.  Thankful for the temporary bridge they built for construction - we crossed with dry feet and made our way through the construction zone following the power lines to Deep Creek. Familiar from our recon - we crossed in the right location and then ascend the gully (now streaming with water) up through the power lines to hit logging road.  Then up the annoying loop that heads east and up and around to connect to NW Timber Trail before dropping back down to Hwy 18 to pick up the Main Tiger Mountain Road.  The time was around 2:15 am - we were now about an hour off pace - things had (as they always were) slower through the night hours.  We started the never ending slog up the very unappealing and aesthetically lacking road to East Summit.  Around 4 am - I started to get very tired and groggy.  I wasn’t falling asleep as I walked but I was super groggy.  I started yelling : “Hey!  Ho!” as loud as I could - to wake myself up. Wright by this time quiet - I assumed he was tired as well.  As we walked up the road the sky began to slowly lighten - and the sun rising began to reset my brain and I woke up.  The final section of road to the summit is a big J hook that is full of rocks and sadly climbs steeply to the broad summit with a picnic table and the radio towers.  It was 6:20 am; I’d been on the go for 27 hours.  Sadly there was no bathroom on top - so I found a place in the woods to make a deposit.

We were falling behind the pace. In theory we were supposed to be at High Point trail head by 7 am - which wasn’t gonna happen.  My phone was almost dead - I’d left my battery pack in one of the cars when changing - so I had my phone off.  Strangely there was no cell service at the summit despite the towers.  As we left when Wright got cell service he texted his wife to let her know we’d be to High Point around 9:30 am.  We dropped down off East Peak on the mountain bike trails - which are kind of annoying to walk on because they often have a tire v-shaped funnel to them. As the Preston Railroad trail intersects with Close Encounters and Extraterrestrial trail - I had forgotten about the logging of that section and how the trail has been obliterated. I also forgot that as you approach this logged out section - you stop as soon as the logging begins and hug the western edge of the remaining trees - following the logging down until you find the faint old trail that leads west to cross Soderman Creek.  I only realized this by the time we had already dropped off Extraterrestrial trail and were making our way through the logged out slash toward the trail.  So we slogged on up and over left over logs, through a few baby alder groves and some brush.  This is so much better than full grown bramble bushwhacking - you just have to pick the right line and go to slow so as to not twist an ankle.  Finally we found the faint old trail - crossed the creek and then picked up the old trail that connects with 15 Mile Railroad Grade where it quickly connects to Bootleg Trail and drops down to connect to Preston Trail and finally over to Highpoint Trail head - which is kind of a big mental bummer - because suddenly I realized its not the Highpoint at West Tiger but right by the exit and then you have to walk up SE 79th Street to Tiger Mountain Trail head.  

Issy Alps Miles 66-82 

It was 9:15 am and as we walked along the road - Carol drove up in the truck where she pulled over. I sat on the tailgate of the truck and took off my shoes and socks. Wright graciously cleaned my feet while I ate a stack of McDonalds Pancakes, some eggs and chugged a chocolate milk. Carol had brought me a charge and a cable for my phone, so I plugged it and turned my phone back on.  My InReach Mini had recently died but I didn’t have my cable with me to charge it; having left that with the other charger block.  I changed my shirt again; thanks Wright for pacing me and set off down the road - hobbling a bit as my ankle had stiffened up while I sat and ate.  Suddenly I got a text for Inga, this was around the time I’d very optimistically told here that I should be at the High School trail on the other side of Tiger - but she’d noticed my last ping on InReach tracker showed me near High Point. And then suddenly she was driving down the road besides me.  She brought me a Starbucks Double Smoked Bacon sandwich and two big snickers and she even had the right cable to charge my Mini - so I plugged it in and turned it back on. I thanked her for her help and I kept walking down the road. 

My ankle warmed up - and I started plodding up the West Tiger trail to West Tiger 3. I wasn’t sleepy tired, and even though I was physically tired - I was still moving well - I still felt able to climb, albeit slower than I would normally.  I passed by West Tiger 3, and on to West Tiger 2 and then West Tiger 1 - where I cut over to Bootleg Trail again and back down and around to the beautiful 15 Mile RR trail - until I connected with the Tiger Mountain Trail - and then the very long traverse along the TmT until finally connecting with the High School trail until I dropped down to the Rainier / High School trail head where Miles met me with an iced chocolate coffee to give me some sugar and caffeine.  I then saw Josh Steinitz on his bike and said hello - as I crossed Issaquah Hobart road and entered the Sycamore neighborhood.  It was mile 80 and it was 3:45 pm - my worst time of finishing at 3:30 pm (36 hours) had come and gone.  There was 20 miles left and I was no longer moving faster than a 2 mph shuffle - and that meant at least 10 more hours.  I started trying to reframe my effort and my finish time. I recalled an article that called the Issy Alps 100 - a sea-level Hard Rock - and I knew Hard Rock had a cut off of 48 hours - so I reframed my goal as finishing before that 48 hour “cut off”.  The distance was no longer really measured in miles but in mountains.  I had to go over Squak, over Cougar, back over Squak and then end on the flank of Tiger.  It wasn’t 20 miles it was 3 mountains to go. At the top of the Sycamore cul de sac - I hopped on the Squak Connector trail and I made the steep climb up East Ridge Trail until it finally connects with the beautiful flat East Side Trail - one that is my favorite to run on Squak.  Here I ran into Scott - who was doing some trail work at the creek near the big boulders; I said hello and thanked him from for his work.

Issy Alps Miles 82 - 100 - The End

At mile 82 - on the East Side trail on Squak, my feet started hurting with every footstep.  The forefoot pad just behind my big toes - felt like I was walking on pins and needles.  I looked at my watch and just keep shuffling along at a 2 mph pace.   I texted my coach to ask for any advice on what to do about my feet; nothing much to do in the field but soldier on.  I began thinking of anything to relieve the pain.  I hit upon the memory of when my buddy Seth switched out of his boots into crocs on the Ptarmigan Traverse and the joy on his face as he skipped down the trail. I also knew Joel Gartenberg ran 100s in Crocs.  So I texted my son and asked him to drop me a pair of my green crocs at the Squak Connector trail head.  Suddenly I ran into Glen Mangiantini from Seattle Mountain Running Group and Issy Alps Ultra(s) Facebook groups, rerecognized me and had seen my post and asked me how long I’d been going.  I was a bit foggy and it took me bit to figure out I’d started on Sunday am not Saturday am. We chatted for a few minutes before I set off down the West Access Trail to SR 900.  Crossing the road I found the green crocs,  I changed out of my shoes, put on a fresh pair of socks and slipped on the crocs.  The pain wasn’t gone, my feet still hurt but the sensation was different. And I was able to stomp on my heels on the flats and push off my heels by leaning into my poles and pulling myself up hill.  

At the top of the Squak Mountain Connector trail - I was not really looking forward to running in the crocs - but there was no way I was going back down the hill and putting my shoes on again.  So just set a tromp tromp pace and set off on the Cougar loop.  That loop is long - it goes way out to Far Country and India Trails before finally turning and making its way back over Wilderness Peak.  As I ran in the crocs - I wanted yet different shoes again. I called Stac and had her drop off a fresh pair of different Topo Pursuits at Squak Connector and also stash me pair of cushy Altra Escalante road shoes at Sycamore.  Finally I started the descent to Squak Connector - it was 11 pm and I sat down by the rock and took off the crocs and put on the Topos. They were tighter on my feet and again the pain didn’t go away but the sensation was new and my feet felt a little better.

Crossing 900 - I started the climb back up Squak - it took me 40 minutes to climb back to the East Side trail.  I got back to the 2 mph pace and I started to get super sleepy; the waves of delirium and sleep got stronger and stronger.  I started hallucinating.  I’d fine myself staring at small poster on the ground - only upon closer inspection to have it turn into rock and a leaf.  I opened Youtube Music and put the group  LCD Soundsytem on shuffle;  most of their songs have this hypnotic repetitive beat to them - and I could just play them and bounce shuffle to the beat. Left foot. Right foot. The banging music helped to keep me awake and each footstep had the added bonus of pain to focus me and keep me in touch with the trail and the movement.  The song “Yeah” - is 9 minute longs and had this building beat at the 5:30 that just rolled over me.   I would also sing along at the top of my lungs to anthems and old favorites: Don’t you Forget About Me by Simple Minds, Can’t Hold us by Macklemore, Waiting for the Hammer to Fall - by Queen.  If anyone had came upon me on the trail I am sure I’d have looked like a madman. In a creek near the top of the West Access Trail - I paused to get some water - and I was so off balance that I fell - hitting my left shin on a rock and sitting in the water.  That woke me up and I almost laid down entirely in the creek - but I picked myself and carried on.

As I descended the East Ridge trail toward Sycamore - my brain could not understand why this trail existed like this - why were there so many rocks?  Why did it keep switching back and forth?  Why was this trail this way in this place?  Reality stopped making any sense.  But I knew that I needed to finally switch back toward the west when I would make the final descent off Squak. I kept thinking that “THIS” switch back was the one until it finally came.  I very carefully gripped the log railing with both hands to steady myself as I crossed the creek and finally got the Sycamore cul de sac.  It was 1 am and I sat down on the ground to change into the Altra road shoes.

I tromped down the winding road to Issaquah Hobart. As I crossed the road and shuffled along the sidewalk - ahead of me adjacent to the road were 3 baby strollers, with 3 babies in them - all holding and waving flags in their hands.  As I got closer they shifted and became bushes with leaves blowing in the wind. Hallucinations are real - until they are not.

I turned right on the High School trail to connect over the power line.   Suddenly somehow at the end of 100 miles, I managed to actually start running at a pace that felt somewhat respectable. At the time it felt like I was running a 10 minute mile, but I’m pretty sure it was a few bursts that were  only like a 15 minute mile; but it was twice as fast as I had been going.  Those last miles went by pretty quickly as the adrenaline of the finish began pumping through me.  Finally at 3:08 am I rolled into the Tiger Mountain parking lot. I was extremely happy, relieved and proud of my finish. As I said to a friend later : I’m retired from having to prove myself.

I had dropped a pin of the Tiger Mountain trail head on Google Maps and told my wife to leave my car.  There was no car on the one side and it was dark and the parking lot is long - so I walked down to one end of the parking lot and then around the other side.  No car. I called my wife - who had not been asleep but up worrying about me - and she told me she’d parked in a little parking lot down the hill.  Damn! I walked an extra ½ mile down the road to find the car and the keys where my son had hid them.  I got into the car - it was only a 3 mile ride home.  I got onto the freeway and off at Exit 18.  Suddenly I came to myself halfway down the exit in the middle of the road where I’d let my foot off the gas and I was coasting along. Shaking myself awake I drove the rest of the way home.  As I got out of the car - I seriously thought I was going to have to crawl to the shower but I managed to hobble back and forth on my very tired feet to the shower where I stripped and sat down the shower seat. I let the hot water roll off of me while my wife took my contacts and handed me the soap (I was too tired to stand up).

I hobbled into bed and fell asleep immediately - though my wife said I groaned for the next 4 hours until my phone woke me up at 8 am.

Food 

An ultra is a marathon - of many dimensions. When was the last time you ate for 45 hours straight - every 20 minutes?  I have a 20 minute alarm on my watch that reminds me to eat. I usually hit 2 and sometimes 3, of those per hour, except at the end when I was just done with eating. I consumed 10,054 calories.   My tongue actually got sores on it from all the food. And pallet fatigue is real : that childhood dream of eating nothing but sugar gets old after a couple of hours.  I tried out this time a couple of alternative food strategies. First Näak has a Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash purée- which is almost savory but for sure a nice change from the sugar gels. I bought a bunch of little Hydrapak 150 ml bottles that are advertised as “5 gel bottles” - I stuffed one with peanut butter, 1 with olives from Trader Joe’s “Handful of Olives” snack packs and 2 of them I filled with Momofuku cooked noodles. 

The olives were almost impossible to get out of the little hole, and I gave up after a couple of attempts. The peanut butter was delicious, but I had to be very careful to not squeeze too much in my mouth. One time I got so much that I gagged three or four times and came pretty close to hurling before spitting a big glob of peanut butter out into my hand, which I proceeded to lick off for the next five minutes. Noodles were also not easy to get out but I could manage with a squeeze and roll technique and they we’re delicious. Next time I need to pre-masticate the stuff that I stick in there.

If your doing nutrition right when you finish - you shouldn’t be famished. And my body for some time afterwards is in some weird food-burning cycle where I don’t feel hungry. It wasn’t until lunch the next day that I felt cravings for food. And then it was savory salty steak sandwich and fresh salad and fruit and an ice cream cone. 

Reflections  

Everyone goes through their own hard experiences. Some people have cancer. Some people have children who have cancer.  Some people have children with special needs. Some people suffer from depression.  And some of us run Ultras - to push ourselves to the limit and find the edge of what we can overcome. 

Modern life on the whole, for the most of us, is far less painful, with far more ease and comfort than at anytime in human history. Less people have to spend less time struggling and fighting to survive and enjoy more comfort than at any time, ever. 

And my life is pretty good. I’ve had a few bumps and bruises along the way. My own share of teenage angst and mental stability challenges that range somewhere along the spectrum of pretty normal nerdery to self inflicted differentiation (80s new wave) and the expected but unacceptable bullying. And I’ve been dirt college poor while going to school and starting out.  And I’ve been puffy and fatter. But by in large I have so many blessings and so much to be thankful for.  Nothing really to complain about. 

Empathy is putting yourself in someone else's position and feeling what they are feeling. Empathy means that when you see another person suffering, such as after they've lost a loved one, you are able to instantly envision yourself going through that same experience and feel what they are going through. 

We can all try a bit harder to attain and achieve empathy and understanding for others that are going through hard times. I worry that I often either don’t try hard enough and/or am unable to attain true empathetic understanding for others situational pain and hardship - because I have either never gone through that myself. And/or I have not tried hard enough to at least intellectually imagine what they might be going through. That is part of what this life is : with the fact that really each individual experiences life alone : though we all attempt to achieve and deserve and obtain love and comfort from the association with others. We will often share similar life experiences that will allow us to have true experiential empathy. I intellectually imagine that pregnancy and child birth is a long difficult and painful experience. However many many billions of women have actually experienced that challenge. And they all experientially know what it’s like and thus have experiential “real” empathy for each other. But only when they go through that do they then know : “oh so this is what it is like.”  I may have imaginative empathy but will never truly understand child birth. 

I’ve had the pleasure and honor to be married for the past 35 years to my lovely wife Stacey. She has diabetes and has neuropathy as a result where the nerves are slowly dying in her feet. She has been in literally constant pain for the past 6 years, and that pain has grown and increased in severity. She often can’t sleep at night because her feet are literally hurting like fire of pins and needles.  She will often be awake until 3-4 am because of the pain. Until sleep literally will overwhelm her to the point that sleep overrides the pain sensation. Some nights and some days are better.  Some nights are worse. Sometimes she feels good and/or can ignore it. 

I have love and empathy for her. But I don’t have real experiential empathy and sometimes even I can let that empathy fade too much.  So its ironic that given my own personal posh life - that I chose to undertake ultra marathon efforts that result in me suffering, that result in me being pushed to the “theoretical” limit of endurance or at least way beyond what I’d feel or experience otherwise. And that as a result I learn many things. But I also experience pain. Sometimes during the activity and always generally afterwards. 

Two days after completing the 100 miler, I have huge blisters in my feet, and while I ran the pain was about a 4 or 5 out of 10.  But afterwards I could barely walk and only hobble. And one night at 2 am, I woke with my feet throbbing with pins and needles pain. Ironic given my wife’s circumstances and far more experiential empathy and understanding for my wife. Another gift of learning from ultras. I will try to be a little more full of compassion and understanding. I have more empathy going forward. I imagine we can all have a bit more empathy for our friends and fellow humanity who are going through hard things and are suffering. Even those that you can’t see or can’t imagine what it’s like. 

Gear 

• Patagonia Nine Trails Shorts - 8 in : the old version (new version is too lose for me)

• Naked Belt : great for stuffing GoPro, Insta360, small monopod, extra bottle of water etc

• Darn Tough wool socks

• Ultimate Direction - ULTRA VEST 6.0

• Shoes : Topo Pursuit, Altra Olympus, Crocs, Altra Escalante

• Leki Poles

• PETZL, Swift RL Headlamp & Bindi Headlamp

• Hydrapak collapsible cup

• Aftershokz

• Airpods (2nd Generation)

• GoPro 12

• Insta 360

• Garmin InReach Mini

Special thanks

• Stacey & Miles Griffith - for everything

• Wright Noel for pacing me through the night

• Carol Noel for lending me Wright and bringing us pancakes

• Inga Anderson for bringing me food

Resources