Trailer Trash

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the Rut Run rr (Read 21 times)

mtwarden


running under the BigSky

    that's a lot of r's   I ran the Rut Run 28k last Saturday- it's a toughie to be sure- 8000' of vertical gain and most of that gain is off trail on talus and scree, the descents are just as bad- loose and moving rock.

     

    I arrived in Big Sky on Friday evening, it's about a 2.5 hour drive.  The lodging at Big Sky is ridiculously expensive, but as part of the race they had rooms for $120- still spendy, but about 1/2 the normal price.

     

    Here's the view from my window, not shabby

     

     

    picked up my packet and was tickled to see a really nice Salomon tech tee (price tag said $49!!)

     

     

    the race started at 8:00 AM, kind of nice to sleep in a bit  had a bowl of greek yogurt, chia, honey, granola and berries along with a slice of pumpkin bread and a couple of cups of joe- perfect race breakfast!

     

    I used my Osprey Rev 6 and rigged a deal for carry my folding trekking poles- the trekking poles were a last minute decision and as it turned out the right one.  I had a 1.5 liter bladder and extra clothing as we were warned of possible winter conditions (didn't happen for us, but the next day the 50k folks had a Plan B course due to severe winter weather up high).  I carried a couple of Justin's Hazlenut butter packets and about 6 ounces of Natural Grocers "energy cubes"- a mix of dates, cacoa, goji and a bunch of other stuff, I've come to use this in lieu of gels and chews (and liquid calories)

     

     

    they had us leaving in three waves, staggered every 5 minutes- I signed myself up to wave 3 as I knew I would be at the back of the pack

     

     

    temperature was a near perfect 40 degrees at the start (and would stay pretty cool, 60's for a high); that is a blessing to be sure

     

    elevation profile, aid stations at ~ mile 4, 9 and 14

     

     

    I felt pretty good going into the first aid station, lots of climbing, but nothing crazy- a mix of ski roads and single track; I didn't stop at the aid station as I felt I would have plenty of water to make it to aid station 2

     

    after the first aid station some more single track that switchbacked nicely, nicely enough to run most of it, but soon we could see Headwaters Ridge looming in the mist, our first real test

     

     

    it's a really steep climb up Headwaters, all on what amounts to a goat trail through talus and scree- if you had any vertigo this is a place you would not want to be!

     

    the fun doesn't stop at cresting out on Headwater, the descent is very steep and technical- saw several folks fall and with all the rock, not the best place to go down; if I run it again I'll have stout gloves to help get down the rock (saw several savvy folks with gloves on for the descent)

     

    cresting Headwaters (not my photo)

     

     

     

    me descending Headwaters (pro photographer on the course ), if you look at the top left you can see the summit of Lone Peak our next (and biggest) test

     

     

    after the steep descent we had some nice runnable downhill, but every time you go down on this course- they punish you with uphill, no exception here- we had a good uphill pull to aid station 2

     

    I pulled my bladder out to refill and was shocked to see I had only drank about a 1/2 liter- not good, I would do better on the second half with hydration

     

    after aid station 2 we start the toughest part of the course, the summit of Lone Peak- it's not just the elevation gain, in many sections you are honest to go rock climbing, using both hands and feet to pull yourself up- it took me an hour and 20 minutes to summit (and only about a mile and a half!)

     

     

    the ridge up is aptly named Bone Crusher  (not my photo)

     

     

    the views from the top are pretty nice, looking west into the Spanish Peaks

     

     

     

    looking into the Gallatin Range (east)

     

     

    the descent off of Lone Peak is tedious, it's steep, the rocks are loose and moving- saw several spills on this stretch too- my trekking poles helped for sure; it took about 40 minutes to get off the ridge, so about two hours total just on Lone Peak

     

    some decently runnable stretches once off Lone Peak, but some power hiking climbs too- I didn't stop at aid station 3, had enough water and my own calories

     

    after the aid station some more nice downhill runnable single track, but the course had one more dirty trick up it's sleeve- we turned upwards thinking maybe just one more short climb and done, it turned out they ran us up a downhill mtn biking run- it was so steep they had several sections with rope- you couldn't climb up without a rope, too steep and no footing- I heard a lot of cursing in this stretch (someone maybe my own)

     

    finally after cresting the ridge the trail took us down towards the finish line, it was steep, but runnable- saw several "casualties" in this stretch- no injured, but folks simply done in and couldn't run anymore, just walking

     

    I finished in my normal fashion, about 3/4 back- I think I might be able to shave a half hour or so off of my time which would put me closer to mid-pack, but thats probably the best I could hope for

     

    got a nice finishers medal and enjoyed a cold one after- all in all a great (but tough) race- thanks for reading

     

     

     

    2023 goal 2023 miles  √

    2022 goal- 2022 miles √

    2021 goal- 2021 miles √

     

    wcrunner2


    Are we there, yet?

      Beautiful scenery but those talus trails look almost impossible to run.

       2024 Races:

            03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

            05/11 - D3 50K
            05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

            06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

       

       

           

      AT-runner


      Tim

        Great RR. Really makes me want to come out your way. Elevation profile looks a lot like a race they have at Park City. Up and down the slopes, but not the rocky scree you had.

         

        Pretty cool race swag too. How many ran the race?

        “Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway! 

        Daydreamer1


          Holy crap that pitch on Headwaters looks steep. Start tumbling and you wouldn't stop until the bottom .

           

          After looking over the results i noticed several things:

           

          1: There seemed to be a lot of foreign runners there. Is that normal and why does this race seem to attract them?

           

          2: It seemed like younger runners were somewhat more likely to drop or DNF than older ones.  Didn't go through by sections and do the math to get actual percentages so It may actually be about the same but at first glance that's what it looks like.

           

          3: Scrolling through the results I saw that one of the drops was Tonya Harding.  Ice skater, porn star, Boxer, actress, land speed record holder, and now Trail Runner .   Actually the age is wrong but only by 2-3 years.


          some call me Tim

            Awesome. Well done and thanks for the excellent photos and RR. I'm so intrigued by stuff like this, probably because I've never run anything like it.

            TrailProf


            Le professeur de trail

              Very nice...in a sick sort of way! But it's only 28k - I mean how hard can it be??? 

               

              I wonder how the 50k is.  I would be intrigued enough to come out for something like that.

               

              Thanks again for sharing.

              My favorite day of the week is RUNday

               

               

              mtwarden


              running under the BigSky

                wc-lots of hiking on this course (at least for me!), very little of the talus stuff was runnable (again at least for me )

                 

                AT- there were a little over 300 in the 28k (possibly more in the 50k)

                 

                DD- 1- it's part of the Skyrunners world series, so definitely a fair number of international runners; I know that Europe's Salomon team was there

                 

                2- just guessing, but younger runners might be more apt to sign up for a race like this not knowing what they're getting into????

                 

                3- that's funny!  probably sucks for that gal having that name

                 

                 

                2023 goal 2023 miles  √

                2022 goal- 2022 miles √

                2021 goal- 2021 miles √

                 

                mtwarden


                running under the BigSky

                  Jamie- the 50k is very similar to the 28k in that it summits both Headwaters and Lone Peak- it adds some additional climbs (ski runs/downhill Mtn bike trails), brings the gain close to 11,000'. I ran it the first year (2013)- it definitely qualifies as tough 

                   

                   

                  2023 goal 2023 miles  √

                  2022 goal- 2022 miles √

                  2021 goal- 2021 miles √

                   

                  dpc3


                    Awesome work and I hate it when other people maybe alter ego's curse around me as well . Job well done.

                    Sandy-2


                      mt, great job on getting it done.  The slope on that traverse of the bolder field is crazy.  I guess everyone was wide awake for that part!!!!

                      2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL

                      LB2


                        Looks like a fun course. I saw that Dakota Jones DNF'd it. He has Wasatch tomorrow, so maybe he didn't want to push it. Congratulations on the run.

                        LB2

                        mtwarden


                        running under the BigSky

                          thanks all!

                           

                          yeah I saw that too, would be a hell of a "training" run to be sure, but one you wouldn't want to risk injury on- plenty of dicey spots on the course to think twice about finishing it if you had another race coming up

                           

                           

                          2023 goal 2023 miles  √

                          2022 goal- 2022 miles √

                          2021 goal- 2021 miles √

                           

                          XtremeTaper


                            Great photos!! The trail looks a bit freak out in places for me, especially that section on headwaters. LOL, I wonder if I would have been able to manage that with my exposed heights issue. Perhaps if I stepped very carefully. It looks like a very challenging course with all those climbs but wonderful views. Congrats on your finish and thanks for posting. Oh, and perhaps they need a few more sponsors on that shirt.. argh!

                            In dog beers, I've only had one.