Hardrock Weekend- July 14th- July 16th

 “If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” - Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

"I wanted to quit because I was suffering.  That was not a good enough reason." - Ted Corbitt

There was so much that happened over the weekend I am not sure I have even processed it all even 10 plus days later.  I put everything into this years run, I even moved up to GZ's cabin at 10,300ft for 6 weeks to get ready.  It was not the day I was trained for but it was the day I had.  I am just having an issue accepting it.  Just proud of myself for pushing through what I thought was going to be the end of my race at Sherman but got up and finished.

 I am going to approach this as a photo/video race report.  Most if not all of the photos/videos were taken by either Don, Donnie, Paula, Rebecca or Dan.  Don created a video that is on my Instagram page that is really awesome.  Thank you Don!  And thank you guys so much for documenting this for me.  I never could have done this without their support for sure!  This is truly a team sport even though only one person is running.  Also thank you to Jeff Browning who helped me with my training plan along with Kevin and Dave from Speedland, best damn trail shoes out there.  I have run both Hardrocks in Speedlands now with no issues what so ever, not even a blister either time.

Finished my second Hardrock in 36:23 for 31st overall, almost exactly 2 hours slower than last year but they say this is the harder/slower direction, so they say.   Quick recap- First few miles went great until I slipped on mud around mile 13 hurting my already weak lower back from my back injury last fall.  I honestly was not sure if I could get off the mountain but had no choice being in the middle of nowhere.  Took me over 5 hours to go from Pole Creek to Sherman which is only 9 miles and probably one of the most runnable sections of the course.  Once at Sherman some other shit happened and they did not want to let me leave, everyone was trying to get me to drop.  After a couple of hours of convincing my crew and the aid station that I was okay the EMTs let me go after my crew came up with a plan that the they were okay with.  Thank god they did!   I fell from 10th overall all the way to 120th overall in that time.  Just worked my ass off from there once my back loosened up and worked my way up to finish in 31st.  This about took my soul this time but got it the fuck done.  It will take a lot to get me to drop at Hardrock, it is just too hard of a run to get into not to give it your all to finish even if you are having a bad day considering it took me over a decade to get in last year and I was lucky enough to get in again this year.  

Anyways... now I can say I am a "True Hardrocker" meaning I have finished the course in both directions so there is that.

I could not have done this without all the support from everyone!!!  As I said above, these are truly a team sport.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Paula, Don, Donnie, Rebecca, Dan, GZ, Amy, Porf, Mike, and Nancy.  If I missed someone I thank you too, I am still dealing with some brain fog.  You guys enabled me to get this done.... THANK YOU!!! Also a huge prompts to the volunteers and aid stations in this run, the best in the business.

This is going to be a long photo bomb so strap in.  I am sure some of the photos will be out of order since they are coming from 5 different phones but tried my best to put them in order.

 

" That's All Folks!"