Late Summer

What a week it's been in the world of ultrarunning! UTMB canceled, big surprises at Leadville, and Jorge wins AC again. Wow, what could possibly be next?

Well, for me, after meandering around for much of the last six weeks, I have decided to return to the Grand Teton 100 after a couple years away. While this race is certainly not one of the "majors" it has a certain appeal to me that is tough to resist:

It's a multiple loop course that is quite family friendly (kids can basically lounge in the pool all day and jump out every couple hours to give me stuff)

It's in one of the most beautiful places in the country (the Tetons! C'mon, enough said)

It's organized by two of the most devoted and loving people in the sport (truly, they do not come any better than Jay Batchen and Lisa Smith-Batchen)

It's the last year of the GT100 (Ty Draney's Course Record at least deserves a bit of a challenge:).

So, we'll be heading out there on Friday and we'll see how the chips fall. Duncan Callahan will be there as well so I am sure it will be fun. I'll post a report when all is said and done.

Who knows, I might even dnf:)

UTMB

Canceled due to mudslides across trail. Incredible. I hope everyone is OK. Must have been quite a scene.

Update

Lots going on in the JW household over the past few weeks and blogging and running have taken a backseat to life and all its twists and turns. But, with a light at the end of the tunnel and school starting on Monday, hope springs eternal. A few random thoughts/comments/etc...

-Obviously, I was a DNS for PB and Waldo. Family time conspired to get in the way of racing and I hope Ken appreciated my $200 contribution to the cause.

-The LT race looked like it was incredible. Anton went for it and Duncan ran strong throughout. In addition, it looks like Neal Gorman has a legitimate shot at Kulak's Grand Slam record especially if the new Wasatch course is as easy as everyone says it is. Then again, as I told Joe after Scott took his three-hour nap at Lamb's, that's why we run the races...Stay tuned on that. Until the record is broken, Joe's still the Man.

-I, for one, can't wait to see how Geoff does at Mont Blanc. My money's on him to win as I know from firsthand experience that he is the best closer in the business and Kilian's issues at WS could still be lingering. Then again, he's only 22 and perhaps rhabdo goes through those guys faster.

-As for me, I am flirting with a return to Grand Teton 100 if life allows as I understand it will be the last time Jay and Lisa host that distance out at Grand Targhee. And then, later in the Fall, again if life allows, I'd like to see if the Bear and Javelina work for 100's and if Firetrails and the NF 50 in SF work for 50's. We'll see.

In the meantime, I hope you are all enjoying the late summer High Country and that life is good!

Mom's Point of View

My mom is a professional writer whose blog has substantially more traffic than this one. Nonetheless, she wrote a post about crewing at the Vermont 100 that might be of interest.

Check it out here