Desert Dreaming: My Kokopelli Trail Speed Record Attempt

  



    Before I start to recant this most epic of adventures. I want to first thank my wife and family for all their support and sacrifice over the past six months. Preparing for a run of this size requires one to be very selfish. You unselfishly stood behind me through the whole thing. For that I owe you everything.

    Theres no better way to start this adventure then to jump right in. Darin and I arrived in Moab, Utah way ahead of schedule. I can only attribute this to Darin's ability to drive like he runs. There was no argument from me. Hell I was just as excited to be getting the Hell outta of tornado alley and hitting up some of that sweet single track Moab was serving up 24/7. Before we could do that though we had to find the perfect camping spot. Which would be home for the next week.

    This turned out to be a no brainer. There was only one spot I really wanted to be and that was right near the Western Terminus of the Kokopelli's Trail. The Slickrock Trail Head. For me this was the mythological finish line to a journey I had been dreaming about since first reading about Peter and Stephanie's record on this Beast back in 2004.

    Darin and I scouted out a nice spot tucked up against one of the famed slick rocks. With Porcupine Rim and the La Sal mountains looming in the near distance. It was a classic million dollar view that can simply be described as jaw dropping.

    After camp was set up and everything just right. We headed into town to pick up some grub for the grill and some cold beers of course. Making it back to camp just in time to watch the day fade away as night descended upon the Moab valley.

    The next morning I woke to the sound of my tent shifting in the morning breeze. The sun wasn't quite up yet. So I layed in my tent for a few minutes. There was a cold bite to the air and my blanket felt too cozy to jump right out of. I just took in the sounds as I layed there.

    Finally, I had to answer the call of nature. As I unzipped my tent I was blown away at the sight that unfolded before my eyes. Outside my door was a blanket of Morning Glories at the peak of their bloom. In the distance behind them the morning sunlight began to warm the Cliffs of Arches National Park. The perfect backdrop with it's reddish orange splendor to compliment the flowers.

    I had to take advantage of this light. I grabbed my camera. Threw on my Crossmax XR's and was out of the tent lickity split. Exploring the slickrock playground that was completely surrounding me.

    As I watched the sun rise over the valley below. Perched on the edge of a small canyon. With the La Sal's close enough to reach. I fully grasped for the first time the magnitude of what I was about to attempt in a few short days. No matter how big I thought what I was about to do actually was. It was nothing compared to how small and insignificant this wonderland made me feel at that very moment. 

    The next few days were spent scouting out the several different checkpoints. Rendezvousing with crew and pacers. I had to soak it all up and take it in now. As soon as I started I would have no time to stop and smell the flowers.

    Fast forward to Friday morning...

    T-minus 12 hours and counting til go time. It's 5 AM and I can't sleep. My stomach is in knots by this point. My mind is pacing with an anxiety I could only imagine being similar to that of a prisoner who's living out his last few days on Death Row. The only difference being that. Even though at times this run will feel like a death sentence to me. Ultimately, after it's all said and done. I would not die but be born again.

    Reluctantly I crawled out of my tent and walked over to sit at the picnic table. All the little nagging aches and pains that had plagued me coming into this thing had faded. I took that as a good sign. Theres nothing like feeling healthy just in the nick of time.

    Once everyone was up and moving around we loaded up the Jeep with everything we thought we might need. Then headed to town to grab some breakfast. I was too nervous to eat much of anything. I began to regret the decision to start so late in the afternoon. I wanted to get going right then and there. The waiting was going to drive me crazy by the end of the day.

    After breakfast we lit out for the trail and backtracked our way to the start at the Loma Trailhead near Fruita, Colorado. Showing Ben all the crucial checkpoints. So that he could be confident getting to them by himself the next day. After finishing up with that we headed on into Fruita for some last minute items and grabbed some lunch.

    I slowly picked my way through a B.L.T. sandwich and some pasta salad. Nothing was setting well in my stomach at this point. There was a sense of isolation around the table. Even though I was with two of my best friends. At that moment, I felt miles away from everyone.

    After we ate Darin and Ben asked if there was anything else we needed to do? I said I couldn't think of anything. "Lets just get over to the trailhead and get ready to do this thing."

    It took about 15 minutes to drive form Fruita to the start of the Kokopelli Trail in Loma, Colorado. Once there I grabbed my tote and running clothes. Then headed over to the restrooms to get changed. I finished getting ready and we had about an hour left until we started. So we sat under the shade of the pavilion near the trailhead and tried to pass the time.

    With a half hour to go. I made a couple of last minute phone calls to family back home. The call that tore me up the most was the one I made to my wife and kids. Right before I finished my wife put my son on the line. I hadn't seen my little buddy for a few days. He told me that he loved and missed me very much. He said that he wished I was there at home playing with him. I told him the same things all while trying not to fall apart. "As soon as I get this thing done. I'll be heading straight back to you , mommy and lil' sis as fast as we can drive. Promise."

    With the phone calls out of the way and pulling myself back together. That left about 10 minutes to go time. That was it. A year and a half of planning, training, racing. All for this exact moment was about to be over. All that was left to do now. Was to take the first step forward. Then commit to keep making forward progress until I either collapsed or walked all the way to Moab.

    5, 4, 3, 2...1! Here we go! I would be running the first section from Loma to Rabbit Valley Trailhead during the hottest part of the day. Because I started at 5:00 PM I knew I wouldn't have to be running in it for very long. Night would soon be here. Allowing me to cross the Cisco Desert section under the cool blanket of night.

    Running along feeling fairly confident about what I was trying to do was when I ran face first. Into my first hurdle of what would be many throughout the day.As I was making good time up a gentle grade on county road coming up to the Rabbit Ears Trailhead parking area. I went to take a drink off my bladder pack. It was bone dry! I still had 5 miles to make it to my crew at Rabbit Valley Trailhead. How the Hell was I going to manage this?

    After 5 miles of a reduced pace and choking on dust from all the Memorial Day weekend R.V.'ers. I made it to my crew. Upset at myself for underestimating  just how dry it was out there and making a bonehead mistake of not taking more water than I needed for that long of a section.

    Discouraged I told my crew that I wasn't too sure how this was all going to turn out. Being the top notch crew they were.  They assured me everything was going to be O.K. and that they would get me back into it.

    After slugging down a bottle of water. Some juice and a couple of PB&J's. I was out onto the next section. From Rabbit Valley to Bittercreek Overlook. There were a couple tricky intersections that we hadn't checked out in the days prior. It was going to be dark through here and all I knew was. If I didn't get my shit together and get my head screwed back on right it would be a real short run...

    The sun had gone down but there was still some light in the sky. I waited as long as possible before I turned on my headlamp. With the tricky intersections coming up I wanted to be sure that my headlamp would be good and bright when I got there.

    I moved pretty good through this section. A little too good in fact. From all the map reading and worrying about the stupid mistake I had made on the previous section. I completely lost track of time and pace. I was running totally within myself so I hadn't bothered to look at the watch to check my pace. When I came into the Bittercreek Overlook. I was 50 minutes up on my pre-planned arrival time.

    After power hiking up a short steep climb into the checkpoint. I just told my crew. "Don't ask me where that came from." Ben sat me down and asked me what I needed? My attitude had done a complete 180 and I actually started to feel like I could pull this off.

    I got what I needed and wasn't too worried about time at this point. I should have been though looking back on it now. I wasted a huge chunk of time here. Nearly 20 minutes doing only God knows what? Wasting time would be another problem I would have to come to terms with by the end of the run.

    I picked up Darin out of the checkpoint to pace me through the night. It was earlier than I was supposed to pick him up. I figured though he could help me keep the pace reigned in better than I could by myself. It was nice to have the company and a second set of eyes to help me spot for trail markers.

    Not a whole helluva a lot happened through here. Darin and I kept the pace relaxed and conversational. Still way too fast though for as many miles as we had left to go. We tried to offset our running pace with additional brief walking breaks but we were still covering ground way too quickly.

    Next thing we knew we were pulling into Cisco Landing at 3:00 Am in the morning. 10 hours of running for 56.7 miles of the trail. I was still feeling fresh and really optimistic about our chances at the record. Tick, tock, tic, tock!!! After changing shoes and socks. Re lubing my feet and putting on a dry shirt. I managed to piss away another 18 minutes.

    "Well lets get the Hell outta here." Next stop McGraw Bottoms. 67.3 miles. Just like during my 100 milers. I fully expected to go through a rough spot somewhere during this section. I had been going way too good for way too long.

    When Darin and I were running between our walk breaks. We still managed to maintain sub 10 minute mile pace. The only problem was that the walk break were beginning to take a little longer each time. I started to feel the amount of work I had done up to this point. fully anticipating that rough patch around the next bend.

    "And there it is!" Just as predicted. Right around 100km into this monster. I hit my first bad patch. Since I was expecting it to happen right around this time it didn't seem to be as bad. I sort of mentally braced myself. Expecting the worst and was relieved when it passed after about 10 minutes. Sucking it up. I told myself to just keep moving. That people have came out here to see me do this. That people back home were rooting for me. I couldn't let them down.

    After my mini meltdown. The sun started to come up. We could start to make out landmarks all around us. Darin and I were now right next to the Colorado River. On a single track section of trail through some river willows. The moon still high in the sky. Reflected off the waters of the mighty Colorado as birds started to come alive to greet the morning.

    With the new morning came new energy.The brain fog I had just a few miles earlier had faded. My body began to wake up again. The last couple of miles of this section was on some pretty decent gravel road. We were able to pick up the pace somewhat and stretch out the legs a bit. Rolling into McGraw Bottoms checkpoint on Hwy 128 at 5:32 AM. Still 13 minutes up on my predicted arrival time.

    At McGraw I took my right shoe and sock off to check out a hot spot on my right big toe. It felt like it had a huge blister on it. I tried for what felt like forever to lance it but it just wasn't ready or it just wasn't there? Wasting another big butt load of time. I ended up just re lubing the troubled area. Threw my shoes and socks back on. Grabbed some juice, PB&J, Pringles a dry shirt and got the Hell out. Leaving out of there about one minute behind my predicted arrival time.

    There was about a half mile section of Hwy 128 we had to run down. Before we crossed the road to head up into Yellow Jacket Canyon. I couldn't really run though. I was still trying to choke down the food I grabbed at McGraw. Plus my legs had decided to stiffen up after being on my feet for the better half of 12 hours.

    Darin and I crossed over the highway and immediately the climb up into Yellow Jacket Canyon began. It was a slow gradual climb up. We passed a couple who had been camping out under the stars along the side of the trail. Both still tucked into their warm sleeping bags. While Darin and I tried to lower our voices as we passed. I told Darin. "That looked like a good idea." Not even thinking about the real fact that I would have to wait another 23 hours before I could do the same.

    Yellow Jacket Canyon was an absolute delight as the morning sun was rising. I got a little nostalgic through this section. As it reminded me of my old stomping grounds in Choke Cherry Canyon near Farmington, New Mexico. Where I had lived for a few years. A lot of roller coaster ups and downs. Over colossal chunks of Navajo Sandstone formations. Our pace had slipped a little through here. Still running, we just weren't really pushing it. Finding our way out of Yellow Jacket Canyon. Darin and I were treated to a couple of natural sandstone arches along the bluffs as we descended a smooth but sandy OHV road back down to Hwy 128. Crossing the road and Dewey Bridge. Our next checkpoint.

    We made it to Dewey Bridge out of water for the second time and 14 minutes behind my goal pace but still 20 minutes up on record pace at 7:48 AM.  Here we met up with Salomon teammate Eric Bohn and his wife Janey and their dog. Who made the drive up from Flagstaff to help crew and pace. After all the introductions were out of the way. We got to work on getting me back out there. Since it had already become a reoccurring theme throughout the day. I should mention that I wasted another 15 minutes at this checkpoint too!

    Dewey Bridge to Fischer Valley  miles 77.10 - 95.20 I decided to give Darin a break through this section and picked up Eric as my primary pacer. This would be a good section for Eric to pace me on. Eric is coming back from a stress fracture injury in his foot and I knew there wouldn't be a lot of running through here. In fact the guide books I read all said that this was a strenuous 11 mile climb out of Dewey Bridge. I'm happy to report that the guides weren't exaggerating as the climb did in fact climb for; well 9 miles then we had about a half mile break before it climbed up another mile and a half. You just couldn't seem to get away from it. It was always there, in your face.

    It had taken Peter and Stephanie nearly 6 hours to do this 18.5 mile section. When I read that I thought that was ridiculous! As the climb kept coming. I realized it was going to take me about the same time to cover the same distance.

    I knew this was going to be a long section to have to cover without any aide so we thought we'd be smart and have our crew backtrack up the trail from Fischer Valley about 5 miles to meet us with some water around mile 90. At the top of the climb with both Eric and I thinking we only had a couple more miles to cover before we met our crew. I started to get a bad feeling in my gut.  Getting a first hand look at the terrain over the other side of the climb. The crew would have to cover to get to us. I can't believe the map was calling this a 4WD road. The gang was gonna need more than a Jeep to get back in here.

    In panic mode now and preparing for yet another rough 5 mile hike in the hot day sun. Eric spared me what water he could and I tried to ration it the best I could. What we had left though wasn't going to make it another 5 miles.

    The decision was made to send Eric up the trail in search of the crew. I would continue on course towards Fischer Valley and hope for the best. I walked alone for about 10 minutes. When I heard Darin yelling out my name. Perfect timing I thought. I felt like I would've dropped at any moment due to heat exhaustion.  Darin was a sight for sore eyes as he rounded the corner with a full gallon of water in his hand.

    He exclaimed that he and Eric's wife Janey had been trying to get back into us for a half hour and fully expected to find us layed out on the side of the trail. He said they were trying as fast as they could. Even hitching a ride from a convoy of Rock crawlers out to enjoy the trail! Even that was slow going though. I thought Darin was pulling my crank. Just then I heard the rumble from the engines of said Rock crawlers as they rounded the bend. Pulling over they asked if they had found me O.K.? Darin told them they found me and thanked them for their help.

    Only being able to drive the Jeep a couple of miles back in from Fischer Valley. Before the terrain got to sketchy to drive down. I made it back to the Jeep around mile 93. Completely wiped out. Yet I was still 5 minutes ahead of record pace? Here I really needed to spend some time. I tried to eat some different foods as I was getting sick of PB&J now. Then focused on getting re hydrated.

    Time to get moving. Since we had the opportunity. I told my crew just to drive down into Fischer Valley and I would top off again and take care of some foot issues there as well. We had another long section up to the top of North Beaver Mesa. I wanted to make sure I was going to be up for it.

    Rolling into Fischer Valley I was still two minutes in the good. I couldn't believe it and to tell you truthfully I stopped caring at this point. This trail was kicking my ass, BIGTIME! after all that I had just gone through I was happy to still be conscious. I just kept thinking that sooner or later. I was going to have to pay the piper for wrecking the shit out of my body the way I had all for the sake of a silly record.

    In what was to be my quickest aide stop of the day. I topped off. Took care of my feet and got out of there in just three minutes!!! Darin jumped in to pace me through this next section. "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss." The climb out of Fischer Valley up to North Beaver Mesa was eerily similar to the one we just came off of. Except now it was hotter and even more exposed. Again we thought we'd try and beat the system by having our crew drive back in from the Bull Draw campground crew point at the top of North Beaver Mesa. This time we were sure they would be able to get to us. Feeling confident we put all our bad luck behind us we pressed on in pursuit of a seemingly endless run.

    I crossed over into triple digit mileage around 21 hours and 45 minutes into my run. Not paying attention to what time of day that would have been. I guess around 2:45 in the afternoon. I was losing all concept of time. Around halfway up the climb I started to get that same bad feeling again. We were nearly 11 miles into this climb and had to start paying attention to our water. It was really hot on the side of that mesa. Trying to stick to what shade there was from the pinion pines along the side of the road. I started to get a little dizzy and my ears were beginning to ring. I had maybe 4 oz. of water left in my bottle.

    We should've seen our crew by now but they were nowhere in sight. Something happened to them we thought. There was nothing wrong with the road we were on. They could easily make it down this in a Jeep. Darin and I started to worry big time. Not only were we in trouble. We worried that something happened to our crew. After about 10 minutes of discussing our situation. The plan was hatched to catch a ride with the next person that came along and pull the plug on the whole thing.

    Another half hour had passed by without a single person coming down the road. Were so "F"ing screwed I told Darin. Then behind us we heard the rumble of a vehicle coming up the road. It was a very nice couple from London on vacation. They stopped and asked if we were O.K. Darin explained the situation as I was too out of it to communicate. They agreed to drive us up the road to the next checkpoint.

    I didn't want to quit! Sure I was in bad shape and wasn't going to be getting any better in the foreseeable future. I still wanted to finish. Sitting in the back of that vehicle. I felt like a piece of crap both physically and mentally and wasted no time beating myself up...

    We drove for a couple of miles up the road. When I heard Darin say " There they are!" Like a mirage out of nowhere. Our crew was pulled over along the side of the road. Ben came running over to the vehicle and Darin and I crawled out of the back. Ben explained that they had got a flat in the Jeep as they were driving back down Onion Creek Rd. coming out of Fischer Valley. With nowhere to pull over down there. They had to drive real slow on the flat until they could get to a spot to change it.

    No worries! We had told him what had happened to us and then I told Ben that I didn't want to quit. I hadn't peed for three hours and my kidneys were really starting to hurt. I just couldn't make my body do what I wanted it to do anymore. Then I crawled into the back of our Jeep.

    I was in the back of the Jeep for about five minutes. Upset with myself and trying hard not to choke on my latest failure. Wondering why the Hell we weren't heading back to camp? Darin was still rambling on about how hard I'd worked just to make it this far. You could sense that he wasn't ready to give up either.

    Their conversations continued for a couple of more minutes. Then it was quite for a second or two. Then I heard Eric say. " Guys! This isn't over if you don't want it to be. The clock is still running. It might be hard for him to get the record at this point but he can still get a finish in. Footsteps approaching the Jeep. I heard my door open up and Ben asking me if I still wanted to finish this thing?

    I wasn't sure at first. On one hand I was relieved I was sitting in the back of the Jeep ready to head back to camp. On the other, I knew how bad I would beat myself up. If I had decided to quit on this run. I took a deep breath holding it in for a second. Fully understanding this would be the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I looked at my crew. They said." If you want to do this. Then we're here for you as long as it takes to get you to the finish. That was enough for me. How could I quit now? " Lets get this done already..."

    We all got back in the vehicles and drove them back down the road to where the couple from London picked us up. Before I could get moving again I had to get my kidney's working properly. So we pulled out the lawn chairs and dug in for an extended stay. or at least until I went pee anyway.

    It didn't take as long to get them working as I had thought it would. I drank about a half gallon of water. Ate two ham sandwiches and closed my eyes for about 15 minutes. It felt good to close my eyes. Despite the fact that I couldn't fall asleep. It helped me refocus what little energy I had left. Allowing me to break down just how many miles we had left to cover.

    No more sitting around! I was ready to take a leak. Ben pulled me out of my chair. My legs were totally frozen solid now but I managed to waddle to the other side of the road. As I was peeing. I received a standing ovation from the crew. "Bravo", "Yeah","Who's a good boy?". I had to laugh. Ben filled my bottles. Then I took off down the road. 108 miles down now and just 32 to go.

    Eric jumped in to pace me up to the top of North Beaver Mesa at Bull Draw campground. His wife Janey hopped in their Subaru and was leap frogging ahead every couple miles or so. The rest of the way was pretty much drivable and I'll be damned if they let me run out of water again.

    Eric and I were making back a good amount of the time that we had lost waiting for my Kidney's to get going. Doing the math in my head though. I knew I had to be better than perfect the rest of the way. To even make it close at the end. I was happy just to be moving forward. Any dreams of me doing huge chunks of running from this point on was a pipe dream.

    Oh well! Not today. We'd given it one Hell of a shot. In spite of everything that had happened. There was no sense in killing myself anymore. My goal had switched to that of moving forward and finishing as strong as I could.

    Eric and I finally made it to Bull Draw campground. I couldn't thank him enough for all he had done for me this day. The time he had spent on his feet. His thinking when the rest of us were too tired and ready to throw in the towel. The list goes on and on.

    At Bull Draw Eric jumped in the car and Janey took over pacing me into the next checkpoint at the bottom of the hill at the corner of La Sal Mountain Loop Rd. and Castle Valley Rd. We were treated to an awesome sunset over Castle Valley on the way down the mesa. More awesome for Janey than it was for me. This was the second sunset I got to witness since being on my feet.

    Trying to take advantage of gravity on the downhill. I thought I'd try and do a little shuffling. No Chance. My running days were over. From here out it was going to be a long walk.

    Darin was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. One last climbed remained. It was a nasty little climb. With a false summit about halfway up. Which gave you a little break before pushing on to the top of the road. It was the last one and I was happy to be on it.

    Still feeling surprisingly good considering. Traveling in uncharted territory. 119 miles on my feet was a very strange feeling. It didn't feel like I thought it would. I expected excruciating pain and severe cramping. It didn't feel any worse than It did at 93 or 100 or even 108 miles. The hardest thing I was having to deal with was that with each step. I felt myself getting sleepier and sleepier. This wasn't something I would be able to walk off. I couldn't eat or drink enough to make this feeling go away.

    The climb up La Sal Mountain Loop Rd. took longer than Darin and I had anticipated. To do it being tired and physically exhausted would've been one thing. The higher and higher we climbed. The harder and harder the wind blew. So hard so that when we rounded a few of the corners it literally stopped us dead in our tracks.

    Eric and Janey followed behind in their Subaru. With their headlights pouring as much light as they could onto the road ahead. During the times when the wind would get to blowing really hard they would pull along side of us. Making sure that we wouldn't be blown off the mountain.

    Somewhere along the way up the mountain I lost Darin. But I picked up Janey again as a pacer. Not exactly sure what happened. One second I was out in front of Darin. Rambling off some incoherent story or thought. The next I looked back and nobody was there?  No headlamp. No Darin. No headlights. NO crew??? I was so out of it that I didn't even notice for quite awhile. Oddly though I wasn't bothered by this. I just kept walking towards the goal. After a couple of minutes. Janey appeared beside me and said," Hello Again!" I said," Hey You." and we just continued to walk up the mountain.

    She asked me how I was doing? I told her that I was tired as Hell! I just wanted to get this thing finished. So I could go to sleep for a week! "Soon enough", she said and told me to hang in there.

    We passed the Mason Spring campground sign. Not much longer now I mumbled. We have maybe a half mile or so to the top of the road where we have to turn off and start heading down. It was strange. One moment I would be feeling mentally wiped out. Then in the next. I would pass a landmark. Like a campground or something and my mind would snap out of whatever state of delirium I was in. Allowing me for a brief minute to rattle off a number relating to my pace or to know geographically exactly where the hell I was at that time.

    As quickly as I would remember who the Hell I was and what the Hell I was doing out there. It would fade. Relapsing back to some weird but highly motivated semi zombie like state. Barely alive but far from dead. With every step taking me further and further into the unknown.

    Janey and I finally made it to the top. I could see the cars pulled over on the shoulder of the road where the trail breaks away from the asphalt and begins it's 3,700 ft. plunge into Moab. It was a major relief knowing that I had made it through all the major climbs. For the first time after nearly 31 hours of moving forward. I could say. " It was all downhill from here." I had around 15 miles to go and at the pace I was going I would still have to be on my feet for another 5 hours...

    I walked right on past the crew. Yelling out my intentions to keep moving. Hoping that once again I would pick up the pace and maybe save a little time. As soon as I turned off the asphalt. I realized I had yet more walking ahead of me. I made it a couple hundred yards down the trail and stopped. Deciding it would be in my best interest to wait for my pacer.

    I'm sure the trail down from here wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be in my head. But after 125 miles it might as well have been the famed Hillary's Step of Mt Everest. After a couple of minutes of standing where I had stopped. I picked up the light of Darin's headlamp bouncing down the trail.

    Once there he broke out his handheld flashlight for some added confidence. Then we proceeded to slowly pick our way down the trail towards the Porcupine Rim. We were so tired at this point. Awake for nearly 44 hours. Every time we came to an intersection in the trail. No matter how little it would be. We would waste several minutes checking and double checking our course. Always doubting our decisions. Until we reassured ourselves every time we would pass a Kokopelli Trail marker every so often.

    Successfully navigating the Porcupine Rim. We popped out onto the Sand flats Rd. Smooth sailing from here on. One foot in front of the other. We're getting this thing done. " Holy Shit!" This is actually going to happen. What could go wrong now? We got this Darin! Completely O.K. with having no shot at the record. I proceeded to put it on autopilot and cruise it in.

    What journey run would be complete without having experiencing some form of hallucinations? In a first ever for me with 8 miles to go. I had a wicked little hallucination. Darin had been running in front of me for some time. The whole way I was just trying to focus on the back of his heels. As they shuffled down the sandy road. I'm not sure when it really began to happen. Or if it all just came on at once. For whatever reason I started to notice these little sparkling eyes on the road around Darin's feet. I knew this place was crawling with tarantulas. I had seen several along the side of the trail running through the first night across the Cisco Desert section. So I just assumed it was more spiders. After a half mile or so a couple of sets of eyes turned into several sets. It kept going on like this for awhile. I tried to pay it no attention. I wouldn't bother them if they didn't bother me. Then it happened. I almost couldn't believe it at first. One of those little bastards jumped on my "F"-ing leg and just tried to bite me! I freaked out! Dropping every "F" Bomb phrase that I could remember at them. As loud as I could.

    Darin turned around and ran back to me to see what the Hell I was getting so bent out of shape over? I told him I don't know where it went but that an "F"-ing tarantula just jumped on me and tried to bite me! Darin didn't see it and I couldn't find it? " Well I don't know where the Hell he went Darin?" I'm just telling you what I saw.

    Darin just said. " Dave buddy, I think your seeing things!" Whatever man. I know what I seen. Lets just keep moving. "F-ing " spiders!!!

    Half mile more down the road...What the "F"? Oh you little S.O.B's are back for more huh? Darin! I know you gotta be seeing this! There all over the place! Look at them! There everywhere! Where the Hell are they all coming from? Get them the Hell away from me!!!

    Darin once again stopped and came running back to me. This time he was Hell bent on finding these things. Hunched over shining his headlamp and handheld all over the road around me he couldn't find a single one of them. "What!" You gotta be shitting me! You don't see that spider right there? As I pointed to this black splotch on the road. "Where?" Right there Damn it! Don't you see it? " What; you mean this?" Yeah that! That right there. Isn't that a tarantula?

    Darin just started busting out laughing hysterically. I said what the Hell are you laughing at? "Dave! You ARE hallucinating!" Well, what the Hell is it then? Dave those are drops of water from my water bottle. What? Yeah I must not have got the top on my bottle pushed down all the way Darin said. What you're seeing is the water drops splash when they hit the ground.

    I was quite for a minute. Standing there with a confused look. Waiting for my brain to catch up with what the Hell It was just told. Then I laughed and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Darin and I stood there for a minute just laughing our asses off about the whole scene that just played out.

    What I was seeing was those drops of water in my headlamp. Just before they hit the ground. My headlamp would reflect off the droplets which gave it the appearance of spider eyes. When my eyes would catch up to what I was seeing as I ran over the area where I'd seen the eyes. Was nothing more than a dark wet spot on the ground. Which to me at the time looked like black spiders. Geezus! His bottle must have been leaking pretty bad because at one point I thought the whole damn road was covered with them little bastards! Oh yeah, the spider that jumped on my leg and tried to bite me. Well that just turned out to be an old dry leaf blowing across the road hitting me in the leg.

    We laughed about that for awhile which got us a little further down the road and closer to our goal. It was quite an experience. I now feel more complete as an ultra runner. Knowing I too have a hallucination story to talk about.

    A mile to go! Darin pointed out that we just passed the spot where our camp was. Which was exactly one mile up the road from the finish at the Slickrock Trailhead parking lot. Rounding the last couple of bends the parking lot came into sight. We could see the orange glow from the streetlights and our crew vehicles parked underneath them. This was it! This was the end of the road. Literally!

    All the things I thought I would be feeling as I got closer and closer. Never even surfaced. Finishing in a time of 35:56:19 for the second fastest known time. I was happy to be done. I was and still am very grateful for my crew. For bending over backwards. Going out of their ways to get me to the end. ALIVE! I can never repay them enough for that.

    My only concern at the time was getting back to camp. Crawling under a warm blanket and PASSING OUT! Being the top notch crew they were. They obliged me one last time. Dragging my sorry broken down smelly ass back to my tent. After they unzipped the door on my tent they asked me what I wanted. "Just throw me in and take my shoes off please." My head hit the pillow and I was gone.

    It's been five weeks now since I finished. It's taken me forever to get this thing all down on paper. Then trying to find the time to get it on here. So I've had a lot of time to think about it. Will there be a next time? What advice I would give to others attempting to try this? What would I have done differently if getting another chance?

    All I can say is this. Without a doubt I will be back. I am going to attempt this again. I will learn from my mistakes. Believe me I made quite a few of them. And hopefully things will turn out a little better next time around. This was the most AWESOME run I have ever done in my life. Thank you to everyone who helped me make this possible. Thanks Jessica for giving me the green light and unwaivering support. Thank you Darin and Ben for being my wingmen on this crazy adventure. Thank you Eric and Janey for selflessly pacing and crewing. Ultimately saving the whole run at mile 108. Thank you Salomon, Rudy Project and Suunto for all your support.