Pony Express 100: Why?

I don't know.

The Trail.  Photo from event website.

Shortly after (like while I was driving away from the campground) the Slickrock fun run a week or so ago, I began thinking about finding another 100 miler to do and the Pony Express 100 made sense.  It's not too far of a drive and seems to be a laid back event.  With just 3,000 ft of reported climb, it's also flat, so I can actually see what it's like to not have 10-14,000 ft mountains standing between me and the finish line.

The course is, well, on the Pony Express Trail starting in Faust, UT.  It's so remote that one of the unique aspects of the race is the requirement of a crew.  No crew, no entry.  That's what Davy Crockett (race director) wrote back to me when I asked him about entering.  Having no friends, I certainly had no crew.  Literally, less than five minutes later, I get another email in which I was cc'd in from Davy.  A female registrant decided, due to injury, to drop and roll her entry to next year.  She also said she may want to drive over (from Denver!) and help or crew for someone.  BINGO.  We exchanged a few emails on details and now I have two lovely ladies, Jennifer and Jill, as my gel, water, and encouraging word angels.

The only unfortunate thing is that I'm feeling about 75% physically ready for this.  I feel a bit heavy and my left hamstring is saying, "Hey, I'm here and I'll pop like an E string on a guitar if you try anything crazy."  General life stress over the last two months has taken its toll as well.  I'm lucky to get more than two hours sleep lately.  Wake up, look over at the clock, 2:00AM, lie there awake, thinking, until 7:00AM, get up feeling hollow.  I'm basically a shell of myself lately physically and mentally.  Frankly, these long races are my oasis from reality.

Yeah, remote oasis.  Photo from event website.

The good thing is that I'm going in with the attitude of taking it easy, no competitive pressure, finish.  Even if I were at 100%, it wouldn't make much difference.  Jay Aldous is fast and hasn't raced since July (where he ran 16hrs, just missing the win at the Burning River 100 miler - the USATF national championship).  He also ran a 15:57 earlier in the year on a course similar to Pony Express, so he'll be miles ahead of me regardless of my running state.

The race starts this Friday at 7AM MST.  If interested, there is "Live" tracking HERE

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I've been working with Tim Smith for about a month now on a brand new custom website for Inside Trail!  Tim S. rocks and the site is mucho sweet.  It should go live tomorrow morning, so swing by and check it out.