Issue 023:

Desert Rat 50k

On a beautiful Saturday morning in Fruita, Colorado, I was on pace to finish a 4:30 50k - hovering just under 9-minutes per mile, that was at least the goal until the weather had other plans.

Up until mile 21, everything felt smooth. I was on cruise control, fully in my element enjoying the day. Although I felt the wall creeping in between miles 20 and 24, I managed to push through it and found my second wind pushing through to mile 26., but by mile 28, the race turned into a different kind of test.

Freezing rain soaked down to my bones, wind pushed me backwards, and the dusty trail turned to thick, unforgiving mud. With another 1,000 feet of vert still ahead, it became less about maintaining pace and more about survival. Frustration crept in and I had finally reached the bottom of my well. I couldn’t dig any deeper along those final few miles as the conditions wore me down. The cold, the mud, the relentless wind, it broke my rhythm and tested my patients.

Yet I adapted. I power-hiked the climbs, each step heavier with what felt like five pounds of mud stuck to each shoe. Completely soaked, leaning into the wind that sprayed my eyes with dirt and rain, I focused solely on each immediate obstacle - only the immediate challenge until they started to stack up behind me.

Eventually, I could hear the faint cheers from the finish line echoing up the canyon. My form was falling apart and my legs started to give, but at that point it didn’t matter. I just needed to keep my legs under me and keep moving as I made my way down the mountain.

Would I recommend this race? Absolutely!
Would I do it again? …perhaps haha.