Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 03:54:19 PM From: "Dana Roueche" To: ius-l@american.edu, ultra@caligari.Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Thoughts on Hardrock After running, hiking, crawling and wading for 46 and 1/2 hours, I finished the Hardrock Hundred. My first thoughts after completing the course where, never again will I put myself through the extreme ordeal that I had just undertaken. Leadville and Western States seemed like flat training runs in comparison. As the days passed from Sunday to now, Thursday, I have not been able to think of anything but the tremendous experience I had over the past weekend. It was so extreme, it is impossible to think of it all at once and impossible to not think of any other subject but some portion of the run. A few hours after the start my mental state transformed from the typical adrenaline induced intensity to more of a purposeful focused state of forward progress. It did not take me long to realize this run was going to be different and that all of my actions should be targeted at the single objective of finishing. The course has 11 major passes to climb most reaching higher than 13,000 feet in elevevation. As soon as you climb a pass, you drop 3,000 to 4,000 feet only to climb the next pass. Each climb and descent takes a piece of you, sometimes a large chunk. After each climb, I wondered how many more of these can I do as I kept count of the ones I'd done and the ones remaining, and kept track of my gradually diminishing pace. On the first day, while still very strong, the scenery is simply inspiring. Not only are the mountains magnificent, but the flowers are indescribable. As you climb above treeline through the tundra, you can see acres and acres of Columbine, Paintbrush, Asters, Irises, Delphium, Daisies and many I couldn't identify. There was a spectacular array of color in many shapes and formations from the countless fields of flowers. At one point I saw an enourmous herd of Elk, numbering possibly 500 to 1000. At first I thought they where just brown mountainside until I noticed them moving across a snow field. On top of this are magnificent waterfalls everywhere. As I moved into the second day, the specatular mountains changed from inspiring to threatening and intimidating. I had traversed 7 high passes and was faced with four more before the finish line. I wondered at the base of each one if it was going to do me in. I remembered advice from Ulrich Kamm to not fight the mountains but become part of them and pass through them. I was able to do that and gained more and more confidence with each climb behind me. I was surprised to discover that I could run all the way to the end when the terrain allowed running. I was even more surprised the following day when I woke up and wasn't sore in the least. This was the first run of marathon length of longer that I was able to comfortably walk down a flight of stairs the next day. I am extremely proud of my accomplishment, Hardrock has completely changed my perspective on Ultra running. During the second day, I stopped thinking about finishing the run for the purpose of telling others. Rather, I wanted to finish the run only for the purpose of showing myself that I could do it. That is truly all that matters. With all that, how can I not run it in 1997. I wouldn't miss it for anything. Dana Roueche danar@vnet.ibm.com