Moab + Behind the Rocks Ultra + South Six Shooter

March 22-26, 2019

Moab, Utah

Moab again!? Yes, and off we go! Passing our normally scheduled fuel stop in Fruita, we learned that in the truck, it was possible to make it to Moab without stopping and with one gallon of fuel to spare! Laura and I were in Utah again for the Behind the Rocks Ultra Run and to do some climbing and 4 wheeling. When we arrived, it had just rained heavily and we learned that one climbing routes we were looking forward to, the 3 Penguins at the entrance to Arches National Park, was closed due to raptor nesting. We chose to tour the park and check out the beautiful scenery even though both of us had visited several times before.

I had originally registered to run 50 miles but because I have been having some pretty bad foot problems, I chose to drop to the 30k option. After picking up race stuff, we met Brian, Annie and Marvin for dinner and had a few beers before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s rest before the run on Saturday morning. Laura was too slow to register and the event was sold out before she secured a spot, so it would be just myself, Brian and Annie running. The run started in the Behind the Rocks area just south of Moab and wandered through beautiful trails in the area.

I had a strategy to hit 12 minute miles on average, but since I have never ran a race before, I wanted to take it easy. I started off on a good pace, but quickly slowed myself down. 5 miles in and

I’m just cruising running about 11 minute miles. Laura had taught me how to pace for 50 miles, not 20, so I decided that this would be a leisurely cruise and besides, I really didn’t want to be tired for the rest of the day when I was finished running! 10 miles in and I sent Laura a message – "10 in, 10:50 pace. Just cruisin’ J." I figured that I should pick it up a bit and finished the race in 3 hours 17 minutes.

78th overall / 18^th in my age group and not bad for my first running event ever! Tracking my heart rate, I never even pushed into a workout zone, so it must have been pretty casual. Annie, Laura’s sister, finished in 5 hours 2 minutes and Brian completed the 50k in 7 hours 28 minutes. Humm, I wonder if I’ll do more of this stuff I thought…but I don’t even like running!

The following day we awoke to rain so we decided to put off climbing and instead go 4 wheeling. Brian took his Jeep Scrambler to the Baby Lions Back and to Fins & Things and we goofed off and had a great time on the easy for Moab trail. We spent the afternoon in arches once again and saw an arch we’d never been to before – Sand dune arch.

The following day Brian, Laura and I headed to Indian Creek and climbed South Six Shooter. By the standard route, the desert tower is a winding and rope dragging mess. We climbed the 5.7 classic to the summit of one pinnacle and then Laura and I climbed a 5.9 crack route to the summit of the pinnacle next door.

We were one of six groups on the first route and the only ones climbing anything other than the standard route to the summit. Anyway, Laura was happy to have completed another desert tower and it was a beautiful day with sun and no wind – a nice change from the rainy days past.

Our last morning we again went wheeling and this time it was the infamous Hells Revenge trail. Brian had no problems in the Jeep and soon we were at the final obstacle. We noticed some interesting drivetrain activity and later figured out that he had snapped a rear axle and we were now a lifted with 35’s front wheel drive Scrambler; Interesting description, but still enough to get us out without issue.

We all had lunch with Laura’s mother and then headed home. Weekends like this are amazing and I’m thankful to have the motivation to try new things like running, climb new routes in the area and remember how much fun wheeling really is!