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Reimagine Running | Wasatch 100 Recap with Ryan Head S1E32 · Reimagine Running

• Ryan Head: I'll tell them straight up it's hard. Like you can't You can't expect Wasach to be easy. You can't expect Wasatch to be a walk in the park. You have to be prepared for many hard times, for all kinds of different weather. You have to be ready for a lot of vert, some very technical sections. it's just it's very it's very mountainous. It's very exposed. there's there's sections where there's no trees. it can get very hot and it can get very windy as we experienced this year. There could just be a lot that can happen on this race. So, anyway, set back, enjoy. We're gonna talk about Wasatch 100 right now. Coach Ryan Head: Running is a strange thing. Some people find it on the sidewalk at sunrise. Some find it deep in the mountains chasing daylight. And some of us find it when life feels heavy and running is the only thing that makes sense. For some, starts with the 5k. For others, it's a marathon. And for a few, it's a hundred miles that changes everything. But somewhere between the first step and the finish line, something happens. Running stops being about pace or distance or medals. It becomes about purpose. I'm your host Ryan Head. And this is Reimagine Running, the podcast dedicated to talking about why we run. Each episode, we'll sit down with runners from every background, trail runners, road runners, beginners, veterans, and talk about their journey. Not just where they've run, but why they run. Because for many of us, running didn't just change our fitness. It helped us find clarity, healing, discipline, hope, and sometimes even ourselves. Whether your why was born on a short loop around the block or somewhere deep inside a long, lonely mile. This podcast is for you. Welcome to re-imagine running. Ryan Head: Alright, everybody. Welcome back to Reimagine Running, the podcast talking about why we run. Alright, guys, this episode is gonna be a little bit different, mostly because all you have is me today. So sit back and enjoy. I'm excited to talk about my Wasatch 100. In 2026, it just happened just a few days ago. It's been what five days since we started the race, four days since I finished it. obviously, there's a lot of details to this race and just the experience that someone has. It's it's definitely a hard race. this year they allowed about 500 people in. Let's just jump into talking about the Wasatch 100 in 2026. I'd love to give you guys an idea of how this all started, where it's gone, why I did it, and then jump into you know, a week or so before the race, day of the race, you know, running the race, give you all the details about how the race went, and then we'll wrap it up and coming through the finish line and all that other jazz. So stay tuned. Hopefully you enjoy this. It's been requested by quite a few people to hear my recap and what happened. The reality is it's it's a tough race and anybody that's talked to me I'll tell them straight up it's hard. Like you can't You can't expect Wasach to be easy. You can't expect Wasatch to be a walk in the park. You have to be prepared for many hard times, for all kinds of different weather. You have to be ready for a lot of vert, some very technical sections. And there's not a lot of consistent sections of the race. And I'll go into more detail about that as we get further along in the episode. But it's just a different type of hundred than maybe you would experience, you know, on maybe a flatter part of the, United States or world. it's just it's very it's very mountainous. It's very exposed. there's there's sections where there's no trees. it can get very hot and it can get very windy as we experienced this year. which it wasn't too terrible, but it it it can There could just be a lot that can happen on this race. So, anyway, set back, enjoy. We're gonna talk about Wasatch 100 right now. so Wasatch 100. you know, last year we'll rerun the clocks back to 2025. after I had finished Wasatch and the Bear 100 in 2025, I had kind of to be honest, I had put on a little bit of weight. I had struggled through the end of the bear 100. And I told myself, you know, Ryan, like, let's change some stuff up this year. Let's try to get in a better shape, get those knees strong, really try to be more prepared for what Wasich is gonna throw at you. So you know, I remember saying from the get-go, I'm not gonna let fall let myself fall into that same situation that I was in in 2025. So I really truly, at the first of this year in 2026, I just kicked kicked in gear. I really start eating a lot cleaner. I tried to avoid some very bad habits. I kind of slipped into health-wise. As well as, you know, I started going back to the gym. started hitting the gym a lot more and trying to fortify my hips, fortify my knees, you know, really keep, you know, my quads, my calves, my core area just super strong. Inevitably it feels like in every race something goes sideways. So I want To be sure that I would be strong moving through the race. So, you know, months ago, started getting into the gym. I was eating very clean, as you know, was recapped on a few episodes, or not a few, but you know, 10 15 episodes ago. I got to the Scout Mountain 100, had a great day there. but on the Scout Mountain 100, my hips struggled again. I had a hard time getting through that race at at times and at moments, and it was difficult to. Be completely honest, I struggled and I told myself, okay, we gotta double down. Like I know part of the issue is it's just not strong enough. I've had some probably a little bit of injury, some stuff going on in my hips, but I can make them healthier. Honestly, my knees felt pretty good for scout, and you know, I I'll go over that all in detail on that episode. So I knew you know, heading into Wasatch, I needed to continue to do what I was doing, but also continue. continue to hit vert, continue to push myself. And so, you know, as you know, as the weeks kind of passed after Scout Mountain, we got into middle of June, end of June, got into July, I I really started pushing the vert. I really started pushing the the longer miles on weekends. it became kind of my staple. and really focusing on not just any miles, but really getting stuff that would be very specific to the Wasatch 100. So, you know, I've been fortunate to have so many great friends in this area join me for runs like Eric Sutterfield, Nate Allred, Ken Swalberg, Jacob Bateman. Zach Vigil. there was just so many of us that joined and you know as time kind of camp kept going on other people who have races like Cody Vabel joined us. We had Jenny Little Joe Paquette, join us for runs. So we I just started getting a lot of people join us because they have their own hundreds or fifty milers you know, later this year. And so, you know, I've all I'm always big about community. I've said this a thousand times. I'm big about getting those people out there so that you they can experience the miles with you and you can kind of share that adventure with them. And so, you know, we were out doing many different trails on the Wasach 100. whether that was going up Bear Canyon, which is the start of Wasach 100, you start at East Wilderness and go up Bear Canyon, or you know, doing like lambs to to Brighton, which we did, and I'll go over that story here in just a moment. As well as we did Big Mountain to to Lambs a couple of times as well. And so just getting a lot of vert. You know, my vert really kind of jumped around anywhere between, you know, as I was building Building, you know, building was kind of like started at like six to seven thousand feet, really got it up to about ten to twelve. peak peak weeks was fifteen thousand, fourteen, fifteen thousand feet overt. and I coupled that with lots of miles. You know, I was doing anywhere between sixty to eighty miles a week, sometimes more. and so you know, just really pushing myself. And and as I've always said, like I'm not saying that my way is right, wrong, or indifferent. It's what works for me. that's what I did. And so I had a good training block. Good plan put in place to get to that point to where I could feel strong. I could feel like I could do this and really feel like I could make this happen. And so, you know, spent a lot of time with great friends this summer, getting good runs in, getting long runs in. It was a hot summer here in Utah. I've elaborated on that a couple of times now on different episodes. Just super, super warm. And you know, unfortunately, it is what it is. You gotta train in it because you know, for all. Know that's what you're gonna experience on race day, and so you know spent a lot of time doing trail runs this this summer, and you know, as we got into August, I was like, okay, kind of first big test is the Skyline 55k that's held in Eden, Utah every year. and so went after that. unfortunately, I mean I finished the race, but it was a tough race, like truth be told, it was a very hot day. the high that day was like. 97 and on the back side by Pine View Dam, it's up in the mountains as well. It was still like 92, 93 for a high that day. And so again, I mean for us here in Utah, it wasn't a cloudy day, it was a clear day with 93 degrees. It was it was hard, it was rough. and there were some race issues, truthfully. I don't want to beat up the race director or the race too much, but they'd run out of water and some other supplies and it and it made it kind of a very difficult and and dangerous situation, truth be told. And and so I know that the race volunteers were doing their best and they and they did. there just needs you know there needs to be a a priority always placed on the safety of all runners by the race director and you know I'll leave it at that. I won't I don't beat him up too much. I think he learned his lesson. but you know all of us that were running that it was tough. It was very tough. And I remember getting to the end of that thinking that was not my best showing. I definitely did it slower than I wanted to because I was trying to conserve energy and at times it got really, really hot and I was nervous. I mean I've talked to quite a few of my other friends who've done that who did that race this year and they all felt the same way. It was a very difficult race with just because of the heat and lack of supplies. And so, you know, I I left that with about a month ago before Wasatch. And I kind of thought to myself, you know, this may be a little bit Wasatch may be difficult. I thought I'd put enough training in. But you know, I think it really did come down to that the supplies was an issue. You know, I I should have leaned more into that. So, you know, fast forward a couple of weeks and you know it was about two maybe three weekends before the actual Wasatch 100. me and a good group of my friends, we decided, you know what, let's go do Lamb's Canyon, which is about mile 47 of the race, to Brighton, which is about mile 6970 of of of the Wasach 100. And so we decided we were gonna do that. And of course, we're in this mon we were in this monsoon season for here in Utah. And you know, it was a fun path. We all had a great time, you know, you know, we had a good group of of us friends there, but you know, it was kind of a dangerous situation and and not one that I ever advocate for people to go through, but you know, we had looked at the weather that morning and we'd saw that chances of it of a bad you know storm and and lightning coming through would probably be around like twelve, twelve thirty. So we decided to start at five in the morning. We're like, hey, let's just go early. You know, we should be able to get through get to Brighton without the storms hitting. So we take off, we get going. we don't know if it was just like a a random super cell portion of it, but we got to about mile eleven. 10, somewhere around there, and a lightning storm came in and it scared us. Truth be told, there was a couple of strikes that were really, really close. very dangerously close. And again, I'll I'll be the first. You know, you you hear a lot of people joking about this stuff and saying, it's you know, it's a great story after the fact. And and it is, you know, we're all safe. We all made it down alive. It's it's a fun story to talk about now. But the reality is don't put yourself in those situations. That's that's not fun, it's not cool. you know, you gotta be careful, you know, you're really dealing with people's lives. That's a dangerous situation and and not something to ever take really mess with with people. And so, you know, luckily that storm moved through. No one was hit. Though there was some lightning strikes that were very, very close in one particular situation. I was kind of at the head. I was leading the pack of us, six, seven of us runners. And I turn around to say something. And then right as I turn, I see the purple lightning bolt, and it was instantaneous. like sound and I it it was right it was just on the other side of the canyon and the canyon was not that far away the other side so it was scary. you know it was almost we were almost a dog lake at that point just climbing up the canyon there and just not smart not a smart move on our part and you know anyone listening to this yeah it's fun to run in the rain. I love running in elements, don't get me wrong but lightning can be scary. just be safe, be careful. again, I'm not advocating doing that. never would, never will. do the smart thing, be smart about it. don't go. and if you do find yourself in a try-to-seek cover, we're we're safe. You know, trees are not necessarily the safe place to be. you know, and all that. So I'm not gonna go on on how to deal if you if you do come across, you know, maybe I should. Maybe I should share, you know, they say, obviously you don't wanna be op out. In the open, but you don't want to be directly under trees because it can travel down that. you know, the biggest thing is to try to kind of get on like the balls of your feet and crouch down so that if you do get hit by lightning, it goes through quickly through your body. that's the safest way to be. Obviously, the safest thing is don't be out there, right? That's the that's the number one thing not to do. But if you do find yourself in a lightning storm, that's how you handle this. because a lot of times I think we don't know what to do, and you get scared and you're Do I hide under a tree? Hiding on a tree is not a good idea. hiding out in the open is not a good area. So then you're how where do I hide? Truthfully, try to get somewhere where there is some trees, but not directly under them because you're not the high point any longer. And then crouch down, get down on the balls of your feet, kind of crouch down. And if you're gonna get hit, it's gonna go through your body quicker. So crazy I even have to talk about this on here, but maybe it'll go to sort of help someone feel a little bit more comfortable out there. So, anyways, so we survived that, we got through. you know the cool thing was is every one of us that did it it was a huge confidence booster because i think a lot of us especially let's say we're doing wasatch that section a lot of times for us middle to end of the packers that is the night section from lambs to brighton and so to see it in the light even though it was raining to see it it was really cool it was actually really really fun to go through that whole section and and to see it in the light and it gave me a lot of confidence and you know that's one bit of advice I would share with anybody that's doing a race. I mean not always are you able to go run on the path that you're you know that you're actually going to be going to but if you can spend time you know, running on the path that you're you know, for the course or the race that you're training for, get out there and do it. It's gonna help you build so much confidence. You're gonna know, okay, I can do this section, I can do this path, you know, it's gonna answer a lot of questions about like, okay, is there coverage? You know, am I always exposed? is there water drop area? you're gonna get a lot of things. Do I need to what kind of shoes do I need to be wearing? What kind of gear will I need? is there gonna be any kind of scrambling? You know, so on and so forth. So I I think it's smart. I think it's always good to get out there as much as possible on before races and run parts of the course so you know what you're up against. I know when we had Alex docked on, he did that exact same thing. He was able to spend almost a month at the Hard Rock 100 out there in the course out in Colorado to get acclimated to it and learn a lot of the course. So I think it's it's a smart move. It's gonna it's gonna serve you well if you're able to do that. So anyway, so we get done. That run, and truthfully, at that point it became tapered down to race day. And so, you know, for me, as I as I started tapering, I had kind of had a little bit of a knee issue in 2024. I had the same issue with my knee. There's just been kind of a little bit of pain behind the kneecap, and I was like, you know, it's gonna be good for me to kind of just taper this down, not push too hard and and really allow that body to heal up. And you know, the thing I'll always say about tapering is it's hard because a lot of times, you know, you're like, okay, I gotta have enough food in me, but you also you don't want to eat too much because you're not burning as many calories, but you want to make sure you're not moving too much, especially if you are still doing like, you know, five, seven, three mile runs, whatever it is, as you're tapering down. so you know, I'd get out and do some of these runs and I was like, I can't. go further I want to go further I can't but I can't because you know I gotta let my body heal and you know some days I'd still feel really agitated and and especially when we got into that week the week of the race you know personally you know this year I I ran Monday and Tuesday but just very short miles like five miles and then three miles and then I was done so I took Wednesday and Thursday off and I'll tell you between the the tapering the week before taking Sunday off and then you know only doing Monday Tuesday I was agitated to say the least. I was like, I gotta get I gotta get all the wiggles out of me. I'm tired of not running. Like this is getting a little bit frustrating. And but you know I was like it's good this is gonna serve you well too. you know, to have this break and not just be constantly moving. so it was really good you know to do that. I, you know, taking us to the day before the race, I get to, you know, the Wasatch 100 expo, if you will, or packet pickup or bib pickup. And as always, you know, now doing it for four years, I've made a lot of friends at the race. always good to see like Mark Robbins. great to see John Grobin. you know, to see his daughter and and her husband. you know, just so great to see John Mulmer, a lot of the race committee who I've just come to love over the years. You know, and then while I I'm there, you know, I get to see a lot of my friends came at the same time, like Nate Alright and Eric Sutterfield. I saw Jill Wilkins, I saw Cheppe, just a lot of really good people who I was excited to run the race with. I you know, fortunately I had one of my crew members join me. As well to just kind of see what that was like. So Joe joined. it was fun to have her there and you know, drop off my drop bags, pick up my bib, buy some some gear for all my friends for those who are pacing and crewing me. it was awesome, it's just fun. It's fun to be in that environment, be like, Okay, like here we are, you know, and it and it hits, it always hits for me. Like being there at bed pickup, and you're like, Okay, like I'm doing this, and you're like, I remember when I was here a year ago, and now I'm here again, and you know, I've been blessed, I've been fortunate, I've been able to now. Now for four years straight, get into Wasatch. It may end. I don't know, right? You never know. It's a solid lottery poster name and your number. But you know, I've been lucky for four years straight. I've been able to get in. So it's been four great years of doing Wasatch 100. And, you know, even this year I'm hoping, okay, like hope I've done enough to get me across the finish line. And you know, after four years, you you got a good idea if you do or you don't. And I felt confident. but you know, you always gotta be careful about not getting too cocky, but you gotta believe in yourself. yourself, right? And that's what I tell all my athletes. That's what I tell my friends, you know, anybody that I meet on the race. I'm like, you don't want to be cocky because that's where you're gonna get hurt. and and it could it'll slap you in the face if you will. But but you don't want to believe but you do want to believe in yourself. because if you don't believe in yourself no one's going to right you gotta say to yourself like I can do this and I'm gonna make this happen. And so you know dropped off my drop bags picked up my bib, said hi to all my friends got some pictures and went home and finished packing up my my cooler of ice and spent the rest of the night just relaxing and enjoying time, you know, with my family and just try to get my mind off the race. I mean that's the biggest thing, right? Is you know you always think to yourself like okay here we go and you know I I kind of have a rule of thumb it's probably not anything new but you know before race day and I don't care if this is the marathon I don't care if this is a hundred miler any race I feel like the night two nights before the race is the most important night to get sleep. So it's not you know it's it's The night before, so it's like the race eve, right? So you wake up on race eve, if you will. that's the most important night to get sleep because it is very difficult sometimes to get a good night's sleep on the night before the race, right? Because your mind is just racing, you're thinking about everything, and so you know, again, before the expo, before everything, I went to bed. I probably got nine to ten hours of sleep that night. It was awesome. I felt great waking up on Thursday before the race. So this would be September 10th. 10th and so wake up feeling good go drop off all my stuff, come home, and you know go to bed that night and true to form, right? I I take my magnesium to help me sleep, but I probably spent about an hour, an hour and a half, maybe two hours tossing and turning. Oddly, weirdly enough, I dreamt the Bear 100 when I did fall asleep. And I was like, we're not running the Bear 100, we're we're we're running the Wasach 100. Like, let's focus on which race we're supposed be doing here. and so, you know, I I I went to bed and woke up. honestly I felt really rested. I woke up about 3 30, 3 45. got up. I had all my gear laid out. So truthfully, I was able to go down and use the bathroom, get stretched out, and throw on my gear. I had it all ready to go and I was ready. I was ready to get up to the race. And so my crew chief came and picked me up, Jenny Small. she comes picks me up, which she's just a phenomenal human. and on the way we pick up Ken Swalberg as well. who was one of my earlier guests of the season and so the three of us head up there to sort of wastage 100 which is at the East Wilderness park in Caseville Utah and so this is where this is where it starts to get real right you're like okay like from here it's it's a hundred miles like it's go time right and and it can be almost too much right as you think about it and you're like okay like am I really ready to do this again and you know I've you know again now I've done It three years. knowing what's ahead of me can be kind of scary, like, truth be told. Like, you just start to think to yourself, like, am I good enough? And and you have to remember, yes, you've put the work in, you have done all the training, you have climbed many mountains and many peaks, and pushed yourself, and you've been eating good, and you've been doing the string training. Like, you are good enough, you are ready for this. Like, this is your time. Like, when preparation meets opportunity, that's where luck happens, that's where the magic happens, right? So it's time to go. Like, Let's do it, So we get some pictures of all of us friends, it was really cool. All of us were there. you know, old John Honeybadger Hallows was there, so we got to see him and a bunch of other friends and just all of us wishing each other luck. you know, get into the starting corral, if that's what you want to call it. It's not really like a marathon, it's just a corral where they're like, Hey, ready, set? And you know, they they start the race, John Groben starts the race and and so you take off and And truthfully, the thing about the Wasich 100 is when you're running through East Wilderness and whatnot, you got, you know, as I kind of mentioned at the start of this. th they let in about, you know, this this year they let I think it was five hundred a entrance to the race. And naturally there's gonna be some attrition to that and people are gonna fall off and some people aren't gonna make it to the race. And so I think when it was all said and done, there was probably about three hundred and fifty to about three seventy five runners for the race this year, which is the highest I think they've ever allowed to run the race 'cause usually they haven't allowed that much and then the you still have the attrition, so it's it's less. But so highest number And as you can imagine, you got that many people trying to go up some single track trails. it turns into a conga line, multiple bottlenecks, and you're just kind of going slow for the first mile, mile and a half, and there's really not much you can do. you know, and it's kind of it's kind of funny, but it's also I get it, people are excited, people are you know chit-chatting and whatnot. But you know, now that this is my fourth year, even on my first year, I knew it was coming at mile three, you gotta go up Bear Canyon. And Bear Canyon's a tough canyon. Like I'm just gonna be honest with you, anyone that's wants to do Walsitch, know that the good news is you get the hardest climb out of the way at mile three to seven. but you also have to deal with the hardest climb at mile three to seven. And so people are chit-chatting, people are excited, they're all kind of laughing, goofing around, and I'm like, guys, lock it in mentally, because it's coming. Like, this is not fun. And so starting about mile three, just under it. you start climbing and You know, the thing about Bear Canyon is it's there's only a few parts that are really, really steep where it can get up to like thirty percent, maybe more. most of it's just a kind of a gradual like ten to maybe twenty, twenty-five percent. Nothing too crazy. I mean I know probably some of you are listening, you're like, Ryan, that is crazy. It is, but it's not like so crazy that you're like, my gosh, I can't do this. It's just you know, you know that Bear Canyon's a rough canyon to climb. You just know it's coming, so let's just do it. Let's just get it over with. And so you know, you Start climbing up that well as we're climbing up the canyon. you know, I think back to what happened in 2025 and around mile five of the race, and then again at mile six, there was wasps, and I've put a couple videos out there about it. You've seen them, you know. Thanks again to Adam Wolf for sharing those videos with us. but there was wasps on the trail and they were attacking, and so not gonna lie, I was very nervous as I was getting close to that And and again, if you want to see, just text me and I will shend the pictures to you. I I can validate it. I had 12 plus was stings last year in 2025. I just quit counting after 12 because I said there's no point at this point. It's 12 plus and I don't care that much to keep counting. So I I got stung a lot and it really messed up my race to the point that I struggled in 2025 to get moving because of how much that venom was messing with me. It just kept making my yeah my heart rate skyrocket because of the adrenaline and so this year I was really nervous I I you know not to get too religious if you will on here but as we got close to where that first hive was I just started praying to my heavenly father and and I was like please just protect us please don't let us get stung and you know I didn't hear anyone screaming so I felt really good about it and you know as we went through that section I was just quiet I was kind of tiptoeing I was like just let's get through this really quickly we made it through and you know what not one sting you know we got About a mile later, kind of where there's some kind of loose rock and shell where where you know we got sung the second time going up Bear Canyon, not a thing, and so I started feeling really, really confident about okay, like this might be a really good year now because there's nothing here, and so we get through that whole section and we get up to kind of that last ascent of Bear Canyon. And going up that last ascent is really rough. It's you know, at times it's like a 30 almost 40 percent ascent. it's about a two-thirds of a mile. and you climb just right around a thousand feet. So it's it's rough, right? You c as you can imagine just looking here in those numbers. And so you just start climbing and we start going up. And I I do want to make a little shout out to one of my good friends who unfortunately had a medical episode on the on the on the race, but Dan Fetzer, if you follow me on social media, I posted about it yesterday, which would have been, you know, September 15th. But I passed Dan and I remember just passing him and he he looked a little bit beat up, but it's it's bear canyon. I'd never judge a certain single person who needs to stop. And I passed him like Dan, you're doing great, and kind of give him a high five. I was like, I'm I believe in your brother, we'll see you at the finish line type of a deal. I come to find out later he he had a a major stroke out there. so on my Facebook Facebook profile. If you're you know if you have any additional funds, please support them. You know, they they had him airlifted off of the mountain by a helicopter. I saw the helicopter come in and take him off a little bit later. Dan's a good human. Dan is a really good human. I I can't say enough good about him. I've done multiple races with him. He's a kind father, he's a kind husband, he is a kind human who's just try do a lot of good things. So if you if you you know you find yourself in the in a position to be able to do a little something for for Dan as I call Dan the man it would be very much appreciated for sure so anyways we get up Bear Canyon and as I always joke Bear Canyon and to me is is the qualifier for Wallace you get up that you're seven miles in you've done 20% of the vert for the race at that point and it's like hey well you just hit the qualifier you just made it now it's wall set has just begun and and truthfully That is kind of the case because then you climb up to Francis Peak, and then for Francis, it's like four plus miles of just gravy train downhill, dirt road, down to Groben's water station. And you know, I I'm gonna be honest, that's a that's a part of the race a lot of people can blow up and burn out because it's truly like road running. I mean, you can go so fast, it's clean. you can just open it up, and and every year I feel like I'm doing it a little bit slower every year because I realize I I can't go that fast because my heart rate can jump. up and so this year I kept it around I think like a nine it was anywhere between a nine forty five to about a ten fifteen minute pace. and I just kept it there. Kept it really smooth, kept it really easy, nothing too crazy. And just kinda sailed. Just got there. I had people passing me. I like, go for it. Like each person needs to run their race. I'm running my race and, you know, I hope you're not gonna burn up. I hope not hope not. So, get into Groben's water station there at about mile eleven. And John Grobin, who again is the race director for the race, I always say to him every year and and again it's not a cocky thing, please those listening to this episode. I don't say it to be cocky, I say it as a it's a confidence thing for me. But every time when I see John there, I always shake his hand and say, John, I'll see at the finish line. And I look him dead in the eyes and he's like, Okay, we'll see at the finish line. And I'll finish that story up as we get to the finish line here in a bit. But anyways, so I always shake it shake his hand, get my water, say goodbye to the crew, say goodbye Goodbye to the guys that are there, there it's all the race committee, and and I took off. And you know, after that, you know, in in previous years, I would spend because it's kind of a little bit of an uphill, not too crazy, there for about a mile or two. I I would spend a lot of that just like walking. This year I was like, you know what? I'm gonna push it a little bit. I I'm feeling good enough, knees feel good. And so I started running a lot of these sections, and you know, as you get to sessions lift off, you kind of hit these three false summits. every time you hit One, you think the aid station's gonna be there and it's not, and then you have to do another quarter mile to half mile climb and get to the top of that thinking the aid station is gonna be there and it's not, and you're like, my gosh, like, am I gonna get there eventually? And then you know, you do that third one and you don't see it, but then as you come around a couple of corners and whatnot, all of a sudden it's there, and so you get to the aid station there at 16. And I gotta give a big, big shout out to one of my good friends, Lindsay Nielsen. her and her husband came up there to the top of that on their ATV. And she was there. She just has this bright smile and you know, big hug, and like, what can I do for you? What can I get you? And she's just a sweetheart. So Lindsay, you're the best. Thank you for taking time out of your day on your Friday to come up there and see me. I know you guys already had you guys always have plans that Friday and Saturday up in Brigham City. So appreciate you making time to do that. It really meant a lot. I've told you that a couple of times already. But just a such a sweetheart to be up there and you know, say see me off and all that. And you know. Big truth truthfully, and I'll I'll go through this with each aid station, but I just major love and and props to every aid station and and the work that they put in to just make sure you know you're taken care of at at each aid station. But you know, those at Bountiful B. they had run out of ice, which kind of stunk, but you know, they had everything else. So they were able to get me in, get me out. I think, you know, I I was there a little bit longer because I was trying to get a couple supplies and fill up my water, a couple of my water things. And so I was there for maybe about eight, nine minutes. little bit longer than I wanted to be, but you know, sometimes I'm like, okay, you just gotta you gotta take the time. I got there, that was probably my fastest year I've gotten to Bountiful B. So I felt really good. left Bountiful B and it's pr it's pretty flat from Bountiful B to Sessions. So yet again I I opened it up again and I was like, you know, I'm gonna push Bountiful B to sessions and and see how fast I can do it. I think I got to sessions lift off the fastest I've ever done so far at this point in in running wall such for four times. I got there about 30 minutes earlier. Than than I've ever done before. So I got there about 11:20, I think it was. I think I've gotten there almost like 11:50 to or 12 o'clock at 12 noon. So I got there, got sessions. I'm like, yeah, we're having a great day. Let's go. those guys, those guys had sessions. Freaking amazing. They they had so much ice, so I'm filling up everything because I know what's coming after this, and I'll explain that here in just a moment. But you know, you get into sessions and I'm just shoving ice and everything I can. I'm eating all their pickles, their pickle juice. I'm like, you guys got pickle juice, and yeah. Like we do, and you know, for me, I've always said mile 20, be everything from zero to 20. you your legs gotta feel good. But after after mile 20, that's when the race starts. It's it's time to go, right? and so I'm like, hey, from here on, like, I'm sending it now. And of course, like the sun was out, there was a good breeze. so it's kind of keeping things a little bit cool, especially in the morning. but it was still a warmer day for Friday, and so I was like, okay, get enough ice. so what I did is I had my two flasks. In the front, you know, both 500 milliliters. I have a two-liter in the back, and then I always take a handheld with me. So another 20 ounce, or I think it's 24-ounce bottle that's insulated. I can put ice in that. So I take off from session or from sessions right as I'm leaving. I realize that there is this, you know, awesome human being giving out popsicles, and I'm like, Can I have one of those? And she's like, Yes, you can. I grab the popsicle, I'm Hallelujah, this is the greatest thing ever. So mile 20. At noon on Friday, I'm eating a popsicle on the mountains, doing what I love. I mean, does it get better than that? I don't think so. So I lead that. I get climbing up. You have to climb out of Sessions Lift Off. That's why they call it the Sessions Lift Off. You're climbing up about 1200 feet. and it's just kind of slow and go. You know, I had some opportunities to talk to some really awesome people out there that this was their first hundred. and you know, was chatting with them about how to attack the race, what they should do, what they shouldn't do. You know, and and the thing I'll say about from sessions lift off to Big Mountain, because Big Mountain is the next aid station, is it it can get very warm, it's very exposed, and at times it feels like you can run really hard, which you can. but there's a lot of ups and downs, and that's just wasat in general. There's it, there's never really a consistent like down for a while or consistent up for a while. It's just like doot doot doot doot doot. You're just constantly up, down, up, down, up, down. and and that's just how the race is. That's just what you sign up for when you That you have to be prepared for that. And so, you know, as you're coming along, go past Swallows Rock at mile 27. you know, and you're just like, man, okay, we're still about four to five miles away from Big Mountain. It's kind of getting warm. at this point, most of my ice has melted, my handheld's empty, you know. But luckily, I still had enough water. I was doing great. Just like, let's just push through, we'll get there to we'll get across the you know, get to Big Mountain. you know, as I'm coming into Big Mountain, or you know, as I'm running the section, I you know, run across. Brian Corey, who's a really good dude, local, local guy in this area. we got to spend a lot of miles together. He's a good friend of a lot of us here. And he, you know, he's having a couple little bit, he's having a couple struggles himself, but you know, Brian's just a veteran with the stuff. He's done multiple great races. and he's just he's just one of those stalwart guys who you know, we just have some good conversations, me and him throughout that whole section, and and I was just it was just an honor to be there with him and plow through some of those miles. And so come into Big Mountain, get into Big Mountain, feeling really good, right? I get to Big Mountain probably the fastest I've ever done as well. Got there a little bit before three o'clock, feeling pretty good. And honestly, at this point, I'm right on my game plan of what I wanted to accomplish. I told myself, you know, this is exactly where I want to be. This is what I wanted to accomplish. So I get in there, Jenny's waiting for me. First time I've seen my crew chief, and then also see Jacob Bateman, who was pacing me from Big Mountain to Lambs. And so get get Get with him and we go. And you know, it's just fun with Jacob because we we ran, we were running, we were having such a good time talking, laughing. you know, the thing I'll tell you about you know, ultras and running is it's just a way for friends to reconnect, it's a way for friends to to get past issues they may have had in the past, and and you know, it's just it was fun for there to be me and him, and we were just laughing, we're talking, we're catching up on everything that's going on in each other's lives, and and you know, we and him climb up the big mountain, he's videos of me and you know taking pictures and he's like dude you're moving so great this is so awesome to see you at mile thirty five of a race just moving so smoothly you know we come down off of bald mountain we're running down bald mountain we go down Ball Bearing Hill, and we're just cruising. We get down there, we get to Alexander Meadow, and then we head into Alexander Aid Station. So we're about mile 40 now. We get in there and again it's been it's warm. It's been warm, but basically the whole section with Jacob. And so get in there, get a lot of ice, get cooled back down. I think I ate probably like eight otter pops. I'm not kidding. I was like, dude, just keep them coming. And I just kept eating them. And then I took some for the road and threw them in the garbage can, the plastic afterwards. But just so, so good. so we get out of there, we turn around, we go back up the meadow, if you will, and come across and over to Lambs Canyon Aid Station and get in there. And you know, I'll tell you those those guys at the Lambs Canyon Aid Station will look just props, man. Trevor and and the crew there, you guys did amazing. Trevor, like seriously, man, the the the convenience store that you guys had was insane. I mean, it sucks for us runners because I can't do much with it, but for my crew, they loved it. They they had so much fun with what you guys put into that, the work you put into it. So major props to you, man. You deserve all the accolades and more. such a good dude. He works with the Gold Foundation here in Utah. He is a ultra runner himself. He's done a lot. Lot of great things. He's a very fast runner. just super super cool what he accomplished there. And and it was cool because I saw a lot of friends there that were volunteering and trying to help him at that aid station as well. So, anyway, so at that point, I dropped Jacob, had a great time with Jacob, and I pick up Cody Babel, who was it was waiting for me to be my next pacer. As well as I was very fortunate with my good friend and has been my crew chief multiple times, has been almost at every one of my hundreds, Nate Alred. He He was like, hey, I'm gonna stay with you the rest of the race. I don't want to push any longer. let's just plan on me just hanging out with you. And so, truly, me, Nate, and Cody started from Lambs Canyon, climbed up Lambs Pass, up to Bare Bottom Pass, if you will. And we had such a great, great time together. The three of us were laughing, the three of us were taking pot shots at each other, joking, laughing, making just fun comments. comments and it was really cool because you know we were I was pushing again kind of in some of those sections when you're going up Mill Creek where you can go a little bit harder and so I was trying my hardest just to like anytime it was flat just trying to open it up a little bit if it was climbing in the middle of night just take my time move up there and and we got to upper big water the fastest I've ever been able to do so far at this point. We got there around I think it was somewhere around like 1120 at night. Huge props to Michael Whiteside who was Was the aid station captain there with the Davis Mountain Goats? he he had just that whole aid station humming. He was doing some great stuff there. So thanks, what Michael Whiteside, as well as Bart and all the guys that we saw there. You guys are just phenomenal. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being there and taking care of so many of us runners coming to the aid station because at that point in the race it's been dark now for three, four hours, and it can be it can be traumatic if you will, or it can be hard for runners at the That point. So, you know, we get to that age station, get kind of fueled up again. Cody was doing a great job of keeping me and Nate honest, just like, hey, you gotta get up, let's get out of here. So we leave there and start heading up towards Dog Lake, and then after Dog Lake is Desolation, which is the next eight station. And honestly, we we just cruise. We we go through that same spot where the lightning almost got us, you know, two, three weeks earlier. obviously it's dark, there's no rain, it's dry. and honestly, the race was still pretty warm even in the night. Like, I would say. You know, for us runners at least, if you were just sitting around, you know, and not sitting around, that's a bad word, but you if you're an aid station person and just helping people come in, you probably needed to gear up. But I would still say it was pretty warm, even in Mill Creek. it wasn't until we got past like Desolation Lake that it got kind of cold. But you know, we just cruise. We got we got the dog lake, we we passed that, and two, three miles, whatever after that, we'll get to Desolation Lake, get to Deso, and honestly we had enough supplies, you know, because of you know only leaving up. Big water, you know, five six miles earlier. We're like, dude, let's just move through deso quickly. So we got in and out of deso very quickly, took off, climbed up Red Lovers, climbed up that up to the top, and nothing is better than when you get up there because then you're heading over to Scott's Pass, and it's just these roller hills, and and it's just like you're way up high, you're like 9,500 feet, I think, and you can see Park City, but you can also see like Solitude and Brighton, and then you can also see. See down in the Salt Lake and then Utah Valley. So it's just this beautiful place to be. You're like, man, I can see everything up here. and so we get over to Scott's Pass, and I gotta give my my pacer a lot of credit at that point because both me and Nate Alred get in there and they had like a heater going, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna sit down for a minute. And Cody was like, after about two minutes, he's like, Okay, guys, let's go, let's get up, let's go. Come on, we need to move. We gotta need to get going, and And you make your props to Cody, because you know, every like he was always keeping us honest, he was always kind of pushing us a little bit. But most importantly, he was always just asking about, you know, how's your nutrition? How's your hydration? And and one thing I was joking with him, I was talking to him today about this, is we were talking about how you know he would ask, like, hey, have you ate something in the last 30 minutes? Because my my nutrition plan is I eat at least a hundred calories every 30 minutes. and so I'd be Yeah, I ate something. And he got to the point where he's like, What was it? And so he was holding me accountable and making me tell and I remember getting kind of angry. Like I'd be like, dude, just trust me. Like, why are you asking? Like you don't, that's not your problem. That's my problem if I'm not eating enough. But I was like, no, he's trying to keep me in the race. He's trying to keep me safe. And that I can appreciate. So then I would start telling him what I was eating. And he did that basically almost the whole time we were together. And so I really appreciate Cody for doing that. It really meant a lot for him to take oneness of that and really ensure that I was getting enough food. in Me enough water, enough electrolytes. was really, really good. So we get down, we get we leave Scott's aid station, right? Scott's Pass Aid Station. start heading down, and we you know hit Puke Hill, and it is just this gnarly rock-filled section that's just downhill. but honestly, I we flew. We we got into Brighton probably an hour and 15 minutes earlier than I've ever done before up to this point. So I was very excited. it's like right before four o'clock. It's like three fifty five, I think, three forty, three forty five, three fifty, something like that. We get into Brighton and I'm like, man, we are humming. I mean, I'm I've never been there that early up to this point in any of my Walsatch years. And so feeling really good about everything, like, okay, like this is it. Like, this is my year to really PR. And so get there, thank Cody. I'm like, Cody, you've been the best. Thank you so much. getting us out of there. So Nate picks up his sister Amy, who has been a guest on here as well, Amy Bullwinkle, and I pick up Joe Wynarsky, who such a good friend of mine, and she Paced me on so many races. And so the four of us set out and me and Joe kind of got ahead of Nate and Amy. initially, me and Joe had to climb up, you know, everybody has to climb up Catherine's Pass. And so we get climbing up that and it got kind it got kind of hard to be honest with you, because it's dark and it's just a you know almost two thousand foot climb up some kind of steep trails, if you will. sometimes it's not exactly marked the best, if you want me to be honest. And so you're just kind of climbing up that, getting up that, you know, course and I I as good as possible and Joe is just awesome. She's just trying to chat with me, trying to talk with me. And you know, we get up to the top, she gets a picture of me at the top, kissing the sign at Point Supreme for the race, which is awesome. It's like 10,000 and 200 feet, whatever the number is. And then you have to head back down and you got to come down the backside down into Ant Knolls. And and I struggle that late in a race going down technical downhills or is a struggle for me. It just is I'm hoping to figure that out. In the next year or two and get better at it, but I struggle majorly going down technical loose rock. And so funny, kind of funny story. We've joked about it is as we were going down, I slipped and kind of fell sideways and hit my my backside. And you know, that late in the race, you slip, you fall, you're tired. I was kind of like in this weird, drowsy state, and I didn't even remember it until yesterday, but I was like, I I actually lifted up my shirt and pulled my my pants down a little bit. I was like, Joe, it might bleed. Bleeding. And it's kind of embarrassing, but it's also kind of funny because I I was just in this delirious state, and poor Joe, she's like seeing my behind and she's Yeah, you're fine. Now I didn't like pull my pants all the way down, but it was like partially down. She's like, Yeah, you're bleeding, but you're gonna be okay. And I'm like, I'm sorry for showing my bum to you. And she's like, You're fine, don't worry, whatever happens on the trail stays on the trail. Obviously not, 'cause I just told the whole world that listens to this episode. but yeah, I I showed her kind of half of my bum just so she could see if I was bleeding too bad. And she's like, Well Well, when we get to the next A station, let's get some antiseptic stuff and clean it up and whatnot. And was like, we're good. So I only remember that happened because I was soaking my legs and my feet in in an Epsom salt bath the other day, and I was like, Why is my back hurt? Like, what's going on back there? And as I started filling back there, I was like, my gosh, like that's what happened. I got I freaking I smacked myself on the ground on a rock, and that's what cut it up. And so then the whole memory came back, and that's kind of weird what happens. I don't know if other ultra. Runners of this way, or it's just me. But you know, when I'm running an ultra, I tend to forget a lot of what happens later in the race. just because it just happens, and you know, and I'll probably forget a lot of as I finish the rest of the story in the last 30 miles of the race. I'll probably forget a lot. and that's why it's fun to come on here and talk and share the story with you guys. But I tend to forget because you kind of get in this drowsy state, and you're just like, okay, the only thing you're thinking of is just get to from point A to point B, get to the next age station. And so anyways, we get down kind of that climb, get into Aunt Knoll's, and I'm like, okay, there we go. We we did it. And so as you As you leave at Knowles, you have to go up what's called the grunt. And it kind of sucks to be honest with you. You kind of go up that and you just have this steep kind of climb for maybe five, six hundred feet. But it is mean. It is a mean section. So you get climbing up that, but you get to the top and and you know, every year I've done it. I feel like I I do it either when the sun's already up or like you know the sun hasn't come up yet and the colors are just beautiful. And so this year, obviously as early as I've been, it's just this beautiful morning where the sun's Sun's not up yet, but the colors are just ex ecstatic. And so Joe got a picture with me sitting there with the you know with the background, and I was like, this is as beautiful as it gets. And so we take off and we start moving, and we're just flying along, you know, mile 72, 73 to, you know, as we're trying to get to pole line. And so we get moving, we're moving pretty good. honestly, kind of with just a lot of uneventful stuff in this section. Maybe there did something that happened, I just don't remember. But it was just mostly us just plowing through, just trying to get from point A to point B. a lot of downhill, which was nice. We were able to pick up some good paces, and Joe was really pushing me to try to keep me around that 15 to 16 minute pace that late in the race. And I felt good, my hips felt good, knees felt good, feet felt good. So I was like, Yeah, let's keep doing it. So we were pushing, we were doing great. We get to pull line. She's like, Hey, you know, just like and I forgot to mention this, but at night at Knolls, we were only there for like two to three minutes at the aid station. Same thing. She's Let's get you in, let's get out I think we were there for four minutes total. so we get in there, she gets me back out and we're back on the trail moving. And once you leave pole line, I think it goes by it goes by a couple different names, but I know it as the Seven Sisters. You have basically seven little heels on the trail that you have to do and like the last like four of them are gnarly. It's loose gravel. It's you know 100 200 foot climbs and you have to do that until you get to the point until you get to point of contention there at mile Like 78 79. And so you climb the Seven Sisters, and you're just angry. I'm like angry. I'm like, I'm just so sick of climbing. Like it's been 80 miles now, almost of all just climbing. I'm just so over it. But we did it. I went quiet. Jill's you're doing great, like, let's keep going. She was just so positive. and come around a corner, and I come up on a couple of friends who are are struggling, and and I really you know love Patrick Obern and Jill Wilkins, they're just great friends. I'm of mine and and you know, came upon them and just they're just struggling. And, you know, unfortunately, Jill was just sick coming into the race and, you know, we chatted for a few minutes and, we were just talking, we sharing some ideas of stuff on how to how to get Jill going again. And, you know, I definitely left with a prayer in my heart for Jill 'cause I was hoping that she would, you know, rally and be able to finish and I hope for the best. And, you know, Patrick was like, Thanks for your kind words and and whatnot and You know, I'll I'll finish that story as we get to the end of this race. But, you know, I I left and I won't lie, I actually left and I started crying thinking about you know, thinking about those two and just yeah, I talked with my pacer Joe about it and just told him Mike, you know, I really hope, you know, our Heavenly Father blesses them and gets them to a place where they can finish this race. And so we get to Rock Springs, get into Rock Springs, doing really good. another quick eight station for me and Joe. We're in and out in no time. be able to just fly through, get through rock springs and this is kind of where the race starts to kind of unravel for me, if you want me be completely honest. not unravel, just a a tough section. and I do kind of contribute a little bit to just not eating. I contributed probably to just being a good person as well and trying to be do good things. And you know, maybe the adversary is trying to beat me down, but you know, I I struggled for the next like four miles or so. just being very angry. My body did not want to cooperate. You go down the plunge. you go down just very, very steep, very, very technical downhill and it just rips you apart. Your your toes are hurting, your feet are hurting. And just the whole time I'm like, is this ever gonna end? Like it's gotta come to an end because I'm tired of just feeling so crummy. And you know, you just you're waiting for the next A station at 88 at Little Deer Creek and you're just like, please can we just be done with this already on this downhill? And you know, good news it's always you know misery loves company, but you know, having Joe there and having Nate and Amy, they're just like this is awful. And I'm like, yeah, it's not not fun. And Nate had done it before, but it was Amy and and Joe's first times doing that part of the race and and Nate was like, I don't remember it being this bad and I'm like, I know, you never remember how bad it was this bad, but it is always this bad and you know, you just kinda get down it. But it was just rough and, you know, I'd gone to a pretty dark spot. I was pretty angry. you know, and I d wasn't talking to anybody and I I really give a lot of credit to Joe for just giving my space. She was like, you know what, I'm gonna give you your space. You just, you know, let your figure yourself out, figure your crap out, and I'm here whenever you're ready to come back. And anyways, and so we were able to get to Little Deer Creek, finally get off that mountain, get down the plunge. Get off the mountain, head to little Deer Creek, get into Little Deer Creek and get our supplies. And me and Joe got in, got out pretty quickly, and start heading towards the old Staten aid station, which is no longer there at mile 90. Get past that and start heading towards top of the wall. And you know, honestly, I had a kind of a a little bit of a breakdown at the point. I I I apologize to Joe for being kind of a a bad friend. I felt like, you know, I when I when I had my pacers and my courage. I always want them to have a good experience. That's you know, I want them to live part of my life, if you will, out there on the trail. And and I felt like I was kind of a bad friend to her because I had gone quiet for eight, nine miles and wasn't talking to anybody and just was frustrated with the world and everything. And she's just so kind. She's like, Hey, you're fine. It's all good. Don't even worry about it. And it's funny because afterwards, we as we've texted, she said, You know what you told me when I asked you what was wrong? And I said, Well, I don't remember. And she said, I I kept asking, Why are you so angry? and you're like it's the trail it's the trail that's making me angry and I'm like Yeah, I believe that for sure. So the trail was what was making me angry. but you know, fortunately, I was able to get past the the being annoyed with the trail. And, you know, as we came into mile 92, I was like, Joe, thank you so much. Joe was gonna step out at that point. She'd done 23 miles with me. She was gonna step out, and you know, my last three pacers were gonna take me to the finish line, that being Jamie McDonald, as well as Jenny, who's been my crew chief, and then Zach Vigil. who has paced me before at Wasatch. And so those three got out, got with me and Nate and Amy, and we cruised. We, you know, I give a lot of kudos to Zach for setting a great pace as we left top of the wall and came down to the Decorate Station there. You know, he just had this like He and he was just locked in. He's like, Listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna put us at a pace that's gonna get us, you know, get ya a thirty-four hour finish and and that's what we're gonna do. That's what we're gonna hit right now. And so he just kept this pace going and I just remember always thinking to myself, like, no matter what, I've gotta just stay up with him. Even if he gets ahead of me, I gotta pick up my pace again and catch back up to him. And then if he gets ahead again, same thing, I just gotta catch back up and keep playing that game with him. And so, But it was really cool because it was just me and and Jamie and Jenny also talking in the back and just laughing, making jokes. And it was really fun to be there. I was just grateful for all four of us, just being able to spend time together as well as Nate and Amy. They had stuck with us basically again from you know, Nate me and Nate had been together since mile forty-seven and then Amy had joined us at mile seventy. We were able to just finish the race together and and you know, come around Deer Creek Reservoir and and it feels like forever because that's five miles on a dirt road and you're just like, is this ever gonna end? And but you know, it makes it so much more bearable when you just have good friends you're talking to and you guys are laughing, you're joking, you're like, Ryan, you're gonna do it again you know, it's just kind of a a a great feeling. And so, you know, my spirits were lifted just knowing like, okay, the race is is over, we've done a great job, let's let's finish this, let's get to the finish line and so So, you know, get to that last mile as you get to the pavement and start climbing up the road up to the campsites and all that up there and to the golf course. And, you know, you can see the finish line, and I'm like, man, we did it. Here we go. And so I thanked my pacers and you know came through the finish line. And, you know, like I said earlier, where I met John Grobins at mile 11 at the water aid station, I come across the finish line and I first thing I say to John, he says, you know, congratulations, you know, Ryan, for finishing it. race and I shake his hand. I said, I told you I'd see the finish line. Mike, I tell you that every year. And he's like, you do, you do say that to me every year. And he's like, Good job. Way to make it way to make it happen again. And so I thanked him. I said, as always, this race has has changed my life and I'm grateful to be a runner of this race. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to do it. I'm blessed to have a body that allows me to do this. That I've got knees that can hold up, a back that can hold up. you know, I've got good eyes that can keep me, you know, I can see what's happening in the middle of the night. And you I have my muscles in the right places to just help keep me strengthened throughout throughout the whole day. But most importantly I have just phenomenal friends and family members who pick me up and and care about me. And you know the one thing I would say I'll try to keep keep my composure, but I I am so grateful for those who love and care about me. I I can't tell you the amount of people who sent me text messages throughout the whole race and just the love that I got. I mean, just some that I have to share. You know, Tim Cotterall who's just you know, he may run roads, but you know, and we're we're two different worlds, but he is the biggest supporter and fan and he just keeps sending me, Good luck, man, you got this and you're killing it, dude. I'm tracking ya to I'm super impressed, dude. You're you're crushing it, you're getting you're peeing. are to Mari Vigil. she's a teacher, I believe, in in the Davis County School District, and she gets her whole class to send me a Marco Polo with them cheering Ryan, Ryan. And I just brought tears to my eyes, man. Like, how do you how do you not, when there's like 25, 30 kids in fifth grade or whatever it is, like cheering for you? Like, how do you not get emotional about that? To just all my family and So many friends just wishing me luck. I mean, as silly as my brothers are, Michael and and Blake, they're just always finding ways to just not only tease me, but make sure that I have a smile out there on the trail and the path. And you know, my mom, Jana, who she just always sends all these emojis, and everybody knows who my mom is because she'll send these messages with hearts and smooch faces, and you know, that's not just how my mom is. She just wants me to be safe, she cares so deeply. And then, you know, I'll get these messages from my daughters and my wife. how much they love me and they'll send me little clips and you know it's kinda funny as as I as I came through the finish line as I was coming to the finish line I looked over and saw my wife and my daughters and I I just waved at and and my wife waved back at me and there was just this it's just this love that I just felt for her and felt for my daughters and I was just like I'm I'm one blessed person. I've got best friends and I've got the best wife and you know, just best partner who supports and loves me as I chase these crazy dreams of mine and So yeah, I get, you know, I I I'm just I'm grateful and blessed. And this is these are my friends. This is the community that I get to be a part of. And I can continue. I've got, you know, like Laquita who's sending me messages and Micah who sends me these these messages that's mixed with music that me and her both love. I've got Ali who sent me messages of just like cheering me on. you know, I'm just I'm one lucky person. I mean it the the love doesn't stop from so many people. Melody, who is my first original coach, shooting me messages saying I want you to be successful. I mean, I can keep naming everybody that's on this list, and I'm just one blessed person to know so many people and those encouraging me and and that's what I get to that's that's the world I get to live in and I'm blessed and you know if I could offer you one bit of advice if you don't have that community you be the start of that. You be that person who starts that community and like you know if I'm the only person that I'm gonna stand by myself. For a while until if I find you know, I find other people who want to be in the same the same world of running with me, and then we'll all support each other. you'll find some great things there. And so, you know, come through the finish line, finish up, shake John's hand, get my medal, and you know, I just get to sit there with my crew and pacers, and we all just cheer each other on. but you know, one story I do want to end with that I I want that I think is important just because he's been a guest on here is you know, I I got to be. there as Ken Swalberg came through the finish line and Ken didn't make Ken didn't make the 36 hour cutoff and but Ken is a good person and he he he came through About forty minutes after the cutoff, right? And there's no fanfare for people like that. There's there's nobody there. they've taken down the signs and but there was four or five of us that stayed behind, me, Jamie, Jenny, and Zach. And we all waited there for him to come through that finish line and I got emotional. I couldn't like I am now, I couldn't keep my composure. And yeah, John Grobin was still there and he gave him a handshake and he says, You know, yeah, you don't get metal but you got a you got an unofinish unofficial finish and as I as I told Ken I said Ken you've told me more about you today than I've ever could have realized And I'm so proud of that dude. he knew that the ch he wasn't getting a finish, but he still went anyways. He still he still wanted to get across that finish line. And that tells me all I want to know. You know, I I've I've had the opportunity to coach him for, you know, past couple years, with all of his training his trail runs and and his ultra running. And you know, that was beautiful. Probably one of the more beautiful things I've ever seen is even when you know you have no chance, even when you know it's game over, when you know doesn't even matter you're not gonna make cutoffs. He still goes. He still went. And he's like, I'm gonna get an unofficial finish. I don't care. And that tells me a lot about a person. Tells me a lot about their character and the type of person who they really are. And Ken, love you, brother. I mean that that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in Ultra Running. So thank you for letting me be a part of that and thanks for letting me coach you I mean I can't say that I helped you be that person, but I what I will say is hopefully my my coaching helps you feel And so Got across the race. It's been a fun recovery coup that past couple of days just trying to get back to feeling halfway decent. you know, aches and pains and you know, all the other jazz that just comes with, you know, running and you know, everything you can to recover. I mean, I'm really big about protein shakes. I'm really big about stretching, I'm really big about Epsom salt baths and letting that you're letting your body heal up. those are the things that I try to do. I do I I I don't take like a whole week off or anything. It's just this is Ryan's training or recovery. I take maybe two or three days off and then I start getting out and trying to move again just so I can get the blood flowing again in my legs. But yeah, you know, biggest things I'd say I'd take away from Wasitch this year is it's amazing when everything kind of comes together what you can do. you know, I finished in about 34 hours and 52 minutes, so that was a PR for me. I'm grateful for that. That was a 35, 40 minute PR, I think. I'm grateful that I was able to do that. do I want to get faster? Of course. I want to keep getting faster and I think I'm figuring out how to do Wasitch. I think I've got a better idea now and would love to keep doing that. I'd love to do it as long as I possibly can in life. You know, I don't know if that will always be the case, but I'd love to. I feel like I'm finally starting to figure out this race and and how to be better at it. But it's nice when everything kind of comes together. It's nice when you're training, when all that preparation you put in, training with strength training with running, with climbing heels, with getting the right gear, having good crew, make sure you guys are strategizing. It's amazing what happens when it all comes together. you know, it it's always important to have those right people in the right places to help get you from point A to point B with trail with when you're doing your eras having those correct pacers. the other big takeaway Is being smart about your approach, right? And that is making sure you're getting the water in you, making sure you're eating, making sure you're not just going all out in the first 20 miles. Be smart, be strategic about your approach. You know, as I've mentioned before with Eric on here, you know, the walk-run method, eight and two, right? There was multiple times I was following that depending on the situation. I was like, listen, it is time to, you know, push for eight minutes, take it easy for two, eight, two, eight and two. Sometimes it was four and four. Okay, I'm gonna run for four minutes. Walk for four. And just try to get me across the finish line. So many times it was not about being the fastest person out there, it was just about being consistent. And if you can do that, a lot of times you can do a lot of great things. And so, truly Wasuch was a great, great experience this year in twenty twenty six. and I just had a blast. I hope, you know, in the next few months that I can interview a few more other people who did the race and was able to finish it. And if even if they didn't finish it, that's okay. I'd love to hear their story too and and what happened. But to me, Wasuch is beautiful. it's It's it's a hard race. It's gonna challenge you. But as I've always said, Wasatch, I found myself at Wasatch. I found out I'm a different person that I always believed I was because of Wasatch. And I'm grateful for that race. I'm grateful for all those who've gone before me that ran it. I'm grateful for those who ran it this year, and I'm grateful for all those who will run in the future because I want to be an example to them that yes, this is possible, that it can be done. And for those who did it before me, thank you for for doing great with this race and and making it what it is so that Others could be attracted to it to find themselves and and find something deeper in themselves because it is tough. It is a very, very hard race compared to other hundreds in the state of Utah. it's it's up there with probably being the hardest. So I'm super grateful for this race. So, anyways, this is the Wasich 100 recap. It's been awesome. If you have any questions personally for me about any aspect of the race, I would love to talk to you about it. I love talking about this race, it's always fun for me. yeah, love to share more with you if you have like a specific. question you're what happened at this eight station or what happened here yeah please let me know love to talk to you about it always happy to share more about the race and just my experience and as always if you're looking for a coach you're looking you're like grand I'd love to do Wasich I'm a running coach I'd love to help you get there you know I think if you ask me personally the the money you will spend to get prepared and feel ready to do it is is minuscule in the in in the grand scheme of things and and how much this can change your life and at And I'm grateful as I've said I I had a great coat running, I've had two great running coaches that helped me get across Wasuch the first two years. And then since then I've kind of just coached myself. But find someone that'll help you do that something crazy like this. And even if it isn't Wasuch, if it's Bear, if it's DC Peaks, if it's Annalop, Pony Express, find someone to help you get there. Even if you're like I want to do a marathon, find someone that'll help you get there. because it's gonna help change your life. Running has been a game changer for me. It's really helped me find my why and my purpose in life and why I do everything. I do. So I want to end by just saying again what my why is as I've shared multiple times and there's so many different There's so many different routes to it. But my why really is is centered in community. I I can't do these hundred milers without my my crew, without my friends, without my family. I can't. I'm grateful for these people. I have their backs and they have my and they have my back when I need them. And they prove that yet again at Wallace 100 by sending me text messages, by being there, driving up their four-wheelers to meet me at aid stations, to, you know, spending their day all day and all night helping me and then again all day the next day getting me taken care of making sure I'm I I'm well protected I have all the gear I need and get me going and and yeah I'm just one blessed person but you know again big special you know big thank you to my crew for the Wasich 100 that being Jacob Bateman Cody Vable and Joe Wynarsky as my pacers and my last pacers of Zach Vigil Shamie McDonald and Jenny Little. But just a big, big, special thank you to my crew chief, one person who always has my back. She is amazing. Jenny Little, thank you. Thank you for all you do. You have no idea the impact you have on my life. And I can't wait to see you crush the DC Peaks 100 here very shortly. So that being said, we'll wrap up this episode. Thank you guys for tuning in. Again, if you have any questions, if you need help with your own running dreams, I'm here to help you. I'd love To help you. Well, until next time, chase after that why. Be the best version of yourself and don't forget to help others because it this life is a lot better when we help each other. Okay, guys, see ya. Coach Ryan Head: Hey runner, thanks for hanging out with me today on Reimagine Running. I'm grateful you're here and a part of this great podcast. I just want to remind you, if you ever feel stuck and unsure or just want someone in your corner, I do offer coaching for runners at any distance, whether you're starting out with the 5K or you're chasing some crazy big goals and dreams like the marathon or the 100 miler, I'd love to help you. Please reach out and I'd be happy to set up a time to go over options and plans and goals with you. Well, until next time. Take care of yourself, trust the process, stay disciplined and keep chasing that Y.