If you're looking for an extremely hard race, put this one on your schedule. I'm not going to say it's as hard as a hundred miler, but the best way I've heard it described is, "it's like running the last 65 miles of a hundred miler." The course is a great mix of dirt roads, singletrack, and cross country, with some great views of mountain lakes and some insanely steep climbs thrown in for good measure. Your feet are very wet and sloppy almost the entire time. I'm slowly fading from the ultra scene but the allure of a San Juan/Never Summer double is definitely in the back of my mind for next year.
Nick and the Fort crew did an excellent job, as usual. I hear there were some grumblings about course marking, but I didn't find that to be an issue. You definitely had to pay attention at times, but I never got lost. My only complaints were beer related - no beer at the aid stations and some kind of chocolate stout at the finish line, not really the tastiest beer after running for 17.5 hours. No need to worry, I had my own stash.
3 comments:
Good summary. And thanks $100 for the beer from your stash.
You'd probably be a good judge: What's your comparison of the first 50M to SJS, in terms of finishing time/difficulty? It feels like it might be close and could go either way based on people's times.
I think Never Summer, whether the first 50 or taken as a whole, is harder than San Juan. Much more technical, much steeper. I can see someone who struggles with altitude having a different opinion though, as Never Summer doesn't really have the high average altitude that the San Juan Solstice has.
Is your wife on a leash in that photo where your left shoe looks to be size 16 AAA?
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