Hardrock 100 Run

Colorado, endurance racing, running | UltraRob | Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

I’m not a runner. I’ve tried but just haven’t been able to get in to it. I admire those that do 100 mile runs and sometimes wish I could do one. With cycling you can coast and recover a bit but not when running.

The Hardrock 100 Endurance Run was July 11th-13th last year. Our local paper did a good article and video on it. I’ve meant to post about them but didn’t get it done until now.

The Hardrock 100 is a brutal running race in the Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. It climbs 11 mountain passes and one 14,000-foot peak for a vertical gain of 32,962 feet. It’s in the area where we camped and I did some long training for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race last year. The last day when we four-wheeled the Alpine Loop, we were on part of the Hardrock 100 course.

Two locals ran it last year. Jon Teisher and Neal Taylor are 2 very different runners. I’ve met both of them and they’re both nice guys.

The Hardrock 100 Run is July 10th and 12th this year. A lottery is used to select 140 runners. Jon made it back in this year and Neal is 45th on the list.

Jon, more commonly known as JT or brownie, attends the Manitou Incline happy hour that I do. JT likes to eat double cheeseburgers and he likes beer. He even will drink beer during long races.

Just over a week ago, JT ran rim to rim and back of the Grand Canyon. He ran 42 miles with over 11,000 vertical feet in 13 hours. His write up is well worth the read.

Neal is the caretaker at Barr Camp and I’ve chatted with him a few times when I’ve hiked to Barr Camp. Neal is a strict vegetarian and rarely drinks. JT thinks Neal would drink more if it wasn’t so hard to get alcohol to Barr Camp.

Mental toughness is a huge part of doing an ultra whether it’s on the bike, running, adventure race or something else. One thing Neal has learned is it will get bad, you will suffer, but you’re not going to die, so keep going. Leadville 100 organizer, Ken Clouber, says finishing hurts for a few hours but quitting hurts for 365 days until you can do the race again. Lance Armstrong said it even stronger by saying pain is temporary but quitting lasts forever.

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