The Bone and Back 40 miler would be marathon (or greater) #37, state #23 and my first attempt at an ultra longer than 50k. This race is mainly set up as a relay event with 5 mile legs, but a few crazy folks, like me, decided to do the whole thing. There would only be 10 people to attempt the full 40 miles and a few hundred that would be doing the relays. We flew into Salt Lake City on Thursday and then drove up to Idaho Falls on Friday. We drove the course Friday night just to get a perspective on the elevation changes: www.summitortho.net/images/elevation_large.jpg. The first few miles looked easy and would stay under 5000 ft until just past mile five. My initial goal was to finish, but I really didn’t think this would be an issue, so my rough goal was to hit the first 5 miles in 40 minutes, then take 50 minutes for the next 5, and take 90 minutes to go the next 10 miles. This would get me to the turnaround at 3:00 and then I was hoping to make it back in another three and a half hours. That would give me a total time of 6:30. Anything faster than 6:30 and I would be happy, but I figured if everything went perfect I could maybe knock 15 minutes off of that time. I figured I would positive split by 15-30 minutes and I would be quite happy with that (as I have had worse positive splits in regular marathons).
Saturday morning comes and I wake up at 4:30 to take a shower and get all my gear ready. At 4:45 I wake up my wife and son (who is not happy to wake up this early, especially when no cartoons are involved). 5:05 we are out the door and on the way to the race. We get there about 5:15 (www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/bnb_before.jpg) and I hit the head for one last time. There are only 10 of us lined up to start. www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/bnb_start.jpg The gun fires and off we go, I settle into my easy pace and somehow am in second place for the first mile. Mile 1 comes by in 7:35 which is exactly where I want to be. Right after mile 1 I meet up with one of the sponsors of the race (an orthopedic surgeon named Gene) and we run together for the next 8 miles before he drops me on the monster hill leading up to mile 10. We continue rolling thru the first 5 miles in a good pace and I am right on target at 39:41.
0-1 7:35
1-2 7:35
2-3 8:07
3-4 8:10
4-5 8:13
Now we would start into the first slight grade. It is still pretty easy and enjoyable. I learn that the guy currently leading (who after mile 2 would only be seen again at the turnaround and the finish) was the course record holder and was looking to smash it this year. This race was all on the roads which was surprising to me. I had never heard of a race longer than a marathon that wasn’t on trails. It didn’t seem to bother me and we kept climbing. The aid stations were every 2.5 miles with water, and every 5 with sports drink, water and power gel. I made it thru the next 4 miles feeling very good.
5-6 8:53
6-7 9:20
7-8 8:57
8-9 9:54
I not came up on the steepest section of the course and slowly started to lose contact with Gene. At the 10 mile water stop, I pull over and rinse the salt from my face and splash cold water on my face and arms. It is now starting to get warm. I hit mile 10 in 1:28 something which is slightly ahead of my ideal goal time. I lost some time on this mile and at the water stop but I feel the ice water was worth any time lost (it would turn out to be my second slowest mile of the day).
9-10 11:34
I crest the hill and then experience a beautiful downhill and am treated to the fastest mile of the day.
10-11 7:07
The next few miles were nice rolling hills, with lots of alien looking wind mills. www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/if_turbines2.jpg Off to the left side of the road you could see power lines as far as the eye could see that appeared to all be inside of each other. www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/if_phonepoles.jpg The scenery was beautiful and I kept spotting Gene and trying to figure out how much farther I was behind him. The next 7 miles pass fairly uneventfully.
11-12 7:56
12-13 9:11
13-14 8:31
14-15 9:46
15-16 8:45
16-17 9:22
17-18 9:11
I was hoping to meet my wife at the turnaround at mile 20 about 3 hours into the race. Since it was an out and back I knew she’d have to pass me driving on the way up so I knew I couldn’t miss her. The next two miles had some slight uphill leading to the turnaround.
18-19 10:33
19-20 9:58
I see Gene at the turn around and figure he is about 4 minutes ahead of me at this point. I get to the mile 20 aid station and repeat the process of rinsing my face and arms and filling up my bottle, only this time I would forget something. I make it back up the hill and realize I’ve left my glasses on the water cooler. Damnit! I turn back around and go get them losing about 2 minutes. Luckily it is a downhill mile and I’m still able to stay under 10 minutes for that mile.
20-21 9:50
I pass the 4th and 5th place finisher and they look about as good as I do. I figure I have a 8 minute lead on them at this point and just hope I can hold them off. www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/bnb_distant.jpg
21-22 7:53
22-23 9:15
After mile 23 I see my wife and son and I am happy to see them. I ask my wife to meet me at the next at station about 2 miles ahead. The next two miles roll by and I see my family again. What a lift.
23-24 9:54
24-25 8:48
I hand my wife my water bottle and ask her to fill it up with Gatorade and then catch up to me and get it. Somehow we have a communication misfire and she thinks I say give it to me in 2 or 3 miles. I’m heading down the road and she passes me and doesn’t stop. Then she slows down, and I’m thinking okay, now I can get my bottle. Then she takes off again, and I’m left wondering WTF?!
I wouldn’t see her until the next water stop 2.5 miles down the road. I was running on empty about a half mile before the aid station where I gave her my bottle and so now I’ve been 3 miles without water and I am getting really hot. I wonder what I’ve have done to anger my wife.
25-26 9:24
26-27 10:17
I finally see her like a mirage in the desert, but thankfully she is real and I get my bottle back. I drain half of it instantly and them am off again. The next two miles are slightly harder as I am beginning to regain some of the altitude.
27-28 9:47
28-29 10:29
The lack of water has caught up with me and I am struggling in the heat and the grade. I seriously wonder where the hell this hill came from, and I vaguely remembering running the other way fairly quickly and now know I have to pay the piper. I finally realizing I am running an 11-12 minute mile and I might as well just walk, and so I do, a lot. I finally get to the top of the hill drained. This would be my slowest mile. But now I now I can finish, only 10 miles to go and its all down hill from here.
29-30 13:25
30-31 8:51
After passing mile 31 I realize I have never run this far before. It was kind of a cool feeling. I would meet up with my wife and son every 2-3 miles for moral support and I got into the zone and stay around 9 minute miles till the end.
31-32 8:38
32-33 9:35
33-34 8:51
34-35 9:18
35-36 9:00
36-37 9:18
37-38 9:58
38-39 9:00
39-40 8:50
I crossed the finish line in 6:09 and had managed to hold on to 3rd place. www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/bnb_fclaward.jpg
I went straight to the grass and laid down. I was given an ice towel which I put to good use. My son told me there was ice cream and that we should get some. It seemed like a great idea so I struggled to my feet and we had some ice cream. It was a great way to finish the day. I really enjoyed this race and if you are looking for a road 40 miler that is fun and friendly then I highly recommend this race. It was great seeing my family multiple time during the race. This normally doesn’t happen and it was great.
I got written up in the Idaho Falls paper (not by name but by craziness). They said a man from Austin who was trying to run a marathon in every state picked the Bone and Back to be his Idaho marathon. It was kind of fun. The race director was very friendly and invited my family to come to the awards so he could show us off. At the ceremony he made a very nice speech about us traveling all the way to Idaho Falls just to run his race. (I think I was the first non-idahoan to ever run this race). Everyone was super friendly and it was a great time.
I would finish with a very nice sunburn: www.livaudais.net/bonetrip/img/bnb_fclsunburn.jpg. That’s what you get when you don’t wear sun block apparently.
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