Type 4 Fun!

I visited Big Sky, Montana for The Rut twice! The trips were 7 years apart and with starkly contrasting weather conditions. However, the results were eerily and frustratingly similar.

Towards the end of 2016, I decided a needed a different kind of challenge. I didn’t believe I was ready for 100 miles or even necessarily 50 miles but I still wanted to do something harder than a 50k in the flat lands of the Midwest. My solution to this problem was to pick one of the hardest 50k races in the country -maybe even in the world. The Rut

If you’ve read some of my other race reports, you may be picking up on a theme in the choices that I make. They are grossly ill-advised.

I was thoroughly out of my mind and intimidated by the course for the 50k. I opted to hedge my bets, as it were, and signed up for not just the 50k, but the VK as well. The VK was a race mode that I had not encountered before and it felt insane, but it also felt like the best chance to get to the Lone Peak summit.

I really wanted to finish the 50k, but I also wasn’t sure I could. Additionally, I really wanted to get to the Lone Peak summit and the VK was the shortest path. Ergo, one simply must do both in order to achieve at least one goal. Right? This makes sense to me.

This was truly a huge leap for me. Not only was this to be my first ultra marathon in the mountains, it was to be my first time doing anything at high altitude. The Big Sky Resort is at around 7,500 feet and the Lone Peak summit tops off at around 11,000. I lived in the Midwest my whole life, I had never even traveled to a mountain yet. How was I even going to prepare?

I did my best to find the hilliest places in SE Michigan to train and I just sort of crossed my fingers.

The time came, and I chose to burn through all of my PTO so that I could spend as much time out there as possible before the race weekend in order to acclimate. I had a great time! That area of Montana is beautiful, Bozeman is a fun city, and Yellowstone is very close by. I was able to enjoy all of it prior to The Rut.

_{^{I saw this clever girl at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman!}}

Friday, September 1st was race day for the Vertical Kilometer and I was stoked. I woke up in the morning and left my room at the resort to the pleasant aroma of campfire, completely unawares that this was not normal. Wildfires raged in the western reaches of the state and beyond, the winds carrying the smoke far east were to blame for the pleasant smell and the haze that I just thought was a morning fog.

Air quality was not great and it was going to heat up in the afternoon by the time of the VK start but I had no expectations, just finish.

Getting to the top was a huge confidence boost and even better news would reach me when I got back to the resort. My friends Rodney and Nancy had arrived! They were there in support of my 50k attempt on Sunday, which I am eternally grateful for.

Sunday was an absolute beast. I was a bundle of nerves in the starting corral but once we got started I began to calm down. The first 8 miles went really well, better than expected even. It was the easiest section of the course, naturally but it was nice to feel strong and in control even after the 1,500 foot climb in the first 2 miles.

However, things really started to fall apart at mile 14. Not quite beginning the ascent to Headwaters Ridge, I really started to feel the thin smoky air sapping a lot of energy from me. I was still feeling like my legs could push through and mentally I was in great spirits but I was having trouble keeping the heart rate and breathing manageable.

The last mile to get to the ridge took nearly an hour, and the very technical descent was creating additional problems in my knees and quads. I would get to take a break at the Swiftcurrent aid station, where my friends were cheering, but the next section of the course is the hardest part.

From Swiftcurrent to the Summit is an extremely steep and technical hike up Bonecrusher and Alto Ridge. It’s about 1.2 miles and 2,000 feet of vertical gain! I had done this very thing just two days prior so I knew what I was in for and I was scared. I was able to rest but I did not have a lot time to dilly dally as the cut-off was looming.

It took me about as long to hike this stretch as the entirety of the VK took me the Friday before. I was gassed and out of time and the summit would be the end of the The Rut 2017 for me.

2024 was going to be different!

It sure wasn’t! But, also, it really was!

In 2024, I had more mountain experience and access to them on the regular thanks to living in New England. Training this time was more focused and the confidence was building. I knew where I was going to struggle and I knew how I would face those challenges. It was 7 years later and I was going to have my revenge.

If the fires were the omen of 2017, then the precipitation would be the omen for 2024.

Within an hour of landing in Bozeman on Wednesday, a huge storm rolled through area. The hotel I was staying at in Bozeman for the night lost power, as did the restaurant I ate dinner at. Dinner by candlelight was romantic but the snow that get dumped on the mountains was alarming. There was a risk of needing to go to the shorter back-up routes. Fortunately, most of the snow would melt by Sunday but it remained rainy for most of the weekend.

The VK went great, despite the stark contrast of trail conditions. It was much colder and much windier, plus there was still a decent amount of snow on ground. The snow as a bit of a double edged sword, while it was slick it also covered a lot of the scree. Those large loose rocks that struggled over so much the first time. I annihilated 2017’s time by nearly 20 minutes, it was exhilarating.

Sunday was going to go great, I just knew it. One thing I had not really counted on was the growing popularity of the race forcing a significant change in how the 50k would start. 2017 had been a mass start with everyone under the same cutoffs. 2024 was wave starts based on projected finishing time, and crucially with no change to the cutoff times. Because I was honest about when I thought I would finish, I started in the 6th and final wave, 25 minutes after Wave 1. Because of this, I had 25 fewer minutes to get to each cutoff.

The weather for the 50k was perfect, a little cool but warm enough the last few days that the snow had all but melted. The start of the race was fairly similar, those first 8 miles felt controlled and well paced. My approach to Headwaters improved dramatically though, The steady climbing from mile 9 to mile 15 went so much quicker – from around 17:30/mile in 2017 to 16:15/mile in 2024. And critically, the actual ascent up Headwaters was around 10 minutes faster.

Unfortunately, the Headwaters traverse did the same amount of damage and I was in pretty rough shape by the time I reached the Swiftcurrent Lift. While, it didn’t take quite two hours to traverse Bone Crusher and Alto Ridges to the Summit, my race would be over when I arrived. Despite getting there a 30 whole minutes faster, I had 25 fewer minutes to recover and leave the aid station. Sadly, I wouldn’t be able to pull it together. Knowing how technical the descent was going to be (essentially a carbon copy of the ascent) and the condition of my legs – specifically my ankles – I made the emotional decision to drop.

I was pretty upset. I hadn’t cried that much at a race since my very first ultra in 2015 was seemingly slipping through my fingers. And, this was certainly the hardest I was taking a DNF. I couldn’t help but be frustrated by the newer rules, but a day or two later, after I had calmed down and began taking in the lessons I knew I couldn’t blame the wave starts. I was in rough shape at the Summit, even if I had left in time, that descent would have been perilous in my condition and there were still two more cutoffs I would have to beat before the Finish.

Looking ahead, I am determined to not let another 7 years pass by before I finish.

The Rut may end up being my white whale. That story has a happy ending, right?