Last week, my brother Erik ran a race… a fifty mile race! My mom, my girls and I drove up to Idaho to be his support crew. It was only 3 days (one day up, one race day, and one day home) but over 750 miles of driving and was one of the neatest experiences ever.
We drove up on Friday and stayed at my Aunt’s home. We went and visited my grandparents that night with my cousins. So fun!
Brookie was so wiped out that she fell asleep as I was taking off my coat. I turned back around and she had zonked.
The morning of the race, we piled into the smackback and drove up to Mesa Falls. We saw a fox and then we “ran with a moose.” It ran in front of our car for about a quarter of a mile. It took the moose so long to get momentum but once it got going, it was fast! Really neat to run with a moose!
We got to the starting pull off and we all needed to use the restroom – except the restroom was closed due to the government shutdown… needless to say, the backside of the restroom was N.A.S.T.Y!!! PEeing outside in 20 degree weather is an experience of it’s own too.
There it is! #533!!!
After Erik took off, we decorated the car for him.
The race was also part of a hundred mile race that had started a couple hours before this in West Yellowstone. There were 47 runners from that race and only 8 for the 50 miler. Originally, there were 22 but due to the bad weather most couldn’t make it. We were so lucky the weather was nice… 40 degree nice instead of blizzard nice.
And he’s off!
One of our first stops was Warm River. It was about 5 mi into the race. It wasn’t warm…
Then we were out of the forest and into some farm lands-
The race had aid stations every ten miles. We stopped about every five for Erik. These are photos from the first station.
Yay Erik! He came in all happy and energized on the first station.
We stopped at a neat little cemetery in Squirrel, ID (what the name?!)
The whole race ran pretty much parallel to these gorgeous Teton Mountains.
I loved this farmhouse in the middle of a dirt field with nothing around it.
At the 20 mile aid station, we met some pretty awesome ladies. I love meeting the salt of the earth type people. The Miller Sisters are in three bands, from Minnesota, and have families! We chatted about everything and loved learning about them and how they grew up. One thing I loved the most is how kind they spoke of everyone. Abi and Brookie played with Mary Jane for the two hours we ended up staying there. We shared our bikes (best idea ever – props to Dan) and she shared her lunch with the girls.
Erik came into mile 30 pretty tired. Our goal was to only tell him he had one aid station left before the finish line – it made it seem like he was a lot further along. At this point, he had caught up to another runner, Chad, who was having some knee problems. It was SUCH a blessing to have him and Erik run “together” for the rest of the race. I think it helped both runners finish. (Erik had never run over 20 miles!!!)
My girls started to get a bit tired around 35 miles. But overall, they didn’t even throw fits the whole time!!! Amazing! But we still had a long 15 miles to go.
We saw a fun school bus/hay carrier on our adventures.
The last aid station. It was about dinner time and we were all starting to get antsy as the sun started to set.
After the longest nine miles EVER!!!! Erik came into Driggs to the finish line. You can see his headlamp coming down the sidewalk.
I honestly thought it would take him 15-18 hours… NOPE! He took 11 hours, 33 minutes, and 40 seconds (10 seconds off of the clock) – ELEVEN HOURS!!! So impressive! We were all so emotional when he came through. There was something so special about that moment, knowing his struggles and being his support. There were times when I wanted him to speed up, take a break, quit, keep going – times when I wanted to take his place or run with him – but he did it all himself and exceeded all my expectations. I am just so proud of him.
The race director let Abi put Erik’s medal on. That was neat for her I am sure!
I was just so impressed by Erik. He looks tired but doesn’t look like he just ran all day!
We were all SO wiped after the race. So wiped. I think we spent as much energy as Erik did being the support. It is a lot of work. We were always worried, alert, getting snacks and water, speculating, calculating and taking care of the girls. We all slept pretty well after a dinner at Tony’s.
The next morning we went back over to the finish line and watched some of the 100 milers come in. The first place 100 came in just under 15 hours! Crazy! The first place for the 50 miler, she came in around 8.5 hours! So fast!!!
This is our new family friend Bill. We adopted him as he ran (his 31st long distance run). We cheered him on and even wrote his name on our car. He truly is a blessing to us and the more we get to know Bill, the more we love him. Besides watching Erik conquer this run, the best part was meeting such amazing people with amazing stories. Everyone was so kind and thoughtful.
On our way home we stopped at the Teton Dam sight. It is such a ghostly place now. Such a sad story.
Then we listened to the second session of Sunday conference at my aunt’s before driving home. I love conference… I love family. My aunt is amazing. She is the best mom and wife and I am so grateful I am her niece.
This is a photo taken by Bill that he sent to me as a thank you.
The whole race Erik kept around a 12-15 minute mile! The WHOLE thing! It was amazing to watch. I was so inspired by him, I came home a ran the furthest I have ever run – a measly 5.25 miles – but it was a task for me. His determination and positive attitude was awesome and he did it for himself. I loved it!!!