Hunter Coffman's Staging Area

I really enjoyed this race. The course, for the most part, was super fun though. a little easier than I anticipated. The only section that really tore me to bits was climbing the mesa back up to Gooseberry 3. As well, one thing I wasn’t a crazy huge fan of was how much walking the course nearly demanded (even for a 100 miler) but it did mean that I got to run HARD for the last 10 miles.

The aid stations were top-notch: tons of sunscreen, ice I could put under my hat, and a variety of foods such that I could always find at least 1 thing that hit the spot. I had to rely on basically no gels because there was always great food to be had.

Aside from the walking, I had three minor critiques of the race. The first is that it was sometimes hard to find ribbons occasionally, especially during the out-and-back from Guacamole. The second is that the send-off at the start was a little underwhelming; I’ve been at races where it’s incredibly hyped up but this was kind of just a “let’s go!”. Thirdly, I wish there were more photo stations — there were only 2 photo ops out there and they were basically in the same spot. We all love some photos!

Regardless, V.R. is an awesome company and put on a great race. The scenery out there is unbelievable and I would so highly recommend this race to anyone who asked. Oh, and the buckle you get too is pretty cool: it contains dried plant matter from the region and looks super unique!