9/4/2026
Hmm Where was I…? Oh yes, The Crazy Mountain Ultra. I have not yet fully pieced together my emotions I suppose, but we should get into this regardless. It was nearly two months ago…woops. The funny thing about stream of consciousness is that…it gets interrupted whether we like it or not. Note taking the event and then coming back around to the beautiful memories later isn’t so bad though. Keeps us connected even when we are all apart.
Let me begin with our morning. Which for me began at about 00:30 thinking “Is this really what’s going on?” staring out my open car window at a blinking sky full of the familiar stars of home…And the sounds of Wolves not too far away having steak for dinner. I cannot have been the only one who heard that. Or maybe I started hallucinating first. Who really knows?
I awoke to a very homelike static shiver down the back of my spine and the relentless flashing of lightning closing in on camp like a war ship. I won’t make any of us relive it too much.
By the time it was all calm, it was time to send the feral kids off to school. All I can say for certain is that I don’t even see very well in the dark, but the sky…I hadn’t really seen it in a couple of years and I missed it very much. I am no astrophotographer so let me say this. No city skyline, landscape, or beautiful face could ever compare to the absolute majesty of the Montana Sky in the Crazy Mountains. All else in comparison is beyond our horizons.
“Have a good Day kids.”
Anyways, do any of you know much about the physics theory of time dilation? 3 days felt both like 3 weeks and 3 minutes. Everything like the first day of High School. The Start of a day that I have made sure I will never ever forget.
“When the going gets weird, The Weird Turn Pro.”-Hunter S. Thompson
The Sun rose and I heard the cranes first.
This for me, was certainly quite the little solo trek-even to the “easiest” accessible aid station on the course. It was about 2 hours on the highway (I drive too fast) and then what would have been 45minutes on a dirt road through mountains and cattle trails. That is of course if I could have just driven and not stopped about every tenth of a mile to take photos. I was early though and didn’t see another car until arriving at my destination. Everyone else was still on the other side of the Mountains.
Knowing my own little limitations I quite honestly still know I made the right decision. I am still getting emotional thinking about the day spent out there. The living, breathing, perpetually moving community that is Ultra on Full Display. Every individual story unfolding and every memory I could grasp I tried to. The happenings of these moments never to be duplicated ever again.
Also this cabin? Majestic.
Have you ever eaten Chinese Food at the foot of a mountain?
I cannot imagine how the runners all must feel still. Getting to see about 70% of them at close to halfway, was special. Estimating “My runner” (or so everyone kept calling him,) between 6-8pm, is about all I could really think about…you know besides the waterfall I chased after that afternoon. Then it happened. I started worrying.
It got HOT. Real hot. Florida Hot. Then it kept happening, complete strangers “How’s your runner doing?” SHIT how IS he doing? It dawned on me for the moment I was the only one tracking him outside the race hq. So, the run back and forth every 90 minutes to make sure he was still moving (some people weren’t at this point) was officially on. Staying vigilant for I don’t know how many hours. Seeing as I wasn’t actually his crew all I could really do is be on “make sure he’s alive” watch. In my generalized anxiety, I had forgotten that my company might even actually be noticed or matter?
And there it was…try as I might to be the proverbial outcast, I was hit with the inexplicable realization that I was being included, and a part of all this. If even for emotional support…which. What do you mean I am not invisible?
And after awhile…The Captain of his own sails, Showed up. Looking tough and brave.
A smile across his face mostly, staring in the eyes of the hardest race I have ever seen in real life, and somehow asking me “Soo, how was your day?” as he loaded up on calories.
Honestly, I was so stunned I said something stupid like “I went to the waterfall.” And continued to shoot photos. Completely rocked by the whole maybe 10minutes (tops, probably less) that I got to see him.
Then it was time for my own race with the sun back to base…. (I mentioned I don’t see well at night, right?) Ya’ll I am not sure what you have heard about Florida drivers, but I will gladly admit that while I do know how to use a turn signal, in this sort of country without another car in sight, I do not hesitate to get down the damned road. I must not have been going too egregiously fast for the tolerances of the Troopers I saw in both directions, and boy you bet they saw me. In my stupid high beam GMC white rental SUV ( I HATED IT but it was very nice…for a rolling computer.) Also… sorry.
I would be…. Not really actually sleeping until Saturday night after all the festivities would end. Something I was not sure I was even capable of riding out these days much less with as much energy I did. It takes very special people to bring out the best in each other. That’s all I know for sure.
(The start line at 3am)
The man in charge of timing ended up making me a full pace sheet so maybe I could rest, so I must have been looking real great by 3am. And keeping him awake, which he said he didn’t mind having someone to keep him awake.
I was ready to do whatever I had to do. After 4 years, I didn’t realize how much I missed this shit.
Always Around 