Race: Mesquite Canyon 50K
I have shared with a lot of friends and family that when it comes to running, I have had about a two year fixation on a race called the Zane Grey Highline Trail 50. I have enjoyed all of the other runs and races (especially the Komen with Kimberly) a whole lot, but Zane has been the overall focus. There are some pretty big reasons for this, some of which I will be able to share down the road, and some which you just have to know are very, very important to me. It’s kind of silly I know, that a race could have that much importance. At the end of the day I know it’s just a run, just a day in our life, but it is something that I have made some strong commitments to and I will hold up my end.
Zane is ran on the Mongolian Rim in AZ at about 5000 feet. The trail is famous for its up and downs, rocks, boulders, stream crossings, and thorn bushes to go through - among all kinds of other challenges. Zane is one of the most recognized 50 Mile runs of all the Ultra Marathons. It is so, because it has a reputation for being one of the, and likely the most challenging 50 miler of all of them. It is ranked up there among many of the world’s most challenging events (List Here). Anyway, Zane is getting oh so close for us now. Because of this I have had to really pick up my weekly miles and add some more challenging hills and mountain runs. Which brings us to the Mesquite Canyon 50K.
We had been home for two days from running two Marathon’s and a Half Marathon the last three weekends when Kimberly was online and spotted a local 50K here in the White Tank Mountains - the Mesquite Canyon 50K. I had forgotten about this. We did know because a good runner friend of ours was running the 25K (they had several lengths of races that day). I thought about it for a second and went “perfect” I needed a long run, I needed hills and this would just give me the added benefit of someone to share some water and boiled potatoes along the way. I signed up before I took a look at the course. Good thing too, because I’m not too sure I would have made that decision had I looked first. Let’s just say yowzer! The course included basically every trail in the White Tanks including a Ford Canyon bit that had a drop (and return climb) of near 1400 feet within less than a 2 mile stretch. It also included a run through the White Tanks which the park was named. This is basically a 3 mile stretch in a wash bottom of sand and boulder dodging and hoping and butt scooting.
Long story not so short, it was for sure the most challenging race i have done to date (BTW some who were there have ran Zane and said this “felt” like about half the challenge! It took me 5:55:35 to run the 31 miles (yep 5 hours and 55 minutes) and I was in the top 25% overall - that shows how crazy this thing was. Truth be told - I loved the heck out of it. Not the four days of soreness from that downhill, nor the craziness of just hanging on the last few miles, but the overall experience - AMAZING. The people at these events are so great too. The Ultra community locally here is pretty special, along with having some special runners including the guys Nick and Jamil of Aravaipa Running who put on the race (they are some of the fastest Ultra guys in the states). I got to see buddy Jon Roig again, and of course hang with good running friend John Kubica. Not only did John come in 3rd place overall in his 25K race - he hung around for hours and hours to cheer me into my finish - I told you runner friends are cool!