August 2009 – Jackson Hole, WY Trip and the Mesa Falls Marathon
August 27, 2009
Guys trip! After 14 years of running together we moved past our 2 state running bubble radius and ventured out west as in the Wild West. That’s right. Wyoming. Idaho. Montana. Bison. Moose. Elk. Saloons. Shootouts. Stagecoaches. West. What did we do? I am glad you asked! It was a flurry of activity:
Thursday: Fly out. Receive the official guided tour of Dave and Diane’s spectacular new home. Acclimate (with a brisk walk including 500 feet of elevation gain). Lungs burned. Heads ached. Pre-race fears emerged.
Friday: Wake early (3:30 MT/5:30 ET). Watch sunrise over Sleeping Indian Mountain. Work a little. Relax a little. Bike 14 miles in Grand Teton National Park. Pre-race pasta-up. Early to bed.
Saturday: Race day! Wake even earlier (2:30 MT/4:30 ET). Commute to race start in Ashton, ID. Bus to race start line. 6:30 – race start. 10:01 – race end. Noon – awards ceremony. 12:30 – Huckleberry Shake time! 3pm arrival in Yellowstone National Park. 4:30pm Cindy/Stewart see us on the Old Faithful Webcam. 5:16 – there she blows! 8pm return to Dave’s home. 8:30pm – hot tub. Early to bed. Click here for a full race re-cap. Mesa Falls Marathon website can be found here.
Sunday: Normally a day like yesterday would warrant a late wake-up call. Maybe coffee while catching up on life? Nope. 6:30am departure for the infamous “8-mile hike” Dave mapped out for us. Ok. So it turned out to be 19.3 miles. Merely a rounding error. The view at Solitude Lake made up for the major food bonk we (me) experienced with the 1 bar each we brought with us. Dave’s reputation for slight understatements and his ability to get people to follow his lead both remain firmly intact. Seriously – a must-do hike for those in the Tetons. Starts at Jenny Lake. Climbs 3000 feet in 9 miles. Repeat in reverse. Major appetizers (fantastic nachos!) and desserts at the Wort Hotel Silver Dollar Bar as reward. An excellent reward. Cindy sees us waving at her on Jackson Hole Town Square Webcam. Red Sox/Yankees on NESN followed by hot tub. Early to bed.
Monday: Relaxing day. Breakfast at The Bunnery in Jackson Hole, WY. Light souvenir shopping for the kids followed by some sightseeing. Back to Saddle Butte for the “Assault on Saddle Butte” timed run (2.6 miles and 1100+ feet of elevation gain). Jason S: 25 minutes. Jason M: 29 minutes. Dave 31 minutes. John: 35 minutes (Dave, we expect to see sub-20 minutes between now and our next visit). Pizza and beer to top off the day at South Side Pizza and Pub. Lastly, you guessed it, Sox/Sox baseball game, hot tub, bed.
A fun trip with a great group of long-time running buddies. A big thanks to Dave for his incredible hospitality and tour guide abilities! I look forward to “riding in this rodeo” again real soon.
Click here (or on the picture at the top) to see a slideshow of the Jackson Hole Trip.
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