Coloradan friends were toeing the line, and I was honored to be crewing for them. I love having the opportunity to crew or pace races. It's a cool way to be involved and help someone else reach their goals! First, the park. It's named State Forest State Park, which I am officially dubbing the worst park name ever. Other than that, it resides NW of Rocky Mountain National Park, which is super stunning, so I was pretty excited to see more of the beautiful mountains. It did not disappoint! About 10 of us rented a Yurt in the park and we had a blast. We met at the start to send our runners off. Matt had recently finished his first 100 at Bryce Canyon, but had DNFed this race the year before. He was tired but he had business to take care of. Brendan is Matt's right hand running man, so of course he was in, too. Other Erica was always looking for something different and Annie signed up relatively last minute. I think she's doing every conceivable mountain run she can in preparation for a Barkley rematch. Our runners had a great day. It was brutally hot, which took its toll on them, but they kept their cool (HA! See what I did there?) and prevailed into the night. In between aid stations we got in some really gorgeous hiking, with more moose (and a bear- yikes!). Once Matt (my primary responsibility) came through the 50 mile aid station, I knew he would be golden. He was in good spirits still, and had plenty of time.
We left early the next morning, and I'm still completely in awe that this beauty is now essentially in my backyard. This race is on my radar for the future!
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