Beaverhead Ultra

We spent an awesome weekend in Salmon for Mark and Mason to run the Beaverhead 55k. I did the 100K last year, and I loved the course, so I was excited for Mark to see it. We had so many of our IFTR friends, and lots of Mason's family running it, so it made it extra fun! Mark and I spent the night at the start line, and woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise.

The sunrise from the start.

The sky right before the race started.

The race runs along the continental divide trail on the Idaho-Montana border. It's 33 miles with a little over 6000 feet of elevation gain. What makes it really hard though, is that you are at an elevation between 9,000-11,000 feet the whole time. 

Bailey and Baby Nora ready to cheer for Mason at the start!

Both of Nora's grandpa's ran it!
Lance-Mason-Mark

Jen-Steph-Mark-Mason

The start line!

Bailey, Nora, Eric, and I were the crew, but we could only see the runners at the start line, and at the first aid station, which was only about 5 miles in. After that we just went to the finish line and hung out all day waiting for the runners to finish.

Mason getting started.

Mark at the start.

I love this picture of all the runners making a long line up the first climb. 

Mason coming into the first aid station.

Mark coming into the first aid station.

Aside from Mark and Mason, we also had Steph, Jen, Larissa, JT, Christina, the Oxstrands, Lance, and Ty (Mason's cousin) all in the 55k. It was fun to know so many people. Mat and Joel (Mason's uncle) were in the 100k, but we never got to see them.

We got to the finish line, and Eric set up our canopy. He drove back down into town to try to get a signal on his phone to text Steph. While he was gone, the announcer asked Bailey if she could bring Nora under the main race canopy, and then he sent guys over to hold our little canopy down, because a helicopter was going to land right next to us. I stayed under our canopy, and it was so cool! I've never been that close to a helicopter when it landed. It blew the tall grass in waves, and about blew us away. It was the medics that volunteer at the race each year. The helicopter left right as Mark was finishing, so that was cool too.

Nora was such a good girl all day. There was so much going on around her, and she just went with the flow. Such a sweetie!

Here's a video that Mark took on the course. It is seriously so pretty!

Last year there was no snow. This year the runners had to go over lots of snow, and the lakes were still frozen. Crazy the difference a year can make.

The ridgeline they cross for lots of miles is so rugged. It feels like you're on top of the world.

Mark and JT shared a lot of miles together.

Mason at the finish!

Mark and Lance ran the last 6 miles together, and finished at the same time. Nora has some cool grandpas!

Mark did such a great job! He had surgery 3 months before the race and didn't even think he'd be able to run it. They wouldn't let him roll his entry over to next year, so he decided to just do it. He just figured he could take it easy and have a great day in the mountains. He must not have lost too much of his fitness during his recovery, because he did great!

The cutest cheer leaders!

Steph and Jen did amazing! A big storm rolled in, and they were up on the ridge, slowly picking their way across the never ending scree field. There was lightening all around them, and they could hear the air buzzing around them, and feel the electricity in the air. They were watching it strike all around them, and they were in a very bad spot with nowhere to take cover. The lightening started a fire close enough that flames could be seen from one of the aid stations. They said it was so scary! I was so stressed at the finish line, because we had high winds, heavy rain, and lightening close by. I knew from Mark's updates that he was off the mountain by the time the storm hit, but I knew the girls were probably at the worst place for it. I'm so glad they finished all in one piece!

Great job Mason! That's a proud wife and baby!

Awesome job Mark! Nora has the coolest Pops ever!

Mark finished in 10 hours 11 minutes. All the IFTR runners, and all of Mason's family finished! So impressive! Aside from the crazy storm that caused some havoc for about an hour, it was a great day!