S.M.U.T. 100K

Scout Mountain Ultra Trail 100K Race Report - 

A.K.A -  (S.M.U.T.) 

Someone's Muscles are Utterly Tired?

Stupid Man Under There!

Sorry Men Under Trained!

SuperMan's Underwear is Tight?

Kind of a weird name for a really hard race.  See elevation profile below.

This race has evolved from the Pocatello 50 mile course that it has been for the past 5 years.  I have run it 3 times previously and with the significant course changes this year the name and distance was changed to reflect the new race that it is.  I was excited to check out the new trails and introduce my friends Joe and Mike to the beauty that this course offers.

My family was nice enough to tag along and crew me (provide assistance at certain aid stations).  Also present were my trusty training buddies Joe and Mike.  They weren't there to crew or pace me on this one, they were there to experience the glory and pain of this awesome race.  As long as they do that behind me....

After camping in the parking lot (we opted for the convenience of the pop-up trailer in the group site rather than at an isolated actual campsite) we arose for an early 5am start.  The family got a bit more sleep once the cowbells at the starting line died down.  

A brisk mile up the paved road led us to some sweet trails.  I found myself setting the pace for Joe and Mike as they opted to tuck in and let me dictate our pace.  We were in the chase group of about 6 folks while the lead pack yo-yo'ed ahead of us by a bit.  We would close the gap at times and then they would shoot ahead again.  I counted roughly 6 guys ahead of us.  

In our chase group was Darcy Africa.  She is the 2012 Grand Slam Champion, 2 time winner of Wasatch 100, 2 time winner of Hardrock 100, among other top finishes.  A real runner she is.  I figured a finish within a half hour of her would be a great result for this race.  She would end up running the first 15 miles with us before slowing down a bit.

My strategy for this race was to run harder and faster than everybody.  It didn't quite work as planned.  I had better rethink that strategy for next time as there are serious flaws with it.

The first 15 miles were spent leap-frogging each other as one would stop for food or a pit stop or just slow down a bit and others would take the lead (in our chase group).  The lead pack was out of sight by now and there wasn't a group in sight behind us.  In-fact by mile 15 my place in the race had been determined.  I neither passed nor was passed the entire remaining 47 miles.  That makes for a pretty boring race report.  Sorry.  Mike would go on to run his own pace and finish in a respectable 12:45 for lucky 13th place.  Joe would pull the plug at mile 46 due to heat exhaustion.  

Quick run-down...

Miles 1-25 - Relatively easy miles.  All runnable terrain.  Body feels great.  Temperature is perfect.  Loving the race.

Miles 26-40 - Much harder miles.  A large hill forced a hike rather than a run.  There was even a 23 minute mile in there. Getting hot.  My body was feeling like it was falling apart slowly.  

Miles 41-62 - Ouch.  The toughest part of the course.  Temperature in the low 80's.  Little shade on the course.  Mostly focused on keeping cool and wet.  I resorted to dunking my head and hat and buff into multiple streams.  The climb over Scout Mountain went well this year.  It was nice knowing what to expect.  The descent was so much fun!  2500 feet in 4 miles.  Sections of it were very rocky.  My specialty.  The race finished with a tough 500 foot climb where everyone questioned their motives as to why they ran the race.  All that was forgotten during the final 3 mile descent to the finish.  

Highlight of the day was mile 8 watching the bright orange sunrise shining through the thin clouds as we ran through buttery singletrack.  I would have given my trusty visor for a camera at that point.  

Lowlight of the day was realizing Beth and the kids had hiked a mile (each way) on a remote trail to see me and missed me because I had passed through only mins earlier.  

I finished out the race in 7th place overall in a time of 11 hours and 23 mins.  I have enjoyed this race (and its former versions) but doubt I will return due to the plethora of options out there.  Chapter on Pocatello 50/SMUT is closed...

Food/Drink 10oz EFS liquid shot, 6 turkey avacodo sliders, 3 packages of fruit snacks, watermelon slices, orange slices, handful of grapes, handful of chips, 3 s-caps, 100oz of ginger ale, 20oz of sprite, 140oz of water

Gear Headsweats visor, buff, St George Running Center shirt, PI shorts, Drymax Lite Socks, Altra Olympus Shoes (no black toenails this year!), Ultimate Direction AK 2.0 Race Vest

Pics by Bethany will surely follow (I know you were all hoping this post had her pictures in it)....She has been busy doing Engagements and Family Portraits and such...