IMTUF 100 2012

One day I was searching races in my area and stumbled upon a race called the IMTUF 100, I thought to myself "Hey, that would be a super fun volunteer opportunity." So I emailed the race director,Ben Blessing,who was more than happy to bring me on board. He wrote to me "If you are interested in running Ultras I will put you at the mile 92 aid station so you can see how people really are after running that far." I was pumped! I gathered a few friends to join me in the adventure. We loaded up the blue bus and set out on a weekend of fun -- we had no real idea of what to expect, we knew we wanted to support the runners, we knew we wanted to cheer them on, we knew we wanted to see it all! To say that the experience was fun would be an understatement. We arrived a day early to get set up, we went to the race start not knowing anyone -- it was 5:45am and 8 degrees outside, the runners were all super kind encouraging one another, wiggling around waiting for the start. At 6am the race was on, since we were at mile 92 we had all day and likely most of the night before we would see our first runner -- we used our time getting set up, chatting about the insane task these runners were undertaking, we went for a nice short 10 mile run. All day my mind was reeling with what these runners must be thinking, I was deeply inspired not only by the miles and the wicked crazy course -- but more importantly by the runners themselves, these people were amazing and family like, I loved the vibe that surrounded this race. My girls and I at Cloochman Saddle mile 92 were beyond excited when we saw our first runner at midnight! He seemed fresh and relaxed, after grazing a bit and chatting it up with us he and his pacer carried on. It was at that point that we looked at each other jaws dropped -- Holy shit was he even tired! None of us wanted to miss a single runner, we stayed up all night sitting by the fire willing the next runner to come into sight. We learned of several DNFs, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, mixed up the Heed, set out the M&M's, the peanut butter filled pretzels -- we enjoyed every moment--- all 32 hours of it! It was that day as the final runner can through our aid station that I vowed to my girlfriends that I would run this very race and I would finish!