Friday, June 15, 2007

a wide open invitation: Wasatch Plateau Marathon +

I’ve never done anything like this before. I want you to try it with me. and I'm letting you know now so you can save the date and begin training if you're interested. this is not a race; it is a run (or, if you prefer, a ride). here are the details.

When: Saturday, September 1, 2007, AM

Cost: free! - this is all pretty informal and out of the way.

Distance: 28 miles. come do as much or little of it as you like. you can relay with someone or bring your bike if you want, whatever. if you plan to run the distance, train as you would for a marathon.

Where: along the Skyline Drive, across the top of the Wasatch Plateau. The Skyline Drive is a mostly unimproved road that traverses the summit of the plateau for about 100 miles. We will be doing a 28 mile stretch of that between Fairview Canyon and Ephraim Canyon. the elevation of the course varies but stays around 10,000 feet.

How: the summits of both Ephraim and Fairview canyons are accessible by car. you don’t need high clearance or 4WD or anything. but you need something with high clearance to get around on the Skyline Drive and we’ll have our truck and can arrange for that and so on.


the green patch is the Wasatch Plateau and the dotted line that runs down it is the Skyline Drive. hope that helps a little.

we’ll also have the course charted, with a few water and food caches along the way. a couple days ago we went up to look around and begin surveying.

baby Ash included to show scale; she’s about 23 inches long so reckon your measurements from there. Kelly, modeling the signage below, will be there too for autographs and polaroids. afterwards let’s all have a picnic or something."bring the wife and family. bring the whole kids--yippee."here are a couple links to information about the area-
go Utah
Utah forests

this, by the way, is for anyone interested - friends, family or strangers. let me know if you’re in or have questions. and, to address any FAQ’s this is a very legal event disclaimer (a la Gil Scott-Heron) for you to sign off on.

6 comments:

Matsby said...

It's a cool idea and it sounds fun.

But 28 miles?

Maybe if it was 28 donuts...

Anyway maybe Anna will want to do it.

english said...

so you guys are bringing the donuts right?

that sounds great. this thing's getting better and better

jo said...

this sounds so cool. I would totally want to do it... I say would because the longest distance I have ever run was 5 miles. The thing is I WANT to do it... and it's so relaxed and beautiful that it seems better than an actual marathon. so here's my question for you... COULD I do it? you know, if I trained... what do you think?

english said...

totally!

ash said...

If in driving distance of the Wasatch Plateau, I think I'd join you for about 10 miles of the run...hmmm...but then that would mean that I'm only 10 years old. Cool birthday celebration. Where'd your legal info go?

english said...

j. smaz- did you know this is your destiny? basically you’ll want to make sure you build up to it and then do a couple long runs (18-20 miles) during the month before, stop smoking, and maybe find a ½ marathon to do in the mean time. check out runnersworld.com for more specifics.
I can send you a beginners’ training schedule. we’ll talk, eh?