"SofterRock"

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid. ~ Heinrich Heine

In less than a week I will toe the starting line at the Bighorn 100.  I am certainly excited for this and will be sure to share some thoughts on my experiences there, but this post is about another project.  After Bighorn I intend to take a lengthy three week rest before attempting "SofterRock". 

The idea is simple, complete the entire Hardrock 100 course in under 40 hours with no outside support.

Why?  Because the San Juan's are incredibly beautiful and because I don't need no stinkin' lottery to tell me whether or not I can run there!  To be fair, I did put my name into the Hardrock lottery this year and would probably be entered in the race if my name had been drawn.  However, not having been selected this year, I have decided to forego all the pomp and ceremony, aid stations and pampering.  Who needs chicken broth and rodeo queen-sized buckles anyway?  Besides, it's only a hundred miles of high altitude, bear ridden, remote wilderness. What could possibly go wrong?

Fortunately, upon hearing of my brilliant idea, Mike Evans was eager to join.  It's always more fun to have company along when things get sketchy, and with something like this there are sure to be some moments of questionable reason.  With the help of my dad we have cobbled together a "plan" of sorts that should provide a worthy adventure.  For the sake of definition I will outline my intentions and the conditions of SofterRock as follows:

Mike and I will start following the CCW route from Ouray at approximately 4am on July 8th, a few days before Hardrock to ensure that we will not be a nuisance to the race and/or racers.  I know, Silverton is the traditional start/finish of the race but for logistics sake it makes more sense to base out of the 4J+1+1 campground in Ouray.  I fully intend to complete every mile of the Hardrock course, just with an altered start/ finish point.  My dad will plan to meet us at Cunningham Gulch and Grouse Gulch, not for assistance of any sort, merely as a safety measure.

I plan to carry all supplies with me from the start.  No stashes, drop bags or  muling.  I am still working out how to carry that many calories without resorting to exclusively "race" food (i.e. gels, powders, etc.), so if anyone has suggestions for easily portable, palatable calories please feel free to share.  I will take a SteriPen for water and a whole lotta' S-Caps.

Well, thats the plan. If you don't hear from me by late July you can assume I have taken up permanent residence amongst the San Juan's, for better or worse.  And for those of you wondering why I have dubbed this event "SofterRock", it's mostly just because "Your Grandma's 5k Fun Run" was already taken.