Here are some final updates for everyone's information.  As we are obviously very close to the race and many of our are packing or already traveling, here are the last thoughts and items you should know.  

Weather - It's going to rain.  Bring a jacket.  I strongly suggest a hat and gloves in your drop bag at Washington Park to take out with you to Hell's Gate and your trip to Buck Springs AS.  I don't care where you live right now, it's cold as heck up on the Rim when you are wet and it's 2am.  It may only get to 25-30 degrees but it's a very bitter 25-30 degrees. We had a number of runners reaching hypothermia for the late miles on the Cabin Loop last year.  A fresh set of dry clothes at Buck Springs or Pinchot would be a great idea.  

Drop Bags - You can leave them at the start from 5am Saturday until you take off.  We'll have them lined up in the parking lot to just drop off by the sign for that respective station.  No drop bags for Hell's Gate and make sure you can easily see your bib number and names on each bag.  We'll bring all drop bags back to the finish line as each station closes so you can pick it up there.  

Crew - There are a number of maps on this website that are useful for finding your way around the course with your runner.  http://www.mogollonmonster100.com/crew-driving-instructions.html  I don't suggest visiting Pinchot Cabin aid stations.  It's just a lot of driving along dirt roads but you're welcome to it if you want.  If you drive to any aid station as a crew please make sure you park safely along the road leaving ample space for emergency vehicles access if necessary.  If you are going to Washington Park aid station you likely won't be able to park all the way at the top of the station.  Please park on the right (east) side of the road again leaving plenty of space for fire trucks/ambulance. This is VERY IMPORTANT.  You cannot access Hell's Gate Aid station. Don't even try, you'll destroy your vehicle.

Camping - Many people camp out for this race all weekend.  This is possible anywhere within the Coconino National Forest (top of the Rim) and most anywhere on the lower part of the Rim which is Tonto National Forest.  Both these agencies we receive special use permits for use of the area with this race.  Due to several reasons the Tonto NF has closed down camping at Washington Park.  IF YOU CAMP THERE YOU CAN RISK OUR FUTURE ABILITY TO GET A PERMIT.  You can also get a ticket.  That's on you, but please do not camp along the river, they are beautiful and tempting spots but they are no longer available. Blame the leopard frog and lazy white trash people that throw diapers in the river.  We are only allowed for overnight use for the aid station, nothing along the river or "no camping" signs.  It's unfortunate and hopefully changes in the future.  All the other aid stations it's OK to camp, go for it.  

Course Marking - Nearly the entire course is marked with  yellow 3" plastic ribbons that say "MOG100."  Follow these and anything that is yellow.  There are some shorter sections that are 1" yellow ribbons without "MOG100" on them.  Those are ok too, we had someone steal some ribbon rolls and reflective tape...so had to improvise...yellow is good.  Red is bad.  

There is a lot of yellow high intensity 3M reflective tape out there on the trees, manzantia, on the ribbons themselves, on the trees which have "official" trail markers.  We put it out there to make it easy to follow in the grassy sections, open meadows, and in general the night sections.  During the day these are also nice confidence markers. Overall, the course has more markers on it than last year. Its still a challenging area to navigate at times.  Study the course map, pay attention and don't always trust the person in front of you.  Bring a map.  It's no coincidence the last two years winners meticulously studied the course maps on their own and carried it with them.  

I will not be able to answer any last minute emails or requests until packet pickup at THAT Brewery on Friday.  We'll be there from 4pm-7pm and a little after for those that can't get up sooner.  We'll also provide bibs/packets from 5am -5:45am on race day at the trailhead. We'd like to have your pacer's contact information (cell is fine) provided and an updated emergency contact number that we'll have you fill out when you check in.  

ALL RUNNERS have to check in with us on Saturday morning.  We'll have a small table set up, please make sure we have checked you off as present before we start.  You need to do this even if we saw you the night before.  

5:45am I'll have a few quick updates on the course, and then we'll get you all off.  There are three porta-potties at the trailhead as of Friday afternoon.  Camping is open at the trailhead and you can leave your car there all weekend.  We'll shuttle you back to the car after you crush those 106 miles.  

Anyone that sprints the last 100 meters through the finish line will forever be my hero. 

Don't finish with anything in the tank.  Leave it in Pine.  

What a day at the Zane Grey Highline Trail 50 Mile Endurance Run.  Starting out knowing of an impending storm is an interesting way to go into one of the toughest races in the country.  Sure enough the horrible weather came and without disappointment.  

It wasn't 10 miles into the race the rain came in hard and sideways (My first trip the the Manzanita Mud Pen).  By 11 miles it was all mud and weighing your every step down.

That misery was fortunately limited by the time I hit mile 14 and the sky opened up and dropped a white blanket of hail which provided some much needed traction.  The temperature dropped and wet gloves became a liability.  I passed a couple runners already freezing and unable to eat a gel because their hands weren't working in the cold.  I opened their gels and in some cases were just giving them mine since it was easier than them pulling them out of their packs.  
I gave one runner my only head cover since he had nothing with him (???) and prayed for the next 4 hours I didn't just sabotage my own race.  I pulled a couple runners out of the woods off course (dude...you just ran through blue ribbons...) and then came into the 2nd aid station...only 3 hours into the race and people were falling apart.  This is going to be an interesting race...

The runners thinned out quickly from that point and the trail just got worse.  Wetter, muddier, colder and slicker.  It was immediately apparent that the back of the pack runners were the ones that were far worse off than the front of the pack.  The trail was turning into a mushy mess in some spots and after it got wetter and another 200 footsteps...it was going to be terrible for them.  Worse yet were the inconveniently hidden rocks mixed within the icy mush.  The hail had turned to sleet and then full on snow, on and off blown into your face with a blustery force you could only just appreciate and laugh at up to that point.  Trees were whipping around you sounding like they were ready to snap at the top while you fumbled around trying to pull out another gel and then for the 23th time...drop your earbud that has once again fallen out in the mess that is your gear.  

Not knowing if still after 20 something miles if we were running a 50K or 50M race it was challenging to know when to push and when to just maintain in the elements.  Not that I particularly cared at that point one way or another. I'd already concocted 20+ variations of excuses on why I would need to quit at Fish Hatchery.  All of which shamelessly used my toddler and family at foolproof scapegoats providing me an early trip home.  And all of which I never end up using in a race anyway, but it helps pass the time when you are wondering if when you stop next to take a leak on the side of the trail how much it's going to hurt if a piece of hail sneaks past your barrier and nails you in that one vulnerable place still exposed.  These are real concerns of a trail runner in a hail storm.  

Washington Park to Fish Hatchery is my favorite section of the course, and least favorite for most.  Yet despite my strengths in that section I still fell in behind others going slower and couldn't bring myself to pass and push harder.  It didn't feel like a race any longer and the point of pushing hard had long since been lost.  Or so I told myself until I had effectively convinced myself.  So instead, head down, soaking wet, feet weighed down with mud and water, unable to talk to anyone because of the wind and everyone wearing hats and hoods, we just plodded along.  

Fortunately it was with two strong runners, Scott Bajer and a great guy from Virginia, Derrick Carr, who we ran with for most of the final miles.  Up and down each ridge and through Hell's Gate we went together until we finally caught up to Justin Lutick.  He was in a similar state as most of us but hands were not working for him.  He was in a rare spot of quiet, unusual for a man of his personality.  He was a welcome sight in the midst of the mess outdoors and we clipped off some miles together before he had to stop and fix his foot. 

I'd lost Scott and the other group after my 3rd trip into the frozen forest for more corrections to a badly revolting stomach.  Not too many things more satisfying than a freezing wind on your bare ass in the forest.  Except cramping in your left leg while handling said correction which leads to a tip backwards and straight into the mud and snow. With your bare ass exposed. Really puts you in the mood to hammer out the rest of the race.  
Fortunately I'm easily amused by such things and wanted to catch back up with Justin and got in some really fun miles bouncing off the few exposed rocks poking above the mud, sliding this way and that in the mud and climbing every hill at a strong pace like it was the first miles of the race.  I was finally feeling good, 26 or so miles later.  I pushed on, climb after climb thinking the race was maybe salvageable.  I wasn't terribly far off my pace of last year and was running stronger as we got close to Fish Hatchery.  

The snow was coming down strong enough to cover up the runners tracks in front of me.  It got to the point that I'd start to get excited based on how fresh the tracks were in front of me.  I knew I was gaining on someone the fresher they looked.  And sure enough within a couple minutes I'd pass someone else.  Eventually after going back and forth with a tall, long haired runner from Oregon (David Henry) settled in and passed a runner and started talking about the course and I learned through him the course was officially over at 33. The wind was howling, snow blowing a different direction every few seconds, hands frozen and tucked under my armpits in alternating arms.  The charm of the weather had been lost long ago, occasionally returned here and there as caffeine allowed, but the mud continued to be the main deterrent.  

Snow is one thing.  Rain another.  Mud is an entirely different beast in an ultra, and your worst enemy on the Highline trail with that many rocks.  Ankles biting in every direction, slowing your every step, forcing you to run in the grass pods, rocks, or other ankle biting areas to avoid more muddy steps.  

Finally we pushed on through the final muddy sections and broke out to find another runner out in the wind and blowing snow running alone.  It was a familiar gait, and one owning to a frozen beard, one that could only be Sean Meissner's.  Or some lost miner from the back country.  

It turned out to be Sean's and that could only mean he was cruising in and not racing if I had caught up to him.  It was good to see another familiar face and after just finding out the race was officially being stopped at Fish Hatchery. Now just a few miles away, I decided to just run the last bit and make the most of it.  Finally putting something of a race environment into this slogfest made it a heck of a lot of fun towards the end.  I pushed hard through the plateau, down into the ravine and back up to the final slickrock, passing friends with the HAM crew rucking out to the 3 mile mark.  Their smiles helped propel me up the final climb and down the rocky descent to the cattle gate.  Knowing there were likely runners trotting into the finish as with every ultra I finally felt like running harder.  The hoods on everyone's jackets made it really hard to tell who was who, both from the back and for the runners looking back to see who was chasing them down.  I ran through the red rocks, always a fun section of the race and no exception today with the rocks wet around the snow red dirt of the area. I approached the final descent sprinting down the final switchback and into the crowd at the new 2014 finish line.  

This was the 25th anniversary of the race, it has a lot of history here in Arizona but also a well known race across the ultra community.  Its always so fun to see so many friends everywhere you go in this race.  

Dallas & Renee Stevens are always some of my favorite people to see at a race and they were a welcome sight at Washington Park.  They looked like they had that aid station rocking and well run!  Wish I could have spent more time with them!  

Chris Stores, one of the Black Hills 100 RD's, got to run in conditions he's probably quite used to and was great to meet and get to see him on the trail. Wish he got to see the course in its full length.  Guess we'll have to talk the BH100 crew into a September trip??

Andrew Miller out of Oregon and 18 years old pulled in a 3rd place finish and was genuinely disappointed that the race was ended as he was feeling strong and gunning for the next guys.  Not sure Chris Price or Ryan Smith would have let that fly but would really love to see what that top 5 group would have done at the full course.  The first 33 only set the stage for the race, a lot changes those last 18.  

Jerome Jourdon finished in 9:02 this year.  He's a 6 time (?) Zane Grey finisher and averages about 11:30 each year.  He also was our 3rd place finisher in our inaugural year of the Monster.  What's significant about this year?  

He started at 1pm on Friday from Trailhead 260 and started running west on the Highline with another friend in an attempt to run a "Zane Grey Double."  His friend was throwing up towards the end and they had to bail at 43 miles.  Jerome got to the start line before 5am and started the race with all of us, then finished, in those conditions.  Very tough runner, super impressive.

We had a lot of Monster friends out on the course, either volunteering or running. LindaVan and Kate Hansen, both captains of the Pinchot Cabin aid station each of the first two years were out there, Kate running and LindaVan volunteering at Hell's Gate.  Smiling as always in the middle of the storm.  Chris Cantrell, a friend of both Noah and I for years, woke up in Phoenix before 3am to drive up to the start to see the race off.  Then followed us along and helped out at aid stations waiting for us to come in.  So nice to see him at each station!

My brother Noah finished only 20 minutes after me making what likely would have been a huge time improvement over his last year.  He just keeps getting stronger and stronger and still isn't putting in 100 miles a month in training...

There are a ton of others out there, wives, husbands, girlfriends, crews, families.  Its one giant family and its one of the best parts about the Zane Grey race.  It sells out the same day but hasn't ever lost it's small town, small race feel.

A lot of people were talking about Zane Grey as their "trial race" to see how it went there before signing up for the Monster.  I'm not sure where most people are going to be after this one.  Some will feel like me, ready to sign up for another race right away because I don't feel like I ran a race, just a long training run...others will not want any of that trail again for a long time.  I can certainly understand that.  

I was at the finish line this morning, playing with my son in the playground behind the ramada where we host the finish line of the Monster in the center of the town of Pine. Milk Ranch Point hovers over the town, the trees and top of the Rim covered in snow and the start of the Monster, the Pine Canyon Trail, tucked half way up that cliff overlooking this very spot I stood.  I was pushing Dean in the swing, staring up at that cliff wishing I was there right then. The air is so clean and fresh.  It was sunny and a crisp feel to the air, perfect weather.  I stood there and...

BAM!!!

Dean swings back towards me and catches me right in the chin.  Totally and utterly day dreaming and he got me.  He thought it was hilarious.  After a few pride bruised moments I started to see his point.

If nothing else the shortened Zane Grey only motivates me more for the Mogollon Monster 2014.  (The year, not the new mileage...)  We're slowly improving the trail conditions (they'll still be generally speaking the most technical you'll ever run, just less bloody) and with each run the enthusiasm of fellow runners grows.  More volunteers, more runners, more pacers, all in the sense of maintaining the same feel as Zane Grey manages to embody every year I've been a part of it.  Small town, small great race.  

Zane Grey 2014 will go down in many people's minds as one to remember.  I know the RD Joe Galope and his wife Megan won't forget it any time soon.  Or our mutual HAM Operator and Head Honcho of all the HAM crews that keep everyone safe and informed, Jim Pierce.  It was a tough call to re-route the course a day early and then a tougher one to cut it for everyone.  The reasons are understandable but undoubtedly someone will be upset and send him some long winded email on what else he could have done.  It won't be coming from me or anyone else with a sense in their head.  Joe and Jim made a great decision in the preparation of the storm, many, many adjustments I'm sure they had to make throughout and in tracking down runners off course or in hypothermia.  Directing an ultra in that inaccessible terrain, in those conditions, is a nightmare for a RD.  Yet Joe pulled it off with confidence and instilled a sense of safety in the runners minds that we all appreciate and will remember for a long time.  

Many, many thanks to the volunteers that stayed out in that cold, wet and rainy situation just to keep us all moving through the trail.  
The HAM radio operators were out there with everyone else, and deserve a hell of a lot of credit for keeping everyone safe.  Those guys are some of the best in the entire ultra world.  We're lucky to have them support Zane Grey and the Mogollon Monster every year. Everyone was always smiling, always helpful and I always appreciate that kind of selflessness.  Wrapped up in a plastic bag with 40mph sideways winds ripping the cold through every layer as you sit and write down people's names as the pass a checkpoint in the middle of nowhere?  Yeah, that's a pretty incredible level of selflessness.   

Tomorrow at work people will undoubtably give me crap for running these kinds of races (non-runners).  Why would you WANT to do something like this?!  And the other 200 canned questions that we've all heard so many times before. I tell every one of them that if they just came out and stood at an aid station for 2 hours they would understand everything they need to know. 

It has nothing to do with running.  

Counting down the days and we are now inside the two week mark!  

This weekend are finishing up on some shopping for the race and Saturday morning heading out for a long weekend of trail marking on this course.  We are welcoming anyone that wants to join us for either Saturday or Sunday (or both) and put in some miles out there marking the course from mile 1 to mile 106.  As the course has some out and back sections we actually only have to mark about 80 miles or so.  Piece of cake right?!  Some of it is even forest road so even easier!

Depending on who and how many people are able to join us is how we will break up the groups so we can send out people simultaneously and keep it to 15-25 mile segments.  I'll be staying that evening at Washington Park Saturday night and starting again on Sunday morning.  

Please email me at azadventures@getoutgetlost.com or message me on Facebook if you are interested in joining us.  If you want to camp out Saturday night you are also welcome to join us!  

I also have another update to our simplified map that now includes the trail name with their associated trail number.  Highline Trail for instance is #31 to the Forest Service and sometimes you see a "#31" marker on a tree but it doesn't say "Highline Trail."  So in an effort to make it as easy as possible, this now states both.  Again, big thank you to Zane Grey RD Joe Galope for creating and continuing to update this map.  You'll see him at Buck Springs AS all night so be sure to say hello and if you're of a mind to, thank you.

I also attached the updated 2013 Race Manual for the race.  In an effort to get this out to everyone versus next week I put it up now.  If you find there are things you'd like to know and add in please email me and I'll do my best to update right away and re-post.

Inside of two weeks and I'm so excited for next weekend!  I hope you are too and look forward to seeing all of you at THAT Brewery Friday next week!

-Jeremy & Noah 

Mogollon Monster Training Run - August 10th
August 10th Training Run!We're headed out for another training run on the Mogollon Monster 100 course on August 10th. This time we'll again depart from Washington Park Trailhead east on the Highline Trail. We'll continue past where the Hell's Gate Aid Station will be come race day and to the Myrtle Trail ascent to the top of the Rim. Once we navigate the steep Myrtle Trail we'll cover some easy forest road miles to what will be the Buck Springs Aid Station during the race.

We'll jump into the forest from there and take the U-Bar all the way to Pinchot Cabin Aid Station location. From there it's 8 miles back on the Fred Haught Trail and then back down to Washington Park, descending off the Rim one final time.

This is a difficult section of the course covering about 35 miles in all. There is water at Dane Spring about 15 miles in but no other aid provided. Or water opportunities unless someone is going to be up there and can drop water. This covers miles 51-86 of the actual course in the same order runners will go on race day. However, most runners will run this in the dark so knowing the terrain in advance will come in very useful.  

Let me know if you can make it. This is a really beautiful section of the course, challenging but really beautiful. 

I'll be at the Wendy's parking lot off Shea & the 87 at 4:15am if anyone wants to follow me up or carpool. Just let me know for sure so I know to wait for you.  This drive takes exactly 2 hours from my door on 13th Street and Northern in Phoenix to Washington Park Trailhead.  It's 100 miles on the dot.  It's about 90 minutes from Wendy's off the 87.  

For those stat geeks out there...here's some previous data on the route we'll be covering:  Here's the first five miles on the Highline from WP to Hell's Gate, a shared section with the Zane Grey 50M.  http://app.strava.com/segments/4996589

Here's the rest of it...

http://app.strava.com/activities/8819018This is for Hell's Gate, up Myrtle and the rest of the way around.  

FROM PAYSON
Take Hwy 87 North towards Pine, turn right at Fire Control Rd #199 (N Houston Mesa Rd.) for 8.5 miles. Following the signs to Washington Park, turn left on the Control Road to FS #32. Turn North on #32, through the community of Washington Park and follow signs to Washington Park Trailhead.

If you are planning on joining us please email me atazadventures@getoutgetlost.com so I have an idea of how many we have and who we may be waiting on at the start.  There is also a Facebook Event for this weekend you can RSVP there as well.  https://www.facebook.com/events/301633813313472/

We will be starting at 6 AM Saturday, August 10th!


Cabin Loop 50K Fat Ass - Sunday August 25th
This year we're heading out of the Phoenix heat for any possible excuse we can come up with.  This will be a weekend of camping and running the Monster course!  I'm heading up likelyFriday night and grabbing a spot by the river off the Highline Trail and will be running a 50K loop covering much of the trails we're going to be using for the race itself.  We'll head up the Rim on the Arizona Trail, head east on the Rim Road to Houston Brothers Trail, then north into the forest on Houston Brothers a couple miles to the Barbershop Trail.  Barbershop is only used very briefly at mile 65 but is a beautiful trail that connects the Houston Brothers over to U-Bar through a variety of canyon's and mountain meadow's.  We'll head east on Barbershop to U-Bar and north to Pinchot Cabin.  From Pinchot Cabin it's all the way south about 9 miles to the Rim Road and the final descent back down the Rim to Washington Park for the full 31 miles.  Those wanting to do something slightly less can follow the Mogollon Monster section from 26-50 and simply continue on Houston Brothers to Pinchot and skip Barbershop/U-Bar for a 24 miler finishing at the same place at Washington Park.  So we will mark the course on Saturdayand those that want a supported fun run in preparation of the Monster or just for a long run on some great trails are more than welcome.  Feel free to join us on either day and if you want to camp as well, feel free!  


Here is a link to the data on the shorter 24 miler which has about 3200 in climbing- http://app.strava.com/activities/66872362 

Here's a link to the data for the full 50K:  http://app.strava.com/activities/17984373/segments  This one is a little off on the Barbershop trail but gives you an idea of the course.  

Send me a RSVP at azadventures@getoutgetlost.com if you plan on joining us either day please!  I'll set up a Facebook event as well soon for those that it's easier to go that route.  
Want to Volunteer?!We have had a great response from the local running community in wanting to help out and get up on the Rim race weekend and run an aid station, help out and be there to support the race.  We love hearing from you and it just makes it more exciting seeing the enthusiasm from everyone else.  To keep our aid station allocations organized we'd like to have everyone interested in signing up to volunteer in any capacity to fill out the location and time slot they can commit to on the link below:  

http://mog100.ivolunteer.com/mog100

You don't have to be an ultrarunner to volunteer so feel free to talk your friends and family into coming up for the weekend.  The weather should be great, we should have some great aid station food and of course, the excitement and inevitable inspiration of seeing these runners work their way across this very challenging course.  Many of the aid stations are used multiple times at very different times in the race so it will be interesting to see the same runners early on and then much later on in the race.  Make those connections that first time through and cheer them on when they come back through!

Thank you all and we look forward to seeing you this fall!

Did you know that the Arizona Trail runs over 800 miles from Mexico through the Grand Canyon and into Utah?  Along the way it cuts right through the Mogollon Monster 100 course.  Entrants will converge on the AZT at the Geronimo Aid Station and follow it on the Highline Trail to the Washington Park Aid Station and then up to the top of the Rim.  It continues north on the Fred Haught Trail before cutting west a few miles later on its way to Flagstaff.  You'll see the metal Arizona Trail maps posted throughout the race where the AZT intersects.  It's a challenging trail covering a great amount of diverse terrain.  www.aztrail.org

Course Marking - Course marking has come up a few times via email and Facebook and random other comments after last years race.  Understandably for some and other comments that raise concern that some people won't find their way from point A to point B unless we pave the road and line the sidewalks with personal volunteers to make sure everyone makes it there safely.  So to combat some of both of these challenges I've had these ribbons made for the race for our course marking.  Last year we used standard orange surveying tape for the correct route and blue for the incorrect route.  This was fine until there were trees with surveying tape or some was flung up in the wind in the trees, removed or in general missing.  


So this is triple the width of standard surveyors tape and has our abbreviated name "MOG100" repeated for 1000 feet and I have a preposterous amount of each color tape.  I did yellow for what is going to be the correct route you should be following.  Red is going to now be the wrong way.  So if you see red, you're off trail and you should turn around until you see another yellow tape.  They will be marked adequately throughout single track and plastered for the intersections.  I purposely bought a ton of this and we're going to use it.  I also have some Department of Transportation quality reflective tape that is the same that the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 uses.  John Vaupel, Founder of Trailrunningclub.com, recently finished the TRT100 a couple weeks ago and came back with the information that he loved the reflective tape they used as his light picked them up 50+ feet away they were so powerful. So I contacted the RD and asked what they used and it showed up at my house a couple days later.  My neighbors probably think I'm getting robbed every night as I sit in my kitchen with my lights off flashing my headlamp over the test piece of the tape on the back wall of my yard.  This stuff is awesome and far more reliable than glow sticks.  We'll still use glow sticks but far fewer and just close to the aid stations.


I also picked up a number of sandwich board signs for the forest roads as confidence markers along the way and to make sure everyone makes the correct turns.  The Turkey Springs/West Webber intersection will NOT be an issue this year.  


We will be marking the course the weekend prior to the event if anyone is willing to help out.  


Zane Grey Video - Have you seen this yet?  This is hands down the best trail running video I have ever seen.  Ever.  Sure, Killian has some sweet video's but how realistic is it to see a runner flying up a 12,000 ft peak with no gear, no waters, and a helicopter videotaping him?  It's not exactly an accurate depiction of what I experience when I fly.  I mean, I carry gear.  

This video however is exactly what Zane Grey is all about and why I have come to absolutely love the race in all it's glory and pain.  They did an incredible job showing the area and why so many come back to this torturous area year after year.  http://www.zanegrey50.com/photos_____video.html


Withdrawing from the Race - I'm not sure why you would do this unless you are pregnant and having a baby the week of the race.  Outside of that I'm baffled but then I'm incredibly bias towards this race and I should probably understand that things pop up.  When they do please refer to the part of the website that states that no refunds will be provided after March 1st.  We are in our second year and purchasing all the start up equipment is not cheap as well as the supplies needed for the race now less than two months out.  So I cannot refund your registration fee.  

So you should just heal up, buck up, and show up.  It's just more economical that way. 

This Race is Hard -  I feel like its necessary to repeat this mantra because of the emails that I get sometimes from prospective entrants makes me wonder if "trail running" to some people is the side of the country road.  To be clear once again, this race is VERY HARD.  It is very remote in many areas.  You will encounter massive elk in breeding season.  Entire sections of the Mogollon Rim have been shut down this summer from too many black bear sightings.  They are all over the place up there, everyone and their mother gets to see one except the RD that goes up there every weekend....they are out there.  Free range cattle will scare the living shit out of you on the Highline at 3am leaving Hell's Gate AS.  Mountain lions are always out there somewhere and I pray that nobody ever encounters one during the race.  There are javelina, rattlesnakes and we haven't even gotten to the part about an oversized hairy man beast legendary in the area.  My point is, it's a wilderness area and its wild.  The terrain is relentlessly tough like you've likely never seen before.  

I know, I know, "sure, whatever."  No, I'm serious.  We had entrants from last year say it was a race for the "elite of the elite."  I'll agree that's a silly assessment given two of our 9 finishers were 1st time hundreds (albeit locals familiar with the course) but it was said by many time 100 mile finishers.  Accomplished in their own right and ultrarunners who thought they had run some "tough" courses.  Not this tough.  

This is Arizona and welcome to the Mogollon Rim country.  This area is as "Old West" as it gets.  The settlers of this area were not pansy's.  They couldn't be and our entrants can't be if they plan on finishing.  The terrain will beat you up, the heat will beat you up, the elevation will beat some of you up, and the never ending up's and down's and steep climbs will beat you all up.  

Yet you have to press on and you have to keep moving. 

So as much as I may talk myself into thinking, "this course isn't THAT hard" I'm constantly reminded every time someone joins me who isn't familiar with the trails and can't believe how hard they are.  

The one resounding thought that always comes out of everyone that goes up there, "This is incredibly beautiful country."  Because it really is.  It's stunning.  I find myself just staring off into the trees, over the 2,000 sheer cliff to the Highline Trail down below in the red rocks, off into the Mazatzal Mountains to the south.  The place is as beautiful a land can be and we get to run straight through it all.  

Tough it may be, but unbeatable it isn't.  Come prepared for a Monster, because its prepared for you.  

We had a great group of almost 20 runners show up in Pine for the start of our first training run this summer.  We started out as the race would, at 6am, and headed up Pine Canyon Trail the 8.3 miles to what would be the first aid station of the race.  We took the General Crook Trail, or what's left of it and it's 140 years of existence, across the forest floor to Milk Ranch Point Road.  Followed that downhill mostly to Dickinson Flat Aid Station #2.  

Then the fun part of the beautiful downhill off the Mogollon Rim dropping from 7,200 feet to 5,200 feet in 1.5 miles.  At first it's manageable.  Then the trail becomes a collection of rocks, trees, and exposure bringing most everyone to a hike.  It's short lived though and soon enough the trail opens up to long switchbacks allowing you to open the legs up a bit and fly down the mountain, past the West Webber turnoff you'll see in 80 miles all the way to the Highline Trail and the 3rd aid station of the race, Geronimo. 

We refilled at Geronimo with the help of Jon Nelson's wife and a couple friends.  We'd already had a few drops for the day, and we headed back out and up the Highline Trail back to the West Webber Trail.  This would be the final miles of the race but for training purposes it creates a handy little marathon loop with 5,000+ in climbing (Garmin's say 6k).  

West Webber Trail is one of my favorites on the course.  Its under tree cover almost the entire way, under a canopy of 150 year old Ponderosa pines, beautiful maple and oak trees and waist high ferns covering the trail on either side.  Streams in quarter mile increments and just a general sense of exactly what most people don't think exists in Arizona because it's "just a desert."  West Webber Trail will change your perspective if you came into this state thinking it was all cowboys and sand dunes.  Although we have those too!  

Going into West Webber during the race, and even during this training run, you know there is a hefty climb to hit the top of the Rim and what will be mile 100.0 during the race.  It's 1000 feet of climbing in exactly 1.0 miles.  Starting at 99.0 miles and finishing at 100.0 miles.  I didn't even plan that, just how it played out.  So its safe to say, while there are other races with tough climbs or steeper sections, most don't hit at mile 99.  You can take solace in the fact that it's a very manageable climb with tight switchbacks leading all the way to the top.  It's not exposed and even in the heat of the day should be manageable.  Key in on the word "should."  One finisher last year came into the finish chute mumbling something about, "That was just totally unnecessary.  Brutal."  

It'll be fun.  I promise...

The good news is at the top is the end of the uphill.  It's a short half mile down Milk Ranch Point road to the start of Donahue Trail, nice little trip through the forest before dropping down the spine of Milk Ranch Point.  You'll drop off here and the boulder field begins.  Fair warning...

It's rocky.  

Another warning...

I'm not moving a single one of the rocks.  

So you'll just have to deal with it and roll with it.  It's almost laughable towards the end where it meets back up with the Highline Trail.  Like trying to run down a dry riverbed.  But a necessary evil in getting to the finish and after hitting the Highline it's a beautiful 1.5 miles downhill to Pine Trailhead.  We finished there and waited for the rest of the group.  Some got off course, some stopped short, some even ran into a black bear on West Webber.  But a great run and the first of many.  Jay Danek wrote up a piece on his website on this training run as well.  

Next one is in a few weeks after the holiday and it'll be up on the Rim on the Cabin Loop trail sections.  Scroll down to a previous entry with dates for upcoming training runs.  

We're over 50 entrants at this point!  Over 4 countries (Canada, US, Australia, UK), 17 states represented and now 13 women going for the first female finisher in race history (a whopping 2 year history...).  

If you want to volunteer or can pass this link along to anyone that wants to help out please do.  http://mog100.ivolunteer.com/mog100  They can go to this link and it provides time slots and needed areas to help out, anywhere from sweep duties to various aid station locations.  Thank you in advance and help spread the word!