I was fortunate enough (or is it unfortunate) to be selected as a runner in the 2015 Wasatch 100!
This past weekend I was selected to be a runner in the 2015 Wasatch 100. My chances of winning were approximately 56% based on the number of entrants. That is slightly more than half, but still fairly slim chances, It could have easily gone the other way. Going into this past weekend I wasn’t even certain I wanted my name to be called, but as I sat at the kitchen table that morning eating a snack with my daughter while trolling Facebook, I saw that somebody was live streaming the lottery drawing.
I immediately opened up the feed and began listening; and something funny happened, I got this nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew at that moment – I WANT my name to be called. What was wrong with me? 100K at Bandera wasn’t enough? Whatever happened to my ideal of getting back to more rock climbing and less running? I wasn’t thinking much about that at the time, all I was focused on was the names.
Throughout the live feed it cut out several times, but I saw on the Wasatch 100 Facebook page that somebody was posting several names of people that had been called. I inquired if my name had been drawn yet since the feed has been broken, and I missed the first 20 minutes of the drawing. Nobody responded…. but a few minutes later the feed was back online and working perfectly fine. It wasn’t too much longer I heard them say, “Caleb Simpson – Austin, TX.” I exclaimed, YES and turned to my children with excitement (as my wife was not home at the time). My daughter jumped as well, but not exactly from excitement, she was startled by my sudden outburst, but then smiled back when she saw her dad’s excitement.
Sometimes I think I have something wrong with me. I used to be an avid rock climber that runs on occasion. Now it seems more like I’m an avid runner that climbs on occasion. I can’t quite figure out what drives me to keep entering these crazy races. When I ran my first 50 miler, I told myself I would never run another one. It was just going to be one time so I could say, “I did that.” But for some reason I haven’t quite been able to figure out why I keep registering for these races. One year after I ran Cactus Rose 50, one of the toughest trail races in Texas, I was back on the starting line running the same freaking race, and several months latter I ran a couple of 50k races, and then less than I year later I ran my first 100k.
But the desire to run a 100 actually first creeped into my mind before I even finished my first 50 miler. Two years ago while attending Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, Utah I went on one of the most amazing runs I have ever been on. Still, nothing has quite compared. As I was leaving the convention for the day I ran into Bryon Powell of iRun Far who suggested a certain trail in the Wasatch National Forest. I took his advice and experienced the most beautiful 13 miles I have run to-date.
The run wound through alpine trees, meadows, and took me up a ridge line that overlooked Park Cities, on the total opposite side of the mountain range from Salt Lake City. The trail continued up from there and overlooked the well known Desolation Lake, along the Wasatch 100 course. I didn’t know at the time that I was on part of the course, I was just soaking in the views.
I ended the run with the fastest pace I had run all summer on a long run. I thought how was that possible. I’m at 10,000 feet – I live in Texas. I’m convinced it was just the excitement of being in such an awe inspiring place. Or perhaps I just do well with mountain running. Regardless, it was truly an amazing run, and I knew I wanted to come back one day.
When I returned home I looked up the Wasatch 100 race online and found that I had run a small section of the course. I immediately knew that if I ever did run a 100 mile race, this would be the one. Nothing else had inspired me yet. There were several MUCH easier races I could have ran here in Texas for my first 100 mile race, but none of the had the draw the Wasatch 100 did.
So, I’m extremely HAPPY to say my training for the 2015 Wasatch 100 has officially begun.