I had expected Deni to call me this morning and let me know if she was on schedule for her 10:30am run through Heber, UT, however I didn't expect her to call so early. The kids and I were going to drive up and cheer her on, as she ran by. Apparently her run around 1am this morning went well, however one of her teammates after her ended up passing out. Her teammate, who has completed multiple marathons, is okay now, but it appears that body doesn't really respond well to a combination of running and lack of sleep.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, Deni's running schedule has changed. Deni is no longer running through Heber, UT. Deni has taken on the most difficult leg of the whole race. 4 miles long, uphill, with an elevation gain of 1678 feet. That description doesn't do it justice. Maybe the picture below will. Notice the graph on the bottom.
With an average 7.9% incline, those abrupt changes in direction in the road are switch backs. Out of the 36 legs in the race, this is deemed as the hardest part of the race. Not only is it a constant steep incline for 4 miles, however she's already run twice in the last 16 hours and hasn't slept at all. She'll complete her run at an altitude of 8875 feet above sea level. This is the peak of the mountain and the next runner will run down the otherside of the mountain into Park City. The altitude of our house sits at about 4740 ft, so starting at just over 7000ft and running to 8875ft, is impressive.
Because of the terrain, they won't allow spectators up there to watch her, however we'll plan on being at the finish line in Park City to watch the team come across the finish line together.
