How Far Would You Run For A Yeti Cooler?
How far would you run for a Yeti Tundra 65 Cooler? 50 miles? Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is hosting weekly challenges on the JH Insider app as part of the Trail Starts Here Challenge. The first challenge kicked off on Father’s Day. The goal was to hike or run the most miles in one day. The winner would receive a Yeti Tundra 65 cooler. What happened was not what anyone expected. The first racer started at 4:58am. By 10:30am Dustin D. had already clocked 16 miles! Other competitors started to pop up on the JH Insider leaderboard and the miles starting racking up. By late afternoon the race was on! There were 4 competitors that were clearly in it for the win: Tattie B, Daniel S, Justin N, and Dustin D who were approaching marathon mileage by 2pm. Overall 16 people took part in the daily challenge. They hiked/ran a combined 204.7 miles, and the two leaders finished within 2 miles of each other, at 51.9 and 50.2 miles! It was hard to not check the leader board every few hours because by 5pm it was obvious that the race was on between competitors: Dustin D and Justin N. And it seemed that they were both watching the leader boards late into the day.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will be holding weekly challenges all summer long.
This week’s challenge is a search for Marmots. There are 5 Marmots stashed along the Wildflower Trail. If you find a Marmot, please bring it to Teton Village Sports to redeem your prize. To find more about weekly challenges, tips, tracking, and everything happening at JHMR, please download the JH Insider App. Happy Trails!
Check out this time sequence of the competition, from 8:46pm until 11:58pm!
8:46PM – JUSTIN N BACK IN THE LEAD BY 0.9 MILES
9:43PM – DUSTIN D OVERTOOK JUSTIN BY 1.3 MILES!
11:58PM – JUSTIN TAKES IT BACK AT A WHOPPING 51.9 MILES FOR THE DAY!
In the end, and I mean in the end at 11:59pm, Justin N came out on top running a total of 51.9 miles just barely sneaking in front of Dustin D. who ran a total of 50.2 miles. After watching this race from the “Couch Couloir,” I couldn’t believe the effort everyone put into the race and I had a few questions for the two top racers.
Q&A with Justin N.
1)Did you have a strategic plan for the challenge? Strategy was to have a great day in the mountains and try to win a new Yeti cooler. Unfortunately, when I got started Dustin already had about 16 miles on me so I knew I was in for hours and hours of “fun”.
2)Did you anticipate running 50 miles? At the start of the day I thought 50k would win it.
3) What time did you start and end running? 10:30am start, I went up and down the mountain until around 9pm. Since I wasn’t prepared to run 50 miles at the start of the day I just didn’t have enough food w/ me. I took a dinner break and had a huge burger and fries from Streetfood then got back to running at 11pm. I was able to push back into the lead and hold it right before Midnight.
4) Did you plan on running until midnight? I had no idea I’d have to run until Midnight.
5) What kept you going? I don’t quit!
6) What is your favorite trail at JHMR? Top of the World
7) What are you going to do with your new Yeti Tundra 65 Cooler? Fill it with beer and trail snacks!
Sunrise views from the trail at JHMR
Q&A with Dustin D:
1) Did you have a strategic plan for the challenge? Yes, I took the Achilles paradox as my strategic plan for the day. Meaning if I could start early enough and continuously keep going, I would not be caught. Most importantly, the continuous movement.
2)Did you anticipate running 50 miles? No, I thought 36 miles would probably be enough lol then I realized Justin came out to compete, and looking at his stats for the season, it was easy to see I was up against a ultra guy. At that point I accepted the fact that I was going to have to go until I couldn’t go anymore. I knew it was going to be a huge mental challenge.
3) What time did you start and end running? I started just before 5am and stopped a little past 10pm. I took 3 bathroom/water refill breaks probably around 10 mins each then 3 sock and shoe changes. I had one long 30-40 min break around 46 miles.
4) Did you plan on running until midnight? I knew if I wanted to stand a chance against Justin I needed to go all the way til midnight to max out as many miles as possible. Mentally I was prepared and I had enough fuel and water to keep me going but at mile 40 I had to switch to my hiking boots bc I slightly rolled my ankle on loose rock, not paying attention due to fatigue. It was nothing major at first but at 46.4 miles it was starting to take affect. I took a long break and after it Justin had reached 48.1 miles. Stopped and headed home. I pulled out my hiking poles and set a goal in my mind to fight through the pain to reach 50 miles. I got 50.2. When I was home soaking my feet I checked the leaderboard, this was around 11:30ish and I noticed Justin went back out. I shouted at my roommate, jumped up with a new boost of adrenaline and headed back to the village. It was too late though, I had only 10 minutes to run 1.7 miles. Hats off to Justin!
5) What kept you going? Discipline kept me going, knowing that if you can suffer thru the initial pain and discomfort you can push yourself to limits you didn’t know you were capable of reaching. It’s something I was lucky enough to learn from my father as a kid being coached in sports. My father passed away unexpectedly when I was 15 years old and since this was a Father’s Day challenge, I thought it only right to do it in his honor. He taught me never to quit and that’s what I kept telling myself.
6) What is your favorite trail at JHMR? I think the wildflower trail is great! I mean who doesn’t like taking a break at the swing and enjoying the view.
Also, a huge shoutout to all the participants, including Tatti B. and Daniel, coming in tied for 3rd with an impressive 23.1 miles!
