MOAB BRUTAL!
Poison Spider Trail:
I have no idea what it must be like to run 50+ k over rocks, cacti among rotting corpses of decaying animals and poisonous spiders-- but I can imagine it would be something like a near death experience. Most of the folks approaching the finishing line appeared nearly dead, some looked surprisingly good. Anyhow, I was impressed and happy to run into the group while on the poison spider trail in Moab. Surfing the net to find some info on the race, I found the following description interesting:
Let me tell you about running on slickrock. It's hard. Really hard. And not just "hard" like difficult to do, but "hard" like running on a very hard surface, like a sidewalk. There's absolutely no give, and it just pounds your body with every step. You have to watch every footfall, and keep an eye out for what's coming up, because the terrain is very uneven, and the next step could be down a small hole, or up and over a rock band. Tripping and rolling your ankles wasn't uncommon. -Kris Lander Planet Ultra Marathon
