Bryon Powell’s 2013 Western States Qualifier Attempt Livecast

Bryon attempts to complete the Le Grizz 50 mile to earn a spot in the 2013 Western States 100.

By on October 12, 2012 | Comments
2012 Le Grizz Gear

My gear for Le Grizz.

Woe is me. I’m am horribly, ridiculous far from fitness. No, I’m not sandbagging here… I’m in the worst shape I’ve been in 19 years. Fortunately, for your entertainment, a good friend has offered me his raffle spot in next year’s Western States and I’m without a valid qualifier. The resultant pain and, for those prone to schadenfreude, entertainment will commence at 8 am Mountain Daylight Time Saturday morning on the shores of northwest Montana’s Hungry Horse Reservoir at the Le Grizz 50 Mile. The one and only goal? Cross the finish line under my own power in less than 11 hours. I’ve yet to do the math, but I ran a total of 70-75 miles per month in July and August, didn’t do much more in September, and haven’t run further than 8.5 miles in three months. Oh, this will be “interesting” for all of us.

For your entertainment, I’ve created a separate Twitter account @LanterneOrange so you can follow along (if and when I have cell coverage) without me spamming iRunFar’s Twitter account. Feel free to encourage and/or heckle me there.



I’ll also be wearing a SPOT device, so you can follow me if there’s no cell coverage. The full SPOT Adventure page is here, but I’ve embedded a small version of the map below. [Neither of these should display any data until shortly before the race.]

Bryon Powell

Bryon Powell is the Founding Editor of iRunFar. He’s been writing about trail running, ultrarunning, and running gear for more than 15 years. Aside from iRunFar, he’s authored the books Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, been a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, written for publications including Outside, Sierra, and Running Times, and coached ultrarunners of all abilities. Based in Silverton, Colorado, Bryon is an avid trail runner and ultrarunner who competes in events from the Hardrock 100 Mile just out his front door to races long and short around the world, that is, when he’s not fly fishing or tending to his garden.