Four local runners ready for the upcoming Utah 115

Last October, Harry Barber, BLM’s Paria River District Manager, started telling his son Cody about this new race, suggesting it would be fun to do it together. Cody and Harry signed up for the 50-mile option, and theirs will be a “Date Hike” - they will stick together for the 50 miles. Harry has experience running marathons and half-marathons: once, twelve years ago, he did a 50-mile race once, walking all night long. Cody has been a “flatlander” in Idaho the last few years, so hasn’t experienced the altitude and incline changes. They’ll have until 5 a.m. Saturday to complete the race. They expect to finish by 11:30 p.m. Friday, packing their razors for a midnight shave - they decided to start letting their beards grow out until they finish the race!

Left to right:

• Harry Barber (above) and son Cody Barber (right) have been training hard to run the 50-mile course together.

• Mark Grow with his two wrestling kids Declan, age 8, and Mark Jr. “Moose,” age 9. Grow will be back in his chiropractic office by Monday following Friday’s 50-mile race. Per Grow, no promises on quality of care that day.

• Pete O’Day and his wife Mia after the Zion 100 race last month. Photos via Susana Young.

Chiropractor Mark Grow will also run the 50-mile race. When asked if he was a runner, he quipped the last time he ran, it was a 10K in San Diego on the beach when he was a teenager! He was putting in an 18-mile walk each weekend but had to stop in February because he just didn’t have time to train. Further, he recently had a painful tear in his knee.

So why not just quit? One reason: he has been inspired by the book “Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter, who argues that “the comfort-driven lifestyle might be hindering our health and well-being by making us less resilient and prone to illness.” Mark sets a good example by pushing himself. “You leave so much on the table when you don’t trust yourself to try,” Mark says. He gets a good cardio workout as a coach for the KHS wrestling team. He teaches his kids wrestling so that they’ll learn to get out of their comfort zone and not be afraid to fail. Mark enjoys having a goal to push himself. He estimates he has a 50 percent chance of finishing the 50-mile race - he’ll take it. Using Kinesio tape, his knee is recovering, and Thursday evening he is volunteering to tape up any runners who need it before the race starts. Mark plans to go at a tortoise pace straight through to the finish line.

Pete (Daw) O’Dea finished G2G in fifth place in 2019. Because of hardship and injuries, Pete was unable to start training again until September ‘24. He’s excited to be back and feels he will be able to perform well, expecting to finish in 24-30 hours. Pete just finished the Zion 100 race last month, during which his wife, Mia, had her first experience crewing. Pete gives her a big “shout-out.” At Utah 115, she will be Pete’s crew, able to drive to designated aid stations where she can assist him with food, hydration, rest and comfort. He will be doing G2G again in September and considers the Utah 115 good preparation for it. “I can do really hard things. It makes me better as a person.”

You might be interested in being a volunteer for this event to interact with not only our local runners, but also amazing people from across the US. Among our entrants for this inaugural Utah 115, are runners who challenge themselves with 200- and even 250-mile ultra events.

The Utah 115 runners will start their 115-mile race at 7 a.m. from the old elementary school this Friday, May 16. The 50-mile runners will begin at 9 a.m. You are welcome to help give them a sendoff as they traverse difficult terrain getting out of Kanab, and then on to other remote sites before returning to Kanab within their allotted time. They’re ready!

You can sign up to volunteer ASAP by contacting Sonia Mahoney at 604-935-2125 or soniamahoney@ yahoo.com.