I Finally Understood Hardrock
I still don't love the race. But I finally understand what makes it special.
I’ve always thought Hardrock drafts off the energy and attention of Western States.
Western States is the race that brings the trail running world together. Hardrock arrives two or three weeks later, with everyone’s attention already locked onto the sport. As fans, we want more of that sweet energy from Western States and so we shoehorn Hardrock into that WSER-sized hole in our hearts.
I’ve never fully bought into the Hardrock mythology.
The field isn’t the best runners in the world. It’s the best runners who got in that year. Karl Meltzer told us Hardrock could accommodate another hundred runners under its permit, yet it chooses not to. It wants to be one of trail running’s defining events, but it starts and finishes when much of the audience is asleep.
None of those opinions changed this year.
But the stories, for me, did change.
Courtney Dauwalter had a chance to answer Cocodona. Jimmy Elam was poised to bring the title to my home state, Utah. Those were the reasons I tuned in.
Ludovic Pommeret wasn’t. If I’m being honest, I wanted someone else to win.
I’m not compelled by three straight titles. Tom Brady’s predictability at the top of his game was impressive but also boring. His story became interesting years later to me, once I had enough distance to appreciate what I’d watched. Dynasties in real time are boring. I want uncertainty. I wanted Jimmy. I wanted someone to make me wonder who would reach Silverton first.
Instead, Ludovic kept pulling away.
After reading Bryce Carlson’s article, I saw it a different way.
Ludovic wasn’t simply winning another Hardrock. He was showing us what Hardrock rewards. Every race rewards fitness. Hardrock rewards something else too.
Wisdom.
We spend a lot of time talking about fitness as though it’s only physiological. VO₂ max. Lactate threshold. Recovery.
Hardrock reminds us that judgment is part of fitness too.
That’s what Ludovic gave us.
Most of us have accepted that running can remain part of our lives as we get older. We know fifty-year-olds who still run every morning. That’s no longer surprising.
The harder question is whether we can still become better runners as we age. Hardrock answered that question this year. Age doesn’t make you stronger. But it does give you another tool that youth doesn’t.
And for one weekend each July, the San Juans reward it more than any other event on the calendar.
Read:
French Trail Running is Changing Hardrock & WSER → by Stan Van Kemmel
Ludovic Ruined One of my Best Excuses → by Bryce Carlson
Mount to Coast H1: The Rise of a Superstar → by Inky Steve
Watch
HOKA’s Unbreakable Rule → by Josh Rosenthal
Accumulated Wisdom: The New Strategy for Trail Runners → by Josh Rosenthal